Vandeloup shrugged his shoulders.
'I didn't pay much attention to him,' he said, coolly; 'he seemed to
enjoy the play, and afterwards, when we went to supper with the
actors, he certainly ate very heartily for a dead man. I don't think
you need trouble yourself, Madame; your husband is quite well.'
'What time did you leave him?' she asked, after a pause.
'About twenty minutes to twelve, I think,' replied Vandeloup, 'at
least, I reached the "Wattle Tree" at about twelve o'clock, and I
think it did take twenty minutes to walk there. Monsieur Villiers
stopped behind with the theatre people to enjoy himself.'
Enjoying himself, and she, thinking him dead, was crying over his
miserable end; it was infamous! Was this man a monster who could
thus commit a crime one moment and go to an amusement the next? It
seemed like it, and Mrs Villiers felt intense disgust towards her
husband as she sat with tightly clenched hands and dry eyes
listening to Vandeloup's recital.
'Weel,' said Mr McIntosh at length, rubbing his scanty hair, 'the
deil looks after his ain, as we read in Screepture, and this child
of Belial is flourishing like a green bay tree by mony waters; but
we ma' cut it doon an' lay an axe at the root thereof.'
'And how do you propose to chop him down?' asked Vandeloup,
flippantly.
'Pit him intil the Tolbooth for rinnin' awa' wi' the nugget,'
retorted Mr McIntosh, vindictively.
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