to be alone with him."

Strangely enough, at that moment Tavernake saw nothing out of the common
in her request. He rose at once, without any formal leave-taking, and
made his way toward the other end of the cafe. As he turned the corner
towards the smoking-room, he glanced once behind. The man had approached
quite close to Elizabeth; he was standing before her table, they seemed
to be exchanging greetings.

Tavernake went on into the smoking-room and threw himself into an
easy-chair. He had been there perhaps for ten minutes when Pritchard
entered. Certainly it was a night of surprises! Even Pritchard, cool,
deliberate, slow in his movements and speech, seemed temporarily
flurried. He came into the room walking quickly. As the door swung
back, he turned round as though to assure himself that he was not being
followed. He did not at first see Tavernake. He sat on the arm of an
easy-chair, his hands in his pockets, his eternal cigar in the corner
of his mouth, his eyes fixed upon the doors through which he had issued.
Without a doubt, something had disturbed him. He had the look of a man
who had received a blow, a surprise of some sort over which he was still
ruminating. Then he glanced around the room and saw Tavernake.

"Hullo, young man!" he exclaimed. "So this is the way you follow my
advice!"

"I never promised to follow it," Tavernake reminded him.

Pritchard wheeled an easy-chair across the room and called to the
waiter.

"Come," he said, "you shall stand me a drink. Two whiskies and sodas,
Tim. And now, Mr. Leonard Tavernake, you are going to answer me a
question."

"Am I?" Tavernake muttered.

"You came down in the lift with Mrs. Wenham Gardner half an hour ago,
you went into the restaurant and ordered supper. She is there still and
you are here. Have you quarreled?"

"No, we did not quarrel," Tavernake answered. "She explained that she
was supping in the cafe only for the sake of meeting one man. She wanted
an escort. I filled that post until the man came."

"He is there now?" Pritchard asked.

"He is there now," Tavernake assented.

Pritchard withdrew the cigar from his mouth and watched it for a moment.

"Say, Tavernake," he went on, "is that man who is now having supper with
Mrs. Wenham Gardner the man whom she expected?"

"I imagine so," Tavernake replied.

"Didn't she seem in any way scared or disturbed when he first turned
up?"

"She looked as I have seen no one else on earth look bef