Taylor looked at him, exasperated. “See here,” he cried, “you’ve put enough obstacles in my way to-night as it is! Do you want to put any more?”
“It’s all right,” Ethel Cartwright said quickly; “there’s just some misunderstanding. Please go!”
“All right, then,” her host answered. “Come, Alice, I need a drink badly.”
“My dear,” she said affectionately, “under the circumstances you may have an all-night license.”
He had turned to go when Lambart approached him. “I beg your pardon, sir, but can I have a word with you?” “What is it?” Michael demanded anxiously. The news evidently affected him, and Taylor looked suspicious. “What’s this mean?” the deputy-surveyor asked.
“A long distance from my partner,” the agitated Harrington returned. “I stand to lose nearly a million dollars if something isn’t done. Excuse me, Alice—I’ll use the upstairs ’phone.” He hurried upstairs.
“Well,” said Monty to Taylor—Nora was hanging on his arm and he felt he would never again be afraid—“do you want me any longer?”
“I thought I sent you back to play,” Taylor snarled.
Ostentatiously Monty turned his back and walked leisurely to a door.
“You are perfectly splendid,” Nora exclaimed with ecstasy in her voice. “I’d no idea you were so brave.”