“It’s more than I can do just now, dear,” he said. “Twenty pounds is the very utmost I can manage apart from the milliner’s bills, which, I suppose, will not be light.”
An angry light flashed out of her beautiful dark eyes. Sir Robert was the last man to be mistrustful or suspicious, but even he found a vague fear intruding into his mind when he noted the seriousness of her displeasure.
“Do you lose much money at bridge?” he asked quite suddenly.
She lost colour a little, but answered contemptuously:
“At bridge! No, of course not. I hate it, for one thing, and when I have to play I always take care not to lose much.”
But Sir Robert’s suspicions once roused were not easily laid.
“Do you gamble on the Stock Exchange?” he asked abruptly.
A look of genuine horror appeared in her eyes.
“I think I would as soon play pitch-and-toss!” she answered lightly.
His tone became more imperative: