“Now we understand each other!” I said. “I will accept your own terms, Major. I will ask nothing of you but what you have just offered to me of your own accord.”
“What have I offered?” he inquired, looking a little alarmed.
“Nothing that you need repent of,” I answered; “nothing which is not easy for you to grant. May I ask a bold question? Suppose this house was mine instead of yours?”
“Consider it yours,” cried the gallant old gentleman. “From the garret to the kitchen, consider it yours!”
“A thousand thanks, Major; I will consider it mine for the moment. You know—everybody knows—that one of a woman’s many weaknesses is curiosity. Suppose my curiosity led me to examine everything in my new house?”
“Yes?”
“Suppose I went from room to room, and searched everything, and peeped in everywhere? Do you think there would be any chance—”
The quick-witted Major anticipated the nature of my question. He followed my example; he too started to his feet, with a new idea in his mind.
“Would there be any chance,” I went on, “of my finding my own way to my husband’s secret in this house? One word of reply, Major Fitz-David! Only one word—Yes or No?”
“Don’t excite yourself!” cried the Major.