As unobtrusively as he had come, he departed. He attracted no attention, and looked neither to the right nor to the left. As he vanished through the revolving door, we all looked at one another.
"Mr. Mephistopheles Thomson," Rose murmured.
"With an accent on the Christian name," Leonard remarked.
Naida received me very graciously on the following afternoon. I was a little surprised that she had made no attempt whatever to alter her surroundings or in any way to create an atmosphere. The ordinary hotel furniture and hangings were lightened only by a profusion of flowers, mostly deep red roses. In place of the flowing robes one might have expected, the great dancer wore a severe tailor-made costume of grey tweed. Her hair was brushed plainly back from her forehead and tied with ribbon behind. There was no other caller present when I arrived.
"It would be charming of you to come so soon," she murmured, as she held out her hand, "if it were your own will which brought you."
"My own will would have brought me here in any case," I assured her, "but as it happens I have another mission. I am to ask you what has become of Felix Worth."
I looked into the eyes of another woman for a moment, and I was afraid. Her momentary fit of fury, however, passed. She motioned me to a chair.
"How much do you know of this matter?" she asked.
"Nothing at all," I answered promptly.