"A desperate case requires a desperate remedy sometimes," said Max, with a humorous twinkle in his eyes "It doesn't mean anything, but we must floor this rascal somehow. Is it a bargain?"
She hesitated. "You won't tell anyone else?"
"Not a soul," said Max.
She still hesitated. "But—he won't believe you."
"He will if I refer him to you," said Max.
Olga pondered the matter. "Are you sure it's the only way?"
"If you don't want Nick to know," he said.
"And what if he—spreads it abroad?" she hazarded.
"We can always treat it as idle gossip, you know," said Max. "Imminent but not actual—the sort of thing over which we blush demurely and say nothing."
She smiled in spite of herself. "It's very good of you," she said with feeling.