Rita, as she entered the car, noticed that Juan Mareno, Sir Lucien's
man, and not the chauffeur with whom she was acquainted, sat at the
wheel. As they drove off:
"Why is Mareno driving tonight, Lucy?" she asked.
Sir Lucien glanced aside at her.
"He is in my confidence," he replied. "Fraser is not."
"Oh, I see. You don't want Fraser to know about the Limehouse
journey?"
"Naturally I don't. He would talk to all the men at the garage, and
from South Audley Street the tit-bit of scandal would percolate through
every stratum of society."
Rita was silent for a few moments, then:
"Were you thinking about Monte?" she asked diffidently.
Pyne laughed.
"He would scarcely approve, would he?"
"No," replied Rita. "Was that why you were angry when I told you I was
going?"
"This 'anger,' to which you constantly revert, had no existence
outside your own imagination, Rita. But" he hesitated--"you will have
to consider your position, dear, now that you are the future Mrs.
Monte." Rita felt her cheeks flush, and she did not reply immediately.
"I don't understand you, Lucy," she declared at last. "How odd you
are."
"Am I? Well, never mind. We will talk about my eccentricity later.
Here is Cyrus."
Kilfane was standing in the entrance to the stage door of the theatre
at which he was playing.
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