hurrying up to the dais.



CHAPTER XI

A POLITICAL REFUGEE


"Rosamund has come to my studio and wants to see me at once. _She has sent
for me._ Miss Ingate says she shall go, too."

It was these words in a highly emotionalised voice from Miss Nickall that,
like a vague murmured message of vast events, drew the entire quartet away
from the bright inebriated scene created by Monsieur Dauphin.

The single word "Rosamund" sufficed to break one mood and induce another in
all bosoms save that of Audrey, who was in a state of permanent joyous
exultation that she scarcely even attempted to control. The great militant
had a surname, but it was rarely used save by police magistrates. Her
Christian name alone was more impressive than the myriad cognomens of
queens and princesses. Miss Nickall ran away home at once. Miss Thompkins
was left to deliver Miss Ingate and Audrey at Nick's studio, which, being
in the Rue Delambre, was not far away. And not the shedding of the kimono
and the re-assumption of European attire could affect Audrey's spirits. Had
she been capable of regret in that hour, she would have regretted the
abandonment of the ball, where the refined, spiritual, strange faces of the
men, and the enigmatic quality of the women, and the exceeding novelty of
the social code had begun to arouse in her sentiments of approval and
admiration. But she quitted the staggering frolic without a sigh; for she