"Don't be so hard!" She had come toward him; her voice burred softly over his shoulder. "When I'm trying to keep the straight road, don't force me down into the dark ways I abhor. Oh, listen, Gavan! Give me a chance to explain!"
"What's the matter with this door?" he demanded.
"How do I know?" She pressed her lace handkerchief to her lips.
He rattled the handle.
"For God's sake! don't make a scene!" she cried in a harsh whisper. "Are you so bent on humiliating me!—both in private and in public as you did this morning? Another woman wouldn't forgive you this morning. And now, again, you want to humiliate me. Before hotel servants!"
"You told that bell-boy to fasten the door."
"Hush! For Nan's sake, anyway, don't make a scandal here!"
Napier turned and looked at her. "Whatever your motive is you are wasting time."
"Not if you give me five minutes to explain. For you, too," she said with meaning, "it won't be wasting time."
His answer was to lift his hand and press the electric bell.