the word. Simply that is not the word. You people eye one another....
Flirtation. I give the affair its proper name. That is all. Merely that.
When I think--But we will not discuss it now.... Good night.... Forgive
me if I put before you, rather bluntly, my particular point of view."

Sir Richmond found himself alone. With his eyebrows raised.

Section 6

After twenty-four eventful hours our two students of human motives
found themselves together again by the fireplace in the Old George
smoking-room. They had resumed their overnight conversation, in a state
of considerable tension.

"If you find the accommodation of the car insufficient," said Sir
Richmond in a tone of extreme reasonableness, and I admit it is, we can
easily hire a larger car in a place like this.

I would not care if you hired an omnibus, said Dr. Martineau. "I am not
coming on if these young women are."

"But if you consider it scandalous--and really, Martineau, really! as
one man to another, it does seem to me to be a bit pernickety of you, a
broad and original thinker as you are--"

"Thought is one matter. Rash, inconsiderate action quite another. And
above all, if I spend another day in or near the company of Miss Belinda
Seyffert I shall--I shall be extremely rude to her."

"But," said Sir Richmond and bit his lower lip and considered.

"We might drop Belinda," he suggested turning to his friend and speaking
in low, confidential tones. "She is quite a manageable person. Quite.
She could--for example--be left behind with the luggage and sent on by
train. I do not know if you realize how the land lies in that quarter.
It needs only a word to Miss Grammont."

There was no immediate reply. For a moment he had a wild hope that his
companion would agree, and then he perceived that the doctor's silence
meant only the preparation of an ultimatum.

"I object to Miss Grammont and that side of the thing, more than I do to
Miss Seyffert."

Sir Richmond said nothing.

"It may help you to see this affair from a slightly different angle if
I tell you that twice today Miss Seyffert has asked me if you were a
married man."

"And of course you told her I was."

"On the second occasion."

Sir Richmond smiled again.

"Frankly," said the doctor, "this adventure is altogether uncongenial
to me. It is the sort of thing that has never happened in my life. This
highway coupling--"

"Don't you think," said Sir Richmond, "that you are attaching rather