"

She looked after him, a little amazed. She was conscious of a feeling of
slow anger. His aloofness repelled her, was utterly inexplicable. For
once it was she who was being badly treated. Her moment of exhilaration
had passed. She sat down in the lounge; her satchel, filled with mille
franc notes, lay upon her lap unheeded. She sat there thinking, seeing
nothing of the crowds of fashionably dressed women and men passing in
and out of the hotel; of the gaily-lit square outside, the cool green of
the gardens, the cafe opposite, the brilliantly-lit Casino. She was back
again for a moment in England. The strain of all this life, whipped into
an artificial froth of pleasure by the constant excitement of the one
accepted vice of the world, had suddenly lost its hold upon her. The
inevitable question had presented itself. She was counting values and
realising....

When at last she rose wearily to her feet, Hunterleys was passing
through the hall of the hotel, on his way out. She looked at him with
aching heart but she made no effort to stop him. He had changed his
clothes for a dark suit and he was also wearing a long travelling coat
and tweed cap. She watched him wistfully until he had disappeared. Then
she turned away, summoned the lift and went up to her rooms. She rang at
once for her maid. She would take a bath, she decided, and go to bed
early. She would wash all the dust of these places away from her, abjure
all manner of excitement and for once sleep peacefully. In the morning
she would see Henry once more. Deep in her heart there still lingered
some faint shadow of doubt as to Draconmeyer and his attitude towards
her. It was scarcely possible that he could have interfered in any way,
and yet.... She would talk to her husband face to face, she would tell
him the things that were in her heart.

She rang the bell for the second time. Only the _femme de chambre_
answered the summons. Madame's maid was not to be found. Madame had not
once retired so early. It was possible that Susanne had gone out. Could
she be of any service? Violet looked at her and hesitated. The woman was
clumsy-fingered and none too tidy. She shook her head and sent her away.
For a moment she thought of undressing herself. Then instead she opened
her satchel and counted the notes. Her breath came more quickly as she
looked at the shower of gold and counted the many oblong strips of paper
with their magic lettering. At last she had it all in heaps