Besides, this good thing was not my own affair. I had to
protect the interest of another person--my employer, in point of fact;
and it was by his suggestion, and in compliance with his request, that
I invented that harmless fiction about Dorking. I don't think there
was any dishonourable dealing in the matter. We were soldiers of
fortune both; and the stratagem with which I protected myself against
you was a very innocent one. You would have employed any stratagem or
invented any fiction under the same circumstances. It was a case of
diamond cut diamond."
"Precisely; and if the older soldier, if the free lance of many a
campaign, got the best of it in the long run, the younger freebooter
could hardly think himself ill-used--could he now, Val?"
"Well, no, I suppose not," replied Valentine, puzzled by the significance
in the face of his old companion. That sly twinkle in the Captain's eyes,
that triumphant smile wreathing the Captain's lips, must surely mean
mischief.
Valentine Hawkehurst remembered the vague suspicion that had flashed into
his mind on that Christmas Eve when Captain Paget and he had dined
together at a West End restaurant, and the Captain had toasted Charlotte
Halliday with a smile of sinister meaning. He began to anticipate some
startling and unpleasant revelation. He began to understand that in some
manner this inscrutible schemer had contrived to overreach him.
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