' He then went on to
prophesy that a crime would be committed close to where we were,
within an hour or so, and he challenged me to discover the
assassin. That night Victor Bidlake was murdered just outside
Soto's."
"I remember! Do you mean to tell me, then," Margaret went on,
with a little shiver, "that father told you this was going to
happen?"
"He certainly did," Francis replied. "How his knowledge came I
am not sure--yet. But he certainly knew."
"Have you anything else against him?" she asked.
"There was the disappearance of Andrew Wilmore's younger brother,
Reginald Wilmore. I have no right to connect your father with
that, but Shopland, the Scotland Yard detective, who has charge
of the case, seems to believe that the young man was brought into
this neighbourhood, and some other indirect evidence which came
into my hands does seem to point towards your father being
concerned in the matter. I appealed to him at once but he only
laughed at me. That matter, too, remains a mystery."
Margaret was thoughtful for a moment. Then she turned towards
the house. They heard the soft ringing of the gong.
"Will you believe me when I tell you this?" she begged, as they
passed arm in arm down the pergola. "I am terrified of my
father, though in many ways he is almost princely in his
generosity and in the broad view he takes of things.
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