"Pardon me, mademoiselle, but whence this cross-examination?"
Diana nodded placidly.
"I thought you would refuse, but I have discovered something that will confound you, sir!" She rose to her feet. "I will go and get it." She walked gracefully away towards the house, and my lord watched her go.
"Now I am going to ask a question," broke in Miss Betty's voice.
He threw out an imploring hand.
"Madam, I beg you will consider my feeble condition. Am I fit to bear the strain, think you?"
"I do!—Is it usual for gentlemen to ride masked, as you were?"
At that he laughed.
"No, madam, but for the gentlemen of the High Toby, it is de régie."
She paused, with her needle held in mid-air: