"Mr. Gage is not going to do anything of the sort." It was Lalage Leo who, emerging from the obscurity which had shrouded her, uttered the flat denial.
"There!" said Peckover in uncomfortable justification of his backwardness, "you see we were not alone."
"No!" cried a loud voice as Carnaby clanked forward. "Not much."
"Oh, Mr. Gage, how dishonourable," Ethel exclaimed trying to look scandalized while she resolved how best she could turn the situation to account. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I did tell you not to hug me," Peckover replied bluntly.
"If," suggested Carnaby with a leer, having, after a struggle to a running accompaniment of murmured strong language, got his helmet off, "if you want anybody to hug——"
"Oh!" Ethel cried in manifest disgust, as though her demonstrativeness was regulated by any less material consideration than its object's bank balance.
"I'll take the armour off," Carnaby assured her, his tone suggesting that that might make all the difference.
"I will not be treated like this," Ethel exclaimed indignantly, aware of the necessity for having her position in the complication settled then and there. "Mr. Gage is engaged to me." She seized Peckover's arm and hung on to it grimly.
"No, to me," Dagmar objected as with a desperation born of an insecure tenure she clutched his other arm.