"What do you want to speak to me about?" he repeated bluntly. "I
shall be in my rooms in the Temple to-morrow morning, any time
after eleven."
"It is necessary for me to speak to you now," she insisted.
"There is a tea-shop across the way. Please accompany me there."
Ledsam, a little surprised at the coolness of her request,
subjected his accoster to a closer scrutiny. As he did so, his
irritation diminished. He shrugged his shoulders slightly.
"If you really have business with me," he said, "I will give you
a few minutes."
They crossed the street together, the woman self-possessed,
negative, wholly without the embarrassment of one performing an
unusual action. Her companion felt the awakening of curiosity.
Zealously though she had, to all appearance, endeavoured to
conceal the fact, she was without a doubt personable. Her voice
and manner lacked nothing of refinement. Yet her attraction to
Francis Ledsam, who, although a perfectly normal human being, was
no seeker after promiscuous adventures, did not lie in these
externals. As a barrister whose success at the criminal bar had
been phenomenal, he had attained to a certain knowledge of human
nature. He was able, at any rate, to realise that this woman was
no imposter. He knew that she had vital things to say.
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