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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30286 ***
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+BY
+
+RUBY M. AYRES
+
+AUTHOR OF A BACHELOR HUSBAND, THE SCAR, ETC.
+
+NEW YORK
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+Made in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1921, BY W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATED
+
+TO MY FRIEND
+
+Janet Moore
+
+THE REAL 'JUNE MASON'
+
+IN THIS STORY
+
+
+
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Somewhere out in the night a woman was crying, crying desolately. The
+sad, rather monotonous sound broke the silence of the street and
+floated through the open window of a room where Micky Mellowes was
+wondering how the deuce he should get through the long evening lying
+before him.
+
+Micky was in a bad temper. It was not often that he was in a bad
+temper, but he had begun the day by waking with a headache, which was
+still with him, and which accounted for the wide open window and the
+breath of icy air which was filling the room and fluttering the
+curtains; and half an hour ago some people with whom he had been going
+to dine had rung up and told him that the party was off owing to the
+sudden death of a relative, thereby leaving the evening long and empty
+on his hands.
+
+It was New Year's Eve, too, which made matters a thundering sight
+worse.
+
+He wondered if Marie Deland was feeling as sick about it as he was.
+Micky was in the middle of an interesting flirtation with Marie, which
+bade fair to develop into something deeper with careful engineering on
+the part of her family, for Micky was a catch, and though so far he
+had proved himself singularly adroit in avoiding mothers with
+marriageable daughters, the Delands were beginning to pat each other
+on the back and to look pleased.
+
+When the sound of crying reached him he had been feeling so thoroughly
+fed-up with life that it had seemed impossible for anything ever to
+interest him again; but now he climbed out of his chair with a faint
+show of energy and strolled over to the window.
+
+It was a cold, clear night, with myriads of stars in the dark sky that
+seemed to shed a faintly luminous light to earth, bright enough at all
+events for Micky to distinguish the figure of a girl walking slowly
+along the pathway below.
+
+She was walking so slowly and dispiritedly that a sort of vague
+curiosity stirred in Micky's heart; here, at least, was some one even
+more fed-up with life than he himself, and with a sudden impulse he
+turned from the window, and, snatching up a hat and coat which he had
+thrown down when he came in an hour earlier, made for the stairs.
+
+He was half-way down when an apologetic cough at his elbow arrested
+him; he stopped and turned.
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"If you please, sir, Mr. Ashton has just sent round to ask if you
+could make it convenient to be in at ten o'clock this evening, as he
+wants to see you particularly."
+
+Micky looked surprised; Ashton had been very particularly engaged for
+that evening, he knew. Evidently something had happened to upset his
+plans as well.
+
+"Ten o'clock? All right; I dare say I shall be in."
+
+He went on down the stairs.
+
+Out on the path he paused and looked up and down the street.
+
+The impulse that had sent him out had died away; it was beastly cold,
+and much more comfortable by the fire. He hesitated, and in that
+moment he saw the figure of the girl again.
+
+She had stopped now in the light of a street lamp, and seemed to be
+looking at something she carried in her arms--a child! Surely not a
+child!
+
+Micky's curiosity was aroused. He buttoned the collar of his coat more
+closely round his chin and went on.
+
+The girl had moved too, almost as if she felt instinctively that she
+was being followed, and as Micky drew abreast with her she shrank a
+little to one side as if afraid.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Micky bluntly.
+
+They were some few yards from the lamp now. But, as she turned to look
+up at him with startled eyes, its yellow light fell on her face; and
+Micky saw with amazement that she was quite young and exceedingly
+pretty, in spite of the distress in her eyes, and the tears that were
+still wet on her cheeks.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked again, more gently, and waited for the
+pathetically shaken denial which he felt sure would come.
+
+"Nothing--nothing at all."
+
+"Nothing!" There was a note of exasperation in his voice. "You were
+crying--I heard you, and people don't walk about the streets at this
+time of night and cry if there's nothing the matter. If that's a baby
+you've got with you, you ought to know better than to----" He broke
+off. She was laughing, a weak, uncertain little laugh.
+
+"A baby!" she said tremulously. "It isn't a baby; it's a cat."
+
+"A cat!" Micky's voice was full of disgust. He looked down at her from
+his superior height with sudden suspicion. If this was just a hoax?
+
+"Well, what's the matter anyway?" he asked again.
+
+She looked away from him without answering.
+
+Micky began to feel a bit of a fool; he wished he had not yielded to
+the impulse to follow her. After all, it was no business of his if a
+stranger chose to walk about his road and weep; he looked at her
+impatiently.
+
+Her hair beneath its not very smart hat shone golden in the lamplight,
+and the little oval of cheek and rounded chin which was all he could
+see of her averted face somehow touched a forgotten chord in his heart
+and made him think of his boyhood and the girl-mother who had not
+lived long enough to be more than a memory....
+
+"Don't think I'm interfering or trying to annoy you," he said again.
+"But if there is anything I can do to help you...."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"There isn't anything.... I ought to have known better than to let you
+hear that I was crying ... there's nothing the matter, I----" Then
+quite suddenly she broke down again into bitter sobbing. "Oh, I'm so
+miserable--so utterly miserable--I wish I were dead!"
+
+Micky was appalled; he had heard women say that sort of thing before,
+and had said it himself scores of times, but never with that note of
+tragedy which he heard in this girl's voice.
+
+Ten minutes ago he had considered himself the most miserable of
+mortals because he had been let down over a dinner; he was ashamed of
+his temper now as he stood there in the starlight and listened to this
+girl's sobbing.
+
+"Look here," he said after a moment, "you'll never feel any better if
+you stay out here in the cold. I don't suppose you've had a
+respectable meal for hours either--I know what women are. Where do you
+live? You'll soon feel better when you get beside a fire and have
+something to eat."
+
+"I'm not going home any more," she said.
+
+She spoke quite quietly, but with a sort of despair which there was no
+mistaking.
+
+Micky was a rapid thinker. He had clean forgotten his headache. This
+was adventure with a capital letter. There was still something of
+romance in the world which his jaded palate had not yet tasted.
+
+"I'm sure you're tired," he said gently, "and probably fed-up. So am
+I. I was just wondering what in the world to do with myself when I
+heard you crying. It made me feel a sort of kinship with you--it did,
+upon my word. If I'd been a woman I dare say I should have been
+howling like anything. Will you come along with me and let me give you
+some supper? I'm hungry too...."
+
+She shrank back from him with a little gesture of fear.
+
+"Oh no--please let me go!..."
+
+She tried to pass him, but Micky barred the way.
+
+"You can't walk about the streets all night," he said determinedly.
+"The cat will hate it anyway, even if you don't mind." There was a
+hint of laughter in his voice, though he had never felt more serious
+in all his life. "And if you don't want me to take pity on you, you
+might at least take pity on me ... please don't think I'm a bounder
+trying to annoy you or anything like that ... perhaps I want a friend
+just as badly as you do...." He stopped, aghast at his own temerity.
+
+"If you do," she said tremulously, "I am more sorry for you than I can
+say."
+
+"I'm glad you said that," Micky answered, "because now you'll come
+along and have that supper with me. There's a little café quite near
+here that I know. If we are both miserable, we can at least be
+miserable together."
+
+Something told him that this girl was at the end of her tether; that
+she was desperate, and his first casual curiosity concerning her
+deepened in the most surprising fashion.
+
+He felt in some inexplicable way that a curtain had been lifted from a
+phase of life hitherto hidden from him; as if he were standing on the
+threshold of a new world, where women only weep for something real and
+tragic, not just butterfly tears of petulance like the women of his
+own class.
+
+The girl was silent for a moment; then suddenly she laughed, a hard
+little laugh of recklessness.
+
+"Very well," she said. "I suppose I may as well."
+
+Micky was infinitely relieved; somehow he had not really thought that
+she would allow him to accompany her.
+
+They walked along for a few steps in silence. Once or twice the cat,
+tucked under the girl's arm, gave a faint mieow of protest, and Micky
+smiled to himself in the darkness.
+
+It was the cat that seemed to give such a real touch of pathos to the
+whole adventure, he thought, and wondered why. He looked down at her
+deprecatingly.
+
+"Let me carry it," he suggested.
+
+"Carry it?" she echoed. "What do you mean?--Oh, the cat; no, thank
+you. He wouldn't like it: he hates strangers."
+
+"Oh!" said Micky. He felt chagrined. "Is it a great pet?" he asked.
+
+"Yes." She hunched her queer burden more closely under her arm. "It
+isn't really mine," she explained. "But they were so unkind to it in
+the house that I had to bring it."
+
+Micky was dying to ask questions, but somehow it hardly seemed a
+propitious moment. He did not speak again till they reached the little
+café.
+
+It was a quiet little downstairs place, and just now was almost
+deserted.
+
+Micky chose a corner table which was partially screened from the rest
+of the room. As he stood up to take off his coat he looked at the girl
+interestedly.
+
+She was better than pretty, he decided with a little pleasurable
+thrill; he could not remember when he had seen a face that appealed to
+him so strongly in spite of its pathos and the tear stains round her
+eyes.
+
+And such sweet eyes they were!--really grey with dark lashes and
+daintily pencilled brows. She looked up suddenly, meeting his earnest
+regard.
+
+"Well?" she said. There was a touch of defiance in her voice; the
+colour had risen in her white cheeks.
+
+"Well?" said Micky with a friendly smile.
+
+He sat down opposite to her; he was thanking his lucky stars that the
+Delands' message had reached him before he changed into evening
+clothes; somehow as he looked at this girl he felt slightly ashamed of
+his own lazy, luxurious life and the banking account which, like the
+cruse of oil, never failed. That this girl had no surplus of this
+world's goods he was certain, though she was neatly dressed and was
+unmistakably a lady. Her gloves were worn and had been carefully
+mended, and her coat looked far too thin for such a cold night.
+
+"Well, what are we going to have?" he asked. It was surprising how
+cheerful he felt. "And what about that wonderful cat of yours? By the
+way, hasn't it got a name?"
+
+She smiled faintly.
+
+"I call him Charlie," she said.
+
+"Charlie!" Micky's eyes twinkled. "Well, it's original, anyway," he
+said with a chuckle. "And Charlie must have some milk, I suppose. I
+say, he's a bit thin, isn't he?" he asked dubiously.
+
+She had taken off the shawl which had been wrapped about it, and the
+poor animal sat on her lap blinking in the light, a forlorn enough
+specimen, with a long tail and fierce eyes.
+
+The girl stroked its head.
+
+"He's been half starved," she said. "You'd be thin if you hadn't had
+any more to eat than he's had."
+
+"I'm sure I should," said Micky humbly. He thought guiltily of the
+waste which he knew went on in his own establishment; it was odd that
+it had never struck him before that there must be many people in the
+world, not to mention cats, who would be glad enough of the waste from
+his table.
+
+He picked up the menu to hide his discomfort. When the waiter came he
+ordered the best dinner the restaurant served. He was conscious that
+the girl was watching him anxiously. When the waiter had gone, she
+said, "I can't afford to have a dinner like that."
+
+Micky flushed crimson.
+
+"I thought you were dining with me," he stammered. "I--I hope you
+will--I shall be only too honoured...."
+
+Her grey eyes met his anxiously.
+
+"I've never done a thing like this before," she said in distress. "I
+don't know what you are thinking of me ... but ... well, I suppose I
+was just desperate...." She broke off biting her lip, then she rushed
+on again. "I don't suppose you'll ever see me any more, so it doesn't
+really matter much, but...."
+
+"I hope to see you again, many times," said Micky, with an earnestness
+that surprised himself.
+
+She looked away, and her face hardened.
+
+"I suppose men are all the same," she said, after a moment.
+"However...." she shrugged her shoulders with a sort of recklessness
+that made Micky frown. She leaned back in her chair with sudden
+weariness. "It's very kind of you," she said disinterestedly.
+
+"It's not kind at all," he hastened to assure her. "I'm much more
+pleased to be with you than you are to be with me. If it hadn't been
+for you I should have spent this evening alone--New Year's Eve, too,"
+he added, with a sort of chagrin and a sudden memory of Marie Deland.
+
+"New Year's Eve!" she echoed. She closed her eyes for a moment, and
+Micky had an uncomfortable sort of feeling that she was looking back
+on the year that was dying and could see nothing pleasant in the whole
+of the twelve months. Presently she opened them again with a little
+sigh. "Well, I don't want another year like the last one," she said.
+
+"You won't have," he told her promptly. "I've got a sort of feeling
+that there are lots of good things coming along for you. The luck has
+to change some time or other, and if you've had a rotten time in the
+past you won't have it in the future."
+
+"I don't believe in luck," she said.
+
+"Don't you? I do," Micky declared. He hated the despondency in her
+face; he felt a strong desire to see her smiling and happy. He rattled
+on, talking any nonsense that came into his head.
+
+The waiter came down the room and set the dishes on the table. He gave
+a sort of supercilious sniff when Micky asked for a saucer of milk for
+the cat. He looked at Charlie with scorn--Charlie, curled up on the
+girl's lap now and purring lustily.
+
+"Of course, you know, we really ought to have a bottle of wine," Micky
+said dubiously. "Just something cheap, as it's New Year's Eve."
+
+He would like to have given her champagne, but dared not suggest it.
+He was quite sure that if she knew he was a rich man she would fly off
+at a tangent. He ordered an inexpensive bottle of red wine and filled
+her glass.
+
+"Well, here's luck to the New Year," he said sententiously. "And to
+our delightfully unexpected meeting," he added.
+
+She flushed up to her eyes.
+
+"Are you always as kind to people as you have been to me?" she asked
+tensely.
+
+Micky blushed.
+
+"Oh, I say!" he protested. "You don't call this being kind, do you? I
+assure you it's just pure selfishness. I should have spent my evening
+alone if we hadn't met--and I hate being alone; I bore myself stiff in
+five minutes. I'm just--honoured that you should have allowed me to
+eat my supper with you. If you knew how beastly fed-up I was feeling
+... the world seemed a positively loathsome place."
+
+She laughed; she leaned her elbows on the table and her chin in her
+hands, looking at him with thoughtful eyes.
+
+"Are you poor?" she asked with disarming frankness.
+
+"Poor as a church mouse," said Micky promptly. "At least"--he hastened
+to amend his words--"I'm one of those unfortunate beggars who spend
+money as fast as they get it. I've never saved a halfpenny in my
+life."
+
+This at least was the truth.
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Neither have I--I've never had one to save...."
+
+The despondency was back again in her voice; Micky broke in hastily--
+
+"Before we go any further I think we ought to know one another's
+names." He fumbled in a pocket for a card, but changed his mind
+quickly, remembering that his cards bore the address of the expensive
+flat which he honoured with his presence. "My name is Mellowes," he
+said. "I've got several Christian names as well, but people call me
+Micky...." He waited, looking at her expectantly. "Won't you tell me
+yours?" he asked.
+
+She was staring down at her plate. He could see the dark fringe of
+lashes against her cheeks. Suddenly she looked up.
+
+"Why do you want to know my name? We shall never meet again, I----"
+
+Micky leaned a little forward.
+
+"If we don't," he said quietly, "it will be the greatest disappointment
+I have ever had."
+
+She looked at him with a sort of fear.
+
+"You don't mean that," she said, with a catch in her voice. "You don't
+really mean that ... you're just one of those men who say things like
+that to every woman you----" She broke off, struck by the chagrin in
+Micky's face. "No--I oughtn't to have said that," she went on
+hurriedly. "I beg your pardon ... I ought not to have said it, and I
+will tell you my name if you really want to know. My name is
+Esther--Esther Shepstone."
+
+"Thank you!" said Micky. "And now we're going to drink to good
+resolutions for the New Year ... have you made one yet?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"What's the use? Besides ... I don't want to make any."
+
+"Very well, then, I'll make one for you." He refilled her glass and
+handed it to her. "Now say after me: 'I resolve that during the coming
+year I will be good friends with Micky Mellowes----' Oh, I say,
+don't--please don't...."
+
+She had dropped her face in her hands again, and Micky had a miserable
+conviction that she was crying.
+
+But he was wrong, for presently she looked up again, and her eyes were
+dry, though a little hard and bright.
+
+"I don't believe in a man's friendship for a woman," she said. "But
+I'll say it, if you like," and she took the glass from his hand.
+
+"And to-morrow," said Micky presently, "I'm going to take you out to
+tea or something--if I may," he added hurriedly.
+
+He waited, but she did not speak. "May I?" he asked.
+
+She was twisting the stem of her wineglass nervously; after a moment
+she began to speak jerkily.
+
+"When I came out to-night I didn't mean to go back any more," she
+said. Her voice was low and full of a weary bitterness. "I was so
+unhappy I didn't want to live." She caught her breath. "If it hadn't
+been for you"--she was looking at him now with shame in her eyes. "If
+it hadn't been for you I shouldn't have gone back--ever----" she
+added. "But now...."
+
+"But now," said Micky as she paused, "you're going back, and we're
+going to start the new year--friends, you and I! Is that a bargain?"
+he asked.
+
+"Yes...."
+
+Outside Micky hailed a taxicab.
+
+"You're much too tired to walk," he said when she protested. "And it
+will be a new experience for Charlie," he added with a twinkle.
+
+He put her into the cab, and stood for a moment at the door.
+
+"And the address?" he asked.
+
+She hesitated, looking away from him; then suddenly she told him.
+
+"It's Brixton Road--it's--it's a very horrid boarding-house," she
+added with a half-sigh.
+
+"Boarding-houses are all horrid," said Micky cheerily. "But I'll come
+down myself to-morrow and see how bad it really is."
+
+He tried to see her face.
+
+"Shall you be in if I come in the afternoon?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"About four, then," said Micky. He groped for her hand, found it, and
+pressed it. "Good-night," he said.
+
+"Good-night."
+
+And the next moment Micky was alone in the starlight.
+
+He stood looking after the taxi with a queer sense of unreality. Had
+he just dreamt it all, and was there really no such girl as Esther
+Shepstone? No Charlie? He shook himself together with a laugh. Of
+course it was real, all of it! He walked on soberly through the cold
+night.
+
+To-morrow he would go to the very horrid boarding-house in the Brixton
+Road and see her again.
+
+Esther! He liked her name; there was something quaint and old-world
+about it. It seemed impossible that they had only met a few hours
+ago.
+
+His headache had quite vanished. He was whistling a snatch of song
+when he let himself into the house and went upstairs.
+
+He opened the door of his sitting-room, and then stopped dead on the
+threshold. The lights were burning fully, and a man was ensconced in
+his favourite armchair by the fire--Ashton. Lord! he had forgotten all
+about Ashton.
+
+Micky looked guiltily at the clock--nearly eleven!--he began a
+half-apology.
+
+"Awfully sorry, old man--I was kept.... Been waiting long?"
+
+"I got here at ten."
+
+Ashton climbed out of the chair and looked at Micky with a sort of
+shamefacedness.
+
+"Don't take your coat off," he said suddenly. "I want you to come out
+again----"
+
+"Out! Now! Look at the time, man!"
+
+"I know--it's only eleven.... I'm catching the midnight to Dover...."
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Dover! What in the world...."
+
+Ashton turned round and looked down at the fire with a sort of
+embarrassment.
+
+"It's the mater," he said jerkily. "She's found out----"
+
+Micky looked puzzled.
+
+"Found out! What on earth...."
+
+Ashton made an impatient gesture. He was a good-looking man, with dark
+eyes that could look all manner of things without in the least meaning
+them.
+
+"About that girl at Eldred's," he said in a strangled voice. "You
+know! I told you about her. Lord, man, don't look so confoundedly
+ignorant! I told you about her," he broke off. "Well, some one's told
+the mater, and this morning...." he shrugged his shoulders. "There's
+been old Harry to pay! She told me if I didn't give her up she'd cut
+me out of her will. She would, too!" he added, in savage parenthesis.
+
+"Well! and what did you say?"
+
+Ashton looked round.
+
+"Hang it all! what could I say? Told her I would, of course."
+
+There was a sharp silence.
+
+"I thought you liked the girl," said Micky bluntly.
+
+The other man winced.
+
+"So I did--so I do.... It's a rotten shame. If you'd ever seen her ...
+you never have, have you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Neither has the mater.... Women are all the same; because the girl
+has to work for her living they think she isn't fit for me to
+marry.... It's all a lot of rot.... However--beggars can't be
+choosers--and so I'm off to-night."
+
+Micky looked at him keenly.
+
+"You mean that you're going without a word to the girl?"
+
+"What can I do?--I went and saw her this morning--we had a rotten
+scene. I meant to tell her it was all up, but somehow I couldn't; I'm
+too dashed fond of her, and that's the truth. I can't bear to see her
+cry--it makes me feel such a cur...."
+
+He waited a moment, but Micky made no comment.
+
+"So the only thing is to clear out," Ashton went on jerkily. "I can't
+afford to quarrel with the mater, you know that.... Perhaps some
+day...." He stopped. "After all, she can't live for ever," he added
+brutally.
+
+Micky said nothing.
+
+"So I'm off to-night," Ashton went on with an effort. "I wanted to see
+you--I knew I could trust you...." He fumbled in a pocket. "There's a
+letter here.... I've written--I couldn't see her again. I know I'm a
+coward, but ... well, there it is!"
+
+He threw the letter down on the table.
+
+"Will you go and see her, old chap, and give her that?" he asked with
+an effort. "Tell her I--oh, tell her what you like," he went on
+fiercely. "Tell her that if I could afford it...."
+
+He stopped again, and this time the silence was unbroken for some
+minutes.
+
+Then he roused himself and picked up his coat. "Well, I must be
+getting along. I left my baggage at the station."
+
+He looked at Micky. "I suppose you think I'm an infernal sweep, eh?"
+he asked curtly.
+
+"No," said Micky.
+
+He had always expected that Ashton's romance would end like this, and
+he felt vaguely sorry for the girl, though he had never seen her. She
+must have expected it, too, he thought. She must have known Ashton's
+position all along. He followed his friend out of the room.
+
+"You haven't told me her address," he said suddenly.
+
+He decided that it would be better to send the letter--he did not want
+to see her. He hated a scene as much as Ashton did.
+
+Ashton was at the top of the stairs.
+
+"It's on the letter. What have you done with it?"
+
+There was an irritable note in his voice. "Don't leave it lying there
+for that man of yours to see."
+
+Micky went back into the room. The letter lay on the table where
+Ashton had thrown it down.
+
+He picked it up, glancing casually at the written address as he did
+so. Then suddenly his tall figure stiffened, and a curiously blank
+look filled his eyes, for the name scribbled there in Ashton's writing
+was--
+
+"Miss Esther Shepstone," and, below it, the number of the very horrid
+boarding-house in the Brixton Road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Micky stood staring at the envelope in his hand. He felt as if
+something had happened to paralyse all power of action.
+
+Esther Shepstone and Ashton's girl from Eldred's were one and the
+same; that was all he could grasp, and it sounded absurd and
+impossible.
+
+He had heard so much of this girl--Ashton had talked about her times
+without number--Lallie he had called her; now he came to think of it,
+Micky could not remember having ever heard her spoken of by any other
+name; and Lallie and Esther Shepstone were one and the same.
+
+Was this, then, why she had cried, because of Ashton...?
+
+Ashton called to him impatiently from the stairs.
+
+"What the deuce are you doing? I shall miss my train."
+
+Micky roused himself with a start, and, dropping the letter into his
+pocket, went slowly out of the room; he felt as if he could not have
+hurried had his life depended upon it; there was an absurdly cold sort
+of feeling round his heart.
+
+It was ridiculous, of course; it was nothing to him if the girl with
+whom he had dined an hour ago loved Ashton; he had never seen her
+before. That sounded an absurd truth, too; it seemed impossible that
+until this evening he and she had never met.
+
+"For heaven's sake, hurry up, man," said Ashton again sharply.
+
+He was at the bottom of the stairs; the face he turned over his
+shoulder to Micky looked pale and harassed.
+
+Micky quickened his steps and joined his friend in the porch below;
+they stood together out on the path waiting for a taxicab.
+
+Micky glanced at Ashton with a curious sense of unreality; he felt as
+if he had never seen him before; it seemed impossible that this Ashton
+could know Esther--and Charlie!
+
+A taxicab drew up to the kerb; Ashton banged open the door and got in.
+Micky followed, and they drove some way in silence.
+
+"I'll take thundering good care I don't stay away long," Ashton said
+suddenly, with a sort of growl. "And if the mater thinks it will make
+me forget Lallie----"
+
+"I thought her name was Esther," said Micky quietly. He was looking
+out of the window into the starry night.
+
+"So it is--but I always call her Lallie." He looked at his friend with
+a sort of vague suspicion. "How do you know what her name is?" he
+asked.
+
+"I saw it on the letter you gave me."
+
+Ashton grunted.
+
+"I think it would be better if you posted it to her yourself and have
+done with it," Micky said with an effort. "I'm a rotten hand at this
+sort of thing. It can't do any good if I go and see her."
+
+"You said you would go--you might be a sport and stick to your word,"
+Ashton protested. "I'd do the same for you any day."
+
+Micky rather doubted it, but did not like to say so.
+
+"If you knew how sick I am about the whole business," Ashton went on
+jerkily. "You may not believe me, but I tell you, Micky, that I'd
+marry that girl to-morrow if only----"
+
+"If only--what?" Micky asked as he paused.
+
+"Oh, you know! What the dickens can I do without a bob to my name
+except what the mater chooses to dole out? I tell you," he went on
+with a sort of snarl, "it'll be very different when I get the money.
+Gad! if only I'd got it now!"
+
+"Money isn't everything," said Micky sententiously. "And if you like
+the girl, why not marry her and face it out?"
+
+Ashton gave a savage little laugh.
+
+"It's all very fine for you to say that money isn't everything--that's
+only because you've got it, and are never likely to be without it. You
+don't know what it feels like to be up to your eyes in debt and not
+knowing where to turn for a fiver. Bah! what's the good of talking?"
+He let down the window with a run, turning his face to the keen night
+air.
+
+They were nearing their destination, and there was still something he
+wanted to say to Micky which so far, he had been afraid to put into
+words.
+
+"Well, I suppose I shan't be seeing you again for a bit," he said,
+with rather a forced laugh. "You've been a good pal to me, Micky----"
+
+Micky said "Rot!" rather shortly; he frowned in the darkness; Ashton
+got on his nerves; he rather wished he had not come to see him off.
+
+"Oh, but you have--whether you like me to say so or not," the other
+man went on obstinately. "And--and there's one last thing I'm going to
+ask you before I go...."
+
+He waited, but Micky did not speak.
+
+The taxi was turning into the station yard now, moving slowly because
+of the congested traffic.
+
+"If you could give Lallie some money," Ashton went on with a rush.
+"I'd send her some, but I've only just got enough to get out of the
+way with. I'll pay you back as soon as the mater condescends to send
+me another cheque...."
+
+Micky's face felt hot.
+
+"Hasn't she--hasn't she got any, then?" he asked with an effort.
+
+"No--at least I promised her some when I saw her this morning.
+She--she's left Eldred's. You see"--he drew a hard breath--"you see, I
+hoped we'd be able to get married, and so--well, there was no sense in
+her staying on there. She was worked to death, poor kid."
+
+He glanced at Micky, but could not see his face.
+
+"You understand, don't you?" he said, encouraged by his silence. "She
+owes them a bit at the boarding-house where she is living. I promised
+to wipe it off for her, but the mater cutting up rough altered
+everything, and so ... if you could give her a little----"
+
+"I'll see to it," said Micky. He opened the door of the taxi and got
+out before it was at a standstill. He took off his hat and let the
+cold air play on his hot forehead. He could hardly trust himself to
+speak.
+
+He was thankful when Ashton went off to see to his luggage. He walked
+into the station and found himself aimlessly staring at a notice
+board. He could not remember when he had felt so furiously angry.
+
+Had Ashton changed? he was asking himself in bewilderment. Or was it
+merely that he had never seen the man he really was until to-night?
+
+He tried to remember what Ashton had told him about Esther Shepstone
+in the past. That she had been at Eldred's he knew, and that Eldred's
+was a place where women bought silk petticoats and things he also
+knew. He had heard Marie Deland and her friends talking about it lots
+of times. Marie had once invited him to accompany her there when they
+had been out together, but he had refused and had waited outside for
+her. Now he came to think of it, that was about all Ashton had ever
+told him of Esther Shepstone.
+
+He knew that Ashton had been seen about with her a great deal; knew
+that he had had to stand a lot of harmless chaff in consequence; he
+himself had joked about Ashton's "latest" as they had all called her:
+it seemed a memory to be ashamed of, when he thought of the way he had
+heard her sobbing in the street that night, of the distress in her
+eyes, of the hopeless way in which she had spoken.
+
+Ashton rejoined him.
+
+"Buck up! The train's in."
+
+They went along the platform, followed by a porter with Ashton's
+baggage. Micky looked at it resentfully; Ashton was evidently
+prepared to enjoy himself; this was no rush after mere solitude and
+forgetfulness.
+
+He stood stiffly at the carriage door while Ashton stowed his smaller
+traps on the rack. Presently he came to the window.
+
+"You'll do the best you can, won't you, old man?" There was a real
+anxiety in his eyes, but Micky was not looking at him; he answered
+stiffly--
+
+"Yes, I'll do what I can."
+
+"She'll soon get another job," Ashton went on, with forced confidence.
+"I'm sorry she left Eldred's, now it's come to this, but how was I to
+know?" he appealed to Micky, but he might as well have appealed to a
+brick wall for all response he got.
+
+"And when I come back----" he said again. "Tell her that when I come
+back many things may be all right again ... tell her that, will you?"
+
+"I'll tell her," said Micky stolidly.
+
+The guard was blowing his whistle now, doors were being shut.
+
+Micky roused himself and looked at his friend.
+
+"Are you--er--are you going to write to her?" he asked constrainedly.
+
+Ashton coloured.
+
+"No--it's better not--far better let the thing drop till I come back.
+I've explained it all in my letter--she'll understand. It's no use
+writing--don't you think it's better not----"
+
+Micky hunched his shoulders.
+
+"It's your affair," he said laconically.
+
+"Yes, well, I shan't write--I'll send you my address as soon as I know
+where I'm staying, and you can let me know what she said and how she
+takes it.... Oh, confound it!"
+
+A porter had come along and slammed the door; the train was slowly
+moving; Micky was vaguely glad that there had been no time in which to
+shake hands. A moment, and he was walking away alone down the
+platform.
+
+His hands were deep thrust in the pockets of his coat; he took no
+notice of anything; he walked on and out of the station.
+
+Well, this had been an eventful New Year's Eve with a vengeance; he
+glanced up at the clock in the dome behind him--only a quarter to
+twelve now, and yet so much had been crowded into the past four hours.
+Since the moment when the Delands rang up to cancel his engagement to
+dine he seemed to have stepped out of the old world into a new. He
+wondered what Esther Shepstone was doing in the very horrid
+boarding-house of which she had told him--if she was thinking of
+Ashton.
+
+What a cad the man was, what a cad!--he was amazed that he had not
+discovered it before--to clear off and leave a girl like this, without
+a word of farewell except the letter. He wondered if he meant to
+deliver it and admit that he knew Ashton, or if he meant just to stick
+a stamp on and post it to her.
+
+He realised that there was nothing very much to be proud of in an
+admission that he knew Ashton, and yet they had been friends for
+years.
+
+It was striking twelve when he got home; he stood for a moment on the
+doorstep, looking up at the starry sky.
+
+Several clocks were chiming midnight in the distance; he listened with
+a queer sense of fatalism.
+
+This was the strangest New Year's Eve he had ever spent in his life.
+At this hour last year he had been dancing the old year out, and
+to-night, had things gone as he had thought, he would have been
+somewhere with Marie Deland--he might even have proposed to her by
+this time. He smiled faintly, remembering that the intention had
+really been somewhere in the background of his mind; but that, too,
+had faded out now to give place to other, more important, factors.
