Page:The Whisper on the Stair by Lyon Mearson (1924).djvu/159

 to me. I haven’t asked much of you—just a promise to withdraw from this affair entirely—an affair that really does not concern you, anyway; surely you can see that in this thing you’re nothing but an outsider who has butted into things that are none of his business. Just promise me to keep away from Miss Pomeroy for good, and to⸺”

“Iggy,” said Val, “will you be good enough to go to hell?”

“Ah, still unregenerate, I see,” Teck shrugged his shoulders. “Some people never learn. You know, I’ve been uncommonly gentle up to now. I could easily have spared myself a lot of trouble by—er—disposing of you at once, as some of my associates suggested at the time. You would never have known what hit you, and there wouldn’t have been all this waste of time and talk—though if it amuses you, I’m satisfied.”

“M-m-m, I suppose I ought to be thankful to you for that,” said Val. “I guess it wasn’t very convenient for you to put me out of the way at the time, or you would have done it.”

“Well, never mind that,” put in Teck. “We’re wasting a lot of time and⸺”

“At present,” said Val, “time is⸺”

“A lot of time, and there are many things I have to do before I leave this evening,” went on Teck placidly.

“Leave this evening—where are you going?” asked Val curiously.

The other looked at him. “Of course, strictly speaking, it is scarcely any of your business,” he said. “My movements do not concern you in any way—but considering the fact that by this evening you will be defi-