"As Anthony said to you, he knows which side his bread's buttered."

"But if he hopes some one will give him more butter for being wicked
than he can get from us for being good?"

"Let's not think of far-fetched contingencies, dear," said I. "Now
you've told me all, I will try to do something--"

"May I come in?" boomed a big voice at the door. "I knocked and nobody
answered, so I thought the room would be empty--"

Biddy dropped my hand like a hot potato. She had jumped up so quickly
from our sofa that Sir Marcus Lark's observant eyes could hardly have
seen us sitting there together.

"Of course, come in," she said. "Have you anything to tell? But I'll
call Mrs. East. She won't like you to begin without her."

Biddy darted off to an adjoining room, leaving me alone with my
employer.

"What do you think of this affair?" I wanted to know. "Well," said he,
"I can only judge other men by myself. If I had such a chance to appear
a hero in the eyes of a pretty woman as Fenton has, I'm afraid I'd be
tempted to take advantage of it, even if I had to play some trick to
make myself indispensable. Now you see in a nutshell what I think.
Captain Fenton will certainly rescue those young ladies from a trap if
he has to make the trap himself."