"Yes."
"Well, trust its recovery to her; she'll get it, if he has it with him. If he leaves it behind in London so much the easier for me."
"But I thought you were coming down——"
"You think a great deal too much, and your actions are——"
"Sh!" whispered the Lieutenant, laying his hand on Darcy's arm. "He's looking our way, he'll hear us."
Stanley had not caught a word of the previous conversation, but a whisper sometimes carries much farther than the ordinary tones of the voice, and he heard the caution and saw the gesture which accompanied it, very distinctly.
The Colonel and the Lieutenant were close upon him by this time, and Stanley, who had no wish to be recognised, began to move off, and disappeared in the crowd, determined to make the best of his way to the door. He was terribly bored.
He was not destined to escape quite so easily, however, for Lady Isabelle McLane sighted him in transit, and in a moment more had drawn him into a protecting corner with two seats, and settled down to a serious conversation.
"I hear you're going down to the Roberts'," she said; "I'm invited too."
"Then I'm all the more sorry that I'm not to be there," he replied.