"Mr. Aynesworth!"
He turned and faced her.
"Can't you help me?"
"I cannot, Lady Ruth."
The electric bell rang softly from outside, and the orchestra
commenced to play. Lady Ruth rose and looked at herself in the mirror.
Then she turned and smiled at her visitor. The pallor of her face was
no longer unnatural. She was a wonderful woman.
"I shall come tomorrow," she said. "Shall I see you?"
"That," he answered, "depends upon Sir Wingrave."
She made a little grimace as she dismissed him. Wingrave did not speak
to his companion for some time after he had resumed his seat. Then he
inclined his head towards him.
"Have you come to terms with her ladyship?" he asked drily.
"Not yet!" Aynesworth answered.
"You can name your own price," he continued. "She will pay! Don't be
afraid of making her bid up. She has a good deal at stake!"
Aynesworth made no reply. He was thinking how easy it would be to hate
this man!
"HAST THOU FOUND ME, O MINE ENEMY?"
Aynesworth was waiting in the hall on the following afternoon when
Lady Ruth arrived. He had half expected that she would drive up to the
side door in a hansom, would wear a thick veil, and adopt the other
appurtenances of a clandestine meeting. But Lady Ruth was much too
clever a woman for anything of the sort. She descended at the great
front entrance from her own electric coupe, and swept into the hotel
followed by her maid.
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