"Oh, my dear," Lady Wyke was now quite her self-possessed self, "it is quite a romance. I went to a motor-factory to buy a car, and there I saw Mr. Craver, although I did not know his name, as I never asked it. It was another man who attended to me, and I only saw Mr. Craver at a distance. But he was so very handsome that I admired him exceedingly. Although I am not so young as you are, Miss Lemby, I have the heart and fresh feelings of a girl. After I left the factory I thought a great deal about Mr. Craver."
"Did you indeed?" said. Claudia, hardly relishing this frank confession.
"Now you are jealous. Well, I don't wonder at it. If I was engaged to such a splendid young lover I should be jealous of everyone who looked at him. However, I was beginning to forget him when I went to Hendon to see the flying, and there saw Mr. Craver in an aeroplane."
"You never did," said Claudia, excitedly. "Edwin does not go in for aviation."
"Indeed he does. He went up in an aeroplane and spun about the place like a tee-to-tum, looping the loop, and soaring and all the rest of it. It made me so giddy that I had to close my eyes. But when he came down safely I went up to his machine and congratulated him on his courage. Then, my dear"--Lady Wyke made a gesture of despair--"my heart was wholly lost to him. His good looks, his bravery, his charming manners--can you blame me?"
Claudia declined to say whether she blamed her or not. "You must be making a mistake," she said, in a disturbed manner. "Edwin certainly is in a motor factory, and you might have seen him in one. But he does not go in for aviation. He would have told me had he taken up that profession."
"Oh, I don't say that he is a professional," said Lady Wyke, readily. "He is only an amateur, I fancy, and perhaps he did not tell you what he was doing, lest you should worry. I know it would break my heart to think that the man I loved was up in the air risking his darling neck."
"I don't see why you should talk of Mr. Craver in that way, Lady Wyke. He is engaged to me."
"For the time being, that is."
"For ever. How dare you hint at our parting."