'Never come back! What nonsense are you talking?' said Lady John.
'Is it premonition of death, or don't you like us any more?' laughed her husband.
The little group trailed across the great room, escorting the guest to the front door, Lady John leading the way. As they passed, Geoffrey Stonor was obviously not listening very attentively to Jean's enthusiastic explanation of her plan for the afternoon. He kept his eyes lowered. They rested on the handkerchief he had picked up, but hardly as if, after all, they saw it, though he turned the filmy square from corner to corner with an air partly of nervousness, partly of abstraction.
'Is it mine?' asked Jean.
He paused an instant. 'No. Yours,' he said, mechanically, and held out the handkerchief to Miss Levering.
She seemed not to hear. Lord John had blocked the door a moment, insisting on a date for the next visit. Jean caught up the handkerchief and went running forward with it. Suddenly she stopped, glancing down at the embroidered corner.
'But that's not an L! It's V—i——'
Stonor turned his back, and took up a magazine.
Lady John's voice sounded clear from the lobby. 'You must let Vida go, John, or she'll miss her train.'
Miss Levering vanished.