"
Tavernake frowned.
"That is a little difficult," he remarked. "It happens that your
sister knows something about the estate and my plans."
"There is no need to tell her the name of your partner,"
Elizabeth said. "I want this to be our secret entirely, yours
and mine."
Her hand fell upon his; he gripped the sides of his chair. Again
he was conscious of this bewildering, incomprehensible sensation.
"And the other condition?" he demanded, hoarsely.
"That you come sometimes and tell me how things are going on."
"Come here?" he repeated.
She nodded.
"Please! I am very lonely. I shall look forward to your
visits."
Tavernake rose slowly to his feet. He held out his hand -she
knew better than to attempt to keep him. He made a speech which
was for him gallant, but while he made it he looked into her eyes
with a directness to which she was indeed unaccustomed.
"I shall come," he said. "I should have wanted to come, anyhow."
Then he turned abruptly away and left the room. It was the first
speech of its sort which he had ever made in his life.
CHAPTER XII
TAVERNAKE BLUNDERS
Tavernake felt that he had indeed wandered into an alien world as
he took his place the following evening among the little crowd of
people who were waiting outside the stage-door of the Atlas
Theatre. These were surroundings to which he was totally
unaccustomed. Two very handsome motor-cars were drawn up against
the curb, and behind them a string of electric broughams and
taxicabs, proving conclusively that the young ladies of the Atlas
Theatre were popular in other than purely theatrical circles.
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