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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Love at Paddington, by W. Pett Ridge
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Love at Paddington
+
+
+Author: W. Pett Ridge
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 27, 2008  [eBook #26135]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE AT PADDINGTON***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
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+
+LOVE AT PADDINGTON
+
+
+by
+
+W. PETT RIDGE
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece]
+
+
+
+
+Thomas Nelson and Sons
+London, Edinburgh, Dublin
+Leeds, Melbourne, and New York
+Leipzig: 35-37 Königstrasse.  Paris: 189, rue Saint-Jacques
+
+
+
+
+NOVELS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
+
+  Mord Em'ly.
+  Secretary to Bayne, M.P.
+  A Son of the State.
+  Lost Property.
+  'Erb.
+  A Breaker of Laws.
+  Mrs. Galer's Business.
+  The Wickhamses.
+  Name of Garland.
+  Sixty-nine Birnam Road.
+  Splendid Brother.
+  Thanks to Sanderson.
+
+
+
+
+First Published in 1912
+
+
+
+
+LOVE AT PADDINGTON.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Children had been sent off to Sunday school, and the more conscientious
+reached that destination; going in, after delivering awful threats and
+warnings to those who preferred freedom of thought and a stroll down
+Edgware Road in the direction of the Park.  As a consequence, in the
+streets off the main thoroughfare leading to Paddington Station peace
+and silence existed, broken only by folk who, after the principal meal
+of the week, talked in their sleep.  Praed Street was different.  Praed
+Street plumed itself on the fact that it was always lively, ever on the
+move, occasionally acquainted with royalty.  Even on a Sunday
+afternoon, and certainly at all hours of a week-day, one could look
+from windows at good racing, generally done by folk impeded by hand
+luggage who, as they ran, glanced suspiciously at every clock, and
+gasped, in a despairing way, "We shall never do it!" or,
+optimistically, "We shall only just do it!" or, with resignation,
+"Well, if we lose this one we shall have to wait for the next."
+
+Few establishments were open in Praed Street, shutters were up at the
+numerous second-hand shops, and at the hour of three o'clock p.m. the
+thirst for journals at E. G. Mills's (Established 1875) was satisfied;
+the appetite for cigars, cigarettes, and tobacco had scarcely begun.
+Now and again a couple of boys, who had been reading stories of wild
+adventure in the Rocky Mountains, dashed across the road, upset one of
+Mrs. Mills's placard boards, and flew in opposite directions, feeling
+that although they might not have equalled the daring exploits of their
+heroes in fiction, they had gone as far as was possible in a country
+hampered by civilization.
+
+"Young rascals!" said Mrs. Mills, coming back after repairing one of
+these outrages.  The shop had a soft, pleasing scent of tobacco from
+the brown jars, marked in gilded letters "Bird's Eye" and "Shag" and
+"Cavendish," together with the acrid perfume of printer's ink.  "Still,
+I suppose we were all young once.  Gertie," raising her voice, "isn't
+it about time you popped upstairs to make yourself good-looking?
+There's no cake in the house, and that always means some one looks in
+unexpectedly to tea."
+
+No answer.
+
+"Gertie!  Don't you hear me when I'm speaking to you?"
+
+"Beg pardon, aunt.  I was thinking of something else."
+
+"You think too much of something else, my dear," said Mrs. Mills
+persuasively.  "I was saying to a customer, only yesterday, that you
+don't seem able lately to throw off your work when you've finished.
+You keep on threshing it out in your mind.  And it's all very well, to
+a certain extent, but there's a medium in all things."  Mrs. Mills went
+to the half-open door, that was curtained only in regard to the lower
+portion.  "Trimming a hat," she cried protestingly.  "Oh, my dear, and
+to think your mother was a Wesleyan Methodist.  Before she came to
+London, I mean."
+
+Her niece surveyed the work at arm's length.  "I've done all I want to
+do to it," she said.
+
+Mrs. Mills ordered the hat to be put on that she might ascertain
+whether it suited, and this done, and guarded approval given, asked to
+be allowed to try it on her own head.  Here, again, the results,
+inspected in the large mirror set in a narrow wooden frame above the
+mantelpiece, gained commendation; Mrs. Mills declared she would feel
+inclined to purchase a similar hat, only that Praed Street might say
+she was looking for a second husband.  Besides, she never went out.
+
+"Your poor mother was just as handy with her needle as what you are.
+We'd go along together to have a look at the shops in Oxford Street,
+and the moment she returned home, she'd set to work, and alter
+something to make it look fashionable." Mrs. Mills sighed.  "Little
+good it brought her, though, in the long run."
+
+"I am sure," remarked the girl quickly, "it never brought her any harm."
+
+"Didn't help to get hold of anybody better than your father, at any
+rate.  But they're both gone, and it's no use talking."
+
+Some one entered the shop.
+
+"Your friend Miss Radford," she announced.  "Now there won't be a
+chance for any one else to speak."
+
+The visitor justified the prophecy, by entering the parlour with a
+breathless "Oh, I've got such news!" checking herself on encountering
+Mrs. Mills.  Mrs. Mills asked, with reserve, concerning the health of
+Miss Radford's mother, and mentioned (not apparently for the first
+time) that the lady, in her opinion, ought to be living on a gravel
+soil.  Miss Radford, obviously suffering from repressed information,
+promised to deliver the advice, word for word, and in the meantime gave
+her own warm thanks.
+
+"Old nuisance!" she remarked, as the half-curtained door closed.  "I
+wonder how you can put up with her."
+
+"My aunt is very good to me."
+
+"Isn't it a pity," said the visitor inconsequently, "that you're so
+short?  Well, not exactly short, but certainly only about middle
+height.  I think"--she glanced at the mirror complacently--"my idea is
+it's partly because I'm tall that I attract so much notice.  I'm sure
+the way they gaze round after I'm gone by--Well, it used to make me
+feel quite confused, but I've got over that.  You don't have to put up
+with such experiences, Gertie."
+
+"Afraid I forget to turn to see if they're looking."
+
+"You've got rather a thoughtless disposition," agreed the other.  "Once
+or twice lately, when I've been telling you things that I don't tell to
+everybody, it's struck me that you've been scarcely listening."  The
+door was closed, but Miss Radford verified this before proceeding.
+"What do you think?" she asked in an awed voice.  "Whatever do you
+think?  Two of my old ones have met.  Met at a smoking concert
+apparently.  And they somehow started talking, and my name cropped up,
+and," tearfully, "they've written me such a unkind letter, with both
+their names to it.  On the top of it all, the latest one caught sight
+of me yesterday afternoon, dressing the window at our establishment, so
+that he won't put in an appearance at the Marble Arch this evening."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I told him I was an artist.  Said I had a picture in the Royal
+Academy the year before last."
+
+"You are rather foolish at times, aren't you?"
+
+"I wish, darling," wailed Miss Radford, "that you could tell me
+something I don't know."
+
+The clock on the mantelpiece struck the half-hour, and Mrs. Mills's
+niece, suddenly alarmed, said she would not be absent for more than ten
+minutes, an announcement the visitor received with an incredulous shake
+of the head.  As a fact, Gertie returned in five minutes fully
+apparelled, to discover Miss Radford improved in spirits and ready for
+more conversation.
+
+"A new blouse?" she cried, interrupting herself.  "And you never told
+me.  Gertie Higham," solemnly, "this isn't what I call friendship."
+
+The girl went straight through the shop, and looking up and down Praed
+Street, remarked to Mrs. Mills that it intended to be a fine evening.
+The elder lady said it was high time Gertie found a young man to take
+her out; the girl answered composedly that perhaps Mr. Trew might call
+and do her this service.
+
+"Or Fred Bulpert?" remarked the aunt pointedly.
+
+"No," she answered, "not Mr. Bulpert, thank you.  Mr. Trew is
+different."
+
+"He isn't the man he was when I first knew him."
+
+"I like him because he's the man he is."
+
+She turned quickly at the sound of a deep, husky voice.  Mr. Trew, on
+the mat, opened his arms at sight of her, and beamed with a face that
+was like the midday sun; she took his sleeve and pulled him to the
+pavement.
+
+"At five minutes to five," she whispered urgently, "you're going to
+take me for a walk in Hyde Park."
+
+"At four fifty-five to the minute," he agreed.  "What's the game, may I
+kindly ask?"
+
+"I'll tell you later on."
+
+"I hadn't noticed it," he said loudly, re-entering the shop, "until my
+attention was drawed to it by the little missy here.  But there it is
+right enough on the playcards.  'Motor omnibuses for London.'"  He
+shook his head, and, leaning across the counter, addressed Mrs. Mills.
+"Light of my life, sunshine of my existence--"
+
+"Don't you begin your nonsense," ordered the lady, not displeased.
+
+"--And sweetheart when a boy, I warn you against putting any of your
+ill-gotten gains into that sort of speculation.  They may perhaps start
+one from the Elephant and it'll get about as fur as the Obelisk, and
+there it'll stick.  And they'll have to take it to pieces, and sell it
+for scrap iron.  I know what I'm talking about."
+
+"That's unusual in your case," said Mrs. Mills.
+
+"I get light-headed when I see you," explained Mr. Trew.  "I was took
+like it the first time I ran across you up in the gallery of the old
+Princess's, seeing 'Guinea Gold,' and you've had the same effect on me
+ever since.  What's more, you glory in it.  You're proud of the
+wonderful influence you exercise over me.  And all I get out of you is
+a 'aughty smile."
+
+"The fact is," declared Mrs. Mills, "you get too much attention from
+the ladies.  It spoils you!"
+
+"See how she spurns me," he cried, turning to Gertie.  "You wouldn't
+treat a gentleman like that, would you, missy?  You wouldn't play
+football with an honest, loving heart, I'm sure.  Oh, come on," with
+pretended desperation, "let's have a cigar, and try to forget all about
+it.  A twopenny one; same as you sell to members of the House of Lords."
+
+"You're staying to tea," suggested Mrs. Mills, allowing him to make a
+selection from a box.
+
+"I've got to leave just before five o'clock.  Going to take the little
+missy here out for a promenade."
+
+"Now that is kind and thoughtful of you," declared the other.  "With
+all your silliness, you're not half a bad sort.  Gertie, go in and lay
+the table."
+
+Miss Radford, after inspecting the new-comer over the half-curtain,
+decided to leave, although, as she pointed out, this was an opportunity
+for enjoying her company that rarely occurred.  In confidence, the
+young woman remarked that what she hoped might happen at a future date
+was that she would meet some one possessing a disengaged brother, in
+which case she guaranteed to bring all her influence to bear in favour
+of Gertie Higham.  Gertie said this was kind, and Miss Radford
+mentioned that she always felt ready to do a favour whenever she
+happened to be in good spirits.
+
+The three sat at table, with Mrs. Mills in a position that commanded a
+view of the shop.  Mr. Trew had brought a bag of prawns in the
+tail-pocket of his coat, secured, he asserted, after enormous trouble
+and expense from the sea coast of Marylebone Road that very afternoon;
+they were, anyway, good prawns, and went admirably with thin bread and
+butter, and Gertie would have eaten more but for anxiety concerning
+progress of the hands of the clock.  Mr. Trew, discussing the products
+of the sea, regretted that he was bound, by his work, to London--
+
+"Horses is my occupation," he said, "but the ocean's my hobby."
+
+--And derided town, charging it with stuffiness in this month of
+August, and moreover empty.  He wished he were on the pier at Southend,
+or at Margate, or at any place, in fact, where he might see the waves
+rolling in and rolling out again, and shy pebbles at them.
+
+"Gertie could have had her holiday this month," remarked Mrs. Mills,
+glancing with pride at her niece, "but she preferred not.  I don't feel
+sure whether she did right or whether she did wrong in giving them up.
+There's more unlikely places than a seaside boarding-house to pick up a
+future husband."  She gave details of a case of a young woman living in
+Harrow Road, who, in the summer of 1900, met at Eastbourne a gentleman
+with one arm, invalided home from the war; an engagement immediately
+followed.  Later, the girl discovered he was already married, and that
+he had gone away from his wife and children, taking with him the
+compensation given to him by his employers, a firm of builders at
+Willesden.
+
+"I expect the missy is keeping her eyes open, if the truth was known."
+
+"But no definite results," contended Mrs. Mills.  "That's what I
+complain of.  At her age I had three after me."
+
+"This was long before I came on the scene," explained Mr. Trew to
+Gertie; "otherwise there would have been bloodshed.  Is this meal _ad
+lib._, or do I have to pay extra for another cup of tea?"
+
+"I don't want her to worry about it; I only want her to keep it in
+view.  What I should like more than anything would be to see a young
+man who was fond of her come in here, at a time like this, and take his
+piece of bread and butter, fold it, enjoy it, and sing to us
+afterwards."
+
+"You're certain about that, aunt?"
+
+"Providing he had a decent voice."  The shop bell rang.  Mrs. Mills
+half rose and recognized the customer.  "We are now about to get all
+the news of the neighbourhood," she said desolately.
+
+Gertie anticipated her, and, going in, served the lady with a copy of
+_Fireside Love Stories_.  Returned with an imperative message.
+
+"I shall have to see her," admitted Mrs. Mills.  "She won't be happy
+until she gets some piece of scandal off her mind."
+
+"Fair one," said Trew, with a wave of his hand, "every moment will seem
+like a century until you return!"
+
+Gertie was fixing her newly-trimmed hat with the aid of the mirror, and
+Mr. Trew was describing an accident witnessed the day before near Hyde
+Park corner, when sound of commotion came from the street; he seized
+his peaked cap and hurried through the shop.  Gertie followed.
+Conversation between the two ladies had been interrupted by the same
+cause and they were outside the doorway, looking on at a small crowd
+that acted as escort to an ambulance in charge of two policemen; the
+aim of every one appeared to be to snatch the privilege of securing a
+view of the man partly hidden by the brown hood of the conveyance.
+Mrs. Mills sent the customer across to obtain particulars, and
+remarking cheerfully to Mr. Trew and the girl, "You two off?  Don't be
+late back, mind!" turned to the more interesting subject.  Children
+were running up from side streets, grateful for anything likely to
+break the serenity of the afternoon.
+
+"If he's damaged hisself," said Mr. Trew, as the ambulance stopped at
+the hospital, "he's going to the right place to get repaired."
+
+"It's to be hoped he has friends."
+
+"Everybody's got the friends they deserve to have.  Are we going the
+direction to suit you, missy, or would you rather have gone Edgware
+Road way?"
+
+"Let's turn down London Street," she suggested.  "It will be quiet
+there.  I've something to tell you."  She rolled her parasol carefully.
+"And I want your help, Mr. Trew."
+
+Three youths near the underground station, with apparently no urgent
+occupation, came forward hopefully on seeing Gertie; detecting the fact
+that she was in the company of a big, burly man, they had to pretend a
+sudden interest in a shuttered window.  The two, going into Norfolk
+Square, walked on the narrow pavement near the railings of the garden.
+
+"Mr. Trew, I've got a young man!"
+
+"That's the best news," he exclaimed heartily, "I've heard this summer!"
+
+"And I want somehow to get him asked indoors.  Once aunt sees him and
+hears him talk, it will be all right.  But I'm nervous about it, and I
+don't know how to manage."
+
+"This," he said, holding up a forefinger, "is just where old Harry Trew
+comes in.  This is exactly the sort of job he's fitted for.  If he
+hadn't took up with another occupation he'd have found himself by this
+time in the Foreign Office.  Do you want it arranged for to-night?"
+
+"Please!"
+
+"Right you are!  You're going to meet him, I take it, presently.  You
+asked me to come out with you simply as an excuse for that purpose.
+Very well, then.  I've got a standing invite, as you very well know, to
+drop in at the nine o'clock meal any Sunday evening I like.  Your aunt
+expects me."  The forefinger became emphatic.  "You simply arrange for
+him to meet me, say, outside the Met. at ten minutes to the hower; I
+shall be carrying a _Lloyd's_ in my right hand.  I brings him along,"
+continued Mr. Trew exultantly; "I introduces him as a young personal
+friend of mine that I met on the steamer going to Clacton, year before
+last.  Your aunt says at once that any friend of mine is a friend of
+her'n.  You and him pretend not to know each other, but you gradually
+become acquainted, and your aunt asks him, at the finish, to look in
+again.  Does that sound all right, or can you suggest a better plan?"
+
+"It's splendid," she cried.
+
+"I think," he continued, "I shall mention in the course of the evening
+that his father was the best friend I ever had in the world.  When I
+was in a slight financial difficulty once, his father--your young man's
+father, I mean--came to my assistance.  And him not well off neither.
+Turning-point of my life.  But for that help I should, likely enough,
+have gone down, and down, and down."  He looked at her for approval.
+"What's wrong with that?"
+
+"He's a gentleman!"
+
+Mr. Trew gazed for a few moments at a baby in a perambulator.
+
+"I was born in 'fifty-five, the year of the Crimea War," he said
+deliberately, "and if my mother had had her way, I sh'd have been
+christened Sebastopol, which wouldn't have been any catch to a public
+man like myself.  If I'm spared till next year, I shall be celebrating
+my jubilee, and all London will be illuminated, I expect, with military
+troops lining the streets.  But what I want to tell you, missy, is
+that, all that time, I've never seen any good resulting from a girl in
+your position of life becoming friendly with any chap who was
+considerably above her in regard to what we call social status.  On the
+other hand, I've seen harm come from it."
+
+"There's going to be none in my case," she said quickly.
+
+"I know, I know!  I'm perfectly sure of that.  That is to say, I'm
+absolutely certain that is your view now.  I can't quite explain what
+I mean to any one of your age and your sex.  If I was a well-educated
+man"--here he took off his cap and rubbed the top of his head
+with the peak--"I could find words to wrop it up somehow.  The
+long and the short of it is, you relinquish the idea.  To oblige
+me"--persuasively--"and to gratify your aunt, who's been pretty good to
+you since you were a child--"
+
+"I don't forget that."
+
+"--And for your own peace of mind in the future, give it all up, and
+you wait a bit until you find some one belonging to your own set."
+
+"There isn't the distance between the sets there used to be," she
+argued.
+
+He took hold of the railings with both hands, and tried to shake them
+in an effort of thought.
+
+"What's the young chap's name?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"There you are!"--with gloomy triumph--"don't that prove the truth of
+everything I've been saying?"
+
+"He doesn't know mine."
+
+"That isn't an argument."
+
+"Quite so," the girl agreed.  "It's only a statement of fact.  He will
+tell me his name directly I ask him, and I shall tell him my name the
+moment he asks me."
+
+"No occupation, I suppose?"
+
+"He works for his living."
+
+"Then," turning reproachfully upon her, "what did you mean by saying he
+was a gentleman, and upsetting me to this extent?"
+
+"He is a gentleman," persisted Gertie.  "I can tell the difference."
+
+Mr. Trew sighed, and took out his watch.  Gertie glanced at it.
+
+"I must go," she said.  "I promised to meet him not far from the shop
+at half-past."
+
+"I'd do anything to help you, missy," he declared, "because I like you.
+And it's just because I like you that I don't feel particular inclined
+to assist him.  He ought to keep to his own sphere.  There's a lot of
+talk about breaking down the barriers that divide one class from
+another, but, I tell you, it's a job that wants very careful handling.
+And I've got as much sense as most, and I rather enjoy interfering with
+other people's affairs, but this is an undertaking I don't care to
+tackle.  You'll excuse me for speaking my mind, won't you?  It's a
+habit I've got into."
+
+"It's a good habit," said Gertie.  "I practise it myself."
+
+On the return, Mr. Trew, cap now at the back of his head, and his
+rubicund face bearing indications of seriousness, pointed out that the
+girl was in a berth in Great Titchfield Street, which he described as
+not so dusty, earning twenty-five shillings a week, and with Saturday
+afternoons and Sundays free; a good home, and everything ready for her
+when she returned, tired out, at night; first-class feeding, able to
+dress well.  Mr. Trew, without daring to say whether he was right or
+whether he was wrong, begged to suggest there were many girls worse
+treated by fortune; it did seem to him that these advantages ought not
+to be given up lightly.
+
+"There he is!" she cried excitedly.  "Across there.  Near the
+second-hand furniture shop."
+
+"Your aunt's calling you," he said.
+
+Mrs. Mills was out on the pavement, scooping at the air with her right
+arm.  Gertie instinctively obeyed the order; Mr. Trew kept pace with
+her.  The three entered the shop, and Mrs. Mills, with a touch of her
+heel, closed the door, went inside the tobacco counter, and, across it,
+spoke rapidly and vehemently, with the aid of emphatic gesture, for
+five minutes by the clock.  Mr. Trew, disregarding rules of etiquette,
+sat down, whilst the two stood, and became greatly interested in the
+mechanism of a cigar-cutter.
+
+"Who told you all this, aunt?" asked the girl calmly, when Mrs. Mills
+had finished.
+
+"The lady customer who was here when you went out.  Do you deny it?  Of
+course, if it isn't correct that you've been seen walking about with a
+young swell, I've lost my temper for nothing."
+
+"Girls will be girls," interposed Mr. Trew.
+
+"Not in my house."
+
+"It's all perfectly correct," announced Gertie.
+
+Mrs. Mills looked around in a dazed way.
+
+"Trew," she cried, "what's to be done?"
+
+"You've had your say, old beauty," he remarked slowly.  "Now let me and
+her go into the parlour and have some music--music of a different kind."
+
+The girl hesitated, and looked through the window.  He touched her
+shoulder.  "I sh'd take it as a special favour."
+
+He came out a few minutes later, and mentioned to Gertie's aunt that he
+had a message to deliver.  The music within ceased; the lid of the
+pianoforte closed.
+
+"Trew," she said.
+
+"Queen of my heart."
+
+"This isn't the only upset I've had.  Who do you think it was in that
+ambulance cart this afternoon?  I hopped across to have a look."
+Leaning over the counter, she whispered.
+
+"That complicates matters, so far as she is concerned," he admitted.
+"I hoped he'd vanished for good.  We shall want all the diplomacy that
+we've got stored away to deal with this."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Mr. Trew could scarcely be suspected of exceeding his instructions; he
+had, upon his return, given privately an account of the words used,
+with frequent use of the phrases, "I says to him," and "He says to me."
+But as evenings of the week went by, and other girls at Hilbert's, on
+leaving at the hour of seven, were met by courageous youths near the
+door, and by shyer lads at a more reticent spot (some of these took
+ambush in doorways, affecting to read cricket results in the evening
+paper), then Gertie Higham began to wonder whether the message had been
+communicated in the precise tone and manner that she had given it.  The
+blue pinafored girls, stitching gold thread in the workroom at
+Hilbert's, cultivated little reserve, and when they had occasion to
+enter the office they sometimes told her of young men encountered (say)
+at a dance, of ardent protestations of love, faithful promises to meet
+again.
+
+"And from that day to this," the accounts finished, "not so much as a
+sign of his lordship."
+
+There was encouragement in the thought that he knew the number in Great
+Titchfield Street; was aware that she walked thence to Praed Street.
+And each evening on the way home a straw hat temporarily imposed upon
+her, a tall boyish figure and an eager method of walking deceived.  At
+Praed Street, Mrs. Mills, noting that time had not been wasted on the
+journey, beamed approval and made much of her niece, telling her she
+was a good, sensible girl; one bound to get on in the world.  Gertie
+did not leave again after her arrival, but turned out a room upstairs,
+and swept and dusted with extraordinary energy.
