Laverick placed the note in his waistcoat pocket without immediate remark. Later on he turned to his companion.
“Will you tell Mademoiselle Idiale,” he said, “that I will do myself the honor of coming to her at Luigi’s restaurant. I have an engagement after the performance which I must keep.”
“You will certainly come?” Lassen asked anxiously.
“Without a doubt,” Laverick promised.
Mr. Lassen took up his hat...
“I will go and tell Mademoiselle. For some reason or other she seemed particularly desirous of seeing you this evening. She has her whims, and those who have most to do with her, like myself, find it well to keep them gratified. If I do not see you again, sir, permit me to wish you good evening.”
He disappeared with several bows of his pudgy little person, and Laverick was left with another puzzle to solve. He was not in the least conceited, and he did not for a moment misinterpret this woman’s interest in him. Her invitation, he knew very well, was one which half London would have coveted. Yet it meant nothing personal, he was sure of that. It simply meant that for some mysterious reason, the same reason which had prompted her to visit him in the city he was of interest to her.
At a few minutes before eleven Laverick left the place and drove to the stage-door of the Universal Theatre. Zoe came out among the first and paused upon the threshold, looking up and down the street eagerly. When she recognized him, her smile was heavenly.
“Oh, how nice of you!” she exclaimed, stepping at once into his taxicab. “You don’t know how different it feels to hope that there is some one waiting for you and then to find your hope come true. To-night I was not sure. You had said nothing about it, and yet I could not help believing that you would be here.”
“I was hoping,” he said, “that we might have another supper together. Unfortunately, I have an engagement.”