“Positively.”

“Perhaps reflection may alter your resolution?”

“Reflection will do nothing of the kind.”

“You are rude, sir!”

“In speaking to you, madam, I have no alternative but to speak plainly.”

She rose. Her shifting eyes, for once, looked at me steadily.

“What sort of enemy have I made of you?” she asked. “A passive enemy who is content with refusing to help me? Or an active enemy who will write to my husband?”

“It depends entirely,” I told her, “on what your husband does. If he questions me about you, I shall tell him the truth.”

“And if not?”

“In that case, I shall hope to forget that you ever favored me with a visit.”