she thought of telephoning to Garstin to come
out somewhere and dine with her. He was rude to her, seldom paid her
a compliment, and never made love to her. But he was famous and
interesting. They could always get on in a tete-a-tete conversation. And
then there was now that link between them of the living bronze and her
plan with which Garstin was connected. She meant to know that man; she
meant it more strongly now that Craven was behaving so strangely. She
dropped the blind, drew the curtains forward, went to the fire, and lit
a cigarette.

She wondered where Craven was dining. At some delightful restaurant with
someone he liked very much. She was quite sure of that; or--perhaps
he had told her a lie! Perhaps he was dining at Number 18A, Berkeley
Square! Suddenly she felt certain that she had hit on the truth. That
was it! He was dining in Berkeley Square with Adela Sellingworth.
They were going to have another evening together. Possessed by this
conviction, and acting on an almost fierce impulse--for her vanity was
now suffering severely--she went again to the telephone and rang up Lady
Sellingworth. When she was put through, and heard the characteristic
husky voice of her so-called friend at the other end of the line, she
begged Lady Sellingworth to come and dine at Claridge's that night and
have a quiet talk over things. As she had expected, she got a
refusal. Lady Sellingworth was engaged. Miss Van Tuyn, with a discreet
half-question, half-expression of disappointment, elicited the fact
that Lady Sellingworth was dining out, not having people at home. The
conversation concluded at both ends with charming expressions of regret,
and promises to be together as soon as was humanly possible.

Again Miss Van Tuyn believed an excuse; again her instinct told her that
she had invited someone to dine who was glad to be engaged. There was
only one explanation of the two happy refusals. She was now absolutely
positive that Lady Sellingworth and Craven were going to dine together,
and not in Berkeley Square, and Craven was going to be the host, as he
had said. He had invited Lady Sellingworth to go out and dine somewhere
alone with him, and she had consented to do so. Where would they go? She
thought of the _Bella Napoli_. It was very unlikely that they would
meet anyone there whom they both knew, and they had met at the _Bella
Napoli_. Perhaps they--or perhaps _she_--had romantic recollections
connected with it! Perhaps the