The Gay Lord Quex - LightNovelsOnl.com
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[_Scandalised._] Oh, my gracious! I _beg_ your pardon.
[_She leaves him hurriedly and hides the box in the cabinet._
QUEX.
[_Quietly to_ FRAYNE.] Chick, she has pa.s.sed the souvenirs on to Miss Fullgarney!
FRAYNE.
[_Bitterly._] How like a woman!
QUEX.
Some women.
FRAYNE.
[_In disgust._] Pah!
QUEX.
Yesterday she was alluring.
FRAYNE.
[_Waving the past from him._] Yesterday--[_with a slight hiccup_] hic!
[_Turning away apologetically._] The heat in this room--
[_He walks away, as_ SOPHY _returns to_ QUEX.
QUEX.
[_To_ SOPHY.] Well, I must not detain you longer, Miss Fullgarney. But there is, of course, one point upon which I should like to feel completely a.s.sured. You have seen Miss Eden--?
SOPHY.
No; not since last evening.
QUEX.
[_Anxiously._] When do you--?
SOPHY.
[_Looking away._] I'm rather expecting her to pop in here during the day.
QUEX.
Quite so. And--and then--?
SOPHY.
[_Facing him candidly._] Your lords.h.i.+p told me last night that your little visit to the d.u.c.h.ess was a perfectly innocent one?
QUEX.
Absolutely innocent. [_Hesitatingly._] I fear I cannot go further than that.
FRAYNE.
[_Fanning himself with his handkerchief._] By gad, why not, Harry? We are in Miss Fullgarney's hands. [_To_ SOPHY.] His lords.h.i.+p went to her Grace's apartment solely to return some gifts which he had accepted from her in the--ah--dim, distant past, and to say adieu.
SOPHY.
[_Witheringly._] Ah, I knew _she_ was a double-faced thing; [_looking at_ QUEX _relentingly_] but p'r'aps one _has_ been a little down on _you_.
QUEX.
[_Meekly._] You have it in your power to atone for that amply.
SOPHY.
[_Half-feelingly, half-sullenly._] At any rate, you behaved, in the end, like a gentleman to me last night. And so--when I see Miss Muriel--
QUEX.
Yes?
SOPHY.
[_Deliberately._] I am going to tell her a lie.
QUEX.
[_With some emotion._] Miss Fullgarney, I--I--
SOPHY.
Oh, I said I'd do what I can for you. [_Uncomfortably._] And this is all I _can_ do.
QUEX.
[_Light-heartedly._] All!
SOPHY.
Just to give you a chance.
QUEX.
