'You don't look at all the man for such a part,'
said Hugo in the privacy of his brain, 'but you played your part
devilish well that night, my pale friend. You deceived me perfectly.'
'Prompt?' smiled the doctor, shaking hands, and removing his overcoat
with fatigued gestures.
'Yes; you must have caught the 4 p.m. express, and come via Folkstone
and Boulogne.'
'I did,' said Darcy.
'And yet I expect you didn't get my telegram till after two o'clock.'
'I have received no telegram from you, my dear Mr. Hugo. It had not
arrived when I left.'
'Then your presence here to-night is due to a coincidence merely?'
'Not at all,' said Darcy; 'it is due to an extreme desire on my part to
talk to you.'
'The desire is mutual,' Hugo answered, gently insisting that Darcy
should put away his cigarettes and take a Muria. 'Dare I ask--'
Darcy had become suddenly nervous, and he burst out, interrupting Hugo:
'The suicide of Mr. Ravengar was in this morning's Paris papers. And I
may tell you at once that it's in connection with that affair that I'm
here.'
'I also--' Hugo began.
'I may tell you at once,' Darcy proceeded with increasing
self-consciousness, 'that when I had the pleasure of meeting you before,
Mr. Hugo, I was forced by circumstances, and by my promise to a dead
friend, to behave in a manner which was very distasteful to me.
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