"We are done for unless you hold your hand!" she said. She stepped nearer.
"Mr. Smith?" she said sweetly, "you think you are on your honor. You are not. He who has sent you here to thwart us is deceiving you."
"He who sent you here, Clelia,—and you, Thusis, is deceiving you," he rejoined very quietly.
Thusis said: "You know who sent us, and yet you don't know who we are! How can this be, Monsieur?"
"It's true. I do know who sent you here. But you don't!"
Clelia, still very pale, bent her gaze on him.
"Mr. Smith?"
"Yes, I hear you, Clelia."
"Suppose—suppose—I prove kinder to you."
"No," he said, grim and flushed.