" It was all he could do not to spring upon
this craven and pin him to the floor.
"And we're not all as discreet as you!" Pell flung back. "And now, if you
don't mind," he added insinuatingly, "I'd like to talk to my wife--alone."
Gilbert was consumed with fear for Lucia. "What?" he cried.
"Have you any objections?" Pell said, curling his lip. The irony in his
tone was unmistakable.
Gilbert moved toward the door. "Why--no."
"Thank you," Pell said; and he threw wide the door leading from the alcove
so that his host might pass through. He waited for him to do so. Gilbert
hesitated for the fraction of a second. He looked at Pell, and then at
Lucia, still lovely for all her suffering. There was nothing to
say--nothing he could say. He disappeared into the other room, and shut the
door behind him. Pell immediately turned to the others. "Well?" he said.
"You mean you want us to get out too?" Uncle Henry asked, indignation in
his high voice.
"That's exactly what I do mean," Morgan Pell stated, firmly. "And the
sooner the better."
The situation, he felt, was entirely in his hands.
"Oh, very well!" Uncle Henry replied. He pushed his chair toward the door,
murmuring as he went, "Thank God I ain't his wife! That's all I got to
say!"
Hardy was still standing in the shadows.
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