"I think not. But my maid knows I went last night. I left a note for her saying so. She came here an hour ago."
"Tell her you will dismiss her if she says a word," said Lady Ardingly.
"She will not."
"You are certain?"
"Perfectly."
"Then, my dear, will you talk to Jack first, or to me?" said the other.
"To Jack, if you can wait," said Marie. "Yet I don't know why I should keep you. I have got to talk to Jack. I promised him. And that is all, I think."
Lady Ardingly rose with alacrity.
"Then talk to him now," she said. "Afterwards, though perhaps you don't want to talk to me, I want to talk to you. I will send him."
For a moment Marie was alone. The interval she employed in wheeling a chair up to the table where the cigarettes were. She sat herself in it, and on the moment Jack came in, and the two were face to face. He, like her, looked absolutely normal.