“Very important, please—which accounts for the hour I’ve ventured and the appearance I present.”
“I don’t ask you too much to ‘account,’” Lady Sandgate kindly said; “but I can’t not wonder if she hasn’t told you what things have happened.”
He cast about. “She has had no chance to tell me anything—beyond the fact of her being here.”
“Without the reason?”
“‘The reason’?” he echoed.
She gave it up, going straighter. “She’s with me then as an old firm friend. Under my care and protection.”
“I see”—he took it, with more penetration than enthusiasm, as a hint in respect to himself. “She puts you on your guard.”
Lady Sandgate expressed it more graciously. “She puts me on my honour—or at least her father does.”
“As to her seeing me”
“As to my seeing at least—what may happen to her.”