Chapter 24
THE COUNTESS, THE COUSIN, AND THE CRITIC Out in the streets they paused. A theatre or any place of amusement was out of the question, for Cicely dared not stay out later than half-past nine. Then a luminous idea came to Douglas. "Why on earth shouldn't you come to my rooms?" he asked. "I can give you some decent coffee and read you the first chapter of my novel." She hesitated, but barely for a moment. "It sounds delightful," she admitted. "I'll come. Glad to. Isn't it lovely to be in this great city, and to know what freedom is--to do what seems well and hear nothing of that everlasting 'other people say'?" "It's magnificent," he answered. He beckoned a hansom, handed her in, and somehow forgot to release her hand. The wheels were rubber-tyred and the springs easy. They glided into
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