He talked of the cleverness with which Adèle handled the Koh-i-noor organ. He gave him the tickets for the opening of the Cinema Palace, and Hugh took Millicent and her grandfather and Damaris Cooper, and they had a delightful party. They talked with Adèle afterward. She was in the highest spirits, and Leonard Grimshaw stood beside her with an air of proprietorship which Hugh discerned with satisfaction.
The secretary had not yet qualified for that reward of hers, promised when he should have evicted the Duanes; and seeing Millicent with Hugh to-night created in Adèle a tigerish eagerness for its fulfillment.
“Have patience,” Leonard told her when the others had gone. “Everything is working toward the desired end; but why are you so interested?” he added.
“Can you ask?” she returned with one of the looks he dreamed about. “Is it nothing to—to us that Goldstein wishes to be so generous?”
Grimshaw smiled. “We may be living in that apartment house ourselves, Adèle. Who knows?”
One afternoon there appeared in Colonel Duane’s garden an alien growth in the shape of the manager of the Koh-i-noor. The owner saw him walking along the garden paths and in surprise went out to meet him.
Mr. Goldstein held out his hand. “It looks like intrusion, I’m sure, Colonel Duane, but you excuse me if I look this ground over; I have a strong personal interest.”
Colonel Duane mechanically shook hands.
“Yes; I am about to buy this property.” The visitor smiled into the old gentleman’s startled face.
“I’ve heard nothing of this,” said the Colonel, and his voice was not steady. “Miss Frink is away.”