That was unusual. Their callers were few. She heard
the outer door open--then the sound of a distant voice mingling with
her father's.
Then came a knock at her door.
"There's somebody outside here to see ye, Peg," said her father.
"Who is it, father?"
"A perfect sthranger--to me. Be quick now."
She heard her father's footsteps go into the little sitting-room and
then the hum of voices.
Without any apparent reason she suddenly felt a tenseness and
nervousness. She walked out of her room and paused a moment outside
the closed door of the sitting-room and listened.
Her father was talking. She opened the door and walked in. A tall,
bronzed man came forward to greet her. Her heart almost stopped. She
trembled violently. The next moment Jerry had clasped her hand in
both of his.
"How are you, Peg?"
He smiled down at her as he used to in Regal Villa: and behind the
smile there was a grave look in his dark eyes, and the old tone of
tenderness in his voice.
"How are you, Peg?" he repeated.
"I'm fine, Mr. Jerry," she replied in a daze. Then she looked at
O'Connell and she hurried on to say:
"This is my father--Sir Gerald Adair."
"We'd inthroduced ourselves already," said O'Connell, good-
naturedly, eyeing the unexpected visitor all the while.
Pages:
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413