Lady Claudia's eyes followed me as I shut the door again and crossed the room to a second door which led into my bed-chamber.
She suddenly stepped up to me, just as I was entering the room, and laid her hand on my arm.
"What do I see in your face?" she asked as much of herself as of me--with her eyes fixed in keen inquiry on mine.
"You shall know directly," I answered. "Let me get my bonnet and cloak first.""Do you mean to leave the house?"
"I do."
She rang the bell. I quietly dressed myself, to go out.
The servant answered the bell, as I returned to the sitting-room.
"Tell your master I wish to see him instantly," said Lady Claudia.
"My master has gone out, my lady."
"To his club?"
"I believe so, my lady."
"I will send you with a letter to him. Come back when I ring again." She turned to me as the man withdrew. "Do you refuse to stay here until the General returns?""I shall be happy to see the General, if you will inclose my address in your letter to him."Replying in those terms, I wrote the address for the second time.
Lady Claudia knew perfectly well, when I gave it to her, that Iwas going to a respectable house kept by a woman who had nursed me when I was a child.