Chapter 17

⁠​​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​​‌​​​​‌​‌‌‌⁠Punctually at 12 o'clock the next morning, Lessingham presented himself at the hotel in Dover Street and was invited by the hall porter to take a seat in the lounge. Philippa entered, a few minutes later, her eyes and cheeks brilliant with the brisk exercise she had been taking, her slim figure most becomingly arrayed in grey cloth and chinchilla.

“I lost Helen in Harrod's,” she announced, “but I k