"Deprive him? You are judging him by yourself! It is hardly a question of deprivation, surely."
Wyndham glanced at her keenly.
"Hullo!" he said, "one doesn't expect that sort of tone from you where Theo is concerned. What do you mean me to understand by it?"
"Nothing—nothing at all! Only—he happens to prefer your ministrations. He almost told me so. You or he can settle it with Dr Mackay to-night. But I will take these in to him—if you wish."
"Purely as a favour to me?"
Her face lit up with a gleam of irrepressible humour.
"Purely as a favour to you!"
She took the cup and plate from him, still smiling, and passed on into the study.
As she bent above the table, Desmond lifted his head in a vain effort to get a glimpse of her face.
"Thank you—thank you—how good of you!" he said, his constraint softened by a repressed eagerness, which gave her courage to speak her thought.