'Point him out to me, Fielding.' The latter obeyed, and Mr.Le Mesurier watched Drake until he disappeared through the doorway, with what seemed to Mallinson a singular intentness.
The father's manner waked him to a suspicion that he might possibly have mistaken the daughter's motive in seeking Drake's acquaintance.

Was it merely a whim, a fancy, strengthened to the point of activity by the sight of his name in print?
Or was it something more?
Was there some personal connection between Drake and the Le Mesuriers of which the former was in some way ignorant?
He was still pondering the question when Clarice spoke to him.
'So that was the bourgeois, was it ?' she said, bending forwards and almost whispering the words.

Mallinson flushed.
'Was it ?' he asked.

'I can't see.

I am rather short-sighted.' 'I begin to think you are.' The sentence was spoken with an ironic sympathy which deepened the flush upon Mallinson's cheek.