“Well,” he answered, “you need not occupy the time with crochet—”
“Mrs. Lavender and I are very well pleased to talk about trifles.”
“But I am not,” he said bluntly, “and I am not going to be shut out by a conspiracy. Come, let us talk about your journey.”
“Will my lord give his commands as to the point at which we shall start the conversation!”
“You may skip the Channel.”
“I wish I could,” she remarked, with a sigh.
“We shall land you in Paris. How are we to know that you have arrived safely?”
She looked embarrassed for a moment, and then said: “If it is of any consequence for you to know, I shall be writing in any case to Mrs. Lavender about some little private matter.”
Ingram did not receive this promise with any great show of delight. “You see,” he said, somewhat glumly, “if I am to meet you anywhere, I should like to know the various stages of your route, so that I could guard against our missing each other.”
“You have decided to go, then?”