‘Pray don’t let me detain you, Mr Racksole,’ said the Prince, and therefore the proprietor of the Grand Babylon departed after the servant, with a queer, curt little bow to Prince Aribert.
‘Mayn’t I come inside?’ said the Prince to Nella immediately the millionaire had gone.
‘Impossible, Prince,’ Nella laughed. ‘The rule against visitors entering this bureau is frightfully strict.’
‘How do you know the rule is so strict if you only came into possession last night?’
‘I know because I made the rule myself this morning, your Highness.’
‘But seriously, Miss Racksole, I want to talk to you.’
‘Do you want to talk to me as Prince Aribert or as the friend—the acquaintance—whom I knew in Paris last year?’
‘As the friend, dear lady, if I may use the term.’
‘And you are sure that you would not like first to be conducted to your apartments?’
‘Not yet. I will wait till Dimmock comes; he cannot fail to be here soon.’