"You are much too kind!" he said, scarcely knowing what he was saying. "I can never be grateful enough to you. If I—if I do succeed, I shall know at any rate that one—" He met her eyes and stopped.
"Good-night!" she said. "I'm afraid I must send you away now, for I believe I will run in for a minute to Eve Inness, after all."
As Claude descended to the hall he knew that he had left an enemy behind him.
But the knowledge which really troubled him was that he deserved to have Mrs. Shiffney for an enemy.
His own self, his own manhood, whipped him.
CHAPTER XXXIII
That night, when Claude arrived at the St. Regis, Charmian was still out. She did not return till just after midnight. When she came into the sitting-room she found Claude in an armchair near the window, which was slightly open. He had no book or paper, and seemed to be listening to something.
"Claudie! Why, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said.