"Guy!" he interrupted.
"Guy, then," she continued, with something very much like a blush, "forget all that you have said to me, at any rate for the present. Perhaps later on, when this is all over—"
"You won't want me then," he said. "It's just now you need some one to look after you. You are too young, and forgive me, dear, too simple, to be mixed up in such affairs as you have been speaking of. There is only one way to really protect you, and that is to get that special license to-morrow."
"But you mustn't talk about it, think about it even," she protested.
"It's impossible."
"No, I think not!" he answered. "Come, I am going to make you drink a glass of my wine. You are looking positively woebegone. That's right, drink it down," he added, as she sipped it timidly. "Now tell me what you are going to do for the rest of the evening."
"I am going," she said, "to try and save the life of the man who has the paper which was stolen from me. Incidentally I may be able to get it back again."
"Can I come too?" he asked.
"Certainly not!" she answered. "It isn't an affair for you to be mixed up in, and besides it would spoil my chance."
"You are not encouraging," he said. "Seriously, Virginia, do let me come."
"No!" she answered, glancing at the clock, "and I must be going in a very few minutes."