The Powers and Maxine | Page 6

time
must be coming for Number 13. They were together, perhaps. What if,
in spite of all, Ivor should tell Di how he loved her, and they should be
engaged? At that thought, I tried to bring on a heart attack, and die; for
at least it would chill their happiness if, when Lady Mountstuart's ball
was over, I should be found lying white and dead, like Elaine on her
barge. I was holding my breath, with my hand pressed over my heart to
feel how it was beating, when the door opened suddenly, and I heard a
voice speaking.
CHAPTER II
LISA LISTENS
Someone turned up the light. "I'll leave you together," said Lord
Mountstuart; and the door was closed.
"What could that mean?" I wondered. I had supposed the two men had
come in alone, but there must have been a third person. Who could it be?
Had Lord Mountstuart been arranging a tête-à-tête between Di and Ivor
Dundas?
The thought was like a hand on my throat, choking my life out. I must
hear what they had to say to each other.

Without stopping to think more, I rolled over and let myself sink down
into the narrow space between the low couch and the wall, sharply
pulling the clinging folds of my chiffon dress after me. Then I lay still,
my blood pounding in my temples and ears, and in my nostrils a faint,
musty smell from the Oriental stuff that covered the lounge.
I could see nothing from where I lay, except the side of the couch, the
wall, and a bit of the ceiling with the gargoyley cornice which Di had
mentioned when she wanted to seem indifferent to the subject of our
conversation. But I was listening with all my might for what was to
come.
"Better lock the door, if you please, Dundas," said a voice, which gave
me a shock of surprise, though I knew it well.
Instead of Di, it was the Foreign Secretary who spoke.
"We won't run the risk of interruptions," he went on, with that slow,
clear enunciation of his which most Oxford men have, and keep all
their lives, especially men of the college that was his--Balliol. "I told
Mountstuart that I wanted a private chat with you. Beyond that, he
knows nothing, nor does anyone else except myself. You understand
that this conversation of ours, whether anything comes of it or not, is
entirely confidential. I have a proposal to make. You'll agree to it or not,
as you choose. But if you don't agree, forget it, with everything I may
have said."
"My services and my memory are both at your disposal," answered Ivor,
in such a gay, happy voice that something told me he had already
talked with Diana--and that in spite of me she had not snubbed him. "I
am honoured--I won't say flattered, for I'm too much in earnest--that
you should place any confidence in me."
I lay there behind the lounge and sneered at this speech of his. Of
course, I said to myself, he would be ready to do anything to please the
Foreign Secretary, since all the big plums his ambition craved were in
the gift of that man.

"Frankly, I'm in a difficulty, and it has occurred to me that you can help
me out of it better than anyone else I know," said the smooth, trained
voice. "It is a little diplomatic errand you will have to undertake for me
tomorrow, if you want to do me a good turn."
"I will undertake it with great pleasure, and carry it through to the best
of my ability," replied Ivor.
"I'm sure you can carry it through excellently," said the Foreign
Secretary, still fencing. "It will be good practice, if you succeed,
for--any future duties in the career which may be opening to you."
"He's bribing him with that consulship," I thought, beginning to be very
curious indeed as to what I might be going to hear. My heart wasn't
beating so thickly now. I could think almost calmly again.
"I thank you for your trust in me," said Ivor.
"A little diplomatic errand," repeated the Foreign Secretary. "In itself
the thing is not much: that is, on the face of it. And yet, in its relation
with other interests, it becomes a mission of vast importance,
incalculable importance. When I have explained, you will see why I
apply to you. Indeed, I came to my cousin Mountstuart's house
expressly because I was told you would be at his wife's ball. My regret
is, that the news which brought me in search of you didn't reach me
earlier, for if it had I should have come with my wife, and have got at
you in time to send you