"My dear, why don't you use that beautiful voice of yours more?" asked Lady Poynter, as she ended.
Barbara's face was in shadow, but Eric could see that she was looking across the room at him.
"Oh, not one person in ten million ever wants me to sing," she laughed, as she came back to the table.
Five minutes later she opened her purse, pushed a note across to Lady Poynter and came up to Eric with a smile of gratitude.
"I hope I haven't been long," she said. "Shall we see if we can find a taxi?"
5
They crossed Belgrave Square and reached Hyde Park Corner in silence. Then Eric felt a drag at his arm, and Barbara whispered: "I'm so tired!"
"I'm afraid there's not a taxi in sight," he said. "Shall we go by tube to Dover Street?"
"We may meet a taxi. Eric, d'you remember the first time——"
He shook free of her arm, as though it were eating into his flesh.