How strange it was that two men, so widely dissimilar as Robert and the
vendor of newspapers, should insist on the skill, the unerring certainty,
of their opponent.
"Mrs. Capella," he said, wheeling round upon the lady, "when you lived in
London or on the Continent did you ever include any Japanese in the circle
of your acquaintances?"
"Yes," was the reply.
Margaret was white, her lips tense, the brilliancy of her large eyes
almost unnatural.
"Tell me about them."
"What can I tell you? They were bright, lively little men. They amused my
friends by their quaint ideas, and interested us at times by recounting
incidents of life in the East."
"Were they all 'little'? Was one of them a man of unusual stature?"
"No," said Margaret
The barrister knew that she was profoundly distressed.
"If she would be candid with me," he mused, "I would tear the heart from
this mystery to-night."
One other among those present caught the hidden drift of this small
colloquy. Robert Frazer looked sadly at his cousin. Natures that are
closely allied have an electric sympathy. He could not even darkly discern
the truth, but he connected Brett's words in some remote way with Capella.
How he loathed the despicable Italian who left his wife to bear alone the
trouble that oppressed her--who only went away in order to concoct some
villainy against her.
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