Uneasy Money · Chapter 19 (2/2)

“But she doesn’t know that I am Lord Dawlish. I came to America under another name. She knows me as Chalmers.”

Claire was silent for a moment.

“How did you get to know her?” she asked more quietly.

“I met her brother by chance in New York.”

“By chance!”

“Quite by chance. A man I knew in England lent me his rooms in New York. He happened to be a friend of Boyd’s. Boyd came to call on him one night, and found me.”

“Odd! Had your mutual friend been away from New York long?”

“Some months.”

“And in all that time Mr. Boyd had not discovered that he had left. They must have been great friends! What happened then?”

“Boyd invited me down here.”

“Down here?”

“They live in this house.”

“Is Miss Boyd the girl who keeps the bee farm?”

“She is.”

Claire’s eyes suddenly lit up. She began to speak in a louder voice.

“Bill, you’re an infant, a perfect infant! Of course she’s after your money. Do you really imagine for one instant that this Elizabeth Boyd of yours and her brother don’t know as well as I do that you are really Lord Dawlish? I always thought you had a trustful nature! You tell me the brother met you by chance. Chance! And invited you down here. I bet he did! He knew his business! And now you’re going to marry the girl so that they will get the money, after all! Splendid! Oh, Bill, you’re a wonderful, wonderful creature. Your innocence is touching.”

She swung round.

“Good night,” she called over her shoulder.

He could hear her laughing as she went down the road.