"And then you came away?"
"Came right away."
"Then listen here," said Fanny in a steely voice, "it don't seem to me that your times add up right. You say he made you this offer two seconds after he heard your name. Well, why did it take you a quarter of an hour to get back to this kitchen? If you want to know what I think, it wasn't a red-faced man with grey hair at all,—it was one of these Washington Square vamps and you were flirting with her."
"Fanny!"
"Well, I've read Gingery Stories, and I know what it's like down here in Bohemia with all these artists and models and everything."
Mullett drew himself up.
"Your suspicions pain me, Fanny. If you care to step out on to the roof, you can peek in at the sitting-room window and see him for yourself. He's waiting there for me to bring him a drink. The reason I was so long coming back was that it took him ten minutes before he asked my name. Up till then he just sat and spluttered."
"All right. Take me out on the roof."
"There!" said Mullett, a moment later. "Now perhaps you'll believe me."
Through the French windows of the sitting-room there was undeniably visible a man of precisely the appearance described. Fanny was remorseful.