+
+Nine, ten, eleven, twelve! He counted the strokes mechanically; there
+was a breathless pause, then the clash of bells.
+
+Some irrepressibles in a block of flats near by raised a cheer; the
+front door of a house opposite was open, and Micky caught a glimpse of
+a crowded hall and black-coated men and girls in pretty frocks.
+
+He felt strangely removed from all the noise and laughter; after a
+moment he turned and went up to his room.
+
+The fire had been carefully made up and his slippers and dressing-gown
+put to warm. Micky looked at them with a sort of disgust; it was
+sickening for a healthy grown man to be so pampered; he kicked the
+slippers into a corner and tossed the dressing-gown on to the couch.
+
+He wondered what sort of a room Esther Shepstone had in the very
+horrid boarding-house--what odd corner the thin black cat curled into
+to sleep.
+
+He took Ashton's letter from his pocket and stuck it up against the
+clock on the mantelshelf.
+
+"Miss Esther Shepstone...."
+
+It was fate, that's what it was! He wondered if she would ever have
+lived to get that letter had fate not thrown her across his path that
+night.
+
+She had been desperate--at the end of her tether, and all for the sake
+of that cad Ashton.
+
+He turned his back on the letter and lit a cigarette, but he let it go
+out almost at once, and turned back again to stare once more at the
+name scrawled on the envelope.
+
+What had Ashton written to her? It worried him because he did not
+know. Ashton had had other love-affairs--not quite such serious ones,
+perhaps, but still serious enough--and Micky knew that when he had
+wearied of them he had set about getting free of them by the shortest
+route, caring little if it were also a brutal one. He thought of the
+despair he had seen in Esther's face that evening; he dreaded that
+there might be something in Ashton's farewell letter that would plunge
+her back more deeply into her misery.
+
+Out in the night the bells were still ringing joyously.
+
+It was New Year's morning, and perhaps, if he sent that letter ... He
+stood quite still for a moment, staring at it; then suddenly he threw
+his cigarette into the fire and snatched the letter down from the
+shelf.
+
+He tore it open impulsively and drew out the enclosure. He unfolded it
+and began to read. The silence of the room was unbroken save for the
+little crisp sound as Micky turned the paper; then the letter
+fluttered to the rug at his feet and lay there, half-curled up, as if
+it were ashamed of the words it bore and wished to hide them.
+
+Micky raised his eyes and looked at his reflection in the glass above
+the mantelshelf. The pallor of his face surprised him, and the look of
+passionate anger in his eyes.
+
+He was a man of the world. He was no better and no worse than many of
+the men whom he knew and called his friends, but this letter, in its
+brutal callousness, seemed to shame his very manhood.
+
+He had liked Ashton, had been his constant companion for months, but
+he had never suspected him of being capable of this.
+
+He supposed he ought to be ashamed of having opened the letter, but he
+was not ashamed; he was glad that he had been able to spare the girl
+this last and hardest blow of all--the knowledge that the man whom she
+loved and trusted was unworthy.
+
+Presently he picked the letter up from the rug. He picked it up with
+the tips of his fingers, as if it were something repulsive to him, and
+threw it down on the table.
+
+The first few words stared up at him as it lay there.
+
+  "DEAR LALLIE,--By the time you get this letter I shall be out of
+  England, and I hope you won't make things worse for me than they
+  already are by trying to find out where I have gone or by writing
+  to my people and making a scene. The worst of these little
+  flirtations is that they always have to end, as this must, and you
+  must have known it."...
+
+Micky drew in his breath hard; not an hour ago in this very room
+Ashton had made out how cut-up he was at the turn his affairs had
+taken, and yet all the time he had written this letter.
+
+He flicked over a page and read on:--
+
+  "... I shall never forget you and the good times we've had
+  together. I should try and get back at Eldred's, if I were you.
+  It's a good thing we didn't get married as matters have turned
+  out, or the fat would have been in the fire with a vengeance. As
+  it is, I shall have all my work cut out to put the mater in a good
+  temper again. I am sending you some money by Mickey Mellowes; he's
+  a friend of mine and as rich as Croesus, and as selfish as the
+  devil. If he offers to take you out, let him, by all means. It
+  wouldn't be a bad thing if he took a fancy to you; he doesn't care
+  a hang for any one but himself. If only I'd got half his money ...
+  but what's the use of talking about it? Anyway, this is good-bye;
+  I shan't write again. Be a sensible girl, and try to see things
+  from my point of view. It would only have meant ruin for both of
+  us if I'd stuck to you. Good-bye; I send you my love for the last
+  time.
+
+                                                    RAYMOND ASHTON."
+
+And this from the man whom she loved; the man who had pretended to
+love her!
+
+Micky dragged forward a chair with his foot and sat down straddlewise.
+He leaned an elbow on the chair-back and ran his fingers through his
+hair with a sort of bewilderment.
+
+"He's as rich as Croesus and as selfish as the devil...."
+
+And this from Ashton, his friend--the man whom he had helped out of
+scrapes scores of times; the man to whom he had lent money without the
+least hope of its ever being returned; Micky felt as if he had a blow
+in the face.
+
+His thoughts were in a whirl; the whole world needed readjusting. Was
+he selfish? he asked himself in perplexity--if so, it was quite
+unconsciously, and anyway Ashton was the last person who should have
+made the accusation.
+
+"I am sending you some money by a friend of mine...."
+
+There was no hint that the money was first to be borrowed; he had
+evidently been sure of his prey; Micky swore under his breath.
+
+Of course, Ashton had not dreamed of the letter being opened, had not
+dreamed of anything but that his carefully-made plans would be
+minutely carried out and nothing more said.
+
+Micky sat for a long time, lost in thought; the hands of the clock
+crawled round to one and the chime struck; he looked up then, glancing
+at the clock vaguely.
+
+If he had not met Esther Shepstone there might have been no Esther in
+the world at all now; if he allowed that letter to reach its
+destination he would be plunging her back again into the abyss of
+despair from which he had dragged her only that evening. She loved
+Ashton; of that Micky was sure. Very well then, she should at least
+have some part of her ideal left to her.
+
+He went over to his desk and took up paper and pen; he spread Ashton's
+letter out before him and studied the writing carefully.
+
+Ordinary sort of writing, rather unformed and sprawly, but after a
+trial run Micky managed a very presentable copy of it.
+
+He sat back in his chair and eyed his handiwork with pride; he had
+missed his vocation, he told himself with a chuckle; he ought to have
+been a forger.
+
+Then he dipped the pen in the ink again and squared his elbows. He had
+never written a love-letter in his life, but he knew positively that
+he was about to write one now.
+
+He thought of Esther and the wistfulness of her grey eyes; she was the
+girl whom a man could love. He coloured a little as the thought
+involuntarily crossed his mind; she was a girl whom--he began to write
+rapidly.
+
+"My darling little girl----"
+
+Micky was naturally rather eloquent with his pen, though he had never
+before tried it in this especial direction.
+
+"This is the most difficult letter I have ever had to write in all my
+life; first, because I love you so much; and, secondly, because I am
+afraid it is going to hurt you nearly as much as it hurts me. Dear, as
+it will be some time before I see you again, and because I cannot
+explain everything to you, I am going to ask you to trust me till we
+meet again. I am leaving England to-night...."
+
+Micky paused and ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly before he
+struggled on once more: "I shall be thinking of you every minute till
+we meet again, and of the happy times we have had together. I will
+write to you whenever I can...." The pen paused, and Micky groaned,
+recalling that Ashton had said he should not write at all.
+
+"It'll have to do, anyway," he muttered, and again the pen flew: "I'm
+not much of a hand at writing letters, as you know, but you must try
+and read between the lines, and guess at all I would say were we
+together ... All I will say to you when we meet again."
+
+That last sentence was rather neat, Micky thought with pride, then a
+wave of compunction swept through his heart as he remembered the
+tragedy behind it all, and he finished the page soberly enough: "Ever
+yours, Raymond Ashton."
+
+"Damn him!" said Micky under his breath, as he blotted the signature;
+then he took two ten-pound notes from a drawer in his desk, and,
+enclosing them in the envelope, sealed and stamped it.
+
+It was half-past one, but Micky climbed into his coat again. He locked
+Ashton's letter into his desk, and, taking the one he had written,
+went quietly down to the street.
+
+The world was sleeping and deserted, and Micky's footsteps echoed
+hollowly along the pavement.
+
+"You're a fool, you know!" he told himself, with a sort of humour.
+"You're a bally fool, my boy! It won't end here, you see if it does."
+
+But he went on to the pillar-box at the street corner.
+
+When he reached it he stood for a moment with the letter in his hand.
+
+"You're a fool," he told himself again hardily. "Micky, my boy, you're
+a bally idiot, interfering with what doesn't concern you--with what
+doesn't concern you in the very least."
+
+He looked up at the stars and thought of Esther Shepstone, of her eyes
+and her wavering smile, and the soft note in her voice as she had
+asked him--
+
+"Are you always as kind to every one as you have been to me?"
+
+No concern of his! It was every concern of his; he knew that he was
+only living for the hours to pass before he saw her again. No concern
+of his! when the greatest miracle of all the world had come to pass
+during those last hours of the old year, inasmuch that Micky Mellowes,
+heartwhole and a bachelor for thirty odd years, had been bowled over
+by a girl without a shilling to her name--a girl who loved another
+man, but a girl to whom Micky had without wishing it, without knowing
+it, dedicated the rest of his life!
+
+He was her champion for the future, some one to stand between her and
+the callousness of the man of whom even now she was probably
+thinking.
+
+"No concern of mine!" said Micky to himself with fine scorn. "Why, of
+course it is! Every concern of mine."
+
+He squared his shoulders and dropped the envelope into the pillar-box.
+
+And so Micky Mellowes posted his first love-letter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+In spite of the events of the night Micky Mellowes slept soundly. It
+was half-past nine when he woke, to find his man Driver moving
+noiselessly about the room.
+
+When he saw that Micky was awake he approached the bed.
+
+"Good-morning, sir, and a happy New Year."
+
+Driver had an expressionless voice; he announced tea or tragedy in
+exactly the same tone.
+
+"Eh?" said Micky vacantly; the words opened the door of memory, and he
+sat up with a start. It was New Year's Day, and last night ... ye
+gods! what had not happened last night? Micky tingled to the tips of
+his fingers as he remembered the letter he had written and posted; he
+had expected to feel rotten about it in the light of day; it was an
+agreeable surprise to find that he did not feel anything of the kind.
+
+When he went in to breakfast there was a pile of letters waiting for
+him; he looked them through carelessly--there was one from Marie
+Deland, which he opened with a vague feeling of nervousness.
+
+Marie was a nice little girl; he really was quite fond of her, and yet
+... surely the days of miracles had not yet passed away, seeing that
+in a few short hours his feeling for her had changed from something
+warmer to more brotherly affection.
+
+It made him feel uncomfortable to read what she had written; it was
+really only quite an ordinary letter of regret that she had not seen
+him last night, but Micky imagined he could read more between the
+lines.
+
+"... I quite hoped you would drop in, if only for a few moments," so
+she wrote. "It's been so dull. I am writing this alone in the
+library."
+
+Micky knew that library well; he and she had spent a good deal of time
+there together talking sweet nothings; he wondered if he would have
+been an engaged man by this time if that relative of the Delands had
+not so conveniently died, and if Esther had not chosen his particular
+street in which to weep.
+
+He screwed the letter up and tossed it into the fire; he would answer
+it some time, or call; there was no immediate hurry. When he had
+finished his breakfast he went to his locked desk and took out
+Ashton's letter--somehow until he actually saw it again he could not
+quite believe that the events of last night had not all been a dream;
+but the letter was real enough, at all events with its callous
+beginning to "Dear Lallie."
+
+The morning seemed to drag; twice people rang him up on the 'phone and
+asked him to lunch, but Micky was not in the mood for lunch; he felt a
+suppressed sort of excitement, as if something of great import were
+about to happen.
+
+Driver looked at him woodenly once or twice; his face was as
+expressionless as his voice, but his dull eyes saw everything, and
+behind them his keen brain wondered what had happened to make Micky so
+restless.
+
+Towards one o'clock he ventured a gentle reminder.
+
+"You have an engagement for half-past three, sir--Miss Langdon's."
+
+Micky was yawning over the paper then; he looked up with an absurdly
+blank face.
+
+"Oh, I say!--well, I can't go, anyway. What was it for? I'm going
+out--I've got an important appointment."
+
+Driver never showed surprise at anything if he felt it.
+
+"It was a musical 'At 'Ome,' sir," he answered stolidly. "Shall I ring
+up and say that you won't be able to come?"
+
+"Yes, ring up," said Micky. He coloured self-consciously beneath the
+man's stoic eyes and hurriedly buried his head again in the
+newspaper.
+
+At three o'clock he changed his clothes for an immaculate morning-coat
+and grey trousers; then, remembering what Esther had said about the
+very horrid boarding-house, he changed them again for the oldest tweed
+suit in his possession, and a pair of brown boots that had seen their
+best days and long since been condemned by Driver.
+
+"How in the world do I get to Brixton?" Micky asked the man when he
+was ready. "I know I could take a taxicab, but I don't want to. What
+other ways are there?"
+
+Driver told him.
+
+"There's the train, sir, or a tram."
+
+Micky jumped at the tramcar. He was sure that people who lived in
+Brixton must all use tramcars.
+
+"How long would a tramcar take?" he asked.
+
+Driver considered. Finally he said that he thought it might be the
+best part of an hour.
+
+Micky glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter past three. He
+took up his hat hurriedly and went out into the street.
+
+A taxicab would have to do for to-day anyway. He could dismiss it at
+the corner of the road and walk the last few yards. A moment later he
+was being whirled through the streets.
+
+He sat leaning back in the corner with his feet up on the seat
+opposite, feeling decidedly nervous.
+
+Supposing he did not see Esther--supposing she were not there?
+Supposing she had purposely given him the wrong address? Supposing
+... oh, supposing a thousand and one things! Micky was full of
+apprehension when at last the taxicab stopped at the corner of the
+Brixton Road and the driver came to the door to ask what number.
+
+Micky scrambled out.
+
+"Oh, I'll walk the rest of the way."
+
+He paid the man liberally, and set out along the crowded pathway.
+There were so many people about that he thought it must be a market
+day or something. A word with a policeman elicited the information
+that he was at quite the wrong end of the street for the number he
+wanted. Micky was rather glad. He felt that he needed time in which to
+collect his thoughts, and yet when at last he reached his destination
+he felt as nervous as a kitten and strongly inclined to go back. But
+he went on and up the bare strip of garden which led to the front door
+of the house. It wasn't such a bad-looking house, he thought. Not
+nearly as bad as he had expected from the girl's description. In fact,
+once upon a time it must have been rather a palatial residence, but
+all the windows now were boxed up with cheap, starchy-looking
+curtains, and there was a sort of third-rate atmosphere about the
+basement and the cheap knocker on the front door.
+
+Micky looked for a bell, but there wasn't one, so he knocked.
+
+It seemed a long time before anybody came. When at last they did he
+heard them coming for a long time before the door was opened, heard
+slipshod steps on shiny linoleum, and a husky sort of breathless
+cough.
+
+The owner of the cough was young and scared-looking, in shoes several
+sizes too large for her, and a skirt several inches too short. When
+Micky asked for Miss Shepstone she stared without answering for a
+moment, then she turned and slopped back the way she had come, leaving
+the door on the chain.
+
+Micky chuckled to himself; she evidently did not like the look of
+him.
+
+He waited patiently; then he heard another step along the shiny
+linoleumed floor of the hall--a very different step this time--and,
+turning eagerly, he saw Esther herself in the doorway.
+
+"I didn't really think you would come," she said breathlessly.
+
+For a moment Micky could not find his tongue. If he had thought this
+girl pretty last night with the tears in her eyes he thought her a
+thousand times prettier now. She looked as if some magician hand had
+wiped the distress from her face and convinced her that the sun still
+shone.
+
+She wore the same clothes she had worn last night, but even they
+seemed somehow to have changed. There was a bunch of violets pinned in
+her jacket. Micky wondered if it were the violets that were
+responsible for the alteration.
+
+"When I make an appointment I always keep it," he said.
+
+He had almost added "with any one like you," but thought better of it.
+"And are you going to let me take you out to tea?" he asked.
+
+She hesitated; she glanced back into the dingy hall behind her.
+
+"I am leaving here to-day," she said. "My box has gone already. If you
+will wait a moment ... I would ask you in, but you'd hate it so."
+
+"I'll wait outside," said Micky.
+
+He went down into the street. For the moment he had quite forgotten
+all about Ashton and the letter which must by this time be in Esther's
+possession.
+
+"And what about Charlie?" he asked whimsically when she joined him.
+
+She smiled, shaking her head.
+
+"I sent him on--in a basket. Nobody wants him here--he only gets
+badgered about all day long; so I'm taking him with me. Do you think I
+ought not to?"
+
+"I think Charlie is a most fortunate cat," said Micky.
+
+She did not take him seriously.
+
+"I think he will be happier with me anyway," she said "I'm going to
+quite a nice boarding-house now. I went out this morning and found
+it." She looked up at him with a smile. "I don't think even you would
+mind coming to tea there," she said.
+
+"I thought you were going to say mind coming there to live," Micky
+told her audaciously. "I've been looking about for fresh diggings; I'm
+tired of mine." He stopped and glanced behind him. "Can we get a
+tramcar here?"
+
+"I'm not tired," she said quickly.
+
+"Well, I must admit that I am," Micky answered. He hated walking at
+the best of times, and he did not like to suggest another taxicab.
+"Let's go on top."
+
+They climbed up and found a front seat; there was a working man next
+to them smoking shag in a clay pipe; he looked at Micky and Esther
+doubtfully, then asked--
+
+"Does your good lady mind smoke, mister?"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I don't mind at all," she said, laughing.
+
+"You got home all right last night, then?" Micky said presently.
+"After you had gone I wished I had seen you safely in...."
+
+"It's kind of you, but I was quite all right." There was a note of
+constraint in her voice. "I should like to thank you for what you did
+for me last night," she said hesitatingly.
+
+"If it hadn't been for you...." She stopped.
+
+Micky did not know what to say.
+
+"Anyway, it's all right now, eh?" he asked presently, with awkward
+cheerfulness. "I thought it would be; when things look so black that
+they can't possibly look any blacker, they always begin to mend. I've
+found that out before; I don't know if you have."
+
+"I found it out this morning."
+
+Micky looked down at her. She was sitting with her hands clasped
+together in her lap; there was a little flush in her cheeks, and her
+lips were curved into a faint smile.
+
+"It seems so wonderful too," she went on softly, "that it should have
+happened on New Year's Day----"
+
+"Fares, all fares, please," said the conductor beside them. Micky
+dived into a pocket and found a shilling.
+
+"Two, please," he said.
+
+He had paid for and shared taxicabs with Marie Deland times without
+number, but it had never given him quite the same pleasurable little
+thrill as he experienced at this moment.
+
+There was something so pleasantly familiar about this tramcar ride,
+the fact of sharing the same uncomfortable seat with Esther
+Shepstone.
+
+"Penny ones?" the conductor asked.
+
+Micky looked at the girl.
+
+"Where shall we get off?" he asked.
+
+"Penny ones will do," she said.
+
+Micky took the tickets and pocketed his change.
+
+"I don't know if there are any decent teashops round here," he said
+dubiously. "If you would rather go up to the West End...."
+
+But finally they found a confectioner's quite close to where the penny
+fare ended.
+
+Micky looked round critically.
+
+"Is this all right?" he asked. "I've never been here before."
+
+"I have, often," she said. She was drawing off her gloves.
+
+Micky glanced hurriedly at her hands; she was wearing a ring. Hardly
+knowing that he did so, he leaned across and touched it.
+
+"Is that an engagement ring?" he asked. His voice sounded a little
+breathless.
+
+She looked up at him, drawing her hand away.
+
+"Why do you ask me?"
+
+He drew back; he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I beg your pardon. I suppose I have no right to ask."
+
+He ordered tea. He talked rather forced platitudes for the rest of the
+time. He was just going to call for the bill, when Esther Shepstone
+said suddenly--
+
+"Mr. Mellowes, I should like to tell you something."
+
+"Yes!" Micky did not look at her. Somehow he could not trust himself.
+
+"I don't in the least know why I want to tell you," she said again
+nervously. "But--you've been so kind to me...."
+
+"Yes!" said Micky gently, as she paused. "Yes, what is it?"
+
+She was twisting her teaspoon, and she kept her eyes lowered.
+
+"Last night, when I met you--I was very unhappy ... There didn't seem
+anything to live for in the world.... I don't know if you've ever felt
+like that, or if you have ever cared for any one--really cared, I
+mean--but if you have...." She stopped again.
+
+"I think I understand," Micky said, with an effort. "You mean that
+there's some one, some man...."
+
+She raised her grey eyes to his face.
+
+"Yes, that's what I mean."
+
+"Some man you care for--care for very much," Micky went on slowly.
+"Perhaps some one you have quarreled with--who hadn't been quite as
+... kind as he might have been----"
+
+The soft colour flooded her face.
+
+"Did you guess--last night?" she asked shyly.
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Did I? I am not sure, perhaps." He drew a long breath that was half a
+sigh. "Well?" he queried.
+
+"I don't know why I am telling you this----" she said again, with a
+sort of distress. "It cannot interest you, but, somehow, I think I
+should like you to know."
+
+"It interests me very much--I am honoured that you should tell me."
+Micky looked again at the ring she wore; quite a cheap little ring,
+with a couple of inferior diamonds. "You mean that you are engaged to
+be married?"
+
+"Yes; at least----" The words were only a whisper.
+
+Micky sat very still.
+
+"Well, I suppose you will have me for a friend all the same, won't
+you?" he asked with an effort.
+
+She looked at him in faint amazement.
+
+"I thought if I told you that perhaps you'd rather not...." She
+stopped in confusion.
+
+Micky leaned a little closer over the table.
+
+"You said last night that you didn't believe in a man's friendship for
+a woman," he said. "Well, I am going to make you believe in it. I'm
+going to be your friend. The fact that you are engaged makes no
+difference to me, if it doesn't to you."
+
+She looked at him earnestly.
+
+"If you mean that," she said, "I think I'm very glad."
+
+"Thank you. I suppose I mustn't ask who the--the lucky man is?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I can't tell you. And he's away now--out of England."
+
+Her voice changed a little, her eyes looked past Micky as if for the
+moment she had forgotten him.
+
+Micky watched her jealously.
+
+"And so whatever was wrong last night is all right to-day, is that
+it?" he asked with an effort.
+
+"Yes ... somehow I never thought it would be, but this morning----"
+
+"This morning?" he echoed as she stopped.
+
+"I had a letter this morning," she told him, and her voice had
+softened so wonderfully that Micky caught his breath. "Oh, I wonder if
+you have ever been as unhappy as I was last night, and then had a
+letter, a wonderful letter like I had this morning? There was
+something in it that seemed to put everything right straight away;
+something that I've always wanted before and never had. I can't
+explain it any better than that, but perhaps you understand. I'm just
+telling you because I feel so happy I must tell somebody, and because
+I didn't want you to misjudge him as I did yesterday. I thought he
+didn't really care, and I wanted to die, but to-day, when his letter
+came----" She broke off into a little happy laugh.
+
+Micky had rammed his clenched hands into his pockets; the blood was
+hammering in his temples; his brain felt in a whirl; somehow in all
+his wildest imaginings he had never dreamed of this.
+
+It was his letter that had brought that new look of happiness to her
+eyes! His letter which perhaps even then lay against her heart; the
+first love-letter he had ever written to any woman, and she believed
+it to have been written by Raymond Ashton!
+
+He did not realise how long he sat there without speaking till Esther
+spoke to him again. There was a little anxious note in her voice.
+
+"I'm afraid I've bored you horribly with all this. I know it's no
+interest to you, but I felt that I must tell somebody."
+
+Micky roused himself with an effort.
+
+"It's of great interest to me," he said. "And you mustn't ever say a
+thing like that again. We're going to be friends, and real friends are
+always interested in everything that concerns the other. I'm more glad
+than I can say that you're happy. I only hope it's going to last for
+ever."
+
+Perhaps there was a dubious note in his voice, for an anxious gleam
+crept into the girl's eyes.
+
+"You sound as if you don't think that it will," she said quickly.
+
+Micky made a hurried disclaimer.
+
+"I do think so, of course I do! You deserve all the happiness you can
+get, and whoever the man is, if he doesn't make you happy----"
+
+He stopped, with frowning memory of Ashton and their parting only last
+night.
+
+He hoped in his heart that they would never meet again; if they did,
+he realised that there would be quite a few nasty things he would feel
+called upon to say to him.
+
+The waitress brought the bill at that moment and put an end to further
+conversation, for which he was thankful. He realised that he was
+getting rather out of his depth. He breathed more freely when they
+were safely out in the street.
+
+"And where is the new boarding-house?" he asked presently. He wanted
+to change the subject; every moment he was afraid that he would say
+something to give himself away. He supposed he had behaved like an
+impetuous fool. He ought never to have posted that letter--ought never
+to have opened Ashton's; and yet--if he had not done so.... He looked
+down at the girl beside him, and wondered grimly how she would have
+felt if he had allowed that callous farewell to reach her.
+
+"It's quite close to where we are now," she told him. "It's rather
+more expensive than the last one, but it's well worth the extra money,
+and"--she glanced up at him smilingly--"I'm better off to-day than I
+was yesterday," she explained. "And when I go back to work again----"
+
+"Are you going back, then?" he asked quickly.
+
+"Of course I am. I must do something, and they will take me back at
+Eldred's, I know----"
+
+"Eldred's!" Micky frowned. "That's the petticoat shop, isn't it?"
+
+She laughed.
+
+"Yes; how did you know?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I've seen the place lots of times. A girl I know buys all her----" He
+stopped. "Do you want to go back there?" he asked.
+
+"Not particularly, but it's easier than looking for a fresh place, and
+I know they will take me. I'm in the workroom, and it's not really
+such a hard life."
+
+Micky did some rapid thinking; it was surprising how easily his brain
+had taken to hard work during the last twenty-four hours.
+
+"Why don't you get a job as a companion to a nice old lady or
+somebody?" he suggested vaguely.
+
+She laughed again.
+
+"It doesn't sound a bit attractive," she said frankly. "I think you
+need an awful lot of patience. It's very kind of you to be interested,
+but I think I shall go back to Eldred's, for a time, at least."
+
+Micky did not like the idea at all, but he let the subject drop.
+
+"Are you going back to the Brixton Road?" he asked after a moment.
+
+"Oh no; I paid them before I left this afternoon, so I shall go
+straight to the new place."
+
+"I should like to walk there with you, if I may," said Micky.
+
+"Of course you may."
+
+"And when shall I see you again?" he asked. "You're not going to
+vanish for days, are you? I've got no end of time to kill, and----"
+
+"But I haven't," she reminded him. "At least, I shan't have when I
+start work. But I should like to see you again," she added kindly.
+
+"Thank you," said Micky with faint sarcasm.
+
+He felt vaguely disappointed with the whole afternoon. She was holding
+him so decidedly at arm's length. He supposed it was that infernal
+fellow Ashton that stood between them. There was a sort of irony, too,
+in the fact that he himself had by his own action established him more
+firmly than ever in this girl's affections.
+
+And the fellow was not worth a thought! That was the rotten part of
+it. As he looked at her he felt strongly tempted to blurt out the
+truth; to tell her that it was he who wrote that letter--to undeceive
+her once and for all.
+
+But the thing was manifestly impossible. She would probably think it
+an abominable thing to have opened Ashton's letter; she would probably
+be furious if he let her know that the money she had received had come
+from him. Whichever way he turned he seemed to be in a corner.
+
+They had reached the new boarding-house now, and Micky was relieved to
+see that it was a decided improvement on the one in the Brixton Road.
+
+The windows were not boxed up, and the steps and the bell were clean.
+It was on the sunny side of the road, too, and had an air of
+cheerfulness about it.
+
+"It's much better than the other one, isn't it?" Esther asked.
+
+"Streets better," he assured her. "I shouldn't mind living here
+myself...." He waited, but she made no comment, and he felt rather
+snubbed.
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Don't you like the place where you are living now?" she asked after a
+moment. "Don't they make you comfortable there?"
+
+"Oh, it's comfortable enough," said Micky. He wondered if he looked as
+guilty as he felt. "But I don't believe in sticking on anywhere too
+long. A change is good for every one. I shall be shifting out some day
+soon, I expect."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"I shall see you again soon," he said. "And if there is anything I can
+do for you----"
+
+"Thank you, but there isn't." She spoke quite kindly, but Micky had
+the uncomfortable sort of feeling that her thoughts were elsewhere. He
+waited a moment, then held out his hand.
+
+"Well, good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye, and thank you for my tea."
+
+She nodded and smiled and turned away from him.
+
+There was nothing else for Micky to do but to go; he raised his hat
+and walked off disconsolately.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+When Esther went upstairs to her room in No. 11 Elphinstone Road, she
+found the door standing open, and she could hear some one talking
+inside.
+
+She stood still for a moment in amazement; she thought perhaps she had
+made a mistake and come to the wrong room, but a glance reassured her;
+the number of her room was 23, and this one was 23; she pushed the
+door wider and went in.
+
+Her boxes were there, standing one upon the other, so as to make more
+space in the small room, and on the rather shabby rug by the fireplace
+a woman was kneeling with her back to the door.
+
+She did not hear Esther enter, and for a moment the girl stood staring
+at her in blank amazement. She could not see her face, but she could
+see that the woman was small and slightly built, with a wealth of jet
+black hair coiled in becoming carelessness with a couple of yellow
+pins to fasten it.
+
+She wore a yellow blouse, which Esther would have thought hideous on
+any one else, but somehow against that dark coil of hair it looked
+decidedly picturesque.
+
+Esther moved a little, deliberately knocking against a chair to
+attract attention, and the girl on the hearthrug looked round with a
+startled exclamation; then scrambled to her feet.
+
+"I heard there was a cat," she explained. "Lydia told me that he was
+shut up here alone, so I just had to come in and see him. I hope you
+don't mind. I brought him some milk."
+
+For a moment Esther was too taken aback to answer. She looked from the
+little woman in the yellow blouse to Charlie, sprawled on the rug and
+purring lustily, and then back again to the little woman.
+
+She was very attractive looking, that was Esther's first thought, and
+her next that she had never seen any one with such a beautiful
+complexion.
+
+"You're Miss Shepstone, aren't you?" her visitor queried in the
+friendliest of tones. "You see, I know quite a lot about you already.
+Lydia told me--Lydia's the housemaid--you'll like her; she's a really
+nice girl. My name is June Mason--I live here, too, and I hope we will
+be great friends."
+
+There was something so breezily disarming about her that Esther held
+out her hand.
+
+"You're very kind. I hardly know what to say...."
+
+"Don't say anything," Miss Mason answered airily. "I'm going to like
+you; I knew I should somehow when I first heard your name. I believe
+in that sort of thing--I don't know if you do, but as soon as Lydia
+told me who it was that had taken this room I knew I should like you.
+I think your name is sweet--Esther! So quaint and old-world. Have you
+had your tea?--yes, oh, what a shame! I've got some ready for you in
+my room. Oh, I hope you don't think it's awful cheek," she broke out
+with a sort of embarrassment. "I've got a sitting-room here as well as
+a bedroom, and I always make my own tea, it's better than you can get
+downstairs. I've got a fire there too, and if you're ever cold I hope
+you'll come and sit with me. I'm out a good deal but you can always
+use my room when I'm not there, if you care to. Take off your hat and
+come and see it now, or are you too tired? I don't want to worry
+you."
