"Has it been such a long day?" she asked, a trifle sharply. She knew Mr. Tremain and Patricia had not met that day, and shrewdly suspected the reason of his restlessness, and though she acknowledged to herself the hopelessness of her own hopes, she could not endure to have it brought home to her by him.
"Very long," replied Philip, candidly; "it's a way time has of never weighing his goods. The hours that be go by on lagging steps, the hours to come rush and tumble one on top of the other, and are never in the future but always in the past."
"I should think that rather depended upon one's occupation," responded Miss James, tritely. "If one's copybook was to be trusted, time never halted or stood still. 'Time Flies,' with a very large T and F is among my earliest recollections."
Mr. Tremain laughed a little as he replied:
"You shame me, Miss James, into an open confession of laziness. To be lazy is to find time out of joint, and in consequence out of touch with one. One can only be legitimately lazy on board a yacht, or fishing; under such circumstances action becomes criminal. By the way, let me congratulate you on your distinct success as Mrs. Bouncer, last evening. I asked for you after rehearsal, but did not see you."
"No," replied Miss James, slowly, "I did not come back to the theatre."
As she spoke a dull flush rose to her cheeks, for she remembered how and where she passed those two hours, when all the world were absorbed in the miniature playhouse. With one of those strange sudden waves of perception she saw again a broken feather-fan and golden-hued rose lying together on the velvet carpet, and Vladimir Mellikoff, tall and dark and smiling, holding back the heavy portières, through which she escaped trembling and doomed.
She caught her breath and went on a little nervously:
"I am very flattered to be praised by you, Mr. Tremain. I can't bear Mrs. Bouncer myself; she is quite antipathetic to me."
"Then surely you deserve all the more praise," said Mr. Tremain, courteously. "If to be out of accord with one's rôle results so favourably I shall devoutly pray that Henri de Flavigneul and I may be at daggers drawn this evening."