Page:Arthur Stringer - Twin Tales.djvu/129

Rh "There are several things, of course, that we can do," explained Gerry, quite unruffled by this unmasking of the guns of irony. "But before we go any further there's a phase or two of the case I must understand. It was in your studio, you say, that this assault took place?"

"I hate that word!" interpolated Teddie.

"Well—er—this incident. Now, had you forbidden this man Uhlan entry, warned him away, and all that sort of thing?"

"No, he was coming there three times a week, to give me lessons," explained Teddie.

"For which he was being duly paid?"

"No, nothing was ever said about his being paid," she acknowledged. And Gerry's increase of gravity didn't altogether add to her happiness.

"And the day he got his thumping—why did he come to your studio on that occasion?"

For the second time Teddie hesitated. Life, after all, wasn't so simple as she had once imagined it.