LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER I

       “LAST SEEN AT VICTORIA!”

       Table of Contents

      Alice, Lady Dyke, puckered her handsome forehead into a thoughtful frown as she drew aside the window-curtains of her boudoir and tried to look out into the opaque blackness of a November fog in London.

      Behind her was cheerfulness — in front uncertainty. Electric lights, a nice fire reflected from gleaming brass, the luxury of carpets and upholstery, formed an alluring contrast to the dull yellow glare of a solitary lamp in the outer obscurity.

      But Lady Dyke was a strong-minded woman. There was no trace of doubt in the wrinkled brows and reflective eyes. She held back the curtains with her left hand, buttoning a glove at the wrist with the other. Fog or no fog, she would venture forth, and she was already dressed for the weather in tailor-made costume and winter toque.

      She was annoyed, but not disconcerted by the fog. Too long had she allowed herself to take things easily. The future was as murky as the atmosphere; the past was dramatically typified by the pleasant surroundings on which she resolutely turned her back. Lady Dyke was quite determined as to her actions, and a dull November night was a most unlikely agent to restrain her from following the course she had mapped out.

      Moving to the light again, she took from her pocket a long, closely written letter. Its details were familiar to her, but her face hardened as she hastily ran through it in order to find a particular passage.

      At last she gained her object — to make quite sure of an address. Then she replaced the document, stood undecided for a moment, and touched an electric bell.

      “James,” she said, to the answering footman, “I am going out.”

      “Yes, milady.”

      “Sir Charles is not at home?”

      “No, milady.”

      “I am going to Richmond — to see Mrs. Talbot. I shall probably not return in time for dinner. Tell Sir Charles not to wait for me.”

      “Shall I order the carriage for your ladyship?”

      “Will you listen to me and remember what I have said?”

      “Yes, milady.”

      James ran downstairs, opened the door, bowed as Lady Dyke passed into Portman Square, and then confidentially informed Buttons that “the missus” was in a “rare old wax” about something.

      “She nearly jumped down my bloomin’ throat when I asked her if she would have the carriage,”

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