d this
reassurance with an answering smile until the door was shut.

CHAPTER XXVI

When Claire found Winn at the bridge-table she saw at a glance that he
was not in the mood for renunciations. His eyes had the hard, shining
stare that was the danger-signal of the Staines family. He shot a glance
at Claire as if she were a hostile force and he was taking her measure.
He was putting her outside himself in order to fight her. It was as if
he knew instinctively that their wills were about to clash. When the
rubber was over, he got up and walked straight to her.

"You put me off my game," he said grimly. "I can see you're up to
something; but we can't talk here."

"Let's talk to-morrow," she urged, "not now. I thought perhaps you'd
like to come and listen to the music with me; there is music in the
hall."

"You did, did you?" he replied in the same hard voice. "Well, you were
mistaken. Go up-stairs to my room and wait for me. It's number 28, two
or three doors beyond Miss Marley's sitting-room. I'll follow you."

An older woman would have hesitated, and if Claire had hesitated, Winn
would never have forgiven her. But her youth was at once her danger and
her protection.

She would rather have waited till to-morrow, because she saw that Winn
was in a difficult mood; but she had no idea what was behind his mood.
She went at once.

She had never been in Winn's room before, and as she sat down to wait
for him her eyes took in its neat impressive bareness. It was a narrow
hotel room, a bed in one corner, a chest of drawers, washstand, and
wardrobe opposite. By the balcony window were a small table and an
armchair. A cane chair stood at the foot of the bed.

Nothing was lying about. There were few traces of occupation visible;
only a pair of felt slippers under the bed, a large bath sponge on the
washstand, and a dressing-gown hanging on the nail behind the door. In
his tooth-glass by the bedside was a rose Claire had worn and given him.
It was put there with meticulous care; its stalk had been re-cut and its
leaves freshened. Beside it lay a small New Testament and a book on
saddles.

Winn joined her in exactly five minutes. He shut the door carefully
after him, and sat down on the cane chair opposite her.

"I thought you might like to know," he said politely, "that I have made
up my mind not to let you go."

Then he waited for Claire to contradict him. But Claire waited, too;
Claire waited longest. She was