No, Olga was fain to admit it. All her own private aversion
notwithstanding, she did not want this man added to the list of victims.
Cynical and even overbearing though he might be, she no longer desired
to see him humiliated. And her face glowed more and more hotly as she
remembered that it was she who had set the trap.

She fully realized, however, that an appeal to Violet at this stage
would be worse than futile. Violet was too set on her mischievous course
to do other than laugh and pursue it with renewed zest for her capture.
Of course there remained Nick, chosen adviser and confidant; but for
some reason Olga shrank from discussing Max with him. She had an uneasy
dread lest Nick's intelligence should leap ahead of her and disclose to
her with disconcerting suddenness facts and possibilities with which she
was quite unprepared to reckon. She visualized his grin of amused
comprehension over the means she had devised for her own deliverance and
the unpleasant quandary in which it had placed her. Nick's sense of
humour was at times almost too keen. She smiled faintly to herself over
this reflection. She could not deny that there were points in the
situation which appealed even to her own.

Yet she was more ashamed than amused. The discovery that Max was human
had somehow altered everything, and made her own conduct appear
dastardly. She had acted maliciously albeit, in self-defence; but now
that it seemed that her point might pierce his armour, she wanted to
withdraw it. She shrank unspeakably from seeing him vanquished. It would
have hurt her to find him at her own feet, but the bare thought of him
at Violet's--Violet who had no mercy upon old or young, who would
trample him underfoot without a pang and pass gaily on--that thought was
unbearable.