"But I have just been to get you a box of sugar plums."
He held a satin box in his hand and began to open it. But she hurried on with a nod.
"Good-bye. Sorry, but I can't stop."
She was in the hall and out of the flat in the twinkling of an eye, followed by Julian. Valentine remained in the drawing-room.
"Lord, I am glad to be out of it," said the lady when she had gained the street and stood panting on the pavement.
Julian hailed a hansom and put her into it. She gazed at him as if she was almost afraid to part from him.
"You'll—you'll come and see me again," she said, wistfully.
"Yes, I'll come," he answered.
"For God's sake, don't bring him, dearie," she said, with an upward lift of her feathered head towards the block of mansions.
Then she drove off into the darkness.