"Of course not."
"Why not?"
"Why should I?"
"Let us go back to the previous question. Have you heard from Miss Bernard?"
"Why probe my wounds? Not a single line."
"Confound her impudence! she never wrote?"
"I don't know why she should. But in case she ought, I'm bound to say she couldn't."
"Why not? She said she would; she said so to me."
"She couldn't have said so. You must have misunderstood her. I left no address, you know; and I had no difficulty in eluding interviewers—not being a prize-fighter or a minor poet."
Sir Roderick smiled.