"Whose orders?" she asked quickly.
"Your husband's," he answered. "His last words to me were that I was on no account to let you go near him."
"Oh, why?" she protested. "And I might be able to help."
"It isn't at all likely," he said. "And he's not a very pretty thing to look at."
"As if that matters!" she exclaimed.
"Well, it does matter, because I don't want to have you in hysterics, as much for my own sake as for yours." He smiled a little. "Also, if Mercer finds he has been disobeyed it will make him savage again, and perhaps I shall be the next victim."
"He would never touch you!" she exclaimed.
"He might. Why shouldn't he?"
"He never would!" she reiterated. "You are not afraid of him."
He looked contemptuous for a second; and then his expression changed.