He was inclined to look upon the proposal as an inspiration, and his tone unfortunately betrayed his thought.
When Mallinson returned, he saw Conway entering the hotel.

The latter looked younger by some years than either of his companions, so that, as the three men stood together at this moment, they might have been held to represent three separate decades.
'Twenty minutes late, I'm afraid,' said Conway, and he shook Drake's hand with a genuine cordiality.
'Five,' said Drake, looking at his watch.
'Twenty,' replied Conway.

'A quarter to, was the time Mallinson wired me.' 'Was it ?' asked Mallinson, with a show of surprise.

'I must have made a mistake.' It occurred, however, to Drake that the mistake might have been purposely made from a prevision of the awkwardness of the meeting.

The dinner, prefaced inauspiciously, failed to remove the awkwardness, since the reticence under which Drake and Mallinson laboured, gradually spread and enveloped Conway.