“I did not; I never opened my lips.”

“You seemed to; anyhow, you clasped hands with us, and that is enough.”

“I refuse to have any dealings with your club, and for your sake as well as mine I shall acquaint my father with everything that has taken place.”

“That would not matter,” said Andrew coolly. “But you will not. I introduced you to Mr Selby, who had come on purpose to see you.”

“Then that feeding ducks was a design?”

“Of course it was; the spies and the guard might interfere with a stranger hanging about at the water-side, but they can have nothing to say to a man feeding the ducks.”

“Oh, what base treachery and deception! But I will not be tricked like this. It was the act of a traitor.”

“It was the act of a friend to save you in the troubles that are to come.”

“I don’t care what you say. I will clear myself from even a suspicion of being an enemy of the King.”

“You are a friend of the King,” said Andrew, tightening his hold of his companion’s arm; “and you cannot draw back now.”