+
+"I'm not a bit tired," Esther said, laughing; she felt a little
+bewildered by this sudden offer of friendship, but June Mason
+interested her, and after a moment she took off her hat obediently.
+
+"We'll bring the cat too," Miss Mason said; she swooped down with a
+quick movement and caught the cat up in her arms. "I love cats," she
+said. "What's his name?"
+
+"Charlie," said Esther shyly. "He's very thin, but they weren't kind
+to him where he belonged before...."
+
+"What a shame! I simply loathe people who are not kind to animals.
+Never mind, he'll soon get all right. Now come along--I'll help you
+unpack your boxes presently."
+
+She led the way downstairs, and Esther followed.
+
+She had been feeling a little scared of this new boarding-house. She
+felt grateful for this girl's unaffected overture.
+
+"Mine's the best room in the house," Miss Mason informed her. She
+pushed open the door of a room immediately below Esther's. "Sit down
+and make yourself at home. I'll get the tea in half a minute. I know
+you'll have another cup. I shall, anyway. Do you smoke?"
+
+"No," said Esther.
+
+"Well I do. I hope you're not shocked. I find it's so soothing when
+you've got nerves; and I'm a frightfully nervy person. I am hardly
+ever still; I'm always on the go."
+
+Esther could well believe it. She looked on with a slightly dazed
+feeling while June Mason lit a cigarette and bustled about the room.
+
+It was a very comfortable room, with plenty of easy-chairs and lots of
+cushions all in the same pale shade of mauve.
+
+"I didn't think there would be any rooms as comfortable as this in the
+house," Esther said. "I suppose you pay a great deal for it, though."
+
+"I don't know about that. Most of the furniture is mine and all the
+cushions. Do you like my cushions?"
+
+She put down the teapot, which she had been about to fill, and caught
+up one of the cushions, plumping its softness together with her white
+hands.
+
+"Mauve is my lucky colour," she rattled on. "Everything I do in mauve
+turns out well. But perhaps you don't believe in a superstition like
+that?"
+
+Esther was rather bewildered.
+
+"I'm not sure. I never thought about it," she said hesitatingly. "But
+it's a very pretty colour."
+
+Miss Mason dropped the cushion to the floor, and stooping picked
+Charlie up and deposited him on it.
+
+"Doesn't he look sweet?" she demanded. "And a black cat is lucky too,
+you know, so that's a comfort."
+
+She went back to the teapot, made the tea, and poured out a cup for
+Esther.
+
+"Is that chair comfy?--yes, lean back! What are you looking at? Oh, my
+photographs! Yes. I have got a lot, haven't I? Lydia dusts them for
+me! Lydia's a treasure! You'll love her. When I get married she's
+going to leave here and come with me----"
+
+Esther looked interested.
+
+"Are you going to be married?" she asked.
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"Am I? No, I'm not. I'm too fond of my independence. Not that I don't
+like men. I do like them, and I've got some awfully good pals amongst
+them, too. Look!"
+
+She turned with one of her rapid movements, caught up a photograph
+from the shelf and handed it to Esther.
+
+"There! that's one of the nicest men I ever met in my life," she said
+enthusiastically. "Don't you think he's got a ripping face?"
+
+Esther took the portrait laughingly--she thought June Mason one of the
+most amusing people she had ever met--then she caught her breath on a
+little smothered exclamation as she found herself looking straight
+into the pictured eyes of Micky Mellowes.
+
+June Mason was too occupied with a fresh cigarette to notice the blank
+look that filled Esther's eyes.
+
+She sat there in the big chair, staring at Micky's portrait with a
+sense of foreboding. Surely it was something bigger than just chance
+that had introduced him into her life for the second time.
+
+"He's one of the best," June Mason went on. She dragged forward
+another chair and plumped down into it comfortably.
+
+"Don't you admire him?" She opened her eyes wide, looking across at
+Esther.
+
+"Yes, oh yes! I think he's quite nice," Esther said stiltedly. "But
+not a bit good-looking, do you think?" she asked, with a sort of
+hesitation.
+
+Miss Mason took the portrait from her and held it at arm's length.
+
+"Um!" she said critically. "Perhaps he isn't, but I like him so much,
+you see, that I'm not a fair judge. He's been a good friend to me, at
+all events."
+
+She got up, replaced the frame on the shelf, and plumped back once
+more amongst her mauve cushions.
+
+"My people wanted me to marry him at one time," she went on airily. "I
+might have done so only I liked him too well. He didn't care for me,
+except as a friend, and it seemed a shame to spoil it, so I put my
+foot down."
+
+"You mean that you refused him?"
+
+Esther was interested; she was remembering how Micky had told her that
+he had never really cared for any woman in all his life.
+
+"He never asked me, my dear," Miss Mason answered candidly. "I let him
+see that it wouldn't be any good if he did, and I know he was
+frightfully relieved. We were never so nearly in love with one another
+as we were when we both knew that we didn't mean to get married." She
+chuckled reminiscently. "It finished me with my people, though," she
+added, "so I cleared out and came here."
+
+"And--Micky?" Esther asked. "I--I mean Mr. Mellowes...."
+
+Miss Mason looked faintly surprised.
+
+"How did you know his name?" she asked. "Did I tell you? I suppose I
+did. Oh, he's all right; he's the kind of man who always will be all
+right. He's got another girl on the tapis now. I don't know if it will
+come to anything, though. Anyway, she's not good enough for him."
+
+"You seem very fond of him," Esther said.
+
+"I am. He's a dear! I should love to see him happily married to a girl
+with a heart of gold like his own. I think I know him better than most
+people, and his little corner of the world would be amazed if they
+knew the amount of good Micky manages to do."
+
+She had flushed up with her own enthusiasm. Her curious eyes (Esther
+could not decide if they were grey, blue, or green, or a mixture of
+all three) were very bright and expressive.
+
+"I've heard lots of rotten things said about him," she went on, "and I
+know that none of them are really deserved--at least most of them are
+not. He isn't a saint--but what man is, I should like to know? But
+Micky's the sort who would give his life for a friend or any one
+little and weak. Do you know"--she flung away the half-smoked
+cigarette and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees--"last
+winter, down in the country, I saw Micky go into a dirty pond in
+evening dress to rescue a drowning cat. What do you think of that?"
+
+"A--a--cat!" said Esther faintly. She looked at Charlie, and
+remembered how Micky had paid for milk for him the night of their
+strange meeting.
+
+"A miserable drowning cat!" Miss Mason went on with tragic emphasis.
+"He heard it mewing from the road, and he went in after it without
+stopping to think. Now, I call a man a hero who will do a thing like
+that when he is on his way to a dance he is very keen about, don't
+you?"
+
+"Yes," said Esther. Her heart warmed towards Mellowes. Kind as he had
+been to her, she had not been quite sure of him; it made her feel
+happier to hear him so warmly championed.
+
+"You'll be sick to death of my chatter," June Mason broke out with
+sudden change of voice. She helped herself to a third cigarette. "I
+hope you don't mind smoke," she apologised. "I'm always at it; I think
+I smoke dozens a day----"
+
+"Or throw them away half smoked," Esther thought amusedly. "I don't
+mind at all," she answered.
+
+"You haven't told me a thing about yourself," Miss Mason reminded her
+reproachfully. "And it's not fair that I should do all the talking. I
+know your name, and that's about all. Have you got any people? Where
+do you come from?"
+
+Esther flushed a little.
+
+"There isn't much to tell you. I haven't any people. I was born in
+India, and my mother died there. I don't know anything about my
+father. I was sent home to an aunt, and she looked after me till about
+three years ago, when she died. I came to London then, and they took
+me on at Eldred's--do you know Eldred's?"
+
+"Do I not?" said Miss Mason fervently. "Scrumptious things they make;
+but what prices! I can't afford them very often, but I go in there a
+good deal. I know the manager, and he's going to do some business for
+me--at least I hope he is. If I can get my stuff into his place it
+will be a splendid thing. All London shops there, you know; all London
+with any money, that is!"
+
+Esther looked mystified.
+
+"Your stuff!" she echoed. "What do you mean?"
+
+June Mason laughed merrily. She had a very infectious laugh and a
+trick of covering her face with her hands while she was laughing.
+
+"I forgot that you didn't know!" she said. "I seem to know you so
+well, I can't remember that we never saw one another before to-day. My
+dear, I make face cream. Wait a moment."
+
+She sprang up and disappeared behind a mauve curtain into an
+adjoining room. Esther heard her moving about, opening and shutting
+boxes and singing a snatch of song all the time. Presently she came
+back with a tray crowded with little pots and phials of all sizes and
+descriptions. She plumped down on her knees beside Esther's chair.
+
+"There you are!" she said lightly, though there was an odd dash of
+pride in her voice. "Face cream, night and day cream, eyelash tonic,
+and all the rest of it! Of course, I'm only just starting--I'm not
+like those people who advertise in all the papers and charge about a
+guinea for a shilling jar; but my stuff is as good as theirs any day,
+and better, because it's pure. Look!" She took a lid off a little
+white pot with a mauve label and held it to Esther.
+
+"Isn't that a glorious perfume?" she demanded. She sniffed it herself
+with relish. "And it's all my invention, and I'm as proud of it as a
+cat would be of nine tails. When I've got things a little more
+ship-shape, Micky's going to put it on the market for me. It wants a
+man behind all these sort of things you know. I can do all the donkey
+work, but I've got no head for business. I never know the difference
+between a loss and a profit. It was partly over this that I quarrelled
+with my people--they said it was low-down to make face cream and sell
+it--they're awful snobs! So I just cleared off and changed my surname
+and came here. I'm quite happy, and if I haven't got as much money as
+I had, I don't mind--I've got my liberty, and that's worth every
+thing."
+
+"I think you're just wonderful," Esther said. She picked up a lid from
+one of the little pots and looked at the mauve and white label.
+
+"June Mason's natural beautifier...."
+
+She looked at the glowing face opposite to her.
+
+"Do you use it for your own skin?" she asked shyly.
+
+Miss Mason chuckled; she pushed the tray to one side along the floor.
+
+"I don't mind telling you that I've never used cream to my skin at
+all," she said. "But people think I do, and so there you are! Have
+some more tea?"
+
+She refilled Esther's cup and lit another cigarette. "So that's what I
+am," she said. "And now go on, and tell me about yourself. You said
+you were at Eldred's!"
+
+"Yes, I was there for two years. I rather liked it! I love pretty
+things, and I was in the workroom. They paid me quite well, too,
+though it was hard work, and then--well, then I left----" her voice
+changed subtly.
+
+"Why?"
+
+The query was only interested, and not at all impertinent.
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"Well--well--I thought I was going to be married. He--well, he asked
+me to leave to marry him, and so I did...."
+
+"But you're not married?"
+
+"No----" Esther was looking away into the fire. "No, I'm not married,"
+she said in a stifled voice. "He--my fiancé--has had to go away on
+business--abroad, and I don't know when I shall see him again."
+
+Her voice sounded sad and dispirited.
+
+"You poor little thing!" said June Mason. She leaned over and laid her
+hand on Esther's. "Never mind! The time will soon pass, and then he'll
+come back and you'll live happily ever after----"
+
+Esther smiled.
+
+"I know. I keep on telling myself it's foolish to worry. I felt quite
+happy this morning. I had a letter from him, and somehow when I read
+it things didn't seem half so bad; but----"
+
+"And you'll have another to-morrow, I expect." Miss Mason insisted.
+"And another the next day, and one every day while he's away. There!
+That's better," she added cheerily as Esther laughed.
+
+"I don't like to see you look so sad. I'm going to cheer you up. I
+shan't allow you to be miserable. And anyway," she added, with a
+sudden softening, "you've got some one who loves you, and that's worth
+everything else in the world."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. Her eyes shone and she thought of the letter which
+was even then lying against her heart. Somehow she had never realised
+how much he really cared for her till to-day.
+
+"And what are you going to do till he comes home?" Miss Mason asked
+interestedly. "If you had something to do you'd find the time pass
+ever so much more quickly."
+
+"It's a question of having to do something rather than how to pass the
+time," Esther said. "I haven't any money except what I can make. My
+aunt left me a little when she died, but it was only a very little,
+and I spent most of it at first while I was looking for work. So I'm
+going back to Eldred's--if they will have me, and I think they will."
+
+Miss Mason said "Humph!"
+
+"I think you're too good for a petticoat shop," she said bluntly.
+"You're wasted there! Nobody sees you, and you're so pretty----"
+
+"Oh, what nonsense!" Esther exclaimed. She laughed in sheer amusement.
+To her it seemed absurd for this girl to call her pretty; she
+considered June Mason such a personality--so attractive!
+
+She really did make a picturesque figure as she sat there with her
+mauve cushions all around her. Her yellow blouse and dark hair and
+wonderful rose-leaf skin reminded one of some brilliant portrait
+painted by a master-hand.
+
+Esther would have been surprised could she have known the thought in
+June's mind at that moment.
+
+"She's just sweet! I don't know when I've seen a face I admire more.
+Micky would adore her! She's just the sort of woman he always raves
+about. I must ask him to tea to meet her one day."
+
+"There are heaps of other berths going besides Eldred's, you know,"
+she said earnestly. "However, you must do as you like, of course." She
+threw away another unfinished cigarette. "Do you think we are going to
+be friends?" she asked.
+
+"I am sure we are," Esther said. She really did think so; she had
+never met any one in the least like June Mason before. She began to
+feel glad that she had come to this house. It was much more expensive
+than the Brixton Road, certainly, but it was well worth it, even if
+only because she had met this quaint little woman.
+
+It was nearly seven o'clock before she thought of going back to her
+own room, and then it was only the chiming of a clock on the shelf
+that roused her.
+
+"Nearly seven!" She started up in dismay. "I had no idea it was so
+late. I am sorry for having stayed so long."
+
+"There's nothing to be sorry for," June declared. "You may go shares
+with this room if you like. I'm out so much, it isn't used half the
+time. Think it over, will you?"
+
+Esther flushed nervously.
+
+"It's awfully kind of you; I should love to, but I couldn't afford it.
+I'm really paying more money now than I ought to. I want to save,
+too----"
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"For the wedding! Lucky girl! I hope you'll ask me to come and see you
+married--and I hope he's very nice," she added.
+
+"He is," said Esther eagerly. "And he's very handsome," she added
+shyly.
+
+But Miss Mason was not impressed.
+
+"I don't care a fig if a man is handsome or not," she said bluntly.
+"If he's just manly and straightforward and kind, that's all I expect
+him to be. Now look here--we have dinner at half-past seven in this
+establishment. It's only supper really, but we all put on our best
+blouses--if we've got any--and call it dinner. I'll call for you on
+the way down and we'll go in together. I'll tell Mrs. Elders you are
+going to share my table, if you like; it's deadly dull sitting
+alone."
+
+"I should like to sit with you very much," Esther said eagerly. "But I
+really haven't got a 'best' blouse." She glanced down at the plain
+white silk shirt she wore; it had been washed many times, and had lost
+its first freshness.
+
+"Come down as you are, then," Miss Mason urged, "and I will too! I
+hate changing. This yellow rag is good enough for the old tabbies we
+get here."
+
+Esther went half-way down the stairs and came back.
+
+"Charlie--I've forgotten Charlie."
+
+"Charlie can stay where he is till bedtime," June declared. "You can
+come up and fetch him then. Hurry, or you'll be late."
+
+Esther went down to her room, feeling more light-hearted than she had
+done for a long time.
+
+As she unpacked her boxes and tidied her hair she could hear June
+Mason moving about upstairs, singing cheerily.
+
+"I'm going to like her--I'm going to like her awfully," she told
+herself. She hurried to be ready in time, but the rather unmelodious
+dinner-bell had clanged through the house twice before June came to
+the door.
+
+"You've unpacked, then?" she said. She looked round the small room
+approvingly. "I can see you're one of the tidy ones," she said. "I'm
+not; I wish I were. However, we can't all be the same. Are you
+ready?"
+
+She took Esther's arm and they went downstairs together.
+
+"Every one knows you're coming," June said as they neared the
+dining-room. "Every one always knows everything that goes on here.
+Don't take any notice if they stare a lot; they must stare at
+something, poor darlings. I'll tell you who they all are and all about
+them."
+
+The dining-room was a long, narrow sort of room that looked as if it
+once had been two rooms recently thrown into one; the floor was
+covered with slippery green linoleum, and there was a long table
+running almost the length of the room, with a few smaller ones on
+either side.
+
+A grey-haired woman with pebble glasses stood at the head of the long
+table; Esther recognised her as the proprietress, Mrs. Elders.
+
+She said good-evening to Esther and stared frigidly at June, as if she
+did not like to see the two girls together. She did not approve of the
+little face cream lady, though she was careful never to say so, as
+June was one of her best paying propositions.
+
+Esther was glad when they reached their own table; glad, too, that she
+was more or less out of the way of curious glances.
+
+The dinner was plain, but infinitely superior to the fare she had had
+to put up with in the Brixton Road.
+
+"Do you have all your meals here?" she asked June presently.
+
+"No--only breakfast and supper--and not always supper. I go out with
+friends sometimes. Every one hasn't given me up just because my family
+have. But the food is quite good here. They're rather too fond of rice
+and stewed apples; but it might be worse. Turn round presently and
+look at the man behind you with the grey hair. Isn't he handsome? We
+call him the colonel, though I don't believe he's a colonel at all.
+He's a dear, but he always complains about everything. I know he gives
+notice regularly on Saturday morning and takes it back again on
+Saturday night. Mrs. Elders would think he wasn't well if he missed
+giving her notice."
+
+She laughed, and turning in her chair spoke to a young man who was
+sitting alone at one of the smaller tables behind her.
+
+"Is your cough better?" she asked. "I'm going to give you some special
+stuff to-night for it. No, it isn't at all nasty." She turned back to
+Esther. "May I introduce Mr. Harley--he's the most interesting person
+in the whole house. He writes stories and things, Mr. Harley, this is
+Miss Shepstone--a great friend of mine."
+
+Harley bowed. He was pale, delicate-looking young man with fine dark
+eyes.
+
+"You never told me that you knew Miss Shepstone," he said to June.
+
+"I didn't know her till this afternoon," she answered promptly; "but I
+make friends quickly, as you know."
+
+"You'll like Harley," she told Esther presently in an undertone. "He's
+very clever, but so delicate, poor boy! He ought to live in the
+country instead of in London. He's the sort of person I should love to
+help if I were rich."
+
+"It must be wonderful to be rich," Esther said. There was a little
+flush in her cheeks; she was really enjoying herself. "It's the dream
+of my life to have enough money to be able to do anything I like," she
+added earnestly. "Just for a month! If I could be really rich just for
+one month I wouldn't mind going back to being poor again."
+
+Miss Mason said "Rubbish!" briskly. "Money can't buy happiness, my
+dear, and don't you forget it. My people think it can, and lots of
+other people think the same. It only shows what fools they are. It was
+the money my people couldn't get over when I declined to marry Micky
+Mellowes...." She made a little wry face. "I remember my mother coming
+into my room one night in her dressing-gown--poor soul!--when she
+heard I'd told Micky there was nothing doing, and saying tragically:
+'June, you must be mad--stark, staring mad! Why, the man's as rich as
+Croesus!'"
+
+"Rich!" Esther was conscious of an odd little sinking at her heart.
+"Is Mr. Mellowes rich, then?" she asked constrainedly.
+
+Miss Mason was helping herself to a pat of butter. She held it poised
+for a moment on the end of her knife while she answered--
+
+"Rich? I should think he is! He's one of the richest men in London."
+
+"One of the richest men in London!--but he----" Esther had been going
+to add "But he told me that he was poor;" she only just checked the
+words in time.
+
+June nodded.
+
+"He's the despair of all the match-making mammas," she said lightly.
+"Over thirty, he is, and still a bachelor! I'm not sure if he isn't on
+the verge of being caught now, but you never can tell! With a little
+luck he may escape--she isn't good enough for him, anyway. Have you
+finished? I'm dying for a cigarette, and we aren't allowed to smoke
+here. Come up to my room and I'll make you some coffee; the stuff they
+give us here isn't fit to drink."
+
+She pushed back her chair and rose, and Esther followed.
+
+She kept her eyes down as she walked the length of the room; the
+colour rose in her cheeks as she realised how every one was staring at
+her. The colonel, whom June had declared was not a colonel at all,
+rose and held the door open for them to pass out.
+
+June chuckled as they went upstairs.
+
+"You've made an impression, my dear! It isn't often he does that for
+any one." She slipped an arm through Esther's. "Why are you frowning
+so? Have I said anything to annoy you?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Of course not. I was only thinking.... Do you--do your friends ever
+come here to see you?"
+
+She was thinking of Micky Mellowes, and wondering if he ever came to
+the boarding-house, and if so, why he had not told her that he knew
+somebody living here. After all, if he had deceived her in one
+instance he would do so in many others--she felt a curious sense of
+hurt pride; why had he gone out of his way to tell her he was a poor
+man, when all the time----?
+
+"To tell you the truth," June said frankly, "none of my friends know
+where I am living. Call it false pride if you like, but there you are.
+I have all my letters, except business ones, sent to my club--I belong
+to an unpretentious club--I'll take you there some day--and not even
+Micky knows that I live here. You see, when I flew in the face of
+providence, otherwise my noble family, they stopped my allowance, so
+as I'm entirely self-supporting, I had to be careful and live
+inexpensively, so I came here. And I'm very comfortable. If I want to
+meet any of my friends we meet out somewhere. I think it's better; it
+leaves me quite free...."
+
+They were back in her room again now, and Charlie had looked up with
+one eye from his mauve cushion, and purred, by way of a greeting.
+
+June lit a cigarette and rushed about in pursuit of the coffee-pot.
+All her movements were quick. She seemed to breathe life and energy.
+
+Esther walked over to the fireplace, and found herself looking at
+Micky's photograph.
+
+After all, he was just like all the other men she had ever known;
+apparently none of them could be simple and sincere; she supposed it
+had been his way of condescending to her, to pretend that he was poor
+and in similar circumstances to herself; perhaps he had guessed that
+she would never have allowed him to pay for her supper or tea, or have
+talked to her as he had done, if she had known him to be a rich man.
+
+She need never see him again, that was one thing; her heart hardened
+as she met the frankness of his pictured eyes; he was not as honest as
+he looked.
+
+She had mistaken condescension for kindness. She bit her lip with
+mortification as she recalled the confidence she had made to him only
+that afternoon. He was probably laughing at it now, and no doubt would
+repeat all she had said to his friends as a good joke.
+
+She went to her own room as soon as she had had the coffee. She made
+the excuse that she was tired, but when she went upstairs she sat down
+on the side of the bed and made no effort to undress. A sort of shadow
+seemed to have fallen on her spirits. She felt mortified that Micky
+should so deliberately have lied to her; her cheeks burned as she
+thought of the despair she had been in last night when she met him.
+She hoped she would never see him again.
+
+She looked round the little room with angry eyes. If only Fate had set
+her feet in sunnier paths. She looked at the plain furniture and cheap
+carpet; the wallpaper was hideous; there was a frightful oleograph of
+two Early Victorian women with crinolines and ringlet curls hanging
+over the mantlepiece. They both looked smug and self-satisfied. There
+was an enlarged photograph of a bald-headed man wearing a Masonic
+apron on another wall. He was fat and had his right hand plastered
+carefully along a chair-back to bring into prominence a large signet
+ring. Esther looked at him and shivered. She felt utterly alone and
+cut off from the world. She longed for Raymond Ashton with all her
+soul. She hated Micky Mellowes because his kindly condescension had
+made her feel her position more acutely now she knew him to be what he
+was.
+
+In spite of the new friend she had made in June Mason she felt lonely
+and unwanted; she began to cry like a child, as she sat there on the
+side of the iron bedstead; the tears ran down her cheeks and she made
+no effort to wipe them away.
+
+She wanted to be happy so badly, and it seemed as if she never was to
+be happy. The elation that had come to her when she read Micky's
+letter that morning had faded miserably; after all, what was a letter
+when it was a real, living personality she wanted, and not mere
+words?
+
+Downstairs she could hear June Mason moving about and singing; she at
+least was happy with her little mauve pots and her cheery optimism.
+
+Esther cried all the time she undressed; she crept into bed sobbing
+miserably, like a child who sleeps at a boarding-school for the first
+time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Micky passed three days before he made any attempt to see Esther
+Shepstone again; days that seemed like a month at least, and during
+which he lost his appetite and forgot to smoke.
+
+That she did not particularly care if she saw him again or not, he was
+miserably sure. She had no thoughts for any one but Ashton. He felt as
+if he could not settle to anything. On the third morning Marie Deland
+rang him up. He had told her many times that her voice on the
+telephone cheered him, but to-day it made him frown.
+
+He tried to answer her cheery "That you, Micky?" as cheerily, but he
+knew it was a failure.
+
+"What's the matter?" she asked quickly. "Aren't you well? Or are you
+cross?"
+
+There was a hint of laughter in her voice. She had never known Micky
+cross; he was always the cheeriest of mortals.
+
+Micky grabbed at the excuse she offered him.
+
+"I've got a brute of a headache," he said.
+
+"Poor old boy!" The pretty, sympathetic voice irritated him. "Come out
+for a walk; it will do you good."
+
+"Thanks--thanks awfully, but I don't think it would. I'm a perfect
+bear--you'd hate me. Some other time."
+
+There was a little pause. Micky could have kicked himself as he
+remembered on what terms they had parted. It was not her fault that a
+miracle had happened since then to metamorphose the whole world. He
+supposed uncomfortably that she was just the same as she had been when
+he last saw her. He knew she must be wondering why he had stayed away
+so long. He tried to soften his words.
+
+"I'll look in to-night, if I may. Sorry to be such a bear."
+
+She answered rather dispiritedly that it was all right, that she was
+sorry he felt ill. It was a relief when she rang off. He took his hat
+and went off to call on Esther.
+
+He felt that he could settle to nothing till he had seen her again;
+there was a curious jealousy in his heart about Ashton; he would have
+given anything he possessed to be able to disillusion her, but knew it
+was impossible without hopelessly compromising himself.
+
+It was a bitter disappointment to find that she was out when he
+reached the boarding-house; his face fell absurdly when he turned and
+walked away.
+
+He wondered if she really was out, or only out to him.
+
+After a moment he laughed at himself. A few days ago he had not known
+there was such a person as Esther Shepstone in the world, and yet now
+here he was, consumed with jealousy because she was not in when he
+called.
+
+He took a taxicab back to the West End; he walked about for half an
+hour staring aimlessly into shop windows, then went back to his rooms.
+He could not understand his extraordinary restlessness; he had only
+once before felt anything like it in all his life, and that had been
+the first time he ever backed a horse, and was waiting a wire from the
+course to say if the brute had won.
+
+He recalled the fever of impatience that had consumed him then, and
+laughed; after all, it had been nothing compared with this.
+
+Driver came into the room.
+
+"If you please, sir, Miss Mason has been on the 'phone. She said would
+I ask you to meet her for tea."
+
+Micky did not look enthusiastic; he liked June awfully, but to-day
+every one and everything seemed a bore.
+
+"Tea! Where?" he asked vaguely.
+
+"Miss Mason said that you would know, sir; the same place as usual."
+
+"Oh, all right!"
+
+Micky looked at the clock and sighed. After all, June was always
+amusing; he went off almost cheerfully to the unpretentious club of
+which she had spoken to Esther. He had to wait in the lobby while a
+boy in buttons fetched June to him. She came downstairs looking very
+much at home, and smoking the inevitable cigarette. It was one of June
+Mason's charms that she always managed to look at home wherever she
+was.
+
+She had taken off her coat, but she wore a green hat with a gold
+ornament that suited her to perfection, set on her dark head at rakish
+angle.
+
+"I began to think you were not coming," she said.
+
+She gave him her left hand, and Micky squeezed it in friendly fashion.
+They went upstairs together to a small tea-room, which was just now
+deserted save for two waitresses who were giggling together over a
+newspaper.
+
+June walked over to a table in the window, and Micky followed.
+
+He had been here with her scores of times before, and the two
+waitresses smiled at one another knowingly; they were quite sure that
+this was romance.
+
+Micky was sitting with an elbow on the table, absently smoothing the
+back of his head; he was wishing it was Esther sitting opposite to
+him; he looked up with a little start when June spoke to him.
+
+"What's up, Micky? I've never seen you looking so depressed."
+
+He roused himself with an effort.
+
+"Oh, nothing, nothing! It's the beastly weather, I expect."
+
+She looked at him quizzically with her queer eyes.
+
+"I shouldn't have thought the weather would depress you," she said.
+"However, if you say it does----"
+
+He shook himself together.
+
+"I'm not depressed any longer," he declared. "Well, and how are you?
+And how is the swindle?" It was Micky's pet joke to call June's
+invention the "swindle," though in his heart he was almost as proud of
+it as she was.
+
+She laughed.
+
+"It's very well, thank you; but that isn't what I want to talk to you
+about to-day. Micky, would you like to come to tea with me one
+afternoon?"
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Tea! Haven't I come to tea with you to-day?"
+
+"Silly! I don't mean here; I mean where I live. It's a boarding-house.
+I dare say you'll hate it, but it's really quite a nice place, and
+beggars can't be choosers, anyway. I've got a very comfortable
+sitting-room and most of my own furniture, and I can give you a good
+cup of tea, or anything else, if you prefer it."
+
+"I shall be delighted," Micky looked puzzled. "But isn't this rather a
+breaking of rules? It's not so very long ago that you made me swear
+never to try and find out where you lived. I thought it was all to be
+a deadly secret."
+
+"So it was, but I've decided to admit you. I know you're safe, and,
+Micky, wouldn't you like to meet the dearest, prettiest, most
+attractive little girl...."
+
+Micky moved his chair back in mock alarm.
+
+"June! You're not turning match-maker! If you are, I give you fair
+warning that our friendship will have to end once and for ever. I'll
+put up with a lot from you, but not this--not...."
+
+"Don't be an idiot!" said June calmly. "There isn't the slightest
+fear! And anyway----" she added, with a half sigh, "she's engaged, so
+it wouldn't be any good. But I want you to help her.... Oh, I know I'm
+always bringing you foundlings to help and look after, but you've got
+such a big heart--and such a big banking account," she added
+audaciously.
+
+"Well, go on----" he said resignedly. "Who is the foundling this time,
+and what am I to do?"
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"She's a darling," June said warmly. "I've only known her for four
+days--she lives in the same house. I took a fancy to her from the
+first moment I saw her. No, it was before that--it was when I first
+heard her name...."
+
+Micky raised his brows.
+
+"What a creature of impulse! My dear, you'll burn your fingers badly
+some day."
+
+"And when I do," said Miss Mason sharply, "I shan't come crying to you
+for sympathy; however ... Well, she's poor! she's one of those
+horribly poor, frightfully proud people whom it's impossible to help.
+I've tried all ways! I asked her to go shares with my sitting-room,
+and she said she couldn't afford it; she'll hardly let me give her a
+cup of tea or coffee for fear I should think she is sponging on me.
+She seems most frightfully alone in the world. She says she engaged to
+a man, but he's abroad, and I'm sure he's not nice, anyway. He's only
+written to her once since I've known her, at all events, and this
+morning when there wasn't a letter, I know she went back to her room
+and cried. I knocked at the door, but she wouldn't let me in."
+
+She paused, and looked at Micky for sympathy.
+
+He half smiled; he knew how enthusiastic June always was about
+everything.
+
+"Well, and what do you want me to do for this damsel in distress?" he
+asked gently.
