"See here," said Robin flatly, "I don't understand the necessity for all this rushing about by motor and—"
"Of course you don't," she cried. "You are not being sought by a cruel, inhuman monster of a father who would consign you to a most shudderable fate! You don't have to marry a man whose very name you have hated. You can pick and choose for yourself. And so shall I, for that matter. You—"
"You adore your father," cut in Mrs. Gaston sharply. "I don't think you should speak of him in that—"
"Of course I adore him! He is a dear old bear. But he is a monster, an ogre, a tyrant, a—oh, well, he is everything that's dreadful! You look dreadfully serious, Mr. Schmidt. Do you think that I should submit to my father's demands and marry the man he has chosen for me?"
"I do," said Robin, abruptly and so emphatically that both of his hearers jumped in their seats. He made haste to dissemble. "Of course, I'd much rather have you do that than to break your neck rolling over a precipice or something of the sort in a crazy automobile dash."
Miss Guile recovered her poise with admirable promptness. Her smile was a trifle uncertain, but she had a dependable wit. "If that is all that you are afraid of, I'll promise to save my neck at all costs," she said. "I could have many husbands but only one poor little neck."
"You can have only one husband," said he, almost savagely. "By the way, why don't you read the other letter?" He was regarding it with jealous eyes, for she had slipped it, face downward, under the edge of her plate.
"It isn't important," she said, with a quick look into his eyes. She convicted herself in that glance, and knew it on the instant.
Angry with herself, she snatched up the letter and tore it open. Her cheeks were flushed. She read however without betraying any additional evidence of uneasiness or embarrassment. When she had finished, she deliberately folded the sheets and stuck them back into the envelope without comment. One looking over her shoulder as she read, however, might have caught snatches of sentences here and there on the heavily scrawled page. They were such as these: "You had led me to hope," ... "for years I have been your faithful admirer," ... "Nor have I wavered for an instant despite your whimsical attitude," ... "therefore I felt justified in believing that you were sincere in your determination to defy your father." And others of an even more caustic nature: "You are going to marry this prince after all," ... "not that you have ever by word or deed bound yourself to me, yet I had every reason to hope," ... "Your father will be pleased to find that you are obedient," ... "I am not mean enough to wish you anything but happiness, although I know you will never achieve it through this sickening surrender to vanity," ... "if I were a prince with a crown and a debt that I couldn't pay," ... "admit that I have had no real chance to win out against such odds," etc.
She faced Robin coolly. "It will be necessary to abandon our little luncheon for to-morrow. I am sorry. Still Mr. Totten informs me that he will be in Vienna shortly. The pleasure is merely postponed."