"I intend to go myself to Obed Chute's villa."
"The villa! Yourself!"
"Yes."
"You!"
"I--myself. _You_ can not go."
"No. But how can you go?"
"Easily enough. I have nothing to fear."
"But this man is a perfect demon. How will you be able to encounter him? He would treat you as brutally as a savage. I know him well. I have reason to. You are not the one to go there."
"Oh yes, lam," said Hilda, carelessly. "You forget what a difference there is between a visit from you and a visit from me."
"There is a difference, it is true; but I doubt whether Obed Chute is the man to see it. At any rate, you can not think of going without some pretext. And what one can you possibly have that will be at all plausible?"