I found my lady in her own sitting room.

She started and looked annoyed when I mentioned that Sergeant Cuff wished to speak to her.
"MUST I see him ?" she asked.

"Can't you represent me, Gabriel ?" I felt at a loss to understand this, and showed it plainly, I suppose, in my face.

My lady was so good as to explain herself.
"I am afraid my nerves are a little shaken," she said.

"There is something in that police-officer from London which I recoil from--I don't know why.