"Have you forgotten?"
"No. I am very sorry that I couldn't get back sooner. What is the time?"
It was too late for Miriam to dress and reach her destination at the appointed hour.
"You must go without me. I hope it doesn't matter. They are not the kind of people who plan for their guests to go like the animals of Noah's ark."
This was a sally of unwonted liveliness from Miriam, and it did not suit very well with her jaded face.
"Will you come after dinner?" Eleanor asked.
"Yes, I will. Make some excuse for me."
So Miriam dined alone, or made a pretence of doing so, and at nine o'clock joined her friends. Through the evening she talked far more freely than usual, and with a frequency of caustic remark which made one or two mild ladies rather afraid of her.
At half-past nine next morning, when she and Eleanor were talking over a letter Mrs. Spence had just received from Greece, a servant came into the drawing-room to say that Mr. Elgar wished to speak with Mrs. Baske. The ladies looked at each other; then Miriam directed that the visitor should go up to her own sitting-room.
"This has something to do with Cecily," said Eleanor in a low voice.