"Now, I think, we can talk without fear of being overheard by Monsieur
Tellier. But there is really very little to tell. He sent up his card
just before dinner yesterday evening; we sent it back. Then, being
persistent and not easily snubbed, he sent up a note which asked 'Are
the Misses Rushford acquainted with the gentleman who came to their
assistance this afternoon?' To which the Misses Rushford added a line,
'They are not,' and sent it back to him. It was too absurd. It reminded
me of the agony column in the _Herald_."
"The agony column?"
"Yes--'Will the lady dressed in blue, who took a Broadway car
yesterday,'--and so on."
"Oh," said Vernon, with a smile. "Yes--we have the same thing in
England."
"And, after all," continued Susie, "our reply was the exact and literal
truth--of a kind which, I should imagine, is well known to diplomats."
The occupant of the chair had quite made up his mind that Susie was the
prettier.
"It is their favourite kind," he assured her; "nothing delights them
more than to lie while telling the truth."
"Them? But aren't you a diplomat?"
"There are many who doubt it. Perhaps they will doubt it more than ever
before we are out of this tangle. It's awfully good of you and your
sister to take an interest in it."
"But of course we'd take an interest!"
"And keep a secret.
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