"Thank you," he murmured affectionately.
Andrew swore aloud and vigorously, but the pale eyes never flinched.
"Do you mean deliberately to tell me you don't know who this young man is?" she demanded.
Put in that form, the question made him hesitate for an instant. The hesitation did honor to his sense of veracity, but it finally cost him the remains of his character.
"You needn't trouble to answer!" she cried. "You do know who he is. Come, you had better tell me all about it at once. I presume you have not been married previously?"
The youth spoke quickly.
"You don't think father was so scandalous as not to marry her?"
"Did you?" she demanded.
The luckless Writer fell into the trap. It seemed to him a gleam of hope—a chance of saving his precious reputation.