+
+Good spirits increased at Great Titchfield Street when Friday came, and
+men at the looms above sang loudly; girls who had borrowed small sums
+were reminded by lenders that the moment for payment was close at hand.
+At the hour, wages were given through the pigeon-hole of the windows by
+Madame, with the assistance of Gertie, and the young women hung up
+pinafores, pinned hats, and flew off with the sums as though there was
+danger of a refund being demanded.  When they had gone, Madame,
+dispirited by the paying out of money, said there was not now the
+profit in the business that there had been in her father's day, when
+you charged what you liked, and everybody paid willingly.  To restore
+cheerfulness, the two faced each other at the sloping desks, and Madame
+dictated whilst Gertie took bills, headed "Hilbert's Military
+Accoutrement Manufacturers," and wrote the words, "To a/c rendered."
+Later, she left to Madame the task of locking up.
+
+Near the print shop over the way, a tall young figure in a tweed suit
+marched from one unlighted lamp-post to another; the girl drew back to
+the staircase, snatching a space for consideration.  The next moment
+she was crossing the street with the air of an art patron anxious to
+inspect before making a purchase.
+
+"You gave me such a start," she declared, as a hand touched her
+shoulder lightly.  "I'd begun to think you'd disappeared altogether.
+Where've you been hiding?"
+
+"Do you mind very much," he asked, gazing down at her contentedly, "if
+I honour you with my company a part of the way?"
+
+"No objection whatever.  Hasn't it been a scorcher?  Up there, what
+with the heat and the noise of the machines going, it's made my head
+ache."
+
+"You won't care to go to a concert then.  Shall we have a boat again in
+Regent's Park?  We are both magnificent sailors."
+
+"I'd rather be somewheres where we can talk."
+
+"Why," he declared, "that is just what I should prefer.  The similarity
+in our tastes is almost alarming."
+
+"Primrose Hill is rather a nice open space."
+
+"Sounds perfectly delightful," he agreed; "but I can't in the least
+guess where it is."
+
+"I know my way about London," said Gertie Higham.
+
+They walked along Oxford Street, the girl endeavouring to keep in step
+with him, and he attempting to keep in step with her; they appeared to
+decide near to Wells Street that it would be more convenient to fall
+back on individual methods.  At the corner of Tottenham Court Road
+Gertie hailed a yellow omnibus which was on the point of starting; she
+skipped up the steps with a confidence that made the conductor's
+warning "'Old tight!" superfluous.
+
+"You didn't mind my sending out that message the other evening?"
+Beginning the conversation breathlessly.
+
+"I considered it kind of you to be so thoughtful."
+
+"It wasn't exactly that.  I didn't want a row with aunt.  What did you
+think of Mr. Trew?"
+
+"Do you know, it occurred to me that he looked rather like an omnibus
+driver."
+
+"He is an omnibus driver."
+
+"A relative?"
+
+"Better than that--a friend.  I s'pose you're somewhat particular about
+relations?"
+
+The conductor came, and the girl had thought of other questions by the
+time fares to the Adelaide were paid.  A man on the seat in front
+turned to ask her companion for a match; he handed over a silver box
+that bore a monogram.  She begged permission, when it was given back,
+to look at the case.
+
+"Which stands for the Christian name?"
+
+"The H."
+
+"And D. is for the surname then--H. D."
+
+"Henry Douglass," he said.
+
+"I like the sound of it," she declared.  "What do you think the name of
+the forewoman at our place of business is?"  She chattered on, and he
+listened attentively, as though the sound of her voice was all that
+mattered.
+
+At the Adelaide they alighted, and, walking up the short hill, found
+Regent's Park Road; she explained the geography of the district,
+pointed out that away south it was all open country until you came to
+Marylebone Road.  And was it not wonderful how fresh and bracing the
+air seemed up here, even on a summer's evening; you could easily
+imagine yourself miles and miles away from London.  Did he care for the
+country?  She did not.  For one thing, the people there had such an odd
+way of speaking that it was a trouble to realize what they were driving
+at.  She sometimes wondered whether they understood each other.
+
+"You're letting me do all the talk," she remarked, as they took seats
+in the enclosed space at the top of the hill.  Boys were playing on the
+slopes, punctuating the game with frequent disputes.  A young couple
+seated near a tree attracted her notice; the girl's eyes were closed,
+head resting on the shoulder of the young man, who had an aspect of
+gloomy resignation.
+
+"Sillies some people make of themselves, don't they?" she said.
+
+"I suppose we are, most of us, ludicrous to other people."
+
+"Do you laugh at me sometimes?"
+
+"No, no," he said earnestly; "I like you too much to do that."
+
+"You think you're a bit fond of me," she said, gazing ahead and
+speaking deliberately, "because I'm different from most of the girls
+you're in the habit of meeting, and my ways make a change for you.
+That's about all.  You'd soon get tired of me and my manner if we saw
+much of each other.  I know it won't last."
+
+"I shall not trouble to contradict that," he remarked good-temperedly,
+"because I know you don't believe it yourself.  Why, it would be
+absolutely splendid to be always with you."
+
+Another couple walked by, breathless after the climb.  Gertie,
+recognizing her friend Miss Radford, nodded; and that young lady, after
+a short scream of astonishment, gave a bow, and nudged her blushing
+companion as an instruction to imitate the example by raising his hat.
+
+"I'm glad she's seen us," said Gertie.  "Didn't the young fellow turn
+red?"
+
+"He's a junior clerk in my office."
+
+"What a score for me!" she cried exultantly.  "I've a good mind to ask
+you now what you do for a living exactly, only that I'd rather find
+everything out bit by bit."
+
+"You queer little person," he said affectionately.  "Tell me instead
+about yourself.  What is a day like at your place of business?  Do you
+mind--it helps to concentrate my attention--if I hold your hand whilst
+you talk?"
+
+"Why should I?" asked Gertie.
+
+There could be no doubt, as she progressed with the description of
+Great Titchfield Street, that her mind was well occupied with the daily
+work; she gave the recital clearly and well, avoiding repetition and
+excluding any suggestion of monotony.  Every moment of the hours there
+seemed to engage her interest.  It was her duty to keep the books, and
+keep them straight; to answer the telephone, and sometimes make
+purchases of reels of gold thread and of leather.  The looms and the
+netting machine were worked by men; the rest was done by girls.  The
+forewoman was described, and her domestic troubles lightly sketched
+(Miss Rabbit's father backed horses, excepting when they came in
+first).  Madame herself was spoken of in lowered respectful
+tones--partly because of her high position, partly because of shrewd
+and businesslike methods.  Madame, it appeared, attributed any success
+she attained to the circumstance that she had steered clear of
+matrimony.  Madame told the girls sometimes that you could wed yourself
+to business, or you could wed yourself to a man, but women who tried to
+do both found themselves punished for bigamy, sooner or later.  Gertie
+was a favourite of Madame's; the main reason was, the girl thought,
+that--
+
+"Shan't tell you!" she said, interrupting herself.
+
+"Let me hear the worst," begged young Douglass cheerfully.  "I have,
+just for the moment, the courage of a lion."
+
+"Well, the reason is that she's under the impression I don't care much
+for--for anybody special."
+
+"And is Madame correct in her sanguine anticipations?"
+
+"She was.  Until a month or so ago."
+
+He took the other hand quickly.
+
+"Let's move on," she recommended, rising sedately.  "I don't want to be
+too late on pay night.  Aunt will be thinking I've been knocked down
+and robbed of my purse.  She's country-bred--Berkshire--and she says
+she doesn't trust Londoners."  They went down the slope.
+
+"Does she happen to know the town of Wallingford, I wonder?"
+
+He declared, on receiving the answer, that nothing could be more
+fortunate; this was, indeed, pure luck.  For he too was acquainted with
+Wallingford, and especially well he knew a village not far off: if he
+could but meet Gertie's aunt, here was a subject of mutual interest.
+Throwing away the serious manner that came intermittently, he
+challenged her to race him down to the Albert Road gate; and she went
+at her best speed, not discouraged by shouts from youngsters of "Go it,
+little 'un!"  They arrived together at the gate, where Gertie had to
+rest for a few moments to regain breath.  She pointed out that skirts
+hampered one; he admitted he ought to have given her fifty yards start.
+They took Regent's Park more demurely.
+
+"When you get a colour," he said, "you look like a schoolgirl."
+
+"As a matter of fact, I shan't see twenty again."
+
+"Do you want to?"
+
+"No," she replied candidly; "I'm as happy just now as ever I want to
+be.  It'll always be something to look back upon."
+
+"I wish," he said with earnestness, "that you wouldn't talk as though
+our friendship was only going to be temporary."
+
+"We never know our luck," she remarked.  "Aunt was saying only the
+other evening, 'Gertie,' she said--Now I've been and let you know my
+name."
+
+He repeated it twice quietly to himself.
+
+"Have you been fond of any one before this?" she asked.  The girl had
+so many questions that her mind jumped from one topic to another.
+
+"Oh yes," he answered.  "When I was a schoolboy at Winchester I fell in
+love--deeply in love.  She was a widow, and kept a confectioner's shop.
+Good shop, too."
+
+"Nothing more serious than that?"  He shook his head.  "Glad I'm the
+first," she said.  "And I wish my plan for getting you acquainted with
+aunt had come off the other night.  It would have made it all seem more
+legal, somehow."
+
+"We'll manage it," he promised.  "Meanwhile, and always, don't forget
+that you are my dear sweetheart."
+
+
+Miss Radford called at Praed Street, inquiring anxiously; and Mrs.
+Mills, summoning invention to her aid, said Gertie was not in.  Mrs.
+Mills followed this up by mentioning that an occasional visit from Miss
+Radford could be tolerated, but it was not necessary for her to be
+always in and out of the place.  Miss Radford, asserting that she never
+forced her company upon any one, swung out of the shop; and Mrs. Mills
+said to the cat that they did not want too many flighters about.
+
+"Why, Mr. Bulpert!"  With a quick change of manner to a newcomer.
+"This is a pleasant surprise.  Mr. Trew was talking about you not two
+days ago."
+
+The young man took the chair near the counter and, giving it a twirl,
+sat down heavily, and rested his chin on the back.  "I'm putting on too
+much avoirdupois," he said gloomily.  "Saturday, I had to get into
+evening dress, and it was as much as I could do to make the waistcoat
+buttons meet."
+
+"You ought to take more exercise."
+
+"What's the use of talking like that?  If I take more exercise, I find
+myself with a bigger appetite, and then I'm worse off than ever."  He
+dismissed the problem as insoluble.  "Where's Gertie?  I've got a new
+recitation that she'd very much like to hear.  I place a certain value
+on her criticism."
+
+"I'll call her down.  And, Mr. Bulpert, I want you to be as nice and
+pleasant to her as you can.  I had to talk rather sharply to her not
+many days ago; now I'd like to make it up.  I'm bound to say she took
+it very well."
+
+"You won't forget," he urged, "that I'm a man who can always get any
+amount of refined society.  Sought after as I am for _al fresco_
+concerts and what not--"
+
+"I know," agreed Mrs. Mills.  "Only Gertie hasn't many friends, and I
+want her, just now, to make the most of 'em."
+
+She called her niece, and Gertie came, turning the page of a book,
+entitled, "Hints for Gentlewomen."  Gertie offered her hand to Bulpert,
+and remarked that he was growing stout; he advised her, with some
+vehemence, to take to glasses before her eyesight became further
+impaired.  Mrs. Mills went back to the shop with a waggish caution
+against too much love-making.  Bulpert, after shifting furniture, took
+up a position on the white hearthrug, and gave a stirring adventure in
+the life of a coastguardsman who saved from a wreck his wife and child.
+At the end, Bulpert mopped face, readjusted collar, and waited for
+congratulations.
+
+"Did you make it up out your own head, Mr. Bulpert?"
+
+"I did not make it up out of my own head," he said resentfully.  "That
+isn't my line, and well you know it.  It was written by a chap your
+cousin, Clarence Mills, introduced me to."
+
+"Ask him to write it again.  It seems to me a stupid piece.  The wife's
+been away for ten years, and the baby is eighteen months old."
+
+"That does require a slight alteration.  But what about my rendering of
+it?"
+
+"Overdone," answered Gertie.  "If only you'd stand up and say them
+quietly, your pieces would go a lot better."
+
+"But I've got to convey the meaning to the ordience."
+
+"Give 'em credit for some intelligence.  When the coastguardsman is
+going out to the wreck, it isn't necessary to wave your arms about like
+a windmill.  You say he's swimming, and that's enough.  And if a
+floating spar knocked him senseless before he got to the wreck, I don't
+believe he could take them both in his arms and swim back to the shore."
+
+"It says he did in the poetry," contended Bulpert with warmth.  "The
+whole fact of the matter is that you don't in the least know what
+you're talking about."  A sound of voices came from the shop, and
+Gertie flushed.  "Now it's no use your getting hot-tempered about it,"
+he went on.  "You speak your mind to me, and I'm entitled to speak my
+mind to you.  What you suffer from is nothing more nor less than sheer
+ignorance.  Imperfect education; that's what the complaint is called."
+
+"Gertie!"  A call from the shop.
+
+"Yes, aunt."
+
+"Do come here just a moment.  Here's the strangest coincidence I ever
+came across."  Gertie obeyed with signs of nervousness.  "This young
+gentleman tells me that he knows Ewelme, and he's actually been inside
+the house where I was born!"
+
+"How do you do?" said Gertie.
+
+"And he's going down there again shortly," went on Mrs. Mills with
+animation, "and he means to bring me back some roses from the garden.
+Isn't it good of him?"
+
+"Your daughter is fond of flowers?"
+
+"She's only my niece," explained Mrs. Mills volubly.  "Her mother
+kicked the bucket some years ago, and her father--What's Wallingford
+like now, sir?  I've said over and over again that I'd one day take the
+Great Western to go and have a look and see what alterations had been
+made.  But," regretfully, "it's never been anything more than talk.
+I'd like Gertie to see the place though, so that she could tell whether
+it comes up to my description."
+
+He seemed inclined to make an impetuous offer, but a brief shake of the
+girl's head arrested him.  A boy entered and asked for an evening
+newspaper, and Gertie attended to the transaction.
+
+"By the bye," turning to the stationery counter, "I want one or two
+magazines."  Their heads came closely together as a selection was being
+made; she whispered a caution not to stay too long.  In a louder voice,
+Gertie announced that the total cost was two shillings and sixpence.
+Mrs. Mills beamed across from the tobacco counter, and asked whether he
+knew who was keeping "The Lamb"; Henry Douglass could not supply the
+information, but guaranteed to obtain particulars, and bring them to
+Praed Street.  Mrs. Mills declared herself ashamed to give so much
+trouble.
+
+"Are you in business, sir, may I ask?"
+
+"I am, in a very small way, an architect."
+
+"Really?" said Gertie interestedly.
+
+"But," said Mrs. Mills, "you're not wearing a white tie!"
+
+"She's thinking of an archbishop," remarked Bulpert, coming forward.
+"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, sir.  Daresay you know me by
+name."  He found a card in his letter-case, and Henry took it near the
+light to examine the wording.
+
+"'Fred W. Bulpert,'" he read.  "'Society Entertainer and Elocutionist.'"
+
+"That's in the evenings, of course," said Bulpert.  "By day, I'm in the
+West Central district.  Post Office, to tell you the truth.  I'll
+trouble you for the card back, because I'm running somewhat short of
+them.  And if you should be arranging a concert at any time, either for
+your own benefit or any body else's, you might bear me in mind.  F. W.
+B. is a great draw, if I may say so, because, you see, a lot of people
+have heard him before."
+
+The customer asked whether there was an underground station near; Mrs.
+Mills instructed Gertie to walk along with the young gentleman, and to
+point out the building.  As they left, she urged Henry not to forget
+his promise concerning the roses.
+
+"Nice, quiet-spoken lad," she commented.  "I wish Gertie would take up
+with some one like him, or even you, and forget all about that society
+young man she's been seen strolling with."
+
+"I hadn't heard about that," said Bulpert seriously.  "What are the
+solid facts of the matter?  Why am I kept in the dark about everything?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Mr. Trew, off duty, and carrying his whip, came to Praed Street late on
+a Saturday night, and his look of anxiety disappeared at once when he
+saw that Mrs. Mills and her niece were on excellent terms with each
+other.  He explained that there was no time to spare, because his old
+landlady had a hot supper ready, and it was not wise, on these
+occasions, to keep her or the meal waiting.  He delivered his news.
+Pleasant, elderly gent on the front seat started conversation by
+talking about prison life, and Trew gave some particulars of a case
+with which he was acquainted.  One subject leading to another, the gent
+said, as the omnibus was crossing Oxford Street, "Driver, do you ever
+go to the Zoological Gardens on a Sunday afternoon?" and thereupon
+handed over the two tickets, expressing a hope that the visit would be
+enjoyed by the other and his wife.
+
+"And me being nothing more than a lonely bachelor," said Trew, "I
+thought perhaps the little missy here might favour me with her company."
+
+"It'll do her the world of good," declared Mrs. Mills.
+
+They met the next day near the West Entrance at half-past three.  Mr.
+Trew, arriving early, had been listening to oratory at different
+groups, and he mentioned to Gertie that in his opinion some of the
+speakers might well be transferred to the Gardens, and kept in a cage;
+what he failed to understand was why people could not set to and make
+the best of the world, instead of pretending it was all bad.  They went
+through the turnstiles, and divided attention between animals and
+visitors; the former could be identified with the help of labels.  Mr.
+Trew said, in regard to the people, that it was difficult to tell which
+were housemaids, and which were ladies of title.
+
+"Oddly enough," remarked Gertie, "I was intending to be here this
+afternoon, in any case."
+
+"Trust me," he said, self-reproach fully, "for coming in second.  Never
+actually won a race in my life yet.  Is it the same young feller?"
+
+"I'm not one to chop and change."
+
+"When we run across him, I'll make myself scarce."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind, Mr. Trew."
+
+He pointed out, in the crocodile house, one or two regular customers of
+the Baker Street to Victoria route, and when they recognized him he
+became purple with content.  A short youth was making notes near a tank
+in the corner.  Mr. Trew, nudging Gertie, went to him and, in a gruff
+voice, asked what the deuce he was doing there; the youth turned to
+give a retort.
+
+"I've got your young lady cousin with me," explained Mr. Trew.  "Come
+along, and help with the task of looking after her."
+
+Clarence Mills was pleased to meet Gertie, and, as the three went
+towards the red-bricked lions' house, mentioned that he proposed to
+write a dialogue sketch of the Zoo; up to the present little worth
+recording had been overheard, and he expected he would, as usual, be
+compelled to invent the conversations.
+
+"I read all of yours, Clarence, that appear in the newspapers," said
+Gertie.
+
+"That doesn't take up a great deal of your time," he remarked.
+
+"But you're getting on, aren't you?"
+
+"I think of going in for the boot-black business," he said.  "I believe
+I could make a reputation there."
+
+"Don't you go losing 'eart," advised Mr. Trew.  "I shouldn't be in the
+position I occupy now if I hadn't made up my mind, from the start, not
+to get low-spirited.  If any disappointments come your way, simply
+laugh at 'em.  They can stand anything but that.  Who is this I see on
+the far horizon?"
+
+"Don't let him catch sight of us just yet," begged the girl
+apprehensively.  "He seems to have ladies with him."
+
+Henry's companions entered the house, as the roaring within became
+insistent, and he looked up and down eagerly.  Gertie gave a whistle.
+
+"You and I have met before," he said smilingly to Mr. Trew.
+
+"I was a Boy Messenger then, sir."
+
+Gertie introduced her cousin with a touch of pride.
+
+"I am trying to think," said Clarence, "where I saw your name to-day."
+
+"Haven't made a name yet," remarked Henry.  "Only been at it for about
+eighteen months.  I say!  We don't want to go into that enormous crowd.
+We'll stroll round and see how the penguins are getting on.  They
+sometimes look as though they were thinking of giving me a commission
+to draw up plans for new Law Courts."
+
+At one of the open windows the two ladies were standing, watching over
+many heads the high tea that was being served to the impatient animals.
+The younger one happened to turn as Gertie and her friends went by; she
+raised her eyebrows.
+
+"Everybody one knows appears to be here," said Henry Douglass.  "I wish
+you had agreed instead to run out with me from Baker Street Station
+into the country."
+
+"Can't do that yet," she answered definitely.  "Not until we know each
+other a great deal better."
+
+"Your rules of conduct are precise."
+
+"You'll like me all the better later on," said Gertie, "because of
+that.  Always supposing," she continued, "that you do go on liking me."
+
+"So far as I can gather," he remarked good-temperedly, "I am _persona
+grata_ now at Praed Street."
+
+"I don't know what that means," she said; "but aunt has quite taken to
+you.  Just look at this!  Isn't it extr'ordinary?--Clarence," she
+called over her shoulder to her cousin, "here is most likely where you
+saw the name this afternoon."
+
+She examined the inscription framed on the bars.  "Presented to the
+Society by Sir Mark Douglass."
+
+"No," said Clarence Mills.  "That wasn't it.  My sluggish memory will
+arouse presently, and then I shall be able to exhibit signs of
+intelligence."
+
+They were looking down from the terrace at the white bear in his pit,
+when a high voice came above the moderate tones of the crowd; Henry
+took Gertie's arm, and began to talk rapidly of Nansen and the North
+Pole, but this did not prevent her from glancing over her shoulder.
+The people gave way to the owner of the insistent voice, and she, after
+inspection through pince-nez, made bitter complaint of the clumsiness
+of the bear, his murky appearance, the serious consequences of
+indiscriminate feeding.  Henry endeavoured to detach the members of his
+party, but they appeared enthralled by the commanding tones.
+
+"I thought we should meet again," said the younger woman, addressing
+Henry.
+
+"Miss Loriner," he said to Gertie, with signs of reluctance.  "A friend
+of my sister-in-law."
+
+"I am Lady Douglass's companion," remarked Miss Loriner.
+
+"She seems ratty about something," said Gertie.
+
+"She has what they call the critical faculty," mentioned the other,
+with a twinkle of the eye.  "I happen to be aware of the fact."
+
+Lady Douglass was looking around with the air of one searching for
+fresh subjects; Henry led Gertie to her, and made the introductions.
+Lady Douglass expressed the view that the Gardens were horribly tiring,
+regretted her ill-luck in visiting on a crowded afternoon.  "But no
+misfortune," she added wearily, "seems to escape me!"
+
+It was not until they descended the steps that the group had an
+opportunity for forming itself.  Miss Loriner, recognizing the girl's
+perturbation of mind, took her ahead, thus foiling the intentions of
+Lady Douglass; they could hear her talking of literature to Clarence
+Mills in a patronizing way.  Gertie's cousin said resolutely, "But
+George Meredith never wrote a poem with that title.  You are thinking
+of Owen Meredith."  Lady Douglass answered, with pride, that she never
+troubled to remember the names of authors.
+
+"Clarence is standing up to her," remarked Gertie.
