Marise was oddly dazed at finding herself alone in a taxi with Garth, bound for the Plaza Hotel, which she thought of as "home." She had expected that Tony or Mums would succeed in rescuing her, but neither had risen to the occasion: and the girl realised that this lack of initiative on their part was due to the presence of Pobbles. She hardly knew whether to be more vexed or amused at Garth's triumph (she supposed that he considered it such); but her lips twitched with that fatal sense of humour which Mums so disapproved. "It is rather funny, isn't it?" said her companion. Marise stiffened. This was a critical moment. Much depended upon the start she made on stepping over the threshold of this strange situation. She must be careful to keep the whip hand. "What I was laughing at is funny, in a way," she grudged. "It occurred to me that it was smart of you to bring your Colonel to--to--the--er----" "Show," suggested Garth. "If you like to call it that." "I thought the word pretty well described it from your point of view," explained Garth. Marise looked straight at him. "What was it from yours? It can't have been much more." "I don't feel bound to tell you what it was from mine." "Oh, well, you needn't!" Her chin went up. "I'm not really curious." "Why should you be? You'll find out in time." A spark lit the blue eyes under the blue hat. "I do hope you're not planning to spring any surprises on me, Major Garth," she said, in an acid tone that was a youthful copy of Mums, "because, if you are, it will only lead to unpleasantness. Whereas, if you keep to the spirit of the bargain, we----" "Allow me to point out," Garth cut in, with an impersonal air of detachment which puzzled her, "that you yourself have 'queered' the 'bargain.'" "I don't know what you mean," exclaimed Marise. "That's another instance of your not thinking things out beforehand," he said. "If you'd stopped to reflect a minute before you proposed to marry me this morning you'd have seen what you were up against." Marise felt the blood rush to her cheeks, as if the man had slapped them with the flat of his big hand. "What a way of putting it!" she flashed at him. "You may be a hero and all that--no doubt you are, as you're a V.C. But as a man--a _gentleman_--I'm afraid you've got quite a lot to learn." "Of course I have," said Garth. "You knew I was only a temporary gentleman. I heard Severance state the fact to you on shipboard when he was telling you some of my other disadvantages. Scratch a temporary gentleman, and under the surface you find----" "What?" Marise threw into a pause. "The things you'll find in me, when you know me better." "Oh!" she breathed. And on second thoughts added, "I don't intend to 'scratch' you, and find things under the surface. I don't suppose I shall ever know you much better." "Call it worse, then," he suggested. "Neither better, nor worse!" "Yet you've just promised to take me for both."