“Who have ever come?” she inquired, with a vague feeling that he had said something he ought not to have, and that she was doing the same.
“Many things,” he smiled, “including purses. Which reminds me that I am eternally your debtor.”
She blushed and said, “I hope you didn’t mind.”
“Not much,” he answered, candidly. “In my present circumstances a five-pound note is more acceptable than a caress.”
The Lady Alicia again remembered the maidenly proprieties, and tried to change the subject.
“What beautiful ice!” she said.
“The question now is,” he continued, paying no heed to this diversion, “what am I to do next?”
“What do you mean?” she asked a little faintly, realising dimly that she was being regarded as a fellow-conspirator in some unlawful project.
“The wall is high, there is bottle-glass on the top, and I shall find it hard to bring away a fresh pair of trousers, and probably draughty if I don’t. The gates are always [pg 49] kept closed, and it isn’t worth any one’s while to open them for £10, 17s. 6d., less the price of a first-class ticket up to town. What are we to do?”
“We?” she gasped.