Of course the thing's an outrageous lie, but--they're acting upon
it."
"_Nigel!_ How dared he?"
"Who? Borkins? That kind of a devil dares anything.... How's your uncle,
dear? He has heard, of course?"
Her face brightened, her eyes were suddenly moist. She put her hands upon
his shoulders and tilted her chin so that she could see his eyes.
"Uncle Gustave told me to tell you that he does not believe a word of
it, dearest!" she said, softly. "And he is going to make investigations
himself. He is so unhappy, so terribly unhappy over it all. Such a
tangled web as it is, such a wicked, wicked plot they have woven about
you! Oh, Nigel dearest--_why_ did you not tell me that they were
detectives, these friends of yours who were coming to visit? If you
had only said--"
He held her a moment, and then, leaning forward, kissed her gently upon
the forehead.
"What then, _p'tite_?"
"I would have made you send them away--I would! I would!" she cried,
vehemently. "They should not have come--not if I had wired to them
myself! Something told me that day, after you were gone, that a dreadful
thing would happen.
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