Читать книгу A King by Night онлайн

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Gwendda took the paper from his hand and read the message twice.

"I don't understand it," she said. "I have never received a dagger. This paper says that it is the second."

"Do you know the writing?"

She looked at the inscription on the package, and shook her head.

"Is there anybody who would be likely to play a joke on you?"

"I know nobody," she said, and, in answer to his question: "Not even a shipboard friend. I was in my cabin most of the time, as we had rather a bad passage. No, I am afraid I can't help you. Of course, it is a joke; nobody would suggest that I should 'strike fearlessly.'"

To at least one man in that room her amused laughter was very convincing.

"If it is a joke, it is a joke in the worst possible taste," said Timms, severely, glaring at her as though she were responsible for this lack of good manners. "You had better keep it, Miss Guildford," he said as she was handing it back to him. "It is your property."

Before she could reply, Bill Joyner had taken the weapon from her hand.