The young man shivered and drained his glass.
"What was this service?" he enquired.
"Your sister played sick nurse upon the steamer to a person in whom I was
interested, and who was operated upon in her hospital," Jocelyn Thew
explained. "He was an Englishman, and very anxious to reach his own country
before he died."
"I can't quite catch on to it," Beverley admitted.
Jocelyn Thew glanced carelessly around. His manner was the reverse of
suspicious, but he only resumed his speech when he was sure that not even a
waiter was within hearing.
"It happened to form part of an important plan of mine," he said, "that a
man who was dangerously ill should be brought over to England without
raising any suspicion as to his _bona fides_. I made use of your sister's
name and social position to ensure this. There has been, as I think you
have often acknowledged, Beverley, a debt owing from you to me. Half of
that debt your sister has paid."
"You haven't been getting Katharine mixed up in any crooked business?" her
brother demanded excitedly.
"Your sister ran no risk whatever," Jocelyn Thew assured him. "She
performed her share of the bargain excellently. It is just possible," he
continued, with a glint of fire in his eyes and a peculiar, cold emphasis
creeping into his words, "that it may fall to your lot to wipe out the
remainder of the debt.
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