"It is curious," said the earl still impersonally, "how fiction of the type you used to write has taken possession of the public mind."
"I should not fail," Trent said steadily.
"You still persist in making the imaginary real," the earl said good humouredly.
"Why do you fence with me at a time like this?" Trent said making a gesture of despair. "Can't you see I am in earnest?"
"You rate your powers so highly then?"
"You employed amateurs, my lord, I am a professional adventurer."
"What are you doing in my house?"
"Living honest hours and learning that a past can't be undone. I know very well that you thought I wanted to see you because I love your daughter. It is true. I do love her. And it is because I love her that I am going. And it is because I want to prove that I am only truthful when I say that, I offer to undertake anything that may help you."
"But the reward?"
"To have done something for her is the reward."