awaiting her
departure to discuss it. He had not appeared in the least pleased to
find her there on his arrival, and from that moment onward the
conversation had become distinctly laboured.

She wished very much that Miss de Gervais had not pressed her to stay
when he came, and at the first opportunity she rose to go. This time,
Adrienne made no effort to detain her, although she asked her cordially
to come again another day.

As Diana drove back in a taxi to Brutton Square she was conscious of a
queer sense of disappointment in the outcome of her meeting with Max
Errington. It had been so utterly different from anything she had
expected--quite commonplace and ordinary, exactly as though they had
been no more than the most casual acquaintances.

She hardly knew what she had actually anticipated. Certainly, she told
herself irritably, she could not have expected him to have treated her
with marked warmth of manner in the presence of others, and therefore
his behaviour had been just what the circumstances demanded. But,
notwithstanding the assurance she gave herself that this was the
common-sense view to take of the matter, she had an instinctive feeling
that, even had there been no one else to consider, Errington's manner
would still have shown no greater cordiality. For some reason he had
decided to lock the door on the past, and the polite friendly
indifference with which he had treated her was intended to indicate
quite clearly the attitude he proposed to adopt.

She supposed he repented that brief, vivid moment in the car, and
wished her to understand that it held no significance--that it was
merely a chance incident in this world where one amuses oneself as
occasion offers. Presumably he feared that, not being a woman of the
world, she might attach a deeper meaning to it than the circumstances
warranted, and was anxious to set her right on that point.

Her pride rose in revolt. Olga Lermontof's words returned to her mind
with fresh enlightenment: "I shouldn't allow myself to become too
interested in him, if I were you." Surely she had intended this as a
friendly warning to Diana not to take anything Max Errington might do
or say very seriously!

Well, there would be no danger of that in the future; she had learned
her lesson and would take care to profit by it.

CHAPTER X

MISS LERMONTOF'S ADVICE

As Diana entered the somewhat dingy hall at 34 Brutton Square on her
return from visiting Ad