“Of course he did, Miss Audrey; he told me so himself. He was full of his anticipations of enjoyment in your society.”
Doris put her question to Mr Purchase.
“And were you not good enough to hint at my finding room in it with you? I rather fancied that you made some proposition of the kind, or, was it only fancy?”
It was Mr Carter’s turn to reply.
“Not at all! not in the least! I assure you, Miss Doris, that there is not a grain of fancy about it. Jack informed me, with his own lips, that he had made an arrangement of the kind with you, and expressed his gratification at having done so; and it was with a view of carrying out that arrangement that the box was procured. About that there cannot be the faintest shadow of a doubt.”
There was an instant’s pause. Neither of the men was looking exactly comfortable. I was wondering what excuse I could find to get outside the room, feeling incapable of marching out without one. Doris was lying back in a corner of the settee, picking at the folds in her dress, and smiling apparently at her own thoughts. While Audrey was standing close to Mr Carter, regarding him with something like a look of puzzlement in her beautiful eyes.
“Then are we to understand that the arrangement still holds good?”
Mr Carter shifted from one foot to the other.
“The arrangement, Miss Audrey?”
“As to the box. Am I to be your guest in it, as you promised?”