"That I do, Mr. David, and will never tell," said she.
"Well," she said, "I am a good friend, as you will soon discover; and the chief of those that I am a friend to is my papa. I assure you, you will never heat nor melt me out of that, so you may spare me your sheep's eyes; and adieu to your David-Balfourship for the now."
"But there is yet one thing more," I cried. "There is one thing that must be stopped, being mere ruin to herself, and to me too."
"Well," she said, "be brief, I have spent half the day on you already."
"My Lady Allardyce believes," I began, "she supposes--she thinks that I abducted her."
The colour came into Miss Grant's face, so that at first I was quite abashed to find her ear so delicate, till I bethought me she was struggling rather with mirth, a notion in which I was altogether confirmed by the shaking of her voice as she replied--
"I will take up the defence of your reputation," said she. "You may leave it in my hands."
And with that she withdrew out of the library.