"Mustn't it?" he chuckled. "Damnably! Still, you can see the picture. Ideal subject for a genre canvas. What?"
"Oh, perfect," agreed Nina, but she didn't smile. She patted the hound's head and answered the pathetic look in his appealing eyes.
"I'm afraid you've been unkind to her, Hal," she said presently.
"I'm afraid I have," he admitted. "I—" But he thought again and held his peace.
"Why?" she asked.
"Perforce. As a peer I'm bound to respect the laws of the realm. You didn't, but I must."
"I thought—But you know what I thought."
"Poor Darling," he said cryptically. Still there was nothing cryptic about it to Nina. She quite understood.
"I'm very good now," she asserted. "It's hard, but I do try. You must know how I do try."
"Why don't you keep out of temptation?" he asked, standing up. "Why don't you run as I do?"