[_Grinding his teeth._] You did! [_Involuntarily making a threatening movement towards her._] You did, you--!
[_Recovering himself._] Oh, you did, did you?
[_Coolly._] Well? and what then? You listen to a conversation carried on in an open spot, from which your mischievous ears manage to detach the phrase "to-night." My explanation, if I am called upon to make one, will be absurdly simple.
[_Derisively._] Ha, ha! will it! ha, ha, ha! I daresay!
Yes. You see, I promised her Grace that I would send a book to her room to-night--_to-night_. My man had gone to bed; I brought it myself, intending to hand it to Mrs. Watson, her maid. In the meantime, the Duchess had joined Mrs. Eden and I found _you_ here.
You couldn't tell such an abominable lie!
[_Imperturbably._] I found _you_ here. And then--what is the obvious sequel to the story? [_Shrugging his shoulders._] I'm a wicked man, Sophy, and you're an undeniably pretty girl--and the devil dared me.
[_Taking up the bottle of champagne._] And an excellent banquet you had chanced to provide for the occasion. [_Reading the label._] "Félix Poubelle, Carte d'Or." It will appear, I am afraid, that you had been preparing for the entertainment of some amorous footman.
[_Snapping her fingers at him._] Puh! bah! Oh, the whole house shall know that that is your Duchess's champagne.
Excuse me--Mr. Brewster, the butler, will disprove that tale. You wheedled this out of him on your own account, remember.
[_Falteringly._] Yes, but--but she made me do it.
She made you do it! [_Replacing the bottle, sternly._] And who, pray, will accept your word, upon this or any other point, against that of a lady of the position of the Duchess of Strood?
[_He walks away from her and examines the books upon the writing-table. She sits on the settee, a blank expression upon her face._
[_After a little consideration, wiping her brow with the back of her hand._] At any rate, my darling--Miss Muriel--would quickly see through a horrid trick of this sort.
I bet you a dozen boxes of gloves to a case of your manicure instruments that she doesn't.
I said to her to-day, at my place, that I was certain, if I could meet you alone in some quiet spot I could get a kiss out of you.