The marks were still
there when I returned this morning, because I noticed them."
"The same marks?" the Colonel asked, frowning.
"Without a doubt the same marks," Julian replied. "In one place,
where we skidded a little, I recognized them."
Colonel Henderson smiled a little more naturally.
"I begin to have hopes," he acknowledged frankly, "that I have
been drawn into another mare's nest. Nevertheless, I am bound to
ask you this question, Miss Abbeway. Did you leave your room at
all during last night?"
"Not unless I walked in my sleep," she answered, "but you had
better make enquiries of my aunt, and Parkins, our maid. They
sleep one on either side of me."
"You would not object," the Colonel continued, more cheerfully
still, "if my people thought well to have your things searched?"
"Not in the least," Catherine replied coolly, "only if you unpack
my trunks, I beg that you will allow my maid to fold and unfold my
clothes."
"I do not think," Colonel Henderson said to Lord Maltenby, "that I
have any more questions to ask Miss Abbeway at present."
"In which case we will return to the drawing-room," the Earl
suggested a little stiffly. "Miss Abbeway, you will, I trust,
accept my apologies for our intrusion upon you. I regret that any
guest of mine should have been subjected to a suspicion so
outrageous."
Catherine laughed softly.
"Not outrageous really, dear Lord Maltenby," she said. "I do not
quite know of what I have been suspected, but I am sure Colonel
Henderson would not have asked me these questions if it had not
been his duty.
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