The question brought Mr.Le Mesurier up short.

It was a direct question, inviting a responsible decision, and Mr.Le Mesurier was averse by nature to making such decisions out of hand.

If Drake cared for Clarice, he reflected, it was really in Drake's province to decide the point rather than in his own.
'I don't know enough of you,' he replied, 'to either forbid or give you permission.' Drake wondered what the sentence meant.
'In that case I must take my own course,' he said, and he went out of the room and mounted the stairs..