"I would if I could; but I don't know that I've any way of dissuading him."
"You needn't dissuade him. You've simply to refuse to take his money."
"It's not quite so easy as that, because there's no direct business between him and me. If Mr. Guion wanted to pay me what I've lent him, I couldn't decline to accept it. Do you see?"
In the dim light he noticed her head nodding slowly. "Oh, so that's the way it is? It would have to be done through papa?"
"It would have to be done through him. And if he preferred to use Colonel Ashley's money rather than mine, I should have nothing at all to say."
"I see; I see," she commented, thoughtfully. "And I don't know how papa would feel about it, or how far I could count on him."
For a few minutes Davenant said nothing. When he spoke it was with some amazement at his own temerity. "I thought you didn't want my help, if you could possibly get any other?"
The words took her by surprise. He could see her draw her cloak more tightly about her, her hands still within its folds.
"I felt that way at first. I don't now. Perhaps I understand you a little better. But, in any case, I couldn't take his."
He pushed the liberty a little further. "But if you're going to marry him—"