"Where did you meet him first?" Hester asked.
"It was at the Metropole at Bexhill," Mrs. Phillimore answered. "We motored down there one day, and Lena Roberts told me that she heard him inquiring who I was directly we came into the room. He joined our party at luncheon. Billy knew him slightly, so I made him go over and ask him."
Hester nodded, and seemed to be absorbed in some trifling defect of one of the keys of her typewriter.
"Does he still ask you many questions about Mr. Mannering, mother?" she asked, quietly.
"About Mr. Mannering!" Mrs. Phillimore repeated, with raised eyebrows. "Why, he scarcely ever mentions his name."
She took up a small mirror from the table by her side, and critically touched her hair.
"About Mr. Mannering, indeed," she repeated. "Why do you ask me such a question?"
The girl hesitated.
"Do you really want to know, mother?" she asked.
"Of course!"