Dare had not yet arrived, and after a time Somerset threw down his pencil and leant back.
His eye fell upon something that moved.

It was white, and lay in the folding chair on the opposite side of the room.

On near approach he found it to be a fragment of swan's-down fanned into motion by his own movements, and partially squeezed into the chink of the chair as though by some person sitting on it.
None but a woman would have worn or brought that swan's-down into his studio, and it made him reflect on the possible one.

Nothing interrupted his conjectures till ten o'clock, when Dare came.

Then one of the servants tapped at the door to know if Mr.Somerset had arrived.
Somerset asked if Miss Power wished to see him, and was informed that she had only wished to know if he had come.