But I decided--eventually I decided--that it
was time to turn home. No game can last forever. So we returned, and on
our last night at sea we were rammed and sunk. Naturally that spoilt--or
shall I say somewhat precipitated?--my plans. We were saved, the two
of us together. And then was started that scandalous report of the woman
on the yacht." Again the laughter sounded in his voice. "You see, _mon
ami_, how small a spark can start a conflagration. In self-defence I had
to invent something, and I invented it quickly. I said she was Larpent's
daughter. I wonder if you would have thought of that. You'd have done it
if you had, I'll wager."
He turned upon the boy who strode in silence by his side with a gleam of
triumph in his eyes, but there was no answering gleam in Bunny's. He
moved heavily, staring straight before him, his face drawn in hard lines
of misery.
"Well," Saltash said, "that's all I have done. You now know the truth,
simple and unadorned, as Sheila Melrose in her simplicity does not know
it and probably would not comprehend it if she did."
"Leave her out of it!" said Bunny, in a strangled voice. "It was--the
obvious conclusion."
"Oh, the obvious!" Cynicism undisguised caught up the word.
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