He looked at Arthur Aldington, with a questioning upraising of the eyebrows, which the other rightly understood to be an invitation to accompany him on his departure.
Arthur, still unwilling to leave Cora, who meanwhile had ungratefully turned her back upon him and was sitting close to Delia on the sofa, talking to her in a low voice, coughed to attract the attention of the girl who had enchanted him.
Cora looked carelessly over her shoulder.
“Isn’t there anything I can do for you?” he asked in a low, hoarse voice.
“Nothing whatever, thank you,” she replied coldly. “I’ve done with all of you. I’ve had to be civil long enough; now I can be natural, and—good-bye.”
She held out her hand quite abruptly and coldly.
He took it, held it for a moment in fingers that trembled, and then, dropping it with just one reproachful look at her, would almost have staggered as he went away, but for Gerard, who took him by the arm, and led him to the inner door.
It was locked.
“May we go out?” asked Gerard of the nearest policeman.
There was a pause, and the man went into the next room to consult Cecil Jones, came back with the key of the door, opened it, and silently let the two young men into the hall.