"You would do just the same, if you were in my position." "It is an affair of duty," he persisted, "or the triumph of a rival ?" She made a grimace at him.

"It is an affair of duty," she admitted, "but it is certainly with a rival that I must dine." He moved a little nearer to her on the lounge.
"Tell me on your honour," he said, "that you are not dining with Baring, and I will forgive!" For a moment she seemed as though she were summoning all her courage to tell the lie which he half expected.

Instead she changed her mind.
"Do not be unkind," she begged.

"I am dining with Captain Baring.

The poor man is distracted.