"Yes," I said bitterly, "keep up the acting. The practice is good,
even if it deceives no one."
"I don't understand a word you are saying," she retorted, getting
angry in turn. "You speak as if I had done wrong--as if--I don't know
what; and I have a right to know to what you allude."
"I don't see how I can be any clearer," I muttered. "I was under the
station platform, hiding from the cowboys, while you and Lord Ralles
were walking. I didn't want to be a listener, but I heard a good deal
of what you said."
"But I didn't walk with Lord Ralles," she cried, "The only person I
walked with was Captain Ackland."
That took me very much aback, for I had never questioned in my mind
that it wasn't Lord Ralles. Yet the moment she spoke, I realized how
much alike the two brothers' voices were, and how easily the blurring
of distance and planking might have misled me. For a moment I was
speechless. Then I replied coldly--
"It makes no difference with whom you were. What you said was the
essential part."
"But how could you for an instant suppose that I could say what I did
to Lord Ralles?" she demanded.
"I naturally thought he would be the one to whom you would appeal
concerning my 'insulting' conduct."
Madge looked at me for a moment as if transfixed. Then she laughed,
and cried--
"Oh, you idiot!"
While I still looked at her in equal amazement, she went on, "I beg
your pardon, but you are so ridiculous that I had to say it. Why, I
wasn't talking about you, but about Lord Ralles.
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