"Never mind," said Lady Jocelyn generously. "If you will make up for it now, I think I might manage to forgive you."
She took Isabel's slim hand in hers and leaned back against the sofa.
"I'll try," said Tony gravely; "but Guy and Isabel will have to help. It's the sort of story that requires at least three strong people, if one wants to tell it properly."
The incompleteness of his previous confidences had of course lain in the fact that hitherto he had omitted all mention of the leading rôle played by Molly during the latter stages of the proceedings. Going back now to the point at which she had first told him of her secret marriage to Pedro, he described in full detail how the main idea of a possible rescue had originated with her, and the daring and skilful manner in which she had thrown herself into the scheme.
He gave a rapid account of their run down through the night to Southampton, and of how—thanks to McEwen—they had managed to reach Portriga in a time for which the nominal horse-power of the Betty's engines failed to convey any adequate explanation.
Then, after describing the respective arrivals on board of Jimmy and Colonel Saltero, he went on to explain how they had all come to a unanimous decision that in a raid on the Château of Saint Anna lay their only possible chance of success. With an account of that immortal drive and of their experiences in the Château he at length brought the story down to the moment when Molly and the Count had retired upstairs to administer spiritual consolation to the Princess Isabella.
At this point he paused.
"I think that's about my share," he observed unselfishly. "You go on now, Isabel; tell Aunt Fanny the rest of it."
Lady Jocelyn, who had been listening to him with an expression of entranced interest, sat upright in her seat, still holding Isabel's hand.
"What an amazing and delightful person this Molly Monk must be!" she exclaimed. "And to think that she is the granddaughter of old Monk at the Lodge! I always said there was something extraordinarily bracing in the Helbeck air."