"Don't talk nonsense, Richard!" she exclaimed sharply. "Ring the bell for
more cups and saucers!"
CHAPTER XXIX
WHO IS TO TELL HER?
But Viner, instead of ordering the teacups, whispered a word or two to
Miss Penkridge, and then beckoned Lord Ellingham and the two solicitors
to follow him out of the room. He silently led them to his study and
closed the door.
"Miss Wickham will be all right for a while under my aunt's care," he
said, with a smile that had a certain meaning in it which was not lost
on Mr. Pawle or on Mr. Carless, "but there are matters connected with
her which ought not to wait, even for ten minutes hanging round Miss
Penkridge's tea-table. Now, I have been thrown headlong into this case,
and like all the rest of you, I am pretty well acquainted with it. And I
take it that now that the murder of Ashton has been solved, the real
question is--what is the truth about the young lady who was certainly
his ward?"
"That is right!" exclaimed Mr. Pawle. "Carless--and Lord Ellingham--I am
sure, agree with me."
"Absolutely--as far as I'm concerned," asserted Mr. Carless.
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