Hugh shrugged his shoulders. He was much puzzled.
"The fact is, Mrs. Bond, I'm tired of being hunted like this!" he said. "This eternal fear of arrest has got upon my nerves to such an extent that I feel if they want to bring me for trial--well, they can. I'm innocent--therefore, how can they prove me guilty?"
"Oh! you mustn't let it obsess you," the woman urged. "Mr. Benton has told me all about the unfortunate affair, and I greatly sympathize with you. Of course, to court the publicity of a trial would be fatal. What would your poor father think, I wonder, if he were still alive?"
"He's dead," said the young man in a low, hoarse voice; "but Mademoiselle Ferad knows the secret of his death."
"He died suddenly--did he not?"
"Yes. He was murdered, Mrs. Bond. I'm certain of it. My father was murdered!"
"Murdered?" she echoed. "What did the doctors say?"
"They arrived at no definite conclusion," was Hugh's response. "He left home and went up to London on some secret and mysterious errand. Later, he was found lying upon the pavement in a dying condition. He never recovered consciousness, but sank a few hours afterwards. His death is one of the many unsolved mysteries of London."
"The police believe that you went to the Villa Amette and murdered Mademoiselle out of revenge."
"Let them prove it!" said the young fellow defiantly. "Let them prove it!"
"Prove what?" asked Louise, as she suddenly reopened the door, greatly to the woman's consternation.
"Oh! Only somebody--that Spicer woman over at Godalming--has been saying some wicked and nasty things about Mr. Henfrey," replied Mrs. Bond. "Personally, I should be annoyed. Really those gossiping people are simply intolerable."
"What have they been saying, Hugh?" asked the girl.
"Oh, it's really nothing," laughed Henfrey. "I apologize. I was put out a moment ago, but I now see the absurdity of it. Forgive me, Louise."
The girl looked from Mrs. Bond to her guest in amazement.
"What is there to forgive?" she asked.
"The fact that I was in the very act of losing my temper. That's all."
Presently, when Louise was ascending the stairs with Mrs. Bond, the girl asked: "Why was Hugh so put out? What has Mrs. Spicer been saying about him?"
"Only that he was a shirker during the war. And, naturally, he is highly indignant."
"He has a right to be. He did splendidly. His record shows that," declared the girl.
"I urged him to take no notice of the insults. The Spicer woman has a very venomous tongue, my dear! She is a vicar's widow!"