+
+"She gets so little contradiction," said Miss Loriner, "that it will
+have all the charm of novelty.  I daren't do it, of course."
+
+"You're thinking of your bread and butter."
+
+"That's about all I should have to eat if I lost this berth."
+
+"Wouldn't care for the job myself."
+
+"I can't do anything else," explained Miss Loriner.  "Did you say your
+cousin was a journalist?  I wish I could do something like that.  I
+want to write a novel, badly."
+
+"That's probably how you would write it.  Why, even Clarence is finding
+some trouble over the job.  And he's got a brain."
+
+"I suppose that is an advantage," admitted the other serenely.  "How
+long have you known Mr. Douglass?"
+
+"Her husband must get precious tired of the sound of her voice."
+
+"He does.  He goes away a good deal.  The war in South Africa was a
+Godsend to him.  Just now he is out somewhere--I forget where.  How
+long have you--"
+
+"Any youngsters?"
+
+"There are no children."
+
+Gertie glanced back at Lady Douglass in a more friendly way.  Clarence
+had been dropped owing, apparently, to want of sympathy, and Trew was
+selected as one more likely to agree with arguments.
+
+"Mr. Douglass's mother is in town," mentioned Miss Loriner, "but she is
+resting this afternoon."
+
+"I wasn't aware he had a mother."
+
+"Oh!"  With illumination.  "Then you haven't known him long.  They are
+very fond of each other.  She is a dear soul.  When matters go wrong
+down at Ewelme, it is old Mrs. Douglass who puts everything right."
+
+They were separated by a child who had been startled by a look from an
+amiable dromedary.  Henry came forward.
+
+"I am going to ask my sister-in-law," he said deliberately, "to invite
+you down to Morden Place.  Thank her, won't you?"
+
+"I'll thank her," replied Gertie, "but I shan't accept the invitation."
+
+"I'd see that she was civil to you."
+
+"And I shall see," said the girl obstinately, "that she doesn't get
+many chances of being anything else.  I'd no idea you had swell
+relatives; otherwise I'd never have gone on with it."
+
+He went back disappointedly, and Mr. Trew, making his escape with every
+sign of relief, told Gertie that, with what he might term a vast and
+considerable experience of womankind (including one specimen who, in
+May of '99, gave him advice on the task of driving horses through
+London streets), this particular one was, he declared, the limit.  He
+described himself as feeling bruised, black and blue, all over.
+Without wishing to interfere in matters which did not concern him, he
+ventured to suggest that Gertie might possibly be fortunate in her
+young man, but she could scarcely claim to be called lucky in her young
+man's relations.
+
+"I'm going to chuck it," she replied desperately.  "Chuck it
+altogether.  You were correct in what you said, that Sunday night,
+about distances, and I was wrong."
+
+Mr. Trew, flustered by this instant agreement, began to hedge.  He did
+not pretend, he said, to be always right; he could recollect many
+occasions when he had been considerably wide of the mark.  In fact, a
+bigger blunderhead, excepting in regard to certain matters, of which
+this was not one, probably did not exist.  Trew begged to point out
+that the middle-aged party walking along behind them was, after all,
+only one middle-aged party, and there was no reason to assume that she
+could knock out every opponent she encountered.  At the finish of his
+argument, Trew urged his young companion to put on the gloves, and show
+what she could do.
+
+"Think I had better not," she said, less definitely.  "I shan't like
+feeling myself beaten, but it's wiser to do that now than to leave it
+till later."
+
+Mr. Trew became reproachful, almost sarcastic.  This, then, was the
+stuff that his little friend, niece of his old friend, was made of, was
+it?  Crumpling up at the first signs of opposition; stepping out of the
+ring directly her opponent held up fists!  If Gertie represented the
+young woman of to-day, give Mr. Trew the young woman of thirty years
+ago.  He had changed his mind recently on an important subject--a thing
+he rarely did--and half decided to extend the power of voting to the
+other sex, but the present case induced him to believe first thoughts
+were best.
+
+"I'll have another go then," announced Gertie Higham; "but I don't
+guarantee I shall win."
+
+"If I hadn't rather a lot of money out just now," he declared
+encouragingly, "I'd put every penny of it on you."
+
+They stopped near to the semicircular cage where the condors, in
+evening dress and white boa around the neck, surveyed the garden with
+the aloof manner of the higher aristocracy.  Gertie waited for an
+advance; this did not come.  Miss Loriner, at the command of Lady
+Douglass, furnished the hour, and a scream of dismay was given,
+followed by the issuing of orders.  Henry must conduct them out of this
+dreadful Park; Henry must find a hansom with a reliable horse, and a
+driver of good reputation.  Also Henry must come on to see his mother,
+and take her on to a tea appointment at Cadogan Gardens, thus saving
+trouble to Lady Douglass, who was really so fagged and wearied by this
+exhausting afternoon that rest, in a partially darkened room, was
+nothing short of imperative.
+
+"Yes," said Gertie, answering Henry's questioning look; "you go!"
+
+Lady Douglass remembered to give a word of farewell when she was a
+distance of about ten yards away.  "So pleased to have met you!" she
+said casually.  Henry, near the gates, turned and waved his hand, and
+Gertie responded cheerfully.
+
+"Now I want to scream!" she said.
+
+Clarence Mills declared his intention of providing tea, and Trew
+admitted a cup or so would not be likely to prove injurious to the
+system; might, indeed, have a soothing effect on the mind.  They found
+an enamelled table on the lawn, and directly Gertie took the handle of
+the teapot she was able to announce that she felt considerably improved
+in temper.  Her cousin gave an imitation of Lady Douglass's speech and
+manner, and Gertie imitated the imitation.  Mr. Trew had a difficulty
+in deciding which was the more admirable, but asserted either was to be
+preferred to the original, and during the progress of the shilling meal
+they affected to be distinguished members of society, to the great
+astonishment of folk at neighbouring tables, and to the diversion of an
+interested waiter.  Completely restored now to her normal mood, Gertie
+mentioned a number of alert repartees which she would have made if
+Henry's sister-in-law had given suitable openings.
+
+"I suppose," remarked Mr. Trew, emptying his cup by giving it a jerk
+over his shoulder, "that, after all, she isn't nearly so bad as she's
+painted.  She certainly did look to me somewhat made-up; it's a custom
+amongst her set, I believe.  Often wonder whether it takes anybody in."
+
+"He said she was going to invite me to her house in the country, but
+she didn't.  Wouldn't mind meeting Henry's mother, just once, to find
+out what she is like."
+
+"It was something on the tape," mentioned her cousin, again
+endeavouring to arouse memory.  "That was where I saw the name.  If you
+two care to come along to my club, I'll run in, and make sure."
+
+"We can get a Waterloo omnibus from the York and Albany corner," said
+Mr. Trew.
+
+He warned them, in ascending the steps, that he was going to have a
+rare lark with the driver, whose face, it appeared, was new on the
+road.  They took seats in front, and Mr. Trew, adopting a rustic
+accent, inquired of the driver whether the canal below represented the
+river Thames; in regard to Trinity Church, near Portland Road Station,
+he asked if he was right in assuming this to be St. Paul's; at Peter
+Robinson's he put another question, and, information given, demanded
+whether Oxford Circus was being run by Barnum.  These and other
+inquiries were courteously replied to; and when the three alighted near
+the fountain and Trew, looking up, thanked the new driver for his
+kindness, the driver said, "Ta-ta, old True till Death," whipping the
+omnibus on the near side to call the conductor's attention to an
+approaching customer.
+
+Mr. Trew, depressed by the failure of his elaborate scheme, walked
+behind the young people, grumbling self-reproachfully.  "Him
+recognizing me all along, and calling me by my nickname at the finish!"
+
+Clarence Mills ran up the staircase of his club, and the two walked
+inside the railings of the square, inspected the bust of Shakespeare at
+the centre.  A few people were sitting about.  The palatial houses of
+amusement on the northern and the western side enjoyed their day of
+rest, but gave hints of startling attractions for the coming week.  Mr.
+Trew considered Shakespeare a well-meaning writer, but somewhat old
+fashioned in methods, and was surprised to find that Gertie had
+thoroughly enjoyed "The Tempest" at His Majesty's.
+
+"Was you alone?"
+
+"No.  Mr. Douglass took me."
+
+"That accounts for it," he said knowingly.
+
+Clarence Mills came looking for them with anxiety.  The two hurried
+forward and met him at the gate; his forehead remained contracted.
+
+"Her husband's yacht," he announced, "has been seized by natives.  All
+on board put to death."  They gazed at each other.
+
+"So that turns her," remarked Trew slowly, "into a widow woman.
+There's no family, as I understand; consequently, it makes a bit of
+diff'rence to Gertie's young man."
+
+The girl sighed.
+
+"I'm sorry for her," she said.  "Very sorry indeed.  And it means that
+my path won't be none the easier!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Madame Hilbert and the forewoman in Great Titchfield Street consulted
+each other only when crises occurred; the girls knew that if Madame
+came to the doorway, saying, "Miss Rabbit, just half a second, please,"
+and the forewoman was absent for half an hour, then some matter of
+supreme importance was being discussed.  The establishment was in close
+touch with the military service at home and abroad, and the best stroke
+good fortune could make in favour of Hilbert's was to arrange a stately
+ceremonial in India, some alteration in the dress of officers, or
+anything that made uniforms necessary.  The girls' workroom, even at
+ordinary times, presented an aspect of enormous wealth, with everywhere
+a display of gold--loose threads of it on the tables, collected threads
+being sewn on foundations, epaulettes in course of making, heavy
+dependent nuggets hung upon scarves.  Gold floated in the air, and when
+the sun came through the windows it all looked as though one could play
+the conjurer, and perform the enchanting trick of making a dash with
+the hand and secure sovereigns.  Many of the girls wore glasses because
+continued attention to the glistening colours affected the eyes;
+sometimes a worker became pale of features, anaemic and depressed, and
+had to hurry off to the sea-side, and Miss Rabbit referred to this as
+an act of Providence.  For the most part, the girls were healthy and
+cheerful, and they had the encouragement of good wages.  Miss Rabbit,
+it was reported, took home every Saturday two pounds ten shillings; the
+very youngest assistant made twelve shillings a week.
+
+"I do hope," said Madame, at a special private conference, "it doesn't
+mean she's taking up religion."  The forewoman shook her head.  "I've
+known cases in my time where it's come on suddenly, and it's thrown a
+girl clean off her balance.  If it isn't religion it must be love.
+Love has just about the same effect with some of us.  Have you ever
+been gone on any one, Miss Rabbit?"
+
+"Only to a very moderate extent," replied the forewoman precisely.
+"And it's such a long while ago, Madame, that I've nearly forgot all
+about it."
+
+"I don't like to see one of my girls turn like this all at once," said
+Madame with anxiety.  "Moreover, she's the handy one in the business.
+There's nothing she doesn't know about the work, and little she can't
+do.  If anything happened to you, I've always had the idea of putting
+her in your position."
+
+Miss Rabbit's features twitched; she corrected the slip at once by
+assuming a look of cordial agreement.  "You always know the right thing
+to do, Madame," she murmured reverently.
+
+"How'd it be to call her in, and both of us have a talk to her, and
+find out whether she's got anything on her mind?"
+
+"That's a splendid notion," admitted Miss Rabbit with enthusiasm.  "Or
+shall I have a quiet chat with her first, and pave the way, so to
+speak?"
+
+"I wish you would," said Madame.  "You're not particularly clever, but
+I believe you've got a kind heart."
+
+The forewoman that evening, whilst the girls were washing and sharing
+the brush and comb, and complaining that hair came out by the handful,
+entered the office; announcing the occasion as her birthday, she asked
+Miss Higham to leave books, and assist in celebrating the event by
+taking with her a cup of chocolate.  Gertie wanted to reach home early
+in order to see whether an expected letter had arrived, but the
+invitation suggested a rare compliment, and, with a stipulation
+arranging that the hospitality should not exceed the space of twenty
+minutes, she accepted.  In an A.B.C. shop at the corner, later, Gertie
+raised her large cup and wished Miss Rabbit many happy returns.  Her
+eyes wandered rather eagerly about the crowded tables; the inspection
+over, she sighed.
+
+"Wonder if I can trust you, dear," said Miss Rabbit, resting elbows.
+"I've been so often taken in over friendships with people that I
+suppose I'm more cautious than most.  But there's a look about
+you--perhaps, though, I'd better keep on the safe side."
+
+"I'm not one to chatter."
+
+"I know, I know.  That's why I've always took to you specially."  Again
+Miss Rabbit stopped.  She stirred her cup of chocolate slowly.
+
+"If it's good news," advised Gertie, "tell me.  I can do with some just
+now.  If it's not, keep it to yourself."
+
+"It's rather serious news, and that's why I think you ought to be told.
+First of all, you must promise me, on your soul and honour, not to
+breathe a word of it to anybody.  Above all, not to Madame."
+
+"I promise," she said.
+
+"Very well then"--with a satisfied air--"it's like this."  She leaned
+across the marble table.  "Our show is going to burst up."
+
+The dramatic announcement over, and the appropriate ejaculation, the
+correct look of amazement and despair given.  Miss Rabbit warmed to her
+task, and became voluble; at each new paragraph of her discourse she
+exacted a fresh guarantee that the information would go no further,
+that the bond of absolute secrecy should be respected.  Once, she felt
+it necessary to say that if the other communicated a single word of the
+confidences to any third party, she, Miss Rabbit, would feel it her
+duty to haunt Miss Higham to the last hour of her life.  Put briefly,
+the news came to this.  That Madame was in financial difficulties; that
+her name and address might be found in the bankruptcy list any coming
+Wednesday or Saturday; that no one was likely to be stupid enough to
+take over the business; that the members of the staff, men and girls,
+would find themselves turned out into a cold, hard world.  The drawback
+of being connected with a business of a special nature like theirs was
+that there existed but few of a similar nature, and these were already
+fully supplied with assistants.  Miss Rabbit herself intended to look
+out for another berth ere the market became swamped by many
+applications; with piety, she called attention to a well-known text
+which said, "Go thou and do likewise."  Outside the A.B.C. shop, Miss
+Rabbit, in extorting thanks for her generous behaviour, demanded, once
+more, a promise.
+
+"Say it after me," she ordered.  "'I will never utter a single syllable
+of all this to a solitary living soul.'"  Her instructions complied
+with, she remarked that a great load was now taken from her mind, and
+asked Gertie for advice on the point whether to go home by omnibus or
+Tube railway.
+
+The girl arrived at Praed Street after a brisk walk that was intended
+to detach the mind from disturbing incident.  In the broad thoroughfare
+of Portland Place (which looked as though it started with the idea of
+being a long, important roadway to the north, and became suddenly
+reminded, to its great astonishment, that Regent's Park barred the way)
+she had glanced up at the large houses, and wished she lived in one; in
+that case she would receive Henry Douglass, at the end of the silence
+that had come since the last meeting, and after listening to him,
+reject his advances haughtily.  That was the phrase.  Reject his
+advances haughtily.  She had read it more than once in the literature
+which attracted her in the days before Henry.  Since she had known him,
+a course of reading, adopted at his suggestion, took her away from the
+more flowery and romantic pages, but in the old serial stories the folk
+had nothing to do but to make love to each other, with intervals for
+meals and rest; they were not restricted to evening hours; the whole
+day was at their service.  And certainly the ladies never found
+themselves burdened with the anxiety of losing a weekly wage, in Great
+Titchfield Street, and the prospect of difficulty in finding one to
+replace it.
+
+"I'm home, aunt," she announced, entering the shop.
+
+"So I see," remarked Mrs. Mills.  Two customers were being served at
+the newspaper counter, and two were waiting on the tobacco side.
+Gertie attended to the orders for cigarettes; the shop cleared.
+
+"Is there a letter for me?" she asked.
+
+Mrs. Mills shook her head curtly.
+
+"Has--has any one called?"
+
+"Now, let me think."  Her aunt deliberated carefully in the manner of a
+conscientious witness impressed by the taking of the oath.  "Yes, Miss
+Radford looked in and went again.  Left word that she wanted you to go
+with her for an outing next Saturday afternoon.  Said she wanted a
+breath of fresh air.  Mr. Trew is inside--and that reminds me, I've got
+something to say to him.  Wait here, like a dear, and look after the
+shop."  Mrs. Mills closed the door carefully behind her as she went
+into the parlour.
+
+"So, Mr. Trew, I packed him off about his business," she said,
+obviously continuing a half-finished recital.  "I said, 'She asked me
+to tell you that she thought it better for both parties that you and
+her shouldn't see each other again.'  Don't blame me, do you?"
+
+Mr. Trew rubbed his chin with the knuckle of a finger and remarked
+that, by rights, he ought to have a shave.
+
+"I stopped his two letters when they came," went on Mrs. Mills.  "Many
+a woman in my position would have been curious enough to open them; I
+didn't.  I simply put them in a drawer where they can be found when the
+trouble's all over.  No one can blame me for that, surely."
+
+Mr. Trew mentioned that it was a rummy world, and the methods adopted
+by the people living in it did not make it the less rummy.
+
+"I see what you mean," she said aggrievedly.  "You think I've gone too
+far.  But you yourself admitted at the start, when she was meeting that
+other young gentleman, that high and low never mixed well.  And when I
+heard that this one was likely to come into property, I made up my mind
+to take the bull by the horns.  What's that you say?  Speak out, if
+you've got anything in your head."
+
+"When you take the bull by the horns," said Trew, advancing to the
+white hearthrug, "what happens is a toss up.  I can't tell you yet
+whether you've done right or whether you've done wrong; but if you put
+the question to me a 'underd years hence, I shall be able to answer
+you.  What's pretty clear to me is that you're fond of her, and I'm
+fond of her, and all we want is to see her comfor'ble and happy.
+Whether you're taking the right track to gain that object is more than
+I can say.  Personally, I shouldn't care to go so far as you've gone."
+
+"That's because you're a coward."
+
+"Delight of my juvenile heart," said Mr. Trew, "it's quite likely
+you've hit on precisely the right explanation.  Only thing is, it seems
+to me somewhat rough on the little missy."
+
+
+Miss Radford was studying the arrival of trains list at Paddington in
+order to ascertain from which platform the 1.20 p.m. started; she had
+assumed the slightly demented appearance that so many take when they
+enter a railway station.  Turning from the poster distractedly, she
+clutched at the arm of a sailor, and was putting to him agitated
+inquiries concerning the Great Western service when Gertie Higham
+interposed, and released the naval man from a duty for which he was not
+adequately equipped.  Firmly and resolutely she conducted Miss Radford
+to the correct platform, where they found seats in a compartment; and
+Miss Radford in vain tried to remember whether it was that sitting
+facing the engine or sitting with her back to the engine gave her a
+headache.  Gertie had obtained the tickets, and Miss Radford wanted
+hers; Gertie retained possession.  On the question of finance, she said
+a settlement could be arranged when the outing was over.  Other
+passengers entered, including two lads, who set at once on the work of
+studying scientific books; Miss Radford, changing her manner, dropped
+her parasol as the train started, and one of the youths picked it up,
+without disengaging his attention from the volume, and handed it to her.
+
+"Thanks awfully," she said, in refined and slightly languid tones; "I
+am such a clumsy creature"--partly addressing her friend, but mainly
+speaking to the entire compartment.  "Really, I seem quite lost without
+my maid to look after me."
+
+"You managed to get away from the shop in good time," remarked Gertie.
+
+"What an irritating girl you are, to be sure!" whispered Miss Radford
+aggrievedly.  "No help at all when I'm trying to make a good
+impression.  Wish now I hadn't asked you to come along with me; I only
+did it because I couldn't get any one else.  What's become of that
+young swell I saw you with on Primrose Hill?"
+
+"I really don't know."
+
+Miss Radford spoke complacently of her intense love of the country and
+keen anticipation of the joy to be found at Burnham Beeches, and when
+the train stopped at Slough the compartment mentioned to her that this
+was where she ought to alight.  Gertie, interposing, said that they
+were, in reality, going further.  On Miss Radford asking, in astonished
+tones, "Whatever for?" she received information that the desire was to
+get well away from the crowd.  The two, changing at a junction, found a
+small train on another platform that had but a single line; Miss
+Radford took the precaution of inquiring of the engine-driver whether
+he considered it safe.  The two lads crossed the bridge, and, to her
+intense annoyance, entered a smoking-compartment.
+
+"I daresay, perhaps"--recovering from this blow--"that we shall manage
+to run across some others before the day's out."
+
+"Hope not."
+
+"Well, upon my word," declared the astonished Miss Radford, "you grow
+more and more peculiar every day!"
+
+They discovered themselves, immediately after leaving the station yard,
+in an old-fashioned town with large houses close to the brick pavement;
+cyclists raced along the narrow roadway, and folk carried baskets in
+the direction of the river.  Gertie stopped to put an inquiry to a
+policeman, and declined to satisfy her companion's curiosity either in
+regard to the question or to the answer.  Turning to the right, they
+came to a market-place and a town hall, and, amongst the small shops,
+one that they noted as a suitable place for tea.  The sun was warm, and
+folk were shopping with suitable deliberation; dogcarts stood outside
+the principal establishments, motor cars brought up new supplies of
+clients.  Gertie appeared greatly interested in the occupants of these
+conveyances; some of the ladies were so well protected from dust that
+identification would not have been easy.  Miss Radford mentioned that
+she had not seen so many funny figures about since the fifth of
+November of the previous year.
+
+"Where are we off to now?" she demanded.
+
+"A good long walk."
+
+"Not me!" replied Miss Radford with determination.  "I've got new shoes
+on.  You leave me somewhere with a magazine to read, and go off on your
+own, and come back when you're tired."
+
+"You won't be lonely?"
+
+"I can always find a pleasure," said Gertie's friend haughtily, "in my
+own company."
+
+The riverside, Miss Radford decided, was a suitable spot for rest; she
+could sit there and, in the intervals of application to literature of
+the day, watch young men hiring boats and setting out to Shillingford
+or Cholsey.  So Gertie Higham started out across the bridge and walked
+alone through a village where every shop sold everything, where the
+police station was a homely, comfortable cottage, and children played
+on wide grass borders of the road.  At the cross-roads she went to the
+left; an avenue of trees gave a shade that was welcome.  The colour
+came to her face as she strode along briskly, and this was not entirely
+due to hurry or to the rays of the afternoon sun.  Once or twice she
+almost stopped, as though considering the advisability of returning.
+
+An ivy-covered house stood at the side of iron gates, and Gertie
+watched it as she approached.  An elderly man was clipping hedges; he
+arrested his work, with an evident hope that conversation would occur.
+
+"No, young 'ooman," he said, "that ent where her ladyship lives.
+That's only the gate lodge what you're looking at.  A good ha'f-mile
+'fore you come the house itself.  Do you know her, may I inquire?"
+
+"We've met in London."
+
+"Well"--slowly, and making the most of the opportunity--"she ent
+pleased to see many of her visitors, if all I hear is true; but no
+doubt she'd be gratified to see you.  I'm only a new-comer hereabouts,
+so to speak, but--"  He shook his head thoughtfully, and, taking off
+his hat, readjusted the cabbage leaf that lined it.  "I don't blame Sir
+Mark for going off and getting killed.  After all, it ent as though she
+were left chargeable to the parish, as you may say."
