The girl was about to exclaim, "But you can't leave me like this!" when it occurred to her that, desperado as he was turning out, it would be well to take him at his word; at all events, to a certain extent.
"Very well," she said. "I shall tell everyone that you've gone West on an important mission. V.C.'s are always expected to have missions."
"And I shall tell everyone that I've done nothing of the sort. I'll go back to the Belmore, 'phone to the Plaza and countermand the suite I took, and allow myself to be interviewed by all the reporters, who'll swarm round me like flies round a honeypot. There'll be plenty of flies left for you. You can give them honey or vinegar, I don't care which. It's your concern, not mine. I don't even care what they make of the combination: my story and yours. It'll be some story, though. That's the one thing sure."
"You're an absolute brute!" cried Marise.
"What did you expect? You heard from Severance that I was a bounder. I'm a fighting man. That's about all, for the moment."
"You mean, you're fighting me?"
"Not in the least. I'm fighting the battle of appearances, which means I'm fighting for you."
"What makes you think there'll be reporters waiting?" Marise changed the subject. "Did you tell anyone?"
"The manager of your hotel and mine. I didn't tell him in confidence. There was no idea of keeping the marriage a secret, was there?"
"No-o."