"Of course, of course," said Haskins impatiently. "I love her more than ever. And even if I loved her less, I am not the man to desert a woman when she needs help so sorely."
"You are, as I know, very chivalrous."
"And you are, as I know, the kindest-hearted woman in the world."
"A fool, a fool, I fear, like all kind-hearted women."
"No. Were you a fool I should not ask you to carry out this plot. As it is, Mavis is coming to London, and I want you to get Charity married at once, and to place Mavis at the Belver Theatre for the dance."
Mrs. Pelham Odin looked distinctly nervous. Carried away by her theatrical instincts, and by admiration for Gerald's chivalry, to say nothing of the interest she felt in his love affair as a woman much less sentimental would have done, she had proposed the plot without thinking that she would be taken seriously. Yet here was a young man whom she admired actually asking her to lend herself to a fantastical mode of concealment such as had never, to her knowledge, been seen off the stage. Her dramatic instinct impelled her to yield: but her common-sense warned her against mixing herself up in a murder committed by a lunatic.
"Dear boy," she said, genuinely distressed, "it really is impossible."
"You proposed it, Mrs. Pelham Odin," muttered Gerald, sorely disappointed, for if this actress did not help him, how was he to conceal Mavis from the persecutions of Rebb?
"I did not think that you would take me at my word," she faltered, "and after all, Mr. Haskins, Major Rebb might find out."
"I don't think so. I don't see how he could."