"What! By appointment?"
"No, no, no, I don't mean that. I didn't write or send him a telegram or anything of that kind. But, of course, he knew I was here. He knew days ago—before I came probably. What would be the first thing Jennie'd tell him? That they were expecting a visitor, but it needn't make any difference to their meetings. So of course he was expecting me. Perhaps not quite so early in the morning, but oh, quite soon!"
"What I meant was, did he recognise you?"
"Recognise me? Why not? He called me Miss Oliphant and showed me his sketches. They're"—the eye I could see sparkled, taking in the whole bright terrace—"they're glorious!"
"What about the bicycle?"
"Glo—rious! He's a divine painter! Why, his books are like sawdust after his painting! I don't paint worth a rap myself, but oh, I know celestial stuff when I see it!"
"What did he say about the bicycle?"
"I didn't go there to talk about bicycles. I went there to see his glorious pictures and his glorious self!"
"And incidentally to meet an apocryphal person at the Golf Club."
"Pooh!" She took that in her stride. "But about those pictures——"