He perceived that she
had started to say one thing, but would now say another. She took
his big hand and pressed it between her own.
"God bless you!" she said. "If I have you for a friend, I am
content. Mr. Brendon has been very good to me--very, very good. But
you are more likely to serve Uncle Albert than he."
They parted presently and Jenny returned to the house, while the
detective, finding a comfortable chair under an oleander bush,
sniffed the fragrance of the red blossom above him, regretted that
his vice had largely spoiled his sense of smell, took snuff and
opened his notebook. He wrote in it steadily for half an hour; then
he rose and joined Albert Redmayne.
The elder was full of an approaching event.
"To think that to-day you and Poggi meet!" he exclaimed. "Peter, my
dear man, if you do not love Virgilio I shall be broken-hearted."
"Albert," answered Mr. Ganns. "I have already loved Poggi for two
years. Those you love, I love; and that means that our friendship is
on a very high plane indeed; for it oftens happens that nothing
puzzles us more infernally than our friends' friends.
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