“What a nice place you’ve got!” Prudence went on. “May we see the bedroom?”
“Yes.”
Prudence went into the bedroom, not so much to see it as to make up for the foolish thing which she had just said, and to leave Marguerite and me alone.
“Why did you bring Prudence?” I asked her.
“Because she was at the theatre with me, and because when I leave here I want to have someone to see me home.”
“Could not I do?”
“Yes, but, besides not wishing to put you out, I was sure that if you came as far as my door you would want to come up, and as I could not let you, I did not wish to let you go away blaming me for saying ‘No.’”
“And why could you not let me come up?”
“Because I am watched, and the least suspicion might do me the greatest harm.”
“Is that really the only reason?”