“Di, dearest girl, don’t be cross with me; please don’t misunderstand,” she implored.  “I love you, you know, even if you sometimes think I don’t; I want you to be happy—­oh, wait a moment, and listen.  I’ve been so miserable all day, knowing you were miserable; and I’ve felt horribly guilty for fear, after all, I’d said too much.  Of course if you’d guessed where I meant to come, you wouldn’t have stirred out of the hotel, and it was better for you to see for yourself.  Unless Ivor Dundas came here with a motor-cab, as we did, he could hardly have arrived yet, so if he does come, we shall know.  If he doesn’t come, we shall know, too.  Think how happy you’ll feel if he doesn’t! I’ll apologise to you then, frankly and freely; and I suppose you would not mind apologising to him, if necessary?”

“He may be in the house now,” I said, more to myself than to Lisa.

“If he is, he’ll come out and meet her when he hears the gate open.  There, it’s open now.  The maid’s unlocked it.  No, there’s nobody in the garden.”

“I can’t stop here and watch for him, like a spy,” I said.

“Not like a spy, but like a girl who thinks she may have done a man an injustice.  It’s for his sake I ask you to stay.  And if you won’t, I must stay alone.  If you insist on going away, I’ll get out and stand in the street, either until Ivor Dundas has come, or until I’m sure he isn’t coming.  But how much better to wait and see for yourself.”

“You know I can’t go off and leave you standing here,” I answered.  “And I can’t leave you sitting in the carriage, and walk through the streets alone.  I might meet—­” I would not finish my sentence, but Lisa must nave guessed the name on my lips.

“The only thing to do, then, is for us to stop where we are, together,” said Lisa, “for stop I must and shall, in justice to myself, to Ivor Dundas and to you.  You couldn’t force me away, even if you wanted to use force.”

“Which you know is out of the question,” I said, desperately.  “But why has your conscience begun to reproach you for trying to put me against Ivor?  You seemed to have no scruples whatever, last night and this morning.”

“I’ve been thinking hard since then.  I want my warning to you either to be justified, or else I want to apologise humbly.  For if Ivor doesn’t come to this house to-night, in spite of his embarrassment when he spoke about an engagement, I shall believe that he doesn’t care a rap about Maxine de Renzie.”

I said no more, but leaned back against the cushions, my heart beating as if it were in my throat, and my brain throbbing in time with it.  I could not think, or argue with myself what was really right and wise to do.  I could only give myself up, and drift with circumstances.

“A man has just come round the far corner,” whispered Lisa.  “Is it Ivor?  I can’t make out.  He doesn’t look our way.”

“Thank Heaven we’re too far off for him to see our faces!  I would rather die than have Ivor know we’re here,” I broke out.