+
+"I want you to get her a berth somewhere," he was told promptly. "No,
+it's no use saying you can't! My dear man, you must know scores of
+people who'd take her in. She thought she was fixed up all right, but
+now it appears that the people she was with before haven't got a
+vacancy for her, and so that's knocked on the head. She told me that
+she's have to just take the first thing that came along. I don't
+believe she's hardly got a shilling to her name. I offered to take her
+into partnership with me. I said we'd go travelling together for my
+beauty cream, but she wouldn't hear of it.... She's so proud!"--and
+here a sound of tears crept into June Mason's voice. "I ask you,
+Micky, what can be done with any one like that?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"If she'll take anything that comes along, she ought to get a job
+pretty soon," he said laconically. "I'll speak to a man I know--can
+she write a decent hand and all that sort of thing?"
+
+"Of course she can! But I want a good berth, mind you! I've never been
+so fond of anybody as I am of her. She's awfully worried about this
+horrid man she's engaged to. She doesn't say much about him, but this
+morning she said that there didn't seem to be anything to live for,
+and her eyes looked so sad...."
+
+Micky smiled at her serious face.
+
+"You'd make an eloquent appeal in a court of law," he said. He took a
+pencil from his pocket and an envelope. "Give me her name and address,
+and I'll see what I can do. I don't promise anything, mind you, but
+I'll do what I can...."
+
+"You're a dear," said June warmly. "I know you were the one to come
+to. I'm quite sure when you've seen Esther you'll ... why, what's the
+matter, Micky?"
+
+Micky had looked up sharply. His face had paled a little.
+
+"What name did you say?" he asked. He never knew how he managed to
+control his voice. His heart seemed to be thumping in his throat.
+"What name did you say?" he asked again, with an effort. "I did not
+catch it----"
+
+"It's Esther," said June, "Esther Shepstone."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Micky's pencil jerked suddenly, sending an aimless scrawl across the
+paper; for an instant he stared at his companion with blank eyes.
+Fortunately June Mason was too intent on the relighting of her
+cigarette to have any attention to spare for him; she went on talking
+as she puffed.
+
+"Yes...."--puff--"that's her name...." Another puff. "Isn't it a
+change from your eternal Violets and Dorothys?"... Puff, puff. "Oh,
+bother!" She threw the cigarette into an empty grate behind her and
+prepared to give Micky her undivided attention once more. "Well, what
+do you think about it? You haven't written her name down. Esther
+Shepstone, I said.... Write it down," she commanded.
+
+Micky obeyed at once. He was beginning to recover himself a little.
+
+"I shall be able to help her all right," he said quickly. "Only, of
+course, you won't let her know I'm mixed up in it at all; she'd hate
+it if she knew, she...."
+
+"How do you know she would?" June demanded with suspicion.
+
+Micky met her eyes squarely.
+
+"Well, you said she was proud or something, didn't you? And anyway I
+don't want to pose as a blessed philanthropist; I'm not one either,
+but I'll see what I can do for--for this new friend of yours. You say
+she's poor?"
+
+"Horribly poor, I'm afraid," said June with a sigh. "Micky, it's
+rather pathetic--somebody sent her some money--not very much, but
+still, it was money she evidently didn't expect. I've got a sort of
+idea that it was from this man she's supposed to be engaged to----"
+
+"Why do you say 'supposed'--she is engaged to him, isn't she?"
+
+June shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"She says so, and she wears a ring, but I've a sort of instinctive
+feeling that there's something funny behind it. Anyway, I know she's
+not happy; but don't interrupt. About this money--well, it was partly
+my fault! I persuaded her to go and buy herself some clothes--she had
+such a few things, poor child! And I even went with her and she bought
+a frock and a new coat...."
+
+"Yes," said Micky eagerly; he was glad she had bought a new coat; he
+remembered how thin hers had been on that memorable night, and how she
+had shivered in the cold night air.
+
+"She was as pleased as a child with a new toy," Miss Mason went on.
+"She brought them all up to my room to show me when they came home,
+and we both tried them on ... and you've no idea how sweet she
+looked," she added with enthusiasm. "Of course, I suppose this is
+boring you horribly," she said deprecatingly.
+
+"No," said Micky honestly. "It's not boring me at all, I promise
+you."
+
+"Well, anyway, she got the clothes, and now the place where she was
+before say they can't take her back--it's Eldred's, the petticoat
+shop. I don't suppose you know it, but----"
+
+"I know it very well," said Micky.
+
+"Oh, do you?" She laughed. "Well, they either won't or can't take her
+back, and now she feels that she ought not to have spent the money on
+the new frock and coat, and this morning she told me that she was
+afraid she would have to leave Elphinstone Road, as it was more than
+she could afford." June's eyes flashed. "Micky, what can one do with
+people who are poor and proud? It's a most difficult combination to
+fight. I blundered in and offended her by offering to lend her some
+money, and, of course, she wouldn't hear of it, and there you are!"
+
+She sighed, and leaned back in her chair despondently.
+
+"Have a cake," said Micky absently; he pushed the plate across to her.
+"The ones with the white sugar are nice."
+
+Miss Mason ignored him.
+
+"If that's all the interest you take----" she said offendedly.
+
+Micky started.
+
+"My dear girl, I'm full of interest--chock full to the brim! But we
+came here for tea, so we may as well eat something while I try to
+think of a plan." He wrinkled his forehead. "Of course," he
+ejaculated, "that chap--what did you say his name was?"
+
+"What chap? Oh, the fiancé! I don't know; she hasn't even let me see
+his photograph yet; but she says he writes dreams of letters. I
+haven't seen them either, of course."
+
+"He may send her some more money. After all, you say it's only four
+days since she heard from him. That's not very long; men are always
+rotten letter writers."
+
+Miss Mason looked wise.
+
+"Four days is a long time when you're in love," she said. "If you were
+engaged to Esther Shepstone I'll bet you'd write to her every day.
+You're just the kind. Oh, I know what you're going to say--that you're
+cut out for a bachelor, and rubbish like that, but you wait and see,
+Micky--it's never too late."
+
+"I've never written a love-letter in my life," Micky declared
+indignantly. "And, anyway----"
+
+June leaned across the table and looked at him with accusing eyes.
+
+"Never? On your word of honour, Micky?"
+
+Micky laughed and coloured.
+
+"Well, perhaps--once!" he admitted. "But that's beside the point,
+isn't it?... I'll think things over and write to you."
+
+"Yes, but soon, Micky, soon! It's not a case where you can sit down
+with your feet on the mantelpiece and give yourself a week to turn
+things over in your mind. I want to know at once, to-morrow--to-night,
+if possible. I know what Esther is--she'll be gone before I can turn
+round, and I should hate her to go. I haven't got many friends, and I
+do feel that she and I are going to be real friends--great friends ...
+I don't know when I've taken such a fancy to anybody----"
+
+"You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that," said Micky. His
+eyes were shining. Then he realised that he had displayed rather
+unnecessary warmth and hastened to amend his words. "I always said
+that what you wanted was a real woman friend," he added more quietly.
+
+June was drawing on her gloves; she had very white hands and
+beautifully-kept finger-nails, and she was very proud of them.
+
+"Never mind me," she said briskly. "You bustle about and find a post
+for Esther, and I'll love you for ever. Are we ready?"
+
+She rose and gathered up her various belongings. Micky declared that
+she was always laden with small, oddly-shaped parcels.
+
+"Samples, my dear man, samples!" she said briskly when Micky asked if
+he might not be allowed to carry some. "And they're much too precious
+to risk you dropping any."
+
+"There's just one stipulation," Micky said as he followed her
+downstairs again. "You're not to tell Miss Shepstone anything about
+me--I'm going to be very strict on this subject. Will you promise?"
+
+"Bless your heart, yes--and if you come to tea one day----"
+
+"Oh, I don't think I'll come to tea," Micky said hastily. "I should
+only feel rotten--self-conscious and all the rest of it, even if I was
+quite sure she didn't know anything--not that there's anything to know
+yet," he added quickly. "I may not be able to help her."
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"Oh, you'll help her right enough," she said breezily. "I know you."
+
+She dismissed him when they reached the street. "No, I don't want you
+to come with me; I've got some business to see to and you'd only be a
+nuisance." She gave his hand a squeeze. "Good-bye, and thanks ever so
+much Micky. You'll write to me--or wire?"
+
+"As soon as there is anything to report."
+
+He raised his hat and turned away, and June dived across the road,
+perilously near to a motor-omnibus, clutching her samples jealously to
+her heart.
+
+"It'll be all right now," she told herself, with a sense of comfort.
+"Everything's always all right as soon as Micky gets hold of it."
+
+A soliloquy which made it seem all the more curious that she should
+have hesitated to trust herself to him for life. Perhaps, as she had
+told Esther, she cared too much for him to take the risk for them
+both. He had told her candidly that he did not care for her as a man
+should care for the woman he marries.
+
+"And he makes a ripping friend! Ripping!" she told herself as she
+scurried along to interview another beauty specialist about the
+"swindle," as Micky politely called it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Micky went straight home when he left June. What he had heard about
+Esther had disturbed him very much. He loathed to think that she was
+unhappy.
+
+The question was, how best to help her, and quickly. He was thankful
+she had made a friend of June. June was one of the best, the loyalest
+pal a man could ever have.
+
+But, as June had said, Esther was too proud to take help unless it was
+most tactfully offered. He racked his brains in vain. It was a
+sickening thought that, with all his wealth, he could give her
+nothing. Even the few paltry pounds she had unconsciously taken from
+him would have been indignantly rejected had she known who was the
+donor.
+
+With sudden impulse he sat down and wrote to her. After all, she had
+accepted his friendship; there was no reason on earth why he should
+not write and ask to be allowed to see her again. He wrote most
+carefully lest she should discover some likeness to the letter he had
+written to replace Ashton's.
+
+Might he take her out to dinner one night? Any night would suit him.
+And did she like theatres? He had a friend who sometimes gave him a
+couple of seats for a show. He would arrange for any night she liked
+to mention.
+
+He thought that was a neat stroke of diplomacy--of course, she would
+not think he could afford to buy seats, and anyway it was true that he
+had a friend who often gave him boxes and things--he would have to be
+careful that Phillips did not send along a box this time though.
+
+He ended up by hoping formally that she and Charlie were quite well
+and comfortably settled into their new home, and he signed himself:
+"Yours very sincerely, Micky Mellowes."
+
+When he had finished the letter, he realised that he had written it on
+his own heavily embossed writing paper, so he had to dig Driver up and
+borrow a cheap sheet of unstamped grey paper and write it all out
+again. Then he went out and posted it himself.
+
+As soon as it had gone he wished he had sent it by hand; it meant such
+a deuce of a time to wait for a reply; he calculated that he could not
+possibly hear before to-morrow night.
+
+But in this he was pleasantly disappointed, for his own letter reached
+the boarding-house in Elphinstone Road that night, and Esther's reply
+was waiting for him with the kidney and bacon in the morning.
+
+Micky's heart began to thump when he saw the letter beside his plate;
+he had never seen Esther's handwriting, but he knew by instinct that
+it was hers. He scanned the first lines eagerly, and his face fell.
+
+  "DEAR MR. MELLOWES,--Thank you for your letter. I am sorry, but I
+  cannot come out with you, either to dinner or to a theatre.--
+
+                                Yours very truly, ESTHER SHEPSTONE."
+
+Micky's face was pathetic in its disappointment. He read the few curt
+lines through again and again, vainly trying to find something more
+behind the unmistakable refusal, but there it was in all its bald
+decision.
+
+She did not want to go out with him any more; she did not care if she
+saw him again or not.
+
+Micky left his breakfast, he no longer had any appetite. He had never
+had such a snub in all his life--out of his disappointment anger was
+rising steadily; she had no right to snub him like that without a
+reason.
+
+Driver, coming into the room at that moment, saw the untouched
+breakfast and halted midway between door and table to stare at his
+master.
+
+Micky stood with his hands deep thrust into his pockets, glowering
+into the fire. Driver advanced a step.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir--but wasn't you well?" he asked stoically.
+
+Micky began to swear, then his mood changed and he laughed.
+
+"Yes, I'm all right----" He hesitated. "Driver, would you like to go
+to Paris?"
+
+Driver raised wooden eyes.
+
+"Anywhere you wish, sir," he answered, in his usual expressionless
+voice. "When were you thinking of starting, sir?"
+
+"I'm not thinking of starting at all," said Micky. "I want you to
+go--alone! You've been often enough now not to get lost. Do you think
+you can manage it?"
+
+"Yes, sir, if you think you can manage without me here."
+
+There was the faintest touch of amazement in the man's even voice; he
+knew how helpless Micky was, or pretended to be--knew how he hated
+being left to do for himself.
+
+But Micky only laughed.
+
+"Oh, I can manage all right. I shall probably go away somewhere myself
+for a few days. Besides, you won't be gone long----" He paused.
+
+"No, sir," said Driver.
+
+Micky was leaning against the mantelshelf; his eyes were all crinkled
+up into a laugh as if he had heard some excellent joke which he was
+about to repeat.
+
+"No, you won't be gone long," he said again. "A couple of days, I
+should think. You can put up at the hotel we stayed at last time;
+they'll look after you, and the manager speaks English."
+
+"Yes, sir----" Driver hesitated. "And--what were you wanting me to do
+when I get there, sir?" he asked, after a moment.
+
+Micky clung to his joke for an instant longer, then suddenly he let it
+go.
+
+"I want you to post a letter for me," he said.
+
+Driver was too well trained to show amazement at Micky's instructions,
+but just for a fractional second he forgot to answer with his usual
+"Yes, sir," and stood immovable. Then he recovered himself, and said
+it twice with hurried apology.
+
+"And am I to go at once, sir?"
+
+"To-morrow morning will do," Micky said. "You can go by the first boat
+train." He looked at the man anxiously. He had a sort of uncomfortable
+feeling that Driver must be thinking he was not quite right in the
+head. After a moment he dismissed him.
+
+Then Micky went over to his desk and rummaged amongst the many papers
+and letters there till he found a sheet of paper embossed with the
+name of an hotel in Paris. It had not been used, and Micky heaved a
+sigh of relief.
+
+He went to bed late that night. He forgot all about his promise to go
+round to the Delands. He spent the time writing letters and tearing
+them up again till the wastepaper basket was full; then he carried it
+over to the fireplace and burnt every scrap of paper it contained.
+
+There were two finished letters lying on his desk. One was sealed and
+addressed, but not stamped, and the other was written on a sheet of
+Driver's plain notepaper, which Micky folded and unfolded with a sort
+of nervous dissatisfaction.
+
+Its contents were not very long, but they had taken a good deal of
+composing.
+
+  "DEAR MISS SHEPSTONE,--I received your note in reply to my letter
+  and cannot help saying that I feel very hurt at your decided
+  refusal to allow me to take you out. I thought we were to be
+  friends? Have I been so unfortunate as to offend you? If so, I can
+  only assure you that it has been utterly unintentional. Won't you
+  let me see you, if only for a moment? I will meet you at any time
+  or place.--                          Yours sincerely, MICKEY
+  MELLOWES."
+
+
+He gave a dissatisfied growl as he finished reading it. Not a very
+eloquent epistle. There was so much more which he wanted to say, but
+did not dare to. He folded it again and thrust it into an envelope;
+then he addressed it and laid it beside that other on his desk,
+comparing the two handwritings with complacence.
+
+Not in the least alike! Nobody would ever suspect that they had been
+written by the same person.
+
+He rang for Driver and gave him the unstamped envelope. "This is what
+I want you to post in Paris. Mind you put enough stamps on. You'd
+better have it weighed."
+
+"Yes, sir." Driver looked at the other letter. "And--is that for the
+post too, sir?"
+
+Micky put his hand behind him with a guilty gesture.
+
+"No; I'll post that myself," he said, and he went out then and there
+into the cold night and did so.
+
+As it dropped into the letter-box Micky looked up at the stars and
+sighed.
+
+What the dickens could he have done to make her so distant? At any
+rate he would let her see that he was not to be so easily snubbed. If
+she didn't answer his letter he would go boldly round to Elphinstone
+Road, and stay there till he saw her.
+
+He was half way to bed before he remembered that he had promised to go
+to the Delands that evening. He stopped short with his necktie half
+undone and swore.
+
+What the deuce would they think of him?
+
+Well, he would have to plead that headache still, that was all, and if
+Marie chose to cut up rough.... Micky felt mean because he rather
+hoped that she would. He knew that he wanted their friendship to
+cease, but, man-like, he did not altogether like having to take the
+initiative. Marie was a nice little girl, and if it hadn't been for
+that relative of hers dying on New Year's Eve--well, he would probably
+have been engaged to her by this time.
+
+He went to bed feeling miserable.
+
+Driver had just left the house to catch the boat train the following
+morning when June Mason rang Micky up.
+
+"Any news for me?" she demanded. "I hate worrying you so soon, but
+Esther's given notice. She's told Mrs. Elders that she can't afford to
+stay on. I nearly shook her this morning. I asked her to let me help
+her for the time being. I even said that I would take five per cent.
+interest on the hateful money if she was so abominably proud, and she
+laughed! She cried the next minute and said I was much too kind to
+her, but she wouldn't listen. What have you done?"
+
+"Everything," said Micky promptly. "In a couple of days--"
+
+"My good man, that's much too long to wait."
+
+"It's the best I can do," said Micky rather shortly. "And you'll find
+it's a good best if you'll be patient."
+
+He heard the sigh she gave.
+
+"Honest Injun!" he said seriously.
+
+"Oh, very well. If you let me down, Micky----"
+
+"You won't be let down," Micky said.
+
+June went back to Elphinstone Road with a heavy heart.
+
+She was very thorough in her friendships, and it really seemed a
+terrible thing to her that Esther would not accept help.
+
+She felt so genuinely fond of the girl herself that she could not
+understand the feeling of affection and confidence not being
+reciprocated; she went up to her room and tucked herself into the big
+armchair amongst the mauve cushions and smoked innumerable cigarettes.
+Charlie was asleep by the fire; he found his way upstairs now without
+invitation; he was beginning to get quite respectable-looking; he had
+lost his wild, scared look, and even his purr had taken on a sleekier,
+smoother sound.
+
+June stared at him for some time, then suddenly she got up and went
+downstairs.
+
+She knocked at Esther's door, but there was no answer, and she went
+back to her own room dejectedly.
+
+If only Esther were not so proud they might have such good times
+together! If only Esther had a little money and could go shares with
+this room; but what was the good of wishing? She hurled one of the
+mauve cushions across the room, and after that she felt better.
+
+She went down to lunch because she hoped Esther would be there, but
+she was not. The long room was rather empty, and June ate her cold
+meat and pudding hurriedly and went back upstairs.
+
+It was getting dusk when she heard Esther come in; she waited eagerly,
+but the footsteps did not come on to her door. June threw another
+cushion across the room to keep the other company; it was her chief
+vent for anger or irritation.
+
+"Confounded pride," she said under her breath. She paced up and down
+for some minutes, then she caught Charlie up from his cushion and went
+downstairs to Esther's room with him in her arms.
+
+Her knock was answered immediately and Esther stood there in the
+doorway.
+
+June spoke without looking at her.
+
+"I've brought Charlie down--I thought if he stayed up in my room any
+longer you'd be wanting to pay me for his board and lodging."
+
+She thrust the cat into Esther's arms and turned away.
+
+She was feeling very sore; hers was such a generous nature that she
+could not understand why Esther could not see how glad she would have
+been to help her; she went back to her own room and slammed the door.
+
+A moment later she was sorry for what she had done; twice she went
+half way down the stairs to apologise, then came back again.
+
+"Do her good," she told herself snappishly. "I've no patience with
+such silly pride, and as for you, my boy," she stopped and shook her
+fist at Micky's photograph, "if you don't buck up and find her
+something...."
+
+The two days dragged away. June purposely avoided Esther; she never
+went into the dining-room to meals, and Esther never came upstairs to
+June's room; there was a kind of armed neutrality between them.
+
+Charlie, too, seemed to have been told to keep away, and June missed
+his lusty purr in the silent room.
+
+She shed a few tears into the mauve cushions; she thought Esther was
+wilfully misunderstanding her; she wrote to Micky on the second day
+with a great deal of emphasis.
+
+"Are you dead or asleep? Here am I, just living to hear from you, and
+you leave me without a word! Esther and I haven't spoken for two days,
+not that you care, of course. You don't believe in my friendships, I
+know, but it's a very serious thing for me. I'm more fond of that girl
+than I've ever been of anybody, and now she'll walk out of this house
+and my life, and it will be your fault...."
+
+She knew this was unfair to Micky, but she knew that Micky would
+understand--Micky always understood.
+
+But Micky frowned over the letter. Did she imagine he enjoyed sitting
+down here doing nothing? What pleasure did she suppose he was getting
+out of the whole thing?
+
+He threw the letter into the fire. Something ought to happen
+to-morrow, anyway. The last two days had seemed like months.
+
+To kill time he went round to the Delands. He felt a little nervous as
+he reached the house. It seemed an unconscionable time since he was
+last here. When the butler opened the door he felt an insane desire to
+say, "Good evening, Jessop! You're still here, then." Such a decade
+ago it seemed since Jessop had been wont to admit him without question
+and take his hat and coat.
+
+But Jessop did not smile to-night, and did not move back an inch when
+he saw who was the caller.
+
+Micky was nonplussed.
+
+"Er--anybody in?" he asked awkwardly.
+
+"No, sir; the mistress and the young ladies are all out, sir...."
+
+"Oh!" There was a little silence; then Micky turned on his heel.
+"Well, good-night!" he said jerkily.
+
+He walked away, not sure if he was relieved or disappointed. A few
+yards down the road he almost cannoned into a man he knew.
+
+"Hullo, Philips! Where are you off to?"
+
+Philips stopped.
+
+"Hullo, Micky! Not coming my way? I'm going to the Delands. What's up
+with you? Haven't seen you for a week or more."
+
+"I've been seedy," Micky said hurriedly. "And the Delands are out.
+I've just called there myself."
+
+"Eh?" Philips tried hard to see his face through the darkness. "Rot,"
+he said at last. "They've got a musical evening on--I had a special
+invite."
+
+Micky said nothing. This was a nasty blow; apparently the Delands were
+only "not at home" to him. Jove! he must have behaved caddishly. He
+walked on feeling very subdued. Had he quite lost his wits, he
+wondered, that for the sake of a girl who would have none of him he
+was willing to offend all his old friends? He tried to look at his
+behaviour from Marie Deland's point of view. Yes, it must look pretty
+rotten, he was forced to admit.
+
+He thought about it all the time he walked home. He asked himself
+honestly if this new game was worth the candle.
+
+Esther loved another man.
+
+Already she had shown him that she cared nothing for him or his
+friendship, and yet--yet---- Micky set his teeth. He had never wanted
+anything really badly in all his life before, but now he wanted this
+girl.
+
+"I'm not done yet, anyway," he told himself. "After all--let the best
+man win."
+
+He felt that he had decided a question of great importance as he went
+back to his rooms; it was a pleasant surprise to find Driver there;
+Micky beamed.
+
+"You've got back, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The man took Micky's hat and coat, and turned to go.
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Everything all right?" he asked, with a touch of anxiety.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You posted the letter?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and had it weighed...." There was a little pause.
+
+"Is that all?" Micky asked. "Nothing else happened?"
+
+The man raised his expressionless eyes.
+
+"I should have got in this morning, sir, but we had a rough crossing,
+and I was ill----"
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Poor old Driver!--anything else?"
+
+"Yes, sir--I met Mr. Ashton in Paris. He seemed very surprised to see
+me there without you, sir."
+
+Micky's face changed; he had not counted on this.
+
+"Good Lord!" he said. "You didn't tell him you----?"
+
+Driver raised his eyes.
+
+"I never tell anybody anything, sir," he said woodenly.
+
+Micky breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"Good man.... He was alone, of course?"
+
+"Alone at the hotel, but I saw him out driving twice with the same
+lady, sir."
+
+"You saw him out twice--driving with the same lady?" Micky echoed the
+man's words vaguely. "All right--you can go."
+
+"Thank you, sir." Driver departed, closing the door noiselessly.
+
+Ashton had soon found consolation, Micky thought savagely. He wondered
+what Esther would say if she could know. What was Driver thinking
+about it all? Driver was safe as the Bank of England; but, all the
+same, it was not altogether pleasant to feel that he had had to give
+himself away to his valet.
+
+He looked up at the clock. Past nine! So there would not be another
+post in to-night.
+
+Esther had not answered his note, and two whole days had elapsed.
+
+Micky began pacing the room. Why had she so suddenly thrown him over,
+he wondered miserably.
+
+He could not imagine what he had done to offend her.
+
+He hardly knew how the days had passed since New Year's Eve. He had
+not visited any of his old haunts or seen any of his friends. It
+almost seemed as if he had opened the book of a new life and forgotten
+about the old.
+
+She might have answered his letter. Dash it all! he wasn't just a
+bounder who had spoken to her for his own amusement. He kicked a
+hassock out of his way and went to bed.
+
+If he didn't hear in the morning, he would risk it and go round to see
+her. At the worst she could only have the door shut in his face....
+
+"And even then----" he told his reflection in the mirror fiercely, as
+he struggled with a stud. "Even then I'm not done--and I'll show her
+that I'm not...."
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+June Mason was mixing perfume the following morning when a little
+knock came at her door.
+
+She looked up from her work and listened; after a second she resumed
+her occupation briskly.
+
+"Come in," she said.
+
+She did not raise her eyes when the door opened, though she knew quite
+well who had entered the room, and for a second Esther Shepstone stood
+on the threshold hesitatingly, then she spoke.
+
+"May I come in?"
+
+June Mason looked up with an exaggerated start; she was a picturesque
+figure at that moment in a big white overall, and with a scarf of her
+favourite mauve tied over her dark head.
+
+She held a little phial in either hand, and there was a delicious
+faint smell of rose perfume in the room.
+
+"You!" she said. "Gracious! I thought you were dead and buried long
+enough ago. Oh yes, come in.... You don't mind me going on with my
+work, do you? I'm up to my eyes in it.... Sit down."
+
+But Esther stood where she was, the eagerness died out of her pretty
+face.
+
+"I won't stay if you're busy," she said. "I'll come another time,
+but----" she hesitated. Across the room the eyes of the two girls met,
+and June Mason promptly put down the two little phials.
+
+"Come in and apologise, and so will I," she said heartily. "There!"
+She reached up--Esther was taller than she--and gave the younger girl
+a sounding kiss. "There! I don't often kiss people, so you can
+consider yourself flattered." She dragged forward a chair and pushed
+Esther into it. "Now, what do you want, and where's that Charlie?
+You've no idea how I've missed him. No--you stay there, and I'll go
+and fetch him up."
+
+She darted off, and returned a moment later with Charlie in her arms.
+There were yards of mauve ribbon lying on the table and she cut off a
+length and tied it in a bow round his neck; then she kissed his head
+and dropped him on to his cushion. "There! Now, we're quite at home
+again," she said. "And now, fire away and tell me why you're here."
+
+She packed all the dishes and boxes on to a tray, put them out of
+sight behind a screen and came back to the fire.
+
+"Do you like this perfume? It's something new! I'm trying to blend it
+with white rose. Isn't it gorgeous?"
+
+"Beautiful!" said Esther. She consented to have her chin dabbed. "What
+are you making now?" she asked.
+
+Miss Mason chuckled.
+
+"Oh, I'm only experimising, as Micky calls it," she said lightly. "We
+don't want to talk shop. You've got some news; I can see by your face
+that you have."
+
+Esther laughed and flushed.
+
+"Oh, I have," she said tremulously. "Such wonderful news."
+
+"Humph!" said June drily. "From the young man, of course? Well, is he
+on his way home, and have you got to get a wedding dress in the next
+five minutes or something?"
+
+"Oh no, it isn't anything like that," said Esther. There was a shade
+of regret in her voice. "But he's in Paris--he says he's not staying
+there, but he had to pay a business call."
+
+June gave a rather unladylike sniff, but Esther was too engrossed to
+notice.
+
+"He seems to have been very lucky," she went on. "He hadn't got very
+much money when he went away, but he's got some appointment now; he
+does not say what and...."--she gave a little excited laugh--"he says
+that he's going to send me £3 a week for as long as he is away....
+Isn't it wonderfully good of him? I suppose I ought not to take it,
+but he says that if things had turned out as he hoped, we should have
+been married, and so ... you don't think it's wrong of me to take it,
+do you?" she asked anxiously.
+
+June rose to her feet. She looked chagrined; she had been so sure that
+this man was a rotter, that it was a bit of a set-back to hear this
+news.
+
+"You take it, my dear, and don't be a goose," she said promptly. "As
+he says, if you were his wife you'd take it, and as you're going to be
+married, it's quite the right thing if he's well off that he should
+help you! I hope you won't let your silly pride make you send it back;
+you'd only hurt his feelings."
+
+"I wouldn't do that for anything," Esther said quickly. "But it's such
+a lot of money."
+
+"Rubbish!" said June. "Why, Micky Mellowes wouldn't even stop to pick
+it up if he dropped it in the road."
+
+"We are not all millionaires like Mr. Mellowes," Esther said sharply.
+"And he ought to be ashamed of himself if he really wouldn't stop to
+pick it up."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Don't you take things so literally, my dear," she said. "I know you
+don't like Micky, though you've never seen him, but I'm going to ask
+him here to tea one day, if he'll come----"
+
+"I don't suppose he will," said Esther. "Elphinstone Road wouldn't be
+good enough for him, would it?"
+
+June frowned.
+
+"I don't like to hear you talk like that about Micky! It's not fair,
+when you don't know him. I tell you he's one of the best--and, anyway,
+as he's a friend of mine----"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I'm sorry--I'd no right to have said anything about him at all;
+please forgive me."
+
+"Oh, it's all right," June said laconically. "But he isn't a bit of a
+snob; he'd do anything in the world for anybody."
+
+Esther glanced up at his portrait on the shelf. She felt a trifle
+ashamed of what she had said; after all, Micky had been good to her in
+his own way, even if his own way had been patronising.
+
+"And so I shall stay on here," she said, after a moment. "And if you
+think you would still like me to share this room----"
+
+June pounced upon her.
+
+"You darling! It's too good to be true. Of course, I should love it!
+I'll go and tell old Mother Elders straight away; it will put her in a
+good temper for a month."
+
+"She's out," Esther said quickly. "I went to tell her myself as soon
+as I got my letter.... It only came this morning." She coloured
+sensitively beneath June's quizzical eyes.
+
+"And of course you've been devouring it ever since," June said. "Well,
+and very nice too! There's nothing to be ashamed of. I'll admit that I
+didn't think somehow that he could be a very nice sort of person, this
+young man of yours. No, I don't know why I thought so--just an idea of
+mine. I get hold of ideas like that. But I've changed my mind now; I'm
+sure he's a dear, or you'd never look so happy."
+
+"I should love you to see him," Esther said with enthusiasm. "I'm sure
+you would like him. I don't know his people, of course--I suppose if
+they thought he cared for me they'd be angry--but it doesn't really
+matter, and I know he doesn't care at all for his mother...."
+
+June looked up from stroking Charlie.
+
+"Now, I wish you hadn't said that," she said frankly. "No man can be
+really nice who doesn't love his own mother."
+
+Esther looked distressed.
+
+"But she's horrid!" she said eagerly. "He has told me how horrid she
+is to him--really she is--and as he's her only son----" She stopped.
+"After all," she went on, "there's no law to make you like a woman
+just because you happen to be her son, is there?"
+
+"It's unnatural not to," June answered shortly. "However, as neither
+of us know his mother, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. She
+may be a perfect old cat. Some women are."
+
+She wandered round the room to find a cigarette, and Esther sat
+looking into the fire.
+
+She could not remember her own mother. But somehow she felt sure that,
+had she been living, she would have adored her.
+
+She had never heard Raymond say anything nice of Mrs. Ashton--he had
+always spoken about her in a bitter, half sneering way.
+
+She looked across to June timidly.
+
+"Do you always judge people by what you call 'instinct'?" she asked.
