And, indeed, he was right. From Victoria Station to the Strand they were in a kind of cloud-land, through which the taxi-cab crawled at a cautious pace. It took them three quarters of an hour to reach Buckingham Street, and here the fog was denser than ever. Miss Toat, leading the way up the narrow stairs to her office, simply groped amidst familiar surroundings like a miner in a coal mine. However, the two rooms of the office blazed with electric lights, and the warmth and the illumination were quite comfortable after the chilly gloom of the streets. Madame Coralie and her husband were waiting, but Colonel Ilse had not yet put in an appearance. The proprietress of the Pink Shop had for once discarded her Turkish dress and yashmak. She wore a quiet costume and a loose cloak to hide her shapeless figure, together with a thick black veil, which masked the disfigured face. Eddy appeared over-dressed and more cherubic than ever in a quite unnecessary fur coat--for the day was warm in spite of the fog, and he did not need it. His face, however, was very pale, and he looked decidedly uncomfortable as he grinned uneasily at Mrs. Shawe. "Dear Aunt Flora, how are you?" said the girl, coming forward. Madame Coralie kept her at arm's length, and simply shook her hand. "You are Mrs. Shawe now," she said quietly, "and do not belong to me." "I shall always look upon you as my aunt, and I shall never forget your kindness to me in my hour of need," said Audrey, hurt by this cold behaviour. "You are a good child," said Madame Coralie, quietly, and in a steady voice, "but I have not done all that I wish to do. I intend to see your father and make him give you an allowance." "Oh, papa will do that in any case, I think," said Mrs. Shawe, eagerly. "He is going down to-day to Weed-on-the-Sands to the Three Fishers Hotel, where Ralph and I are staying." "Your father has gone down to see you, and you are not there?" "We had to come up at the request of Miss Toat to see about this business, Aunt Flora," said Audrey, quickly; "but we shall return by the six or eight o'clock train to see papa and Miss Rosy Pearl." Madame Coralie started. "What has Miss Pearl got to do with your father going down to see you?" she asked in an angry tone. "Miss Pearl, so she says," remarked Ralph, "has persuaded Sir Joseph to forgive Audrey." "Oh!" Madame Coralie shook from head to foot with silent rage, "how dare she! That woman--how dare she! To go down to Weed-on-the-Sands with your father and on such an errand!" "She means well, aunt." "I shall see to that later," retorted Madame Coralie, ominously. "Quite so," said Perry Toat, looking up briskly, as she sat down at her desk. "Meanwhile we must see to the matter in hand."