Thus Sophia was left side by side with the vermilion cloak.  She was quite helpless.  All the pride of a married woman had abandoned her.  She stood transfixed by intense shame, staring painfully at a pillar, to avoid the universal assault of eyes.  She felt like an indiscreet little girl, and she looked like one.  No youthful radiant beauty of features, no grace and style of a Parisian dress, no certificate of a ring, no premature initiation into the mysteries, could save her from the appearance of a raw fool whose foolishness had been her undoing.  Her face changed to its reddest, and remained at that, and all the fundamental innocence of her nature, which had been overlaid by the violent experiences of her brief companionship with Gerald, rose again to the surface with that blush.  Her situation drew pity from a few hearts and a careless contempt from the rest.  But since once more it was a question of ces Anglais, nobody could be astonished.

Without moving her head, she twisted her eyes to the clock:  half-past two.  The fiddler ceased his dance and made a collection in his tasselled cap.  The vermilion cloak threw a coin into the cap.  Sophia stared at it moveless, until the fiddler, tired of waiting, passed to the next table and relieved her agony.  She had no money at all.  She set herself to watch the clock; but its fingers would not stir.

With an exclamation the lady of the cloak got up and peered out of the window, chatted with waiters, and then removed herself and her cloak to the next table, where she was received with amiable sympathy by the three lorettes, Chirac, and the other two men.  The party surreptitiously examined Sophia from time to time.  Then Chirac went outside with the head-waiter, returned, consulted with his friends, and finally approached Sophia.  It was twenty minutes past three.

He renewed his magnificent bow.  “Madame,” he said carefully, “will you allow me to bring you to your hotel?”

He made no reference to Gerald, partly, doubtless, because his English was treacherous on difficult ground.

Sophia had not sufficient presence of mind to thank her saviour.

“But the bill?” she stammered.  “The bill isn’t paid.”

He did not instantly understand her.  But one of the waiters had caught the sound of a familiar word, and sprang forward with a slip of paper on a plate.

“I have no money,” said Sophia, with a feeble smile.

“Je vous arrangerai ca,” he said.  “What name of the hotel?  Meurice, is it not?”

“Hotel Meurice,” said Sophia.  “Yes.”

He spoke to the head-waiter about the bill, which was carried away like something obscene; and on his arm, which he punctiliously offered and she could not refuse, Sophia left the scene of her ignominy.  She was so distraught that she could not manage her crinoline in the doorway.  No sign anywhere outside of Gerald or his foe!

He put her into an open carriage, and in five minutes they had clattered down the brilliant silence of the Rue de la Paix, through the Place Vendome into the Rue de Rivoli; and the night-porter of the hotel was at the carriage-step.