“Mrs. Gardner will see you directly,” she told him.  “Madame is dressing now to go out for supper.  She will be able to spare you only a few seconds.”

Tavernake remained alone in the luxurious little sitting-room for nearly ten minutes.  Then the door of the inner room was opened and Elizabeth appeared.  Tavernake, rising slowly to his feet, looked at her for a moment in reluctant but wondering admiration.  She was wearing an ivory satin gown, without trimming or lace of any sort, a gown the fit of which seemed to him almost a miracle.  Her only jewelry was a long rope of pearls and a small tiara.  Tavernake had never been brought into close contact with any one quite like this.

She was putting on her gloves as she entered and she gave him her left hand.

“What an extraordinary person you are, Mr. Tavernake!” she exclaimed.  “You really do seem to turn up at the most astonishing times.”

“I am very sorry to have intruded upon you to-night,” he said.  “As regards the last occasion, however, upon which I made an unexpected appearance, I make no apologies whatever,” he added coolly.

She laughed softly.  She was looking full into his eyes and yet he could not tell whether she was angry with him or only amused.

“You were by way of being a little melodramatic, were you not?” she remarked.  “Still, you were very much in earnest, and one forgives a great deal to any one who is really in earnest.  What do you want with me now?  I am just going downstairs to supper.”

“It is a matter of business,” Tavernake replied.  “I have a friend who is a partner with me in the Marston Rise building speculation, and he is worried because there is some one else in the field wanting to buy the property, and the day after to-morrow is our last chance of paying over the money.”

She looked at him as though puzzled.

“What money?”

“The money which you agreed to lend me, or rather to invest in our building company,” he reminded her.

She nodded.

“Of course!  Why, I had forgotten all about it for the moment.  You are going to give me ten per cent interest or something splendid, aren’t you?  Well, what about it?  You don’t want to take it away with you now, I suppose?”

“No,” he answered, “it isn’t that.  To be honest with you, I came to make sure that you hadn’t changed your mind.”

“And why should I change my mind?”

“You might be angry with me,” he said, “for interfering in your concerns the night before last.”

“Perhaps I am,” she remarked, indifferently.

“Do you wish to withdraw from your promise?” he asked.

“I really haven’t thought much about it,” she replied, carelessly.  “By-the-bye, have you seen Beatrice lately?”

“We agreed, I think,” he reminded her, “that we would not talk about your sister.”

She looked at him over her shoulder.