"Good-bye, Mr. McTaggart." She smiled at the formal address.
Stiff and discreet on the box Willcox was smiling too. He was conscious of the whole manoeuvre, and in his heart he approved. He watched McTaggart stride away, with his careless, well-bred walk, pause at the corner and glance back surreptitiously through the crowd.
And then he heard his young mistress call in a low, quick voice, "Mason!"
And the maid's excuse, rather frightened.
"I hope I'm not late, miss—I've got the satin."
"A little," Cydonia calmly replied, "but you needn't wait. Give me the parcel. I'm driving home with Mr. Cadell when he's bought that picture we went to see."
CHAPTER X
"If you please, miss"—the untidy maid stood in the doorway, aggressively—"the chicken 'asn't come yet and Cook sez it would be no good sending round, as the shop's shut."
Jill jumped up from the floor where she crouched drying her wet hair before the fire. She glanced up at the clock and frowned.