Annesley thought it, by
contrast, almost businesslike.
"You mustn't be afraid," he said, "that I mean to stay at the Savoy
myself. Even if I'd been stopping there, I should move if I were going to
put you in the hotel. But I have my own lair in London. I've been over
here a number of times. Indeed, I'm partly English, born in Canada,
though I've spent most of my life in the United States. Nobody at the
Savoy but the Countess de Santiago knows who I am, and she'll understand
that it may be convenient for me to change my name. Nelson Smith is a
respectable one, and she'll respect it!
"Now, my plan is to ask for her (she'll be in by this time), have a few
words of explanation on the quiet, not to embarrass you; and the Countess
will do the rest. She'll engage a room for you next to her own suite, or
as near as possible; then you'll be provided with a chaperon."
"I'm not anxious about myself, but about you," Annesley said. "You
haven't told me yet what happened after you went upstairs at Mrs.
Ellsworth's, and how you knew those men were gone. I suppose you did
know? Or--did you chance it?"
"I was as sure as I needed to be," Nelson Smith answered.
Pages:
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109