His smiling face contracted into gravity for a moment, and it was only after a pause that he continued his investigations.
'Trist!' he murmured to himself. 'Trist here? What is the meaning of that? Is it war, I wonder? Or is Brenda coming? I will find out.'
Presently he moved away, and after some time joined a group of grave-faced elderly men, among whom Theo Trist was standing. There were politicians among these gentlemen, and several faces were of a distinctly foreign type, while more than one language could be heard. Hicks looked a trifle out of his element amidst such surroundings, and the foreign languages troubled him. No one looked towards him invitingly—not even Trist, who was talking with a broad-shouldered little man with a large head, and a peculiar listless manner which stamped him as an Oriental. Hicks did not even know what language they were speaking. It was not European in sound or intonation. Here and there he caught a word or a name.
Once he heard Trist mention the name of a Russian general then scarcely known. Though the pronunciation was rather different from that of most Englishmen, Hicks recognised the word 'Skobeleff,' and, glancing towards the smaller man, he saw upon his long, mournful features a singular look of uneasiness.
There was something fascinating about the man's face which attracted the artist's attention, and he stood gazing with a greater fixity than is usually considered polite. Without looking towards him, the Oriental was evidently aware of his attention, for he spoke to Trist, who turned with deliberate curiosity.
'Ah, Hicks!' he said, 'how do you do?'
Then he turned again to his unemotional companion and made a remark, which was received apathetically.
Hicks had not wished to make his advent so prominent. It now appeared as if he had sought out Trist for some special purpose, to make some important communication which could not brook delay.
Trist evidently read his action thus, for he left the group of statesmen and joined him. Hicks was equal to the occasion.
'You remember,' he said confidentially, as he touched his companion's sleeve and they walked down the room together—'you remember what I once told you about the Hustons?'