Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/277

 on your arrival. I might be gone from the address I shall give you, if you didn't do that."

"Very well," Terry consented, "I will post it immediately, or send it by messenger."

Thank you with all my heart for the promise. Address me at Harland's Hotel, Charles Street, Pall Mall."

"I never heard of it," said Terry. "Is it a new hotel, since my day?"

"No, it's very old, I believe. But it's small and insignificant. Comparatively few people know of its existence. It's not a very bright or gay place; but for that reason it will suit me the better now. And you? Shall you go to Mrs. Ricardo?"

"I am not sure," Terry replied. "I haven't talked it over with Nora yet; but as I've taken charge of her for the present, I must arrange for her welfare. I expected to have stopped over here longer, and there seemed plenty of time to settle about the future. Now there's none. I think of wiring Maud to ask if she will invite Nora to White Fields. I'm almost sure that if I do, she will. Meanwhile, though, I may put up at an hotel in town for a night or two."

"Don't," Sir Ian said quickly. "I hope you won't do that."

She looked surprised. "Why? Are you so old-fashioned that you dislike the thought of women being in a hotel alone?"