It did occur to him that the pistol he held might be loaded in one
chamber only and that Deede Dawson might be scheming to induce him
to throw away his solitary cartridge.
But a glance reassured him on that point.
"Let me see how you can shoot," Deede Dawson repeated, leaning
carelessly with folded arms against the wall a little distance away.
"And I promise you I'll tell you where Ella is."
Rupert lifted his pistol and was indeed on the very point of firing
when he caught a glimpse of such evil triumph and delight in Deede
Dawson's cold eyes that he hesitated and lowered the weapon, and at
the same time, looking more closely, searching more intently for
some indication of Deede Dawson's hidden purpose, he noticed, caught
in the crack of the wardrobe door, a tiny shred of some blue material
only just visible.
He remembered that sometimes of an afternoon Ella had been accustomed
to wear a frock made of a material exactly like that of which so tiny
a fragment showed now in the crack of the wardrobe door.
CHAPTER XXX
SOME EXPLANATIONS
He turned quickly towards Deede Dawson. Their eyes met, and in that
mutual glance Rupert Dunsmore read that his suspicions were correct
and Deede Dawson that his dreadful trap was discovered.
Neither spoke. For a brief moment they remained impassive, immobile,
their eyes meeting like blows, and then Deede Dawson made one spring
to seize again the revolver he had laid down in the hope of enticing
Rupert into the awful snare prepared for him.
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