"Perhaps as it is so fine you will let me dismiss the cab and we might walk across the Park," he suggested as he rejoined Katherine after seeing Miss Arabella in at the door. And she consented.
The air was crisp and fresh and the dusk was gathering. It was a quarter to six o'clock.
They turned towards Stanhope Gate and walked in silence. Then Mr. Strobridge stopped suddenly and drew Katherine to a chair.
"Katherine," he said, and his voice was husky. "Is it so?"
"Is what so?" she questioned, to be quite certain what he meant.
"Is the Duke to be your objective?"
She did not answer. She was weighing things. Gerard's assistance would be necessary for the pursuance of a plan which had been forming in her head since she had left the Houses of Parliament. She was swift to decide, and swift to act at critical moments in her life.
"Do you think you have any right to ask me such a question?"
"Yes."
"What right?"