Barbara paused with her hand upon the frame of the open window.
“Yes?” she asked in an interrogative way.
“I should not have left a dying man if I had not a special reason for doing so.”
“Yes?” replied Barbara again.
“You are the reason.”
“I am very sorry indeed to hear it, Dr. Tarbot. I do not think your reason adequate. Now I must go back to our guests.”
“You must not,” said Dr. Tarbot firmly. “I came here with the express purpose of seeing you, and I will not be foiled. You will stay with me for a moment or two. I want to say, to say——”
Barbara returned once more to the balcony. She saw that the man must have his opportunity, and she knew that she was in for a bad quarter of an hour. She closed her big fan and held it in both hands.
“You know what I want to say.”
“Yes,” replied Barbara. She made a short pause before she uttered the single word. Then she added, marked deliberation in her tone, “Is it a gentlemanly action to detain a girl against her will?”