Only absolute necessity, I assure
you, could prevent me being with you as long as possible,"
and though he spoke to the girl's father he looked directly
into the eyes of Barbara Harding.
A young woman of less experience might have given some
outward indication of the effect of this speech upon her, but
whether she was pleased or otherwise the Count de Cadenet
could not guess, for she merely voiced the smiling regrets that
courtesy demanded.
They left De Cadenet at his hotel, and as he bid them
farewell the man turned to Barbara Harding with a low aside.
"I shall see you again, Miss Harding," he said, "very, very
soon."
She could not guess what was in his mind as he voiced this
rather, under the circumstances, unusual statement. Could she
have, the girl would have been terror-stricken; but she saw that
in his eyes which she could translate, and she wondered many
times that evening whether she were pleased or angry with the
message it conveyed.
The moment De Cadenet entered the hotel he hurried to
the room where the impatient Mr. Ward awaited him.
"Quick!" he cried. "We must bundle out of here posthaste.
They sail tomorrow morning. Your duties as valet have been
light and short-lived; but I can give you an excellent recommendation
should you desire to take service with another gentleman.
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