+
+"She is quite well to do, I suppose?"
+
+"Plenty of money about, as me and you would rackon it.  I understand
+she complains of not having enough--but there, some people are never
+satisfied.  Going to give a party next week," he added confidentially.
+"Not a great turn-out, because they're all in black, so to speak.  So
+fur as I can gain from the local newspaper--"
+
+"You say it's half a mile up to the house?"
+
+"You can't very well miss it if you foller your nose," said the old
+man, hurt by the interruption.
+
+Through the iron gates Gertie saw two figures coming around the curve
+of the gravelled carriage-way; she took ambush hurriedly near to an oak
+tree.  Henry's voice could be heard, with an occasional remark from
+Miss Loriner.  "And if I promise to worship you all my life," Henry was
+saying, "will you then give me my heart's desire?"  His companion did
+not reply; he repeated the last words.  "You must first," she said,
+"make a name in the world, and show yourself worthy of a woman's love."
+They turned as they reached the gates, and when Henry next spoke his
+remarks did not reach the girl near the oak tree.
+
+"And haven't you been a time!" complained Miss Radford.  "Over a hower
+altogether, according to my watch.  And I'm simply dying for a cup of
+tea.  There's only been one young gentleman who waved his hand to me; I
+was so cross that I didn't wave back.  Whatever are you dodging up to
+now?"
+
+"I'm going to hire a boat," said Gertie, "and take you out on the
+river."
+
+"You can't row."
+
+"Some one learnt me--taught me on the lake in Regent's Park."
+
+Miss Radford declared, on the journey home, that she envied her
+friend's good spirits; in her own case, she always found that if she
+became more than ordinarily cheerful she inevitably paid for it by
+subsequent depression.  Gertie recommended her to adopt the method of
+not magnifying grievances; if you wanted to view trouble, you could
+take opera-glasses, but you should be careful to hold them the wrong
+way round.  The studious youths entered the compartment at Goring,
+their books now put away in pockets, and similarly cheered by exercise;
+one, seated opposite Gertie, touched her foot with his shoe at
+Pangbourne, and she took no notice.  When he did this again at
+Tilehurst, she came down heavily upon his toes, and gave, for her
+clumsiness, an apologetic word that he accepted sulkily.  Near to
+Paddington, Miss Radford mentioned that, in her opinion, men were most
+frightfully stupid, and to her surprise Gertie agreed.
+
+Gertie Higham relieved her aunt from duty in the shop, and a letter
+brought by the postman at nine o'clock was handed over the counter to
+her direct; the official recommended her to accept the offer, and put
+the young gentleman out of his misery.  The communication was written
+in a large hand, about twelve words to a page, and liberally
+underlined.  Printed in the corner were a telegraphic address, a
+telephone number, directions concerning nearest railway station.  For
+heading, Morden Place, Ewelme.
+
+
+"DEAR MISS HIGHAM,--We shall be so glad if you can pay us a visit on
+Friday next and stay over for the week-end.  _Dear_ Henry is
+_particularly_ anxious that you should be here on _Saturday evening_.
+
+"What a _wonderful_ summer we are having!!!--Yours _sincerely_,
+
+"MYRA DOUGLASS."
+
+
+The girl found a sheet of the best notepaper on the shelves, and wrote
+at once.
+
+
+"DEAR LADY DOUGLASS,--I shall not be able to come to you next Friday.
+I am rather busy.
+
+"It is indeed a capital summer.  I am enjoying it.--Yours sincerely,
+
+"GERTRUDE HIGHAM."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+An easy matter to obtain a full list of other manufacturers in the same
+line of business, and when Madame entrusted her with important
+errands,--
+
+"I'm sending you, my dear, because I know I can rely upon you!"
+
+--Then advantage was taken of the opportunity to skip up a staircase
+and, opening a door that had the word "Inquiries" painted upon it, set
+upon the task of routing the defence, to obtain an interview with some
+responsible individual.  Usually the answer was that no vacancy
+existed, but this did not prevent a brief cross-examination.  Why was
+she leaving Great Titchfield Street, and was it because there did not
+exist a sufficient amount of work, and had Hilbert's secured any
+important contracts lately, and had the firm any special work in view?
+To which questions Miss Higham replied with caution and reserve, so
+that frequently the responsible individual came out of his office,
+walking with her down the stairs in the endeavour to obtain useful
+information.  As a rule, the discussion ended with a command that she
+should look in again when it chanced she was passing by.  At Great
+Titchfield Street, when Miss Rabbit and Gertie happened to be, for the
+moment, alone, the forewoman begged her in a low, confidential whisper
+not to put off till to-morrow anything she could do to-day, adding that
+procrastination was the thief of time.
+
+"The fact is," said Miss Rabbit, with a burst of private candour, "I
+don't care what happens so long as you are safe.  Very strange, isn't
+it, dear?"
+
+It seemed to the perplexed girl, at this period, that life was made up
+of incidents which could not be spoken about freely.  There was no one
+with whom she could share the knowledge acquired at Wallingford; that
+had to be endured alone.  At Praed Street she found her aunt gazing at
+her curiously, sometimes beginning a sentence, and stopping, as one
+fearful of trespassing on prohibited ground.  When Mr. Trew called, he
+and Mrs. Mills conferred in undertones, breaking off when the girl came
+near, and speaking, in an unconvincing way, of an interesting murder in
+South London; Trew thought the police could find the missing man if
+they only went the right way about it.  Great Titchfield Street, from
+eight o'clock in the morning till nearly eight at night, appeared to be
+enveloped in a dense fog, with Madame showing none of the distraction
+of mind natural to one on the edge of a financial crisis, and Bunny
+conveying friendliness by nods and furtive winks; the girls, as always,
+chattered freely of their small romances, not concealing their derisive
+attitude towards young men, excepting as means of escort and paymasters
+where sweets and tram-tickets were involved; any slackening of
+attention in these details, and dark hints were given of an intention
+of giving the sack.  Listening, Gertie came to the conclusion that her
+own case was unique, in that she had allowed Henry Douglass to assume
+the position of autocrat.  One of the men who worked the netting
+machine spoke to her exultantly of wisdom in managing his wife; the
+method adopted was, it seemed, to contradict every blessed thing she
+said.
+
+On the top of all this comes Frederick Bulpert, encountered near
+Queen's Hall one evening at five minutes to eight, trying to make up
+his mind whether to spend a shilling on a promenade concert or to
+disburse the money on a steak--Bulpert very glad to meet Gertie,
+because he has something to say to her that he cannot speak of to any
+one else; something which must be regarded (says Frederick) as strictly
+_entre nous_.  A spot of rain, and the stout young man says with a
+reckless air, "Oh, come on in!" and Gertie agrees to accompany him,
+with two provisions: first, that she shall be allowed to pay for
+herself; second (because aunt has a new trick of requiring every minute
+between Great Titchfield Street and Praed Street to be accounted for),
+that Frederick will see her home later to the shop.  Gertie thinks a
+dose of music will do her as much good as anything.
+
+"I don't claim," he admits, "to have an over and above savage breast,
+but I must confess it soothes me at times."
+
+They are in time to take up position near the fountain in the centre of
+the promenade, to join in the welcome given to the leading men of the
+orchestra, to swell the applause offered to the conductor, to
+sing--this being the opening night--the National Anthem.  Frederick
+takes what he calls seconds; neighbours misunderstand it for an
+expression of disloyalty.  Then the programme starts.  Frederick
+Bulpert, new silk hat at back of head, and arms folded, listens to the
+"William Tell" overture, Handel's "Largo," and the suite from "Peer
+Gynt" with the frown of a man not to be taken in and unwilling to be
+influenced by the approbation exhibited by people round him.  A song
+follows, and he remarks to Gertie that a recitation would be more in
+keeping with the style of the entertainment.  A violin solo with a
+melody that cries softly about love, the love of two people, with
+anxieties at first, at the end perfect triumph.
+
+"We'll have a stroll out in the corridor," commands Bulpert.  "That
+last piece has made me feel somewhat _décolleté_."
+
+They gain the outer circle when Gertie has persuaded him to give to her
+the task of leading through the crowd; her smile obtains a free way
+that his truculent methods fail to obtain.
+
+"I'm going to give up the Post Office," he announces impressively, "and
+I'm going in for the stage."
+
+"If you can make money at it, there's no reason why you shouldn't."
+
+Bulpert shows disappointment at the form of this agreement.
+
+"I've come to the conclusion," he goes on, "that I'm not acting fairly
+towards the world in concentrating my abilities on the serving out of
+stamps and the issuing of postal orders.  Besides which, I get no time
+for study.  Evening before last, at the Finsbury Town Hall, I came as
+near to finding my memory fail as ever I've been.  I'm burning the
+candle at both ends."
+
+"Hope you'll have good luck."
+
+"I shall deserve to have it," he concedes.  "I sometimes stand at the
+side of the platform, and I see other parties trying in the same line,
+and I have to admit to myself that I do put something into my
+renditions of our poets and humorists that they fail to convey.
+Furthermore--"
+
+"I don't want to miss the Henry the Eighth dances."
+
+"Mention of him leads up to what I want to see you about.  If I go on
+the stage--and to tell you the truth, I haven't completely made up my
+mind as yet--I shall want a certain amount of comfort at home.  A
+professional man can't be bothered about domestic affairs.  He has to
+keep his mind on his work."
+
+"Where does Henry the Eighth come in?"
+
+Bulpert takes her arm.  "I had an idea of asking you, Gertie, to marry
+me."
+
+A pause of nearly half a minute.
+
+"Do you mind if I think it over before giving a definite answer?"
+
+"I'm agreeable to that," he says, "providing you don't take too
+thundering long about it."
+
+Thus, a new perplexity was added to those that Gertie Higham already
+bore upon her shoulders.  There existed arguments in favour of
+accepting Bulpert's offer.  He belonged to her own set; he was not in a
+position to comment upon her manner of speech, and there would be the
+satisfaction of knowing that she was in all respects his equal; in many
+his superior.  Bulpert was perhaps a trifle pompous, more than a trifle
+conceited, but he was steady.  If she married him, it would be a
+distinct score to arrange that it occurred ere Henry Douglass and Miss
+Loriner became united; were Gertie to send a small white box containing
+sugared cake after, the newspapers announced this fashionable wedding,
+the effect of the gift would be marred.
+
+"I want to serve him out," she argued to herself, "for the way he
+treated me.  It's only fair!"
+
+Mrs. Mills was obviously delighted by the visits of Bulpert, and her
+ingenuity in leaving the young people together in the shop parlour
+proved that she was a mistress in the art of strategy.  Bulpert excused
+himself to Gertie for omitting to invite her to the play, or for other
+outings, on the grounds that he was saving money; but he sometimes took
+her along to Paddington Station to see the night expresses start, and
+twice they went together to a large open place of entertainment in
+Edgware Road where you could, by dropping a penny in the slot, inspect
+a series of pictures that proved less exciting than the exhibited
+title; at the same expense you heard Miss Milly Manton's latest song,
+and George Limpsey's celebrated triumph in, "I wish I didn't talk so
+much to Clara!"  On the evening of a day when Gertie had called upon
+the last firm of the list, she told Bulpert, as they met near Marble
+Arch, that if he cared to ask her now to be his wife she would accept
+him.
+
+"Right you are," he said.  "Then we'll consider the matter as
+practically settled."
+
+They found Mr. Trew outside the shop when they returned; seeing them,
+he assumed the attitude of a figure taking snuff, and Gertie knew from
+this he was in good spirits.  Mrs. Mills made the announcement that
+supper was waiting--a special meal because royalty had gone by that day
+to take train for Windsor--and Mr. Trew suggested Bulpert should have
+first cut at the food, the while he and the little missy strolled up
+and down to enjoy the evening air.
+
+"I was bound to come along and see you," he said.  "When I got the news
+I nearly fell off my seat.  Should have done, only that I was strapped
+in.  You remember Miss--what-was-her-name--we met at the Zoo that
+Sunday afternoon."
+
+"Miss Loriner."
+
+Mr. Trew stopped to make his announcement in a dramatic form.
+
+"She's going to get spliced."
+
+"So I guessed," remarked Gertie.
+
+"But can you guess who to?"
+
+"I think I can."
+
+"Oh," he said regretfully.  "Of course, if I'm not the first in the
+field with the news, there's an end of it.  I sh'd say they'd be a very
+comfortable, 'appy, get-on-well-together couple, once they settle down."
+
+She made a remark in a trembling voice.
+
+"Of course you hope they will," he echoed heartily.  "You and him have
+always got along well together.  As I said, he hasn't took much time
+about it.  Finished his book, he tells me."
+
+"Mr. Trew, who are you talking about?"
+
+"Why, your cousin Clarence, of course.  I know it's correct because I
+got the information straight from the stable.  And he would have called
+round to tell you, only he was busy.  Said he wanted to see you soon,
+because he'd got a message.  I won't be certain; there was a lot of
+traffic about, but I rather fancy it was something in the nature of a
+pressing invite."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The days that followed were racing days for Gertie.  At Great
+Titchfield Street a special order came in, and Madame held a kind of
+rehearsal, that the girls might know exactly what to do if the
+inspector called.  The inspector represented the State, which, in the
+opinion of Madame and Miss Rabbit and all the assistants, male and
+female, was an interfering busybody hampering industry, and preventing
+honest workers from earning useful pay for unlimited overtime.  To
+Great Titchfield Street, by day, came private letters by express
+messenger for Gertie, and more than one telegram; she generally found a
+communication awaiting her on the return home to Praed Street.  Miss
+Rabbit accepted the statement that these came from Gertie's cousin,
+referring to nothing more romantic than a visit to the country; in
+private conversation with senior girls in the workroom, she said,
+rather bitterly, that Miss Higham surely took her for a born idiot.
+
+Clarence proved himself alert and quick witted in retort, with an
+answer ready for every objection.  When Gertie, as a final argument,
+put forward the matter of evening dress, he took her straightway to a
+celebrated  firm (one-half of the lady passengers in public conveyances
+along the route gave, as their instruction and appeal to conductors,
+"Set me down as near as you can to Brown and Hodgkinson's!"), and there
+was purchased a blouse of white lace--costing so much that Gertie, on
+hearing the amount, had to clutch at one of the high chairs;  and as
+Clarence paid readily with gold, the polite young woman on the other
+side of the counter assured him it was well worth the money.  Gertie,
+at another establishment, bought a pair of slippers, saying to herself
+that they would come in handy, even though she did not go to Ewelme.
+Reluctance to accept the invitation conveyed through Clarence was
+supported at Praed Street by her aunt, who declared the girl would be
+like a fish out of water; that she would wish herself home again before
+she had been there the space of two minutes.  But for Mrs. Mills's
+over-earnest counsel it is likely Gertie might have kept her threat (or
+promise) to back out at the last moment.  On the Friday night, Mrs.
+Mills mentioned that the Douglass people were probably only asking
+Gertie in order to enjoy a laugh at her expense.  The following
+morning, to her aunt's astonishment and open dismay, Gertie took a
+carefully-packed portmanteau along to the cloakroom at Paddington
+Station.  In the afternoon she found herself, for the first time in her
+life, seated in a second-class carriage.
+
+"Afraid you've had rather a rush," said her cousin.
+
+"It isn't only that," she admitted, breathlessly.  "I'm excited about
+this visit."
+
+"Not more so than I am.  All the same, I feel very much indebted to
+you, Gertie, for coming with me.  The letter was worded in a way that
+meant I was to bring you, or not go at all.  You see Mary--Miss
+Loriner--is only a companion at Morden Place.  She couldn't have asked
+me on her own responsibility."
+
+The girl closed her eyes and snuggled back in the corner.  If Henry
+exhibited any special sign of affection, she would have to draw herself
+up to her full height and say, "Mr. Douglass, you're evidently not
+aware that you are speaking to an engaged lady."  If he went so far as
+to propose marriage, the situation would be still more dramatic.  "Mr.
+Douglass, you appear to have left it too late.  I am already pledged to
+another!"  There were alternative remarks prepared, and she felt
+certain that any one of them would be telling and effective.  Clearly,
+he wanted to see her; otherwise so much trouble would not have been
+expended over the present visit; it was her business to make him see
+that a London girl was not to be taken up and dropped, and taken up
+again.
+
+"Manners," she said resolutely, opening her eyes, and addressing a
+barge on the canal, "manners.  That's what some people have got to be
+taught!"
+
+The short train brought them slowly to the one platform of the station,
+and before she realized it, Henry Douglass was holding both of her
+hands, and looking down at her affectionately.  He turned to give a
+welcome to her cousin, and Gertie told herself there was no necessity,
+for the present, to be dignified or reserved; that could come later.
+Outside the station, Miss Loriner was talking to a horse that seemed
+impatient to make its way in the direction of home; she and Clarence
+took seats at the back of the dogcart with a light rug spread over
+knees; they made no complaint of overcrowding.
+
+"Can you really drive?" inquired Gertie with anxiety.  "You never used
+to speak about it when Mr. Trew was talking."
+
+"Life," answered Henry Douglass, "is too short to allow one to brag
+about everything.  I do the best I can."  They took the corner and went
+at a good pace through the town.  "By Jove," he went on,
+enthusiastically, "you have no idea how I've missed you."
+
+The first of the selected reproofs would have come in here
+appropriately, but a motor car was coming in the opposite direction
+with, as it seemed to her, the definite intention of running into their
+conveyance; she grabbed nervously at Henry's arm.  When she looked
+again the car had gone, leaving dust as a slight memento of the
+encounter.
+
+"Don't take it away!" he begged.
+
+Here again either of the sentences might have been delivered; Gertie
+decided it would be sufficient to refrain from acceding to his request.
+Henry saluted with his whip folk who passed by, and told her who they
+were; stopped at one shop to take a parcel of wools intended for his
+mother.  He had talked about Gertie to his mother, and she was anxious
+to meet Miss Higham.
+
+"She'll be still more anxious to see me go away."
+
+"You wouldn't say that," he asserted, "if you knew her."
+
+"It's really Lady Douglass I'm afraid of.  Look at that board,
+'Trespassers will be prosecuted.'  I feel it's meant for me."
+
+"Trespassers," he said, "as a matter of fact, cannot be prosecuted.
+The board is all nonsense.  Trespassers can only be prosecuted when
+they do some sort of damage."
+
+She glanced around to watch a baby in the garden of a cottage; Clarence
+Mills and Miss Loriner were kissing.  Gertie did not speak again until
+they reached the iron gates.
+
+"I want to show you the tennis court," he said.  "The man here can
+drive your cousin and Miss Loriner up to the house."  She hesitated as
+he, stepping down, held out his hand.  "My mother is waiting there!"
+
+They found the grey-haired old lady resting on a low white enamelled
+seat, watching a game of singles between two stout men, who had the
+distressed look of those who play for the sake of health and figure.
+The ruddier of the two was pointed out as Mr. Jim Langham, brother to
+Lady Douglass; the other, a barrister with leanings in the direction of
+political work, and a present desire to be amiable towards everybody in
+the neighbourhood who possessed a vote.
+
+"Now, you are to sit down here, Miss Higham," said the old lady, "and
+talk to me.  I may interrupt you, now and again, but you mustn't mind
+that.  One of the few privileges of age."
+
+"I don't know what to talk about."
+
+"Talk about yourself.  I've heard about you from Henry, but I want to
+verify the information.  You work for your living, don't you?  Well
+now, that is interesting.  I did the same before I was married.  I
+married rather well, and then, of course, there was no necessity for me
+to go on with it."
+
+"When my dear mother says she wants you to talk to her," explained
+Henry, "what she really means is that she wishes to talk to you.  If
+you don't mind, I'll go over and teach these men how to play tennis."
+
+Jim Langham came across directly that the game was finished,
+interrupting the two as they were getting on good terms with each
+other; on the way, he shouted an order to a gardener working near.  He
+was effusive over the introduction to Gertie, showing his perfect
+teeth, and expressing the hope that she would not have to leave on
+Monday.  The gardener brought a tumbler on a tray, and a syphon.
+
+"At this time of the day?" said Mrs. Douglass, glancing at the contents
+of the glass.
+
+"Good whisky," retorted Jim Langham, taking a small quantity of soda,
+"makes one feel like another man altogether."
+
+"In that case," said the old lady, "by all means have the drink.  My
+dear," to Gertie, "give me my stick and we'll walk up to the house and
+have tea."
+
+"I'll come with you," remarked Jim Langham.
+
+"You will stay where you are," ordered Mrs. Douglass.
+
+Gertie, at Great Titchfield Street, had invented a house, doubled it,
+and multiplied it by ten; it came as a surprise to her to find that the
+residence was a solid building of fair extent with a parapet wall of
+stone in front, broad steps leading to the open doors.  On the lawn tea
+was being set out by a man-servant; he lighted the wick underneath a
+silver kettle.  Lady Douglass, in black, made an effective entrance
+down the steps in the company of a dog that looked like a rat.
+
+"How perfectly charming of you to come and see us," she cried,
+extending a limp hand.  "We do so want some one to brighten us up.
+Darling," to old Mrs. Douglass, "why didn't you tell them to send the
+bath-chair for you?"
+
+"Myra," retorted the other, "I walk ten times as much as you do."
+
+"Pray take care of yourself, for my sake."
+
+"I hope to find some better incentive than that," said the old lady.
+
+Lady Douglass approached the task of pouring out tea with the hopeless
+air of one who scarcely hoped to escape error, and when she had asked
+for and obtained particulars concerning tastes, Clarence Mills came,
+and his presence seemed to upset all the table plans; Mrs. Douglass
+arrested her action as she started to pour tea into the sugar basin.
+The arrival of Miss Loriner enabled her to resign the position.  Going
+across to sit beside Gertie, she gave a highly interesting account of
+the way in which she had by sheer force of will conquered the cigarette
+habit; at present she consumed but twenty a day, unless, of course,
+special circumstances provided an excuse.
+
+"Not for me, thanks," said Gertie, shaking her head.  "I can't smoke;
+and if I could, I shouldn't."
+
+"Tell me!" begged Lady Douglass; "how is that eccentric old gentleman
+we met at the Zoological Gardens?--Crew, or Brew, or some astonishing
+name of the kind?"
+
+"I don't suppose," answered the girl defensively, "that you really want
+to know how he is, but Mr. Trew is quite well, and he isn't in the
+least eccentric, and he doesn't profess to be a gentleman."
+
+Henry touched her shoulder with a gesture of appeal; she gave an
+impatient movement.
+
+"But how extremely interesting," cried Lady Douglass, with something
+like rapture.  "And do most of your friends work for a living?"
+
+"All of 'em.  I don't care for loafers."
+
+"I myself have been up to my eyebrows in industry this week," said the
+other, self-commiseratingly.  "I sometimes wish charity could be
+abolished altogether.  It does entail such an enormous amount of hard
+labour.  One might as well be in Wormwood Scrubbs."
+
+She paused and looked at the girl intently.
+
+"By the bye, where is Wormwood Scrubbs?  One often hears of it."
+
+"Over beyond Shepherd's Bush."
+
+"Have you ever been there?"
