"You, too, had better go."
Mr Davison went. Mdlle. de Fontanes was left alone. She did not escort him down the stairs. And this time, as he walked through the night to his hotel, it was not a woman's eyes, but a pack of cards which he saw before him in the air.
IV
The next morning--another morning!--at a very early hour, Mr Davison entered Mr Lintorn's bedroom. The latter gentleman was still engaged in his toilet.
"Lintorn, I am an ass!"
"The fact," said Mr Lintorn placidly, and as though there had been no unpleasantness of any kind between them, "does not surprise me so much as the statement of the fact."
"I've behaved like an ass to you."
"You have."
Mr Lintorn wiped the soap off his razor; he had a steadier hand than Mr Davison.
"I've behaved like an ass all round."