"I know. Sit down and go on, dear old boy. I'll come and sit with you. Don't you want more light?"
"I like the firelight."
He sat down again and lifted the teapot.
"I shall spoil my dinner. But never mind."
"You remember we're dining with Madre!"
"Oh—to be sure!"
"But not till half-past eight."
She sat down with her back to the drawn window curtains at right angles to Claude. Alice had "shut up" early to make the drawing-room look cozy for Claude. The firelight played about the room, illuminating now one thing, now another, making Claude's face and head, sometimes his musical hands look Rembrandtesque, powerful, imaginative, even mysterious. Now that Charmian had sat down she lost her impression of the eternal golfer, received another impression which spurred her imagination.
"I've been at the Drakes," she began. "Only a very few to welcome Margot back from New York."
"Did she enjoy her visit?"