“He couldn’t leave his car alone there in the middle of a Kentish high road. He had to stay somewhere near.”
“I think he should have considered you of more importance than the car. To let you return alone, at that hour, with a perfect stranger, is the most unheard of proceeding. I shall certainly tell Dick what I think of him.”
“It wasn’t Dick’s fault,” loyally. “I just took the matter into my own hands and came. Dick had nothing to do with it. In fact, I insisted upon his remaining behind.”
“Oh, of course you would. You only seem to be happy when you are flying in the face of some convention or other. But Dick is older than you, and he knows my views on these matters. He owed it to me to see you safely home.”
“But since I am safely home!...” obstinately.
“You very well might not have been. What the stranger himself must think of you I don’t know. Have you any idea who he was?”
“Yes. Sir Edwin Crathie?”
“Sir Edwin Crathie! Do you mean the Cabinet Minister?”
“So he said.”
“And did you tell him who you were?”