"It doesn't excuse it
in the least. I don't like it any more than you do, Miss Rushford. But
the ways of diplomacy are devious past understanding; and then, again,
when one has entered upon a line of action, it is sometimes very hard
to change it or let go. It's like a hot iron or a charged wire--one
never realises one's mistake until it is too late. After all, a few days
will end it."
"A few days! Then the Prince was right!"
"Right?"
"He told me that an undercurrent of some sort seemed to be setting in
against him. I warn you, Lord Vernon, that I have become his ally."
"Even to the point of giving me away?" he inquired, half humourously,
looking at her in evident enjoyment.
"Even to the point of giving you away, if you don't play fairly," she
answered, in deadly earnest. "At your suggestion, he consented to a
truce for a week--"
"It was Collins who suggested it."
"No matter; it is all the same; the proposal came from your side. One
can't honourably employ a truce in laying mines for one's enemy."
Lord Vernon was looking straight ahead. There was now no trace of
amusement in his face.
"You are quite right, Miss Rushford," he said. "I release you from any
engagement with either me or Collins to keep our secret. Let me tell
you, I've protested more than once, but I'm no longer a free agent in
regard to this thing, and I have to see it through.
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