"I've decided nothing," was her blank answer.
"But you must. Don't be a silly fool," he urged. "You've surely had time to think over it?"
"No, I haven't."
"The girl knows nothing. So what have you to fear?" he endeavoured to assure her.
Lady Heyburn shrugged her shoulders. "How can you prove that she knows nothing?"
"Oh, she has eyes for nobody but the old man," he laughed. "To-night is an example. Why, she wouldn't come to Connachan, even though she knew that Walter was there. She preferred to spend the evening here with her father."
"She's a little fool, of course, Jimmy," replied the woman in pink; "but perhaps it was as well that she didn't come. I hate to have to chaperon the chit. It makes me look so horribly old."
"I wish to goodness the girl was out of the way!" he declared. "She's sharper than we think, and, by Jove! if ever she did know what was in progress it would be all up for both of us—wouldn't it? Phew! think of it!"
"If I thought she had the slightest suspicion," declared her ladyship with a sudden hardness of her lips, "I'd—I'd close her mouth very quickly."
"And for ever, eh?" he asked meaningly.