"Then what do you say to his coming back with me?"
"Of course. Good-night, Mr. Lake. No, no! I don't want you really! All the coachmen know me here, and I them. I've driven alone dozens of times. Good-night. Good-night, Mr. Crayford."
She almost pushed Alston out of the carriage in her excitement. She was now burning with impatience to be with Claude.
"Good-night, good-night!" she called, waving her hands as the horses moved forward.
"She's a oner," said Crayford. "And so are you to keep a woman like that quiet all these hours. My boy, I'm empty, I can tell you."
He said not a word to Alston about the opera that night, and Alston did not attempt to make him talk.
When Charmian arrived at Djenan-el-Maqui she found Claude in the little dining-room with Caroline, who was seated beside him on a chair, leaning her lemon-colored chin upon the table, and gazing with pathetic eyes at the cold chicken he was eating.
"O Claude!" she said, as he looked round. "Such a day! Well?"
She came to the table, pushed Caroline ruthlessly to the floor, took the dog's chair, and repeated, "Well?"
Claude's face was flushed, his short hair was untidy, and the eyes which he fixed upon her looked excited, tired, and, she thought, something else.