Victoria laughed.
“She thought it her duty to tell father the time you drove me to the Hammonds'. She said I asked you to do it.”
“What did he say?” Austen inquired, looking straight ahead of him.
“He didn't say much,” she answered. “Father never does. I think he knows that I am to be trusted.”
“Even with me?” he asked quizzically, but with a deeper significance.
“I don't think he realizes how dangerous you are,” she replied, avoiding the issue. “The last time I saw you, you were actually trying to throw a fat man out of your window. What a violent life you lead, Mr. Vane. I hope you haven't shot any more people—”
“I saw you,” he said.
“Is that the way you spend your time in office hours,—throwing people out of the windows?”
“It was only Tom Gaylord.”
“He's the man Mr. Jenney said wanted you to be a senator, isn't he?” she asked.