"You will think it strange--" she began. "You will think--"
Then she stopped.
There was a pause, as though she waited for some help, but
Loder remained mute. In difficulty a silent tongue and a cool
head are usually man's best weapons.
His silence was disconcerting. He heard her stir again.
"You will think it strange--" she began once more. Then quite
suddenly she checked and controlled her voice. "You must
forgive me for what I am going to say," she added, in a
completely different tone, "but crystal-gazing is such an
illusive thing. Directly you put your hands upon the table I
felt that there would be no result; but I wouldn't admit the
defeat. Women are such keen anglers that they can never
acknowledge that any fish, however big, has slipped the hook."
She laughed softly.
At the soand of the laugh Loder shifted his position for the
first time. He could not have told why, but it struck him
with a slight sense of confusion. A precipitate wish to rise
and pass through the doorway into the wider spaces of the
conservatory came to him, though he made no attempt to act
upon it.
Pages:
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215