"Then you can't come to us?" she asked with a pout.
"I'll look in after," I promised. "But to dine is entirely out of the question."
I saw that she was annoyed, but next moment her lips parted again in a pretty smile, and she said:
"Very well, then. But remember, you will not be later than ten, will you?"
"I promise not to be, dearest," I answered, and kissing her, she ascended to her room.
The fourteenth! It was on that evening I had to carry out the promise made to Digby and meet the mysterious lady at the Piccadilly Circus Tube Station—the person whose initials were "E. P. K." and who would wear in her breast a spray of mimosa.
I returned to the library, and for a second stood thinking deeply. Would I, by that romantic meeting, be placed in possession of some further fact which might throw light upon the mystery? Ah! would I, I wondered?
The empty glass caught my eye, and I was about to cross and secure it when Bain suddenly entered. Seeing me, he drew back quickly, saying: "I beg pardon, sir. I thought you had gone. Will you take anything more, sir?"
"No, not to-night, Bain," was my reply.
Whereupon the old servant glanced around for the missing glass, and I saw with heart-sinking that he placed it upon the tray to carry it back to the servants' quarters.