That is absolutely the farthest limit to which I dare go at this moment." "O, very well!" The receiver was hung up in a temper, and the prompt ring-off jarred disagreeably in Theydon's ear.

If he was puzzled before, he was thoroughly at sea now.

But he took a bold course, and cared not a jot whether or not it was a prudent one.
The mere sound of Evelyn Forbes's voice had steeled his heart and conscience against the dictates of common sense.

Let the detectives think what they might, the girl's father must be allowed to carry through his plans without let or hindrance.
"Miss Beale," said Theydon, gazing fixedly into the sorrow-laden eyes of the quiet little lady whom he found seated where he had left her, "I'm going to tell you something very important, very serious, something so far-reaching and momentous that neither you nor I can measure its effect.

You heard the conversation on the telephone ?" "I heard what you were saying, but could not understand much of it," said his visitor in a scared way.
"I have been trying to communicate with Mr.Forbes, but his daughter tells me that the murder of your niece seems to have affected him in a manner which is incomprehensible to her, and even more so to me, though I am acquainted with facts which her father and I have purposely kept from her knowledge.