“Est-ce que c’est vous-même, mon neveu?” said she dryly.
“Mais oui, ma tante. Why are you speaking so formally in foreign tongues? Is Millicent on deck?”
“In her room,” came the answer, still in French. “Well, you have got us in a pretty mess. Where is my boy?”
“I only wish I knew! Tell me now, though, is Mercer’s story straight?”
“Absolutely. You may trust him.”
“What’s his real game, then? The one he was afraid Archie would expose?”
“Ask him.”
“But you are in it, aren’t you?”
“Enough to ask that you abandon the chase—immediately! Unless you wish to ruin me!”
“You’ll have to speak plainer. I’ve been kept in the dark as long as I can stand in this matter.”