What you really thought was that you might get your
money back."
"If you like, madame. That's another way of putting it. If the family
paid me, Miss Guion would feel quite differently--and so would Colonel
Ashley."
"When you say the family," she sniffed, "you mean me."
"In the sense that I naturally think first of its most distinguished
member. And, of course, the greater the distinction the greater must
be--shall I call it the indignity?--of living under an obligation--"
"Am I to understand that you put up this money--that's your American
term, isn't it?--that you put up this money in the expectation that I
would pay you back?"
"Not exactly. I put up the money, in the first place, to save the credit
of the Guion name, and with the intention, if you didn't pay me back, to
do without it."
"And you risked being considered over-officious."
"There wasn't much risk about that," he smiled. "They did think me
so--and do."
"And you got every one into a fix."
"Into a fix, but out of prison."
"Hm!"
She grew restless, uncomfortable, fidgeting with her rings and
bracelets.
"And pray, what sort of a person is this Englishman to whom my niece has
got herself engaged?"
"One of their very finest," he said, promptly.
Pages:
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392