Then she said in her warm, clear contralto:
"I'm ready, Cecil."
He did not start, but his eyelids drew together and his lips closed. He laid one hand flat upon the open pages of the book and sat gazing at her between his drawn-up lids. Then his face loosened; he hunched his shoulders still more, giving a short, harsh laugh.
"By God!" he said. "You are a beauty!"
Sophy went white. She stood still, moving one slight foot nervously on the polished floor. Chesney sat looking at her. He smiled and his upper lip curled in the middle and at the corners.
"Come here," he said.
She dropped her chin slightly and looked steadily back at him from under her straight brows. Her dilated pupils made her eyes seem black.
"What for?" she said, in a low voice.
"I'll show you when you come."
"We'll be late, Cecil. It takes over half an hour from here to the Arundels'."