"Gives me away? It seems to me most guarded."
"It isn't. It implies that there are things she might say. Even if you don't mind her saying them you mustn't put it in writing."
"Ah-h. There's something in that. Of course, I could threaten her with a lawyer's letter. But somehow—The fact is, Barbara, if you're a decent man you're handicapped in dealing with a lady. Delicacy. There are things that could be said. Material things—most material to the case. But I can't say them."
"No. You can't say them. But I can. I think I could stop the whole thing in five minutes, if I saw Mrs. Levitt. Will you leave it to me?"
"Come—I don't know—"
"Why not? I assure you it'll be all right."
"Well. Perhaps. It's a matter of business. A pure matter of business."
"It certainly is that. There's no reason why you shouldn't hand it over to your secretary."
He hesitated. He was still afraid of what Elise might say to Barbara.
"You will understand that she is in a very unbalanced state. Excitable. A woman in that state is apt to put interpretations on the most innocent—er—acts."