CHAPTER XII
A couple of hours later Sylvia and Count Paul parted at the door of the
Casino. He held her hand longer than was usual with him when bidding her
good-night; then, dropping it, he lifted his hat and hurried off towards
the station.
Sylvia stood in the dusk and looked after him till a turn in the short
road hid his hurrying figure from her sight.
She felt very much moved, touched to the core of her heart. She knew just
as well as if he had told her why the Comte de Virieu had given up his
evening's play to-night. He had left Lacville, and arranged to meet her
in Paris the next day, in order that their names might not be coupled--as
would have certainly been the case if they had travelled together into
Paris the next morning--by M. Polperro and the good-natured, but rather
vulgar Wachners.
As she turned and walked slowly through the Casino, moving as in a dream,
Sylvia suddenly felt herself smartly tapped on the shoulder.
She turned round quickly--then she smiled. It was Madame Wachner.
"Why 'ave you not come before?" her friend exclaimed.
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