wished to get in the first blow, since blows there would
have to be.

"Where have I been?" said Lady Sellingworth. "In the place of the
swans--in Geneva."

"Geneva! We thought you had gone to the Riviera, probably to Cap
Martin."

"I did go to the Riviera first."

"It must have been a desert."

"Not quite. Cannes would have been quite pleasant. But I had to go on to
Geneva to see a friend."

Miss Van Tuyn thought of Lausanne, of doctors. Many women whom she
knew in Paris swore by the doctors of Berne and Lausanne. There were
wonderful treatments now for old women. Extraordinary things were done
with monkey glands and other mysterious preparations and inoculations.
Was not Adela's manner changed? Did she not diffuse an atmosphere of
intention, of vigour, which had not been hers before? Did she not seem
younger?

"Did you stay long at the Beau Rivage?" she asked.

"Yes, I did."

"We have missed you."

"I like to think that."

"London loses its most characteristic note for me when you are not in
it."

Miss Van Tuyn's curiosity was becoming intense, but how could she
gratify it? She sought about for an opening, but found none. For it was
seldom her way to be quite blunt with women, though with men she was
often blunt.

"Everyone has been wondering where you were," she said. "Mr. Braybrooke
was quite in a turmoil. Does he know you are back?"

"I haven't told him. But he gets to know everything in less than five
minutes. And what have you been doing?"

This simple question suddenly gave Miss Van Tuyn the idea for a plan of
campaign. It sprang into her brain, flashed upon it like an inspiration.
For a moment she was rigid. Her body was strongly influenced. Then as
the idea made itself at home in her she became supple and soft again.

"I've got a lot to tell you," she said, "if you won't be bored."

"You never bore me, Beryl."

"No, I don't believe I do. Well, first I must tell you how good Dick
Garstin has been to me."

"Garstin the painter?"

"Yes."

And she enlarged upon her intense interest in painting, her admiration
for Garstin's genius, her curiosity about his methods and aims, her
passion for understanding the arts although she could not create
herself. Lady Sellingworth, who knew the girl's genuine interest in all
art developments, listened quite convinced of Beryl's sincerity. Arabian
was never mentioned. Miss Van Tuyn did not go into details. She spoke
only of models, of Garstin's vary