There was no mistaking the sincerity in his voice and it was that more than anything else that made Rex Daviot pause before he voiced the categorical refusal that trembled on his lips.
Then, as if he knew that the older man was waiting tensely for his answer, he said,
“I would naturally need time to think this over and perhaps without committing myself in any way I could meet your niece.”
He saw Sir Terence’s eyes light up.
“Do you really mean that? My God, it would be a weight off my shoulders!”
“I have not said anything about accepting your extraordinary and, I am sure, quite unprecedented solution for my future and your difficulties,” Rex Daviot declared warningly.
“I know that,” Sir Terence agreed swiftly. “But at the moment I feel that you are a lifeline for a drowning man.”
He
