"Circumstances could not be more favourable to my plans. A man who is
blind and deaf, and utterly idiotic under the influence of an absurd
infatuation, one woman whose brains are intoxicated by opium, and
another who would sell her soul for money."
* * * * *
These incidents, which have occupied so much space in the telling, in
reality did not fill up much time. Only a month had elapsed since
Lionel Dale's death, when Reginald Eversleigh and Paulina had the
interview described above. And now it seemed as though Fate itself were
conspiring with the conspirators, for the watch kept upon them by
Andrew Larkspur was perforce delayed, and Lady Eversleigh's designs of
retributive punishment were suspended. A few days after the return of
Mr. Larkspur to town, that gentleman was seized with serious illness,
and for three weeks was unable to leave his bed. Mr. Andrew lay ill
with acute bronchitis, in the lodging-house in Percy Street, and Mrs.
Eden was compelled to wait his convalescence with what patience she
might.
* * * * *
Sir Reginald Eversleigh and Douglas Dale met at the Phoenix Club soon
after Reginald's interview with Madame Durski.
Douglas met his cousin with a quiet and courteous manner, in which
there was no trace of unfriendly feeling: a manner that expressed so
little of any feeling whatever as to be almost negative.
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