"Won't you sit down? Do."
"No, thank you. I'll wait till you have gone. If I sit down now, you'll stay, I'm afraid."
He moved the big chair and drew up another for himself beside it. She watched the proceedings without approval or resentment. When the two chairs stood side by side before the fender, he motioned for her to sit down. She was now gazing at him fixedly, a somewhat detached smile on her lips. After a moment she shrugged her shoulders and sat down. He promptly dropped into the other chair and stretched out his feet to the fire.
"You said something that surprised me, just as you left me—two hours ago," he remarked, after a long silence. "A year's vacation on full pay," he repeated.
"I am Mrs. De Foe's secretary," she said quietly. He turned to look at her.
