“Yes. Freddie Rooke told me. I was terribly sorry.”
There was a pause. They were both thinking of that other disaster which had happened. The presence of Derek Underhill seemed to stand like an unseen phantom between them. Finally Wally spoke at random, choosing the first words that came into his head in his desire to break the silence.
Jill perceived that an opening for those tedious explanations had been granted her.
“Uncle Chris thinks so,” she said demurely.
“Oh, yes. He’s giving a dinner party here tonight!”
“It’s all right. I only began at the end of the story instead of the beginning. I’ll tell you the whole thing, then … then I suppose you will be terribly angry and make a fuss.”
“I’m not much of a lad, as Freddie Rooke would say, for making fusses. And I can’t imagine being terribly angry with you.”
“Well, I’ll risk it. Though, if I wasn’t a brave girl, I should leave Uncle Chris to explain for himself and simply run away.”
“Anything is better than that. It’s a miracle meeting you like this, and I don’t want to be deprived of the fruits of it. Tell me anything, but don’t go.”
“I should hope not with me. I’ve done nothing. I am the innocent heroine. But I’m afraid you will be very angry with Uncle Chris.”
“If he’s your uncle, that passes him. Besides, he once licked the stuffing out of me with a whangee. That forms a bond. Tell me all.”
Jill considered. She had promised to begin at the beginning, but it was difficult to know what was the beginning.
“Have you ever heard of Captain Kidd?” she asked at length.
“You’re wandering from the point, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not. _Have_ you heard of Captain Kidd?”
“Well, Uncle Chris is his direct lineal descendant. That really explains the whole thing.”
“Could you make it a little easier?” he said.
“I can tell you everything in half a dozen words, if you like. But it will sound awfully abrupt.”
“Of course you can’t possibly understand. I shall have to tell you the whole thing, after all.”
Wally listened with flattering attention as she began the epic of Major Christopher Selby’s doings in New York. Whatever his emotions, he certainly was not bored.
“So that’s how it all happened,” concluded Jill.
For a moment Wally said nothing. He seemed to be digesting what he had heard.
