We regret to announce that owing to indisposition Mademoiselle Idiale will not be able to appear this evening. The part of Delilah will be taken by Mademoiselle Blanche Temoigne, late of the Royal Opera House, St. Petersburg.
Ten minutes later, Laverick rang the bell of her flat in Dover Street. A strange man-servant answered him.
"I came to inquire after Mademoiselle Idiale," Laverick said.
The man held out a tray on which was already a small heap of cards. Laverick, however, retained his.
"I should be glad if you would take mine in to her," he said. "I think it is just likely that she may see me for a moment."
The servant's attitude was one of civil but unconcealed hostility. He would have closed the door had not Laverick already passed over the threshold.
"Madame is not well enough to receive visitors, sir," the man declared. "She shall have your card as soon as possible."
"I should like her to have it now," Laverick persisted, drawing a five-pound note from his pocket.
The man looked at the note longingly.
"It would be only waste of time, sir," he declared. "Mademoiselle is confined to her bedroom and my orders are absolute."
"You are not the man who was here earlier in the day," Laverick remarked. "I wonder," he continued, with a sudden inspiration, "whether you are not Mr. Bellamy's servant?"
"That is so, sir. Mr. Bellamy has sent me here to see that no one has access to Mademoiselle Idiale."
"Then there is no harm whatever in taking in my card," Laverick declared convincingly. "You can put that note in your pocket. I am perfectly certain that Mademoiselle Idiale will see me, and that your master would wish her to do so."
"I will take the risk, sir," the man decided, "but the orders I have received were stringent."
He disappeared and was gone for several moments. When he came back he was accompanied by a pale-faced woman dressed in black, obviously a maid.
"Monsieur Laverick," she said, "Mademoiselle Idiale will receive you. If you will come this way?"
She opened the door of the little reception-room, and Laverick followed her. The man returned to his place in the hall.
"Madame will be here in a moment," the maid said. "She will be glad to see you, but she has been very badly frightened."
Laverick bowed sympathetically. The woman herself was gray-faced, terror-stricken.
"It is Monsieur Lassen, the manager of Madame, who has caused a great deal of trouble here," she said. "Madame never trusted him and now we have discovered that he is a spy."
The woman seemed to fade away. The door of the inner room was opened and Louise came out. She was still exceedingly pale, and there were dark rims under her eyes. She came across the room with outstretched hands. There was no doubt whatever as to her pleasure.