she
thought. Adela Sellingworth especially deserved a touch of the whip. But
it would be an undignified thing to do. They would never know of course
why she had come alone to the _Bella Napoli_! They would think that,
being audaciously unconventional, she had just drifted in there because
she had nothing else to do, as Craven had drifted in alone the other
night. She wanted to do it. Yet she hesitated to do it.

Finally she gave up the idea. She felt malicious, but she could not
quite make up her mind to dine alone where they would see her. Probably
they would feel obliged to ask her to join them. But she would not join
them. Nothing could induce her to do that. And was she to come over to
them when coffee was brought, as Craven had come at her invitation?
No; that would be a condescension unworthy of her beauty and youth. Her
fierce vanity forbade it, even though her feeling of malice told her to
do it.

Her vanity won. She walked on and came into Shaftesbury Avenue.

"I know what I'll do," she said to herself. "I'll go and dine upstairs
at the Cafe Royal, and go into the cafe downstairs afterwards. Garstin
is certain to be there."

Garstin--and others!

This time she obeyed her inclination. Not many minutes later she was
seated at a table in a corner of the restaurant at the Cafe Royal, and
was carefully choosing a dinner.

CHAPTER VI

The more he thought over his visit to Adela Sellingworth the more
certain did Francis Braybrooke become that it had not gone off well.
For once he had not played his cards to the best advantage. He felt sure
that inadvertently he had irritated his hostess. Her final dismissal of
the subject of young Craven's possible happiness with Beryl Van Tuyn, if
circumstances should ever bring them together, had been very abrupt. She
had really almost kicked it out of the conversation.

But then, she had never been fond of discussing love affairs. Braybrooke
had noticed that.

As he considered the matter he began to feel rather uneasy. Was it
possible that Adela Sellingworth--his mind hesitated, then took the
unpleasant leap--that Adela Sellingworth was beginning to like young
Craven in an unsuitable way?

Craven certainly had behaved oddly when Adela Sellingworth had been
discussed between them, and when Craven had been the subject of
discussion with Adela Sellingworth she had behaved curiously. There
was something behind it all. Of that Braybrooke was convinced. But his
perplexi