“Moi?” ejaculated Claudia, in surprise.
“Mais oui, Madame.”
Claudia rose and hurried to the telephone, hardly having time to wonder who it could be. Then she heard Jack’s voice on the other end.
“Claudia, is that you? Oh, for God’s sake, old girl, come back. I have blurted out the truth to Fay. She cornered me, and I confessed to her there wasn’t any chance.... It’s dreadful ... she wants you ... we can’t do anything with her. If you don’t come, I shall blow my brains out. I can’t stand it. Pat’s there, isn’t she? You can come, can’t you?”
Claudia thought rapidly. “Yes, I’ll come, Jack. By to-night’s boat. All right, you meet me at Charing Cross.”
She heard a sort of sob of relief from the other end, and he commenced to blab broken words of gratitude, but she cut him short. “No good talking on the telephone, old boy. It was rather cruel of you ... you shouldn’t have let her corner you. Tell her I’m coming.”
She went back to the luncheon-table, but her appetite for lunch was gone.
She was half afraid Gilbert would make some objection to her going, but except by a shrug of his shoulders and the raising of his thick eyebrows, he put no obstacles in her way.
“Oh! poor little kid!” ejaculated Pat, her high spirits momentarily sobered. “Fancy knowing that there is no hope. Ugh! it must be like those torture-chambers of old, when the victims watched the walls gradually close in on them. I hope I shall die quickly and suddenly when my time comes.”