He settled back in his seat with a grunt of acquiescence.  She stood dazed for a moment, surprised at the chance that had put such telling words into her mouth.  She had been fingering timidly for the key to his chivalry; quite by accident she had hit upon it in the shape of this appeal to her expectations of him in the role of host.  She could have lied, of course, and told him that she wished to telephone her mother, but she had not yet been cornered sufficiently to resort to so distasteful a weapon....  As she left the room she found herself wondering whether Stillman had by any chance left the Tom Forsythes.  She looked at the clock.  It was not quite eight o’clock.  She felt reassured, yet she was tremendously frightened....  Especially as she realized that the telephone was in the entrance hall within earshot of the dining-room....

She was decidedly more frightened when she got back from her telephoning, and looked at Flint.  He was clutching at the table with both hands, his body tilted slightly forward, his lips ominously thin.

“You telephoned to the Tom Forsythes, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And you asked for Stillman....  Did you get him?”

“Yes.”

“What did you want with him?”

“If you heard that much, I guess you heard the rest, Mr. Flint.”

Claire stood at her place at the table.  She decided not to sit.  Flint bore down on both hands until things began to creak.

“Yes, I heard everything, but, dammit all, I couldn’t believe my own ears.  You’re like every woman I ever knew ... you don’t play fair.  You appeal to my instinct as host and then you go and outrage every privilege you’ve got me to concede.  You’re a pretty guest, you are!  And I sit here and let you ‘play me for a fool.’  Let you ring up Ned Stillman and ask him to fetch you away from my house in his car!” He stopped and took a deep breath; his words were no longer passionate; instead, they were precise and cool and venomous.  “Understand me, young lady, I’m through with you.  I wouldn’t care, if I thought you were really virtuous.  But you’re too clever for a virtuous woman....  Oh, I dare say you subscribe to the letter of the law, all right.  For instance, you take care not to run around with married men whose incumbrances are in plain view of the audience....  Oh, I’ve seen lots of clever women in my time, but in the end they always took too much rope.  Remember, you’ll have your bluff called some day.”

He pushed back his chair noisily and rose.  The Japanese servant came bobbing along.

“Clear away the things!” Flint bellowed.  “We’re through!...  Good night, Miss Robson, and a pleasant journey to you—­you and your immaculate friend Stillman.”

He left the room with a melodramatic flourish....  Presently Claire heard him mounting the stairs.

“He’s drunk!” flashed through her mind, as if the idea had just struck her.  “Of course, he must be drunk, otherwise he wouldn’t have dared to....”