She spent the entire day in a restless waiting for the night. She tried to think of some way to get word to von Klausen and could think of none. As the evening came and darkened, she became more and more afraid. When nine o'clock followed eight, she grew afraid of something else: she grew afraid that the Austrian would not keep his appointment. She welcomed him in an almost hysterical manner when, at half-past nine, he was shown into her drawing-room. "You shouldn't," she said--"you shouldn't have come!" Von Klausen was in the evening clothes of a civilian. He looked young and handsome. "Why not?" he asked. "Because of Jim." "He invited me." "Yes, I know, but----" She clasped her fingers before her and knitted her fingers. "But what now?" pressed von Klausen. "See: you give no reason." "He was queer. His manner--I don't know. Only I had not promised to go home in three weeks." "No?" "He had said a month, and I had said 'Perhaps.'" Von Klausen smiled. "We men interpret as 'Yes' a lady's 'Perhaps.'" "Not Jim. And he hadn't told me that he wrote to those people in Lyons and asked them if they weren't going to buy the machinery." "Why should he? In your country husbands do not tell their wives of business. I know that; surely you should know it better." "That business wasn't like him." "It was very--shrewd. My dear Muriel, you must not thus vex yourself. Why should I not be here? What wrong do I? Besides, the American married man is not jealous. I have heard of one in Washington who found his wife in his friend's arms and said only, 'Naughty, naughty! Flirting once more!'" She smiled at that and let him quiet her. When he reminded her that this was to be their farewell she was quieted altogether. She sat on a sofa, the only light, that of a distant lamp, softly enveloping her bare shoulders and warm neck; and she allowed him to sit beside her there. The room was small and panelled in white, with empty sconces along the walls and parquet floor covered with oriental rugs. The door was half hidden in shadow. Both felt that in this stage they were about to say good-bye forever.