"Well, look at 'em," he said contemptuously, and they both laughed. Lady Lorme rose at that moment from the table, and Mr. Devenish, pleading the distance he had to travel, took his departure.
"I have enjoyed myself very much, Challoner," he said as the colonel came out with him to-the doorway. "I can't tell you how glad I am that I thought of dropping in upon you for luncheon. I am going back to London now. Good-by."
He mounted into his car and drove gaily off. In the dining-room behind him, the sandy-haired man was saying over and over again to the dismayed conspirators--
"He'll sell us a pup. He'll sell us a pup. I'll bet you a monkey, he'll sell us a pup."
That night, when the men went upstairs, Rames passing from his dressing-room into his wife's bedroom found her still up and sitting by her fire.
"We go back to-morrow, Cynthia. It has been a long week. I hope you haven't been bored."
"No," she said. "I haven't."
"What do you think of them? Will they run away when the fight comes?"
"Not all," said Cynthia. "But even of those who stay with you, there's not one who is a match for Mr. Devenish."
She spoke with some warmth in her voice.