‘You’ll get into a mess if you do.’

’Then I must get into a mess.  I shall certainly go.  I will go at once.  It is very disagreeable, but I cannot possibly refuse.  It would be abominable.’  Then going back to the hall, he sent a message by the butler to Marie, saying that he would be with her in less than half an hour.

‘Don’t you go and make a fool of yourself,’ his father said to him when he was alone.  ’This is just one of those times when a man may ruin himself by being softhearted.’  Nidderdale simply shook his head as he took his hat and gloves to go across to Bruton Street.

CHAPTER LXXXVI — THE MEETING IN BRUTON STREET

When the news of...