Then Lord Tancred left the house in Park Lane he did not go on to the supper party at the Savoy he had promised to attend.

That sort of affair had bored him, now for several years.

Instead, he drove straight back to his rooms in St.James' Street, and, getting comfortably into his pet chair, he steadily set himself to think.

He had acted upon a mad impulse; he knew that and did not argue with himself about it, or regret it.

Some force stronger than anything he had hitherto known had compelled him to come to the decision.