"We must wait for a few minutes," I answered. "Isobel is talking to Lady Delahaye."
"I don't know a soul here, and I'm dying for a cigarette."
I pointed through the curtain to the anteroom adjoining.
"You can smoke in there," I remarked. "I'll introduce you to Miss Ernston if you like, the girl who drives the big Panhard in the park. I heard her say that she was going in there to get one of Lady Delahaye's Russian cigarettes!"
Arthur shook his head. He was covertly watching Isobel, sitting on the sofa.
"I'll go in and have the cigarette," he said, "but, Arnold, there's no fresh move on, is there? You're looking pretty glum!"
I shook my head.
"No, there is nothing exactly fresh," I answered. "Come along and smoke, will you! I want Lady Delahaye and Isobel to have their talk out."
He followed me reluctantly into the smaller of Lady Delahaye's reception-rooms, where we smoked for a few minutes in silence. Then Mabel Ernston stopped to speak to me for a moment, and I introduced Arthur. I left them talking motors, and stepped back into the other room. Isobel had already risen to her feet, and Lady Delahaye was looking at her curiously as though uncertain how far she had been successful. She saw me enter, and beckoned me to approach.
"I think that Isobel is tired," she said, in a tone which was meant to be kind. "She has promised to come and see me again."