“Mrs. Halse, you do know what I know—that is—nothing.”
If a large and smart lady could by any possibility permit herself to stamp a large and heavy foot in the midst of a crowded and fashionable assembly, Mrs. Halse stamped hers at that moment. She gazed for an instant into Loring’s imperturbable face, and then, becoming convinced of his sincerity, she turned to Mrs. Compton with a gesture of despair.
“Hilda!” she said, “if somebody doesn’t find out something soon, I shall die of suspense!”
As it seemed not improbable from her demeanour at the moment that she would obviate the chances of such a calamity by hurling herself upon one of the objects of her interest and wresting a solution of the mystery from him or her by main force, it was perhaps as well that at that moment a temporary distraction presented itself in the shape of a popular actor. Mrs. Halse was very fond of popular actors; they had been a hobby with her at one time. And in the movement and breaking up of the group which ensued, Loring drifted quietly away.
He had made his way gradually into the big room, when he suddenly quickened his steps and began to thread his way skilfully and rapidly through the crowd. Mrs. Romayne was standing on the opposite side of the room, smiling an invitation to him to come and speak to her.
Mrs. Romayne had not been looking her best lately. Somehow the piquant style and daring colour which she affected hardly suited her as they had been wont to do. To-night there was a tired look upon her face which seemed to reveal some recently-traced lines about her mouth; lines of intense and almost dogged determination; and to her sparkling eyes, if she allowed them a moment’s repose, there came a haggard look, which had seemed for the last three days to lie only just beneath the surface. But these were subtle, hardly perceptible points, and for the rest she remained a noticeably attractive woman of the most pronounced artificial type.
“Where’s the boy?” said Loring easily, when they had shaken hands. “Is he here?”
Mrs. Romayne shook her head and laughed.
“No!” she said. “He rather bars the soirée. A mistake, I think. One must take it for what it is, of course; an omnium-gatherum of a perfectly preposterous nature; looked at from that point of view it’s not unfunny! Do look at that girl over there! She thinks her garment is a revelation to all beholders!”