CHAPTER XXX
A NOTE OF INTERROGATION
The Samphires returned to Cadogan Place in November. It was now settled that Archibald should take the Basilica whenever it was finished, but the world knew nothing of this till after Christmas, when there appeared paragraphs in the papers controlled by Conquest. One of these caught the eye of Betty, and she took it to her husband, with the direct question: "Are you thinking of leaving St. Anne's?"
He replied with a certain air of restraint: "Yes."
"Why?"
"My dearest, I can do better work there than here. I had not meant to speak about it to you—yet. Lord Vauxhall has paid me a very great compliment."
"What sort of compliment has he paid me? Did he ask you to keep so important a matter from your wife?"
"I so understood him."
"And your word is pledged?"
"Yes."