"And I'm sure she's not interested."
Mr. Strangways bowed.
"That will be for her to decide. I understood her to say—"
"Whatever you understood her to say, sir, Miss Adare is not interested! Good afternoon." He nodded to me to come down the steps. "I was just coming over for you. Shall we walk along together?"
I backed away from him toward the stone balustrade.
"But, Hugh, I can't leave Mr. Strangways like this. He's come all the way from New York on purpose to—"
"Then I shall defray his expense and pay him for his time; but if we're going at all, dear—"
At a sign of the eyes from Larry Strangways I mastered my wrath at this insolence, and spoke meekly:
"I didn't know we were going anywhere in particular."
"And you'll excuse me, Mr. Brokenshire," our visitor interrupted, "if I say that I can't be dismissed in this way by any one but Miss Adare herself. You must remember she isn't your wife—that she's still a free agent. Perhaps, if I explain the matter a little further—"