“I hope I am not late,” she said. “I really do not care much about dining out, these days, but your message was so insistent.”
“One must have relaxation,” he declared. “The weight of affairs all day long is a terrible strain. Shall we go in?”
They entered the room and stood looking aimlessly about them, Fenn having, naturally enough, failed to realise the necessity of securing a table. A maitre d’hotel, however, recognised Catherine and hastened to their rescue. She conversed with the man for a few minutes in French, while her companion listened admiringly, and finally, at his solicitation, herself ordered the dinner.
“The news, please, Mr. Fenn?” she asked, as soon as the man had withdrawn.
“News?” he repeated. “Oh, let’s leave it alone for a time! One gets sick of shop.”
She raised her eyebrows a little discouragingly. She was dressed with extraordinary simplicity, but the difference in caste between the two supplied a problem for many curious observers.
“Why should we talk of trifles,” she demanded, “when we both have such a great interest in the most wonderful subject in the world?”
“What is the most wonderful subject in the world?” he asked impressively.
“Our cause, of course,” she answered firmly, “the cause of all the peoples--Peace.”
“One labours the whole day long for that,” he grumbled. “When the hour for rest comes, surely one may drop it for a time?”
“Do you feel like that?” she remarked indifferently. “For myself, during these days I have but one thought. There is nothing else in my life. And you, with all those thousands and millions of your fellow creatures toiling, watching and waiting for a sign from you--oh, I can’t imagine how your thoughts can ever wander from them for a moment, how you can ever remember that self even exists! I should like to be trusted, Mr. Fenn, as you are trusted.”
“My work,” he said complacently, “has, I hope, justified that trust.”
“Naturally,” she assented, “and yet the greatest part of it is to come. Tell me about Mr. Orden?”
“There is no change in the fellow’s attitude. I don’t imagine there will be until the last moment. He is just a pig-headed, insufferably conceited Englishman, full of class prejudices to his finger tips.”
“He is nevertheless a man,” she said thoughtfully. “I heard only yesterday that he earned considerable distinction even in his brief soldiering.”