He looked surprised.

“Miss Van Tuyn? I haven’t seen her.”

“Yes?”

“I only wanted—I wondered whether, if you are not doing anything to-night, I could persuade you to give me a great pleasure. . . . Could I?”

“But what is it?”

“Would you dine with me at the Bella Napoli?”

Lady Sellingworth thought of the shop girls again, but now how differently!

“I would come and call for you just before eight. It’s a fine night. It’s dry, and it will be clear and starry.”

“You want me to walk?”

He slightly reddened.