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Updated: June 17, 2025
"Very well," he said, and set her free. "Till to-night!" She turned from him in silence and opened the door. He stood motionless, with hands clenched at his sides, and watched her. She went down the passage without haste and reached the outer door. She opened it without fumbling, and in a moment Saltash's debonair accents came to him. "Ah, Juliette! You are ready?
They held Saltash's with a tensity of purpose that was greater than any display of physical force. It was as if the two were locked in silent combat. It lasted for many seconds, that mute and motionless duel, then very suddenly from a wholly unexpected quarter there came an interruption.
Like Dick, she seemed no longer aware of Saltash's presence. He came behind, a speculative expression on his ugly face. "Let me go first!" Dick said, as they reached the head of the winding stairs. Juliet gave place to him without a word. They descended rapidly. At the foot the door stood open to the terrace.
A hoarse murmur broke out at the back of the great barn, spreading like a wave on the sea. But ere it reached the men in front who stood sullenly dumb, staring upwards, Saltash's hand closed upon Juliet's arm, drawing her back. "After that, ma chère," he said lightly into her ear, "you would be wise to follow the line of least resistance." She responded to his touch almost mechanically.
It had happened often before, Saltash's caprice had sometimes driven him to the verge of rebellion, but no one not even Saltash himself ever suspected it. Silent, phlegmatic, inexpressive, Larpent held on his undeviating course. Maud's attention did not linger upon him. No one save perhaps Saltash ever paid much attention to Larpent.
He paused a moment, and an odd tremor went through him. "After twenty years," he said, as if in wonder at himself. Saltash's look came swiftly upwards. "I've heard that before," he said. "Those she caught she kept always. No other woman was ever worth while after Rozelle." Larpent's hand clenched instinctively, but he said nothing. Saltash went on in the same casual tone.
And I'm not such a blackguard as I used to be." "Sure?" said Jake. Again Saltash's smile flashed across at him. "Quite sure, my worthy philosopher," he made light reply. "I don't set up for a model of virtue of course, but at least now-a-days I never take what I can't pay for." "That so?" said Jake.
Saltash's hand closed like a trap upon Jake's shoulder. There was a challenging quality in his smile. Jake nodded. "Yes. Bunny's got the real stuff in him. Bunny would have put her happiness before his own always. He would have given her the love that lasts. It's the only thing worth having, after all." "Well?" The challenge became more marked upon the swarthy face. The smile had vanished.
It was the pause of the hunted animal that sees its retreat cut off, but in an instant Saltash's voice, very cool, arrogantly self-assured, checked the impulse to panic. "Straight on to the lift, ma chère! See! It is there in front of you. There will be no one in the gallery. Go straight on!"
There was a moment's pause. Then the man on Juliet's other side spoke, briefly and with decision. "Miss Moore is no longer interested in Lady Joanna Farringmore's doings. Their friendship is at an end." Juliet made a slight gesture of remonstrance, but she spoke no word in contradiction. A gleam of malice danced in Saltash's eyes; it was like the turn of a rapier in a practised hand.
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