"Do you mean that Nick would overlook a thing of this kind?" asked
Daisy.
Hunt-Goring nodded thoughtfully. "I think he would condone many things that you would regard as inexcusable, even monstrous. Otherwise, he would scarcely have been selected for his present job."
Daisy was silent.
"And you must remember," Hunt-Goring proceeded, "that this young Wyndham is a rising man—a desirable parti for any girl. He will probably never make another blunder of that description. It is too risky, especially for a man who means to climb to the top of the tree."
"You really think it possible then that Nick knows?" Daisy still looked doubtful.
"I think it more than possible." Hunt-Goring spoke with confidence. "I am sorry if it shocks you, but, you know, he is really too shrewd a person not to know current gossip and its origin."
This was a straight shot, and it told. Daisy acknowledged it without argument.
"But Olga!" she said. "Olga can't know."
"Perhaps not," admitted Hunt-Goring. "And—in that case—it would be advisable to leave her in ignorance; would it not?"
He took out another cigarette with the words, flinging her a sidelong glance as he did it.