"Thank you, Mr. Faunce. You must not suppose that Lady Perivale sent me here. She did not even know that I wanted to see you; and I must ask you not to mention my visit. I heard of what you were doing from a friend of Lady Perivale's, not from herself, and I am here to consult you on a matter that only indirectly affects her case."
"Well, sir, I am at your service."
"I shall be perfectly frank with you, Mr. Faunce. I believe a gentleman of your profession may be considered a kind of father confessor, that anything I say in this office will be—strictly Masonic."
"That is so."
"Well, then, I may tell you in the first place that Lady Perivale is the woman whom I admire and respect above all other women, and that it is my highest ambition to win her for my wife."
"I think that is a very natural ambition, sir, in any gentleman who—being free to choose—has the honour to know that lady," Faunce replied, with a touch of enthusiasm.
"I know something of Colonel Rannock's antecedents, and have met him in society, though he was never a friend of mine; and when I heard the scandal about Lady Perivale, it occurred to me that the best thing I could do, in her interest, was to find Rannock and call upon him to clear her name."
"A difficult thing for him to do, sir, even if he were willing to do it."
"I thought the way might be found, if the man were made to feel that it must be found. I have the worst possible opinion of Colonel Rannock; but a man of that character has generally a weak joint in his harness, and I thought I should be able to bring him to book."
"A very tough customer, I'm afraid, sir. A human armadillo."