Page:The Outcry (London, Methuen & Co., 1911).djvu/303

Rh however, like some high-priest circled with ceremonies; in consonance with which, the next moment, both her hands held out to him the open and immaculate page of the oblong series much as they might have presented a royal infant at the christening-font.

He failed, in his preoccupation, to receive it; so she placed it before him on the table, coming away with a brave gay "Well, I leave it to you!" She had not, restlessly revolving, kept her discreet distance for many minutes before she found herself almost face to face with the recurrent Gotch, upright at the door with a fresh announcement.

"Mr. Crimble, please—for Lady Grace."

"Mr. Crimble again?"—she took it discomposedly.

It reached Mr. Bender at the secretary, but to a different effect. "Mr. Crimble? Why he's just the man I want to see!"

Gotch, turning to the lobby, had only to make way for him. "Here he is, my lady."

"Then tell her ladyship."

"She has come down," said Gotch while Hugh arrived and his companion withdrew, and while Lady Grace, reaching the scene