“Don’t stop there,” cried Katie.  “How tantalizing.  Either you should not have begun, or you ought to go on.  You must,” she insisted with a gesture of impatience, while her eyes met his with a smile that always conquered him.

“I’ve nothing to say,—­that is, there is nothing I can say.  One doesn’t betray one’s friends.  But Edmonson—­” He halted again.

“Yes, but Mr. Edmonson,” she repeated, “is a delightful man when one is on a frolic.  What else about him?”

“Oh—­nothing.”

The girl frowned.  “Very well,” she said.  “Everybody trusts Mistress Royal.  I understand it is I who am unworthy of your confidence.  As you please.”

“You!” he cried.  “You unworthy of my confidence!” There was consternation in his tones.  “You?” he repeated, looking at her helplessly.  The idea was too much for him.

“Certainly.  Or you would at least tell us what you mean about Mr. Edmonson, even if your former friendship for him—­that is supposing it gone now—­prevented you from going into details.”  She spoke earnestly and wondered as she did so why she had never felt any curiosity before as to the break of the intimacy between Edmonson and his friend, for, evidently, there had been a coolness, something more than mere separation.  As Elizabeth sat looking at his perturbed face, an old legend crossed her mind.  “Mr. Edmonson has lost his shadow,” she thought; and it seemed ominous to her.

“There are no details,” answered the earl.  “Nothing has happened.  If you imagine I have quarrelled with him, you are mistaken.  Nothing of the sort.  There were reasons, as I have said, to keep me at home, and he had no claim upon me to accompany him.  Besides, there’s a something, that as I said, I can’t put into words, and I may be entirely wrong.  But Edmonson is a terrible fellow at times.  One day he—.”  Then Bulchester stopped abruptly, and began a new sentence.  “I know nothing,” he said.  “I have nothing to tell, only I fear, because if he wants anything, he must have it through every obstacle.  When he takes the bits between his teeth, Heaven only knows where he will bring up, and Heaven hasn’t much to do with the direction of his running, I imagine.  Sometimes one would rather not ride behind him.”  As he finished, his eyes were on Elizabeth’s face, and it seemed as if he were speaking especially for her.  But in a moment as they met hers full of inquiry, he dropped them and looked disturbed.

“You are frightfully mysterious,” cried Katie.

“Not at all,” he entreated.  “There is no mystery anywhere.  I never said anything about mysteries.  Please don’t think I spoke of such a thing.”

“Yes, you are very mysterious,” she insisted.  “Nobody can help seeing that you know evil of your friend, and don’t want to tell it.  I dare say it’s to your credit.  But, all the same, it’s tantalizing.”