Chapter XI

Charles sat in Miss Maud Silver’s waiting-room. He was not one of those who wait patiently. Having arrived at ten o’clock, he was exasperated to find that he was not the first upon the scene; a murmur of female voices stimulated his annoyance. ‘Probably talking millinery,’ was his embittered comment. Then all of a sudden through the thin partition came a sharp little cry of ‘_I can’t!_’ The cry had a quality which did not suggest millinery. There was a silence; and then the murmur of voices went on again. It was al…