Upon Nina the veiled allusion was not lost.
"That is neither here nor there," she rejoined sharply. "We are only losing time in discussion. He must be saved from himself, whatever the cost."
Again there appeared that makeshift for a smile.
"If you had only thought of that sooner, Mrs. Darling," he murmured.
"I did not come here for your recriminations. I came for your aid," was her reply. "Will you come to Regent's Park and use your influence?"
But Mr. Widdicombe shook his head with some emphasis.
"Certainly not. I have no influence to use. I am a solicitor—neither an alienist nor a wet-nurse." He bowed for the third time. "I have the honor to bid you a very good morning."
Nina, in a state between rage and despair, rejoined Gerald Andrews in the visitors' room.
"He is a beast!" she said with trembling voice. "An abominable old boor! There is but one thing left for us to do. We must go alone, and pray God we are not too late to avert trouble."
They made all the haste possible, assisted and abetted by a well-driven taxicab with a fairly good engine. But they were too late to avert trouble, nevertheless.