"Now I see why you come to me, why you did not ruthlessly throw me over; your little plot had a weak point, and you needed my co-operation to complete my own degradation!"
"Miss Fitzgerald is fast becoming a diplomatist!"
"I'm a fool!"
"Pardon me, you are nearer wisdom than you've ever been in your life."
"If—I—do—this," she said very slowly, "you must help me to reinstate myself in the eyes of the world."
"I've told you it'll not be necessary."
"Bah! I know the world better than you do, with all your cleverness. Mine is a practical, not a theoretical, knowledge."
Kent-Lauriston bowed.
"They'll talk, no matter if it be truth or not. It will be believed. I must have a few questions answered in any event."
"Ask them."