+"When I first knew you you told me that you felt sure you would like
+me before ever you saw me, and----"
+
+"And I was right," June said triumphantly. "I nearly always am right
+when I get an instinct about anything. Micky says it's all rot!--there
+I am, talking about him again--it's a habit, so don't notice it! But
+even he has to admit how often I am right; I could give you dozens of
+instances."
+
+Esther did not pursue the subject; she was remembering how June had
+said that she had an "instinct" that Raymond was not nice.
+
+"I think you're the most original person I've ever met," she said with
+a little smile.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Eccentric, Micky says I am----" she answered, then broke off with a
+comical look of despair. "You really must excuse me for everlastingly
+dragging him in," she apologised. "As I said before, it's a habit--and
+there goes the dinner gong. Are we going to feed here to-day?"
+
+Esther rose from the chair.
+
+"I am," she said. "And I'm hungry, so I do hope there's something
+nice."
+
+They went down together.
+
+"Curry," said June, sniffing the air critically. "The colonel will be
+pleased; he's always telling us how they used to make curry in India,
+poor old chap! Though I don't think any of us really believe that he's
+ever been there."
+
+But the colonel was not there.
+
+"He's ill," so young Harley told the two girls as they sat down at
+their table. "I went up to see him this morning, and he really looks
+ill."
+
+"You don't look in exactly rude health yourself," said June in her
+blunt fashion. She noticed that Harley looked at Esther a great deal,
+and she made up her mind to tell him at the earliest opportunity that
+Esther was engaged. June scented romance everywhere.
+
+"They are the first violets I have seen this year," Esther was saying,
+looking at a little bunch the young man wore in his coat.
+
+He took them out eagerly and laid them down beside her plate.
+
+"Do have them, will you? I never wear flowers really, but a girl in
+the street begged me to buy them."
+
+Esther took them up eagerly.
+
+"They are my favourite flowers," she said. "And I haven't had any
+given to me for--oh, for ever so long."
+
+It gave her a little pang to remember that Ashton had always brought
+her violets in the first days of their acquaintance. It was one of the
+many little attentions which he had gradually dropped.
+
+"You're not to let Mr. Harley fall in love with you, mind," June said
+severely as they went upstairs after dinner. "He's much too nice to be
+made unhappy--even by you," she added affectionately.
+
+Esther stared.
+
+"Why, whatever do you mean?" she cried. "I never see him or speak to
+him, except at meal times."
+
+"I mean what I say," June insisted. "Didn't you see how he looked at
+you when you took his violets?"
+
+Esther flushed with vexation.
+
+"Why, what perfect nonsense!" she protested.
+
+But June only laughed.
+
+"Onlookers see most of the game," she declared. "Aren't you coming up
+to my room? Our room, I mean."
+
+"I've got to go out--I had an appointment at half-past two, but I'll
+love to come to tea with you," she added, seeing the disappointment in
+June's face.
+
+"Very well, then, four o'clock. But who is the appointment with? You
+won't need to find a berth now. You're a lady of leisure."
+
+"But I shall try all the same. I don't mean to be lazy just because
+he's so good to me. I shall save all I can. I went to an agency
+yesterday----"
+
+"They'll rob you," June protested. "They always do. I know what agents
+are," she added darkly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+But if she had hoped great things from her call that afternoon she was
+disappointed. The thin, aristocratic-looking person who owned the
+"Bureau," as it was called, looked at her with coldly critical eyes,
+and said that she had no vacancies likely to suit her.
+
+"But you told me to call," Esther protested.
+
+"Certainly; there might have been something," was all the answer she
+received. "Call again to-morrow, if you please."
+
+Esther went out dispiritedly. There were so many girls of her own
+class and age in the bare waiting-room; she felt quite sure that they
+would all get berths before she had a chance.
+
+She felt glad that she had June Mason to go back to. June was always
+sympathetic. She went straight upstairs to the sitting-room with the
+mauve cushions.
+
+June opened the door before she had time to knock.
+
+"I thought it was you. I heard your step. What's the matter? You
+sounded dispirited as you came upstairs."
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I believe you must have second sight, or whatever they call it. But
+you're right this time; I am rather down on my luck. They haven't
+anything at the agency to suit me. I----" She stopped, looking past
+June into the cosy room to where a man had just risen from a chair by
+the fire--a tall man--who looked across at her with eyes that were
+half-abashed, half-defiant. Micky Mellowes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+June introduced Micky and Esther with a sort of hurried
+self-consciousness. It was not by her invitation that Micky was here
+this afternoon, and the fact that she had asked him to help Esther
+embarrassed her.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes--Miss Shepstone; you've both heard of each other, so I
+can leave you to entertain one another while I get tea."
+
+And she bolted out of the room.
+
+Esther looked after her with angry eyes; she thought June might have
+stayed--she took a quick step forward to call her back, but Micky
+stopped her; he put a hand on the door above her head, shutting it
+fast.
+
+"I'm going to speak to you, whether you like it or not," he said.
+
+She faced him angrily; she was very flushed.
+
+"I don't know what you mean. You've no right to speak to me like that.
+If Miss Mason has asked you here to meet me----"
+
+"June didn't know I was coming. She has no more idea than the dead
+that we have ever met before. I haven't told her, and I don't suppose
+you have--or will," he added grimly. "However, as we are alone, will
+you tell me what I've done to offend you? It's not fair to take me for
+a friend and then fling me over as if I were an old glove.... If I've
+annoyed you, the least you can do is to tell me how and give me a
+chance to explain."
+
+Esther had walked back to the fire and Mellowes followed her. He knew
+that he had only got a few moments, and he meant to make the most of
+them.
+
+"You refuse to see me or to allow me to take you out," he went on
+urgently. "And you haven't even answered my last letter. If I have
+offended you----"
+
+"You haven't," said Esther, as he paused. "I'm not at all offended."
+
+"Then why, in the name of all that's holy----" he began again, in
+exasperation. She cut him short.
+
+"You didn't tell me the truth about yourself. You made out you were
+poor! You pretended to be some one quite different to what you are.
+You've a perfect right to, I suppose, if you wish, but I hate being
+deceived and treated like that. I suppose you think anything is good
+enough for me! Perhaps it is, but----"
+
+Micky brought his fist down with a bang on the back of the big
+armchair.
+
+"I give you my word of honour, Miss Shepstone, that what I said was
+only because it seemed the best way to make you trust me. I had
+absolutely no other reason for pretending to--to--be anything but what
+I am. I know you'd have gone off at a tangent if I'd said I was
+unfortunate enough to be rich, I know----"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You didn't even write to me from your real address--you just put a
+number." She broke into an angry little laugh. "I suppose you thought
+I shouldn't understand that a number can also be an expensive flat."
+
+Micky turned pale with anger.
+
+"You're deliberately trying to make out that I'm a bounder. It's not
+fair--I don't deserve it; and as to thinking anything good enough for
+you--I suppose you'd only take it as a fresh insult if I told you that
+there is nothing in the world I consider good enough for you.... I
+... oh, what's the good of arguing," he broke out with sudden rage.
+
+"It's no good at all, and there's nothing to argue about," Esther said
+stiffly. She had taken off her gloves and was flattening them out
+nervously. "You offered me your friendship, and now I decline it. I
+suppose I am free to do so?"
+
+"No," said Micky violently, "you're not ... I--I ..." He turned away
+sharply, realising with dismay how nearly he had blurted out the truth
+about Ashton. After a moment he spoke more quietly.
+
+"It is pure chance that brought me here. I have known June Mason for
+years; we are old friends. She has no idea that I have ever seen you
+before, but I will tell her this moment if you wish it----"
+
+She raised passionate eyes to his face.
+
+"I will never forgive you as long as I live if you dare to," she said
+stormily.
+
+Micky frowned till his brows nearly met above his kind eyes.
+
+"Whatever I say or offer to do is wrong, of course," he said savagely.
+"If I had not offered to tell her, you would probably have said that I
+was ashamed of knowing you ... oh, good Heavens! whatever have I said
+now?" he added as he saw the hot blood rush to her face.
+
+He went over to her and tried to take her hand. "Do forgive me; I beg
+of you to forgive me--I'm a clumsy idiot--but you don't know how hurt
+I've felt about being turned down in this way."
+
+"It's absurd to feel hurt--I haven't turned you down; I wish you
+wouldn't keep saying that I have. Why I--I hardly know you," she added
+with a little angry laugh.
+
+Micky turned away; he stood staring down into the fire; neither of
+them spoke again till June returned.
+
+She carried a tray of cakes and hot toast; she set it down with a
+thump on the round table by the fire.
+
+"I coaxed it out of Mrs. Elders," she explained breathlessly. "I
+generally keep some cake up here myself, but I haven't got a bit
+to-day. Esther, fetch the cloth, there's a dear; and, Micky, you put
+the kettle on--I have filled it."
+
+She bustled about, talking the whole time; if she noticed the
+constraint between the other two she said nothing till tea was ready,
+and she sat down amongst the mauve cushions with a breathless sigh.
+
+"Now we're going to be cosy. Well, and how have you two been getting
+on? Micky, I've told Esther so much about you, she's sick to death of
+the sound of your name."
+
+"I never said so," Esther protested quickly.
+
+"Have some cake," Micky said; he deposited a slice on June's plate and
+adroitly changed the subject. He was furiously angry; he had not
+believed that Esther had it in her to turn on him as she had done. But
+the more she snubbed him, the more determined he was not to be
+snubbed. As he sat there stirring his tea and listening to June's
+chatter he was watching Esther all the time.
+
+She had taken off her coat now. He wondered if it was the coat his
+money had bought her; it was not half good enough, anyway. He thought
+of the furs and expensive gloves which Marie Deland wore, and he
+longed to be able to give some to this little girl who sat there with
+such angry defiance in her eyes.
+
+He realised that this pride of hers was going to be the hardest
+barrier of all between them.
+
+She could not forgive him because he was a rich man and had pretended
+to be poor; she could not forget that he had paid for her dinner and a
+saucer of milk for the cat. He looked down to where Charlie sat
+blinking in the firelight, and a little smile crossed his face. He
+wondered if perhaps some day soon she would offer to repay him for
+that night--if she would insist on doing so, as she had insisted on
+paying her share of everything with June.
+
+"More tea?" June demanded across the table, and Micky said,
+"Oh--er--yes, thanks," hurriedly. As long as the meal was unfinished
+Esther would have to stay in the room, he thought; she could not very
+well leave before; but in this he was mistaken, for Esther put her cup
+down almost at once and looked at June.
+
+"Will you think me very rude if I run away?" she asked. "I've got to
+see Mrs. Elders and tell her I am staying on--I think she has been
+trying to let my room."
+
+June looked disappointed. "Oh, well, if you really must go," she said.
+"Come back when you've seen her."
+
+"Thank you," said Esther. She turned to Micky, who had risen. "I won't
+say good-bye, then," she said with an effort to speak lightly.
+
+He held open the door for her, and a moment later she had gone. As
+soon as he came back to his chair June rounded on him.
+
+"What have you said to annoy her?" She looked quite angry! "I wanted
+you to like each other. Really, Micky, you are the limit! She won't
+come back again, you see if she does."
+
+"No," said Micky. "I don't think she will." He laughed a rather
+chagrined laugh. "I haven't said anything as far as I know," he added.
+"It's what you've said, I fancy. You've fed her up with accounts of
+what a wonderful person I am."
+
+"So you are," said June.
+
+He frowned.
+
+"It's kind of you to think so, but I don't know anybody else who
+shares your opinion."
+
+"Well, I can't help the world being full of idiots, can I?" she
+demanded in exasperation. "And, Micky, why did you come here to-day?
+When I asked you before you said you didn't want to come; you've soon
+changed your mind."
+
+"I came to tell you about Miss Shepstone. You asked me to get her a
+berth...."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"My dear boy, you're too late! She doesn't want your help now, or mine
+either, for that matter," she added ruefully. "She's a lady of
+means--that wonderful man of hers who's tucked up in Paris having the
+time of his life is going to allow her three pounds a week."
+
+She paused and looked across at him expectantly.
+
+"Well, why don't you look surprised?" she asked.
+
+Micky swallowed hard.
+
+"I am surprised!" he said. "Too jolly surprised for anything. It's
+good news, eh? I suppose she was pleased...."
+
+"Of course she was! She's staying on now, and is going to share my
+room. She had a qualm just for a moment, as to whether she ought to
+take the money, but I soon put her mind at ease. 'Take all you can
+get, my dear,' I said. After all, I dare say if the man's giving her
+three pounds he could afford to give her about double that amount; men
+are not particularly generous from what I know of them--except you,
+Micky...."
+
+Micky got red.
+
+"But three pounds a week is enough to live on? Don't you think it is?"
+he asked, with a touch of anxiety in his voice.
+
+"It's enough to live here on," June admitted. "But it's not great
+wealth. Still, she's going to get a berth as well, so perhaps, after
+all, the one you've heard of will suit her. What is it?"
+
+Micky was stooping, patting Charlie's head.
+
+"It's in an office," he said, after a moment; his voice sounded a
+little uncertain. "I don't think it would really suit her, though--now
+I've seen her," he hastened to add. "It would be too hard work--late
+hours and all the rest of it, dontcherknow."
+
+June looked at his bent head shrewdly.
+
+"Humph!" she said. "Perhaps it's just as well this phantom lover of
+Esther's has turned up trumps, if that's all you'd got to offer her."
+
+"Phantom lover!" said Micky; his voice sounded as if he were annoyed.
+"Whom are you talking about?"
+
+"Esther's beloved," June said airily. "She won't tell me his name, so
+I call him the phantom lover, because I've got an eerie sort of
+feeling in my mind about him that he doesn't really exist. What do you
+think, Micky?"
+
+"My dear girl, how can I possibly know?"
+
+June produced some cigarettes.
+
+"If he were all that she'd like me to believe he is," she said
+shrewdly, "she'd tell me more about him. She certainly got a bit more
+confidential to-day, and said that he had a cat for a mother and a few
+things like that. She had another letter from him this morning; he's
+in Paris--on business, so he tells her." She laughed, turning her face
+for a moment against the mauve cushion. Suddenly she sat upright
+again, "Micky, I should hate that man if I knew him!"
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Another of your 'instinctive hates'?" he asked whimsically.
+
+She nodded.
+
+"I know you don't believe in them, but...."
+
+"Don't I?" said Micky thoughtfully. "I'm not so sure." He looked at
+his watch. "Well, I must be trotting. There's nothing else I can do
+for you, I suppose? No more waifs who want billets...?"
+
+"You're laughing at me."
+
+"I'm not--I never laugh at you." He laid his hand on her shoulder for
+a moment. "Don't bother to get up; you look so comfortable ...
+Good-bye----"
+
+"Good-bye--and, Micky, don't make up your mind not to like Esther just
+because of this afternoon."
+
+"My dear, I never thought of such a thing," he protested lamely.
+
+June snuggled more cosily into the cushions.
+
+"Ah, but I know what you are," she said, for once hopelessly on the
+wrong track.
+
+Micky laughed to himself as he went down the stairs; he wondered if he
+was getting clever, or if June was not so quick to see a thing as he
+had believed, that she had not noticed the constraint between himself
+and Esther.
+
+He looked about him eagerly as he went out, hoping to catch a
+glimpse of Esther, but the house seemed deserted, quite different from
+what he had pictured it to be. He had always thought that a London
+boarding-house must be noisy and crowded and perpetually smelling of
+soap and cabbage water; he was relieved to find that this was
+fairly comfortable and quiet.
+
+He picked up a taxicab at the corner of the road and was driven back
+to his flat. He felt very depressed. Everybody seemed to have
+interests in life except himself. He wished he had got married years
+ago and settled down. He thought of Marie Deland with remorseful
+affection. Here was another woman who must be thinking him a positive
+outsider. How in the world did a man put an end to a flirtation that
+was growing rapidly into something else without hurting a woman's
+feelings, he wondered.
+
+Ashton had accomplished it quite successfully several times. Micky
+sighed, and let himself into his flat.
+
+There were several letters lying on the table; he flicked them through
+disinterestedly; then he stopped--the last one was from Ashton.
+
+Micky stood for quite a minute staring down at the handwriting, which
+he had been at such pains to copy. Then he ripped open the envelope.
+
+Ashton wrote from Paris:--
+
+  "DEAR MICKEY,--Just a line to send you my address, as promised.
+  Hope things are going well with you. I am staying on here for the
+  present, as I have run up against Maisie Clare--you remember her,
+  Tubby Clare's little widow? My son, she's got pots of money, and
+  at the present moment things are looking promising! The mater
+  would be pleased if I could manage to pull it off. By the way, I
+  dare say Driver told you I met him the other day--he was very
+  mysterious and hadn't a word to say! Surely he wasn't joy-riding
+  over here by himself? Remember me to every one.--Yours, R. F.
+  ASHTON."
+
+And not one word about Esther! Not a single mention of the girl who
+was thinking of him night and day, and only living to see him again.
+
+Micky crushed the letter and tossed it into the fire. That settled it,
+he told himself; he no longer had the slightest compunction in cutting
+Ashton out; the fellow was not worth a moment's consideration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Esther trudged to and fro from the agency where the stiff and stately
+lady presided so many times during the next few days that she began to
+hate the sight of the tall building and the dark stairs covered with
+worn linoleum.
+
+Every day the waiting-room seemed crowded with girls, many of whom
+were a great deal more shabby and hopeless looking than she was, and
+they all sat patiently on the wooden chairs and eyed one another with
+a sort of jealous suspicion till their turn came to pass within the
+magic portal which guarded the stiff and stately lady from the vulgar
+gaze.
+
+"I told you an agency wouldn't be any good," June Mason said when
+Esther came home after another fruitless journey. "They take your
+money and forget you till you turn up to remind them that you're still
+in existence. Give it up, my dear, and come into partnership with me.
+I should love to take you round to all the big stores and tell them
+that you owe your milk and rose complexion to my famous cream." She
+burst out laughing. "Can't you imagine it! Esther, you and I ought to
+tour the country in a caravan or something. Call ourselves the new
+Sequah." She rolled over in the big chair and hid her face in the
+cushions.
+
+Esther laughed; she felt quite at home now in June's room. There were
+a few of her own possessions lying about, and she had bought Charlie a
+new cushion of his own. It gave her a sense of independence to know
+that she was paying her share of everything.
+
+"I shall get something if I wait long enough," Esther said presently.
+"Do you know, I rather think I should like to be a companion, after
+all. I told Mr.----" She stopped; she had been about to add that she
+had once told Micky how she would hate it.
+
+"It might not be so bad," June admitted; "but you want some one with
+pots of money and a good temper."
+
+She looked at Esther consideringly.
+
+"There wouldn't have to be any eligible sons either," she said
+bluntly. "You're much too pretty----"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"What nonsense!"
+
+June dragged Esther to her feet and made her look in the glass.
+
+"Now dare to call it nonsense--look at yourself," she commanded.
+
+But Esther only looked at June.
+
+"Next to you," she began, but June cut her short.
+
+"If you're going to try blatant flattery," she said.
+
+They both laughed at that.
+
+Some one tapped at the door; Lydia, the smiling housemaid, appeared;
+she looked at the two girls with a sort of parental expression; she
+was very fond of them both, and never minded how late or how hard she
+worked to do little extra jobs for either of them. It was her greatest
+pride to stay in when her "evening out" came and help June label the
+little mauve pots; she recommended the famous cream to all her
+friends; she was as proud of it as if it were her own invention.
+
+She carried a note on a tray now, which she handed to Esther.
+
+"I found it on the hall table, Miss," she said. "It must have been
+left by messenger."
+
+She waited a moment to make up the fire and tidy the hearth; she was
+always glad of an excuse to stay in the room; she was never tired of
+telling her friends what a pretty room it was--she loved the mauve
+cushions and the many photographs.
+
+She went away with a reluctant backward look. June yawned.
+
+"Another love-letter?" she asked chaffingly. She looked across at
+Esther, and was surprised to see the embarrassment in the girl's
+face.
+
+"It's from Mr. Harley," she said, in distress. "Oh, I'm sure I've
+never let him think I----" She handed the letter to June. "He wants me
+to go to a theatre with him," she added in confusion.
+
+"Well, I should go," said June promptly. "You don't get much fun, and
+the man knows you're engaged, and if he likes to chance it----"
+
+"But how does he know I'm engaged? I've never told him."
+
+"I did," June said calmly. "I saw the way the wind was blowing and
+told him to save complications." She made a little grimace at Esther.
+"And after this note are you still going to declare that he isn't more
+than ordinarily interested? Esther, you're the most unsuspecting
+baby---- Say you'll go, of course. There's no harm in it."
+
+"I certainly shall not go," Esther said; "I don't want to, for one
+thing, and, for another, it would not be fair----"
+
+"You mean to Mr. Harley?" June asked.
+
+"Yes, and to----"
+
+"To the phantom lover! Oh, I see!" said June drily.
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"I don't know what you mean," she said with a touch of dignity.
+
+"Oh yes, you do," June declared. "Don't look so angry! What am I to
+call him, pray? You haven't told me his name." She waited, but Esther
+did not speak. "Of course, if you'd rather not," she added, rather
+stiffly.
+
+Esther got up and came over to sit on the arm of her chair.
+
+"It isn't that I don't want you to know, but--well, I promised him not
+to tell any one; you see, his people would be furious if they knew.
+After all, I suppose I'm not anybody, and----"
+
+June pushed her away.
+
+"Oh, you make me tired!" she said crossly. "Why will you insist on
+belittling yourself? Who on earth is this wonderful man that he sets
+himself up for such a model of superiority? He can't be anybody if
+he's ashamed of you. You don't like Micky, I know, but, with all his
+money and position, if he loved you he'd be only too proud to shout it
+from the housetops, and not care a hang what the world thought.
+There's no rotten pride about Micky--if he loved a beggar girl he'd be
+proud of it.... No, don't say any more, it makes me boil!"
+
+She lit another cigarette and puffed at it furiously.
+
+"Do you--do you think I should go with Mr. Harley, then?" Esther asked
+presently. Her pretty face was flushed and troubled.
+
+"No, I don't," said June emphatically. "I think you ought to please
+yourself. I don't want to advise you, but it does seem to me that
+you're throwing away any chance of real happiness for a--for a, what
+do they call it?--something beginning with a 'c'...."
+
+"Chimera," said Esther. She sat with downcast eyes for a moment, then
+suddenly she began to cry. Perhaps in her heart she felt in some
+mysterious way that June was right, that this girl, with her odd
+instinct, had put her hand right on the heart of things, and that her
+happiness did not really lie with Raymond Ashton.
+
+And yet she loved him. Night and day he was never out of her thoughts.
+She slept with his letters under her pillow. Since he went away he had
+done much to blot out all that had gone before. And yet sometimes the
+memory of that past unhappiness, of its disagreements and quarrels and
+petty unkindnesses would raise its ugly head and look at her with a
+sort of leer as if daring her to forget entirely.
+
+June was all remorse in a moment.
+
+"I'm a pig!" she said disgustedly. "I ought to be kicked. Why do you
+let me talk so much? It's awful cheek of me to dare to criticise you.
+I'll never do it again. He may be an angel for all I know. Esther, if
+you don't stop crying I shall cry too, and then there'll be a nice
+sort of noise."
+
+Esther dried her eyes and laughed shakily.
+
+"I'm silly; I don't know why I cried. There's nothing to cry for," she
+protested.
+
+"That's why women always cry," said June hardily.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Esther climbed the stairs of the agency again the following morning.
+There was a little feeling of despondency in her heart. She had slept
+badly, and she had not been able to forget what June had said about
+Ashton.
+
+Esther was influenced by June's "instincts," as she chose to call
+them; she knew it was foolish, but the fact remained all the same.
+
+When she opened the waiting-room door she felt half inclined to turn
+and go away again. She would only meet with the same answer: "Nothing
+that will suit you to-day, Miss Shepstone."
+
+But for a wonder the room was almost empty, and the tall and stately
+one was standing at the communicating door.
+
+When she saw Esther she came forward.
+
+"I was hoping you would call, Miss Shepstone. Will you come into my
+room?"
+
+Esther's heart leapt. She obeyed eagerly.
+
+A lady was sitting at the table looking rather bored and irritated.
+
+She was grey-haired and handsome, and most beautifully dressed. She
+turned slightly when Esther entered, and stared at her through her
+lorgnette, then she looked at the stiff and stately one.
+
+"Is this--er--the young lady?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, madam--this is Miss Shepstone." The stately one introduced
+Esther with a wave of her hand. "This lady, Miss Shepstone, is looking
+for a companion. Some one who can work well--and read aloud." She
+looked at Esther sharply. "Can you read aloud?" she asked.
+
+Esther stammered out that she supposed she could, but ...
+
+"That is a minor detail," the lady with the lorgnette interrupted.
+"Miss Shepstone, I am not wanting a companion in the ordinary sense of
+the word. That is to say, I do not want you to be constantly with me.
+You will have your own bedroom and sitting-room--and I shall only want
+you at certain hours of the day. You will write letters for me and
+make yourself generally useful." She paused, she searched the girl's
+eager face through her glasses.
+
+"How old are you?" she asked.
+
+"Twenty-four," said Esther.
+
+"Humph! And what have you done up till now?"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I was in the workroom at Eldred's. The manager has promised to give
+me a reference, but----"
+
+"Eldred's!" the sharp gaze wavered a little. "And why did you leave
+there, may I ask?"
+
+"I left to get married, but----"
+
+"But you are not married, of course."
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor going to be?"
+
+"Not for the present, but----"
+
+She was cut short again.
+
+"I don't want to get used to you and to get you used to my ways and
+then for you to leave me," she was told. "And I don't want a young man
+constantly dangling round the house." Her voice was sharp, but not
+unkind, and there was a smile in the keen eyes.
+
+"No," said Esther. "I quite understand."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Well," said the owner of the lorgnette then, "what do you think about
+it? Do you think you would like to come? Do you think you would like
+me?"
+
+Esther smiled, there was something in this blunt questioning that
+reminded her of June Mason.
+
+"Yes," she said. "I think I should, but----"
+
+"I hate that word," she was told promptly. "I don't want any 'buts' in
+the question. You either wish to come or you do not. I will give you
+fifty pounds a year, and your keep, of course. It's too much for an
+inexperienced girl like you, but I think I shall rather like you.
+Well, what do you say?"
+
+Esther did not know what to say. The offer was tempting enough, but
+she thought of June Mason and the room with the mauve cushions where
+she was settling down so happily, and her heart sank.
+
+"I should like to think it over," she said, stammering. "I have a
+friend I should like to talk it over with if you don't mind. If you
+will give me just a day or two...."
+
+"Take a week by all means. I am going away myself for a few days, and
+I shan't want you till I come back. Write and tell me what you decide
+to do. Here is my card...." She took one from a heavy silver case and
+laid it on the table. She looked at Esther quizzically, then suddenly
+she held out her hand.
+
+"Good-bye, Miss Shepstone. I hope I shall see you again," and the next
+moment she had gone.
+
+The stiff and stately owner of the agency was smiling, well pleased.
+
+"You are most fortunate, Miss Shepstone," she said. "You have secured
+one of the best posts I have on my books. If you take my advice you
+will not hesitate. Make up your mind at once."
+
+Esther did not answer. She took up the card from the table, then she
+drew in her breath with a hard sound, for the name printed there was
+Mrs. Raymond Ashton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Esther never knew how she got out into the street. She walked along
+like some one in a dream; her cheeks were burning hot.
+
+Mrs. Raymond Ashton! Raymond's mother! The woman of whom he had spoken
+so often and so bitterly. The woman who had raised such a fierce
+objection to her marriage with Raymond.
+
+There was not much resemblance between mother and son; they were both
+handsome, but there was a sort of humour in Mrs. Ashton's face which
+Raymond's lacked. Esther tried vainly to find some likeness between
+them.
+
+She realised how different this woman was to what she had pictured
+her, remembered that spontaneously offered hand. Had Mrs. Ashton known
+who she was? Oh, surely not, or she would never have appeared so
+anxious to engage her.
+
+How angry Raymond would be. Angry that the woman he loved was to go to
+his mother as a paid companion. Esther could not help smiling. For her
+own sake she would not mind it. At least she would be with his mother
+and in his home; but, of course, the thing was impossible--such a
+situation would not be tolerable. She would have to write and refuse.
+
+"Good afternoon!" said a voice, and, turning hurriedly, Esther found
+Micky Mellowes beside her.
+
+He looked as if he were not quite sure of his reception; but to-day
+Esther had other thoughts to occupy her which were more interesting
+than he was--and the smile she gave him was almost friendly.
+
+"Good afternoon! Isn't it cold?"
+
+"Very.... Where are you hurrying off to?"
+
+He tried to speak casually, but his heart was beating uncomfortably.
+
+"I'm just going back home," Esther said. "I've been to an agency
+looking for a berth."
+
+"A berth!" A frown came between his eyes. "What sort of a berth?" he
+asked quickly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Well, I'm think of taking your advice--and going as companion to an
+old lady--not that she's very old," she added doubtfully, with sudden
+memory of Raymond's mother.
+
+"You mean that you have decided?"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Well, I have the refusal of it." She looked at him with defiant eyes.
+"I am only just hesitating--I want to talk to Miss Mason about it--she
+is much more worldly wise than I am."
+
+"June is a very sensible woman," he said. "I am glad you like her." He
+hesitated. "And the--er--post?" he asked with an effort. "Will it be
+in town?"
+
+"Oh yes."
+
+She was obviously not going to tell him any more, but Micky
+persevered.
+
+"I wonder if it is likely to be any one I know. I have quite an
+extensive acquaintance in London."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. "But I don't suppose you will know these people,
+anyway," she added with an unconscious touch of loftiness in her
+voice. "The name is Ashton--Mrs. Raymond Ashton."
+
+There was the barest possible silence before Micky answered, a silence
+during which the blank dismay and anger that crossed his face would
+have been amusing had it not also had something of pathos in it.
+
+"Ashton?" he said. "Oh, yes, I know Raymond Ashton very well." He was
+watching her with jealous eyes, and she turned her head sharply and
+looked up at him.
+
+Just for a moment a traitorous eagerness crossed her face; he could
+almost see the quick question on her lips, then she laughed.
+
+"Really! How funny! But, of course, as you say, you must know a great
+many people."
+
+"I have known the Ashtons for years. You will like Mrs. Ashton."
+
+There was a sort of quiet insinuation in the words, and Esther bit her
+lip.
+
+"And--the son?" she asked. "I think you said you knew the son."
+
+"Yes, I know him--he is in Paris, I believe."
+
+Micky was conscious of a queer tightening about his throat; it was a
+tremendous effort to force himself to speak lightly.
+
+"And shall I like him as well, do you think?" Esther asked deliberately.
+
+Micky did not answer.
+
+"Do you like him?" she persisted.
+
+Micky's restraint broke its bonds; if he had died for it he could not
+have checked the words that rushed to his lips.
+
+"I detest the fellow!" he said. "He's a beastly outsider!"
+
+He dared not look at her. He held his breath, waiting for the storm to
+break, but if he had lost his self-control she kept hers admirably.
+
+"Really," she said. Her voice was a little breathless, but quite calm.
+"What does a man mean when he calls another man--such a name?"
+
+Her face was quite colourless, even to the lips, and her hands were
+clenched in the shabbiness of the cheap little muff she carried.
+
+He blunderingly tried to make amends.
+
+"I ought not to have said that, just because he's not the sort of man
+I care about," he said stammeringly. "He's quite all right--it all
+depends from what point of view you regard him. I hope you will forget
+that I said that, Miss Shepstone. It--it was unpardonable."
+
+"It's a matter of complete indifference to me what you say about--Mr.
+Ashton," she told him.
+
+She stopped. They had been walking along together.
+
+"Which way are you going?" she asked.
+
+Micky flushed up to his eyes; he knew this was a dismissal.
