Now was Lord Robert's time to propose--now, when she believed me
faithless and unworthy--if he but knew it. And I was afraid that he
would know it.
I got out into the open air, feeling half-dazed as one of the under
porters called me a cab. I gave the name of a street in the direction,
but at some distance from Maxine's, lest ears should hear which ought
not to hear: and it was only when we were well away from the hotel that
I amended my first instructions. Even then, I mentioned the street
leading into the one where I was due, not the street itself.
"_Depechez vous_" I added, for I had delayed eight or ten minutes longer
than I ought, and this had upset the exactness of my calculations. The
man obeyed; nevertheless, instead of reaching the top of Maxine's street
at two or three minutes before twelve, as I had intended, it was nearly
ten minutes past when I got out of my cab at the corner: and when I came
to the gate of the house a clock somewhere was striking the quarter hour
after midnight.
MAXINE DE RENZIE'S PART
CHAPTER VIII
MAXINE ACTS ON THE STAGE AND OFF
How I got through the play on that awful night, I don't know.
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