"How do you know that I dare not venture out after dark?" she asked, and her figure seemed to dwindle and shrink.
"Mavis told me."
"Mavis knows nothing, nothing, do you hear? God forbid that she should ever know anything. But my business is my own business, and has nothing to do with you, Prince Gerald. Mavis is crazy: she would kill you as soon as look at you, at certain times."
"I don't believe that for one moment."
"You must--you shall! If Mavis is not mad, why should her guardian shut her up in a lonely house?"
"That," said Gerald very dryly, "is what I went to Major Rebb's rooms to ask when I met you."
Bellaria arose, much astonished. "You will dare to face the Major?"
Haskins laughed. "Do you take me for a schoolgirl? Of course I shall face the Major, and a dozen like him if necessary."
"You are a brave man."
"And Major Rebb? What is he?"