“Yes I can—I’m her friend.”
“You’re her lover, as long as you dangle about her.”
“Stuff and nonsense,” said Captain Macartney peevishly and resuming his seat. “She isn’t in love with me.”
Dr. Camperdown burst into a roar of laughter. “She doesn’t smile upon you; then why all this agony?”
“It’s easily seen that you’ve not proposed to many women,” said Captain Macartney coolly. “They never say yes, at first.”
The shaft went home. His ugly vis-à-vis shrugged his shoulders and made no reply.
“We had a saying about Flora Colonibel in the past,” said Captain Macartney earnestly, “that she feared neither saint, angel, nor demon, but that she stood in mortal dread of Brian Camperdown. She will persecute that girl to a dead certainty. Can’t you hold her in check? My stepmother will stand by you. She would even take her for a trip somewhere, or have her visit her.”
“I’ll look after her,” briefly. “By the way, where did you meet her?”
“In Paris, with the French lady who has been traveling with her since she left school, and who asked my stepmother to take charge of her on the journey here.”
“Her arrival was a surprise,” said Dr. Camperdown. “Armour didn’t tell me that she was coming.”