I was determined not to lose my temper, though, as a matter of fact, I was fiercely angry.
"Lady Delahaye," I said, "we are not prepared to give this child up to you. It will perhaps help to shorten a—a painful interview if you will accept that from me as final."
The change in Isobel was marvellous. The brilliant colour streamed into her cheeks. Her long-drawn, quivering sigh of relief seemed in the momentary silence which followed my pronouncement a very audible thing. Lady Delahaye looked at me as though she doubted the meaning of my words.
"You are aware," she said, "that this will mean great unpleasantness for you. You know the law?"
"I neither know it nor wish to know it," I answered. "We shall not give up the child."
I glanced at Mabane. His confirmation was swift and decisive.
"I am entirely in accord with my friend, madam," he said, with grim precision.
"The law will compel you," she declared.
"We will do our best, then," he answered, "to cheat the law."
"I should like to add, Lady Delahaye," I continued, "that our housekeeper, who has been in the service of my family for over thirty years, has willingly undertaken the care of the child, and I can assure you, in case you should have any anxieties concerning her, that she will be as safe under our charge as in your own."