“Yes,” agreed Miss Creed.
“And, as though this were not enough, you are going alone?”
“Of course I am.”
“My dear child,” said Sir Richard, “drunk I may be, but not so drunk as to acquiesce in this fantastic scheme, believe me.”
“I don’t think you are drunk,” said Miss Creed. “Besides, it has nothing to do with you! You cannot interfere in my affairs merely because you helped me out of the window.”
“I didn’t help you out of the window. Something tells me I ought to restore you to the bosom of your family.”
Miss Creed turned rather white, and said in a small, but very clear voice: “If you did that it would be the most cruel—the most treacherous thing in the world!”
“I suppose it would,” he admitted.
There was a pause. Sir Richard unfobbed his snuff-box with a flick of one practised finger, and took a pinch. Miss Creed swallowed, and said: “If you had ever seen my cousin, you would understand.”
He glanced down at her, but said nothing.