hat a fleeting crowd! Isabel had never
seen midnight London before. Coming out into the hurrying street
roofed with stars, she was seized by an impression of a solitude
lonelier than any desert, and dark, like the terror of an eerie
sunset or a dry storm on the moor.

"These taxis are waiting for us," Lawrence had come up behind her
and his hand was on her arm. "Will you bring your sister,
Selincourt?-- Miss Isabel, will you come with me?"

"Oh but--!" said Laura, startled. She was responsible to Val for
Isabel, and she was not sure that either Val or Isabel would
welcome this arrangement.

"Thank you," said Isabel, obediently getting into the second cab.

"Better come, dear," said Selincourt with a shrug, and Laura
yielded, for it would have been tiresome to make Isabel get out
again, and after all what signified a twenty minutes' run? Yet
after the Cleve incident she did not quite like it. Nor did
Selincourt; Hyde's overbearing manner set his teeth on edge; but
the gentle Lucian would sooner have faced a loaded rifle than a
dispute. He agreed with Laura, however, that her fair Arcadian
was a trifle too innocent for her years.

Alone with Isabel, Lawrence took off his hat and ran his fingers
through his thick fair hair, so thick that it might have been
grey, while the deep lines round his mouth began to soften as
though fatigue and irritation were being wiped away. "Thank
heaven that's over."

"I've enjoyed every minute of it," said Isabel smiling. "Thank
you, Captain Hyde, for giving me such a delightful treat! If I
weren't sleepy I should like to begin again."

"Oh, don't get sleepy yet," said Lawrence. He pulled up the fur
collar of her coat and buttoned it under her chin. "I can't have
you catching cold, or what will Val say? You aren't used to
driving about in evening dress and we've a long run before us.
And how I have been longing for it all the evening, haven't you?
I didn't know how to sit through that confounded play. Yes, you
can take in Selincourt and Laura but you can't take me in. I know
you must have hated it as much as I did. But it's all right now."
Sitting sideways with one knee crossed over the other, his face
turned towards Isabel, without warning he put his arm round her
waist. He had determined not to ask her to marry him till he was
sure of her answer, but he was sure of it now, intuitively sure
of it . . . the truth being that under his impassive manner
impulse was driv