Paddy was unpleasantly aware that she could not afford to risk getting her one smart costume spoiled, so she yielded with a bad grace.
When they were alone he turned to her again, and his thin lips compressed into a straight line.
“I see you are a good hater,” he said, “but I only like you the better for it. Do you remember—I said you had given me a new interest in life, and that I would subdue you some day? I am going to begin now.”
“And I replied that I despised you. I have seen no reason to change my mind. It is not of the least consequence to me what you do.”
There was a gleam in his eyes that might have meant either admiration or war, but Paddy, a moment later, only flung out of the house without deigning him so much as a glance.
When she had gone, Lawrence did not return to the drawing-room. He went into his den and closed the door. On the hearthrug he stood looking silently at the floor.
“By Jove,” he muttered a last, “who would have thought she would develop like this. Paddy-the-next-best-thing,” with a little smile, “has become Patricia-the-Great.”
CHAPTER XXXII
Paddy Learns Her Mistake.
True to her word, Gwen called for Doreen a few days later, and the two drove in a taxi to Shepherd’s Bush and found their way to the surgery, where Paddy, in a large black apron, was busy with her prescriptions. They stayed about ten minutes and then drove away again, leaving Paddy less able than ever to resist Gwen’s overtures. At the same time, she felt no less incensed against Lawrence and anxious to avoid meeting him, which was the cause of her reluctance to accept an invitation to a small dance at Gwen’s beautiful home in Grosvenor Place.