"How carefully you choose language. No, I merely wonder."
"You have no apprehension?"
"Not a sc.r.a.p. But I confess to feeling curious."
"Then the sea air hasn"t taught you to recognise that the whole thing came from overstrain."
"No," said Guildea, very drily.
He walked on in silence for a minute. Then he added:
"You thought it would?"
"I certainly thought it might."
"Make me realise that I had a sickly, morbid, rotten imagination--heh?
Come now, Murchison, why not say frankly that you packed me off to Westgate to get rid of what you considered an acute form of hysteria?"
The Father was quite unmoved by this attack.
"Come now, Guildea," he retorted, "what did you expect me to think? I saw no indication of hysteria in you. I never have. One would suppose you the last man likely to have such a malady. But which is more natural--for me to believe in your hysteria or in the truth of such a story as you told me?"
"You have me there. No, I mustn"t complain. Well, there"s no hysteria about me now, at any rate."
"And no stranger in your house, I hope."
Father Murchison spoke the last words with earnest gravity, dropping the half-bantering tone--which they had both a.s.sumed.
"You take the matter very seriously, I believe," said Guildea, also speaking more gravely.
"How else can I take it? You wouldn"t have me laugh at it when you tell it me seriously?"
"No. If we find my visitor still in the house, I may even call upon you to exorcise it. But first I must do one thing."
"And that is?"
"Prove to you, as well as to myself, that it is still there."
"That might be difficult," said the Father, considerably surprised by Guildea"s matter-of-fact tone.
"I don"t know. If it has remained in my house I think I can find a means. And I shall not be at all surprised if it is still there--despite the Westgate air."
In saying the last words the Professor relapsed into his former tone of dry chaff. The Father could not quite make up his mind whether Guildea was feeling unusually grave or unusually gay. As the two men drew near to Hyde Park Place their conversation died away and they walked forward silently in the gathering darkness.
"Here we are!" said Guildea at last.
He thrust his key into the door, opened it and let Father Murchison into the pa.s.sage, following him closely and banging the door.
"Here we are!" he repeated in a louder voice.
The electric light was turned on in antic.i.p.ation of his arrival. He stood still and looked round.
"We"ll have some tea at once," he said. "Ah, Pitting!"
The pale butler, who had heard the door bang, moved gently forward from the top of the stairs that led to the kitchen, greeted his master respectfully, took his coat and Father Murchison"s cloak, and hung them on two pegs against the wall.
"All"s right, Pitting? All"s as usual?" said Guildea.
"Quite so, sir."
"Bring us up some tea to the library."
"Yes, sir."
Pitting retreated. Guildea waited till he had disappeared, then opened the dining-room door, put his head into the room and kept it there for a moment, standing perfectly still. Presently he drew back into the pa.s.sage, shut the door, and said,
"Let"s go upstairs."
Father Murchison looked at him enquiringly, but made no remark. They ascended the stairs and came into the library. Guildea glanced rather sharply round. A fire was burning on the hearth. The blue curtains were drawn. The bright gleam of the strong electric light fell on the long rows of books, on the writing table,--very orderly in consequence of Guildea"s holiday--and on the uncovered cage of the parrot. Guildea went up to the cage. Napoleon was sitting humped up on his perch with his feathers ruffled. His long toes, which looked as if they were covered with crocodile skin, clung to the bar. His round and blinking eyes were filmy, like old eyes. Guildea stared at the bird very hard, and then clucked with his tongue against his teeth. Napoleon shook himself, lifted one foot, extended his toes, sidled along the perch to the bars nearest to the Professor and thrust his head against them. Guildea scratched it with his forefinger two or three times, still gazing attentively at the parrot; then he returned to the fire just as Pitting entered with the tea-tray.
Father Murchison was already sitting in an armchair on one side of the fire. Guildea took another chair and began to pour out tea, as Pitting left the room closing the door gently behind him. The Father sipped his tea, found it hot and set the cup down on a little table at his side.
"You"re fond of that parrot, aren"t you?" he asked his friend.
"Not particularly. It"s interesting to study sometimes. The parrot mind and nature are peculiar."
"How long have you had him?"
"About four years. I nearly got rid of him just before I made your acquaintance. I"m very glad now I kept him."
"Are you? Why is that?"
"I shall probably tell you in a day or two."
The Father took his cup again. He did not press Guildea for an immediate explanation, but when they had both finished their tea he said:
"Well, has the sea-air had the desired effect?"
"No," said Guildea.
The Father brushed some crumbs from the front of his ca.s.sock and sat up higher in his chair.
"Your visitor is still here?" he asked, and his blue eyes became almost ungentle and piercing as he gazed at his friend.
"Yes," answered Guildea, calmly.
"How do you know it, when did you know it--when you looked into the dining-room just now?"