She returned his smile, but a moment after she sobered again. “I’m obliged to be serious,” she told him deprecatingly. “What arrangement do you propose for to-night? If I go to Bloomsbury too late they will not be willing to take me in.” “Bloomsbury!” He looked annoyed at being reminded of that page in his life. “You don’t want to go there.” “They know me. I can think of no other place.” He didn’t answer for a moment. She searched his flushed face anxiously through the uncertain light. “I’ll tell you what,” he said at last. “There’s a very fair hotel a few doors down. Sutton shall send my traps there. I’ll engage a couple of rooms for myself and him, and you shall have this place. Will that do? You’ll be very comfortable. They give me service--the cooking’s fair. One of the chambermaids will unpack your things and help dress you.” He spoke as if she had all her life been accustomed to such attendance. He was wonderfully plastic; it was one of his feminine attributes. In a few weeks he had assimilated the manner, cultivated the brain of a wealthy man who instinctively measures cost by a five-pound note: nothing smaller than a “fiver.” “That would do very well.” “It won’t be for long. We must marry. I’ll get a license to-morrow. Sutton shall see about it--he’s a rare fellow for details.” “Is that the horrid man who looked into the room while I was waiting?” Edred laughed. “Yes.” “Who is he? He mustn’t come here any more. I’m sure he’s hateful.” “He’s very useful. He lives here--a most superior fellow, much to be pitied. He was a clerk in a City firm for twenty-five years; went there when he left school; worked up to a salary of £150. Threw all his energies into the business; stayed late on Saturday, took papers home to master on Sunday. Then they chucked him--wanted a younger fellow. Everybody must be young nowadays. Sutton is invaluable. He knows the inside of the city. He’s my clerk. I give him a couple of pounds a week and his grub. He’s perfectly happy--so am I. His tips have put hundreds into my pocket. Oh! you’ll have to be civil to Sutton.” “Don’t be in too great a hurry to make money, will you?” He laughed. “Too much haste leads to the dock,” he said lightly. “I’m careful enough. Some day--in a fairly little time, too--I shall be a second Milligan. Lady Pamela Crisp. It sounds well, doesn’t it?” “We are going to be married--in my name. Will that be legal?” “Extraordinary delusions a woman has about the marriage service! Of course it will be legal.” “I ought to be going to Victoria to get my luggage. It is in the cloak-room.” “Sutton will see to that.”