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"Not very well, my lord, but I'm that upset.... It wasn't my fault, but your lordship's father dropped on to me at Bristol, an' he's here now. What am I to do?" "My lordship's father! What are you talking about? Who are you?" "Isn't that Lord Oh, dash it, aren't you Miss Vanrenen's chauffeur, Fitzroy?" "No. This is the Symon's Yat Hotel.
He tried the bold course. "I may as well take that, too," he said offhandedly. "Is Viscount Medenham also in your party?" inquired the bookkeeper. "Yes." Again no demur was raised, since the Earl's repeated demands for information as to Miss Vanrenen's whereabouts showed that some sort of link must exist between him and the missing tourists.
Unhappily, Vanrenen's letter had helped to complete the lure, and he was no longer amenable to the dictates of cold reason. "That is hardly possible," he said. "I do not propose to bring myself under the law as a murderer, Monsieur Marigny. I am ready to take the consequences of a fair fight, but to secure that, certain preliminaries are indispensable."
Of course, it would be an easy matter for Marigny to enlist Miss Vanrenen's sympathies in the effort of a first-rate engine to conquer the adverse gradient. She would hardly realize the rate of progress, and, from where she was seated, the speed indicator would be invisible unless she leaned forward for the express purpose of reading it.
He had leaped a wall of brass and triple steel when he won Cynthia Vanrenen's love in the guise of an humble chauffeur, so it was unbelievable that the barrier interposed by a father's misguided wrath should prove unsurmountable. But Marigny!
He found himself comparing the sky's southeasterly tint with the azure depths of Cynthia Vanrenen's eyes, but he shook off that fantasy quickly, crossed the roadway and promenade, and, propping himself against the railings, turned a resolute back on romance.
Dozens of people in Paris and London know, or guess, at any rate, that I was Cynthia Vanrenen's suitor, but as many hundreds as there were dozens shall be told that I cast her off because of the taint placed on her by your silly masquerading. You have no escape you have no answer your marriage will only serve to confirm my words. Do you hear?
He had counted strongly on gaining Vanrenen's friendship and sympathy before Cynthia's dainty vision met his eyes again. "Has he gone to Paris?" he inquired. "Can't say, sir, I'm sure. My orders are to tell callers that Mr. Vanrenen will be in town next Tuesday." So, if present arrangements held good, Cynthia would reach London two days before her father.
"James sent this message from the West Strand at 9.30 a.m. Perhaps he had just heard of Mr. Vanrenen's departure," she said. Judging from Cynthia's occasional references to her father's character and associates, Medenham fancied it was much more likely that the American railway magnate had merely refused to meet Captain Devar. But therein he was mistaken.
The reasonable probability of having his chief features beaten to a pulp was not inviting, while the crude efficacy of the notion, in its influence on Miss Vanrenen's affairs, was not the least stupefying element in a difficult and wholly unforeseen situation.
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