"Worse and worse! We shall be recognized for
certain! There's a man lives there whom I did out of a hundred pounds--
just a little variation of the confidence trick. Nothing he can get hold
of, you understand; but he knows very well that I had him. Look here,
Walmsley, be reasonable! Hadn't you better drop this chivalrous scheme of
yours, young fellow?"
"The dinner is a fixture," I replied firmly. "Can I borrow Miss Eve,
please? I want to take her for a motor ride."
"You cannot, sir," Mr. Parker told me. "Eve has a little business of her
own--or, rather, mine--to attend to this morning."
"You are not going to let her run any more risks, are you?"
Mr. Parker frowned at me.
"Look here, young man," he said; "she is my daughter, remember! I am
looking after her for the present. You leave that to me."
Eve touched me on the arm.
"Really, I am busy to-day," she assured me. "I have to do something for
daddy this morning--something quite harmless; and this afternoon I have to
go to my dressmaker's. We'll come at eight o'clock."
"We'll come on this condition," Mr. Parker suddenly determined: "My name
is getting a little too well known, and it isn't my own, anyway. We'll
come as Mr. and Miss Bundercombe or not at all.
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