"But surely," he began, with some appearance of haste. Then he seemed to check himself, and finished calmly:
"You found him, I suppose?"
"No."
"I thought he was perpetually there, apparently on the lookout for you."
"Yes, but to-day he hadn't been in at all. Perhaps he has gone out of town."
"Ah, probably."
At this moment two men entered the restaurant and strolled towards the table next to that at which Valentine and Julian sat. One of them knew Julian and nodded as he passed. He was just on the point of sitting down and unfolding his napkin when a sudden thought seemed to strike him, and he came over and said to Julian:
"You remember that dinner at Lady Crichton's, where we met the other night?"
"Yes."
"Startling bit of news to-night, wasn't it? Damned sudden!"