"Oh, you pet, don't you know where Bryanston Square is?"cried Caroline suddenly fixing her bright eyes upon Maggie with burning curiosity.
"If I did I wouldn't ask," said Maggie.
"Quite right--neither you would.Well, it's near Marble Arch.""But I don't know where the Marble Arch is.""Lord!" cried Caroline."And she's been in London for months.You really are a pet.Well, what you'd better do is to get into the first taxi you see and just say 'Bryanston Square.'"How stupid of her! She might have thought of that for herself.
"Is there a park near Bryanston Square?" she asked.
"Yes.Of course--Hyde Park."
"And is it open at six?"
"Of course.You can't shut Hyde Park."
"Oh!"
Maggie pursued her thoughts.Caroline watched her with intense curiosity.
"What do you want with a Park, you darling?" she asked at last.
"Oh, nothing," said Maggie, slowly.Then she went on, laughing:
"I've been asked out to tea--for the first time in my life.And I'm terribly frightened.""How exciting!" said Caroline clapping her hands."Who's it with?""It's a Mrs.Mark.She was a Miss Trenchard.She used to live in Glebeshire.She's going to find me some work to do.""Work!" cried Caroline."Aren't you going to stay with your aunts then?""I want to be independent," said Maggie slowly.
"Well!" said Caroline, amazed.
Could Maggie have seen just then into Miss Smith's mind and could she only have realised that, with Miss Smith, every action and intention in the human heart pivoted upon love-affairs and love-affairs only, she might have been warned and have saved much later trouble.She was intent on her own plans and was thinking of Caroline only as a possible agent.
"Caroline," she asked, "would you take a note for me to some one?""Of course," said Caroline."Who is it?"
"Martin Warlock," said Maggie.
At the name she suddenly blushed crimson.She knew that Caroline was looking at her with eager curiosity.She suspected then that she had done something foolish and would have given anything to recall her words, but to recall them now seemed only to make it the more suspicious.