"What is there to do, Mr. Portlaw, if a woman refuses to receive you?"
"Why—I don't know," he admitted vacantly. "What would you do?"
Young Mrs. Malcourt, frankly amused, shook her head:
"If Mrs. Ascott won't see you, she won't! You don't intend to carry Pride's Fall by assault, do you?"
"But Louis said—"
"Mr. Malcourt knows quite well that Mrs. Ascott won't see you."
"W-why?"
"Ask yourself. Besides, her lawyers have forbidden her."
But Portlaw's simple faith in Malcourt never wavered; he stood his ground and quoted him naïvely, adding: "You see Louis must have meant something. Couldn't you tell me what he meant? I'll promise to do it."
"I suppose," she answered, laughing, "that he meant me to write a note to Alida Ascott, making a personal appeal for your reception. He spoke of it; but, Mr. Portlaw, I am scarcely on such a footing with her."