Arthur was lighting a cigarette. In the intervals of the operation he asked, "Well, what do you think?"
Mr. Etheringham looked at him with a tolerant smile. "Think? My dear fellow, to-morrow's the night! What on earth's the use of thinking?"
[CHAPTER XXVIII]
TAKING MEDICINE
"Good-night. Thanks awfully for coming, Mrs. Norton Ward! And you too, Judith! Beg pardon? Oh, yes, I hope so—with just a few alterations. Wants a bit of pulling together, doesn't it? What? Oh, yes, only quite a few—one fellow in the gallery really started it. What? Oh, yes, up till then it was all right—Yes, it will be really, I'm sure. Still I wish——"
"Move up there!" from the policeman.
"All the same I wish—Well, good-night. See you soon, shan't I?"
Thus Arthur, outside the Burlington Theatre, bade farewell to the two ladies who had honoured his box with their presence—Arthur very suave, collected, smiling, easy, but rather pale in the face. Under pressure from the policeman, Esther's car drove off.
Esther gave a long sigh of relief. Judith had thrown herself back in the other corner.