He frowned at her insistence.
“Miss Golightly,” continued Mary, “explained to us yesterday how she got all her things through the custom-house by giving the inspector twenty-five dollars. She gloried in it and in the fact that, though her trunks were full of new dresses, she made oath that she had nothing dutiable.”
He suspected now her trend, yet he was not certain that he was included in its scope. But he felt her eyes resting on him searchingly.
“Did she?” he exclaimed, with an effort at airy lightness which seemed to afford the only hope of escape.
“How did you manage?”
“I?” He spoke after a moment’s pause with the calm of one who slightly resents an invasion of his privacy.
“Did you pay the duties on your things?”
George realized now that he was face to face with a question which, as lawyers say, required that the answer should be either “yes” or “no.” Still, he made one more attempt to avert the crucial inquiry.
“Does this really interest you?”
“Immensely. My whole future may be influenced by it.”