+
+"No," answered Gertie; "and I've never been to Portland, and I'm not
+acquainted with Dartmoor, and I don't know much about Newgate.  Why do
+you ask?"
+
+"I am hugely interested in prison life," declared the other.
+
+"You mustn't be surprised," interposed Henry, addressing Gertie, "at
+any new subject that my sister-in-law mentions.  I haven't heard her
+speak of this before; and it's only fair to her to say that when she
+takes up anything fresh, she drops it long before it has the chance of
+becoming stale.  Another cup?"
+
+He went to the table.
+
+"A strange lad," said Lady Douglass musingly.  "His heart is in the
+right place, but sometimes I wonder whether it is the right kind of
+heart.  Do you mind dining at seven for once in your life.  Miss
+Higham?  It's a ridiculous hour, I know, but we must be at the hall
+sharp by eight.  Miss Loriner will show you your room when you are
+ready.  I have a thousand and one things to do," she added exhaustedly.
+
+When Jim Langham joined the party and sat on the grass beside Miss
+Higham's chair, the girl rose, and Miss Loriner conducted her into the
+house; Henry regarded them with a cheerful smile as they left.  The
+doors gave entrance to a square hall, with a broad staircase going up
+and turning suddenly to an open corridor that went around three sides.
+Gertie looked about her astonishedly.
+
+"I've never been in a house like this before," she explained.
+
+They went up the highly-polished staircase, Gertie holding at the
+banisters for safety.
+
+"So Mr. Henry explained to me; and because he was so very good as to
+ask your cousin Clarence down, we have made a bargain between each
+other.  I am to look after you, if you don't mind, and see that you get
+through all right."
+
+"In a general way," confessed Gertie Higham, "I can look after myself,
+but just now it's likely I may be glad of a wrinkle or two."  The other
+nodded.
+
+"I have some on my forehead to spare, thanks to Lady Douglass.  This is
+your room"--throwing open a door--"and mine is here, next door.  Come
+along in, and let us have a talk."
+
+Miss Loriner had a good deal to say, mainly in describing her present
+happiness.  Clarence was a dear; Clarence was a clever dear, Clarence
+had brought a joy into her life that had previously been absent.
+Hitherto Miss Loriner, living in houses as a companion to some testy
+and difficult woman, found herself only annoyed by the attentions of
+men of the Jim Langham type; it was new and enchanting to be approached
+courteously.  Gertie, when the other stopped to regain breath, managed
+to ask how Henry Douglass filled his time, and was surprised, and
+partially hurt, to discover that he still went up to Old Quebec Street
+on five days of the week.
+
+"He might have called at the shop," she argued.
+
+Miss Loriner, for the defence, commended him for his industry.  Henry
+would, later, have to face the alternative of either giving up his
+office in London, or relinquishing duties in the country, but at
+present he was engaged in a double task; and if Gertie appreciated how
+difficult it proved to deal with Lady Douglass, she would not utter a
+word of blame in regard to Henry.  One of Lady Douglass's inconvenient
+tricks was to shift responsibility.  As a case in point, take the
+entertainment to which they were going that evening.  Lady Douglass,
+having promised to organize it, had done not a single thing in the way
+of--
+
+"Is the place on fire?" asked Gertie, startled.
+
+"That's the first warning for dinner.  You have twenty minutes to
+dress.  Be sure to let me know if there is anything you want."
+
+Gertie left, to return immediately with a concerned expression and the
+announcement that her portmanteau had been robbed of every blessed
+thing it contained.  Miss Loriner accompanied her to make
+investigations, and, switching on the electric light, pointed out that
+the maid had unpacked the bag--the articles were on the dressing-table,
+and hanging up in the wardrobe.  Gertie had only to ring, and the maid
+would come at once to help her to dress.  Gertie said she had done this
+without assistance since the age of three.
+
+Apologies were made later for the brevity of the evening meal, but it
+seemed to her a dinner that could only be eaten by folk who had starved
+for weeks.  Her cousin sat opposite, and she watched his methods as
+each course arrived; envied the composure with which Clarence dealt
+with such trying dishes as _vol au vent_ and artichokes.  Her serviette
+was of a larkish disposition, declining to remain on her lap, and
+distress increased each time that Henry recovered it; generally, at
+these moments of confusion, Lady Douglass took the opportunity to send
+down some perplexing inquiry, and the girl felt grateful to Henry for
+replying on her behalf.  Henry, it appeared, was to contribute to the
+programme at the hall, but he declined to give particulars; the
+disaster would, he said, be serious enough when it came.  Jim Langham
+excused himself after dinner from joining the party on the grounds that
+he had to play billiards with the groom; and this reminded him of one
+of the groom's stories which (taking her aside) he thought Miss Higham
+as a Londoner would relish.  The anecdote was but half told when Miss
+Higham turned abruptly.
+
+"That's the right way," said old Mrs. Douglass to her approvingly.
+
+At the door of the town hall carriages and motor cars were setting folk
+down, and Gertie, who had hoped the new blouse would enable her to
+smile at country costumes, felt depressed by their magnificence.  In
+the front row Lady Douglass stood up, nodded, gave brief ingratiating
+smiles, and told people how remarkably well they were looking.  Gertie,
+comforted by the near presence of her cousin, glanced over her
+shoulder, and wished she were with the shilling folk.
+
+"Care to see the programme, Gertie?"
+
+"I'll do the same as I do at a music hall," she said, "and take it as
+it comes.  How did you think I managed at dinner, Clarence?"
+
+"Capitally!"
+
+"I had a knife and two forks left at the end," she said regretfully.
+
+"A recitation," Clarence read from his programme.  "Our friend ought to
+be here."
+
+"Who do you mean?"
+
+"Bulpert.  You remember Bulpert, don't you?"
+
+"I'd nearly forgotten him," she admitted.
+
+There was an interval after men had sung and ladies had played, and a
+nervous youth had given imitations of popular actors who, it seemed,
+possessed the same tone of voice, and practised identical gestures.
+The curtain went up on an outdoor scene.  A lady was reclining in a
+hammock.
+
+"Why, it's Miss Loriner," whispered Gertie.
+
+A man in tweeds came on backwards and collided with the hammock.
+
+"Who's this supposed to be, Clarence?"
+
+"Young Douglass.  Made up with a beard."
+
+An apology was made for the accident, and with the rapidity that the
+drama exacts in matters of the heart, the bearded gentleman was in less
+than fifteen minutes deeply in love with the lady of the hammock.  "And
+if I promise to worship you all my life, will you then give me my
+heart's desire?"  The lady, with a dexterous movement, came out of her
+resting-place.  "You must first make a name in the world, and, hand
+upon heart, show yourself worthy of a woman's love!"
+
+"What's the matter, Gertie?" asked Clarence Mills.
+
+"I've made a--made a fearful muddle of nearly everything."
+
+"Buck up!" urged Clarence.  "Don't let people see you giving way."
+
+The bearded man was leaving when the lady bethought herself to inquire
+his name; he proved to be none other than Mr. Francis Mainright, the
+well-known African explorer; and after a few more words the curtain
+came down on an affianced couple, with applause from all parts of the
+hall.
+
+"Easy enough," said Gertie, in ceasing to clap hands, "for troubles to
+be put right on the stage.  It's a bit harder in real life."
+
+Lady Douglass accepted congratulations upon the success of her
+entertainment, and turned at the end, before leaving the hall, to
+request Gertie's attention for a moment.  She was extremely anxious
+that her dear young brother-in-law should not commit an error that
+might last a lifetime.  Apparently there was some one up in town who
+had managed to engage his affections: Lady Douglass did not know her;
+Miss Higham, of course, had not her acquaintance.  The young woman, she
+believed, occupied an inferior position in life, and Lady Douglass
+would dearly like to have the opportunity of pointing out that
+supposing the two married, all the stories of ill-bred wives would be
+fastened upon Mrs. Henry Douglass.  Every night, in every
+billiard-room, in every smoking-room in Berkshire, amusing stories, not
+always true, would be told of her mistakes; dull folk might find
+themselves reckoned as humorists by inventing anecdotes about her, and
+the general gaiety would find itself increased.  Furthermore, there was
+this to be said.  Supposing--
+
+"Are you ready, dear girl?" asked Henry.  He came down the steps from
+the platform, addressing his inquiry to Gertie.
+
+"Quite!" answered Lady Douglass.  "We were just chatting about your
+performance.  Miss Higham seems to think you should have had more
+rehearsals.  Doesn't exactly say so, but that is evidently what she
+means."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+There came a pleasant luxury in waking in a large room, with a maid
+pulling up the blinds, and reporting that the day promised to be grand.
+The maid could be looked upon as a friend, in that she knew the best and
+the worst concerning Miss Higham's clothes, and inquiries were put to her
+concerning breakfast; the answer came that this meal was ready at
+half-past eight; you went down at any time you pleased between this and
+ten o'clock.  Mr. Henry breakfasted early; her ladyship and Mr. Langham
+were always the last.  A start had to be made for church at twenty past
+ten.  The maid asked whether Miss Higham would like the bathroom now, and
+Miss Higham, not quite certain whether it was good form to say "Yes" or
+"No," replied in the affirmative.  As they went along the corridor,
+Gertie heard Henry Douglass singing in the hall below.  The most
+astonishing detail in this wonderful house proved to be the size of the
+sponge.
+
+She determined to hurry over her dressing and get downstairs quickly in
+order to talk privately with him, and consequent on this resolve, found
+herself, later, knocking at Miss Loriner's room and inquiring whether
+that young woman was ready to accompany her.  After all, there would be
+time to make the announcement during the day.
+
+"Have you slept well?"
+
+"Like a top," declared Gertie.  "For all the world as though I'd nothing
+on my mind."
+
+"I don't suppose you have many serious murders to brood about."
+
+"Not exactly murders," she replied.  "Plenty of blunders."
+
+Henry rose from the table as she entered; he dropped his open arms on
+seeing that she was not alone.  Miss Loriner poured out coffee, and
+Henry, at the sideboard, recited the dishes that were being kept warm
+there.  "Sausages," decided Gertie, "because it's Sunday morning!"  She
+smiled, out of sheer content at being thus waited upon, and gave them a
+description of Praed Street, where the meal was continually interrupted
+by purchasers of journals, buyers of half-ounces of shag.  She remarked
+that it would have been possible here to take breakfast out of doors, and
+Henry rang and gave instructions to Rutley, the butler, and the next
+moment, as it seemed, they were at table on the lawn, with sparrows
+pecking at stray crumbs.  Henry, asking permission to smoke, lighted a
+pipe.
+
+"I've only seen you with cigarettes before," she remarked.  "Doesn't the
+tobacco smell good in the morning air!  Do you know what I miss most of
+all?  Sound of cabs going along to Paddington Station.  I shouldn't care
+for the country, you know, not for always."  She rattled on, jumping, as
+was her custom when happy, from one subject to another.
+
+"It's miraculous to hear you talking again," he declared.  "Last night we
+could scarcely get a word out of you."
+
+"Tell me if I babble too much."
+
+"You dear little woman!" he cried protestingly.
+
+Clarence Mills came down, and Miss Loriner was relieved of the difficult
+task of keeping her eyes averted.  Clarence, on the plea that he had some
+writing to do, wondered whether he might be excused from church, and
+Henry recommended the billiard-room as a quiet place for work; there was
+a writing-table at the end, and no one would interfere.  Miss Loriner,
+when Clarence had finished his meal, offered to conduct him to the
+apartment; it was, it seemed, over the stables at the back of the house,
+and not easy for a stranger to find; moreover, Miss Loriner felt anxious
+to see how writing people started their work.  Thus Henry Douglass and
+Gertie Higham would have been left alone, but that Jim Langham,
+exercising his gift of interference, appeared, rather puffed about the
+eyes, and one or two indications hinting that the task of shaving had not
+been without accident.  Jim Langham's temper in the early hours seemed to
+be imperfect; he made only a pretence of eating, crumbling toast and
+chipping the top of an egg; he admitted he never felt thoroughly in form
+until after lunch.  When Henry suggested that Gertie would like to see
+the grounds, Jim Langham followed them, pointing out the rose walk, and
+the summer-house (that was like a large beehive) with an air of
+proprietorship which Henry did not assume.  Henry made an inquiry.
+
+"I'm really chapel, if I'm anything," she answered; "but I shall like to
+go.  Especially if you're to be there.  It'll be the first time we've
+ever been in a place of worship together."
+
+"We shall go together again," he said, "some day."  She shook her head
+quickly.
+
+Lady Douglass had breakfasted in her room, and came when they were ready
+and waiting; she complained severely that she seemed to be always the
+first when any expedition was in train.  They walked around the carriage
+drive and across fields; at the porch, Lady Douglass offered to Gertie
+the hospitable inquiry in regard to the night's rest that Miss Loriner
+had made, and went on without waiting for a reply.
+
+Gertie found herself wishing the service would continue for ever.  It was
+soothing, beautiful, appropriate.  "Forgiving us those things whereof our
+conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not
+worthy to ask," said the first collect of the day.  "Grant that this day
+we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger," said the third
+collect.  "Fulfil now," said the prayer, "the desires and petitions of
+Thy servants, as may be most expedient for them."  Announced the nervous
+young curate from the pulpit, "The eighth chapter of John, the
+thirty-second verse.  'The truth shall make you free.'"  The curate had
+an artificial voice, and he glanced anxiously at Lady Douglass's aspect
+of jaded resignation; but it soon became evident he had something to say;
+Gertie, listening attentively, wondered whether he might, in some
+remarkable manner, have become acquainted with the particulars of her own
+case.  Truth, he contended, was indispensable to the wise and comfortable
+conduct of life.  Truth could only run on the main line; any deviation
+led to serious disaster.  Truth might, at times, hurt others at the
+moment, but, in the end, it did nothing but good.  Gertie felt impressed,
+and the effect of the address upon her was not decreased when, outside
+the church, and in accepting Lady Douglass's invitation to lunch, the
+young curate mentioned that he well remembered the great pleasure of
+meeting Miss Higham at a garden party, given up in town by the Bishop of
+London.
+
+Folk had been asked for three o'clock to play tennis, and in walking
+across the lawn to look for them, Henry found the first opportunity of
+speaking to her alone.
+
+"Tell me, dear girl," he said urgently, "why did you take no notice of my
+letters?"
+
+"I never received any."
+
+"Are you sure?  I don't mean that," he went on hurriedly.  "Only, I wrote
+to you three times, and no answer came."
+
+"They must have been wrongly addressed.  What number did you put on the
+envelopes?"
+
+"But I also called, and saw your aunt."
+
+"I didn't know that," admitted Gertie.
+
+"Looks as though she stopped your notes.  I'm sorry if that's the case."
+
+"It worried me frightfully at the time," he said; "but it doesn't matter
+now."
+
+"I rather fancy it does matter now."  The tennis players came in sight,
+waving a salutation with their rackets.
+
+Henry's mother apologized for a late appearance; no longer young, no
+longer indeed middle-aged, she found it necessary to save up strength, to
+use it economically.  Gertie listened, content to be free from the
+presence of Lady Douglass, and genuinely interested in the other's
+conversation.  Mark, the eldest son, she explained, arrived within a year
+after her marriage; then came two baby girls who went back to Heaven;
+then, after a long interval--
+
+"It was because I had given away the rocking-horse," she declared.
+
+--Then Henry.  Mark was a good lad, but Henry had always been a dear lad.
+Poor Mark made the one great mistake of his life when he selected a wife,
+and Mrs. Douglass hoped the girl would understand why she felt anxious
+that Henry should not commit a similar error.
+
+"I don't care whom he marries," declared the old lady resolutely,
+"providing he loves her, that she loves him, and that she is a good girl."
+
+"That sort ought not to be hard to find."
+
+"They are less plentiful," said the other, "than some people imagine.
+Now I want you to tell me something, my dear."
+
+The girl was preparing to use caution when Jim Langham strolled up; his
+expectations of increased cheerfulness appeared to be realized, and his
+manner was almost rollicking.  He suggested that Gertie should walk
+around with him; and the girl, to evade the threatened cross-examination,
+nodded an acceptance.
+
+"You don't go in for many games, I suppose?"
+
+"Wish I did," replied Gertie.  "I shouldn't feel quite so much out of it."
+
+"Henry will expect you to play him at billiards this evening.  If you
+care to come across now," he offered, "I shall be delighted to give you
+some idea how to start."
+
+As they turned to go along the path that led to the back of the house,
+Gertie glanced over her shoulder.  Henry, watching their departure,
+missed an easy serve, and endured the reproaches of his partner.
+
+"Rutley, I want the key of the billiard-room.  Rutley, get it at once."
+
+"I think I know where it was put last," said the butler.
+
+They went up the steps, and waited until Rutley came.  Jim Langham called
+him a slow-coach, a tortoise, a stick-in-the-mud, and a few other names.
+Rutley, unmoved, inquired whether his services were wanted as marker.
+Mr. Langham retorted that the butler might take it that whenever his help
+was required, definite instructions would be given.
+
+The long room being well lighted by windows on both sides, the assistance
+of green shaded lamps that hung dependent above the table was not
+required.  At the end, a raised platform with table and corner couches;
+on the mantelpiece rested a box of cigars, a silver case containing
+cigarettes and matches.  A dozen cues stood upright in a military
+position on a stand.  Jim Langham placed the red ball in its position,
+and Gertie took spot white.  In showing her how to hold the cue, he
+touched her hand, and looked quickly to see if she resented this.
+
+"You are going to make a very fine player," he declared presently.  "All
+you need is practice."
+
+Because of the pronounced scent of spirits, she drew away when he came
+too near; Jim Langham instantly became more deferential.  By the luck
+that often comes to beginners, Gertie presently made five, potting the
+red and effecting a cannon; she beamed with the delight of success.  Spot
+white was left in the centre of the table, and Langham, obtaining the
+long rest, explained the manner of using it.  In doing so, he placed his
+hand upon her neck; the next moment he was on his knees conducting an
+active search under the table.  Gertie, flushed with annoyance, went
+towards the door.  Before she reached it, a knock came; the door was
+rattled impatiently.
+
+"Open it from your side," ordered the high-pitched voice of Lady Douglass.
+
+"The key is not here," answered Gertie.
+
+"It must be there.  Why is the door locked?"
+
+"How should I know?" retorted the girl sharply.  "You don't suppose I
+locked it, do you?"  She heard Lady Douglass call for the useful Rutley;
+and when the butler came, there was a consultation outside.  The door
+creaked, the lock gave way; Rutley, falling in with the door, just
+escaped collision with the perturbed girl.  He was told to go.
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded Lady Douglass.  "Why are you in the
+billiard-room alone, Miss Higham?"
+
+"I'm not alone.  Your brother is here."
+
+"That scarcely improves the look of affairs.--Jim, where are you?"
+
+The gentleman, half emerging, made a mumbled, indistinct request for
+matches.  Gertie, walking to the end of the room, found a box.
+
+"There's your set of teeth," she pointed out, "just by the corner leg.
+It half frightened me when I saw I'd knocked the whole lot out."
+
+"This is a serious matter," said Lady Douglass judicially.  "The great
+thing will be to keep it from the knowledge of Henry."
+
+"I'm not ashamed of my part in it!"  She turned indignantly upon the
+red-faced man; his mouth was again furnished with the productions of the
+dentist, but he scowled in an alarming way.  "What did you mean by it?
+Was this a dodge of yours, or of hers?"
+
+"I simply, and by the merest chance," he complained to his sister,
+"happened to touch her near the shoulder, and you saw for yourself how
+she treated me.  I shall go off and get a drink, and leave you both to
+clear it up as best you can.  Serves her right!"  He repeated this remark
+several times, with additions, as he stamped out of the room.
+
+"My brother," said Lady Douglass, "is peculiar in his manners."
+
+"I haven't met his sort before."
+
+"But I wonder you did not know better than to trust yourself with him.
+Fortunately, you can rely upon me to say nothing about the affair.  It
+would have been very unlucky if someone else had happened to come to the
+door."
+
+"I don't particularly like being under any sort of obligation to you."
+
+"We won't say anything more about it," ordered the other.  "I have an
+enormous objection to a scandal."
+
+"You're not alone in that respect," she retorted.
+
+"And we will of course avoid all references to Wormwood Scrubbs."
+
+"I don't know what you mean by that!"
+
+The tennis folk, after they had replayed their games over the tea-table,
+left; Gertie was quiet, and her cousin inquired anxiously whether
+anything had occurred.  Clarence urged her to keep up courage, declaring
+she had managed admirably up to the present.
+
+"I feel as though there's thunder in the air," she said.
+
+"There isn't," he assured her; "not a trace of it.  It's a beautiful day.
+And," with enthusiasm, "Mary tells me she doesn't mind waiting until I
+make three hundred a year."
+
+"Lucky boy!" she remarked absently.
+
+They were still out on the lawn, and Henry had made a suggestion that
+they should all play golf-croquet when Rutley came to clear the table.
+Lady Douglass gave an instruction aside.  "Very well, my lady," said
+Rutley; "it shall be seen to first thing in the morning.  If we could
+only find the key I'd manage it myself."  Henry asked whether anything
+was missing; his sister-in-law replied that it was nothing of
+importance--nothing that he need trouble about.  Henry had quite enough
+to occupy his mind, and he must please allow her to take charge of some
+of the domestic anxieties.
+
+"Rather unusual," said old Mrs. Douglass, "to find you so considerate."
+
+"I get very little credit," sighed Lady Douglass.
+
+As they waited on the croquet lawn to take their turn, Henry remarked to
+Gertie that no opportunity had yet been found for their long talk;
+looking down at her affectionately, he added that perhaps she could guess
+all that was in his mind.  It had been perfectly splendid, he went on in
+his boyish way, simply magnificent, to be near to her for so long a
+period of time; they would have many week-ends similar to this.  His
+mother had spoken approvingly of Gertie, and nothing else mattered.  The
+girl kept her eyes on her mallet; she could not bring herself to the
+point of arresting his speech.
+
+"We are waiting for yellow," said Lady Douglass resignedly.
+
+Miss Loriner and Clarence seemed to lose interest in the game as it
+proceeded; later, they were missing when their colours were called.  Lady
+Douglass, throwing down her mallet, delivered a brief oration.  If people
+intended to play golf-croquet, they should play golf-croquet; if, on the
+other hand, they did not propose to play golf-croquet, they should say,
+frankly and openly, that they did not propose to play golf-croquet.
+Deploring the lack of candour and straight-forwardness, she pronounced
+the game at an end.
+
+"Where are you going, Henry?"  He answered promptly.  "Come back!  I
+don't want you to go to the billiard-room.  You dare not ask me why; you
+must just comply with this one wish of mine."
+
+"Have you any reasons?"
+
+"The best of reasons."  She exhibited a considerable amount of agitation;
+her head went from side to side.  "Do please obey me.  If you do not, you
+will regret it to the last hour of your life."
+
+He stared at her curiously.
+
+"I rather fancy," interposed Gertie, breaking the pause, "that I'm the
+best one to explain."  She was standing beside old Mrs. Douglass, and as
+she spoke she gripped at the back of the wicker chair.  "I don't like
+this mystery where I am concerned.  Lady Douglass came to the door of the
+billiard-room whilst Mr. Langham and me--Mr. Langham and I were there.
