Roger hesitated. The frank appeal was disarming, shaking the suspicion he was harbouring.
"Let's leave it like this," continued Rooke, following up his advantage. "If the light's good, you'll let me have Nan, but if it's a dull day she shall be swept into the gilded portals of the Peabodys."
"Very well," agreed Roger, rather reluctantly.
"I think you'll find," said Isobel, as she and Roger strolled back to the car, "that the light will be quite good enough for painting."
And that seemingly harmless remark lodged in Roger's mind and rankled there throughout the whole of the following day when the Peabody lunch took place as arranged—but lacking the presence of Maryon Rooke and Nan.
CHAPTER XXX
SEEKING TO FORGET
"And this is my holiday!" exclaimed Maryon, standing back from his easel the better to view the effect of his work. "Nan, you've a lot to answer for."
Another fortnight had gone by, and the long hours passed is the music-room, which had been temporarily converted into a studio, were beginning to show fruit in the shape of a nearly completed portrait.
Nan slipped down from the makeshift "throne."