I will beg you to accept your losings as a little gift from me--as a proof, if you will, of my friendship." He had saved the situation.

If he had obeyed his first impulse, the affair would have been finished.

He realised it as he watched her face, and he shuddered at the thought of his escape.

His words obviously disturbed her.
"It is not possible for me," she protested, "to accept money from you." "Not from Linda's husband ?" She threw her cigarette into the grate and stood looking at him.
"Do you offer it to me as Linda's husband ?" she demanded.
It was a crisis for which Draconmeyer was scarcely prepared.

He was driven out of his pusillanimous compromise.