[CHAPTER XIV]
Late in the afternoon, Gimblet, returning to the flat in Whitehall, found a visitor awaiting him there.
Higgs, hearing his footstep in the hall, hurried out to meet him and inform him of the fact.
“A young lady, sir. She gave me this card, and wants to see you on business. She’s been here about ten minutes, and I’ve taken tea in to her, not knowing how long you might be, sir.”
Gimblet took the card and read: “Miss Seraphina Finner, Inanity Theatre.” “Where is she?” he asked.
“In the waiting-room,” replied Higgs; and Gimblet went at once into the small sitting-room he set apart to be used by people unknown to him.
As he opened the door Gimblet checked himself for a moment on the threshold with the sensation of entering some one else’s room by mistake. His visitor had pushed most of the furniture back against the wall, and was, when he first caught sight of her, in the act of pirouetting round in the middle of the floor, with her skirts lifted high and one foot raised to the level of the mantelpiece. Her back was towards him, but at the sound of the opening door she twisted round with a swinging movement, and confronted him with a laugh.
“They told me you were out,” said Miss Finner gaily, and without any trace of embarrassment, “so I just started doing a bit of practising to fill up the time while the tea is standing. Waste not, want not, that’s my motto,” she added.