All the preparations for the luncheon had been completed; nobody was there.

The places to be occupied by the guests were indicated by cards bearing their names.

Moody found Isabel's card, and put his bracelet inside the folded napkin on her plate.

For a while he stood with his hand on the table, thinking.

The temptation to communicate once more with Isabel before he lost her forever, was fast getting the better of his powers of resistance.
"If I could persuade her to write a word to say she liked her bracelet," he thought, "it would be a comfort when I go back to my solitary life." He tore a leaf out of his pocket book and wrote on it, "One line to say you accept my gift and my good wishes.