Page:Walpole--portrait of man with red hair.djvu/120

 a week before they went abroad, and the man refused. That was all there was, but the girl's terror struck me as extreme"

"My God!" Dunbar broke in, "if you only knew!"

"Well, I was touched by that and I didn't like the man's face, either. They went out. I came down to dinner. While I was waiting in the garden an extraordinary man spoke to me—extraordinary to look at, I mean. Short, fat, red hair—"

"You needn't describe him," Dunbar interrupted, "I know him."

"He came and asked me for a match. He was very polite, and finally invited me to dine with him, his son and daughter-in-law. I accepted. Of course the son and daughter-in-law were the two that I had overheard upstairs. I saw that throughout dinner she was in great distress, and at the end as we were leaving the room I let her know that I had overheard her inadvertently before dinner, and that I was eager to help her if there was any way in which I could do so. We had only a moment, Crispin and his son were close upon us. She was, I suppose, at the end of her endurance and snatched at any chance, so she told me to do this—to find you here and give you that message—that's all—absolutely all."

"The door opened, making both men turn apprehensively. It was only the shabby little waiter