She hesitated in an agony of indecision, until the moment was lost. The water had arrived, and Arthur was dismissing me from the Presence.
"You're not going to arrest us, then?" I said.
"I reserve perfect freedom of action," he answered, in the Front Bench manner.
"Quite right," I said. "I only wish you'd reserved the inquisition till this boy was in a better state to receive it. Would it interfere with your liberty of action if I asked you to say a word of thanks either to Aintree, myself, or both? I believe it is usual when a man loses his daughter and has her restored to him."
A few minutes more would have tried my temper. Arthur sat down again at his table, opened a drawer, and took out a cheque-book.
"According to your story it was Aintree who was chiefly instrumental in making the discovery?"
"That was the lie we agreed on," I said.
Arthur wrote a cheque for two thousand pounds, and handed it to the Seraph with the words—
"That, I think, clears all obligations between us."
"Except that of manners," I exclaimed. "The House of Commons——"