+The door was locked.  She had it burst open."
+
+Henry held out his hand appealingly.  "That can't be all," he urged.
+
+"It's all that matters."
+
+"Where is Jim?" he demanded of Lady Douglass.
+
+"I am not my brother's keeper, but I believe he has gone down into the
+village."
+
+"There's something more I've got to say," Gertie went on.  Her voice
+trembled; she made an effort to control it.  "It's kind of you to ask me
+down here, but I wish you had invited Clarence alone.  He knows how to
+behave in company like this; I don't.  I'm not in it.  It was foolish of
+me to come.  It's like anybody trying to go Nap without a single picture
+card in their hand.  And I want to tell you something more--I'm engaged!
+Engaged to a youngish man in my own station of life."
+
+"No, no!" he cried.
+
+"My dear," said old Mrs. Douglass, looking up concernedly, "surely you're
+not in earnest!"
+
+"I think," remarked Lady Douglass impartially, "that she is acting with
+great wisdom."
+
+"I was wishing to-day," the girl went on, raising her voice, "that I
+hadn't got myself engaged.  It happened because of a misunderstanding,
+and I did it on the impulse of the moment; all the same, it can't be
+helped.  And I was pretty jolly before I met Henry, and--I don't know--I
+may be pretty jolly again.  If I go right out of his life now--why, I
+shall only think, I shall only remember--"
+
+Old Mrs. Douglass turned in her chair and patted the girl's hand.
+
+"I shall only remember how happy I was all the time after I was lucky
+enough to meet him.  It's over and done with now, and I'm going back
+home, where I can be trusted.  I must be trusted.  Here, you don't quite
+believe me."  She bent down to old Mrs. Douglass.  "Not even you.  I'm a
+foreigner at this place; a foreigner, trying to learn your habits and
+customs, and trying to forget my own.  Perhaps, one day, you'll see that
+although I wasn't very refined, and not too well brought up," she raised
+her face, and her chin went out, "all the same, I did know how to keep
+myself straight."
+
+Young Mills came across the croquet lawn.
+
+"Want you for a moment, Clarence," she said.
+
+
+Henry Douglass, descending the staircase slowly and thoughtfully at eight
+o'clock, asked Rutley whether Miss Higham was in the drawing-room.
+Rutley answered that the young lady and Mr. Mills had gone.  Walked to
+Cholsey to catch the evening train to town.  One of the under-gardeners
+carried their luggage.
+
+"Quite thought you knew, sir," mentioned Rutley.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Frederick Bulpert, having obtained two professional engagements at
+seven shillings and sixpence each, resigned his situation in the Post
+Office, and this left him free to call at Praed Street whenever he
+cared to do so.  Mrs. Mills described him as a hearty eater, but she
+made much of him, apparently out of gratitude.  Gertie had spoken to
+her about Henry's letters--
+
+"She looked rather white," said Mrs. Mills to Mr. Trew confidentially;
+"but I must admit she kept her temper wonderfully well, considering!"
+
+--And the girl took charge of the intercepted envelopes with their
+contents.  Her aunt declared, with emphasis, that all along she had
+acted for the best.  Gertie remarked that people said this whenever
+they had done their worst: this was the only reproach given, and Mr.
+Trew, as a candid friend, assured Mrs. Mills she had been let off very
+lightly.  Mr. Trew had anxieties of his own.  The new motor omnibuses
+still broke down occasionally, and he was able, in passing, to make
+offers for the conveyances at an extremely low figure; but many of them
+ran without accident, and ran speedily, and he was losing customers
+hitherto considered faithful and regular.  Summing up, he came to the
+conclusion that the world was becoming a jolly sight too clever; the
+only comfort he found was that it could not possibly exist much longer.
+Regaining cheerfulness, he mentioned that if Mrs. Mills happened to
+hear of an American heiress who wanted a good-looking English husband
+with a special and particular knowledge of horses, well acquainted with
+London, and fond of the sea, why, it would be kind of her to drop him a
+postcard, giving the name and address.
+
+"When you've finished talking nonsense," she said, "perhaps you'll
+kindly tell me how I'm to manage in order to get these two young people
+married.  She'll be happy enough, once she settles down; but,
+meanwhile, I don't like seeing her so quiet and thoughtful."
+
+"I have never denied," he remarked, "that you are the prize packet of
+your sex, and in many respects you've got almost the intelligence of a
+man.  But in a matter of this kind--remember, she's as pretty as they
+make 'em--you're a born muddler.  Leave it to me, and I'll do the best
+I can for you."
+
+Wherefore, Mr. Trew made appointments with Bulpert and held secret
+discussions with him, sheltering his words with a broad, big hand,
+enjoying greatly the sense of management, and, even more, the
+atmosphere of conspiracy.  Bulpert, on his side, began to realize his
+importance, and treated Praed Street with a condescension that was
+meant to represent a correct and proper pride.  One evening, seated at
+the counter there, and waiting for the return of Gertie, he gave a
+formal warning to the effect that any cigar presented to him was, in
+future, to be taken from the threepenny box.
+
+At Great Titchfield Street, Gertie tried to divert her mind from
+personal anxieties by throwing energy into work, with more than common
+resolution.  A large commission arrived from a ruler of an Eastern
+nation, who considered a new and elaborately ornamental sash would
+revive a feeling of loyalty in his army and patriotism in his country.
+The girls were not permitted except on strictly limited occasions to
+work after nine o'clock in the evening, and extra assistants had to be
+engaged; the men upstairs who made the leather foundations were watched
+and encouraged; Madame begged Gertie to recommend them to keep off the
+drink, adding that they would take more notice of this advice if it
+came from Miss Higham and not from Madame herself.  All the looms were
+at their noisy spider work; reels of gold thread were ordered in
+twenties; the bobbins began to dance around the maypole,
+sewing-machines sang lustily; the telephone only ceased ringing to
+deliver messages.  Miss Rabbit became hysterical, vehement, cross;
+Gertie's intervention became necessary to prevent a strike amongst the
+pinafored young women.
+
+"We can be led, Miss Higham," they announced determinedly, "but we
+won't be drove.  You tell her to keep a civil tongue in her head, and
+all will go well.  We're not going to be treated as though we was
+Russians."
+
+The rush of work had, for consequence, a distinct advantage to Gertie,
+apart from useful occupation of the mind.  She stayed late to finish
+books which could not be entered up in the day, and this meant that, on
+returning home, the good news was frequently communicated that Mr.
+Bulpert had gone; there was also the comfortable fact that she felt
+sufficiently tired to go straight to bed.  Bunny, at Great Titchfield
+Street, on the occasions when she herself had to depart and leave
+Madame and Miss Higham together, was a picture of woeful apprehension;
+if she managed to gain the private ear of the girl, she reminded her
+that no good ever yet came to one who failed to keep a solemn promise.
+
+"Don't you worry," answered Gertie.  "I'm not a parrot."
+
+"I shan't feel happy about you," said the forewoman solicitously,
+"until I hear you've got another berth.  The smash-up will come as a
+surprise to the others, but I don't care a snap of the fingers about
+them or about myself.  It's you I'm thinking about!"
+
+Madame one night, at the sloping desk, referred vaguely to a wish that,
+as she hastened to add, could never in any circumstances be gratified.
+Urged by Gertie, on the other side, to put the desire into words,
+Madame took off spectacles which she wore only when the rest of the
+staff had gone, and said wistfully that if she could but get a
+paragraph into the newspapers containing the name of the firm, she
+thought it would be possible to die happy.  Having ascertained this did
+not mean that suicide would follow, Gertie sent a note to Clarence
+Mills, absent since the evening of the impulsive departure from Ewelme.
+No answer came, and Gertie was assuming that her cousin intended, in
+this way, to prove he was not on terms of peace with her, when one of
+the loom workers brought in, after lunch hour, an evening journal,
+obtained by him because he required advice regarding the investment of
+small sums on the prospects of racehorses.
+
+"Here's a bit about us, miss," he said exultantly, with thumb against
+the paragraph.  "Here we are.  Large as life, and twice as natural!"
+
+The paragraph was found in other newspapers, and indeed it went about
+Great Britain later and found its way to the Colonies.  "An Oriental
+Omen" it was headed, and Madame's only regret appeared to be that it
+could not be held to be distinguished by the quality of absolute truth.
+But there it stood in print, and there was the name of Hilbert and Co.,
+the old established firm, making a speciality of manufacturing military
+accoutrements, dating from the glorious year of Waterloo, and Madame's
+delight proved beyond the powers of expression; her gratitude to Miss
+Higham was conveyed by a kiss.  One competing firm, it was discovered,
+wrote a sarcastic letter to the papers that must have taken hours to
+compose, throwing doubts on the accuracy of the report and inquiring
+whether it was a fact that Wellington's achievement followed the
+Franco-Prussian War, and this might have been inserted but for the
+suggestion of self-advertisement made with something less than the
+dexterity that belonged to Clarence's pen.
+
+"I tell you what, Miss Higham," said Madame definitely.  "You must come
+to supper at my house the very next Sunday evening that ever is.  Your
+aunt won't mind for once.  I'll write down the address.  My proper name
+is Jacks.  Yes, dear, I'm married, to tell you the truth, only I don't
+want it talked about here."
+
+Frederick Bulpert, when he arrived on the Sunday evening, entered a
+warm protest against what he described as this eternal gadding about.
+On ascertaining the destination, he admitted circumstances altered
+cases; where business was concerned, private interests had to give way.
+He explained that some of his present irritation was due to the fact
+that, at a Bohemian concert the previous evening, an elderly gentleman
+had been pointed out to him as the representative of an important
+Sunday newspaper; the comic singer who gave the information,
+encountered a few minutes since in Marylebone Road, confessed that it
+was one of his jokes.  "And all the drinks I stood," complained
+Bulpert, "and all the amiable remarks I made, absolutely wasted!"
+Gertie, apparelled in her finest and best, went at the hour of seven,
+after Bulpert and her aunt had quarrelled regarding the best and
+speediest mode of transit, to make her way to King's Road, Chelsea.
+There, in a turning she twice walked by without noticing, she found a
+house with several brass knobs at the side of the door.  A maid
+answered her ring.
+
+"Sounds as though they're in the studio," remarked the maid, with a
+wink.  "What name?"
+
+The servant opened the door and gave the announcement, but in the
+tumult it was not heard.  Madame's husband was informing Madame in a
+loud voice that the most unfortunate day in his life was the occasion
+when he allowed her to drag him into a registrar's office.  Gertie went
+back a few steps, and the maid repeated the name.
+
+"You dear!" cried Madame, coming forward pleasantly.  "This is my
+husband.  You know him by name, I expect."  She whispered, "The
+celebrated river painter.  Most successful.  And such a worker.  Never
+idle for a moment."
+
+"How d'ye do?" said Mr. Jacks, coming forward casually.  "Sorry I'm
+just going out.  What's the night like?"
+
+Madame switched on the electric light, and Gertie could see that the
+room suggested a large cucumber frame with a sloping glass roof and
+windows at the far end.  On a raised square platform in a corner stood
+a draped lay figure, not, apparently, quite sober.
+
+"Well," said Madame's husband, after glancing again at the visitor, "if
+it's fine, I don't know that there's any special necessity for me to
+go.  What do you say, darling?"  This to his wife.
+
+"Please yourself, Digby, my sweet.  If you think you can put up with
+our company, I am sure Miss Higham and myself will be delighted if you
+can stay.  Mr. Jacks," she explained to Gertie, "is naturally attracted
+to his club, not only because he finds there all the latest news
+concerning his profession, but because it gives him an opportunity of
+coming into contact with other bright, vivacious spirits."  She took
+Gertie's coat and hat.  "Perhaps we can get him to tell us some of his
+best stories presently."
+
+Her husband smoothed his hair at the mirror with both hands, and gave
+style and uniformity to the two halves of his moustache.  This done, he
+turned and asked the girl whether she did not consider Whistler an
+overrated artist.  Just because he happened to be dead, people raved
+about him.  Would not allow any one else to produce impressions of the
+Thames round about Chelsea.  Mr. Jacks said, rather bitterly, that when
+he too was no more, folk would doubtless be going mad about him, and
+Jubilee Place might become impassable owing to the crowd of dealers
+waiting their turn there.
+
+"And what good do you imagine that will do to me?" he demanded.  "Eh,
+what?  No use you saying that I ought to be content with the praise of
+posterity."
+
+"I didn't say so.  How many hours do you work a day?"
+
+"I can't work unless the fit takes me," argued Madame's husband weakly.
+
+"Are you subject to them?  Fits, I mean?"
+
+Madame, assisting the maid in setting the table, took up the case for
+the defence, and pointed out to Miss Higham that one profession
+differed from another.  In the case of painting, for instance, you
+could not expect to be ruled by office hours; you had to wait until
+inspiration came, and then the light was, perhaps, not exactly what you
+required.  Besides, friends might drop in at that moment for a smoke
+and a chat.
+
+"Sounds like an easy life," remarked Gertie.
+
+"You forget the wear and tear of the brain," said Madame.
+
+"But we get that in our business."
+
+"Hush!" whispered the other.  "He doesn't like hearing that referred
+to."
+
+Conversation during the meal was restricted to the subject of the
+production of pictures and their subsequent disposal; Madame showed
+great deference to the arguments of her husband, occasionally
+interposing a mild suggestion which he had no difficulty in knocking
+down.  At moments of excited contention Madame's husband became
+inarticulate, and had to fall back upon the gestures of the studio,
+that conveyed nothing to the visitor.
+
+"How much do you make a year?" she asked, when an opportunity came.  He
+paused in his task of opening another bottle of stout, and regarded her
+with something of surprise.
+
+"My good girl," he replied, "I don't estimate my results by pounds,
+shillings, and pence."
+
+"Do you earn a hundred in twelve months?"
+
+"Wish I did," confessed Madame's husband.  "In that case, I shouldn't
+have to be beholden to other people."
+
+"How would you manage if you weren't married?"
+
+He looked at the mantelpiece, and inquired of his wife if the clock was
+indicating the correct time.  Receiving the answer, Madame's husband
+became alarmed, declaring it a fortunate thing that he had remembered a
+highly important appointment.  It represented, he said, the chance of a
+lifetime, and to miss it would be nothing short of madness; he bade
+Miss Higham good evening in a curt way, and Madame accompanied him to
+the front door.  There they had a spirited discussion.  Madame
+considered an allowance of half a crown would be ample; he said, in
+going, that his wife was a mean, miserable cat.
+
+"I'm afraid, my dear, you shunted him off," remarked Madame, coming
+back to the studio.  "You don't seem to know how to manage men, do you?"
+
+"Had my suspicions of that before now."
+
+"Of course, they're very trying but"--helplessly--"I don't know.
+Sometimes I wish I'd kept single, and then again at other times, when
+I've had a hard day of it, I feel glad I'm not coming home to empty
+rooms.  Taking the rough with the smooth, I suppose most women think
+that any husband is better than no husband at all."
+
+"Rather than get hold of one who didn't earn his living," declared
+Gertie with vehemence, "I'd keep single all my life."
+
+"He did nearly sell a picture," argued the other, "once!"
+
+They took easy-chairs, and Madame found a box of chocolates.  Mr.
+Jacks, it appeared, was not Madame's first love.  Mr. Jacks's
+predecessor had been ordered out years ago to take part in a war that
+improved the receipts entered up in Hilbert's books; on the debit side,
+the loss of a good sweetheart had to be placed.  Madame dried her eyes,
+and in less than half a minute the two were on the subject which
+absorbed their principal interests.  Price of gold thread, difficulty
+with one of the home workers, questions of aiguillettes, sword belts,
+sashes, grenades; hopes that the King would shortly issue a new order
+concerning officers' uniforms.  Madame said that, nowadays, profits
+were cut very close; she could remember, in her father's time, when, if
+there was not a balance at the end of the year of over a thousand
+pounds, serious anxiety ensued.  Madame brought out a large album to
+show pictures of gorgeous apparel that belonged to days before thrift
+became a hobby.
+
+"Seems to me," she said, without leading up to the remark, "that Miss
+Rabbit is the weak link in our chain."  Gertie did not make any
+comment.  "I'm going to tell you something.  I want to give her other
+work to do, and get you to take her place.  It will amount to an extra
+ten shillings a week, Miss Higham."
+
+"Do you really mean it?"
+
+"It's why I asked you to come here this evening.  You see, you have
+improved so much this summer.  Improved in style, speech, everything!"
+
+"There's a reason for that!"
+
+Gertie Higham walked up and down the studio with excitement in her
+eyes.  She wanted to ask Madame how long the firm was likely to endure,
+but to do this might lead to the betrayal of confidence; meanwhile she
+fired inquiries, and Madame, eager to gain her approval of the
+suggestion, answered each one promptly.  Bunny was not to be reduced in
+wages; only in position.  One of the new duties would be to run about
+and see people; Madame's nerves were not quite all they used to be, and
+the hurried traffic of the street frightened her.  Next to Madame,
+Gertie would be considered, so to speak, as head cook and
+bottle-washer.  Gertie, collecting all this information, wondered how
+it would be possible to let Henry Douglass know that she was making
+important progress.  Possibly it could be managed through Clarence
+Mills and Miss Loriner; she might meet him in London, at some
+unexpected moment.
+
+"Do you object, Madame," she asked, "if I run off now, and tell aunt
+about it?"
+
+"You accept the offer?"
+
+"Like a shot!" answered Gertie.
+
+"You dear!" cried Madame.
+
+Frederick Bulpert was on the point of leaving when she reached Praed
+Street; he came back into the shop parlour to hear the news.  Her aunt
+kissed her, and said Gertie was a good, clever girl; Bulpert declared
+the promotion well earned.
+
+"This is distinctly frankincense and myrrh," he acknowledged.  "I feel
+proud of you, and I don't care who hears me say so.  Let me see; your
+birthday's next week, isn't it?  How about arranging something in the
+nature of a conversazione, or what not?"
+
+"I hope," said Mrs. Mills, escorting him through the shop, "that, later
+on, you'll do your best to make her happy."
+
+"But it's her," protested Bulpert, "it's her that's got to make me
+happy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Clarence Mills, invited to be present at the birthday evening, wrote in
+frolicsome terms, from which the young hostess judged that with him the
+progress of love was satisfactory.  "My dear young relation, near
+Paddington Station, of course I will come to your show.  If forced to
+leave early, you won't think me surly; I have to meet some one you
+know!"  To this Gertie sent a card begging Miss Loriner to include
+herself in the invitation, and that young woman forwarded a telegram
+from Ewelme with the word "Delighted."
+
+"Now"--to herself hopefully--"now I shall hear some news about him!"
+
+Gertie decided the evening should differ from evenings which had
+preceded it, in that the entire expense was to be borne by herself; and
+Mrs. Mills therefore only offered a feeble objection when the girl
+arranged that the front room upstairs was to be turned out, rout seats
+hired, and a few articles of furniture, including the piano-forte
+(which, at one perilous moment, threatened to remain for the rest of
+its life at the turn of the staircase), transferred from the shop
+parlour.  Bulpert announced his intention of taking charge of the
+musical and dramatic part of the entertainment.  Bulpert no longer
+considered himself a visitor at Praed Street, and on one occasion he
+entered a stern protest when he found Mr. Trew's hat there, resting
+upon the peg which he considered his own.  Twice he had suggested that
+Gertie should lend him half a sovereign, reducing the amount, by
+stages, to eighteenpence; but she answered definitely that advances of
+this kind interfered with friendship, and she preferred not to start
+the practice.
+
+"I could let you have it back in a fortnight."
+
+"Perhaps!" she said.  "And if you did, you would be under the
+impression that you were doing me a great favour."
+
+"I like to see a girl economical," he remarked, frowning, "but there's
+a diff'rence between that and being miserly.  And," with resolution, "I
+go further, and I say that if there's anybody who's got a just and fair
+and proper claim on your consideration, it is F. W. B."
+
+"There's some one who comes before you."
+
+"The name, please?"
+
+"Myself," replied Gertie.
+
+The question of conciliating Miss Rabbit at Great Titchfield Street had
+been solved, and matters there were going smoothly.  Miss Rabbit
+continued to hold her title of forewoman, although she was no longer
+forewoman; and Miss Higham took the label of secretary, which well
+described duties she did not perform.  The girls in the workroom made
+no concealment of their satisfaction with the change, and men at the
+looms upstairs came individually to Gertie and said, "Look here, miss!
+If ever you have any difficulty or awk'ardness or anything of the kind
+with the other chaps, just give the word, and I'll put it all right."
+
+Bunny, for the preservation of friendship, went down on the birthday
+party list, and Miss Radford (who had not been seen for some time) and
+two girls (formerly at school with Gertie, and then known as a couple
+of terrors, but now grown tall and distinguished, and doing well in a
+notable shop in Westbourne Grove), and, of course, Mr. Trew, and two
+friends of Bulpert's, whom he guaranteed capable of keeping any party
+on the go.  Mrs. Mills checked the names, expressed satisfaction.
+
+"I was half afraid," she said, "you'd want to send a note to that young
+gentleman who lives near where I was brought up."
+
+"If he came here," replied the girl steadily, "I should only fall in
+love with him again, and that would complicate matters."
+
+"I think you're wise," approved Mrs. Mills.
+
+A charwoman from Sale Street came in to scrub floors, to see to
+fireplaces, and to renovate apartments generally--a slow worker, on
+account of some affection of the heart, but an uncommonly good talker.
+When human intercourse failed she addressed articles of furniture,
+asking them how much they cost originally, and, sarcastically, whether
+they were under the impression that they looked as good as new; to some
+she gave the assurance that if she were to meet them at a jumble sale,
+she would pass by without a second glance.  The charwoman suggested, at
+the completion of her task, and rolling up her square mat with the care
+of one belonging to an Oriental sect, that her help should be engaged
+for the party; Mrs. Mills replied that if they required help, some one
+of more active methods and of less years would be approached.
+
+"Right you are!" she said, taking her money from the counter.  "In that
+case, I'll send along my Sarah."
+
+To suit the young hostess, and to meet the convenience of one or two of
+the guests, the party began at an hour that was quite fashionably late.
+Miss Radford came early, excusing herself for this breach of decorum on
+the grounds that it made her painfully nervous to enter a room when
+strangers were present; apart from which, to arrive in good time meant
+that one had a chance of looking at oneself in the mirror.  Did Gertie
+consider that her (Miss Radford's) complexion was showing signs of
+going off?  A lady friend, who, from the description given, seemed to
+be neither a friend nor a lady, had mentioned that Miss Radford was
+beginning to look her full age; and remarks of this kind might be
+contradicted but could not be ignored.
+
+"Don't you ever get anxious about your personal appearance?" she
+inquired.
+
+"Not specially."
+
+"I suppose," agreed Miss Radford, "that being properly engaged does
+make you a bit less anxious."
+
+Clarence came with Miss Loriner, and the young hostess flushed at the
+young woman's first words.  Henry sent his best regards.  Henry, it
+appeared, no longer spent week-ends at Ewelme--this because of some
+want of agreement with Lady Douglass; and he was now busy in connection
+with a sanatorium at Walton-on-Naze, which demanded frequent journeys
+from Liverpool Street.  Gertie, in taking Miss Loriner to get rid of
+hat and dust-cloak in the adjoining room, felt it good to find herself
+remembered.  Miss Loriner wanted a small fan, and searching the
+hand-bag which she had brought, first looked puzzled, and then became
+enlightened.
