"And she wished you to tell me?" There was a metallic ring in Sir Eustace's voice; the red glare was gone from his eyes, they were cold and hard as a winter sky.
"Yes," Scott said again, still not looking at him.
"And why?" The words fell brief and imperious, compelling in their incisiveness.
Scott's eyes returned to his, almost in protest. "I told her you ought to know," he said.
"Then she would not have told me otherwise?"
"Possibly not."
There fell another silence. Sir Eustace looked hard and straight into the pale eyes, as though he would pierce to the soul behind. But though Scott met the look unwavering, his soul was beyond all scrutiny. There was something about him that baffled all search, something colossal that barred the way. For the second time Sir Eustace realized himself to be at a disadvantage; haughtily he passed the matter by.
"In that case there is nothing further to be said. You have fulfilled your somewhat rash undertaking, and that you have come out of the business with a whole skin is a bigger piece of luck than you deserved. If Dinah wishes this matter to go any further, she must come to me herself."
"Otherwise you will take no action?" Scott's voice had its old somewhat weary intonation. The animation seemed to have died out of him.
"Exactly." Sir Eustace answered him with equal deliberation. "So far as you are concerned the incident is now closed."