I am sure that you are quite tired out, and I
insist upon your going to bed."
"Finish your whisky and soda," Catherine begged Julian, "and I
will lean on your arm as far as the staircase."
Fate stretched out her right hand to help him. The Princess took
possession of her niece.
"I shall look after you myself," she insisted. "Mr. Orden is
wanted to play billiards. Lord Shervinton is anxious for a game."
"I shall be delighted," Julian answered promptly.
He moved to the door and held it open. Catherine gave him her
fingers and a little half-doubtful smile.
"If only you were not so cruelly obstinate!" she sighed.
He found no words with which to answer her. The shock of his
discovery was still upon him.
"You'll give me thirty in a hundred, Julian," Lord Shervinton
called out cheerfully. "And shut that door as soon as you can,
there's a good fellow. There's a most confounded draught."
CHAPTER IX
It was at some nameless hour in the early morning when Julian's
vigil came to an end, when the handle of his door was slowly
turned, and the door itself pushed open and closed again. Julian,
lying stretched upon his bed, only half prepared for the night,
with a dressing gown wrapped around him, continued to breathe
heavily, his eyes half-closed, listening intently to the
fluttering of light garments, the soft, almost noiseless footfall
of light feet. He heard her shake out his dinner coat, try the
pockets, heard the stealthy opening and closing of the drawers in
his wardrobe.
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