In the centre of this morbid silence an innocent voice said:
"Was it a very long cigar?"

The change of thought was so sharp that they had to look round
to see who had spoken.

"I mean," said little Father Brown, from the corner of the
room, "I mean that cigar Mr. Brayne is finishing. It seems nearly
as long as a walking-stick."

Despite the irrelevance there was assent as well as irritation
in Valentin's face as he lifted his head.

"Quite right," he remarked sharply. "Ivan, go and see about
Mr. Brayne again, and bring him here at once."

The instant the factotum had closed the door, Valentin
addressed the girl with an entirely new earnestness.

"Lady Margaret," he said, "we all feel, I am sure, both
gratitude and admiration for your act in rising above your lower
dignity and explaining the Commandant's conduct. But there is a
hiatus still. Lord Galloway, I understand, met you passing from
the study to the drawing-room, and it was only some minutes
afterwards that he found the garden and the Commandant still
walking there."

"You have to remember," replied Margaret, with a faint irony
in her voice, "that I had just refused him, so we should scarcely
have come back arm in arm. He is a gentleman, anyhow; and he