She looked at him, but he took no notice of her; the indifference of the desert was about him.
CHAPTER XIV
Mrs. Clarke was in her bedroom with the door open that evening when she heard a bell sound in the flat. She had fixed eight for the dinner hour. It was now only half-past six. Nevertheless she felt sure that it was Dion who had just rung. She went swiftly across the room and shut the bedroom door. Two or three minutes later Sonia came in.
“Mr. Leith has come already, Madame,” she said, looking straight at her mistress.
“I expected him early, Sonia. You can tell him I will come almost directly.”
“Yes, Madame.”
“Sonia, wait a minute! How am I looking this evening?”
“How?” said Sonia, with rather heavy emphasis.
“Yes. I feel—feel as if I were looking unlike my usual self.”