Reggie had got so far when Violet cut him short.
'Reggie, let me speak. I'll get an answer out of him. Douglas, is the Marquis of Twickenham really alive?'
As I might have expected, Reggie had scarcely been five minutes in Violet's society before he blurted out all that I had said to him. She certainly is an insinuating young woman, and shrewd to boot. It would not take her long to perceive that there was something at the back of the young gentleman's mind. Having surmised so much, almost before he knew it, she would have ascertained what it was. Apparently Edith had come in at the very moment when explanations were taking place. So that now I had all three of them against me.
'Will you please tell me at once, Douglas, if the Marquis of Twickenham is alive?'
This she said with something very like the stamp of her foot. She can be imperious when she chooses; as, one of these days, her husband will learn.
'I tell you what I will do; if you don't mind, I'll take a cup of tea.'
'Douglas, how can you be so frivolous, when, for all we know, we may be standing on the brink of a volcano?'
'If I were standing in the very heart of a volcano--if I could get it, I should like a cup of tea.'
'I'll give you one.'
This was Edith. I took the cup she offered. Before I had a chance to sip it, Violet began at me again.