His face was sombre, with large features and
strongly marked lines about the mouth; he was tall and thin, and
moved with decision, betraying no emotion even in this moment of
surprise. "What are you doing here?" were his first words.
For my part, I was badly "rattled"; I knew by the clutch of Sylvia's
hand that she was too. But here I got a lesson in the nature of
"social training." Some of the bright colour had faded from her
face, but she spoke with the utmost coolness, the words coming
naturally and simply: "We can't get through the crowd." And at the
same time she looked about her, as much as to say: "You can see for
yourself." (One of the maxims of Lady Dee had set forth that a lady
never told a lie if she could avoid it.)
Sylvia's husband looked about, saying: "Why don't you call an
officer?" He started to follow his own suggestion, and I thought
then that my friend would miss her meeting. But she had more nerve
than I imagined.
"No," she said. "Please don't."
"Why not?" Still there was no emotion in the cold, grey eyes.
"Because--I think there's something going on."
"What of that?"
"I'm not in a hurry, and I'd like to see.
Pages:
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73