“What people?” he said, taken aback.
“Oh, lots of people. Most likely some who know you. There are visitors coming from London: my guardian, my guardianess, their daughter, my mother, and about a hundred more.”
“Four in all. What are they coming for? To see you?”
“To take me away,” she replied, watching for signs of disappointment on his part.
They were at once forthcoming. “What the deuce are they going to take you away for?” he said. “Is your education finished?”
“No. I have behaved badly, and I am going to be expelled.”
He laughed again. “Come!” he said, “you are beginning to invent in the Smilash manner. What have you done?”
“I don’t see why I should tell you. What have you done?”
“I! Oh, I have done nothing. I am only an unromantic gentleman, hiding from a romantic lady who is in love with me.”
“Poor thing,” said Agatha sarcastically. “Of course, she has proposed to you, and you have refused.”