' Well, it's just this,' said he: ' we've been great friends, we've got along excellently; you have always been charming to me, and I hope I haven't treated you badly.'
' Oh no, first-class time,' said she, the gamin coming to the surface.
' Well, now I want to marry,' he said, ' and I come to you for your help. If you had been in my position, I would have helped you.'
' Thanks. Well?'
' You know it was a devilish awkward moment last night. And you made it worse. You laughed. You shouldn't have done that.'
Dorothy's face relaxed.
' I couldn't help it,' she said. ' Dramatically, it was perfect, and so funny. Harold, if you could have seen your own face of blank amazement, I really believe you would have laughed too.'
He frowned.
' A pal ought to help a man out,' he said.
' I'm sure you went out pretty quick,' she interpolated.
' Oh, don't peashoot me,' he said. ' Now, a word from you will help me. I can't offer any explanation to Mrs. Massington, simply because, if I tried, she would be convinced there is something to explain. You can. A half word from you will do it. Represent me as your business manager—very business—with an urgent question to ask, and in my stupid, unconventional American way, it not occurring to me that there was any impropriety——— '
' And my laugh? How shall I explain that?'
' Because it did occur to you what construction Mrs. Massington would put on it. Because my face of horror when I saw what I had done was so funny. You said so yourself.'
Dorothy paused.
' In other words,' said she slowly, ' I am to tell Mrs.
