eBooks Base 2000

She
showed herself an adept in the fine art of outflanking incautious
intruders. Never did she wholly reveal herself or her purposes; but
reserved for her own use convenient run-holes, down which she could
escape from even the most intimate of her co-adjutors and employees. If
masterly in advance, she showed even more masterly in retreat; and that
too often at the expense of her fellow intriguers. Without scruple she
deserted them, when personal safety or personal reputation suggested the
wisdom of so doing. Though herself perplexed and suspicious, she now
rounded on Wace, taking a high tone with him.
"But why, my dear Marshall, why?" she enquired, "should Sir Charles
object to our--as you put it--_knowing_? That seems to me an entirely
gratuitous assumption on your part. In all probability Mary Ellice and
the boys were on the platform too, only you didn't happen to catch sight
of them. And, in any case, our friends at the Grand Hotel are not
accountable to us for their comings and goings.


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