"He asked me,
and I--well, I played for time."
I couldn't repress a small groan at this: or, rather, it was half a
groan and half a sigh of relief. "Has he spoken to your mother?"
"No."
"Does your mother know about it?"
"Yes. I told her."
"Does she approve of this announcement in the papers? Has she
sanctioned it?"
"Of course she does not--of course she has not. . . . Roddy, sit down
and don't ask so many questions all of a heap. Sit down and light
your pipe, and pass me a cigarette. Furnilove will bring in some
whisky for you by and by."
"Thank you, Constantia; but I don't feel like staying. I've always
maintained--oh, damnation!" I broke off.
"What have you always maintained, Roddy? Sit down and tell it.
Are you not here because I sent for you? And didn't I send for you
because I am in trouble? We are in a tangle, I tell you, and I'm
asking you, on my knees, to untwist it. So light your pipe and,
before we begin, tell me--What is it you have always maintained?"
"I have always maintained," I answered slowly, even more stern than
before, "that no woman can be safely trusted to know a cad from a
gentleman.
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