Page:Alice Lauder.pdf/163

“‘Great Scott! What on earth are you doing here!’ said a cheerful young voice in our neighbourhood. But the question was not addressed to either of us, and after a pause Mr. Austin went on, in the same monotonous undertone:

“‘I never allow myself to forget that Elizabeth is many years younger than I am, and I do not in any way seek to trammel her enjoyments. She chooses her own friends, and perhaps, impulsive as undoubtedly she is, these friends are not always the wisest of mankind. You know one of these friends, Miss Lauder; he is highly esteemed, I doubt not, by your circle; as far as I am concerned, I find him a courteous and well-informed gentleman. He is an accomplished traveller, but———’ Here Mr. Austin lifted the large magnifying glass by whose aid he had been examining the photographs on the table before him, and raised it mechanically, so that the glass circle seemed to fix an accusing gaze on me, like a huge Cyclopean eye, while he dropped his voice and said slowly, ‘but I wish he would not come so much to my house.’

“The murder is out now! and I am the person who has to pursue it, I thought to myself, and really I was so confused at the moment that I hardly knew what I said next, or even