‘You have waited too long,’ she said.  ’Three men have come to arrest you, and their motor is over there in the avenue.’

‘Where are they?’ inquired the American, evidently not at all disturbed.  ‘I’ll see them at once, please.’

‘And give yourself up?’

‘I don’t care.’

‘Here?’

’Why not?  Do you suppose I am going to run away?  A man who gets out in a hurry doesn’t usually look innocent, does he?’

Lady Maud asserted herself.

‘You must think of me and of my father,’ she said in a tone of authority Van Torp had never heard from her.  ’I know you’re as innocent as I am, but after all that has been said and written about you, and about you and me together, it’s quite impossible that you should let yourself be arrested in our house, in the midst of a party that has been asked here expressly to be convinced that my father approves of you.  Do you see that?’

‘Well—­’ Mr. Van Torp hesitated, with his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets.

Across the lawn, from the open window, Margaret’s voice rang out like a score of nightingales in unison.

‘There’s no time to discuss it,’ Lady Maud said.  ’I asked her to sing, so as to keep the people together.  Before she has finished, you must be out of reach.’

Mr. Van Torp smiled.  ‘You’re remarkably positive about it,’ he said.

’You must get to town before the Scotland Yard people, and I don’t know how much start they will give you.  It depends on how long Mr. Griggs and Logotheti can keep them in the old study.  It will be neck and neck, I fancy.  I’ll go with you to the stables.  You must ride to your own place as hard as you can, and go up to London in your car to-night.  The roads are pretty clear on Sundays, and there’s moonlight, so you will have no trouble.  It will be easy to say here that you have been called away suddenly.  Come, you must go!’

Lady Maud moved towards the stables, and Van Torp was obliged to follow her.  Far away Margaret was singing the last bars of the waltz song.

‘I must say,’ observed Mr. Van Torp thoughtfully, as they walked on, ’for a lady who’s generally what I call quite feminine, you make a man sit up pretty quick.’

‘It’s not exactly the time to choose for loafing,’ answered Lady Maud.  ‘By the bye,’ she added, ’you may as well know.  Poor Leven is dead.  I had a telegram a few minutes ago.  He was killed yesterday by a bomb meant for somebody else.’

Van Torp stood still, and Lady Maud stopped with evident reluctance.

‘And there are people who don’t believe in Providence,’ he said slowly.  ‘Well, I congratulate you anyway.’

’Hush, the poor man is dead.  We needn’t talk about him.  Come, there’s no time to lose!’ She moved impatiently.

‘So you’re a widow!’ Van Torp seemed to be making the remark to himself without expecting any answer, but it at once suggested a question.  ‘And now what do you propose to do?’ he inquired.  ’But I expect you’ll be a nun, or something.  I’d like you to arrange so that I can see you sometimes, will you?’