+
+"I've brought Lady Douglass's bag by mistake,"  she cried,
+self-reproachfully.  "Here are her initials in the corner--'M. D.'; not
+'M. L.'"  Miss Loriner gave an ejaculation.
+
+"What is it you've found there?"
+
+"This," announced the other deliberately, "is the missing key of the
+billiard-room at Morden Place!"
+
+The two girls looked at each other, and Gertie nodded.
+
+"I've been blaming her brother all along for that trick."
+
+"My dear girl," demanded Miss Loriner, "aren't you fearfully excited
+and indignant about it?"
+
+"Doesn't seem to matter much now.  But," smiling, "she is a character,
+isn't she?  I pity you if she often does things like that."
+
+"I shall be uncommonly glad," admitted the other, "when Clarence earns
+three hundred a year.  Do you know that if you had stayed on at Morden
+Place, this key would most likely have been found in your portmanteau."
+
+Frederick Bulpert, arriving with his friends, asserted his position by
+attempting to kiss Gertie; she drew back, and Bulpert said manfully
+that if she could do without it he could also afford to dispense with
+the ceremony.  He introduced his companions as two of the very best and
+brightest, and they intimated, by a modest shrug of the shoulders, that
+this might be taken as a correct description.  The sisters of
+Westbourne Grove came bearing a highly-ornamental cardboard case with a
+decoration of angels, and containing a pair of gloves.  They mentioned
+that if the size was not correct the gloves could be changed, and at
+once took seats in the corner of the room, whence they surveyed the
+company with a critical air, sighing in unison, as though regretting
+deeply their mad impulsiveness in accepting the invitation.  On this,
+other presents were offered; Bulpert said his memento would come later
+on.  One of his friends sat on the music-stool, and Sarah, the
+charwoman's daughter, entering at the first chord with a tray that held
+sandwiches and cakes, said to him casually, "Hullo, George, you on in
+this scene?" and handed around the refreshments.  Bulpert's friend,
+disturbed by the incident, waited until the girl left the room, and
+then explained that he had met her in pantomime, the previous
+Christmas, at the West London Theatre; he argued forcibly that people
+encountered behind the footlights had no right to claim acquaintance
+outside.  "Otherwise," contended Bulpert's friend, "we're none of us
+safe."  He was induced to give his song, and the first lines,--
+
+  "I went to Margate, once I did, to spend my holidee,
+  Such funny things you seem to see beside the silver sea"
+
+suggested that he was not one disposed to worship originality or make a
+fetish of invention.  Bulpert, at the end, pointed out that his friend
+had omitted the last verse; the man at the pianoforte said there were
+some places where he was in the habit of giving the last verse; this,
+he declared flatteringly, was not one of them.  Gertie's aunt came
+upstairs to announce that, the occasion being special, she had taken it
+upon herself to put up the shutters.  If they excused her for half a
+second this would give her sufficient space to tittivate and smarten up.
+
+"Say when you want me to liven 'em up, Gertie," remarked Bulpert.
+
+"Go and be nice to those two sisters in the corner."
+
+"When we're married," he said, "we'll often give little affairs of this
+kind.  I'm a great believer in hospitality myself."
+
+As he did not appear to make a great deal of headway with the
+Westbourne Grove ladies, he was recalled and the task handed over to
+Clarence Mills.  Clarence scored an immediate success.  The sisters, it
+seemed, prided themselves upon being tremendous readers; Clarence was
+acquainted with some of the writers who, to them, were only names.  And
+the young hostess would have been able to survey the room with
+contentment, but for the fact that Miss Radford suddenly became
+depressed--with hands clasped over a knee she rocked to and fro in her
+chair.  Gertie discovered that to her friend had just come the
+terrifying thought that no one loved her, nobody cared for her, and for
+all practical purposes Miss Radford might as well be dead and buried,
+with daisies growing over her grave.  Gertie argued against this
+melancholy attitude, and the other explained that it came to her only
+at moments when every one else was jolly and cheerful, adding defiantly
+that she could not avoid it, and did not mean to avoid it.
+
+"People," declared Miss Radford with truculence, "have to take me as
+they happen to find me!"
+
+Bulpert's second friend, advancing with a pack of cards, asked if Miss
+Radford would kindly select one and tell him the description.  "The
+Queen of Hearts?  Nothing," said Bulpert's second friend, with a
+gallant bow, "nothing could be more appropriate."  Miss Radford cried,
+"Oh, what a cheeky thing to say!" and at once bade farewell to
+melancholy.
+
+A wonderful man, the second friend--able to do everything with cards
+that ordinary folk deemed impossible.  If you selected a card and tore
+it up; and he presently--talking all the while--produced a card, and
+said in the politest way, "I think that is yours, madam?" and you
+remarked that this was the four of clubs, whereas you selected the
+five, he exclaimed, with pretence of irritation, "Well, what is there
+to grumble at?" and, looking again, you saw that it had changed to the
+five of clubs.  There was nothing to do but to applaud and wonder.  He
+swallowed cards, and produced them with a slight click from his elbow,
+the middle of his back, and his ankle.  He allowed Miss Loriner to find
+the four aces and put them at the bottom of the pack, and the next
+moment asked Mr. Trew, who had just arrived, to produce them from the
+inside pocket of his coat.  Mr. Trew had some difficulty in finding
+them, but the conjurer assisted, and there were the four aces; and Mr.
+Trew, after denying the suggestion that he had come prepared to play
+whist, admitted the young man was a masterpiece.  Mr. Trew's watch was
+next borrowed and wrapped in paper; the poker borrowed in order to
+smash it; the violent blow given.  Miss Radford was asked to be so very
+kind as to assist by looking in the plate of nuts that stood on the
+table, and there the watch was discovered, safe and sound.  Some
+thought-reading followed, not easy to understand because of the
+incessant monologue kept up by the gifted youth; but the results were
+satisfactory, and by pressing the folded pieces of paper very hard
+against his forehead, he was able to announce the names written within.
+
+"This is yours, I think, Miss Higham.  Now, I don't guarantee success,
+mind you, in every case, but--the name, I think, is Henry"--he
+contorted his features--"Henry Douglass.  Is that right, may I ask?"
+
+"Quite correct!" replied Gertie.
+
+"What did you want to write his name for?" demanded Bulpert, seated
+next to her.
+
+"It was the first that came into my head."
+
+"Kindly keep it out of your head in future," he ordered, "or else
+there'll be ructions."
+
+Did the ladies object to smoke? asked some one.  The ladies answered,
+separately and collectively, that they adored smoke; the Westbourne
+Grove young women, now in excellent fettle, admitted that, at times,
+they themselves enjoyed a cigarette, but could not be persuaded to give
+a public exhibition of their powers.  They did, however, agree to give
+a short sketch entitled "Who is Who?" and the hearthrug was given up to
+them; and if they had not made so many corrections--neither appeared to
+be well acquainted with her own part in the piece, but each was letter
+perfect in the part of the other--the duologue would have been a great
+success.
+
+"And now," said Mrs. Mills, "let's see about refreshments.  Mr. Trew,
+where's that corkscrew of yours?"
+
+"Isn't it about time I was asked to do something?" demanded Bulpert,
+with an injured air.
+
+"Let us see you do your celebrated trick," suggested Gertie's aunt,
+with irony, "of eating nearly everything there is on the table.  That's
+what you're really clever at."
+
+Miss Radford, by a sudden inspiration, suggested the ladies should wait
+upon the gentlemen, and herself took a plate to Bulpert's conjuring
+friend; the example was imitated.  Mr. Trew, attended to by Gertie,
+declared it a real treat to see her looking like his own little friend
+once again.
+
+"Makes me think," he said, "that if there wasn't quite so much
+diplomacy about on the part of those of us who reckon we know
+everything, you young uns would get a far better chance.  Speaking as
+one who's been a fusser all my life, that's my candid opinion."
+
+"If you interfered, Mr. Trew, you would interfere wisely."
+
+He emptied his glass in one drink, and set it upon the mantelpiece.  "I
+wouldn't kiss the book on that, if I was you," he replied.  "But what
+you can be very well certain about is that if I saw the chance of doing
+anything for you--"
+
+Miss Rabbit was announced by Sarah, and Gertie had to leave Mr. Trew in
+order to make much of her colleague.  Bulpert, having edged other folk
+from the hearthrug, announced that he was about to give, with the aid
+of memory, a short incident of the American Civil War; to his
+astonishment and open indignation, one of the Westbourne Grove girls
+arrested him with the suggestion that instead they should all have a
+game.  Challenged to indicate one, she asked what was the matter with
+musical chairs.  So chairs were placed down the centre of the room,
+facing opposite ways alternately.  Gertie went to the pianoforte, and
+all prepared to join, with the exception of Bulpert, who, in the
+corner, and his back to the others, ate sandwiches.
+
+Admirable confusion, thanks to Gertie's ingenious playing.  As they
+started to march warily in a line up and down the row, she, after
+giving the first bar, stopped, and they had to rush for seats.
+Clarence Mills was left out and a chair withdrawn.  The next trial was
+much longer, and only when caution was being relaxed did the music
+cease; Miss Loriner, defeated at this bye-election, had to take a seat
+near to Clarence.  The joyousness was so pronounced that Bulpert found
+himself to take some interest, and when Mrs. Mills, left in with Mr.
+Trew, eventually won the game, he urged it should be restarted, and
+that some other lady should play the music.  On the first arrest by
+Miss Rabbit at the pianoforte, he sat himself on a chair already
+occupied by Gertie.  At the moment, Sarah appeared again at the doorway.
+
+"A young man," she announced importantly.  "A gentleman this time."
+
+Henry Douglass came in.  Gertie struggled to disengage herself, but
+Bulpert declined to move.
+
+"Mrs. Mills, I must apologize for calling at this late hour."
+
+"Don't mention it, sir."
+
+"I have just had a message from my sister-in-law, and I wanted to see
+Miss Loriner.  Lady Douglass has been taken seriously ill."
+
+Mr. Trew took Bulpert by the collar and sent him with a jerk against
+the wall.  Gertie, flushed and confused, shook hands with Henry.
+
+"I'm not going to break up your evening," he said, looking at her
+eagerly.  "The matter is urgent, or I wouldn't have dared to call."
+
+"We are always," she stammered, "always pleased to see you, Mr.
+Douglass."
+
+"My dear mother asked me to give you her love when I met you.  There is
+a car waiting," he went on, addressing Miss Loriner; "could you manage
+to come now?  We can do it in little over a couple of hours."
+
+Gertie took Miss Loriner into the adjoining room.
+
+"If she's really ill," said the girl, "don't tell him anything about
+the key.  He can hear it all, later on.  And nobody at Praed Street
+knows anything about the affair."
+
+Bulpert declined to escort Miss Rabbit to her omnibus, and, in spite of
+hints from Mrs. Mills, remained when all the other guests had departed.
+He took opportunity to criticize the management of the evening, and to
+deplore the fact that his services had not been utilized.  Making an
+estimate of the total cost, he again referred to his suggestion in
+regard to a series of similar entertainments later on.
+
+"If you find you can afford it," agreed Gertie.
+
+"If I can afford it!" he echoed surprisedly.  "There's no question of
+me affording it.  Why don't you talk sense?  You'll be earning the same
+good salary after we're spliced as you're earning at the present
+moment."
+
+"No!" she answered definitely.  "When I'm married I give up work at
+Great Titchfield Street."
+
+"Why, of course," agreed Mrs. Mills.  "She'll have her home duties to
+attend to."
+
+Bulpert stared at the two separately.  Then he rose, pulled at his
+waistcoat, and went without speaking a word.
+
+"He's took the precaution," remarked Sarah, coming in to clear, as a
+bang sounded below, "to shut the door after him."
+
+Mrs. Mills, reviewing the party, and expressing the hope that all had
+enjoyed themselves, mentioned that Miss Rabbit in the course of the
+evening made a statement to her which had, apparently, been weighing on
+the lady's mind.  Miss Rabbit reproached herself for giving wrong
+information in regard to the stability of the firm of Hilbert, and
+begged Mrs. Mills would explain.  In her own phrase she tried to out
+Gertie, and as this had not come off, her suggestion was that bygones
+should be considered as bygones, and nothing more said about the matter.
+
+"It isn't such a bad world," decided Mrs. Mills, "if you only come to
+look at it in a good light."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Gertie's sympathy with the invalid of Morden Place found itself
+slightly diminished on Monday morning.  The front room had not yet been
+restored to its normal state, and Mrs. Mills, before rising to start
+the boy with his delivery of morning newspapers, had given a brief
+lecture on the drawback of excessive ambition, the advisability of not
+going on to Land's End when you but held a ticket for Westbourne Park.
+Ten minutes later she brought upstairs an important-looking envelope
+that bore her name and address in handwriting which left just the space
+for the stamp, and Mrs. Mills speculated on the probable contents of
+the communication until Gertie made the useful suggestion that the
+envelope should be opened.  Mrs. Mills, after reading the letter, flung
+herself upon the bed and, her head resting on the pillow, sobbed
+hysterically.
+
+Lady Douglass wrote near the telegram instructions "Private," and, to
+ensure perfect secrecy, underlined the word three times.  Nevertheless,
+Gertie read it without hesitation, and her first impression was one of
+regard for the writer's ingenuity.  Lady Douglass feared some rumours
+might have reached Praed Street concerning the behaviour of Miss Higham
+during the brief stay at Ewelme; unable to rid her mind of this, she
+was sending a note to assure Mrs. Mills that no grounds whatever
+existed for the statements.  She, herself, had taken great trouble to
+keep the incident quiet, and could not understand how it had become
+public property.  She hoped Mrs. Mills would believe that Miss Higham
+had been guilty of nothing more than a want of discretion, natural
+enough in a girl of her age, and, if Lady Douglass might be allowed to
+say so, her position in life.  Lady Douglass felt it only right to send
+this note, and hoped her motives would be understood.
+
+"Her motives are clear enough," agreed Gertie.  "What I can't quite
+make out is why she should take so much trouble in going for me.  I'm
+out of her way, and I shan't get into her way again.  What more does
+she want?"
+
+"I'd no idea," wailed her aunt, "that there'd been anything amiss.  Of
+course, I knew you came back Sunday night instead of Monday morning,
+but you hinted that was because of Clarence.  What are the facts, dear?"
+
+Particulars given, Mrs. Mills changed her attitude, both of body and of
+mind, and announced an intention of starting at once to have it out
+with her ladyship.  A good straight talking to, that was what my lady
+required, with plain language which included selection of home truths,
+and Mrs. Mills flattered herself she was the very woman to undertake
+the task.  To this Gertie offered several determined objections.
+First, Henry's sister-in-law was ill; second, she had endured trouble,
+and was not perhaps quite herself; third, the incident was ended, and
+there would be nothing useful in raking up the past.  Mrs. Mills
+listened to the arguments, and agreed to substitute a new
+resolution--namely, that a reply was to be written couched in terms
+which could not be charged with the defect of ambiguity.
+
+"I shan't help you with the spelling," declared the girl.
+
+"Somehow or other," complained Mrs. Mills, "you always seem to manage
+to get everything your own way."
+
+"Not always."
+
+One gratifying result of the evening party came in the fact that
+Bulpert decreased his visits.  For two or three weeks he absented
+himself from Praed Street; and Mrs. Mills approved this, mentioning as
+one of the reasons, that it was not wise for an engaged couple to have
+too much of each other's company.  When he did call, Mrs. Mills
+reported of him that he appeared to have something on his mind; he left
+before Gertie arrived, and without disclosing the nature of the burden.
+
+As a rule, it happened at Great Titchfield Street that one good
+contract was followed by a slack period, when the difficulty was to
+find sufficient work to keep all hands going.  But here and now, a high
+authority ordered some alteration in the uniform of certain of His
+Majesty's officers of the army, and either Madame or Miss Higham was
+called frequently to Pall Mall; and, in a brief period, all the
+outworkers were again busy: Great Titchfield Street found itself so
+fully occupied that the girls had no time to recall songs learned at
+the second house of their favourite music hall.  Into the hum and
+activity of this busy hive came, one evening, Madame's husband, making
+his way to the office where Madame and Miss Higham faced each other at
+sloping desks.  He began to shout; it was clear that on the way from
+King's Road he had been taking refreshment to encourage determination.
+When he raised his fist, Gertie stepped forward.
+
+"Miss Higham," said Madame calmly, "I wish you would just run
+downstairs and fetch a policeman."
+
+Madame's husband instantly showed a diminution of aggressiveness.  All
+he wanted was fair play and reasonable treatment.  If there did not
+happen to be a five-pound note handy, gold would do; failing gold, he
+must, of course, be content with silver.
+
+"You will go out of this place at once," ordered Madame, in an even
+voice; "and as a punishment for disobeying my orders, I shall not give
+you a single penny all this week.  I know very well what you want money
+for.  I know what you do with money when I give it to you."
+
+"Impossible to discuss these matt'rs with you," he said, with an effort
+at haughtiness.  "Purely private 'fairs."
+
+"If it wasn't for the business here," she went on, "I think you'd
+succeed in driving me mad.  This just saves me.  I'm not going to allow
+you to interfere with it, and if you dare to come here again, I shall
+most certainly lock you up.  Now be off with you."
+
+Mr. Digby Jacks wept, and, at the doorway, threatened to drown himself
+in the Thames.  In the Thames, just to the right of Cleopatra's Needle.
+
+"I wish you would."
+
+"Shan't, now," he retorted sulkily, "just in order to dis'point you.
+You're cruel woman, and some day you'll realize it and be sorry.  Goo'
+night, and be hanged to you."
+
+Gertie congratulated Madame upon her firmness, and the other admitted
+the situation was one not easy to handle.  For if, she explained, money
+had been given, then he would have absented himself from Jubilee Place
+for a week; as it was, he would be absent for a space of two or three
+days.  Gertie expressed surprise at this behaviour, and Madame said it
+was almost bound to happen where the wife earned an income, and the
+husband gained none.  By rights, it should be the other way about, and
+then there was a fair prospect of happiness.  Madame counselled the
+girl to be careful not to imitate the example; Gertie replied that she
+had long since made up her mind on this point.
+
+"But why don't you get rid of him?" she inquired.
+
+"Because I've left it too long.  Besides, I'm too old to get anybody
+else."
+
+"Surely you'd be better off alone?"
+
+"No, I shouldn't," answered Madame promptly.  "What do you make the
+proper total, my dear, of that account Miss Rabbit made a muddle of?"
+
+
+Within her experience it had sometimes happened that Gertie, on the way
+home, found herself spoken to by a stranger; this rarely occurred,
+because she walked with briskness, and refrained from glancing at other
+pedestrians.  (Generally the intruder was a youth anxious to make or
+sustain a reputation for gallantry, and he accepted the sharp rebuff
+with docility.)  But news came from Miss Loriner that Lady Douglass,
+after years of the luxury of imagining herself in delicate health, was
+now genuinely ill, and Henry went down from town each evening by a late
+train to make inquiries, returning in the morning.  Miss Loriner added
+that some of Lady Douglass's indisposition might be due to the fact
+that the executors were hinting at the eventual necessity of taking out
+probate in regard to Sir Mark's will; this done, a considerable change
+in affairs was inevitable.  In consequence of the information, Gertie
+could not avoid looking about her in the vague hope of encountering
+Henry; she wanted to see him, although she knew a meeting would only
+disturb and confuse.  She waited outside the street door after business
+was over, gazing up and down before making a start for home, and it
+occurred frequently that a short man of middle age moved a few steps
+towards her, and stopped; later, in turning out of Portland Place, she
+observed he was following.  Once he came so close that she expected to
+hear a whining voice complain of space of time since the last meal, and
+having the superstition that casual charity appeased the gods, she
+found some coppers; but he fell back, and did not speak.  It was at the
+close of a trying day when the representative of a firm had called, in
+Madame's absence, to have what he described in a preface as a jolly,
+thundering good row, which finished by an endeavour on his part to
+indicate apology by stroking Miss Higham's hand--on this night, Gertie,
+less composed than usual, again caught sight, in crossing Great
+Portland Street, of the short man.  He turned.  She, also turning, met
+him in the centre of the roadway.
+
+"Do you want to speak to me?" she demanded sharply.
+
+"Not specially," he answered, in a husky voice.
+
+"Then why do you so often follow me about?"
+
+"I hope I don't cause you any ill convenience; if so be as I do, I'll
+stop it at once."
+
+"That's all right," said Gertie, impressed by his deferential manner.
+"Only it seemed to me rather odd.  And just now my nerves are somewhat
+jerky."  He touched his cap, and was shuffling off, when she recalled
+him.  "Stroll along with me, and let's have a talk.  What do you do for
+a living?"
+
+"Sure you don't mind being seen with me?" he asked.
+
+"We'll go up Great Portland Street, and you can say 'good-bye' when we
+reach the underground station."
+
+He buttoned his well-worn frock coat, gave himself a brisk punch on the
+chest, and with every indication of pride, accompanied her, keeping,
+however, slightly to the rear.  Gertie repeated her question, and he
+replied it was not easy to explain how he gained a livelihood; odd
+jobs, was perhaps the best answer he could give.  Warning her not to be
+frightened, he gave the information that he had spent fifteen years of
+his life in prison.  Did he begin young, then?  No, that was the
+curious part about it.  He had little thought of starting the game
+until, in one week, he lost his wife and, through the failure of a
+firm, his employment.  Then it seemed to him nothing mattered, and
+another out-of-work made a suggestion, and he fell into it, was caught,
+and his friend managed to get away.
+
+"When I came out," he went on, "I found I'd lost all respect for
+myself, and I assumed everybody else had lost all respect for me.  I
+tell you, it isn't a hard task to go down in this world.  I've no
+business to complain, but there it is; plenty can help you in that
+direction, but there's very few capable of assisting you to pick
+yourself up."
+
+"It's not too late to make a change."
+
+"I've got no luck, you see," he explained patiently.  "This summer I
+did nearly get back to what you may call the old style.  I was in a
+reg'lar job; I contrived to dress myself up almost like a duke, and I
+sets out on Sunday afternoon with the full intention of calling on some
+old friends I hadn't seen for a good many years.  It didn't come off."
+
+"Drink, I suppose."
+
+"Yes," he said.  "A chap driving one of these motors had taken a drop
+too much.  I was in St. Mary's in Praed Street for over six weeks.  If
+it had been anybody but me, the car would have been driven by some
+well-to-do gentleman, and I should have found myself compensated for
+life.  As I say, I never did have my share of good fortune, and I
+s'pose I never shall.  All I haven't had of that, I hope will be passed
+on to my daughter."
+
+"She ought to do something for you."
+
+"I don't want her to.  I've no wish to interfere with her.  I can't
+flatter myself I've done her any good, and I'd like to have the
+satisfaction of feeling I've done her no harm.  Here, I think," looking
+around him, "we say oh revor."
+
+Gertie took out her purse; he gave an emphatic shake of the head, and
+went.
