He wondered if it could be traced back to the phraseology of the circus?
"Of course you think I am an extremist," concluded Gideon Vetch abruptly, "but before you are as old as I am you will have learned that the only way to get half a loaf is to ask for a whole one.

Come again, and I'll talk to you." "Yes, I'll come again," Stephen answered, and he knew that he should.
Whether he willed it or not he would be drawn back by the Governor's irresistible influence.

The man had aroused in him an intense, a devouring curiosity.

He wanted to know his thoughts and his life, the mystery of his birth, of his upbringing, of his privations and denials.
Above all he wanted to know why he had succeeded, what peculiar gift had brought him out of obscurity, and had given him the ability to use men and circumstances as if they were tools in his hands.
When the young man ran down the steps there was a pleasant excitement tingling in his veins, as if he were feeling the glow of forbidden wine.
Turning beside the fountain, he glanced back as the Governor was closing the door, and in his vision of the lighted interior he saw Patty Vetch darting airily across the hall.

So it was nothing more than a hoax! She hadn't hurt herself in the least.