"And you risked being considered over-officious."
"There wasn't much risk about that," he smiled. "They did think me so—and do."
"And you got every one into a fix."
"Into a fix, but out of prison."
"Hm!"
She grew restless, uncomfortable, fidgeting with her rings and bracelets.
"And pray, what sort of a person is this Englishman to whom my niece has got herself engaged?"
"One of their very finest," he said, promptly. "As a soldier, so they say, he'll catch up one day with men like Roberts and Kitchener; and as for his private character—well, you can judge of it from the fact that he wants to strip himself of all he has so that the Guion name shall owe nothing to any one outside—"
"Then he's a fool."
"From that point of view—yes. There are fools of that sort, madame. But there's something more to him."