+
+"I was coming along to see June," he said. "I hoped you would allow me
+to walk along with you--if I am not intruding."
+
+Esther forced a smile, but her lips felt stiff.
+
+"Oh, but I am not going back," she said. Her voice sounded as if it
+were cut in ice. "So I won't detain you. Good-bye."
+
+She turned and left him, walking quickly away again in the direction
+from which she had just come.
+
+Her eyes were smarting with tears that had to be restrained.
+
+"How dare he--oh, how dare he?" she asked herself passionately. "What
+does he know about Raymond?"
+
+She could not trust herself to go back home. She walked about in the
+cold till she was tired out. She wanted to be sure that Micky would
+have left Elphinstone Road before she got there. She wondered if June
+knew the Ashtons too. She probably did, as Micky Mellowes knew them.
+They were both of Raymond's own world, these two. It was only she, who
+loved him best, who was outside the magic circle of his friends.
+
+It was nearly supper time when she got in. She paused for a moment in
+the hall and looked anxiously at the rows of coats and hats hanging
+there. She thought she would know Micky's if she saw them there. She
+forgot that he might have taken them up to June's room. She turned
+away with a little sigh.
+
+At the foot of the stairs she met young Harley. He coloured
+sensitively when he saw her and stood aside for her to pass.
+
+Esther flushed too. She wondered what he thought of her note refusing
+the theatre. With sudden impulse she spoke--
+
+"I hope you are not angry with me, Mr. Harley, but--but perhaps you do
+not know that I am engaged to be married, and so ... so I don't think
+I should accept invitations from any one else, though--though it was
+kind of you to ask me," she added.
+
+"I should have been delighted if you could have come," he said. "But,
+of course, if your fiancé would not care about it----" He broke off as
+if there was nothing more to be said.
+
+Esther wondered if Raymond really would mind; at first he had been
+very jealous, and could not bear her to speak to another man, but
+latterly--she hated it, because she could not forget that once he had
+told her she could marry a man with money if she only played her cards
+carefully--the man who had said that seemed a different personality
+altogether from the man whose letters she had only lived for during
+the last fortnight.
+
+Was she mean and unforgiving that she continually found herself
+remembering the quarrels and scenes they had had? She wanted so
+earnestly to forget them; she went up to June's room with dragging
+steps.
+
+The door of the room opened before she reached the landing, and June
+came out.
+
+"I knew it was you," she said. "Poor soul! how tired you sound.
+Another day of miserable failure, I suppose. Never mind, come and sit
+down in the warm, and you'll soon forget it."
+
+Esther laughed rather shamefacedly.
+
+"It's been a day of success, strange to relate," she said. "But I'm
+tired, dead tired--I must have walked miles." She suddenly remembered
+Micky; she looked round with--a quick suspicion. "Have you been alone
+all the afternoon?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, quite alone," June laughed. "Who did you expect to find here,
+pray?" she demanded.
+
+"Nobody--I only wondered if you had had any visitors."
+
+"I might have known it wasn't the truth that he was coming here," she
+told herself vexedly.
+
+"Well, and what about the success?" June asked; she was sitting on the
+hearthrug stroking Charlie. "You don't mean to say that the old dear
+at the agency really had something to offer you this time?"
+
+Esther nodded.
+
+"Yes, and she's desperately anxious for me to take it, too. It's quite
+a good offer, but it means leaving here and living in; and I don't
+believe I want to leave here," she added ruefully.
+
+June looked dismayed.
+
+"I shan't let you go," she said promptly. "Just as we are settling
+down so cosily." She put her white hands over her ears. "No, I don't
+want to hear another thing about it, if that's it," she said. "I
+shan't listen--write and refuse it--write and refuse it at once."
+
+Esther laughed; she pulled June's hands down and held them firmly.
+
+"Tell me," she said. "Do you know any people named Ashton?"
+
+She was longing to find out if June did know them; it seemed such a
+lifetime since she had seen Raymond or spoken to him, she was hungry
+to hear him spoken of, even if only by this woman who probably had
+merely known him as an ordinary acquaintance.
+
+"Ashton!" June wrinkled up her nose. "I know some Ashtons who live in
+Brayanstone Square," she said at last. "A mother and son. A very
+handsome woman she is, with white hair, she has a sort of grande dame
+look about her--the sort of woman you can imagine in a powdered wig
+and a crinoline, curtsying to the queen." She scrambled up, and,
+snatching a paper fan from the shelf, swept Esther a graceful curtsy
+to illustrate her meaning.
+
+But Esther was too much in earnest to be amused.
+
+"It must be the same Mrs. Ashton," she said eagerly. "This is her
+card--she gave it to me to-day--Mrs. Raymond Ashton."
+
+June glanced at the card and nodded briskly.
+
+"Yes, it's the same. I don't know her frightfully well; she's rather
+reserved, too; but I admire her immensely--well, go on."
+
+"She wants me to go to her as a sort of companion--she has offered me
+fifty pounds a year."
+
+June whistled.
+
+"Not bad, is it? But you'll refuse, of course?"
+
+"I asked her to let me think it over; I said I should like to talk it
+over with you first."
+
+June clasped her hands round her knees and stared into the fire
+thoughtfully.
+
+"She's a widow, isn't she?" Esther said hesitatingly. "At least--she
+didn't say anything about a husband."
+
+"Yes, she's a widow right enough," June said. "And delighted to be, I
+should think," she added bluntly. "I never knew the departed spouse,
+but from all accounts he was a perfect terror."
+
+Esther said nothing. Raymond had always spoken of his father as being
+a "rare old sport."
+
+After a moment--
+
+"There's a son, too," June said. "A kind of Adonis to look at,
+beautiful eyes and all that sort of thing."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. She tried hard to keep the eagerness from her
+voice. "Do you--do you know the son too?" she asked nervously.
+
+June gave a queer little laugh.
+
+"Oh yes, I know him. That is to say, I say 'How d'ye do' to him when I
+have the misfortune to meet him, but----"
+
+Esther's hands were clasped in her lap.
+
+"Why--why--misfortune?" she asked.
+
+June Mason shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Oh, I don't know--it's hard to explain--he's never done me any harm,
+but there are some people one hates by instinct, and Raymond Ashton is
+one of the people I hate." She smoothed a crease in the skirt of her
+frock. "He's such a--such an awful outsider," she added, unconsciously
+choosing the word Micky Mellowes had used a few hours before.
+
+Esther sat very still. Twice she tried to speak, but no words would
+come. She knew that it was unfair to June to sit there and allow her
+to go on talking about Raymond, but something in her heart seemed to
+have set a seal on her lips.
+
+"He's that insufferable kind of creature who thinks himself
+irresistible," June went on. "Micky has often told me the way he brags
+about his so-called 'conquests.' Conquests, indeed! What are they but
+a few poor ignorant girls hoodwinked by his handsome face and smooth
+tongue? Dozens of girls he's had, my dear, literally dozens! Only the
+other day some one told me that Mrs. Ashton had to threaten to cut him
+off with a shilling if he didn't give up some little person he was
+supposed to be going to marry! I don't know how true it is, mind you,
+but that's the sort of man he is--I've no time for him at all," she
+finished vigorously.
+
+She turned to look at Esther, and gave a little exclamation of alarm.
+"How pale you are! Don't you feel well?"
+
+"I'm quite all right--I'm just tired--I don't think I'll go down to
+supper to-night. I'll just stay here and be quiet. I wanted to hear
+what you had to say about my future employer."
+
+"Future fiddlesticks!" June retorted. "You're not going to her, my
+dear; I shan't let you. If Raymond came home while you were there,
+you'd never have any peace."
+
+Esther was lying back now with closed eyes. Over and over again in her
+mind she was saying to herself--
+
+"I don't believe it--I don't believe a word of it; it's all cruel
+lies--first Mr. Mellowes and now June. They both hate him, that's what
+it is; but I don't believe a word of what they say." June was bustling
+about the room fetching cushions and a light rug which she had laid
+over Esther.
+
+"You have a little sleep, and you'll feel heaps better," she said.
+
+She went away, shutting the door quietly; and Esther hid her face in
+her hands.
+
+She hardly knew why she was crying, she only knew that she was utterly
+miserable.
+
+She took Ashton's last letter from her dress and read it through
+again--how could any one, reading it, doubt that he loved her? How
+could any one, knowing his careful thought for her, believe that he
+was the detestable personality June and Micky had described?
+
+She kissed the signature passionately. Nobody in all the world counted
+but this one man.
+
+She got up and went over to June's desk, which both girls used; she
+felt that she must write to him and tell him how much she wanted him.
+
+When she had finished writing she looked to the head of the paper on
+which she had written for the address, and then she saw a postscript
+scribbled in a corner which she had not noticed before.
+
+  "Don't write to me here--I shall have left this hotel by the time
+  you get my letter. I will write again as soon as possible."
+
+It was like a door with iron bars being closed in her face; she could
+not write after all! She could have no relief for all her longing and
+unhappiness; she must just wait and wait, eating her very soul out,
+till he wrote again.
+
+She tore up what she had written and threw it into the fire.
+
+"The phantom lover"--June's half playful, half mocking words came back
+to her with foreboding. Was he indeed only a phantom lover? Just a
+creation of her own brain and desire? She tried to thrust the thought
+from her; she was tired and fanciful; in the morning she would be all
+right; it was not fair to him, it was not fair to herself to be so
+doubting. She went back to June's couch and curled up amongst the
+mauve pillows; life was so hard, so disappointing; it gave so little
+of all that one desired; the tears fell again, presently she cried
+herself to sleep.
+
+June came back on tiptoe; she stole across the room and looked at
+Esther, then she went back to the hearthrug to keep Charlie company.
+
+The fire had died down and she replenished it as quietly as she could,
+putting a knob on at a time with her fingers.
+
+As she leaned over to poke them softly together she caught sight of a
+scrap of paper lying in the grate. It looked like part of a torn
+letter, and without thinking June picked it up--the one word "dearest"
+stared up at her in Esther's writing.
+
+June looked at it for a long moment, then she turned her head and
+glanced at Esther, still sleeping.
+
+June frowned; she hunched her shoulders impatiently.
+
+"More phantom lover, I suppose," she told herself crossly; she threw
+the little scrap of paper into the fire and watched it burn with a
+sort of vixenish delight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+"I've decided to accept Mrs. Ashton's offer," said Esther suddenly.
+
+It was the following afternoon, and she had been helping June paste
+labels on to the little mauve pots. She looked up as she spoke, with
+the paste brush still in her hand and her fingers all sticky.
+
+"Did you hear what I said?" she demanded guiltily.
+
+"Yes, I heard," June said rather tartly. "And I think you're a mean
+pig. However, go on! Have your own way! Don't mind me."
+
+"It isn't that at all," Esther declared. "But I must do something--I've
+been idle quite long enough. I shall be sorry to leave you, but I shall
+still pay for my half of the room."
+
+"Thank you--thank you very much," said June drily. Esther flushed in
+distress.
+
+"Don't be so unkind! It's not that I want to leave you. I've been
+happier here with you than anywhere else, but I must work, I can't
+live on nothing...."
+
+"You could live on three pounds a week if you wished to. What do you
+suppose the phantom lover will say if he knows that his money hasn't
+helped you, and that you're going to make a drudge of yourself?"
+
+"I shan't be a drudge--I----"
+
+June broke in impatiently.
+
+"Oh, very well--I don't want to argue, but I think it's mean of you.
+If you really liked me you'd stay...."
+
+"I shall come to see you whenever I get any time off."
+
+"Yes, once a week for two hours, I suppose--and when I shall probably
+be out."
+
+"I shall write first and let you know when I'm coming."
+
+June took no notice; she screwed the lid on to a perfume bottle and
+wiped her fingers on the white overall.
+
+"You needn't put any more labels on," she said shortly. "I can do the
+rest myself."
+
+She took the tray away from Esther and carried it into her bedroom;
+when she came back there was a suspicion of tears in her eyes. Esther
+looked distressed. She felt that she was behaving meanly, and yet she
+meant to go to Mrs. Ashton's.
+
+"Micky Mellowes is coming directly," June said tartly. "If you don't
+want to see him you'd better go. I know you hate him...."
+
+Esther turned scarlet. She took off the apron she had borrowed from
+June and turned to the door.
+
+Before she reached it June followed.
+
+"I'm a pig. I apologise humbly! Please stay. Why don't you box my ears
+when I speak to you like this?" She dragged Esther back to the fire.
+"I'm wild because you've made up your mind to leave me. Our friendship
+doesn't mean anything to you.... There's Micky--he'll want to know why
+I've been crying. Amuse him for five minutes, there's an angel, and
+I'll come back."
+
+She was gone in a flash.
+
+A smiling Lydia showed Micky into the room. Lydia liked Micky; he was
+always courteous, and he had been generous with his tips on each
+occasion that he had visited the house.
+
+Micky looked a little embarrassed when he saw Esther. He glanced
+quickly round the room. "June ... I----"
+
+"She's coming in a moment," Esther explained. "Won't you sit down?"
+
+Micky sat on the arm of the big chair; he was cold; he leaned forward,
+rubbing his hands vigorously. Esther watched him critically.
+
+She had told June that she did not consider him in the least
+good-looking, but now the thought crossed her mind that this had not
+been quite a fair thing.
+
+He was tall and well made, and he had brown hair that grew well about
+his temples, and waved slightly where it parted.
+
+His nose was nothing particular and slightly crooked, and his eyes
+were nondescript in colour, but kind ... so kind! Esther remembered it
+was the first thing she had noticed about him the night they met.
+
+He looked up.
+
+"Well," he said, "have you found another berth yet?"
+
+"I'm going to Mrs. Ashton's," Esther said.
+
+She was amazed at the sudden change in his face; a look of furious
+anger flashed into his eyes; he rose to his feet.
+
+"You're not serious?" he said quietly.
+
+Esther laughed; she felt painfully nervous without knowing why.
+
+"Serious? Indeed I am!" she answered. "Mr. Mellowes, what are you
+doing?..."
+
+Micky had caught her hands. Jealousy was driving him with whips of
+fire--jealousy of this phantom lover, whom he himself had created.
+
+"You're not to go," he said hoarsely. "I--I--I can't bear to think of
+you having to work for your living. There's no need--it's all
+nonsense. You'd hate being at the Ashtons.... Esther----"
+
+She wrenched herself free; she was white to the lips.
+
+"You must be mad!" she said. "How dare you speak like this? What is it
+to you what I do? How dare you try to interfere? What business is it
+of yours?"
+
+Micky laughed shakily; he had recovered himself a little now.
+
+"It's everything to me," he said rather hoarsely. "You must know that
+it is. Esther, will you marry me?"
+
+If only premeditated proposals were made, there would be few marriages
+in the world. Ten minutes ago, when Micky Mellowes walked into the
+room, he had no intention of asking Esther to marry him, but now it
+seemed as if he had come for that express purpose as he stood there,
+grimly obstinate.
+
+There was a moment of silence; then Esther drew herself up.
+
+"I think you must be mad," she said. "I've only seen you once or twice
+in my life. I have told you that I am already engaged."
+
+"I know, but it makes no difference," said Micky. "I ask you to marry
+me--will you marry me?"
+
+She drew back from him.
+
+"You must be mad."
+
+Micky laughed. "You've said that two or three times already, but I
+assure you that I'm quite sane. I loved you the first moment I ever
+saw you, but, of course, you won't believe it. However, that doesn't
+matter--you haven't answered my question. Will you marry me?"
+
+"You know I am engaged--how dare you?..." She backed away from him
+till she was close to the door. Micky laughed savagely.
+
+"You needn't be afraid--I'm not going to hurt you--I'm not going to
+move from this hearthrug, but I should like you to answer my question.
+Once again, will you marry me?"
+
+"No----"
+
+He forgot his promise and took a step towards her.
+
+"I can make you happier than any other man possibly could. I've never
+cared for a woman in my life till I met you...."
+
+"I wouldn't marry you if you were the only man in the world--I--I
+don't even like you...." Her voice shook with anger now. "My answer is
+no--no--no! I shall never change my mind if I live to be a hundred
+..." she added vehemently. The words seemed forced from her by
+something in his eyes.
+
+"You will," said Micky calmly, though he felt anything but calm.
+"Women always do; but if you don't feel like changing it just at this
+moment, will you please tell June I am here? I came to see her, and
+I'm tired of waiting...." He turned away and went back to his seat on
+the arm of the big chair as if nothing had happened, but his hand
+shook when he tried to light a cigarette.
+
+When June came back he was absently turning the pages of a magazine;
+she looked at him for a moment, then began to laugh.
+
+"Micky! What in the world has happened to you lately? Do you always
+read a paper upside down?"
+
+Micky started, looked down at the magazine, and said a bad word; then
+he laughed too, and flinging the magazine across the room got to his
+feet, stretching his long arms.
+
+"Where's Esther?" June demanded. "I asked her to stay and amuse you
+till I came back...."
+
+"She did her best," said Micky drily. "But I am afraid I bored her."
+
+June looked annoyed.
+
+"I do think you two might try and like one another, if only for my
+sake," she said. "It's so perfectly obvious that you hate one another,
+and I cannot see why for the life of me."
+
+"One of your instinctive hates, perhaps," Micky submitted, with a
+touch of irony. He went back to the chair.
+
+"Miss Shepstone tells me she has found a berth," he said, after a
+moment. June nodded.
+
+"Yes. Did she tell you with whom?"
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Ashton."
+
+Something in the tone of his voice made June look up quickly.
+
+"Well?" she said.
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Nothing--I dared to suggest that perhaps she would not like the
+place, and she flew at me."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"That's just like Esther; she asks for your advice, and then----"
+
+"She didn't ask for mine," Micky cut in. "I very kindly volunteered
+the information."
+
+"Oh!" June was on her knees now toasting buns.
+
+"They're stale," she informed Micky candidly. "But you won't know it
+when they're toasted."
+
+Micky watched in silence. He was wondering if June had heard anything
+of his conversation with Esther; they had both spoken rather loudly.
+He was also wondering whether he should tell June the whole story.
+
+"You must make allowances for her," June said briskly, as he was still
+hesitating. "I know she's worried about this man. I discovered another
+thing this morning, Micky"--she turned with a sudden jerk to look at
+him, and the bun fell off the fork into the fire.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Well, what have you discovered now?" he inquired.
+
+"Why, that she can't write to him--he doesn't give her an address--or,
+if he does, he takes good care to move on before she has time to
+answer his letters. It looks to me, Micky, as if that young man is
+shirking his responsibilities. If you ask my candid opinion, Esther
+won't ever see him again."
+
+Micky said "Rot!" rather uncomfortably. "If the fellow is
+travelling--moving about...."
+
+"He could give her an address and have the letters sent on, couldn't
+he?" June demanded.
+
+Micky rubbed his chin.
+
+"What's she want to write to him for?" he asked presently.
+
+June swung round, and a second bun almost shared the fate of the
+first, but she grabbed it back in time.
+
+"What does she want to write to him for?" she echoed with scorn. "My
+poor child, what does any one want to write to any one for? She's in
+love with the man, and when you're in love you simply have to write it
+down--at least, that's what I understand from people with wide
+experience. Esther's bursting to write and tell the phantom lover how
+much she loves him and what a wonderful man he is; as a matter of fact
+she does write to him, and tears the letters up again, and that's no
+satisfaction. I wish to goodness he'd get run over and done with," she
+added exasperatedly.
+
+"I don't suppose she wishes it," said Micky.
+
+"That's because she doesn't know what's good for her; he was probably
+the first man who had ever paid her any attention, and from what she
+says he's a bit of a swell, and I suppose she was flattered...."
+
+"Rot!" said Micky violently; it made him boil to hear June say things
+like this. Ashton superior to Esther? It was like the man's confounded
+impudence to even think such a thing.
+
+"Not such rot," June said wisely. "And that's what all the trouble is
+about, or my name's not what it is. He has a stuck-up old cat of a
+mother who won't condescend to know Esther.... What did you say?"
+
+"Nothing," said Micky. He got up and began strolling about the room
+with his hands in his pockets, and June finished toasting her buns and
+made the tea.
+
+"I'll just go up and tell Esther," she said. She went out of the room
+and upstairs.
+
+"Tea," she announced cheerfully, knocking at Esther's door; she turned
+the handle and went in. Esther was standing by the window looking out
+into the neglected garden at the back of the house; she turned.
+
+"I'm not really hungry, and if you'd like to have Mr. Mellowes to
+yourself----" she began.
+
+June stared at her.
+
+"My dear," she said then drily, "if I'd wanted to have Mr. Mellowes to
+myself I should have married him long ago; so don't pretend you're not
+dying for one of the stale but toasted buns."
+
+She linked her arm in Esther's, and they went downstairs together.
+Esther did not want to come, but it seemed easier to give way than to
+make excuses. She took the chair which Micky brought forward; she felt
+a little nervous and ill at ease. Once, when their eyes met, she found
+herself colouring sensitively.
+
+Micky let her alone in a marked fashion and talked to June. He had
+found the man he had been looking for for months, he declared, a good
+business man, honest----
+
+"Really honest, Micky?" June asked, laughing.
+
+"Really honest," Micky maintained. "Do you think I'd put you on to him
+else? I've told him all about you. I went out to lunch with him
+yesterday and we talked face creams and vanities till my head reeled.
+He's full of ideas, bursting with fresh notions for advertising. He
+didn't say so in actual words, but he thinks you'll be a little gold
+mine if you'll put yourself in his hands."
+
+June's eyes sparkled; she jumped up from her chair, put her arms
+around Micky's neck, and gave him a sounding kiss.
+
+"You're a dear," she said, "and I just love you!"
+
+Esther glanced up quickly. June need not have done that, she thought
+with a touch of irritation, but Micky only laughed.
+
+"Come here and you shall have that back with compound interest," he
+said, but June shook her head.
+
+"That's enough for to-day, and Esther's looking shocked to death."
+
+"I'm not--I never thought about it," Esther protested indignantly.
+June laughed.
+
+"Well, you looked angry anyway," she declared. "Didn't she, Micky?"
+
+"I'm afraid I didn't notice," he answered coolly, but he had, and for
+a moment his pulses had leapt at sight of the anger in Esther's eyes;
+she could not surely hate him as much as she pretended if it annoyed
+her that June should kiss him.
+
+But she was indifferent enough now at all events; she was leaning
+back listlessly, her eyes fixed on the flames, her face sad and
+thoughtful.
+
+She was thinking about Ashton, Micky told himself savagely, wishing he
+were here, no doubt--Ashton, who even at that moment was probably
+running round Paris with Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+June was packing the tea things on to the tray and humming a snatch of
+song. Esther rose.
+
+"Let me do that--you cleared away yesterday."
+
+She took the tray.
+
+June asked Micky for a cigarette.
+
+"I've got heaps somewhere," she said vaguely. "But I never know where
+they are." She looked over to Esther. "Don't bother to put the cups
+away now," she said. "Come back and be cosy."
+
+She was rather surprised that Esther obeyed; she had quite expected
+her to go off and not return.
+
+Fond as she was of Esther, she could not quite make her out; she was
+full of surprises. It was getting dusk, and the room was full of
+shadows.
+
+"Shall I light up?" Micky asked. "Or do we like the firelight?"
+
+"We like the firelight," June said promptly; she nestled down amongst
+her mauve cushions.
+
+Micky was sitting straddle-ways across a chair between the two girls,
+and Esther had drawn back a little so that her face was in shadow.
+Micky glanced at her once, but could only see the glint of firelight
+on her hair and her hands clasped listlessly in the lap of her frock.
+He glanced at them; she still wore Ashton's ring, with its three
+inferior stones; he wondered how long the farce was going to be kept
+up and what would happen to bring it to an end.
+
+"If some one doesn't talk," June said drowsily, "I shall go to
+sleep."
+
+There was a quiet peacefulness in the cosy little room. Micky crossed
+his arms on the chair back and leaned his chin on them, staring into
+the fire, and Esther, from her place in the shadows, looked at him
+unobserved.
+
+Not in the least good-looking, she told herself again, and yet in
+common fairness she had to admit to herself that there was something
+about Micky Mellowes that was undeniably attractive.
+
+She liked the obstinacy of his chin--she liked the way his hair grew,
+and the shape of his hands--strong, manly hands they were, in spite of
+the fact that they had probably never done a day's useful work in
+their lives. Of course he was too well dressed. To begin with, there
+was no need to wear grey spats over his shoes, or to have his trousers
+so immaculately creased. She forgot that she had liked Ashton to
+indulge in both these weaknesses.
+
+Micky was whistling a snatch of a love-song under his breath. Esther
+did not know what it was; she had never heard the melody before, but
+something in the softly sentimental notes brought the tears to her
+eyes; before she was aware of it they were tumbling down fast.
+
+June sprang suddenly to her feet.
+
+"Why are we all mooning like this? Micky, give me a match." She almost
+snatched the box from him and lit the gas; the yellow flare flooded
+the room. Micky, glancing at Esther, saw the tears on her cheeks and
+the way she averted her head.
+
+He scowled and rose to his feet, standing so that his tall figure
+shielded her.
+
+"Well, I must be getting along," he said. He pulled out his watch and
+looked at it, but he never noticed what the time was.
+
+He was thinking of Esther and the tears he had surprised.
+
+"And when are you going to introduce me to this man who is to make my
+fortune?" June demanded crisply. She was standing on a footstool,
+trying to see herself in a glass above the mantelshelf.
+
+"Esther, you might have told me what a sight I look! My hair is all
+over the place."
+
+"I thought it looked nice," Esther said hurriedly. She knew Micky had
+seen her tears, and was silently hating him for it.
+
+Micky answered hesitatingly, "I'll let you know--I'll fix it up and
+let you know. There's no hurry, is there? I don't want him to think we
+are too keen."
+
+"But I am keen," June insisted. "Wouldn't you be keen if some one had
+told you you would be a gold mine, properly handled?" she laughed.
+"Oh, I forgot! money is no object to you. Well, bide your own time, my
+dear, but don't let it be too long.... Must you really go?"
+
+"I'm afraid so; and, June----"
+
+"Um!" said June, intent on another cigarette.
+
+Micky fidgeted. He looked down at the carpet.
+
+"If you don't hear anything of me for a few days you'll know I'm out
+of London...." He looked at Esther, but she was kneeling down by the
+fire stroking Charlie.
+
+"Out of London!" June said in surprise. "Where are you going?"
+
+Micky cleared his throat.
+
+"I thought of running over to Paris for a day or two," he said.
+
+"Paris!" They were both looking at him now. Micky was painfully aware
+of the eagerness in Esther's face.
+
+"Yes; I haven't been since September. Anything I can do for you while
+I'm there?"
+
+June raised her brows comically.
+
+"Not for me, but perhaps Esther ... Esther has a great friend over
+there, haven't you, my child?"
+
+Esther turned crimson from chin to brow.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes is not at all likely to meet any friend of mine," she
+said stiffly.
+
+Micky felt horribly sorry for her.
+
+"Don't be too sure, Miss Shepstone," he said lightly. "It's a small
+world, you know, and it's the most unexpected things that happen."
+
+But Esther seemed not to have heard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Micky went to Paris. "No, I shan't want you, Driver," he told his man
+awkwardly. "I'm only going for a day or two. I--er--I shan't want
+you," he said again lamely.
+
+He looked at the man guiltily, but Driver was as impassive as ever.
+"Very good, sir," he said. He could not understand what had happened
+to Micky; as a rule, he refused even to take his own railway ticket or
+speak to a porter. This new independence worried him.
+
+But Micky went off cheerfully enough. He rang June up at her club the
+morning he started and told her he was really going. He heard her
+cheery laugh across the telephone. "Micky, you're not up to any
+mischief?"
+
+"As if I should be!" he answered with dignity.
+
+"I wouldn't trust you," she said promptly. "However, have a good time,
+and if you see the phantom lover, you might push him into the Seine
+for me."
+
+"I'll remember," Micky said grimly. He hesitated. "Everything all
+right?" he asked.
+
+She echoed his words, not understanding. "Everything all right? Do you
+mean the swindle? Oh, yes, it's going fine, thank you. I had another
+order from those American export people this morning."
+
+"Good.... And--Miss Shepstone gone?"
+
+"No, she's going on Saturday. Sickening, isn't it?"
+
+"I don't think she'll stay long," Micky said soothingly. "It won't do
+her any harm to see how she likes it. Well, good-bye."
+
+He stood for a moment after he had hung up the receiver, staring at
+it. He wished he had not arranged to go to Paris. Supposing Ashton
+took it into his head to come back while he was away? Supposing he
+went home and found Esther there?
+
+He tried to believe that it was not at all likely, but at the last
+moment, as he got into the train and received his ticket from the
+solemn Driver, Micky said--
+
+"You know where to find me if anything happens--if anything should be
+the matter?"
+
+"Yes, sir." Driver raised wooden eyes to his master's face. "Was you
+expecting anything to happen, sir?" he asked stolidly.
+
+Micky got red. "No, you fool!"
+
+"Very good, sir," Driver retorted unmoved.
+
+And so Micky went to Paris. It was dark when he got there, and he
+drove at once to a small and unpretentious hotel in a narrow side
+street, where he had never been before, but of which he had heard from
+Philips.
+
+After all, it was only for a few nights. He did not want to stay in
+Paris long--Paris always bored him, but he made a little grimace as
+he looked up at the windows of the hotel. It certainly was a
+rotten-looking little show, he thought as he followed the concierge
+into the hall. This, too, was small and unpretentious, with a
+polished floor and wicker chairs scattered about. There was a kind of
+winter garden leading from the lounge, where a few neglected palms
+and ferns were struggling for an existence, and the whole place was
+silent, almost deserted.
+
+Micky was too late for dinner, but a smiling host, with a short dark
+beard, assured him that he could have a most excellent supper in less
+time than he would enumerate of what that supper would consist. Micky
+said he didn't care what it was. He followed his suit-case up the
+wide, shallow stairs to a quaint little room with a low ceiling and
+polished floor.
+
+He was beginning to feel more at home after all; one could be quiet
+here and not be eternally running up against people whom one knew; he
+felt more cheerful when he went down to his supper.
+
+He asked the waiter if there were many people staying there. His tone
+of voice sounded as if he sincerely hoped there were not, and the
+waiter tactfully submitted that the place was almost empty.
+
+Micky proceeded with his supper.
+
+It was nearly ten o'clock, but he went out into the lounge when he had
+finished and sat down at a table in one of the most secluded corners.
+
+There were pen and ink and a supply of hotel note paper, which Micky
+looked at with great satisfaction, before he took up a pen, carefully
+examined the nib, squared his elbows and began to write.
+
+  "My darling----"
+
+Micky wrote the words hurriedly and covered them over with a sheet of
+blotting paper as if they made him feel guilty.
+
+  "I thought I should have been leaving Paris before now, but have
+  been delayed. I shall be staying here till the end of the week and
+  am writing this so that you can let me have a letter before I
+  leave. I hope you have received both my other letters safely, and
+  are quite well and as happy as possible, seeing that we cannot be
+  together----"
+
+He sat back for a moment and looked at this frowningly, then he wrote
+on hurriedly.
+
+  "I want you to miss me, you see--I want you to feel as I do, that
+  there is only one thing to look forward to and that is when we
+  shall be together again. Dearest, it seems now that I have never
+  really told you how well I love you. Some day, if all that I wish
+  for comes true, I will tell you the many things you would not let
+  me say when we were last together...."
+
+Micky's pen flew easily enough. For the moment he had forgotten why
+and for whom he was writing, and thought only of Esther as she had
+looked when he last saw her with the tears wet on her cheeks.
+
+  "Write to me as soon as you get this, so that I may have a letter
+  to take with me when I leave. I shall watch for every post and
+  count the minutes till it comes. I have arranged with my bankers
+  to send the money to you every week. Dearest, if this is not
+  enough, please let me know, and I will send some more...."
