She was tracing with the tip of her finger a pattern stamped on the binding of the book.

It would seem that she had something more to say.

Then suddenly she went away without saying it.
In the meantime Claude de Chauxville had gently led the Countess Lanovitch to invite him to stay to dinner.

He accepted the invitation with becoming reluctance, and returned to the Hotel de Berlin, where he was staying, in order to dress.

He was fully alive to the expediency of striking while the iron is hot--more especially where women are concerned.