"Isn't it becoming rather a habit?" he said blandly.
"I don't know what you mean," said Hilary Vance with splendid dignity. "But this is different. This is a WOMAN!"
His face filled with an expression of the finest beatitude.
"They so often are," said the Honourable John Ruffin. "Does James know about her?"
At the sound of the name of the mentor and friend who had rescued him from so many difficulties, something of guilt mingled with the beatitude on Hilary Vance's face, and he said in a less assured tone:
"James is in Scotland."
The Honourable John Ruffin sprang from his chair with a briskness which made Hilary Vance himself jump, and cried in a tone of the liveliest commiseration and dismay:
"Good Heavens! Then you're lost—lost!"
"What do you mean?" said Hilary Vance quite sharply.
"I mean that your case is hopeless," said the Honourable John Ruffin in a less excited tone. "James is in Scotland; I'm off to Buda-Pesth; and you have found a WOMAN—probably THE WOMAN."