“That’s what I wasn’t sure about, whether you said the fifteenth or the sixteenth. It was you who phoned me, wasn’t it, Mr. Harley?”
A striking change came over the young man’s face. Phil Harley was puzzled, which was why his expression tightened. As quickly the expression faded, before Arlene Forster noticed it. The girl at that moment was answering her own question in a reminiscent tone and her violet eyes had a reflective stare.
“No, it couldn’t have been you, Mr. Harley,” Arlene mused. “The voice was different. Whoever called said the fifteenth, then changed the day to the sixteenth. I was sure of it at the time, yet afterward -”
Pausing, Arlene nodded.
“Well, this is the fifteenth,” she decided brightly. Her eyes sparkled as they again met Phil’s gaze. “Anyway, we were supposed to meet, and here we are. We know we’re the right people, because we’re both wearing a bit of lilac. It’s rather unusual, lilac as a flower, isn’t it?”
Phil agreed that it was. Now his expression was very steady. He wondered if this girl was trying to trick him, or whether she simply wanted him to declare himself. Since Phil had nothing to declare, the only alternative was to profess ignorance, which was something else he didn’t care to do.
Fortunately, the girl herself provided an opportunity for Phil to parry longer. She glanced across the lobby toward a pretentious restaurant; then remarked:
“One thing I remember from that long distance call. The date included dinner. Am I right this time?”
“You are,” assured Phil, “so let’s go.”
Though various things might puzzle Phil Harley, he had cultivated one faculty, that of sensing when something odd was occurring nearby. Right now, Phil was sure that somewhere in the lobby someone had observed his meeting with the blonde who answered to the name of Arlene Forster.