"That was a generous thing you did just now."
Thorne looked confused, but he made no attempt to evade an answer.
"It was necessary."
"If the man had seen you with the spanner, Corporal Slaney would, no doubt, have heard of it afterward. That would have hurt you?"
"It certainly wouldn't have pleased me."
"Then why did you do what you did?"
"I think I have just told you."
"You said it was necessary," replied Alison, looking at him with eyes which just then had what he thought a very wonderful light in them. "You haven't convinced me that it wasn't—rather fine of you."
Thorne was manifestly more embarrassed, and embarrassment of any kind was somewhat unusual with him.
"Then," he said, "you compel me to try. If we had remained standing as we did when the man first came out from behind the houses and he had noticed you, it's exceedingly probable that he would have noticed me. Even if he hadn't, it's almost certain that several people must have seen you leave the hotel in my company. They wouldn't have had much trouble in figuring out the thing."