"She's not a loose woman: far from it. If she were, Windebank would not be so interested in her."
Devitt could not have said anything more calculated to anger the two women.
Miss Spraggs threw down her pen, whilst Mrs Devitt became white.
"She must be bad to have fascinated Sir Archibald as she has done," she declared.
"Windebank is no fool," urged her husband.
"I suppose the next thing we shall hear is that she's living under his protection," cried Mrs Devitt.
"In St John's Wood," added Miss Spraggs, whose information on such matters was thirty years behind the times.
"More likely he'll marry her," remarked Devitt.
"What!" cried the two women.
"I believe he'd give his eyes to get her," the man continued.