“Then we must try and make London endurable for you,” he remarked cheerfully. “What night will you dine and go to the theatre with me?—and how about Hurlingham on Saturday?”
Anna shook her head.
“Thank you,” she said coolly. “Those things are not for me just at present.”
He was obviously puzzled. Anna sighed as she reflected that her sister had simply revelled in her indiscretions.
“Come,” he said, “you can’t be meaning to bury yourself. There must be something we can do. What do you say to Brighton——”
Anna looked at him quietly—and he never finished his sentence.
“May I ask whether you are staying with friends in town?” he inquired deferentially. “Perhaps your engagements are made for you.”
“I am staying,” she answered coolly, “at a small boarding-house near Russell Square.”
He dropped his eye-glass with a clatter.
“At a boarding-house?” he gasped.