Next moment the vestibule door had clicked behind him, and the girls were alone.
Liss threw her arms round Marjorie's neck.
"O magnificent, wonderful angel! How you stood up to that silly old Nosey Parker! How you put him in his place! How you bluffed him! But, darling, what a risk! Supposing he had accepted—what then?"
"What then?" Marjorie laughed unsteadily. "We would have taken him round the corner to Savroni's, and given him his dinner—every bit of it—that's all!"
Liss looked timidly up into her idol's face.
"Dearest," she enquired apprehensively, "are you feeling funny, at all? I don't like the way your fist is clenched. Relax!"
"I'm not feeling funny," Marjorie assured her, relaxing the fist in question. "Unless it's funny to be rich!" She held out her hand. "Look! Look what I found inside the pocket of my motor licence! I might have guessed, after that message. Dear, kind old man! I might have guessed—bless him!"
In her upturned palm lay a neatly folded bank-note.
Liss's eyes goggled.
"How much?" she whispered.