"I trust so," said I. "I'm sure I've no desire for her to stop."
Then, suddenly, he frowned--and made a short bow.
"She had the impudence to speak to me," he said.
I smiled and made no comment. For the life of me, I could not
determine if his surprise were natural or assumed.
He crossed to a front window and watched her out of sight.
"There is no discounting her beauty," he remarked.
I was silent.
He came over, and dropped into a chair on the other side of the table.
It was just where Mrs. Spencer had sat, and, so, a very fit place for
him.
"She must be a most extraordinary woman," he observed.
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Yet, what I can't understand, is what she hopes to gain by
masquerading, here, as your wife."
I looked at him and waited. He was steering into strange waters, it
seemed to me.
"Now, if she had done it in Paris, or Vienna, or any place outside of
Valeria," he went on, "one could see the temporary profit of it. But,
to come to Dornlitz and dare it under your very nose!"--he flung up his
hands. "She is a bit too much for me!"
I saw his drift, now. He wanted to know if I suspected him; and, to
that end, was quite willing to match his wit against mine.
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