"
"I'd no idea of this," breathed Edward Henry. He was dashed. "I'm
awfully sorry!"
"Yes, no doubt. But there it is!"
Silence fell. He knew not what to say. He felt himself in one way
innocent, but he felt himself in another way blackly guilty. His
remorse for the telephone-trick which he had practised on Rose Euclid
burst forth again after a long period of quiescence simulating death,
and acutely troubled him.... No, he was not guilty! He insisted in
his heart that he was not guilty! And yet--and yet--No taxi-cab ever
travelled so quickly as that taxi-cab. Before he could gather together
his forces it had arrived beneath the awning of the Buckingham Palace
Hotel.
His last words to her were:
"Now I shan't change the day of my stone-laying. But don't worry about
your Conference. You know it'll be perfectly all right!" He spoke
archly, with a brave attempt at cajolery. But in the recesses of his
soul he was not sure that she had not defeated him in this their first
encounter. However, Seven Sachs might talk as he chose--she was not
such a persuasive creature as all that! She had scarcely even tried to
be persuasive.
At about a quarter-past six when he saw his underling again he said to
Mr. Marrier:
"Marrier, I've got a great idea. We'll have that corner-stone-laying
at night. After the theatres. Say half-past eleven.
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