"Into the library, sir," the girl answered. Mr. Sabin swore softly between his teeth, and sprang to his feet. "Excuse me, Helène," he exclaimed, "I will bring Lord Wolfenden into the drawing-room. That girl is an idiot; she has shown him into the one room in the house which I would not have had him enter for anything in the world!" CHAPTER XXIV THE WAY OF THE WOMAN Wolfenden had been shown, as he supposed, into an empty room by the servant of whom he had inquired for Mr. Sabin. But the door was scarcely closed before a familiar sound from a distant corner warned him that he was not alone. He stopped short and looked fixedly at the slight, feminine figure whose white fingers were flashing over the keyboard of a typewriter. There was something very familiar about the curve of her neck and the waving of her brown hair; her back was to him, and she did not turn round. "Do leave me some cigarettes," she said, without lifting her head. "This is frightfully monotonous work. How much more of it is there for me to do?" "I really don't know," Wolfenden answered hesitatingly. "Why, Blanche!" She swung round in her chair and gazed at him in blank amazement; she was, at least, as much surprised as he was. "Lord Wolfenden!" she exclaimed; "why, what are you doing here?" "I might ask you," he said gravely, "the same question." She stood up. "You have not come to see me?" He shook his head. "I had not the least idea that you were here," he assured her. Her face hardened. "Of course not. I was an idiot to imagine that you would care enough to come, even if you had known." "I do not know," he remarked, "why you should say that. On the contrary----" She interrupted him. "Oh! I know what you are going to say. I ran away from Mrs. Selby's nice rooms, and never thanked you for your kindness. I didn't even leave a message for you, did I? Well, never mind; you know why, I daresay." Wolfenden thought that he did, but he evaded a direct answer. "What I cannot understand," he said, "is why you are here." "It is my new situation," she answered. "I was bound to look for one, you know. There is nothing strange about it. I advertised for a situation, and I got this one." He was silent. There were things in connection with this which he scarcely understood. She watched him with a mocking smile parting her lips. "It is a good deal harder to understand," she said, "why you are here. This is the very last house in the world in which I should have thought of seeing you." "Why?" he asked quickly. She shrugged her shoulders; her speech had been scarcely a discreet one. "I should not have imagined," she said, "that Mr. Sabin would have come within the circle of your friends." "I do not know why he should not," Wolfenden said. "I consider him a very interesting man." She smiled upon him. "Yes, he is interesting," she said; "only I should not have thought that your tastes were at all identical."