She
swayed a little towards him; dropping her hand, he put out his arms--in
another moment, what she felt sure such a man as Radmore would have
regarded as irreparable would have happened, had not the door just behind
them burst open.
They fell apart quickly, and Radmore, with a sudden revulsion of
feeling--a sensation that he had been saved from doing a very foolish
thing--turned to see his godson, Timmy Tosswill.
Enid Crofton looked at Timmy, too, and if evil thoughts could kill, the
child would have fallen dead. But evil thoughts do not kill, and so all
that happened was that Timmy had a sudden, instinctive feeling that he
must account for his presence.
Looking up into his godfather's face, he said breathlessly:--"The front
door was shut, so I came in, through the kitchen. It's ever so late,
Godfrey--after half past seven. Dad _will_ be upset if you're not back to
speak to him before dinner!"
* * * * *
As the two, the tall man and the short boy, walked away into the
darkness, Radmore was possessed by an extraordinary mixture of feelings.
"You've had an escape! You've got well out of what would have been not
only a dangerous but an absurd situation," so whispered a secret, inner
voice.
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