Page:The Duke Decides (1904).djvu/82

 and escape so quickly as that,” exclaimed Alec, half incredulous.

Again the Duke shook his head.

“I raised no alarm, and they did get away, after pulling up the brazier and leaving no trace,” he replied. “There are reasons, Alec, why I could not have appeared against them had they been caught—the same reasons why I can’t confide more fully in you.”

“You must have done something very bad—murder at least,” said Forsyth, gravely.

“On the contrary, I have done nothing at all,” Beaumanoir retorted. “It is for not doing something that I am being persecuted.”

“Well, what about the third attempt?”

“It happened this afternoon, as I was on my way to your uncle’s. A carriage knocked me down and very nearly crumpled me. But that may have been an accident.”

“Did you take stock of the driver and the people in the carriage?”

Beaumanoir was obliged to admit that he had not. In his disheveled state he had been only anxious to be cleaned down and have his wrist attended to, and it was not till after the carriage had driven rapidly away that he had connected the incident with the other attempts.