She looked as crestfallen as a child that has had a succulent lollipop snatched out of its mouth.
"I think you're beastly," she said.
"I know. Pigs move pointedly over to the other end of the sty when I come in. And now suppose you tell me what those papers were doing at Paddington."
"That's easy. You see I had them with me when I was coming down here for last week end, because of course I hadn't read them, and I was going to read them on the train and give them back to Johnny when I saw him. Then I thought if they had all these things in them that were so rude about Algy and General Sangore and the rest of them, perhaps I'd better not take them down with me, because Algy mightn't like it. So I just popped them in the cloakroom meaning to collect them on my way back. But then the fire happened, and — and everything, and I came back in Mr Luker's car, and what with one thing and another I forgot all about them until you started talking about them at the Berkeley. So after last night I thought I'd better see what they were all about."
"And what are they all about?"
"I don't know yet, but they look rather dull. You see, I'd only just started to look at them when you came in. I didn't like to open them on the train, because there were always other people in the carriage, and I didn't know if they might not see something they shouldn't see… You can look at them with me if you like. As a matter of fact, I–I meant you to have them anyway."
Simon gazed at her with the admiration reserved for very special occasions.
"Darling," he said, "how can I ever have managed to misjudge you?"
"But I did, really. You don't think I'd have let Algy have them after what happened last night, do you?"
"Of course not — unless he paid you a much bigger price for compensation."