He had kept me so busy
suspecting Miss Falconer--at the thought I could have beaten my head
against the wall in token of my abject shame--that my doubts had
never glanced in his direction; a most humiliating confession, since I
couldn't deny, reviewing the past in this new light, that circumstances
had afforded me every opportunity to guess the truth.
There was no time, however, for dwelling on my deficiencies. The next
half hour would be an uncommonly lively one, I felt quite sure. I might
call the thing bizarre, fantastic; I might dub it an extravaganza; the
fact remained that I was shut up in this lonely spot with four entirely
able-bodied Germans and must match wits with them over some affair
that apparently was of international consequence; for if it had been
a twopenny business, Herr von Blenheim, the star agent of the kaiser,
would never have thought it worth his pains.
With all my fighting spirit rising to meet the odds against us, I cast a
speculative eye over the Teutons, who had now dissolved their group.
Van Blarcom himself--Blenheim, rather--descended in a leisurely fashion
while one of his friends, remaining on the staircase, fixed me with a
look of intentness almost ominous and the other two placed themselves
as if casually before the door.
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