The very idea of his thinking it necessary to assert this made her frown.
'Exactly so; therefore I come to you because memory gives me a friend, nothing more. And I need a friend just now.'
'You have plenty of them to choose from,' he began, 'you always had----'
'And I choose you,' she put in, with a charming little nod.
He sat bewildered for a moment, then said stiffly, 'May I ask why?'
'If I may answer by the question, why not? Surely we need not be strangers? And besides----'
'And besides?'--he echoed grimly, 'a woman's second reason is generally better than her first.'
Lady Arbuthnot's face grew grave. 'Mine is, Mr. Raymond, infinitely better. What I want your help for is no mere personal matter; it is something in which you might do a yeoman's service to the Government----'
'You are very kind,' he interrupted brusquely; 'but, as I thought you knew, I found out twelve years ago that the Government could do very well without my services.'
'It might have done better with them----'