"That was Dick, sure thing!"
"You call him Dick?"
"What else would I call him when he wants me to? But that's giving him away."
"Giving whom away?"
Vio had come out of her room without our having heard her. In a tea-gown of black and gold she stood before us in an almost terrifying dignity.
That is, it was almost terrifying to me, though Lydia was equal to the situation.
"Oh, madam, I didn't know you heard. Mr. Harrowby was just kidding me about Colonel Stroud."
"Indeed!" Moving forward with the air of an astonished queen, Vio seated herself in the armchair. "But why should Mr. Harrowby be—what was the word?—kidding you about anything?"
"Oh, we're old friends. Ain't we?" She turned to me for corroboration.
"Very good old friends," I said, with some warmth.