"Has he come, my dear?" he asked.
"Not yet, my lord," said Violet Graham, starting slightly and flushing faintly. "It is scarcely time, I think."
"I suppose he will come," said the earl, dryly, "or will he find himself unable to leave the gaming-table and his other pursuits for a few hours?"
"I—I do not think Blair plays much now, my lord," she said, in a low voice.
"You do not know," he said, grimly. "No one knows. His life is a mystery. Why has he not been near me—when did you see him last?"
Her face paled as she remembered the night Blair had come to Park Lane and kissed her.
"Not—not very lately, sir. Not for some weeks."
"Then he may be abroad—at Monte Carlo or some other congenial place?"
"No," she said, in a low voice; "he has not left London."