‘You have been a great deal at the White House, have you not?’ she continued.
He flushed again, and turned uneasily in his chair, so as to avoid the straightforward glance of her eyes.
‘Why do you ask me that question? I am at the White House every morning with my employer. It is part of my business to go there.’
‘I don’t mean at Mr Courtney’s office, Henri. I meant that you are a great deal with Mrs Courtney and Maraquita—at least I have been told so.’
‘I am much obliged to whoever was kind enough to interest himself in my private affairs. Am I indebted to your old flame Captain Norris for spreading untruths about me? I met him skulking round the bungalow as I came along this evening.’
‘Captain Norris does not skulk’, replied Liz quickly. ‘He has no need to do so. Neither is he a “flame” of mine, and you ought to know me better than to say so, Henri.’
‘Well, it looks like it, when you take up the cudgels so warmly in his defence. However, we’ll let that drop. What has he been telling you against me?’
‘Nothing—or at least nothing of his own accord. He only repeated the common rumour—that you are a great deal in the society of Maraquita, and that—that people are talking about it.’
She stood for a few moments after that, expecting to hear an indignant denial from his lips, but De Courcelles was silent.
‘Henri,’ she continued softly, turning a very pale face towards him, ‘it is not true?’