III
Corcoran worked quickly. That night, after taking Hallie to her room, he paid several calls—in fact he was extraordinarily busy up to eleven o’clock next morning. At that hour he tapped briskly at the Bushmills’ door.
“You are lunching at the Brussels Country Club,” he said to Hallie directly, “with Prince Abrisini, Countess Perimont and Major Sir Reynolds Fitz-Hugh, the British attaché. The Bolls-Ferrari landaulet will be ready at the door in half an hour.”
“But I thought we were going to the culinary exhibit,” objected Mrs. Bushmill in surprise. “We had planned—”
“You are going,” said Corcoran politely, “with two nice ladies from Wisconsin. And afterwards you are going to an American tea room and have an American luncheon with American food. At twelve o’clock a dark conservative
