"I should love it dearly."
"Then I'll send it over to you in the morning."
And that was as near as they approached the subject they were tacitly avoiding.
At a quarter of nine, to the consternation of every one, Mrs. Franklyn-Haldene was announced.
"Take me up stairs to the billiard-room," said Warrington; "I am not in the mood to meet that woman to-night."
"Come on, then," cried John, willing enough. "There's the servants' stairs. I'll give you a handicap of twenty in a hundred points."
"I'll beat you at those odds."
"That remains to be seen."
And the two hurried up the stairs just as the hall-door closed. The billiard-room was situated at the head of the front stairs. Warrington won the bank, and he ran a score of ten. While he was chalking his cue he heard voices.
"It is very sad." It was Mrs. Franklyn-Haldene talking. "We shall miss her in church work. It is a severe blow to Mr. Warrington."