Page:The woman, the man, and the monster (IA womanmanmonster00dawe).pdf/298

 “It will probably not be very gay,” she said. The little catch in her voice may or may not have escaped him, and as he happened to be looking away at that moment he did not no- tice the slight indrawing of the lips.

“I suppose you are very much alone at present?”

Again he was not particularly interested, but it did strike him in a vague sort of way, owing no doubt to the obvious scarcity of vehicular traffic, that there really were very few people in town—that is, very few who counted.

“Occasionally an odd caller drops in. This morning we had the greatest surprise of all.”

“Oh!”

“Digby Brenton turned up, from Heaven knows where. He looked awfully ill, and be- haved more eccentrically than ever.”

Digby Brenton! Well for him that she was looking straight ahead or she must have noticed his agitation. He remembered now that Brenton was a cousin of hers, and that in years gone by this same Lady Sherringford had unduly spoiled the boy. But Brenton in London! Had he come to watch the flat in Westminster?