"Elsie is likely to wait," she said. "You are too scrupulous, Herr Paul.
I have shown you how to make a great deal of money."
"The money with which I marry Elsie," I answered, "shall not be blood
money."
She let me go then, and I went away well pleased. I fancied that I was
holding my own with Madame. And I had left the way clear for my next
visit, which was no small thing.
At half-past three the restaurant was almost empty. Very soon after four
I rang the bell of Lady Dennisford's town house in Park Lane. The man who
opened it stared at my request to see her Ladyship. Eventually, however,
I persuaded him to take in a message. I wrote a single word upon a plain
card, and in five minutes I was shown into a small boudoir.
Lady Dennisford entered the room almost at the same instant from an
opposite door. She was dressed in deep mourning; but it seemed to me that
something of the old weariness was gone from her face. She looked at me
searchingly, but obviously without recognition.
"I am Lady Dennisford," she said. "What is your business with me?"
I kept my eyes fixed upon her steadily.
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