"Mrs. Geraldine said——”
"It doesn’t matter. You must come. I wouldn’t sit down without you."
He looked at her, and his face twitched. She looked so strange, so terribly aloof! He was unstrung, anyhow. He had had a beastly interview with his brother, and a somewhat unpleasant five minutes with Polly, whom he so much admired. He had really annoyed her, for the sake of this devilish girl. He was filled with dread and distress, with a wretched sense of impending calamity—what people call a presentiment. Perhaps it was because his mind unconsciously recognized all the elements here for a hellish conflagration.
"Hurry, won’t you?" he said. "We’re waiting."
She did hurry, and her dressing took only ten minutes; but she was very much surprised to find Eddie still waiting for her, and still more surprised when he took her by the arm and for the first time used her name.
"Angelica!" he said in a low voice.
"What?" she asked, startled.
"Don’t!"
"Don’t what, Mr. Eddie?"
He didn’t answer, but he squeezed her arm, and when she looked up into his face it was desperately anxious.