“I can't go out with those people now,” she declared. “Wait here for me.”
She went back to her friends and talked to them for a moment or two. Tavernake could hear Grier's protesting voice and Beatrice's light laugh. Evidently they were trying uselessly to persuade her to change her mind. Soon she came back to him.
“I am sorry,” he said reluctantly. “I am afraid that I have spoiled your evening.”
“Don't be foolish, please,” she replied taking his arm. “Do you believe that my father will be up in the balcony at Imano's to-night?”
Tavernake nodded.
“He told me so.”
“We will go and sit up there,” she decided. “He knows where I am to be found now so it doesn't matter. I should like to see him.”
They walked off together. Though she was evidently absent and distressed, Tavernake felt once more that sense of pleasant companionship which her near presence always brought him.
“There is something else I must ask you,” she began presently. “I want to know if you have seen Pritchard lately.”
“I was with him last night,” Tavernake answered.