"Are you—are you just going?"
"I am in no hurry."
He reflected for an instant and then decided to take her wishes for granted.
"You will find me in the annexe. There's no hurry, so take your time about putting the papers away. I'll wait for you there," said Sir Julian calmly.
He waited barely five minutes.
She came into the room, very erect, with tension in every line of her face and figure, and a little dent coming and going at the corner of either nostril.
She shut the door quietly behind her.
"Sit down," said Sir Julian, placing a chair for her, so that she could lean both arms on the table, and steady a certain tremulousness of which he suspected the existence.
In order to give her time, he slowly and carefully took out and lit a cigarette. He was conscious of a sensation of surprise in the midst of his mingled annoyance and compassion. He had not expected her to acknowledge defeat so quickly, and he wondered whether some element of which he knew nothing had been introduced into the invisible contest against her.
"I think I shall have to ask you to accept my resignation," she said at last, in a sort of rush.