And he was savagely
rejoicing in the effect she was making upon the audience, because he
thought, hoped, that it would lessen the triumph of the woman who was
punishing him.
She had missed the figure of Truth. That was very certain. And as she
sang the refrain for the last time she seemed to herself to be searching
for the form that must surely be very wonderful, searching for it in the
many eyes that were fixed upon her. She looked at Sir Donald:
"Dice: Tutto al mondo e vano:"
She looked at Rupert Carey:
"Nell'amore ogni dolcezza."
She still looked at Carey, and the hideous wreckage of the flesh was no
longer visible to her. She saw only his burning eyes.
Directly she had finished singing she asked for her motor cloak. While
they were fetching it she had to go back twice to the platform to bow to
the applause.
Miss Schley, who was looking angry, said to her:
"You're not going away before my show?"
"I want to go to the concert room, where I can hear better, and see," she
replied.
Miss Schley looked at her doubtfully, but had to go to the platform. As
she slowly disappeared behind the screen Lady Holme drew the cloak round
her, pulled down her veil and went quickly away.
She wanted--more, she required--to be alone.
At the hall door she sent a footman to find the motor car. When it came
up she said to the chauffeur:
"Take me home quickly and then come back for his lordship.
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