“She sings occasionally at concerts,” Tavernake replied after a moment's pause. “I suppose there is no harm in telling you that.”
Elizabeth leaned towards him. She was very loth indeed to acknowledge defeat. Once more her voice was deliciously soft, her forehead delicately wrinkled, her blue eyes filled with alluring light.
“Mr. Tavernake,” she murmured, “do you know that you are not in the least kind to me? Beatrice and I are sisters, after all. Even she has admitted that. She left me most unkindly at a critical time in my life; she misunderstood things; if I were to see her, I could explain everything. I feel it very much that she is living apart from me in this city where we are both strangers. I am anxious about her, Mr. Tavernake. Does she want money? If so, will you take her some from me? Can't you suggest any way in which I could help her? Do be my friend, please, and advise me.”
Life was certainly opening out for Tavernake. The atmosphere by which he was surrounded, which she was deliberately creating around him, was the atmosphere of an unknown world. It was a position, this, entirely novel to him. Nevertheless, he did his best to cope with it intelligently. He reflected carefully before he made any reply, he refused absolutely to listen to the strange voices singing in his ears, and he delivered his decision with his usual air of finality.
“I am afraid,” he said, “that since Beatrice refuses even to let you know her whereabouts, she would not wish to accept anything from you. It seems a pity,” he went on, the instincts of the money-saver stirring within him; “she is certainly none too well off.”
The lady on the couch sighed.
“Beatrice has at least a friend,” she murmured. “It is a great deal to have a friend. It is more than I have. We are both so far from home here. Often I am sorry that we ever left America. England is not a hospitable country, Mr. Tavernake.”
Again this painfully literal young man spoke out what was in his mind.
“There was a gentleman in the motor-car with you the other night,” he reminded her.
She bit her lip.