Do you believe me, Captain?"
"I have no reason to doubt what you say. What you describe is not
impossible, and there surely must be an adequate explanation for it. I
mean to do my very best to uncover the mystery. You have these
fraudulent checks?"
"Yes; one was returned to me only yesterday."
"I shall want them, together with one you drew yourself. Also the names
of the servants who have apparently been approached by this person, and
the circumstances."
"Certainly."
"You do not mind if I ask you one or two rather direct personal
questions?"
"Assuredly not."
"What caused you to announce our engagement?"
She laughed, but from sudden embarrassment.
"It was silly, wasn't it! Really I do not exactly know; a sudden impulse,
and the words were spoken. It occurred to me that our intimacy could be
accounted for in no other way."
"So I supposed. Well, there is no harm done, but now, you understand, we
must play out the game."
"Play it out?"
"Surely; act natural, permit no suspicion to be aroused. Even if I should
feel impelled by duty, to kiss you, it is my privilege."
"Why--why, you cannot mean that!"
"Oh, but I do. This is no threat that I shall insist on carrying the
matter to such an extreme, yet I must insist on the right if it becomes
necessary. You would scarcely dare refuse, would you?"
"No," she confessed, her eyes suddenly meeting his, "I--I suppose not;
but--but is it necessary to discuss that now?"
"Perhaps not, only I must know.
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