Now again, just after he had come down from Brineweald Park to "The Fastness," as was his wont after breakfast, he had scarcely felt a fibre of pity or remorse stir in his body while Mrs. Delarayne had described Cleopatra's second fainting fit to him. He had expressed his sympathy formally, conventionally, like one who had but a few moments to spare for such considerations, and even before Mrs. Delarayne had completed her narrative, had allowed his eyes to wander eagerly all over the garden for a sign of Leonetta. Rigid and unmoved, he had seen the stir caused by the arrival of the doctor, and later by the departure of Stephen Fearwell on his motor-cycle with an urgent message from Mrs. Delarayne to Sir Joseph to send one of his cars round at once for her immediate use. What the car was wanted for, how it was connected with Cleopatra's illness, he hadn't either the inclination or the interest to discover; he only deplored the destiny that caused Cleopatra's breakdown when, suddenly, without Mrs. Delarayne's having made any mention of the plan to him, Leonetta, dazzling, electrifying, and elfish as usual, tripped out into the garden to whisper to him that her mother wished her to drive with her to Ashbury at once. "To Ashbury--you--at once--with the Warrior?" he ejaculated. "Whatever for?" "I don't know," said Leonetta. "But it's impossible," he objected. "Can't you say you can't go?" "I wish I could." "But why should the old Warrior want to take precisely you to Ashbury?" he pursued. "I only know," she replied, "that Lord Henry's Sanatorium is at Ashbury, and that Peachy's making far too much of Cleo's illness. Why, it's only the heat." "How many miles is it to Ashbury?" "Seventeen to twenty, I believe." "So you'll be gone about two hours?" "Yes, my darling,--cheer up." He smiled at these words, pressed her hand tenderly as he did so, and heard the car glide round the drive. "Good-bye, my goddess," he whispered. Then suddenly Mrs. Delarayne's head appeared at one of the bedroom windows of the house. "Come in and get ready at once, Leonetta!" she called out angrily. "The car has just arrived." "Good-bye, my angel," she whispered, and ran in. It was eleven o'clock; they could be back for lunch. The Fearwells, Vanessa, and Guy Tyrrell had gone to Stonechurch for a bathe. The whole place was a desert. He thought he might go for a walk, and entered the house to fetch his hat and stick. But he hesitated; he felt so desolate alone. The sound, however, of another car in the drive outside, and Sir Joseph's voice giving instructions to the chauffeur, brought him quickly to his senses, and snatching his hat down, he ran out of the house, through the garden, and out into the meadows beyond.