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Then his face changed. "Good God!" he exclaimed, "what a relief!" The words were so intense, so spontaneous and unexpected, that Loder took a step back. Chilcote laughed discordantly, and lifted a shaky hand to protect his eyes from the light. "It's it's all right, Loder! It's all right! It's only that I that I had a beastly dream. But, for Heaven's sake, shut that window!"
The voice and words came to him with great distinctness, and as they came one uncertainty passed forever from his mind the question as to what relation she and Chilcote held to each other. With the realization came the thought of Eve, and in the midst of his own difficulty his face hardened. Lillian ignored the coldness. Taking his hand, she smiled. "You're unusually punctual," she said.
She saw him pass through the gateway, saw him hail a hansom, then she remembered the waiting chauffeur. On the same day that Chilcote had parted with Lillian but at three o'clock in the afternoon Loder, dressed in Chilcote's clothes and with Chilcote's heavy overcoat slung over his arm, walked from Fleet Street to Grosvenor Square. He walked steadily, neither slowly nor yet fast.
The other returned his glance, and as their eyes met Loder was reluctantly compelled to admit that, though the face was disturbed, it had no traces of insanity. "I make you a proposal," Chilcote repeated, nervously but with distinctness. "Do you accept?" For an instant Loder was at a loss to find a reply sufficiently final. Chilcote broke in upon the pause.
"I'm afraid you think me very troublesome." The voice came again, delicately low and conciliatory. For a brief second Loder wondered uncertainly how long or how well Chilcote knew Lady Astrupp; then he dismissed the question. Chilcote had never mentioned her until to-night, and then casually as Lady Bramfell's sister. What a coward he was becoming in throwing the dice with Fate!
Young Charrington's coming of age quite a big business. Come along! I want my clothes." He laughed, and, moving closer to Chilcote, slapped him on the shoulder. Chilcote started; then, suddenly becoming imbued with the other's manner, he echoed the laugh. "By Jove!" he said, "you're right! You're quite right! A man must keep his feet in their own groove."
"Chilcote," he said, very quietly, "I've come to fell you that the thing must end." After he spoke there was a prolonged pause; then, as if shaken with sudden consciousness, Chilcote rose. The rug dropped from one shoulder and hung down ludicrously; his hand caught the back of the chair for support; his unshaven face looked absurd and repulsive in its sudden expression of scared inquiry.
Chilcote extended a cold and shaky hand. "You see " he began. But Loder checked him almost savagely. "I do as well as though I had followed you from Piccadilly last night! You've been hanging about, God knows where, till the small hours of the morning; then you've come back slunk back, starving for your damned poison and shivering with cold.
That Chilcote should appeal to him stirred him to an uneasy feeling of pride and uncertainty. Loder saw his advantage and pressed it home. "It's come about through this crystal-gazing business. I'm afraid I didn't play my part rather made an ass of myself; I wouldn't swallow the thing, and and Lady Astrupp " He paused, measuring Blessington with a glance.
"Then you admit that you are not Jack Chilcote?" "I neither deny nor admit. My identity is obvious. I can get twenty men to swear to it at any moment that you like. The fact that I haven't worn rings till now will scarcely interest them." "But you do admit to me, that you are not Jack?" "I deny nothing and admit nothing. I still offer my congratulations." "Upon what?"
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