"I'm afraid you've been awfully upset, poor little woman. It's too bad." He stretched out his hand and took hers. "It's a scrape we've got into, but we shall get out of it. It's not . . ." He stopped and Kitty had a suspicion that he had been about to say that it was not the first he had got out of. "The great thing is to keep our heads. You know I shall never let you down."
"I'm not frightened. I don't care what he does."
He smiled still, but perhaps his smile was a trifle forced.
"If the worst comes to the worst I shall have to tell the Governor. He'll curse me like hell, but he's a good fellow and a man of the world. He'll fix it up somehow. It wouldn't do him any good if there was a scandal."
"What can he do?" asked Kitty.
"He can bring pressure to bear on Walter. If he can't get at him through his ambition he'll get at him through his sense of duty."
Kitty was a little chilled. She did not seem able to make Charlie see how desperately grave the situation was. His airiness made her impatient. She was sorry that she had come to see him in his office. The surroundings intimidated her. It would have been much easier to say what she wanted if she could have been in his arms with hers round his neck.
"You don't know Walter," she said.
"I know that every man has his price."
She loved Charlie with all her heart, but his reply disconcerted her; for such a clever man it was a stupid thing to say.