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"Sure, sir!" The young man hurried away. Duge was still stooping down, with his arm around Virginia's waist. Gradually she began to recover herself. She looked all round the room, as though in search of some one. Her uncle asked her no questions. He saw that she was rapidly regaining consciousness, and he waited. Smedley returned with the brandy.
"Sometimes," Duge murmured, "you come in touch with them. For instance, I should like to know what advice you are going to give Norris Vine about the publication of that little document in his paper." Deane looked for a moment annoyed. "I am afraid," he said, "that I cannot answer you that question."
"I seem to be just in time, Miss Duge," he said. "You are going away?" "I am certainly going away," she answered. "Did you wish to see me?" Her manner took him a little aback. Nevertheless he reflected that there were a good many people within hearing, and she was right to be cautious. "Can I have three words with you?" he begged, "alone, anywhere?"
Norris Vine said, "the world is full of those who have missed their vocation. I am content to pass amongst the throng. Can I offer you anything before you go? A whisky and soda, or a glass of sherry?" "I think not, thank you," Phineas Duge said.
"Not to-night," Phineas Duge answered. There was an unexpected sound of voices outside in the hall. Phineas Duge looked toward the door with a frown upon his face. "What is that?" he asked sharply. The butler was perplexed. "I will go and see, sir," he said. "It sounds as if James were having trouble with some one." The door was suddenly opened.
"It is a pleasure to talk to you, Miss Duge. You grasp everything so quickly. Now you understand the position, then. There are three or four of us, including myself, on one side, and your father on the other. Supposing it was in your power to help either, and your interests lay with us," he added, speaking with a certain meaning in his tone "well, to cut it short, how should you feel about it?"
"She has been here this afternoon. This is her work," Duge said grimly. "We had some trouble before, you know, about that Canadian Pacific report. It was after that, that I was obliged to send her away altogether." The young man looked swiftly around the room. "Has she taken anything?" he began.
She was an old friend of the Duge family, and Phineas Duge had made it very well worth her while to look after his niece. They were interrupted by some callers. It was an informal "At Home" which Mrs. Harrison was giving in honour of her young charge.
My methods may have seemed to you a little melodramatic, but as a matter of fact they are entirely commonplace. These two gentlemen are connected with the American police, and it may interest you to know that we have with us warrants for the arrest both of yourself and my daughter, Miss Stella Duge, on the charge of theft and conspiracy.
"Yes," he said, "I have met Miss Duge often in New York." Stella turned towards him with a slight frown upon her forehead. "Do you mean, Norris, then, that after all you will not use your power over these men, that you will let them go free?" "Not if I can help it," he answered, "but there are many things to be considered. I shall be guided largely by what Deane advises."
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