He set down his cup and rang the bell.
Nina stood and looked at him. He certainly did not look like a man who had been up all night. Alert, active, tough as wire, he walked back to the table and gathered together his letters. A faint feeling of admiration stirred in her heart. His, strength appealed to her for the first time.
"I should like to drive into the City with you," she said, after a pause.
He gave her a sharp glance.
"I thought you would be wanting to go to the bank," he remarked coolly.
She flushed and turned her back upon him. It was an unprovoked assault, and she resented it fiercely.
When they met again an hour later she was on the defensive, ready to resist his keenest thrust, and, seeing it, he laughed cynically.
"Armed to the teeth?" he asked, with a careless glance at her slim figure and delicate face.
She did not answer him by so much as a look. He handed her into the car and took his seat beside her.
"Can you manage to dine out with some of your people to-night?" he asked. "I am afraid I shall not be home till late."