The Double Traitor by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
page 7 of 295 (02%)
page 7 of 295 (02%)
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among them, the hospitality you accept and offer, which has all the time
its subtle significance. Now I am not sure, even, that I am, a very good companion for you, Mr. Francis Norgate." "You are a very bad one for my peace of mind," he assured her. She shook her head. "You say those things much too glibly," she declared. "I am afraid that you have served a very long apprenticeship." "If I have," he replied, leaning a little across the table, "it has been an apprenticeship only, a probationary period during which one struggles towards the real thing." "You think you will know when you have found it?" she murmured. He drew a little breath. His voice even trembled as he answered her. "I know now," he said softly. Their heads were almost touching. Suddenly she drew apart. He glanced at her in some surprise, conscious of an extraordinary change in her face, of the half-uttered exclamation strangled upon her lips. He turned his head and followed the direction of her eyes. Three young men in the uniform of officers had entered the room, and stood there as though looking about for a table. Before them the little company of head-waiters had almost prostrated themselves. The manager, summoned in breathless haste, had made a reverential approach. "Who are these young men?" Norgate enquired. His companion made no reply. Her fine, silky eyebrows were drawn a |
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