The gipsy whom he had so maltreated a little while ago no longer seemed to interest him. Rosemary called to him rather impatiently:
"Peter!"
He paused and looked down at her. "Hallo!" he said coolly.
"Do you think it is all right for Elza to talk with this man alone?"
Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?" he said, with a laugh.
Then he called out to Elza:
"I say, Aunt Elza, if the wretch should try to kiss you, sing out, won't you?"
Elza laughed good-humouredly.
"Of course I am not afraid," she said. "And I do want to know about this mysterious letter."
Rosemary would have liked to argue the point. She could not understand how it was that Peter took the matter so lightly all of a sudden. However, as Elza was playfully pushing her out of the way, whilst Peter calmly continued to stroll up the stairs, she only said with a final note of earnestness: "I shall be quite close, Elza. You have only to call, you know."