"No!" he answered. "I scarcely know the man. I have never seen him except
in the lift, or on the stairs."

"Then you have no excuse for keeping me here," she declared. "I may be
his friend, or I may be his enemy. At least I possess the key of his
flat, presumably with his permission. My presence here I have explained.
I can assure you that it is entirely accidental! You have no right to
detain me for a moment."

The clock on the mantelpiece struck midnight. A sudden passion surged in
his veins, a passion which, although at the time he could not have
classified it, was assuredly a passion of jealousy! He remembered the man
Barnes, whom he hated.

"You shall not go to his rooms--at this hour!" he exclaimed. "You don't
know the man! If you were seen--"

She laughed mockingly.

"Let me pass!" she insisted.

He hesitated. She saw very clearly that she was conquering. A moment
before she had respected this man. After all, though, he was like
the others.

"I will go with you and wait outside," he said doggedly. "Barnes, at this
hour--is not always sober!"

Her lips curled.