Arthur attempted a compromise.
"If you will give me your word...." he began.
"Not a bit of it!" I said. "Are you bound or are you not? Sylvia's in the room to settle any doubts on the subject."
He yielded after a struggle.
"I will take no steps to search the flat until after midday on Monday, provided Mavis is restored by then."
I made another attempt to rise, but Arthur waved me back into my seat.
"I have not finished yet. As you point out, Sylvia is in the room. I wish to know how she got here, and I wish still more to know how she was ever spirited away in the first instance."
"I know nothing about the getting away. She may be able to throw light on that. Hasn't she told you how we found her?"
"She has given me your version."
"Then I don't suppose I can add anything to it."