Mrs. Beecher Monmouth returned to her divan and disposed herself comfortably. "You bad Bernard, you must sit in that low chair at once, and tell me all you have been doing lately!"
She lifted a cigarette case from a low, ivory-topped table. John took one, noticing that they were the excellent cigarettes Treves had been in the habit of smoking.
"Tell me what you have been doing."
John mused, and the woman went on:
"Do you know, you looked rather handsome last night at the Savoy." She paused and became coyly and softly wistful. "I dislike handsome boys; they are so conceited as a rule."
"If I can keep her talking like this for a while," thought John, "I shall not get into deep water!"
There was a silence, during which the lady luxuriantly smoked her Russian cigarette. Then she looked at John with her slow, low-lidded smile.
"Talk," she commanded.
"I prefer to hear you talk," said John. "Tell me what you have been doing lately—to-day, for instance."
The lady pondered.