" Clare
considered. "But doesn't Undine know him? I seem to remember seeing them
together."
"Undine and Moffatt? Then you KNOW him--you've' met him?"
"Not actually met him--but he's been pointed out to me. It must have
been some years ago. Yes--it was one night at the theatre, just after
you announced your engagement." He fancied her voice trembled slightly,
as though she thought he might notice her way of dating her memories.
"You came into our box," she went on, "and I asked you the name of the
red-faced man who was sitting in the stall next to Undine. You didn't
know, but some one told us it was Moffatt."
Marvell was more struck by her tone than by what she was saying. "If
Undine knows him it's odd she's never mentioned it," he answered
indifferently.
The motor stopped at his door and Clare, as she held out her hand,
turned a first full look on him.
"Why do you never come to see me? I miss you more than ever," she said.
He pressed her hand without answering, but after the motor had rolled
away he stood for a while on the pavement, looking after it.
When he entered the house the hall was still dark and the small
over-furnished drawing-room empty. The parlour-maid told him that Mrs.
Marvell had not yet come in, and he went upstairs to the nursery. But on
the threshold the nurse met him with the whispered request not to make
a noise, as it had been hard to quiet the boy after the afternoon's
disappointment, and she had just succeeded in putting him to sleep.
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