whom she knew. She began to be intensely irritated by her
leaping desire which was constantly thwarted. That this man was in love
with her and longing to know her she now firmly believed. She wished to
know him. She wished it more than she wished for anything else in the
world just then. But the gulf of conventionality yawned between them,
and there seemed no likelihood of its ever being bridged. Sometimes she
condemned the man for not being adventurous, for not taking his courage
in both hands and speaking to her without an introduction. At other
times she told herself that his not doing this proved him to be a
gentleman, in spite of what Sir Seymour Portman had thought him. In
defiance of his longing to know her he would not insult her.

But if he only knew how she was pining for the insult!

And yet if he had spoke to her perhaps she would have been angry.

She discovered eventually that he was staying at the Carlton Hotel,
for one day on her way to the restaurant she saw him with a key in his
hand--evidently the key of his room. That same day she heard him speak
for the first time. After lunch, when she was in the Palm Court, he
came and stood quite close to where she was sitting. The thin, sallow
individual was with him. They lighted cigars and looked about them. And
presently she heard them talking in French. The thin man said something
which she did not catch. In reply the other said, speaking very
distinctly, almost loudly:

"I shall go over to Paris on Thursday morning next. I shall stay at the
Ritz Hotel."

That was all Lady Sellingworth heard. He had intended her to hear it.
She was certain of that. For immediately afterwards he glanced at her
and then moved away, like a man who has carried out an intention and can
relax and be idle. He sat down by a table a little way off, and a waiter
brought coffee for him and his companion.

His voice, when he spoke the few words, had sounded agreeable. His
French was excellent, but he had a slight foreign accent which Lady
Sellingworth at once detected.

Paris! He was going to Paris on Thursday!

She was quite positive that he had wished her to know that. Why?

There could be only one reason. She guessed that he had become as
fiercely irritated by their situation as she was, that he was tempting
her to break away and to do something definite, that he wanted her to
leave London. She still had her apartment in Paris. Could he know that?
Could he have seen her in