"No doubt you are wondering what has brought me to see you?"
"I can't deny a slight curiosity, my lord," admitted Moore, smiling back at the young nobleman, whose charming manner was winning his confidence in spite of his previous suspicions.
"Then I 'll proceed to enlighten you without further delay, Mr. Moore."
"If your lordship will be so good."
"In Ireland a year ago Sir Percival offered little Mistress Dyke a position at Drury Lane Theatre."
"He did, curse him!"
"Knowing the gentleman as I do, I promised my better self that, if the young lady did come to London as the protégée of Lovelace, I would fetch you here as mine, so, if the time came when she would require a strong arm and a loving heart to defend her happiness, she need not go far to find it. That very day I left Ireland and have since been abroad. Two days ago I returned from Paris and found to my surprise that Mistress Dyke is acting at Drury Lane. Surely, you did not allow this willingly?"
"Not I, sir. I had nothing to say about it."
"You mean she preferred Lovelace's advice to yours, Mr. Moore?"
"We quarrelled, sir, and from that day--it was the one on which you left the old country, my lord--she has had no good word for me. Circumstances placed me in an unfavorable light, and, believing me faithless, she turned a deaf ear to my warnings. Her father was daft to come to London, and in her anger she consented to make the venture."