He was looking straight into her face of agitation. There was a certain remorselessness about him that made him in a fashion imposing. Olga quivered a little under the insistence of his eyes, but she flinched no more.
"Yes?" she said. "Well, I do authorize you. It's got to be stopped somehow. I never dreamed of his saying that."
"Quite so," said Max. "But that isn't enough. You will have to go a step further. Give me a free hand! It's the only way if you don't want Nick rushing in. Give me the right to protect you! I promise to use it with discretion."
He smiled very slightly with the words; but Olga only gazed at him uncomprehendingly.
"How? I don't know what you mean."
He held out his hand to her abruptly. "Don't faint!" he said. "Let me tell him—as a dead secret—that you are engaged to me!"
Olga gasped.
Max got up. "Only as a temporary expedient," he said. "I'll let you go again—when you wish it."
His hand remained outstretched, and after a very considerable pause she laid hers within it.
"But really," she said, with an effort, "I don't think we need do anything so desperate as that."