"Let us go!" said Olga. She took her hand from Noel's arm, but looked at him appealingly. "All right," he said gruffly. "I suppose I had better go too." "High time, I should say," observed his brother. "Good-night!" Noel did not look at him or respond. He turned aside without a word, and left the room. Max made no further comment of any sort, but Olga was aware of his green eyes studying her closely. Like Noel she avoided them. She shook hands hurriedly with Will, and went out to Nick and Daisy. As Max turned to follow her, she heard Hunt-Goring's smiling voice behind him. "Good-bye, Dr. Wyndham! Delighted to have met you again--you and your _fiancee_. I have just been congratulating Miss Olga on her conquest." Max went out as though the sneering words had not reached him, but his face was so grim when he said good-bye to Daisy that she felt almost too guilty to look at him. She held Olga to her very closely at the last, and saw her go with a passionate regret. Whether she had acted rightly or wrongly she did not know; but she felt that she had wrecked the girl's happiness, and the spontaneity of Olga's answering embrace did not reassure her. CHAPTER XVI THE GAP "Now, my chicken, to roost!" said Nick. He turned to give her his paternal embrace, but paused as Olga very slightly drew back from it. They stood in the dining-room which they had entered on arrival. Max had lounged across to the mantelpiece, and propped himself against it in his favourite attitude. He looked on as it were from afar. "Please," Olga said rather breathlessly, and she addressed Nick as though he were the only person in the room, "I want to ask you something before we say good-night." "Something private?" asked Nick. She put her hand to her throat; her face was ghastly. Her voice came with visible effort. "It concerns--Max," she said. Max neither moved nor spoke. He was looking very fixedly at Olga. There was something merciless in his attitude. Nick flashed a swift glance at him, and slipped his arm round the girl. She was quivering with agitation, yet she made as if she would free herself. "Please, Nick!" she said imploringly. "I want to be strong. Help me to be strong!" "All right, dear," he said gently. "You can count on me. What's the trouble? Hunt-Goring again?" She shivered at the name. "No--no! At least--not alone. He hasn't worried me." She became silent, painfully, desperately silent, while she fought for self-control. Again Nick glanced across at Max. "Pour out a glass of wine!" he said briefly. Max stood up. He went to the table, and very deliberately mixed a little brandy and water. His face, as he did it, was absolutely composed. He might have been thinking of something totally removed from the matter in hand. Yet, as he turned round, the air of grimness was perceptible again. He held out the glass to Nick. "I think I'll go," he said.