"No it isn't," said Ronnie instantly. "I don't think one ought to chuck names about--it is most dishonorable and caddish. The lady was a very great friend of mine." "Then I probably know her," said Sir John wilfully dense. "I know most of the people in your set, and I cannot imagine that you would be scoundrel enough to escort the kind of girl you couldn't introduce to me or Beryl or any other of your friends." "I give you my word of honor," Ronnie was earnest, "that the lady was not only presentable, but is known personally to you. The fact is, that she had a row with her fiancé, a man I know very well, a Coldstreamer, and I was doing no more than trying to reconcile them--bring them together you understand. She was dreadfully depressed, and I got a box at the theatre with the idea of cheering her up. My efforts," he added virtuously, "were successful. Beryl said that it was a girl--the daughter of a dear friend of mine, she had seen me talking with in the park." "What dear friend of yours was this?" "I don't think you've met him," parried Ronnie. "Did she have trouble with her fiancé, too?" asked Sir John innocently. "Really, Ronnie, you are coming out strong as a disinterested friend of distressed virgins! If I may employ the imagery and language of an American burglar whom I recently defended--Sir Galahad has nothing on you!" "You don't believe me, John," said Ronnie injured. "Of course I cannot believe you. I am not a child. You had some girl with you, some 'pick up', innocent or guilty, God knows. I will assume her innocence. The sophisticated have no appeal for you. There was a girl named East--a chorus girl, if I remember rightly--" "If you're going to talk about that disgraceful attempt to blackmail me, I'm finished," said Ronnie resigned. "Why didn't you charge her and her brother with blackmail? They came to me--" "Good lord, did they? I'll break that infernal blackguard's neck!" "When will you meet him?" Ronnie did not answer. "They came to me and I knew that the story was true. The brother, of course, _is_ a blackmailer. He is levying blackmail now and you are paying him--don't argue, Ronnie, of course you are paying him. You said just now that you would break his neck, which meant to me that you see him frequently--when he comes to draw his blood money. If it were a case of blackmail, why did you not prosecute? The mere threat of the prosecution would have been sufficient to have sent him to ground--it struck me that the girl was acting under the coercion of her brother, and I do not think you would have had any trouble from her. Ronnie, you are rotten." He said this as he stopped at the corner of Park Lane and Piccadilly, and Ronnie smiled nervously. "Oh come now, John, that is rather a strong expression."