United States or Malawi ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Lady Angela was standing upon the hearthrug. I stepped a little way across the threshold and stopped short. She held out her hand to me with a quiet laugh. "Have you forgotten me?" she asked, "or am I so alarming?" I set my teeth and moved towards her. "You took my breath away," I said, with an ease which I was very far from feeling. "Remember that I have come from Braster."
I walked warily, and when I had turned into the lane which passed the entrance to Braster Grange I walked in the middle of it instead of skirting the wall which enclosed the grounds. I passed the entrance gates, and had only about twenty yards farther to go before I emerged upon the open marshland. Here the darkness was almost impenetrable, for the lane narrowed.
Besides, he carried always with him a number of trifles by which he could have been identified. When he was searched at the police station his pockets were empty. He had been robbed. Guy, he had, as I have had, one unflinching, relentless enemy. Tell me, was Colonel Ray in Braster at the time?" "No," I answered hoarsely. "I cannot tell you. I will have no more to do with it.
He was a very cunning person, and those who sent him were devils." "How do you know these things?" I asked, amazed. "From the letters which I ripped from his coat," he answered. "He came to Braster to see me, then?" I exclaimed. "Precisely." "And the letters which you took from him were they addressed to me?" "They were." I was getting angry, but Ray remained imperturbable.
Already my lips were opened, when round the corner of the rough lane by which Braster Grange was approached on this side came a doctor's gig. Ray shaded his eyes and gazed at its occupant. "Is this Bouriggs, Ducaine?" he asked, "the man who shot with us?" "It is Dr. Bouriggs," I answered.
"Grooton!" I called sharply. Grooton appeared. "Is any one at Braster Grange?" I asked. "Not that I have heard of, sir," he answered. "You do not know whether Mrs. Smith-Lessing is expected back?" "I have not heard, sir. They left no servants there not even a caretaker." I stepped back again into the night and took the shortest cut across the park to the house.
"This is the person, I believe," he said in a slow measured tone, "with whom my son, Lord Blenavon, was said to have been intimate?" "Lord Blenavon was certainly a constant visitor at Braster Grange," I answered. "You know her address in London?" the Duke asked. "Yes." He turned and faced me. He was certainly paler than he had been a few minutes ago.
A fierce joy was in my heart. Now I was to know. The veil of mystery which had hung over the doings at Braster was to be swept aside. I stooped down till my eyes were within a few inches of the hand. I passed my fingers over it. I felt the ring
Outside Braster Grange an attack was made upon me, evidently with the intention of securing these. I escaped, with the assistance of Colonel Ray, who had come down from London by the same train unknown to me." "Well?" "The attack was made from the grounds of Braster Grange. It seems that Lord Blenavon spent the night there.
The Duke nodded. "Your father," he said slowly, "is in London?" "Yes, sir." "Alone?" I hesitated. Yet perhaps the Duke had a right to know the truth. "He is with the lady who occupied Braster Grange, sir, until last week," I answered. "She passed under the name of Mrs. Smith-Lessing, but I believe that she is in reality my stepmother."
Word Of The Day