+
+Micky scratched out the last five words, finally rewriting the whole
+page to add
+
+  "... Let me know and we must see what can be done. I cannot bear
+  to think that you are wanting anything which it is in my power to
+  give you. Tell me all about yourself; if you are well and
+  happy--and how often you think of me. I shall write again soon,
+  perhaps to-morrow ... and till then, and for ever, I am always
+  yours, Micky ...."
+
+He added his own signature without noticing it, then realised what he
+had done and rewrote the last page in a panic.
+
+Supposing he had sent it!--it made him hot all over to think what
+would have happened. He would have to be more careful, he told himself
+severely. He carefully directed the letter and went out to post it,
+then he went to bed in the little room with the low ceiling and lay
+awake half the night.
+
+Now the letter had gone he wished he had never sent it; after all, it
+was cheating Esther. It was not fair to make her write to him; he felt
+that he had behaved like a cur ... he tossed and turned from side to
+side. Perhaps she would not write! He almost hoped she would not. When
+at last he dozed off it was almost daybreak; when he woke it was
+eleven o'clock and the sunshine was pouring into his room.
+
+He had a bit of a headache and felt wretched; he drank four cups of
+strong coffee and went out.
+
+He avoided the popular thoroughfares; he sauntered about till lunch
+time and then went back to the hotel. Apparently the waiter had spoken
+the truth when he said the place was almost empty, for only two of the
+twenty tables were occupied beside his own.
+
+Micky felt bored; he made up his mind to tell Philips what he thought
+of his recommendation when he got back to London. He slept all the
+afternoon, then dressed and went off to dinner at the hotel where he
+and Driver stayed when they were last in Paris. Here at least was a
+welcome; most of the waiters recognised him; the attention was
+excellent, and he got a decent dinner. The hotel was full, but though
+Micky looked suspiciously at every one who came in, he recognised
+nobody.
+
+He wondered how long he had got to stay in Paris. Esther could not get
+his letter and send a reply that would arrive in less than three days;
+he calculated that he could not get back to London before Sunday
+morning.
+
+And Esther was going to Mrs. Ashton's on Saturday.
+
+He had just finished his dinner when the swing doors opened and a man
+came into the room with a lady in evening dress.
+
+Micky looked at them, and his heart began to race--for the man was
+Raymond Ashton, and the woman, Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+Ashton saw Micky at once, and his face fell into almost comical lines
+of dismay, but he pulled himself together at once and spoke to the
+woman beside him.
+
+Micky knew Mrs. Clare slightly; he rose and went towards them.
+
+"I heard you were in Paris," he said. He shook hands with Mrs. Clare;
+she was rather a pretty little woman, small and plump, with round,
+meaningless eyes and a friendly smile.
+
+"We're going to the opera," Ashton said. "Mrs. Clare is not staying
+here, but she very kindly consented to come and dine with me. Are you
+staying here, Micky? When did you come over?"
+
+"Last night; and I'm not staying here. Just dropped in for some
+grub."
+
+"You'd better dine with us," Ashton said, but he did not sound very
+enthusiastic.
+
+Micky laughed. "Thanks, but I have dined. I was just leaving when you
+came in." He thought of Esther, and his face hardened. This was the
+man of whom she was thinking all day and every day; this man who was
+so obviously going to try and marry Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+He stood talking to them for a few moments, then excused himself.
+
+"You haven't told me where you are staying," Ashton said.
+
+"No--and I'm going away to-morrow anyway.... When are you coming back
+to town?"
+
+Ashton looked quickly at his companion. "Oh, not yet awhile," he
+said.
+
+"I see." Micky met his eyes steadily. "By the way, I got your letter,"
+he said after a moment. "You didn't ask about that letter you gave me.
+I posted it----"
+
+Raymond turned crimson. "The letter--oh yes, thanks--thanks, very
+much. You didn't take it then?"
+
+"No, I posted it." Micky's voice was flinty.
+
+"Er--thanks awfully!" Ashton said again. He twisted his moustache
+nervously. "I'll see you some other time," he said with a rush. "I'll
+drop you a line."
+
+"Right oh!" said Micky laconically.
+
+"I hope I shall see you again too, Mr. Mellowes," Mrs. Clare said. She
+thought she was saying the right thing. She thought these two men were
+friends, and she was sufficiently in love with Raymond to wish to be
+liked by his friends.
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. Clare," Micky said stolidly. "But I am going back to
+London to-morrow; I am afraid I shall have very little time, though I
+should be delighted, of course----"
+
+He felt rather sorry for this woman. After all, she was harmless and
+good natured, she deserved a better fate than to be snapped up by a
+good-looking fortune-hunter.
+
+He was getting into his coat in the lounge when Ashton came after him.
+He looked worried and abashed; he asked a hurried question.
+
+"Everything's all right, eh, Micky?--Lallie, I mean--I thought from
+the way you looked just now--she--she's all right--eh?"
+
+"My dear chap--how should I know? She never answered my letter, though
+I sent the money, as you wished. I thought you would have heard."
+
+"I told you I didn't mean to write--I said that I wanted the whole
+affair cut out," Ashton said irritably.
+
+Micky made no response.
+
+"She sure to be all right, anyway," Ashton said after a moment. "If
+she hadn't I should have heard--eh?"
+
+Micky looked at him coolly.
+
+"You rather sound as if you were expecting to hear she'd done
+something foolish--jumped off Waterloo Bridge or something----" he
+said drily.
+
+Ashton laughed. "Well, you never know," he said heartlessly. "Women
+are such queer creatures--and Lallie was so excitable; she said more
+than once that she'd do away with herself--it's all rot, of course,
+but ... what did you say?"
+
+"Nothing," said Micky curtly. "Good-night." He turned on his heel and
+went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Micky stayed in Paris four days; the four longest days of his life.
+
+He wandered about killing time and wishing everything and every one at
+the bottom of the sea.
+
+It seemed impossible that he had ever managed to have a good time over
+here--the noise and bustle of the streets got on his nerves; the
+things that had always amused him before bored him and left him cold;
+he thought of London with a deadly sort of home-sickness.
+
+Esther did not mean to write to him, he was sure, and in some ways he
+hoped she would not; he realised that he was playing a mean trick on
+her, cheating her out of fond words and a love-letter to which he had
+not the smallest claim.
+
+He tried to salve his conscience by making up his mind to leave on the
+Monday morning whatever happened; if there was no letter by that time
+there would never be one. Esther would have gone to Mrs. Ashton's. It
+was surprising how much he hated the thought of her being with
+Raymond's mother. During the interminable hours when he walked about
+Paris trying to kill time he thought out all manner of possibilities
+that might result from this unforeseen contingency. Mrs. Ashton might
+get fond of Esther--and if she got fond of Esther, well--who knew what
+might happen in the future in spite of Tubby Clare's little widow? He
+had not run across Ashton again, and he sincerely hoped that he would
+not.
+
+When Monday morning came he packed his portmanteau before he left his
+room--there would be no letter for him, so he might as well clear out
+and go home without making a further fool of himself. There was not
+the least hope in his heart when he went to the bureau and asked for
+letters; the reply came as it had done each morning: "Nothing for
+monsieur...."
+
+Micky turned away. He was half way to the dining-room before it
+suddenly dawned upon him that they did not know he was expecting
+letters in the name of Ashton--that he had forgotten to tell them. He
+went back hurriedly to the bureau.
+
+"Any letters for Ashton?--I am expecting one for a friend of mine of
+that name...."
+
+He waited breathlessly while the girl sorted through the pigeon-holes
+on the wall; he felt as if he could hardly breathe when she came back
+with a grey envelope in her hand.
+
+"Mais oui...." she said smilingly. "I did not know it was for
+monsieur...."
+
+Mickey almost snatched it from her; he had not even glanced at the
+writing, but he knew it must be from Esther. He sat down at the
+breakfast table with his thoughts in a whirl; he was sure that the
+waiter must know how excited he felt. He ordered coffee and rolls
+before he opened the envelope; he laid it down on the cloth beside him
+and stared at it very much as a sentimental girl might stare at her
+first love-letter, hesitating to open it, wishing to prolong the
+ultimate delight.
+
+Finally he cut it open carefully and drew out the contents. His pulses
+were racing, he did not know if shame or delight were the greatest
+emotion in his heart; he glanced at the first two words and the blood
+rushed to his face.
+
+It seemed almost sacrilege to read what she had written to the man she
+loved--he pushed the paper back into its envelope--he did not look at
+it again till he had finished his pretence of a meal, then he took it
+out with him into the rather dingy winter garden and sat down in the
+quietest corner he could find.
+
+There he faced the greatest moment of his life; as to whether he
+should go on with this thing or wipe it out of his life once and for
+all.
+
+Ashton had done with Esther; he was as sure of that as he was sure
+that Ashton meant to marry Mrs. Clare. This being so, was it wrong of
+him to try and give Esther some happiness in place of what she had
+lost? She had refused to marry him--she had said that she could never
+care for him; could he hope to make her change her mind? In his heart
+he was sure that he could; he wanted her so badly that it seemed to
+him as if the very force of his desire must compel some return from
+her.
+
+He sat staring down the dismal garden with moody eyes. He knew it was
+a big risk; he thought of her as he had first seen her and as he had
+last seen her. He had never once really thought that she looked
+happy--she had never quite lost the shadow in her eyes or the droop to
+her lips which he had at first noticed, and he wanted her to be happy.
+He wanted her happiness far more than he wanted his own.
+
+He took the letter from his pocket and looked at the address on the
+envelope. "Raymond Ashton, Esq...."
+
+He hated the sight of that name--some day Esther would hate it too,
+when she knew how he had deceived her.
+
+It was a great risk--but ...
+
+"I'll chance it," said Mickey under his breath, and drew out the
+letter again.
+
+  "MY DARLING BOY,--You can never know how glad and happy I was to
+  get your letter to-night and to know that I can really write to
+  you at last. I have been so miserable during these weeks in spite
+  of all your goodness--and you have been good. It makes me feel
+  mean and ungrateful now when I remember how horrid I often was to
+  you before you went away. When you come back I will make it all up
+  to you, and show you how nice I really can be, because I do love
+  you--I have never loved any one but you. Thank you so much for the
+  money you have sent me--I was very much down on my luck when it
+  came. They haven't a vacancy for me just now at Eldred's, or else
+  they did not want me back, and I am going to try and find another
+  berth. I am living in a new boarding-house, as you will see; it's
+  ever so much nicer than the Brixton Road, and I shall be able to
+  stay on now you are so generously sending me money. I have made a
+  nice friend here, too, a girl named June Mason--she tells me that
+  she knows your mother, and you, too!--I did not let her know how
+  well I knew you, dear, as I thought perhaps you would rather I
+  said nothing about it. She has a man friend who sometimes comes to
+  see her--a Mr. Mellowes--she thinks the world of him, but I think
+  he is detestable...."
+
+Mickey caught his breath hard. After a moment he went on reading:
+
+  "June tells me he is very rich, and quite a 'somebody,' but I
+  cannot see anything out of the ordinary about him, and he isn't a
+  bit good looking. He knows you, too--but he does not say much
+  about you. Dearest, it seems such a long time since I saw you--and
+  I cannot help wondering if you really miss me and want me as much
+  as I want you.... Sometimes I would give just anything to lay my
+  head on your shoulder and say how much I love you. I'm very
+  lonely, really; though June is so kind she isn't any one of my
+  very own, is she? And now I wonder if you will be very angry with
+  me if I ask you something? I don't think I should have dared to,
+  only your last letters have been so dear and kind. Raymond, why
+  can't I come out to you and be with you? We could get married, and
+  we should be ever so happy even if we have to be poor--at least, I
+  know I could, and from your letters, somehow I think it sounds as
+  if you, too, have realised that there isn't much happiness away
+  from me. I have had the offer of a good post--I won't tell you
+  what it is, as I want it to be a surprise to you if I do take it.
+  But if you would like me to come, I will just leave everything and
+  come to you. Couldn't you send me a wire when you get this letter?
+  I shall be longing and waiting to hear from you. I am a little bit
+  afraid in my heart, really, now I have written this, but your last
+  letter is lying beside me, and I keep peeping at it and reading
+  what you say there, and somehow I feel that it's going to be all
+  right.--
+
+                         With all my love for ever and ever, LALLIE.
+
+Mickey sat there staring down at her signature a long time after he
+had reached the end.
+
+Then he moved slowly as if it cost him an effort. He was rather pale
+now, and there was a hard line round his mouth. So that was how she
+thought of him! Somehow he had not imagined how much it would hurt to
+read the fond words and to know all the time that they were written to
+another man. And to a man so unworthy! He thought of Ashton as he had
+seen him three nights ago with Mrs. Clare; of his callous questioning
+about Esther; of his almost brutal remarks, and it made his blood
+boil.
+
+He could picture her so well--waiting for a wire that would never
+come.
+
+He hated Ashton at that moment. His brows almost met above his eyes in
+a scowl as he went up to the bureau and asked for his bill. The
+smiling French girl sobered a little meeting his gaze; for once she
+did not dare to smile or dimple; she gave him his account silently.
+
+"Ah, but they are funny, these English;" she told her father
+afterwards. "To-day he had no smile, the tall monsieur--not even one
+little smile!"
+
+She watched Micky across the lounge with interested eyes as he sat
+down at one of the tables and proceeded to write a letter. It took him
+a long time, and twice she saw that he tore up what he had written and
+flung it into the wastepaper basket, but at last he had finished, and
+getting up, stalked away.
+
+Celeste ventured out then--there was nobody about, and tiptoeing
+across the lounge, took the torn papers from the paper-basket. They
+were torn across and across, but on one or two slips the writing was
+visible, and she carried them back with her to the shelter of the
+bureau.
+
+She spread them out on the desk before her, carefully piecing them
+together. She knew English quite well, and she soon made out one
+sentence:--
+
+"It is not that I do not love you--I have never loved you better than
+at this moment--but...."
+
+Celeste was sentimental. She gave a big sigh of sympathy for the big
+Englishman. "No wonder he has no smile!" she told herself. "_C'est si
+triste!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+It was raining and miserable when Micky arrived in London. The roads
+were wet and slippery, and every taxi and omnibus splashed pedestrians
+with mud.
+
+Micky shivered as he stood waiting while a porter lugged his traps
+down from the rack. He had felt depressed in Paris, but now London
+seemed a thousand times worse. The sight of Driver waiting on the
+platform annoyed him. He answered the man's stolid greeting
+snappishly. He had wanted to come home, and yet now he was here he
+wished himself a thousand miles away. He leaned back in a corner of
+the taxi and shut his eyes.
+
+The last four days had got on his nerves; Esther's letter in his
+pocket was like an eternal reproach.
+
+Why had he come back at all? She did not want him--nobody wanted him
+in the whole forsaken world. The silence of his flat seemed a thing to
+be dreaded in his present mood. Driver's inscrutable face would, he
+felt, drive him mad. With sudden impulse he leaned forward and called
+to the chauffeur, "Stop--I've changed my mind--drive me back to the
+Savoy...."
+
+There would be life there, at any rate--life and people and
+music--something to make a man forget the depression that sat like a
+ton weight on his shoulders.
+
+He felt utterly at a loose end; he stalked moodily into the lounge.
+There were many people there, girls in pretty dinner frocks, with
+their attendant cavaliers. Micky glanced at none of them, till
+suddenly a girl who had been sitting on a couch listening rather
+listlessly to the conversation of a youth beside her, rose to her feet
+when she saw Micky, the hot colour flying to her cheeks.
+
+For a moment she hesitated, waiting for him to look at her, to
+speak--but Micky had stalked by without turning his eyes, and after
+the barest second she followed and touched his arm.
+
+"Micky...." she said breathlessly, and again "Micky," with an odd
+little catch in her voice.
+
+Micky turned as if he had been shot, then stopped dead, colouring up
+to the roots of his hair, for the girl was Marie Deland.
+
+She smiled tremulously, reading the distress in his eyes.
+
+"I thought I was never going to see you any more," she said. She tried
+hard to speak casually, but her voice quivered a little. "Where have
+you been hiding all this time, Micky?"
+
+Micky stammered out that he really didn't know--that he'd only just
+come back from Paris--that he did call to see her one night, but that
+they told him she wasn't in. She broke in there impetuously--
+
+"I know; I'm so sorry. It wasn't my fault. I was there all the time.
+Mother----" She stopped, biting her lip, but there was no need to
+explain further. Micky could well imagine that it was by Mrs. Deland's
+orders that the butler had said "Not at home."
+
+His heart was full of remorse as he looked down at Marie. Such a
+little while ago he had thought of her as his wife. He had fully meant
+to marry her.
+
+He broke out again agitatedly--
+
+"I know you must think I'm an awful sweep. I--I--oh, I can't explain."
+He glanced past her to where the rather vapid-looking youth to whom
+she had been speaking sat tugging at an incipient moustache.
+
+"What are you doing here?" he asked again. "Who are you with?"
+
+She told him that she was with her married sister and some friends.
+
+"We're going to have dinner here," she said. She was longing to ask
+Micky to dine with them, but was obviously afraid to do so.
+
+After a moment--
+
+"I suppose I ought to be going," she said. "Violet will wonder where I
+am, Micky." She looked up at him with abashed eyes. "I--I suppose--you
+wouldn't--will you come out to tea with me to-morrow?"
+
+Micky's face reflected the flush in her own; he looked away in
+miserable embarrassment. He knew that she felt the same towards him as
+she had done before that memorable New Year's Eve, and he knew that
+whatever happened now he could never feel the same to her any more.
+
+He answered that he would be pleased, very pleased. Where should he
+meet her--or should he call for her?
+
+"I'll meet you," she said quickly. "You know where we always used to
+go--I'll be there at four, Micky."
+
+She put out her hand and Micky was forced to take it; he felt how her
+fingers shook in his, and he cursed himself for a brute as he turned
+away and left her.
+
+In a way he was glad they had met. Any other woman would have given
+him the snubbing which he knew he so richly deserved. Deep down in his
+heart he wished that she had done so; anything would have been easier
+to meet than this trembling overture of friendship. He knew that the
+little abashed expression in Marie's dark eyes could only mean one
+thing, that he had cut her to the soul and that she still cared for
+him.
+
+He left the Savoy without having any dinner; he went back to his
+rooms, where the imperturbable Driver was brushing and refolding his
+master's clothes. It had almost broken Driver's heart to see the way
+in which Micky had packed his things; he raised eyes of wooden
+reproach as Micky entered the room.
+
+There was a pile of letters on the table. Micky flicked them through
+carelessly; nothing of interest--a few bills and a good many
+invitations; nothing from Esther--not even a note from June.
+
+He sat down by the fire and proceeded to cut the many envelopes open.
+He kept thinking of Marie and wondering if it would be kinder not to
+meet her to-morrow, after all; if he could possibly write her a note
+that would tactfully explain the situation.
+
+He just glanced at each of the notes as he opened them, and let them
+drop to the carpet at his feet. They could be answered later; there
+was nothing of importance, nothing he ... his attention was
+arrested:--
+
+  "DEAR MR. MELLOWES,--I wonder if it will be asking too much of you
+  to come round and see me one afternoon for half an hour?--
+
+                                     Yours sincerely, LAURA ASHTON."
+
+Micky glanced quickly at the address at the top of the paper--it was
+from Raymond's mother.
+
+What in the world could she want with him, he wondered blankly. He
+looked across at Driver.
+
+"This note--the one that came by hand--when did it come?" he asked.
+
+Driver replied that it had been there for two days. He waited a
+moment, then went on brushing Micky's coat.
+
+Micky felt rather disturbed.
+
+Raymond's mother! What in the wide world could she want with him?
+Supposing it were anything to do with Esther ...
+
+He wrote a note in reply at once and said he would call the following
+afternoon; he could just look in early for half an hour and go on
+afterwards to meet Marie; it was strange how he dreaded both these
+appointments.
+
+He felt ridiculously nervous when he reached Mrs. Ashton's house. For
+the first time it occurred to him that possibly Esther would be here
+too.
+
+He was kept waiting some minutes in the drawing room--minutes during
+which he wandered restlessly about staring at the pictures and the
+photographs.
+
+There were many portraits of Raymond--Raymond at all stages of his
+chequered career, smiling and handsome. Micky turned his back on them
+with a feeling of disgust.
+
+The door opened behind him, and, turning sharply, he found himself
+face to face with Mrs. Ashton.
+
+She came forward with outstretched hand.
+
+"This is kind of you, Mr. Mellowes. I did not know you had been away
+till I got your note this morning. I was wondering why I had had no
+reply to mine."
+
+Micky blurted out that he had been in Paris--that he only came back
+yesterday evening.
+
+Mrs. Ashton's face changed a little.
+
+"Paris! Have you been with that son of mine?" she asked sharply.
+
+Micky coloured. "I met him--quite by chance, though. We were not
+together more than a few minutes."
+
+She smiled rather ironically.
+
+"Have you got tired of him at last, then?" she asked. She moved over
+to the fire. She looked back at Micky quizzically. "I have often
+wondered how you put up with his friendship so long, Mr. Mellowes,"
+she added rather sadly.
+
+Micky felt embarrassed. He had always liked Mrs. Ashton. He stammered
+out that he and Raymond had always been very good friends.
+
+She drew her chair a little closer to the fire.
+
+"Very well--then, perhaps, you will be kind enough to answer a
+question I am going to ask you. Mr. Mellowes, what was the name of
+that girl at Eldred's whom Raymond was always about with before
+Christmas?"
+
+The question was so unexpected that Micky was utterly taken aback.
+Before he was aware of it he had told a lie.
+
+"I don't know--at least, he always spoke of her as 'Lallie.' I never
+once saw him with her, Mrs. Ashton--he never introduced me to her."
+
+She looked rather incredulous.
+
+"And yet you were such friends," she said.
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"Our tastes were not always identical," he said rather stiffly. "I am
+not very interested in women, and he----"
+
+"And he is," she finished for him. "There is no need to tell me
+that--I know my son. So you cannot tell me the name of this girl? I
+had hoped that you would be able to do so."
+
+Micky met her eyes unflinchingly.
+
+"I dare say I could find out," he said. "If she is still at
+Eldred's."
+
+"She is not there." Mrs. Ashton looked up at Micky with an anxious
+line between her handsome eyes. "Mr. Mellowes, I have always prided
+myself on my sense of justice, and somehow lately I have got an
+uncomfortable feeling that when I forbade Raymond to have anything
+more to do with that girl it would have been better if I had advised
+her to have nothing more to do with him. He is my son, and perhaps it
+seems strange for me to speak about him like that, but you cannot have
+been friends with him all these months without finding him out, so I
+need not apologise. Raymond is just his father over again...." She
+paused, and a painful little smile curved her lips.
+
+She looked at Micky rather pathetically. "There is no need for me to
+say any more, is there?" she asked.
+
+Micky did not answer. He had heard many stories about Raymond's
+father, all more or less unsavoury, and he knew that from all accounts
+Mrs. Ashton had been greatly to be pitied during his lifetime.
+
+"So if you can't help me in this," she went on presently, "I am afraid
+I have brought you here for nothing. I want to find out who this girl
+is, and see her for myself." She paused, but Micky's face was
+inscrutable.
+
+In his heart he was convinced that she did not believe him, but he had
+no intention of telling her Esther's name; he longed to know if Esther
+were in the house, but, of course, it was impossible to ask.
+
+It almost seemed as if Mrs. Ashton could read his thoughts, for she
+said suddenly--
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Mellowes, that I am going to have a companion?"
+
+Micky echoed her last word vacantly.
+
+"Companion?--I--er...."
+
+"Yes, a girl," Mrs. Ashton went on; "I have always envied people with
+daughters; a daughter is so much more to a mother than a son; but as I
+was not fortunate enough to have one of my own I am going to try
+having a companion. Raymond will be annoyed, I dare say--he has always
+pooh-poohed the idea when I have mentioned it to him, but now----" she
+shrugged her shoulders and sighed impatiently. "Well, he can no longer
+object, I think, seeing that he is to be married himself...."
+
+Micky made a little quick movement, almost knocking over a vase of
+flowers standing at his elbow; he recovered himself with an effort.
+
+"Married?" he said. "Why, I thought...." he broke off. "He did not say
+anything about it to me when I met him in Paris," he said lamely.
+
+"No?" Her handsome eyes searched his agitated face critically. "Well,
+he is to be married all the same," she said. "I heard from him only
+this morning. He is engaged to Tom Clare's widow--Tubby Clare, I
+believe he was always called."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+When Micky left Mrs. Ashton he raced off to meet Marie.
+
+She was looking quite her prettiest, in dark furs with a bunch of
+violets in the breast of her coat, but Micky would not have noticed if
+she had been shabby, his thoughts were elsewhere. He did not even see
+that she wore the bracelet he had given her for a Christmas present,
+or remember that he had once told her violets were his favourite
+flowers.
+
+He apologised breathlessly for being late.
+
+"I had an appointment," he explained. "Raymond's mother; she wrote and
+asked me to call this afternoon." He hesitated, then added, "Did you
+know that Raymond is going to be married? Oh, but, of course, you
+cannot know, as Mrs. Ashton only knew this morning."
+
+Marie's dark eyes opened; like most women, she loved to hear of an
+engagement or marriage.
+
+"Really?" she said. "At last!--not to--surely not to that little girl
+at Eldred's?"
+
+Micky flushed angrily. Did every one know about Esther? he asked
+himself savagely. He answered shortly that it was to Mrs. Clare, Tubby
+Clare's little widow.
+
+Marie looked amazed.
+
+"But we all thought----" she said, then stopped, remembering that
+Micky and Raymond had been great friends. "I hope he'll be happy," she
+said lamely.
+
+Micky laughed shortly.
+
+"I don't," he said. "He doesn't deserve to be."
+
+She made no comment.
+
+There was an excited flush in her cheeks, and a nervous note in her
+voice when she spoke; it was like old times to be here with him again,
+until she met his eyes across the little table, and then it seemed as
+if she were looking into the face of a stranger, a man who was like
+Micky--enough like him to hurt, and yet not Micky at all.
+
+She aroused herself to amuse him. Micky had always told her she
+cheered him up in the old days, but this afternoon he answered her in
+monosyllables, and she saw with bitter mortification how often he
+looked at the clock. At last she was driven to remark on it.
+
+"Micky, are you in a hurry to get away?"
+
+She asked the question lightly, but there was a strained note in her
+voice.
+
+Micky did not look at her.
+
+"No--no, not at all," he said hurriedly. "But I suppose we ought to be
+moving soon...." There was a little pause. "It's been nice seeing you
+again," he added with an effort.
+
+She sat staring down at her plate. Her pretty colour had faded; she
+was very pale, and she bit her lip hard to hide its trembling.
+
+Suddenly she looked up at him.
+
+"Micky--may I ask you a question?..."
+
+"A hundred if you like."
+
+She picked up a teaspoon and twisted it nervously. Micky watched her
+with apprehension; he knew what was coming, and his heart sank.
+
+If only she would be content to leave things as they were; if only she
+would accept the friendship he was willing to give and close the book
+of the past for ever.
+
+He did not understand that it was because she cared for him so much
+that at the risk of losing her self-respect and pride she must ask him
+for the truth, must know ...
+
+He heard her catch her breath, then suddenly she spoke:
+
+"Micky ... why was it? What have I done?"
+
+There was a quiver in her voice that set him on edge; he could not
+stand the sound of unhappiness in any woman's voice, and he had once
+thought he loved Marie....
+
+He answered without looking at her, realising that it was kinder to
+tell the truth out and have done with it.
+
+"I meant to have written to you--I hope some day you will try and
+forgive me, but ... but...." He could not go on for the life of him,
+but he had said enough, and he knew that she understood.
+
+"You mean ... you mean that there is some one else?" she asked with
+stiff lips.
+
+"Yes." He looked at her white, stricken face, and felt himself a
+brute.
+
+It seemed an eternity before she could steady her voice enough to
+speak.
+
+"Is it--is it some one I know?"
+
+"No, dear," said Micky very gently. "It isn't any one you have ever
+seen----"
+
+She picked up her big muff suddenly and held it so that her face was
+hidden; the little word of endearment that had escaped Micky's lips
+had almost broken her down. This was the end of all she had ever hoped
+for, and for the moment she could not choke the anguish in her heart.
+
+The following silence seemed unending; then she looked round for her
+gloves, and put them on, buttoning them with shaking fingers.
+
+"I am ready if you are," she said. She did not look at him, but it
+felt like dying to walk beside him out of the shop and into the cold
+air and know that perhaps this was the last time they would ever be
+alone, he and she. Once her steps faltered a little, and Micky put out
+his hand to steady her, but she drew away from him.
+
+"Please don't," she said in a whisper.
+
+There was a taxi waiting at the roadside, and Micky called to the man.
+There was a slight cold drizzle of rain falling as he held open the
+door. He would have followed but she stopped him. "I should like to go
+alone, if you don't mind."
+
+He looked up, and for a moment he saw her face in the light of the
+taxi lamp; such a white, quivering face it was.
+
+"Marie!..." said Micky in a choked voice, but she waved him away.
+
+He stood there on the kerb till the taxi had whirled out of sight, and
+once again he asked himself desperately if it were all worth while, if
+he were not throwing away the real thing for a chimera.
+
+There was probably a no more unhappy man in London at that moment than
+Micky Mellowes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Esther had spent a week indoors with a cold, and it was the longest
+she could ever remember. June was kindness itself, and fussed and
+petted and made much of her, but the days dragged.
+
+There was only one thing to live for--the post! And though the rat-tat
+rang through the house three or four times a day, there was never
+anything for Esther.
+
+Her own letter to Paris remained unanswered. The telegram for which
+she longed never came.
+
+June watched her with a mixture of sympathy and impatience.
+
+What was the good of putting all one's eggs in the same basket? she
+asked herself crossly. What was the good of falling in love if nothing
+better than unhappiness ever came of it? She began to hate the phantom
+lover, as she called him, with increased hatred.
+
+"I don't think you're strong enough to go yet, you know," she said to
+Esther one afternoon when they were sitting together in the firelight.
+"Write and tell Mrs. Ashton you can't come for another week, or that
+you can't go at all. I do wish you would."
+
+Esther shook her head.
+
+"I promised to go, and I must do something. I shall be all right by
+Monday. Mrs. Ashton has waited long enough as it is."
+
+She looked pale and ill, June thought angrily, and put it all down to
+"that man."
+
+"Has Mr. Mellowes come back from Paris yet?" Esther asked suddenly.
+June was faintly amazed; Esther never spoke of Micky. She answered
+rather dubiously that she did not know.
+
+"I expect he's having such a good time that he'll stay for weeks," she
+added. "I wish he would come back, I want him to get on with my
+business...."
+
+"Mr. Mellowes...." announced Lydia at the door.
+
+June scrambled to her feet with a scream of delight.
+
+"Micky! you villain! we were just talking about you. When did you come
+back? Why haven't you been before? What have you been doing?"
+
+She dragged him over to the fire; she fussed over him and told him he
+was just in time for tea.
+
+"Esther's been indoors a week with a cold," she explained. "No, don't
+you get up, Esther. Micky won't mind...." She pushed Esther back
+amongst the sofa pillows. "Poor darling! She's really been quite ill,"
+she declared.
+
+Micky said formally that he was sorry that she was not well, but that
+the weather was enough to kill anybody; he added that he had been in
+town since Sunday, but ...
+
+"Four days, and you've not been to see me!" said June. "What a shame,
+to neglect us so!"
+
+"I've been busy," Micky defended himself; "I expected to hear you had
+gone to Mrs. Ashton's," he said to Esther.
+
+She raised her eyes.
+
+"No--I am going on Monday."
+
+"Oh," said Micky blankly.
+
+June had opened the door and was calling over the balusters to Lydia
+for hot water.
