With this introduction he dashed away, and I was once more conscious of the luminous eyes bent upon me. The tall figure, too, advanced a few paces in my direction.
"I asked for Miss Adare." The voice was deep and grave and harsh and musical all at once.
"That's my name."
"Mine's Grainger."
I gasped silently, like a dying fish, before I could stammer the words—
"Won't you sit down?"
As he seated himself near me and in a good light, I saw that his skin was tanned, as if he lived on the sea or in the open air. I learned later from Larry Strangways that he had just come from a summer's yachting. His gaze studied me—not as a man studies a woman, but as a workman inspects a tool.
"You probably know my errand."
"Mr. Strangways—"
"Yes, I told him to sound you."