"I thought," she said, "you were going up to town early."
"I'm not going up to town at all, as it happens, to-day."
"Isn't it rather a pity to neglect your business?"
"My business, dear Kitty, is not any business of yours."
"I'm only trying to make you see that it isn't worth your while stopping out of town because of me."
He was a little disconcerted at her divination of his motives, her awareness of her own power.
"Well, you see, though the affairs of Whitehall are not your affairs, your affairs, unfortunately, are mine; and, since I have to attend to them, I prefer to do it at once and get it over. I had some talk with Lucy last night."
She turned on him. "Ah, you have given me away."
"Did you ever know me give any one away?"
She did not answer all at once.