"Then if I come exactly at half-past ten will you be there?"
"I will try. But how will you know the way?"
"I have a bump of locality which is rather strong, and I know the windows from the outside. You remember you showed them to me to-day as we walked to the tower."
Lady Ethelrida experienced a distinct feeling of excitement over this innocent rendezvous.
"There is a staircase—but no!"—and she laughed—"I shall tell you no more. It will be a proof of your sagacity to find the clue to the labyrinth."
"I shall be there," he said, and once again he looked into her sweet, gray eyes; and she rose with a slightly faster movement than usual and drew him to where there were more of her guests.
Meanwhile Lord Elterton was losing no time in his pursuit of Zara. He had been among the first to leave the dining-room, several paces in front of Tristram and the others, and instantly came to her and suggested a tour of the pictures. He quite agreed with the financier—these long, narrow rooms were most useful!
And Zara, thankful to divert her mind, went with him willingly, and soon found herself standing in front of an immense canvas given by the Regent, of himself, to the Duke's grandfather, one of his great friends.
"I have been watching you all through dinner," Lord Elterton said, "and you looked like a beautiful storm: your dress the gray clouds, and your eyes the thunder ones—threatening."
"One feels like a storm sometimes," said Zara.