John saw that he must face an explanation of his embassy. He got up and stood on the hearthrug.
"I'm here as the friend of you both," he began.
The colour and the sparkle both grew brighter.
"Oh, are you?" said Lady Harriet.
"It comes to this. Tom's friends—I and one or two more—have been speaking seriously to him. We've got him to say that he's ready to drop—to drop what you very properly object to—and to make another effort to find a—a modus vivendi."
"I'm glad he's got so much decent feeling! Only it comes rather late. He wants me to forgive him, does he?"
"I don't think we can put it quite so simply as that." John risked a timid smile. "There must be a give-and-take, Lady Harriet—a give-and-take, you know."
"Well?" She was relapsing into that dangerous stillness of hers. She was very quiet, but her eyes shone very bright. Tom Courtland would have known the signs, so would the girls.
"We've got him to say what I've told you; but there must be something from your side."
"What am I to do, John?" she asked, with deceptive meekness.