"No—"
"Then I don't see where you can be going," declared Mrs. Shorter, and departed with her cavalier.
"Why are you so anxious to get away?" asked Chiltern, abruptly.
Honora coloured.
"Oh—did I seem so? Elsie has such a mania for pairing people off-sometimes it's quite embarrassing."
"She was a little rash in assuming that you'd rather talk to me," he said, smiling.
"You were not consulted, either."
"I was consulted before lunch," he replied.
"You mean—?"
"I mean that I wanted you," he said. She had known it, of course. The submarine bell had told her. And he could have found no woman in Newport who would have brought more enthusiasm to his aid than Elsie Shorter.