CHAPTER XLI 

THE COLONEL SPEAKS 

Wrayson glanced at the clock for the twentieth time. 

"I am afraid," he said gravely, "that Mr. Sydney Barnes has been one too many for us." 

"Do you think," Louise asked, "that he has persuaded the girl to give him the packet?" 

"It looks like it," Wrayson confessed. 

Louise frowned. 

"Of course," she said, "I think that you were mad to let her go before. She had the letters here in the room. You would have been perfectly justified in taking them from her." 

"I suppose so," Wrayson assented, doubtfully. "Somehow she seemed to get the upper hand of us towards the end. I think she suspected that some of us knew more than we cared to tell her about--her husband's death." 

Louise shivered a little and remained silent. Wrayson walked to the window and back. 

"To tell you the truth," he said, "I expected some one else here to-night who has failed to turn up." 

"Who is that?" the Baroness asked. 

Wrayson hesitated for a moment and glanced towards Louise. 

"Colonel Fitzmaurice," he said. 

Louise seemed to turn suddenly rigid. She looked at him steadfastly for a moment without speaking. 

"My father," she murmured at last. 

Wrayson nodded. 

"Yes!" he said. 

"But--what has he to do with this?" Louise asked, with her eyes fixed anxiously, almost fearfully, upon his. 

"I went to him for advice," Wrayson said quietly. "He has been always very kind, and I thought it possible that he might be able to help us. He promised to be here at the same hour as the others. Listen! There is the bell at last." 
Who is checking the time?
Who is he with?
Who is he waiting for?
Is that person related to Louisa?
How?
Who else is mentioned?
What do they think he has done?
To do what?
What was in it?
Where had they been kept?
What did the girl think?
About what?
Why was there visitor invited?
When was he supposed to come?
Wrayson
Wrayson
Louise
Louise
Colonel Fitzmaurice
Colonel Fitzmaurice
yes
My father
her father
 father
Mr. Sydney Barnes
Mr. Sydney Barnes
persuaded the girl
persuaded the girl
to give him the packet
to give him the packet
letters
 letters 
in the room
in the room
they knew more
 knew more than we cared to tell
her husband's death.
her husband's death.
for advice
for advice
at the same hour as the others
at the same hour as the others