"Indeed!" he said. "But it's very late. You must—you must be tired."
He glanced uncertainly round the landing, as if seeking a chair to offer her. Then an idea struck him.
"Will you come downstairs?" he suggested. "The fire is still alight in the dining-room. You—you must be cold as well as tired."
He looked hesitatingly at her light gown.
But Clodagh shook her head.
"We mustn't go down," she said. "He might come in and find us—and then we'd have a row. He and I of course, I mean," she added politely.
Then, as if impatient of the preamble, she plunged into the subject she had at heart.
"Mr. Milbanke," she said, "will you promise me not to—not to, after to-night——?"
Milbanke's face looked blank.
"Not to what?" he asked.