Читать книгу A King by Night онлайн

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Ten minutes later, when the tea-table was set, and Selby, who had returned to his morning coat, was standing with his back to the fireplace, gazing moodily at the big Doré picture which filled one wall and which he had never had the moral courage to remove, the door opened and the girl entered.

From the moment their eyes met, the girl liked him. In spite of his dandified appearance, the seeming insolence of his expression, the almost perfunctory character of his handshake. He was the Englishman she had read about, the typical eyeglass dude that appeared in every stage play where an Englishman was represented.

"I'm glad to know you, Miss Guildford," he said. "I hope you're staying some time?"

"I leave for Paris to-morrow."

"I don't think that would be advisable."

He said it so naturally that for a moment she did not realize the impertinence of his remark. By the time she did, he was chatting pleasantly on Ascot and the racing. He knew everybody in society; he was one of those men who could reveal all they knew without offence or weariness. And then, gradually and delicately, he brought the conversation to her uncle, and by easy stages to her own predicament.