"
"In an automobile?"
"Yes."
"Ah! Were you here when Mr. Winfield left again?"
For the life of him Mr. Penway had not the courage to say no. There was
something about this woman's stare which acted hypnotically upon his
mind, never at its best as early in the evening.
He nodded.
"There was a young woman with him?" pursued Mrs. Porter.
At this moment Mr. Penway's eyes, roving desperately about the room,
fell upon the bottle of Bourbon which Kirk's kindly hospitality had
provided. His emotions at the sight of it were those of the shipwrecked
mariner who see a sail. He sprang at it and poured himself out a stiff
dose. Before Mrs. Porter's disgusted gaze he drained the glass and then
turned to her, a new man.
The noble spirit restored his own. For the first time since the
interview had begun he felt capable of sustaining his end of the
conversation with ease and dignity.
"How's that?" he said.
"There was a young woman with him?" repeated
Mrs. Porter.
Mr. Penway imagined that he had placed her by this time. Here, he told
himself in his own crude language, was the squab's mother camping on
Kirk's trail with an axe. Mr. Penway's moral code was of the easiest
description. His sympathies were entirely with Kirk. Fortified by the
Bourbon, he set himself resolutely to the task of lying whole-heartedly
on behalf of his absent friend.
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