The door of the Oak Lounge swung softly open on its easy spring, and a smooth, fleshy man padded in. He was plump, but not yet running to seed; aged about forty-five to fifty. His well-cut dark suit, neat bow tie and horn-rimmed glasses marked him as a prosperous business man of some kind. A few years earlier he had had luxurious fair hair, and he still had most of it now. He held the door open with a soft, gentle hand.

A girl came in. She was small and dark, miraculously neat, with tiny fragile bones and an oval face. Her clothes were expensive and simple, with the kind of simplicity that carries within itself a hint of the extravagant. Huge dark eyes smiled up at the smooth man. Charles knew that he would never get that smile out of his mind again.

She sat down on the other side of the fireplace while the smooth man went over to the bar for their drinks. Charles realized that he must swivel his eyes away from her face. To continue staring at her would be sheer impertinence. He tried to drag his gaze away, but the muscles would not move. He was paralysed into stillness with his eyes staring fixedly.

She must have felt it, for she slowly turned her dark head, looked at him coolly for an instant, and then, without hurry but with utter finality, turned away again. Charles felt sick. He hated himself for his mawkish behaviour, but could do nothing to alter it. He lowered his eyes to his glass, still half full of that good sherry which, a moment before, had been giving him so much pleasure. He drank it quickly. It tasted like urine. His expensive cigarette smouldered between the fingers of his other hand. He threw it savagely into the fireplace.

The smooth man brought two glasses over and set them down. In agony, Charles got to his feet and started for the door. He knew he ought to get out of the hotel altogether, to breathe the cold night air and feel the hard pavement under his feet. But the obstinate demon that had forced him to keep his eyes trained on that oval face, forced him now to stumble along to the dining-room. As long as he stayed in the hotel, there was a chance that he might see her again.