Page:Walpole--portrait of man with red hair.djvu/117

 "Yes. All round the town. Like the lion and the unicorn."

"Oh, I heard you. On any other night" He broke off. During this time he had been watching Harkness with a curious expression, something between eagerness, distrust, and an impatience which he was finding very difficult to conceal. He said nothing more. Harkness also was silent. They stared the one at the other, and could hear beyond the door the noises of the little hotel, a shrill female voice, the rattle of plates, some man's laughter.

At last Harkness said: "Your name is Dunbar, isn't it?'

The young man, instead of answering, asked his own question. "Look here, what the devil are you after? I don't say that it is or it isn't, but anyway why do you want to know?"

"It's only this," said Harkness slowly, "that if your name is Dunbar, then I have a message for you."

"You have?"

He started out of his chair, standing up in front of Harkness as though challenging him.

"Yes, a friend of yours asked me to come here, to meet you at half-past nine and tell you that she agrees to your proposal"

"She does?... At last!"

Then his voice changed to suspicion. "You seem to be a lot in this. Forgive my curiosity. I don't