"I came
specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter."
Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away. There
seemed to her something sinister in his manner. She was suddenly
conscious that there was a new danger to be faced, and that this
man's attitude towards her was, for some reason or other, inimical.
After the first shock, however, she prepared herself to do battle.
"Well, you seem very mysterious," she observed. "I haven't broken
any laws, have I? No lights flashing from any of my windows?"
"So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort," the
Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint.
"My call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a
friendly one."
"How nice!" she sighed. "Then you'll have some tea, won't you?"
"Not at present, if you please," he begged. "I have come to talk
to you about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
"Really?" Philippa exclaimed. "Whatever has that poor man been
doing now."
"Dreymarsh," her visitor proceeded, "having been constituted, during
the last few months, a protected area, it is my duty to examine and
enquire into the business of any stranger who appears here. Mr. Hamar
Lessingham has been largely accepted without comment, owing to his
friendship with you. I regret to state, however, that certain facts
have come to my knowledge which make me wonder whether you yourself
may not in some measure have been deceived.
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