“About last night,” he began. “I told Caroline it was a case of urgent necessity. She couldn’t—or wouldn’t understand.”
“Ah think it would have been better to have made your excuses to Mr. Anson,” she said, evenly.
“I left that to—to you. You understand that sort of thing. You have so much tact....”
“You didn’t ask me, Nick!”
“I hadn’t time. Good Lord! Caroline isn’t a child. She ought to understand——”
“Understand just what? You didn’t tell her where you were going, or why. No! Please don’t interrupt me for a minute! Ah know you’re not accountable to us in any way. But we were just going to that dinner for your sake, because you asked us. And.... Ah’m disappointed in you. Ah can’t help it!”
“You shouldn’t be. It’s not fair. It was an urgent matter. I was worried and upset, and perhaps I did neglect certain formalities. But under the circumstances, you ought to make allowances.”
“But what were the circumstances? You must remember we don’t know them.”
He was silent; then he asked, abruptly.
“What happened? What did you do?”