"He will come some day," said Hone. "But he had some scruple about accompanying me there and then, as I wished. In fact, he wants you to visit him instead."
"Yes?" She almost whispered the word. She was holding the mantelpiece with both hands to steady her trembling limbs.
"Sure, there's nothing to alarm you at all," Hone said. "It'll soon be over. He wants you to do him the honour of being married in his church and there's a taxi below waiting to take you."
"Now?" She turned and faced him, white to the lips.
"Yes, now! By special licence." Sternly he made reply, and again she felt as though the fire in his eyes scorched her.
"And if I—refuse?" She stood up to her full height, flinging her fear from her with a royal gesture that was almost a challenge.
But Hone was ready for her. Hone, the gentle, the kind, the chivalrous, stepped suddenly forth from his garden of virtues with level lance to meet her.
"By the powers," he said, and the words came from between his teeth, "I wonder you dare to ask me that!"
She laughed, but her laughter was slightly hysterical, and in an instant he seized and pressed his advantage.
"It is the end of the game," he grimly told her. "And you are beaten. You told me once that you didn't always pay your debts. But, by Heaven, you shall pay this one!"