How is it that you never saw her go by ?" "She can't have gone my way, Sir Patrick, or I must have seen her." Having justified himself in those terms, he was recalled to the other end of the room by the whist-party, impatient for the cards which he had in his hand.
"What were we talking of when he interrupted us ?" said Sir Patrick to Blanche.
"Of the man, uncle, who was with Miss Silvester at the inn." "It's useless to pursue that inquiry, my dear, with nothing better than Mrs.Inchbare's description to help us." Blanche looked round at the sleeping Geoffrey.
"And _he_ knows!" she said.

"It's maddening, uncle, to look at the brute snoring in his chair!" Sir Patrick held up a warning hand.

Before a word more could be said between them they were silenced again by another interruption.
The whist-party comprised Lady Lundie and the surgeon, playing as partners against Smith and Jones.

Arnold sat behind the surgeon, taking a lesson in the game.

One, Two, and Three, thus left to their own devices, naturally thought of the billiard-table; and, detecting Geoffrey asleep in his corner, advanced to disturb his slumbers, under the all-sufficing apology of "Pool." Geoffrey roused himself, and rubbed his eyes, and said, drowsily, "All right." As he rose, he looked at the opposite corner in which Sir Patrick and his niece were sitting.
Blanche's self-possession, resolutely as she struggled to preserve it, was not strong enough to keep her eyes from turning toward Geoffrey with an expression which betrayed the reluctant interest that she now felt in him.