'That I shall!' Godwin's eyes flashed with imaginative delight. 'And before very long. Never to a home in England!'
'By-the-bye, a request. I have never had your portrait. Sit before you leave London.'
'No. I'll send you one from Paris—it will be better done.'
'But I am serious. You promise?'
'You shall have the thing in less than a fortnight.'
The promise was kept. Earwaker received an admirable photograph, which he inserted in his album with a curious sense of satisfaction. A face by which every intelligent eye must be arrested; which no two observers would interpret in the same way.
'His mate must be somewhere,' thought the man of letters, 'but he will never find her.'
[a/]
CHAPTER II
In his acceptance of Sidwell's reply, Peak did not care to ask himself whether the delay of its arrival had any meaning one way or another. Decency would hardly have permitted her to answer such a letter by return of post; of course she waited a day or so.