"A la bonne heure! You haf come just at a good moment, Mees de Gervais, to hear this pupil of mine who will some day be one of the world's great singers."
Adrienne de Gervais shook hands.
"I've been listening, Baroni. She has a marvellous voice.
But"—looking at Diana pleasantly—"we are neighbours, surely? I have
seen you in Crailing—where we have just taken a house called Red
Gables."
"Yes, I live at Crailing," replied Diana, a little shyly.
"And I saw you, there one day—you were sitting in a pony-trap, waiting outside a cottage, and singing to yourself. I noticed the quality of her voice then," added Miss de Gervais, turning to the maestro.
"Yes," said Baroni, with placid content. "It is superb."
Adrienne turned back to Diana with a delightful smile.
"Since we are neighbours in the country, Miss Quentin, we ought to be friends in town. Won't you come and see me one day?"
Diana flushed. She was undoubtedly attracted by the actress's charming personality, but beyond this lay the knowledge that it was more than likely that at her house she might again encounter Errington. And though Diana told herself that he was nothing to her—in fact, that she disliked him rather than otherwise—the chance of meeting him once more was not to be foregone—if only for the opportunity it would give her of showing him how much she disliked him!
"I should like to come very much," she answered.