He hurried after Wilhelmina, who was saying good night to her friends. A few minutes later they were being whirled westwards in her brougham.
CHAPTER II
PLAYING WITH FIRE
“
And now,” she said, throwing herself into an easy-chair and taking up a fan, “we can talk.”
He refused the chair which she had motioned him to wheel up to the fire. He stood glowering down upon her, pale, stern, yet not wholly master of himself. Against the sombre black of her dress, her neck and bosom shone like alabaster. She played with her pearls, and looked up at him with that faint maddening curl of the lips which he so loved and so hated.
“So you won’t sit down. I wonder why a man always feels that he can bully a woman so much better standing up.”
“There is no question of bullying you,” he answered shortly. “You are responsible for my coming here. What is it that you want with me?”