"What are you doing in the dark?" he called out in a cheerful voice.
Charity made no answer. He went up to the window to draw the blind, and
putting his finger on the wall flooded the room with a blaze of light
from the central chandelier. In this unfamiliar illumination husband
and wife faced each other awkwardly for a moment; then Mr. Royall said:
"We'll step down and have some supper, if you say so."
The thought of food filled her with repugnance; but not daring to
confess it she smoothed her hair and followed him to the lift.
An hour later, coming out of the glare of the dining-room, she waited in
the marble-panelled hall while Mr. Royall, before the brass lattice
of one of the corner counters, selected a cigar and bought an
evening paper. Men were lounging in rocking chairs under the blazing
chandeliers, travellers coming and going, bells ringing, porters
shuffling by with luggage. Over Mr. Royall's shoulder, as he leaned
against the counter, a girl with her hair puffed high smirked and nodded
at a dapper drummer who was getting his key at the desk across the hall.
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