Page:Robert Barr - Lord Stranleigh Philanthropist.djvu/49

 most beautiful drawing-rooms they had ever seen. The girl with the banner rolled it up hastily, as if somehow it was out of keeping in a salon displaying such perfect taste. When all were seated, the silent Ponderby withdrew, closing the door very gently behind him.

"I wonder," said the lady with the banner, "if we are trapped. This all seems too easy. I believe Lord Stranleigh has got us in here so that he can slip out unseen, for his motor-car drove up just as I came in. I should have remained on guard."

She rose impulsively from her chair, and gave a flirt to the banner that partially unrolled it.

"I'm off to intercept him," she said, but a very quiet old lady, with beautiful grey hair, spoke soothingly.

"Sit down, my dear. I know Lord Stranleigh. He would not do such a thing."

The girl, but half convinced, slowly re-seated herself. She was in a room where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile. She knew their sneaking ways. However, she made no audible protest, and her companions were all very quiet, as though rather awed by their surroundings, and the celerity with which their desire had been