He is undergoing repairs in a nursing home, and the
child--well, I've got to look after the child. _Figurez-vous, ma chere!_
I--a protector of infants! _Un peu comique, n'est-ce pas?_"
"Ah!" Maud said, with compassion. "The poor little thing must come to us.
I will take care of her. When will you bring her?"
"You think her present plight is not to be endured for another moment?"
laughed Saltash. "_Bien!_ I will send her to you tomorrow."
"Ah! I don't mean she is not in safe keeping," protested Maud. "How old
is she? Older than Eileen?"
"A little older than that," said Saltash. "She's nineteen."
"Oh!" said Maud.
"Perhaps you do mean it now!" gibed Saltash, getting up in his sudden
fashion.
Maud rose also, facing him in the starlight. "No, Charlie I don't!
Because I know that the big things are in you and always have been, I
would trust you--with my most precious possession."
He laughed again. "But when I gave it back to you, you would look all
round it to make sure it hadn't been broken and stuck together again,
wouldn't you, Maud of the Roses?"
"No," she said. "I wouldn't. I know--Charles Rex--better than that."
He made her a sweeping bow. "Most fair and gracious lady, do not forget
that my crest is a fox's head and the motto thereupon, '_Sans vertu_!'"
She smiled, looking at him with steadfast eyes.
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