Clytie came on with the brisk and confident walk that she had cultivated
along the pavements of the shopping district, and she was dressed
precisely as if about to enter upon one of her frequent excursions in
that quarter on some crisp, late-autumn afternoon. She wore a very trig
and jaunty tailor-made suit and a stunning little garnet-velvet toque.
She tripped ahead in a solid but elegant pair of walking-shoes and was
drawing on a tan glove with mannish stitchings over the back. The Boutet
de Monvel girls, the contemporaries of Jeanne d'Arc, were immediately
obliterated; Clytie became the most conspicuous figure in the whole big
place.
She advanced tapping her heels, smoothing her gloves, and looking every
shirt-front full in the face. Her forehead gathered in a soft little
frown; he whom she sought was not in sight. She got a glimpse of Mrs.
Pence and Medora Giles seated side by side in a far corner, and of Little
O'Grady hovering near, with a covetous eye upon her aunt's profile; and
she took the remaining space in a quick little walk that was almost a
run.
"Adrian Bond?" she asked. "Tell me; has anybody seen or heard anything of
Adrian Bond?"
"Well, Clytie child!" exclaimed her aunt, looking her over; "what's all
this?"
Clytie passed her hand down the side of her thick fawn-coloured skirt and
readjusted her toque. "These things were in that box you sent me day
before yesterday."
"That box from London?"
"That box from London. I thought they were never coming. I wrote; I
cabled; I implored friends to go to Regent Street every single day till
they should be done. And here they are, finally--a month late; but I'm
wearing them, all the same."
"Well, they're worth waiting for," said Medora. "I suppose they are just
about the last word."
"Just about," replied Clytie complacently. "Meanwhile, where is Adrian
Bond?"
"Here he comes now," said Medora.
Clytie turned. She beheld the mediaeval greens and violets. "Why,
Adrian," she protested; "you told me you were coming disguised as a
gentleman."
"I thought better of it," said Bond.
"But," she proceeded, "I--I----" She spun round on one heel. "This is all
for you. I thought that if you were coming disguised as a gentleman, it
would be nice for me to come disguised as a lady. No use," she said
regretfully. "Everybody knew me in a minute," she added.