"Pray, how did Mr. Lawrence come to know that Mr. Paxton intended to spend the night in London?"
"He says that he saw him there."
"I did not know they were acquainted!"
"I introduced them the night before last."
"I see." Again Miss Wentworth's tone was significantly dry. "Mr. Paxton has never seemed to me to be a man whose confidence was easily gained, especially by a stranger. Mr. Lawrence must have progressed more rapidly with him even than with you. And, pray, what else was Mr. Lawrence pleased to say of Mr. Paxton?"
"Oh, a lot of lies! Of course I knew that they were a lot of lies, but they made me so wild that I felt that I should like to shake him."
"Shake me instead, my dear. One is given to understand that jolting is good for the liver. Who's that?"
There was a sound of knocking at the front door. Miss Strong glanced eagerly round. A flush came into her cheeks; a light into her eyes.
"Possibly that is the recalcitrant Mr. Paxton, in his own proper person, coming with apologies in both his hands. Perhaps you would like to go and see."