Not another word about the male sex, the female sex, tradition or individualism, passed between them.
Mr. Gilman was summoned to take Audrey across the river to the right bank. They went in a taxi. He was protective and very silent. But just as the cab was turning out of the Rue de Rivoli into the Rue Castiglione he said:
“I shall obey you absolutely, Mrs. Moncreiff. It is a great pleasure for an old, lonely man to keep a secret for a young and charming woman. A greater pleasure than you can possibly imagine. You may count on me. I am not a talker, but you have put me under an obligation, and I am very grateful.”
She took care that her thanks should reward him.
“Winnie,” she burst out in the rose-coloured secrecy of the bedroom, “has Elise gone to bed? ... All right. Well, I’m lost. Madame Piniac is going to England to fetch me.”
CHAPTER XX
PAGET GARDENS
“Has anything happened in this town?” asked Audrey of Miss Ingate.
It was the afternoon of the day following their arrival in London from Paris, and it was a fine afternoon. They were walking from the Charing Cross Hotel, where they had slept, to Paget Gardens.