+
+The next night he was at the same place, improved in appearance, and
+Gertie allowed him to accompany her along Marylebone Road so far as
+Harley Street.  On the following evening he furnished an escort to
+Upper Baker Street, and afterwards extended the journey.  His manner
+was always respectful, and he still made no attempt to walk abreast
+with her.  Sometimes a constable would say, "Hullo, Joe!" and he
+replied, "Good evening, sir.  Not bad weather for the time of year!"
+and going on, informed Gertie where, and in what circumstances, the
+acquaintance had been made.
+
+It happened, on one occasion, that Gertie saw Mr. Trew on the box seat
+of his small brown omnibus coming along from the Great Central Station;
+he was preparing to flourish a cheery salute, when he caught sight of
+her companion.  Almost dropping his whip, he gave his head a jerk to
+send the shining silk hat well back, and thus give relief to a suddenly
+heated brain.
+
+Mrs. Mills was waiting on the Friday evening, some doors east of her
+own shop; Gertie's new friend did not wait for instructions from his
+companion, but left her instantly.
+
+"Who's looking after the counter, aunt?"
+
+"Mr. Bulpert," replied the other, panting.  "I've give him a cigar to
+stick in his face.  He wants to see you.  And I want to see you, too.
+Who is that you were talking to?"
+
+"The elderly man I told you about.  The one who always waits now to see
+me part of the distance home.  Quite a character in his way."
+
+"Quite a bad character," snapped Mrs. Mills.
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+Her aunt gave a gulp.  "I had the word from Mr. Trew," she said, still
+rather breathless, "and his idea is that you may as well know it now as
+later on.  That man is your father, my dear--your father; and the less
+you see of him the better.  Now, perhaps, you can realize why I knew it
+was no use letting you carry on with Mr. Douglass.  It was bound to
+come out some day!"
+
+"My father," said the girl slowly and thoughtfully.
+
+"Your very own, dearie.  Don't let it upset you more than you can help.
+I know you've a good deal to put up with just now.  Come along and see
+Mr. Bulpert.  A little sweethearting talk will cheer you up."
+
+Bulpert admitted he had one or two questions to put; but on Gertie
+ordering that they should be offered there and then, he said, gloomily,
+that some other time would do as well.  The girl told him the news just
+communicated by her aunt, and waited hopefully for the comment; Bulpert
+remarked, with an indulgent air, that it took all sorts to make a
+world, and he thought no worse of Gertie because of the fact that she
+possessed a parent with a spotted record.  He offered to see her father
+and give him a definitely worded warning; the girl answered that the
+matter could be left in her hands.
+
+"But we don't want him to be a drain on us," he contended.  "I know
+what these individuals are like.  Species of blackmail, that's what it
+amounts to.  And I don't wish to see you working your fingers to the
+bone, and a certain proportion of the money earned being paid out to
+him.  I couldn't bear it, so I tell you straight!"  He slapped a pile
+of magazines on the counter.
+
+"I'm rather worried," she said, "and I don't want any more
+misunderstandings.  I told you not long ago I shouldn't go back to
+Great Titchfield Street once I was married."
+
+"That's what I wanted to speak to you about.  You're not serious, I
+s'pose, in saying this.  You're only doing it to test my affection."
+
+"I mean every word."
+
+"Very well!" announced Bulpert defiantly.  "Understand, then, that the
+engagement's off.  Entirely and absolutely off.  And if you're so
+ill-advised as to bring an action for breach, you jolly well can.
+Won't be a bad advert, for a public man like F. W. B.  It'll get him
+talked about!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+The final departure of Bulpert erased a troublesome detail in the
+girl's life, and she felt suitably thankful; another disappearance gave
+her a sensation of regret.  She had thought seriously of the patient,
+elderly man whom she had now to look upon as her parent, and planned a
+scheme, to be prefaced by something in the nature of a brief lecture,
+involving pecuniary sacrifice; her game of bricks was knocked over by
+the hand of Fate, and Gertie Higham had to put them back into the box.
+Mrs. Mills told her much that had hitherto been a secret shared by Mr.
+Trew.
+
+"Quite a good sort he was, my dear, until your poor young mother went,
+and then--well, Mr. Trew met him when he came out of Wormwood Scrubbs,
+and your father's first words were, 'Don't let the kid ever know!'
+Meaning yourself.  So we kept it from you, you see, and I hope you
+don't blame us.  No doubt, he recognized you, because you're so much
+like your poor mother, only more stylish, and of course better
+educated, and I suppose he felt as though he had to speak.  Very likely
+he won't ever let you see him again."
+
+"Wish I knew where to find him now."
+
+"He was like a lot of the others.  Not really bad, you understand, but
+just rather easily led; and because he thought everything was going
+against him, he became reckless.  And he belonged to the old days when
+once in prison meant always in prison, and no one ever thought that a
+man who had made a single blunder could be reformed.  I often used to
+think," declared Mrs. Mills, "that something ought to be done, but of
+course I had my business to look after."
+
+"You found time to look after me, aunt."
+
+"If you could realize," argued the other earnestly, "what a dear baby
+you was then, you wouldn't trouble to give me any credit for that."
+She hesitated.  "What I've always hoped," lowering her voice, "that
+some day I might see another one like you."
+
+"Madame's case," said Gertie, "is a warning to me.  I want the right
+kind of husband, or none at all!"
+
+From Clarence Mills, calling at Praed Street, came news that Lady
+Douglass had been instructed to go abroad so soon as she became well
+enough to endure the journey; to his great concern, Miss Loriner was
+instructed to accompany her.  Gertie asked for further information, and
+Clarence replied that Henry Douglass had not given up the office in Old
+Quebec Street; indeed, he recently entered a competition for plans of a
+provincial art gallery, and his portrait was in some journal consequent
+on the decision of the judges.  Gertie presumed that Clarence did not
+happen to have this with him; Clarence found the cutting in his
+letter-case and presented it.  (Later, it was mounted carefully and
+placed in a small frame, and given a position upon her dressing-table.)
+Clarence's book was out, and he had just seen a copy at Paddington,
+with a card bearing the words, "Tremendously Thrilling."
+
+On another point, Clarence was able to announce that Henry had held
+something like a court-martial at Ewelme, with all concerned present.
+Jim Langham gave evidence; and Lady Douglass, when her turn came,
+suggested the key had been placed in her bag by Miss Loriner.  Upon
+which Miss Loriner declared it would be impossible, in view of this
+remark, to give her company to Beaulieu; and Lady Douglass, without any
+further hesitation, confessed the truth, urging, in excuse, that it was
+but natural in this world to look after oneself, adding a caution to
+the effect that anything in the nature of a scene would now mar the
+work of the London specialist.  Henry's mother, it appeared, was in
+favour of taking the risk.
+
+"I don't want to see her punished," remarked Gertie.  "So long as he
+knows I was not to blame, I'm perfectly satisfied."
+
+Clarence had private audience with Mrs. Mills before going, and, as a
+result, Sarah, the temporary assistant at the party, came to Praed
+Street daily; Mrs. Mills admitted that, seeing her niece frequently,
+any want of colour might not be so apparent to her as to any one who
+saw the girl less often.  Sarah's objections to living in were easy to
+meet; the only other provision was that liberty should be given if her
+services were required for "Puss in Boots" during the Christmas period.
+An excellent worker, Sarah left nothing to be done at the end of the
+day, and Gertie, arriving home after the stress of business at Great
+Titchfield Street, was able to rest in the parlour, or give assistance
+in the shop.
+
+She was making out orders for Christmas cards at the newspaper counter
+one night (the popular remark of customers at this period was "Ain't
+the evenings drawing in something awful!") when a man rushed in and
+looked around in a dazed, frightened manner.  He muttered indistinctly
+some explanation, and was going off, when Gertie called to him.
+
+"Thought it was a bar," he said confusedly.  "My mistake."
+
+"Come here, Mr. Langham," she ordered, putting down her book.  "Sit on
+the high chair."  He obeyed, blinking up at the light.  "What's the
+matter?"
+
+Jim Langham was trembling.  He leaned across, and whispered.
+
+"You've seen a ghost?" she echoed.  "Don't be so stupid.  There are no
+such things nowadays, especially in a neighbourhood like this.  Where
+did you come across it?"
+
+"Near--near the station.  I've only just come from Wallingford.  I was
+hurrying up the slope on the right-hand side, and about to turn into
+the hotel, when across the way--"
+
+He looked around apprehensively, and caught sight of Mrs. Mills peeping
+over the half blind of the parlour door.  Gertie sent her a reassuring
+nod, and she disappeared.
+
+"What have I done," he wailed appealingly, "that everybody should spy?
+A police sergeant gazed at me in a most peculiar way about two minutes
+ago.  What does it mean, Miss Higham?"
+
+"Doesn't matter what it means," she said sharply, "so long as you've
+done nothing wrong.  Pull yourself together, Mr. Langham.  Why don't
+you knock off the drink, and be a man?"
+
+"I'll go and get some now."
+
+"It will do you no good.  You've been in the habit of taking it when
+you didn't need it, and you've spoilt it as a remedy.  Stay here for a
+while, and calm yourself."
+
+"Bad enough," he complained, "when living people begin to track you
+about, but when the others start doing it--!"  He shivered.  Gertie
+went to the parlour, and asked her aunt to make some coffee.
+
+"Has Lady Douglass gone away yet?"
+
+"Now why, apropos of nothing, should you mention her name?"
+
+"You never did have much sense about you, and now you seem to have none
+at all.  Concentrate your mind.  Think!  What was the question I put to
+you?"  He admitted he could not recall it, and she repeated the inquiry.
+
+"Leaves early to-morrow morning," he answered; "that is partly why I
+have come up to town.  I don't want to see her again before she goes."
+Jim Langham rested elbows on the counter, and covered eyes with his
+hands.  "Have you ever," he asked, "in the course of your existence,
+met with a bigger fool than me?"
+
+"To be quite candid," said Gertie, "I don't think I have."
+
+She fetched the cup from the back room, and brought it to him.  He
+sipped at the hot beverage, and appeared to recover.
+
+"Do you mind if I smoke?" he asked courteously.
+
+She laughed.  "This is half a tobacconist's shop!"
+
+"Quite so," remarked Jim Langham, taking a cigar from his case.  "I
+say," he went on confidentially, taking the movable gas jet, "do you
+know anything about the Argentine?"
+
+"Mr. Trew might tell you something about it if he were here.  I don't
+take any interest in horse-racing."
+
+"It's a place in South America," he said.  "I've an idea of getting out
+there, and making a fresh start.  But I'm in the state of mind that
+prevents me from knowing how to set about it.  It would be a great
+kindness on your part to give me some assistance."
+
+"I want all the money I've saved up."
+
+He placed his hand in his waistcoat pocket and pulled out sovereigns.
+Gertie, taking a newspaper, turned the pages to find the shipping
+advertisements.
+
+"'The R. M. S. P.,'" she read.  "I thought that meant you had to reply
+to an invitation.  Oh, I see.  Royal Mail Steam Packet.  Here's the
+address.  There's a boat leaving to-morrow.  Would you like to catch
+that?"
+
+"The earlier the better," he cried.  "I must get away at once.  Now,
+who can do it all?"
+
+A lad came for a packet of cigarettes, and, as Gertie served him, Mr.
+Trew entered the doorway; his cheerful salutation caused Jim Langham to
+start.  Trew announced, joyously, that he was up to the neck in
+trouble; for failing to see a young constable's warning in Oxford
+Street, he had been suspended from duty for a period of three days.
+
+"As I told him, if a driver took notice of all the baby hands held up,
+why the 'bus would never reach Victoria.  Howsomever, here I am; my own
+master for a time, and ready to make myself generally useless.  What
+about a half-day excursion to Brighton to-morrow, little missy?"
+
+"This, Mr. Trew, is Mr. Langham."
+
+"I don't get on over and above first class," he said, "with a certain
+relative of yours, sir, but I never met a family yet that was all
+alike.  Some white sheep in every flock."
+
+Gertie explained Jim Langham's requirements, and Trew, placing his hat
+upon the counter, and admitting himself to be something of an authority
+on matters connected with the sea, brought his best intelligence to
+bear upon the subject.  It was too late, he decided, to go down that
+evening to the steamship office, but a telegram might be sent, asking
+for a berth to be reserved, and Mr. Langham could go to the docks in
+the morning.
+
+"It is absolutely imperative," declared the other urgently, "that I
+leave at the first possible moment."
+
+"If the worst comes to the worst," said Mr. Trew, "you can ship as a
+stowaway.  You come up on deck, third day out, and kneel at the
+captain's feet and sing a song about being an orphan.  That, of course,
+would be a last resource."
+
+Gertie discovered a telegram form, and on the instructions of Mr. Trew,
+filled it in; and Jim Langham assured her that he was more obliged than
+he could express in words.  Mr. Trew left to arrange the dispatch of
+the message.
+
+"I count myself extremely fortunate," said the other, "to have
+encountered you, Miss Higham.  If you hear anything against me later
+on, I--I should feel grateful if you thought the best of me that you
+can.  I wish," he went on, with an anxious air, "I wish I knew how to
+repay you."
+
+"Don't make a fuss about trifles," she recommended.
+
+He gazed at a picture of a well-attired youth smoking a cigar.
+
+"I was a decent chap once," he said thoughtfully, "but that was long
+ago.  Look here, Miss Higham!  Henry--you know Henry?"
+
+"I did know him."  Turning her face away.
+
+"He will be at Paddington Station tomorrow morning at ten.  See him
+there.  Put off every other engagement, and see him."
+
+"There will be no use in doing that."
+
+"There may be," he contradicted earnestly.  "You've been very hard hit
+over this business, and I happen to know he wants to meet you, only
+that he is afraid of appearing intrusive.  At ten o'clock at the
+arrival platform.  May I say good-bye now?  God bless you.  I haven't
+much influence with Him, but I--I hope He'll be good to you!"
+
+She came from behind the counter, and accompanied him to the swing
+doors.
+
+"Whose ghost was it you thought you saw, Mr. Langham?"
+
+"I must have been mistaken," he replied vaguely.  "A shame to have
+worried you!"
+
+
+All the comedy in life and some of the tragedy can be found at London
+railway stations, and only the fact that members of the staff are well
+occupied prevents them from furnishing shelves of bookstalls with
+records of their observation.  The classes are there (an effort is
+being made to cancel one useful intermediate stage), presenting
+themselves, for the most part, in a highly-agitated condition of mind,
+with the result that officials acquire the methods of those who deal
+with the mentally unhinged; show themselves prepared for any display of
+eccentricity.  Ever, as in life, you remark the people who arrive too
+soon, or too late; a few lucky ones come in the very nick of time.  The
+last named are favourites, selected with no obvious reason by Fortune,
+and greatly envied by their contemporaries; it is usual for them to
+claim the entire credit to themselves.  Apart from these, at the
+terminal stations where no barriers exist, are folk who make but little
+affectation of being passengers, and use the station as a playground,
+with engine and train for toys.
+
+To Paddington at a quarter to ten in the morning came hurriedly,
+although there was no cause for hurry, Gertie Higham, escorted by Mr.
+Trew, both exceptionally costumed as befitting a notable occasion.
+Gertie's escort had a pair of driving-gloves, and he could not
+determine whether it looked more aristocratic to wear these or to carry
+them with a negligent air; he compromised on the departure platform by
+wearing one and carrying the other.  The collector-dog trotted up with
+the box on his back, and both put in some coppers.  They glanced at the
+giant clock.
+
+"I wish," she said agitatedly, "that I could skip half an hour of my
+life."
+
+"When you get to my age, little missy," remarked Trew, "you won't talk
+like that.  Speaking personally, I can fairly say that if it wasn't for
+these new motors I sh'd like to live to be a 'underd.  Now, let's jest
+make sure and certain about this train."
+
+"I thought we had done so."
+
+"May as well be on the safe side."
+
+Mr. Trew left her at the bookstall to go on a journey in search of
+verification.  She observed that he obtained news first from a junior
+porter, and worked upwards in the scale, with the evident intention of
+obtaining at last corroborative evidence from a director.  The girl
+turned, and, gazing at the rows of books, found she could not read the
+titles clearly.  One of the lads of the stall came with a book in his
+hand, recommending it to her notice; written by a new chap, he
+mentioned confidentially, and highly interesting.  Gertie pulled
+herself together, and gave attention.
+
+"Thank you," she said, "but it's the work of a cousin of mine."
+
+The lad put Clarence Mills's novel down, and took up a pocket edition
+of "Merchant of Venice."
+
+"In that case," he remarked, "I suppose it's no use showing you
+anything written by your Uncle William."
+
+Trew came at a run, saving her the necessity of thinking of an answer.
+Mr. Henry was now on the arrival platform, right across where a finger
+pointed; Gertie was to wait until a scarlet handkerchief showed itself,
+and she begged him very earnestly not to give the signal unless it
+appeared to be well justified.  A train, that had received no education
+in the art of reticence, came to an intervening set of lines, and
+Gertie's anxiety increased; she hurried down the platform to a point
+from which it was possible to see the meeting.  Henry was engaged in
+conversation with a Great Western official; Mr. Trew, in going past,
+turned and, with a great air of wonder, recognized him.  Gertie noted
+with satisfaction that Henry's greeting was hearty and unrestrained.
+Mr. Trew indicated a superior carriage standing near; she knew, from
+his gestures, that he was describing the uncovered conveyances recalled
+from his early youth.
+
+"Oh, do make haste!" she urged under her breath.
+
+They moved a few steps together, and Henry interrupted conversation
+with an inquiry.  Mr. Trew, astonished to the extent of taking off his
+hat, gave a wave with it in the direction of Platform Number One, and
+Henry spoke eagerly.  Mr. Trew took out his scarlet handkerchief,
+rubbed his face.
+
+"Now," cried Henry, advancing delightedly to meet her, "I wonder what
+the chances were against our meeting here?"
+
+"It is rather unexpected, isn't it?"
+
+"Where," he hesitated, "where is Mr. Bulpert?"
+
+"I really don't know," she replied, smiling.  "We're not engaged any
+longer."
+
+"Good news!" he cried with emphasis.  "That is to say, it's good news
+if you wished the engagement to cease."
+
+"I wasn't sorry."
+
+He took her elbow, and glanced around.  Mr. Trew was examining a set of
+milk churns with the air of an experienced dairyman.
+
+"Isn't it amazing," said Henry, "how one lucky moment can change the
+appearance of everything?  I've been feeling lately that nothing could
+possibly come right, and now--"
+
+"We mustn't go on too fast," she interposed sagely, "because that only
+means more disappointment.  You haven't heard yet about my father.
+Listen whilst I tell you about him."
+
+Gertie waited, as she went on, for a relaxation in the pleasant hold on
+her arm, but this did not come.  When she had said the last word, he
+nodded.
+
+"I knew all about this long before you did," he said.  "The information
+came from my sister-in-law.  She had discovered the facts, and felt
+disappointed, I think, to find that I was not greatly impressed.  Of
+course, you're not responsible for his actions any more than I can be
+held liable for the behaviour of Jim Langham.  Jim is a much worse nut
+than your father; he hasn't any excuse for his conduct.  Forged his
+sister's name to a big cheque, and, naturally, he has disappeared.  I
+am giving him time to get away before I say anything about it to her."
+
+"May be leaving England now, I suppose?"
+
+"I hope so; but we needn't bother about him.  Let us talk about
+ourselves, just as we used to do.  Do you remember, dear girl?"
+
+"I recollect it," she admitted.  "Every moment, and every step, and
+every word.  It will always be something good for me to look back upon,
+when I'm older."
+
+He bent down to her.  "We'll look back upon it together," he said
+affectionately.
+
+"No!"
+
+The official to whom Henry had been speaking begged pardon for
+interrupting; the train, he announced, would be about five minutes
+late.  Gertie thanked him with a glance that, at any honestly managed
+exchange office, could be converted into bank notes.
+
+"Has your view of me altered, then?" he asked.
+
+"My view of you," she replied steadily, "is exactly the same that it
+always has been, ever since I first met you.  I like you better--oh, a
+lot better--than any one else in the world, and I know that if you
+married me you'd do all you could to make me happy and comfortable.
+But I shouldn't be happy and comfortable.  I've got to look forward;
+and when I do that, there's no use in shutting my eyes.  I can see
+quite clearly what would happen.  You'd have this large house down in
+the country, and you would ask friends there, and I should make
+blunders, and, sooner or later, you'd be certain to feel ashamed of me."
+
+"I don't agree, dear," he said with emphasis.  "Anyhow let us try the
+experiment.  I am sure you overestimate the distance between us.  Think
+how well we used to get along together."
+
+"If life was all summer evenings and Primrose Hill," she remarked, "I
+might stand a chance.  But it isn't.  Your life is going to be that of
+a country gentleman in Berkshire; my life is going to be that of a
+well-paid worker in Great Titchfield Street."
+
+"Wish I could find some method," he cried vehemently, "of giving events
+a twist.  I'd much rather go on in my own profession.  I'm making my
+way slowly, but I'm making it for myself, and I--I want you for
+company."  He gave a gesture of appeal.  "Can't you see how much it
+means?"
+
+"We've got to take matters as they are, and not as we should like them
+to be.  And it isn't as though I'd only got myself to think about.
+There's you.  If I didn't care so much for you, it might be different."
+
+"For the moment," protested Henry Douglass, "I find myself wishing,
+dear, that you were not quite so sensible.  We will talk about this
+again, won't we?  Let me call at Praed Street."
+
+"Rather you didn't," said Gertie, "if you don't mind, because I shall
+never change my decision.  And I wish I could explain how sorry I am it
+hasn't all come right."  She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
+"Give me a kiss before we say good-bye."
+
+"We're to say a lot of other things to each other," he asserted
+determinedly, "but we are never to say that!  Stay here, until I have
+seen these people into the railway omnibus.  Please!"
+
+The train came slowly; the engine with the air of one that had, in its
+time, hurt itself by violent contact with buffers; a line of porters
+edged the platform, ready to seize brass handles of compartments so
+soon as the train stopped.  Gertie stood behind a trolley, and watched
+the crowd of alighting passengers.  She caught sight of Lady Douglass
+and Miss Loriner: Lady Douglass carrying her small dog, and apparently
+more authoritative than ever in manner; her companion nursing a copy of
+Clarence's book.  Henry and Rutley went to the rear van to see to the
+luggage, and presently returned; Rutley talked animatedly, Henry's
+features exhibited surprise.  The railway omnibus was found; transfer
+of luggage began.
+
+"My dearest, dearest!" cried Henry excitedly.  "Listen to me; hear the
+great news Rutley has brought.  My brother arrived home last night.
+The good fellow is safe and sound.  He came down from here, from
+Paddington, and called at Ewelme to get some important papers he
+wanted.  Heard Lady Douglass's voice--she happened to be annoyed about
+something--and left without seeing her.  This means--don't you
+see?--that I have nothing now to bother about, excepting my work.  And
+you!"
+
+She had a difficulty in finding words.  "Mr. Langham did not meet a
+ghost, then."
+
+"I'm going to see the boat train off at Victoria," he went on rapidly,
+"and I shall be back at Praed Street in an hour.  Less than an hour.
+We'll go out to lunch together."
+
+"I'll wait for you there!" promised the happy girl.
+
+
+
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