"Is it better now?" she whispered, smiling.
He threw out his hands with a quick fierce gesture. It was well that the great room was wrapped in the mysterious obscurity of semi-darkness, and that every one was occupied with the business of farewells. He sprang to his feet.
"I am going," he said thickly. "My friends are expecting me."
She shook her head.
"Those are not your friends," she said. "You know very well that they never could be. You can go and wish them good night. You are going to see me home."
"No!" he declared.
"If you please," she begged softly.
He crossed the room unsteadily, and made his excuses with the best grace he could. Mademoiselle Rosine made a wry face. Miss Ella laid her fingers upon his arm and looked anxiously up at him.
"Say you won"t disappoint us to-morrow," she said. "It"s all fixed up about Paris, isn"t it? Two-twenty from Charing Cross."
"Yes!" he answered. "I will let you know if anything turns up."
They all stood around him. Davenant laid his hand upon his shoulder.
"Look here, old chap," he said, "no backing out. We"ve promised the girls, and we mustn"t disappoint them."
"Monsieur Macheson would not be so cruel," Mademoiselle Rosine pleaded.
"He has promised, and Englishmen never break their workd. Is it not so?
A party of four, yes! that is very well. But alone with Herbert here I could not go. If you do not come, all is spoilt! Is it not so, my friends?"
"Rather!" Davenant declared.
The other girl"s fingers tightened upon his arm.
"Don"t go away now," she whispered. "Come round to my flat and we"ll all talk it over. I will sing you my new song. I"m crazy about it."
Macheson detached himself as well as he could.
"I must leave you now," he declared. "I can a.s.sure you that I mean to come to-morrow."
He hurried after Wilhelmina, who was saying good night to her friends. A few minutes later they were being whirled westwards in her brougham.
CHAPTER II
PLAYING WITH FIRE
"And now," she said, throwing herself into an easy-chair and taking up a fan, "we can talk."
He refused the chair which she had motioned him to wheel up to the fire.
He stood glowering down upon her, pale, stern, yet not wholly master of himself. Against the sombre black of her dress, her neck and bosom shone like alabaster. She played with her pearls, and looked up at him with that faint maddening curl of the lips which he so loved and so hated.
"So you won"t sit down. I wonder why a man always feels that he can bully a woman so much better standing up."
"There is no question of bullying you," he answered shortly. "You are responsible for my coming here. What is it that you want with me?"
"Suppose," she murmured, looking up at him, "that I were to say--another kiss!"
"Suppose, on the other hand," he answered roughly, "you were to tell me the truth."
She sighed gently.
"You jump so rapidly at conclusions," she declared. "Are you sure that it would not be the truth!"
"If it were," he began fiercely.
"If it were," she interrupted, "well?"
"I would rather kiss Mademoiselle Rosine or whatever her name is," he said. "I would sooner go out into the street and kiss the first woman I met."
She shook her head.
"What an impossible person you are!" she murmured. "Of course, I don"t believe you."
He shrugged his shoulders, and glanced at the clock.
"Are you going to keep me here long?" he asked roughly. "I am going to Paris to-morrow, and I have to pack my clothes."
"To Paris? With Mademoiselle Rosine?"
"Yes!"
She laughed softly.
"Oh! I think not," she declared. "That sort of thing wouldn"t amuse you a bit."
"We shall see!" he muttered.
"I am sure that you will not go," she repeated.
"Why not?" he demanded.
"Because--I beg you not to!"
"You!" he exclaimed. "You! Do you think that I am another of those creatures of straw and putty, to dance to your whims, to be whistled to your heel, to be fed with stray kisses, and an occasional kind word? I think not! If I am to go to the Devil, I will go my own way."
"You inconsistent creature!" she said. "Why not mine?"