"Paris? I didn't hear her say anything about it."
"Perhaps it is my mistake, then," Sophy went on hastily. "I only fancied that I heard her say so."
There was a moment's silence. John had opened his lips to ask a question, but quickly closed them again. It was a question, he suddenly decided, which he had better ask of Louise herself.
"If she does go, I shall be very sorry," he said; "but I do not wish, of course, to upset her plans. We must talk to her about it to-night. I suppose we ought to go now."
Sophy walked with him to the door and waited while he took his hat and gloves from the hat-stand. Suddenly she laid her hand upon his arm.
"If Louise goes to Paris," she whispered disconsolately, "I suppose there will be no luncheon-party?"
For a single moment he hesitated. She was very alluring, and the challenge in her eyes was unmistakable.
"I think," he said quietly, "that if Miss Maurel goes to Paris, I shall return to Cumberland to-morrow."
He opened the door, and Sophy passed out before him. She had dropped her veil.