[_As he comes down to the left._] I sha'n't _pay_ for more than four--mind that! [_To himself, as he sits on the couch down left._] It's going to cost me quite enough without that, _I_ can see! [_The Westminster Clock-tower is heard striking the quarter; PRINGLE takes out his watch._] Eight-fifteen! And I asked them for eight sharp. Very singular--the Professor's generally so punctual! [_He rises eagerly as the door on right above arch opens._] Ah, _here_ they are! [_HORACE enters and comes down; PRINGLE draws himself up stiffly._] What, _you_, Ventimore! I scarcely expected to see you here to-night. [_The two WAITERS go out; the waltz music stops._ HORACE. [_Coming down to couch by fireplace._] Didn't you? I rather thought I might run across _you_, somehow. PRINGLE. [_Austerely._] Considering that, when I _last_ saw you, you were flying over the chimney-pots with an Oriental enchanter you had released from a brass bottle---- HORACE. [_Seating himself on sofa by fireplace._] Ah! So you _haven't_ forgotten! PRINGLE. It's hardly a thing one would be _likely_ to forget in a hurry. You were being conducted to meet your bride, I think--are you beginning your honeymoon in this hotel? HORACE. If you want to know, I'm here because I'm dining with the Wackerbaths. PRINGLE. What!--the client I met in your office this morning? Then he must have an uncommonly short memory, that's all! But, whether you're dining with him or not, that's no reason why you should have forced your way in _here_! I suppose you're hoping that, if you can only see Miss Futvoye---- HORACE. You're wrong, Pringle, quite wrong. I don't in the least expect to see Miss Futvoye here to-night. And I very much doubt if _you_ will, either. PRINGLE. _Do_ you? You wouldn't if you'd heard her parting words to me this afternoon. I said to her: "You won't forget?" Her answer was: "As if I _could_--after all you've done for us!" HORACE. It--it's just possible that _all_ of them may have forgotten an engagement which was made under--rather peculiar circumstances. PRINGLE. That's just why they're not likely to forget it. [_Going to fireplace, and standing with his back to it._] They may be here at any moment! HORACE. They _may_--but, if I were you, I shouldn't count on them. PRINGLE. I _do_ count on them--and I consider your intrusion here in the worst possible taste. I think you might have the decency to go! HORACE. [_Rising._] I tell you I'm here because this is the room which Wackerbath asked me to come to. PRINGLE. It won't _do_, you know! If it was, he'd be here to receive you--which he isn't.