h
him."

"I say, Myra, you're not pulling my leg again, are you?" asked Tony,
tugging at his little sandy moustache and looking worried. "I'm in a
frightfully awkward position, as I said before. I like the chap
immensely, and I think he's too much of a gentleman to poach--although,
of course, foreigners have a different code of morals from us, and
aren't to be trusted where women are concerned. I--er--I don't quite
know what to do, but, of course, I'll do anything rather than risk
losing you."

There flashed into his mind as he spoke Don Carlos's remark concerning
women complaining of another man's attentions in order to bring a
husband or a lover "up to scratch," and he had what he would have
described as a "brain wave."

"I say, I've got a bright idea, darling," he continued, before Myra
could speak. "Let's solve the difficulty by getting married at once.
I'll get a special licence, and we'll set a new fashion by entertaining
a house party in the Highlands during our honeymoon. Even the boldest
man would surely hesitate to make love to another man's wife during her
honeymoon. What do you say?"

Myra pursed her red lips and wrinkled her brows in thought, and Tony
took her indecision to be a good sign.

"Say 'yes,' darling," he urged. "You know I'm most tremendously in
love with you and frightfully keen, and you will have no further reason
to feel afraid of Don Carlos when you are my wife."

"I'm not afraid of Don Carlos," snapped Myra. "Oh, Tony, don't be so
dense and exasperating! Almost I wish now I had never told you about
the tiresome and conceited creature's love-making... Besides," she
added, inconsequentially, "I don't want to get married yet, and if I
did marry you before we go to Scotland Don Carlos would pride himself
it was to protect myself from him, and it would be worse and more
dangerous if he made love to me as a married woman. Oh, Tony, my dear,
I'm getting mixed, but maybe you understand what I mean. I'm not
afraid of Don Carlos, but I don't want to give him any chance of going
about boasting that I am in love with him."

"I don't think he would do that, Myra," said Tony. "He seems an
awfully decent sort of chap. If you'd heard his explanation, you would
understand that he was really only paying us both a compliment by
pretending to make love to you. I do hope you'll see him, my dear, and
let him explain and apologise. I don't understand why you're so cross
with me, darling."