As he himself had remarked but a few moments before, he, Dacre, was not the only person concerned.
But the absolute and uncompromising silence with which his easy suggestion was received was disquieting.

He hastened to break it, divining that the longer it lasted the less was it likely to end in his favour.
"Come, I say!" he urged on a friendly note.

"You can't refuse to do this much for a comrade in a tight corner! I'd do the same for you and more.
And remember, it isn't my happiness alone that hangs in the balance! We've got to think of--Stella!" Monck moved at that, moved sharply, almost with violence.

Yet, when he spoke, his voice was still deliberate, cuttingly distinct.

"Yes," he said.