So loud it was that it hushed their voices for a long minute. And when
cool silence came again, Hugh begged that the two would have their
Christmas Eve dinner with him, at his hotel. "There's so much to plan
for to-morrow, and all the days," he pleaded. "And just for once
Rosemary shall have a late dinner like the grown-ups. Do say yes."

So Evelyn said yes. And it was not until they were all three seated in
the restaurant of the Hotel de Paris, that he remembered he had been
engaged to dine at the Beau Soleil with Mademoiselle and the Comtesse,
her mother.

But he did not even blush because he had forgotten.




[Illustration: CHAPTER EIGHT]

WHEN A MAN GOES SHOPPING


[Illustration: W]

Many of Hugh Egerton's best moments during the last six years had been
spent in dreams. In those dreams the past had lived again; for he had
seen the future as once he had hoped it might be for him.

But all through this night of Christmas Eve he lay awake; and no dreams
had ever been as half as sweet as the thoughts that came to him then. It