“Do you know her?”
“No, sir, she has never been here before, sir.”
“Well, I don’t know who she is, and I don’t care. I can’t be bothered going to the door this time of night. If she wants to see me she’ll have to come in here; if she don’t like that she can go away. Tell her so.”
“Yes, sir.”
“This place of mine is getting to be like the corner of Broadway and Forty-second Street,” Dick said resentfully, as Brooks went to deliver his message. “I’m about the only one in New York who doesn’t feel at home here.”
“Well, you are cranky to-night, I must say. That’s a fine way to talk to a room full of guests,” remonstrated Mrs. Harlan. “How do we know that——”
“The lady, sir.” Brooks’ announcement interrupted Mrs. Harlan’s speech, and they all glanced up as a young woman stood on the threshold and looked about her with wondering, excited eyes. Even to them there was something strangely out of place in this girl’s presence here; and as they saw Mrs. Harlan’s astonishment, and heard Dick’s gasp of surprise, and something very like dismay, they scented something out of the ordinary, and bent forward in eager curiosity.
“Lola!” Dick rose to his feet awkwardly. “Lola!”
“Your man told me that to see you I must come in here, and it was very necessary that I should see you.”
“I beg your pardon, I had no idea. I—I—please come into the next room, where we can talk quietly.”