John looked at him quickly, wondering if his keen eye had detected anything.
"Well," he confessed, "as a matter of fact, there is something that bothers me a good deal."
"Pass me another cigarette," said Dacent Smith, "and let me hear it."
John handed him another cigarette, and hesitated.
"Well, I should like to report, sir," John said at length, "that my personal position has become--well, peculiarly difficult during the past few days."
"I am keener on my work than ever," John answered.
"Well," confessed John, "to be precise, I find I am getting rather entangled with a lady." His tone was serious, and Dacent Smith took the statement gravely.
"Mrs. Beecher Monmouth is rather pressing whenever I meet her," he said, with a deprecating smile, "but she is not the lady in question."
John was silent; he found a strange diffidence in tackling this subject. It was a matter of some difficulty to state exactly what was the situation between himself and Elaine. Dacent Smith waited, and then tapped the arm of his chair with his finger, which was his only manner of showing impatience.
"Oh! And wherein lies the particular awkwardness?"
"Yesterday she came down to the Gordon Hotel in Newport to see me, and stayed the night there."
"I'm afraid it was, sir. It seems," went on John, "that there was a disagreement between her and her husband, which ended in the lady refusing to live with him until he improved his habits."
"A very proper and spirited attitude to take," responded Dacent Smith.
"That is my opinion," said John, "but, unfortunately, she has decided to forgive her husband."
"You don't mean she has made any untoward discovery?"
"Oh, no," said John, "she accepts me absolutely. And so far as I know she has never experienced the faintest doubt. But the awkwardness comes in through the fact that she has decided to forgive her husband and take him back again!"
Dacent Smith looked at the younger man for a minute, then whistled softly.
"By gad, Treves, yours is certainly a difficult path."
"Devilish difficult--and what's the lady like? Is she young and pretty?"
"She is about twenty-three years of age," said John, "and--and, well pretty doesn't quite describe her. She has dark hair and grey eyes. She is rather above the average in height. She----" John hesitated and stumbled. "I am no connoisseur in these matters, sir, but in my opinion she is an unusually beautiful girl."