She stared, losing a little colour, eyes darkening with apprehension.
"I did hope you'd come," she murmured.
"Oh, I'll come," he said with spirit. "Wild horses couldn't keep me away."
"Really, Hugh? And you don't mind? Oh, I'm glad!"
"I really don't mind," he assured her with a strange smile. "But ... would you mind excusing me one moment? I've forgotten something very important."
"Why, certainly...."
He was already at the telephone in the hallway, just beyond the living-room door. It was impossible to escape overhearing his words. The woman listened perforce with, in the beginning, a little visible wonder, then with astonishment, ultimately with a consternation that shook her with violent tremblings.
"Hello," said Whitaker; "get me Rector two-two-hundred....
"Hello? Rector two-two-hundred? North German Lloyd?... This is Mr. H. M. Whitaker. I telephoned you fifteen minutes ago about a reservation on the George Washington, sailing Saturday ... Yes.... Yes.... Yes, I promised to call for the ticket before noon, but I now find I shan't be able to go. Will you be kind enough to cancel it, if you please.... Thank you.... Good-by."
But when he turned back into the living-room he found awaiting him a quiet and collected woman, perhaps a thought more pale than when she had entered and with eyes that seemed a trifle darker; but on the whole positively the mistress of herself.