shame.

'I'll write it down for you in case you forget.'

He scribbled the address on a sheet of paper that he found on the table.
Margaret took no notice, but sobbed as though her heart would break.
Suddenly, looking up with a start, she saw that he was gone. She had not
heard him open the door or close it. She sank down on her knees and
prayed desperately, as though some terrible danger threatened her.

But when she heard Susie's key in the door, Margaret sprang to her feet.
She stood with her back to the fireplace, her hands behind her, in the
attitude of a prisoner protesting his innocence. Susie was too much
annoyed to observe this agitation.

'Why on earth didn't you come to tea?' she asked. 'I couldn't make out
what had become of you.'

'I had a dreadful headache,' answered Margaret, trying to control
herself.

Susie flung herself down wearily in a chair. Margaret forced herself to
speak.

'Had Nancy anything particular to say to you?' she asked.

'She never turned up,' answered Susie irritably. 'I can't understand it.
I waited till the train came in, but there was no sign of her. Then I
thought she might have hit upon that time by chance and was not coming
from England, so I walked about the station for half an hour.'

She went to the chimneypiece, on which had been left the telegram that
summoned her to the Gare du Nord, and read it again. She gave a little
cry of surprise.

'How stupid of me! I never noticed the postmark. It was sent from the Rue
Littre.'

This was less than ten minutes' walk from the studio. Susie looked at the
message with perplexity.

'I wonder if someone has been playing a silly practical joke on me.' She
shrugged her shoulders. 'But it's too foolish. If I were a suspicious
woman,' she smiled, 'I should think you had sent it yourself to get me
out of the way.'

The idea flashed through Margaret that Oliver Haddo was the author of it.
He might easily have seen Nancy's name on the photograph during his first
visit to the studio. She had no time to think before she answered
lightly.

'If I wanted to get rid of you, I should have no hesitation in saying
so.'

'I suppose no one has been here?' asked Susie.

'No one.'

The lie slipped from Margaret's lips before she had made up her mind to
tell it. Her heart gave a great beat against her chest. She felt herself
redden.

Susie got up to light a cigarette. She wished to rest her nerves. The box
was on the table and, as s