"Your friends must be very powerful," he said.
"They are," said she, with considerable directness.
"Still, we are not out of the scrape yet, Miss Guile," he remarked, shaking his head. "It may be a flash in the pan."
"Oh, please don't say that," she cried in quick alarm. "I—I should die if—if we were to be sent to—"
"Listen to me," he broke in eagerly, for an inspiration had come to him. "There's no reason why you should suffer, in any event. Apparently I am a suspected person. I may just as well be a kidnapper as not. You must allow me to inform the Judge that I was abducting you, so that he—"
"How absurd!"
"I don't in the least mind. Besides, I too have powerful friends who will see that I am released in a day or two. You—"
"You cannot hope to convince the Judge that you were abducting me in my own automobile—or at least in one belonging to my friends, who are irreproachable. I am very much obliged to you for thinking of it, Mr. Schmidt, but it is out of the question. I couldn't allow you to do it in the first place, and in the second I'm sure the court wouldn't believe you."
"It was I who suggested running away from those detectives," he protested.
"But I jumped at the chance, didn't I?" she whispered triumphantly. "I am even guiltier than thou. Can you ever forgive me for—"