Page:ManInBrownSuit-Christie.pdf/198

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THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
189

Falls. I was just at the head of the palm gully when I heard you scream."

"Why didn't you get help from the hotel instead of carting me all the way here?" I asked.

He flushed again.

"I suppose it seems an unpardonable liberty to you—but I don't think that even now you realize your danger! You think I should have informed your friends? Pretty friends, who allowed you to be decoyed out to death. No, I swore to myself that I'd take better care of you than any one else could. Not a soul comes to this island. I got old Batani, whom I cured of a fever once, to come and look after you. She's loyal. She'll never say a word. I could keep you here for months and no one would ever know."

I could keep you here for months and no one would ever know! How some words please one!

"You did quite right," I said quietly. "And I shall not send word to any one. A day or so more anxiety doesn't make much difference. It's not as though they were my own people. They're only acquaintances really—even Suzanne. And whoever wrote that note must have known—a great deal. It was not the work of an outsider."

I managed to mention the note this time without blushing at all.

"If you would be guided by me——" he said, hesitating.

"I don't expect I shall be," I answered candidly. "But there's no harm in hearing."

"Do you always do what you like, Miss Beddingfeld?"

"Usually," I replied cautiously. To any one else I would have said "Always."

"I pity your husband," he said unexpectedly.

"You needn't," I retorted. "I shouldn't dream of