"But where are you taking me, Mr. Dene?" enquired Dorothy, as they turned from Waterloo Place into Pall Mall.
"To the Ritzton."
"But I"m--I"m----" she stopped dead.
"What"s wrong?" he demanded, looking at her in surprise.
"I--I can"t go there," she stammered. "I"m not dressed for----" She broke off lamely.
"That"ll be all right," he said. "It"s my hotel."
"It may be your hotel," said Dorothy, resuming the walk, "but I don"t care to go there in a blouse and a skirt to be stared at."
"Who"ll stare at you?"
"Not at me, at my clothes," she corrected.
"Then we"ll go to the grill-room," he replied with inspiration.
"That might be----" She hesitated.
"You"re not going home until you have something to eat," he announced with determination. "You look all used up," he added.
Dorothy submitted to the inevitable, conscious of a feeling of content at having someone to decide things for her. Suddenly she remembered Marjorie Rogers" remarks. What was she doing? If any of the girls saw her they would---- She had done the usual thing, sent a telegram to her mother to say she should be late, and was dining out with her chief on the first day---- Oh! it was horrible.
"Would you--would you?"--she turned to John Dene appealingly,--"would you mind if I went home," she faltered. "I"m not feeling--very well."
She gulped out the last words conscious of the lie.
"Why sure," he said solicitously. "I"m sorry."
To her infinite relief he hailed a taxi.
"I"ll come along and see you safe," he announced in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh, please no," she cried, "I"d much sooner----" She broke off distressed.
Without a word he handed her into the taxi.
"Where am I to tell him?" he enquired.
"Douglas Mansions, Chiswick, please," gasped Dorothy, and she sank back in the taxi with a feeling that she had behaved very ridiculously.
CHAPTER V
JOHN DENE LEAVES WHITEHALL
I
"Come," shouted John Dene irritably.
The door opened and Mr. Blair entered. John Dene swung round from his table and glared at him angrily.
"I tried to telephone," began Mr. Blair.
"Well, you can"t," snapped John Dene, "receiver"s off. Your boys have been playing dido all morning on my "phone."
"I"m sorry if----"
"That don"t help any. Why don"t you stop "em? Seem to think I"m a sort of enquiry bureau."
Dorothy bent low over her notes to hide the smile she could not restrain at the sight of the obvious wretchedness of Mr. Blair.
"Sir Lyster would like you to step round----"
"Well, I won"t; tell him that," was the irascible reply.
"He wants you to meet Sir Harold Winn, the chief naval constructor,"
explained Mr. Blair.
"Tell him to go to blazes and take his constructions with him. Now vamoose."
Mr. Blair hesitated, glanced at John Dene, seemed about to speak, then evidently thinking better of it withdrew, closing the door noiselessly behind him.
As John Dene swung round once more to his table, he caught Dorothy"s eye. She smiled.
With a little grumble in his throat John Dene became absorbed in his papers. Dorothy decided that he was a little ashamed of his outburst.
All the day he had shown marked irritability under the constant interruptions to which he had been subjected.
They worked on steadily for a quarter of an hour. Presently there was a gentle tap at the door. With one bound John Dene was out of his chair and across the room. A second later he threw open the door, ready to annihilate whoever might be there, from the First Lord downwards.
"Oo--er!"
Marjorie Rogers stood there, her pretty eyes dilated with fear as John Dene glared at her. His set look relaxed at the sight of the girl.
"Is--is--Miss West here?" she enquired timidly.
"Sure, come right in," he said.
Dorothy was surprised at the change produced by the appearance of Marjorie Rogers.
The girl came a few steps into the room, then seeing Dorothy tripped over to her and, turning to John Dene, said, still a little nervously:
"I--I came to ask Miss West if she would like some tea." She smiled up at John Dene, a picture of guileless innocence.