+
+"And bring lots of it," she said. "We're thirsty...." She came back
+into the room. "The postman's just come," she said with a nod and a
+smile to Esther. "Lydia will bring our letters up if there are any."
+She turned again to Micky. "Well, truant! And what have you been
+doing? Having a good time?"
+
+"No, I have not," Micky said decidedly. "Paris is not what it used to
+be, or I am not!" He laughed. "How's the swindle?"
+
+June began to answer, but stopped as Lydia came into the room. She
+brought a jug of hot water. June danced up to her.
+
+"No letters? I thought I heard the postman."
+
+"One for Miss Shepstone," Lydia said smilingly.
+
+Micky looked across at Esther--her whole face was transformed as she
+turned eagerly with outstretched hand.
+
+There was a moment of silence, then she gave a little sigh of utter
+contentment. June sniffed inelegantly--Micky looked hard into the
+fire; his heart was thumping; that letter ought to have been delivered
+yesterday, he knew; it was cursed bad luck that it should arrive while
+he was here.
+
+There was a little silence in the room while Esther opened it. She
+seemed to have forgotten that she was not alone. Her pale cheeks were
+flushed and her whole face tremulous.
+
+June was bustling about, making a great clatter with the teacups.
+Micky got up and began to prowl round the room; his nerves felt jumpy.
+Because he knew so well who had written that letter he was sure every
+one else must know it too. Presently June nudged him as she passed.
+When he looked at her she made a little grimace.
+
+"Isn't it awful?" she said in a stage whisper.
+
+Micky smiled stiffly.
+
+"Can't I help get the tea?" he asked. "Toast some buns or something?"
+
+"There aren't any to toast," she told him. "Sit down and make yourself
+at home. Esther!"--she raised her voice elaborately--"are you going to
+have any tea, my child?"
+
+Esther had come to the end of her letter; she folded it hurriedly and
+put it away; she cast a quick look at Micky, but he did not see it.
+June was chattering away.
+
+"So Esther is going on Monday," she informed Micky, "and I shall be
+left once more to my lonesome. I'm not at all sure that I shall stay
+on myself," she added. "It's been so jolly having some one to share
+this room with me that I'm not looking forward to my own eternal
+company."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"I may not go after all," Esther said suddenly. There was a note of
+nervousness in her voice. She coloured, meeting June's amazed eyes.
+
+June screamed.
+
+"Not go! Well, I never!" She sat down in a heap on the hearthrug
+staring at Esther. "I never knew such a girl," she complained. "Micky,
+I appeal to you...."
+
+But Micky was not going to be appealed to; he was stolidly stirring
+his tea.
+
+"I suppose I can change my mind if I like?" Esther said.
+
+"Oh, it isn't you who have changed your mind," June cut in ironically.
+"It's something that phantom lover of yours has said in his letter.
+Own up, now."
+
+"Well, and if it is?" Esther demurred. "I suppose he has a right to
+say what he likes, hasn't he?" But she was laughing as she spoke; she
+felt wonderfully happy and light-hearted. "I believe you're jealous,"
+she declared.
+
+"Jealous, indeed!" said June indignantly. Then suddenly she sighed.
+"Well, perhaps I am; who knows? What does he say? or mayn't we ask?"
+
+Micky had stopped stirring his tea; there was a sort of intentness
+about his big figure.
+
+Esther looked at him, and suddenly she stiffened.
+
+"Never mind what he says," she answered defensively.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Oh, all right--sorry if I was inquisitive." She deliberately turned
+and began talking to Micky; Esther was left to herself, but she did
+not mind, she had enough now to think about. The longed-for letter had
+come at last.
+
+She woke from her reverie with a start when Micky rose and said he
+must be going.
+
+"And don't you be so long before you come and see me again," June said
+in her downright way. "And don't go without that sample, Micky--it
+will go in your pocket quite easily." She darted off to her room to
+fetch it, and Micky moved a step nearer to Esther.
+
+"You have had good news?" he said.
+
+She looked up startled.
+
+Micky's eyes flamed.
+
+"That being so, of course, it is useless for me to ask if you have
+changed your mind yet?" he said again.
+
+Esther gave a stifled cry.
+
+"Are you trying to insult me?" she asked under her breath.
+
+He half smiled.
+
+"I am, if it's an insult to ask you to marry me."
+
+There was no time for more. June came back then with her hands full of
+samples, which she proceeded to stuff into Micky's pocket.
+
+He submitted laughingly.
+
+"Supposing I get run over!" he said resignedly. "People will think
+I've been robbing a beauty shop."
+
+"It will be a fine advertisement for me, anyway," June declared.
+"Can't you see all the halfpenny papers coming out with great
+headlines? Tragic Death of a Young Millionaire! Pockets Stuffed with
+June Mason's Skin Food!" She laughed merrily. "That would be worth
+something, eh, Micky?"
+
+"Heartless woman!" he answered. He turned to Esther. "Good-bye, Miss
+Shepstone."
+
+Esther was glad that he did not offer to shake hands with her; she was
+glad that June went to see him off. As soon as the door had closed on
+them she took her letter out again; she pressed the paper to her
+lips.
+
+It was worth waiting for, worth the heartache and disappointment; she
+closed her eyes for a moment and thought of Raymond Ashton. How she
+must have misjudged him in the past. It did not seem true now that
+they had ever quarrelled, or parted in anger; that she had ever been
+so unhappy that she did not want to live....
+
+June came running up the stairs; she was singing cheerily; Esther
+smiled as she listened ... it must be wonderful to be always as happy
+and light-hearted as June.
+
+"Well, dreamer?" said June. She shut the door with a little slam and
+came over to where her friend sat. "A penny for your thoughts."
+
+She looked at Esther's flushed face in the firelight.
+
+"And so everything is all right after all, eh?" she asked.
+
+Esther nodded.
+
+"And I'm not really going to Mrs. Ashton's after all," she said with a
+sort of shamefaced delight. "Only I didn't want to say so in front of
+Mr. Mellowes.... Oh, aren't you glad?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"My dear, of course I am!" said June heartily. "But for the life of me
+I can't understand how it is that this man of yours has got such an
+influence over you. He's only got to hold up his little finger and
+you're on your knees. I'm beginning to think he must be a kind of
+wonder after all."
+
+Esther did not answer for a moment.
+
+"No," she said. "He isn't at all wonderful, really, except to me,
+and--and I love him, you see," she added shyly. "I suppose every man
+is wonderful to the woman who loves him."
+
+"Until she's his wife," said June tartly. "And then she thinks he's
+all sorts of an idiot, and tells him so."
+
+But Esther was too happy to take her seriously.
+
+"You've never been in love," she said, "or you wouldn't talk like
+that."
+
+"And I never wish to be in love, thank you," said June. "If you and
+Micky are samples of objects who are in love...." She made a little
+grimace, screwing up her nose in disgust.
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"Micky!" she said, surprised into using his Christian name. "Is he in
+love? How do you know he is?"
+
+"I'm not a bat, and I haven't known Micky years for nothing. He hasn't
+been himself for a long time. I've seen it, though I haven't said a
+word. He's in love right enough, there can't be any other explanation,
+seeing that he's too rich to ever be in debt, and they are the only
+two things that ever make a man miserable," she added.
+
+Esther wondered if June was trying to sound her.
+
+"I don't know who the wretched female is," June went on, puckering her
+brows. "I've tried to guess, but it's no good. There was a Miss Deland
+he used to go about with at one time, but I know that's all off."
+
+"Was he engaged to her?"
+
+"No--not really! But her people wanted it, and Micky didn't mind; he'd
+have drifted into it sure enough if something very tremendous hadn't
+happened to make him change his mind. I know Micky--he'd have slipped
+into matrimony as easily as he gets into a taxi, unless some one had
+turned him away from it." She glanced down at the letter in Esther's
+lap. "Tell me what he says," she coaxed. "Take pity on a poor creature
+who hasn't a phantom lover of her own, or a real one either," she
+added laughing.
+
+Esther hesitated.
+
+"I'm never quite sure whether you're laughing at me or not," she said
+nervously. "I know you don't mean to, but----"
+
+June laid her hand on Esther's lap.
+
+"I laugh at every one and everything," she said. "But it's only my
+way, and doesn't mean anything. Perhaps I'm a bit jealous--because you
+love this phantom lover so much better than you love me," she added.
+
+Esther drew the letter from its envelope.
+
+"I'll read you just a few little bits," she said shyly. The blood
+surged into her pretty face.
+
+June leaned back in a corner and closed her eyes. She held a cigarette
+between her lips and puffed at it lazily. There was a little silence;
+then Esther said suddenly--
+
+"I can't. It makes me feel too self-conscious. But he just says that
+he doesn't want me to go into any berth just yet. He says that he may
+be home very soon now...."
+
+"Oh!" said June chagrined. "And then, of course, you'll be married and
+live happily ever after...."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. "I hope so."
+
+June opened her eyes.
+
+Charlie, curled up on his cushion, started to purr lazily. Presently
+June flopped down on her knees beside him and began stroking his
+head.
+
+"You'll let me have Charlie when you're married, won't you?" she said
+suddenly. "I am sure the phantom lover won't want him."
+
+Esther did not answer; she hated herself for remembering that Raymond
+had once said he loathed cats.
+
+"I told you how Micky went into a pond after a drowning kitten, didn't
+I?" June asked reminiscently. "I should have loved him for that alone,
+if for nothing else...."
+
+Esther made no comment. She moved a little, and the letter slipped
+from her lap to the floor.
+
+June picked it up.
+
+"Or is it sacrilege to touch it?" she asked teasingly. She laid it on
+Esther's lap.
+
+"Well, I couldn't help seeing the writing," she said, after a
+moment. "And, do you know, it's awfully like Micky's! If I hadn't
+known it wasn't his I should have declared it was," she said rather
+disconnectedly.
+
+Esther grabbed the letter up.
+
+"Well, it isn't his, anyway," she said sharply.
+
+June laughed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Esther wrote to Mrs. Ashton that same night and told her she must
+regretfully decline the offered position; she gave no reason, but she
+permitted herself a little sigh of regret when the letter was
+dispatched.
+
+She would like to have gone; she would like to have seen Raymond's
+home and to have got to know his mother, but it was his wish that she
+should not go.
+
+She tried to believe that she was happy in the knowledge of his love,
+but in her heart she knew that she was restless and dissatisfied.
+
+"If I had something to do I should be ever so much happier," she told
+June again and again, and June quite agreed.
+
+"It must be awful, killing time," she said. "When I think of the life
+I used to lead at home before I started trying to improve people's
+complexions, I wonder I didn't go mad. Nothing but silly tea-parties
+and scandal.... Ugh! But all the same Micky and I agreed that you
+wouldn't like being at Mrs. Ashton's."
+
+"Micky!" said Esther scornfully. "As if I care what he thinks...."
+
+June looked mildly amazed.
+
+"Oh, all right," she said smoothly. "I suppose I may mention his name
+sometimes, mayn't I?" She began to laugh. "Do you know that for once
+in my life I've been totally wrong with regard to you two? I was so
+sure you'd more than like each other--I even thought it quite possible
+that Micky might fall in love with you--you're so exactly suited to
+him."
+
+"I'm glad you think so," said Esther drily. "I'm sorry I can't oblige
+you by agreeing."
+
+June said "Humph!" She yawned. "All the same," she added after a
+moment, "I'm convinced that things would have been different if it
+hadn't been for that phantom lover of yours; you're so crazy about
+him." There was a touch of exasperation in her voice.
+
+Esther flushed angrily.
+
+"It's absurd of you to talk like this," she said. "Mr. Mellowes is the
+last man on earth I should ever have looked at, even supposing
+Raymond...." She had spoken the name before she was aware of it; in
+her momentary flash of temper the secret she had so carefully guarded
+escaped her.
+
+It was too late to attempt to cover what she had said; she knew by the
+sudden expression of June's face that she had heard.
+
+There was a poignant silence, then June sat up with a little jerk.
+
+"Of course, that's let the cat out of the bag," she said curtly. "And
+you let me run him down! How mean, how unutterably mean of you,
+Esther!... I can't think now why I never guessed! Raymond Ashton!"
+
+Esther had flushed scarlet.
+
+"I never said that was his name," she tried to defend herself. "It's
+purely your imagination. And even supposing it is, do you think I mind
+what you say about him, or Mr. Mellowes either? Neither of you know
+him as I do, or you would never say such cruel, wicked things." She
+stopped with a sob in her voice.
+
+"Then it is Raymond Ashton?" June said gently. She got up and came
+over to where Esther was sitting. "Oh, I am sorry I said anything
+about him!" she cried impulsively. "You ought to have stopped me. How
+on earth was I to know?"
+
+"I don't care what you said; it's all untrue," Esther protested
+stormily. "Nothing you could ever say about him would influence me or
+make me feel any differently."
+
+June got up for a cigarette; when she was nonplussed she invariably
+had to smoke; she took several agitated puffs before she looked at her
+friend again.
+
+"Well, anything I said was in absolute innocence, you know that," she
+said in distress. "I'd no more idea than the dead that you and he....
+So that's why he doesn't want you to go to his mother?"
+
+"He doesn't know; I never told him it was to Mrs. Ashton's--I just
+said I had had an offer of a berth. I suppose you are trying to make
+out now that he----"
+
+"Heaven bless the child!" June cried. "I'm not trying to make out
+anything! I'm struck all of a heap like! as Lydia says. So he's the
+phantom lover, is he?... Well--I can't find any words to suit the
+case."
+
+"He's not a phantom lover," Esther protested. "He's a real lover, a
+very real lover."
+
+June stopped and took her hand.
+
+"I'm not going to let you quarrel with me over him, no matter how
+badly you want to," she said. "No man is worth two friends having a
+row over. I'm quite prepared to take him to my arms and love him if
+you do.... Oh, Esther, don't look like that!"
+
+There were tears in Esther's eyes, and her lips were trembling.
+"You're making fun of me," she protested. "It's unkind of you."
+
+June turned away; she wondered if perhaps, after all, she and every
+one else had thoroughly misunderstood Raymond, and if this girl's warm
+championing of him was deserved.
+
+"He's not nearly good enough for her," she was telling herself
+indignantly. "She'll never really be happy with him."
+
+"I hope you won't tell Mr. Mellowes, or any one else," Esther was
+saying defiantly. "I don't want my affairs talked over by every one."
+
+"I shall not tell any one," June said quietly.
+
+She stood looking down into the fire, and her face was troubled.
+
+Presently she walked to Esther, and, stooping, kissed her.
+
+"I'm awfully glad I know," she said. "It makes our friendship seem so
+much more real."
+
+Esther smiled faintly.
+
+But June was ill at ease. She felt instinctively that things were not
+all right.
+
+"It isn't the man himself," she told herself obstinately. "It's some
+foolish, mistaken ideal of him that she has created."
+
+She wondered what he really was doing in Paris. Micky would know--he
+and Micky had been such great friends. There would be no harm in
+speaking of him to Micky, at least that would not be betraying any
+secret or confidence.
+
+She rang Micky up the following morning. She made the excuse that she
+wanted to see him on business. She took him to lunch at her club.
+
+"You don't look well," was her greeting. "What's the matter, Micky?"
+
+Micky frowned. If there was one thing he hated it was for any one to
+remark on his appearance. He answered brusquely that he had never been
+better in his life.
+
+"By the way, I was going to write when you rang up," he said. "I've
+got some tickets for a first night to-morrow. Would you care to come
+along and--and bring Miss Shepstone?"
+
+June beamed. She liked going out with Micky.
+
+"I should love it," she said with enthusiasm. "I can't answer for
+Esther, though."
+
+"Try to persuade her," he urged carelessly. "I don't suppose she's
+been about much; it would do her good."
+
+"She told me she loves theatres," June admitted; "but the trouble will
+probably be that she hasn't got a dress."
+
+"A dress?" Micky echoed vaguely. "Can't you lend her one of yours?"
+
+June laughed.
+
+"My dear boy, she's much taller than me and slimmer. ... However,
+I'll see what can be done. Where shall we meet you?"
+
+"I'll call for you at seven. We'll have some grub first."
+
+"Good! And if Esther won't come?"
+
+"Oh, well, if she won't, you come along, of course; but try and
+persuade her."
+
+"She's refused Mrs. Ashton's offer, you know," June said presently.
+She kept her eyes lowered; she felt self-conscious and guilty.
+
+"Has she?" Micky did not sound particularly interested.
+
+"Yes; the phantom lover objected, or something, and I think it's just
+as well."
+
+"She said something about it when I had tea with you the other day."
+
+June nodded.
+
+"So she did. I dare say that wretched Raymond would have tried to make
+love to her if she had gone," she added deliberately.
+
+"He's away just now," Micky said quickly. "I ran across him when I was
+over in Paris last week."
+
+June looked up quickly.
+
+"Did you? What's he doing there?"
+
+"Nothing particular; he often goes over, you know."
+
+"I can't stand that man," June said, after a moment.
+
+"No?" Micky's voice was casual.
+
+"I never could see why you were so thick with him," she went on.
+
+Micky laughed lazily.
+
+"Perhaps because I haven't your gift of second sight, my dear," he
+said.
+
+"I shouldn't have thought it would need second sight to see what he
+is," June declared.
+
+She looked across at Micky and was surprised by the hard expression of
+his face. "I hate men who flirt," she added. "Micky, do you know that
+I've got a kind of feeling about Esther's phantom lover that he
+doesn't really exist?"
+
+Micky sat up with sudden attention.
+
+"What do you mean?" he asked.
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I mean that he isn't really a tangible man," she explained
+haltingly.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Oh yes, he is," he said.
+
+June caught her breath.
+
+"You don't mean--oh, do you mean that you know him?" she asked
+excitedly.
+
+Micky met her eyes with a faintly ironical smile in his own.
+
+"Yes, I know him," he answered hardily. "And so do you. My dear, I may
+be very green, but your careful questioning wouldn't deceive a
+mouse."
+
+"Micky!" said June indignantly. She flushed all over her face, and her
+queer eyes blazed angrily. She really felt that she had a done a
+dreadful thing in having allowed him to guess.
+
+"You needn't look so upset," Micky said. "You've not told me anything;
+I knew it long before you did."
+
+"When? How--oh, Micky, do tell me!"
+
+"There's nothing to tell. Ashton often spoke about her to me. I knew
+she was at Eldred's, and--well that's all," he added lamely.
+
+"All!" said June disappointedly. "But surely you know more than that!
+What do you think of him? Do you think he really cares for her? Oh,
+Micky, do you think he's good enough for her?"
+
+Micky looked away.
+
+"I don't know that it matters very much what I think," he said drily.
+"She--she loves him apparently, and that's all that counts, I
+imagine."
+
+"Yes, she loves him right enough," June admitted gloomily. "It was
+quite an accident that she told me his name, of course, and she made
+me promise not to tell any one, particularly you. I suppose because
+she knows that you and he were friends."
+
+"Possibly, if she does know. I rather doubt if Ashton said much to her
+about me, though. He used to keep things to himself a good deal." He
+picked up the menu. "Aren't you going to have anything more to eat? I
+thought you were hungry."
+
+"I'm not now; I'm too excited. Micky, when you saw him in Paris,
+didn't he say anything, ask you anything? Oh, it all seems so
+extraordinary!"
+
+"My dear girl, what could he ask me?" Micky objected gently. "I never
+discuss--Miss Shepstone with him, and he is not in the least likely to
+tell me his private affairs, and I'm sure I don't want to know them."
+
+June was silent for a moment.
+
+"Esther is laying up trouble for herself," she said then. "Don't you
+think she is?"
+
+"I haven't thought about it," Micky maintained stolidly. "And if you
+take my advice, you won't either. It never does to meddle with other
+people's affairs."
+
+"But she's my friend," June objected hotly. "And do you mean to say
+that I have got to stand by and see her ruin her life?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"She's not married yet," he said laconically. "Have some tipsy cake,
+will you?"
+
+"No--I don't want any more."
+
+"Well, I do. Waitress...."
+
+It was a deliberate attempt to change the conversation, and June knew
+it; she sat back in her chair frowning.
+
+She supposed Micky would not talk about Ashton because he was his
+friend; men were so absurdly loyal to one another.
+
+"If you loved Esther as much as I do," she said suddenly, "you
+wouldn't stand by and say nothing while she goes and marries that
+man."
+
+Micky was prodding the tipsy cake with a fork.
+
+"She hasn't married him yet," he said stoically. "And if she's
+happy----"
+
+"She isn't, my good man! at least only in theory!" June declared.
+"It's not Raymond Ashton she really cares for, but some wonderful
+person she thinks he is. She is looking at him through rose-coloured
+glasses."
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"That's what most women do, isn't it?" he asked. "My dear girl, don't
+get so upset; I thought you wanted to bring me out to talk business."
+
+"This is business, my business at least, even if you're not
+interested. No wonder you didn't want her to go to Mrs. Ashton's!"
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"Well--I thought it would be better not, certainly."
+
+June regarded him severely.
+
+"You're a deep soul," she said. "I never even guessed that you knew
+anything."
+
+"Why should you? And I don't know anything. Can't we talk about
+something else?" he asked plaintively.
+
+It was getting on his nerves, this constant conversation about
+Esther.
+
+"So you'll come along to-morrow, eh?" he asked presently. "It's a long
+time since we went for a little jaunt together."
+
+"I shall love it." But June answered absently; her thoughts were still
+with Esther.
+
+Silence fell. Micky had finished his tipsy cake and was leaning back
+in his chair, a cigarette hanging dejectedly between his lips. He had
+lit it, but it had gone out, and though matches stood beside him he
+made no effort to light it again.
+
+June watched him across the table. He didn't look a bit well, she
+thought. What was the matter with him?
+
+"You know, Micky," she said impulsively, "I had quite made up my mind
+that you and Esther were to fall in love with one another. It would
+have been ideal, wouldn't it?" she asked wickedly.
+
+A little spasm crossed Micky's face, but it was gone so quickly June
+could never be quite sure if she had not imagined it.
+
+"Ideal," he said quietly. "Shall we go?"
+
+"I'll let you know about to-morrow," June said, as they parted. "I
+shall have to wear the same old purple frock I wore when you took me
+out last time; you won't mind?"
+
+"Not a bit, as long as you come; and ... let me know about Miss
+Shepstone. If she won't come I'll give the ticket away."
+
+"I'll let you know," said June vaguely.
+
+She walked home deep in thought. So Micky had known all along? She was
+not quite sure that she was pleased with him for keeping the fact from
+her. They had been such pals, he and she; surely he might have trusted
+her and told her!
+
+"I suppose I'm not to be trusted with a secret, though," she thought
+with a comical sigh. "Look how easily I gave Esther's away!"
+
+Tea was ready when she got in, and Esther and Charlie sat curled up
+together in the firelight.
+
+"I've got an invitation for us both to-morrow night," June said, even
+as she opened the door.
+
+Esther looked up eagerly; she had had rather a dull day of it.
+
+"A theatre," said June. "It's from Micky. I tell you at once, so you
+shan't throw cold water on it. He's got some seats for a first night,
+and asks us both to go. What do you say?"
+
+"I haven't a dress," said Esther promptly.
+
+"I told him you'd say that," June answered calmly, "and he said it
+didn't matter--or something to that effect. Micky never notices what
+you wear," she went on airily. "I'm going to wear an old purple rag
+that I've had for about forty years."
+
+Esther laughed. "I dare say I can buy one in time," she said; she did
+not intend Micky to think she could not afford a frock. "I think I
+should rather like to go," she added shyly.
+
+"Good!" June hid the amazement she felt. "Well, Micky's going to call
+for us and take us out to dinner first. It'll be a scrumptious
+dinner--Micky always does the thing in style!"
+
+"It's kind of him to ask me," Esther said.
+
+"Why?" June demanded. "Oh, you mean because you don't like one
+another? But that wouldn't trouble Micky; he'd take you out if he
+hated the sight of you, he's so kind-hearted."
+
+"Thank you for a doubtful compliment," said Esther.
+
+She was making plans rapidly in her mind. Micky had never seen her
+well dressed.
+
+"I had another cheque from Raymond this morning," she said flushing.
+"So it will come in useful. I can get a ready-made frock--I shan't
+look so bad."
+
+"You'll look an angel whatever you wear," said June affectionately. "I
+know a little woman just off the Brompton Road who'll fix you up,"
+June said eagerly. "She's got the tiniest shop, but it's cram full of
+the sweetest things. She's awfully nice, too."
+
+"I can't afford much," Esther said dubiously.
+
+"She won't charge you much," June declared. "She's a friend of mine.
+She has my creams on her counter. It's a fine advertisement, you see.
+She gets lots of actresses and smart people in, and they ask what it
+is, and try a jar and send for more, and, there you are!"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"If she's too expensive----" she protested.
+
+But she ended by paying much more than she had originally intended.
+There was such a gem of a frock--black velvet and a white transparent
+bodice.
+
+"You look a duck!" June declared. "Doesn't she, Fifine?"
+
+But the mirror told Esther how charming she really looked without any
+further words.
+
+"I really ought not to have spent so much," she said as they went
+home. "But it is rather nice, isn't it?"
+
+"Micky will be absolutely bowled over," June declared. "I shall have
+to take a back seat all the evening."
+
+And Micky apparently was "bowled over," judging by the look that crept
+into his eyes when he arrived and found Esther alone in the
+sitting-room.
+
+June was late, as usual; she called out to him from her room that she
+wouldn't be half a minute.
+
+"There's no hurry," Micky answered quickly. He went over to where
+Esther stood, a little flushed and shy in her new frock.
+
+"It's very kind of you to come," he said rather agitatedly. She looked
+up.
+
+"It's very kind of you to ask me," she answered. She felt much more at
+her ease with him now. She knew that she was looking particularly
+pretty. "And it isn't the first time we have had dinner together, is
+it?" she asked.
+
+He answered eagerly that he was glad she remembered; he had almost
+thought she must have forgotten.
+
+"No, I shall never forget that, though it seems so long ago since that
+night. I was unhappy then, but now...."
+
+"But now?" he asked as she paused.
+
+"Now everything has come right," she told him. "You said you were sure
+it would, if you remember."
+
+His face changed a little.
+
+"I am glad I was such a good prophet," he said.
+
+June came bustling in; she was flushed and breathless, and laden with
+flowers, fan, and gloves, all of which she dropped to the sofa.
+
+"I'm quite ready. Esther, where's my cloak? Do find it, there's an
+angel. Oh, and my slippers--I've got everything else...."
+
+But it was at least another ten minutes before they were in the taxi
+and racing away through the night.
+
+"I've booked a table at Marnio's," Micky said. "I hope you like
+Marnio's, June?"
+
+"I like anything to-night," she told him. "I'm going to enjoy myself
+thoroughly, whatever happens."
+
+Micky glanced at Esther.
+
+"And you, Miss Shepstone?" he asked rather nervously.
+
+"Esther's too excited to speak," June answered for her. "Oh, are we
+here already?"
+
+She led the way into the lounge of the big restaurant; Micky was well
+known here apparently.
+
+"Every one in London knows Micky," June whispered to Esther with a
+sort of pride. "Look at the attention he gets!"
+
+Esther glanced at him; probably anybody with Micky's money could get
+the same attention, she thought.
+
+There were a good many people in the lounge; Esther looked at them
+interestedly. Some of the women were beautifully dressed, but the
+black and white frock held its own bravely.
+
+"You look nicer than any of them," June told her. "I
+knew--hullo!--Micky's found a friend." She looked across to where he
+was standing, and Esther followed her gaze.
+
+Micky was talking to two ladies--one of them was young and rather
+pretty, and the other--Esther's face flushed suddenly, and she bit her
+lip hard, for the other was Mrs. Ashton, Raymond's mother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Esther unconsciously put out her hand and grasped June's arm; she
+would have given anything had it been possible to run away. She saw
+Mrs. Ashton turn and look towards where they were standing, and in
+another moment she had crossed the lounge and was shaking hands with
+June.
+
+"I was just inviting Mr. Mellowes to come and dine with us," she said.
+"But he tells me he already has an engagement." Her eyes smiled at
+June. "I suppose you are the engagement?" she submitted.
+
+June laughed.
+
+A string band was playing a ragtime tune when they entered the
+restaurant. To Esther's unaccustomed eyes the room with its flowers
+and many lights was the most wonderful place she had ever seen. She
+kept close to Micky as he threaded his way through the small tables
+till he found their own, rather at the end of the room and away from
+the noisy band.
+
+He put Esther into a comfortable chair and himself took her cloak.
+
+"You don't mind being left while I go back for June?" he asked
+hurriedly; "she seems to have got lost."
+
+Esther looked after him as he went quickly back down the length of the
+room. She liked him in evening dress. If only it had been Raymond
+instead!--she stifled a little sigh; she meant to enjoy herself this
+evening; she was not going to allow one single despondent thought.
+
+June and Micky rejoined her almost at once.
+
+"I thought some one had eloped with you," June said laughingly. "Where
+did you get to? Micky, how hot this room is--I'm just stifling!"
+
+She threw off her wrap and snatched up a paper fan from the table.
+Micky sat down between the two girls.
+
+"Miss Shepstone didn't want to see Mrs. Ashton, I rather fancy," he
+said coolly. He looked at Esther with a slight smile in his eyes. "I
+believe she was afraid Mrs. Ashton would demand a reason for having
+had her kind offer so cavalierly refused," he went on banteringly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Yes, I believe I was," she admitted. "I'm an awful coward over
+explaining things to people."
+
+"So am I," said Micky drily. He was wondering how he was ever going to
+explain the most difficult occurrence of his whole life, and if, when
+he had done so, it would ever be believed.
+
+He looked at Esther a great deal during dinner; he had never seen her
+so animated; her eyes were sparkling, and her cheeks were flushed; she
+talked a great deal, and was particularly friendly to him; he was
+quite sorry when it was time to go on to the theatre.
+
+As they left the restaurant he noticed that she kept close to him
+again, and that she looked anxiously round for Mrs. Ashton.
+
+"It's all right," he said. "She's upstairs in the gallery."
+
+She smiled. She thought he was very quick to understand her. Raymond
+had never seemed to understand things without an explanation. She
+wished he had been rather more like Micky in some ways; she
+wished--she looked up at Micky guiltily; how could she compare the two
+men?--the one whom she loved, and the other whom she did not even
+like!
+
+They were late, and the curtain had risen when they were shown into
+their seats. The theatre was dark, and Esther could hardly see her
+way. She put out her hand with a smothered laugh and felt for Micky's.
+"I can't see," she said.
+
+His fingers closed about hers; such a little hand it felt. He wondered
+why she was being so kind to him to-night. He did not realise that she
+was enjoying herself so much that she felt on good terms with the
+whole world.
+
+Esther sat between him and June, and Micky hardly looked at the stage
+at all. His eyes turned again and again to her rapt face and the
+eagerness of her eyes.
+
+She had been to theatres lots of times, so she told him in a whisper,
+but never in the stalls before. She asked him if he didn't like some
+of the frocks worn by the people close by.
+
+Micky's eyes flashed.
+
+"Not so well as yours," he said.
+
+She drew away from him a little, and he wished he had not said it. In
+that one moment he felt that he had broken down all the friendliness
+she had shown him that evening. She did not speak again for some
+time.
+
+In the interval June leaned over to him.
+
+"Are you bored, Micky? You look bored to death."
+
+Micky stifled a sigh.
+
+"No," he said rather wearily.
+
+His eyes wandered round the crowded house. There were several people
+in the stalls whom he knew. He noticed that people were looking at
+Esther, and he felt a little thrill of pride.
+
+They were wondering who she was, of course. He wished with all his
+heart that he could stand up in his seat and announce to an interested
+world that she was the woman he intended to marry.
+
+When the light went down again Esther leaned a little closer to him.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes----" she said.
+
+"Yes." Micky bent his head towards her eagerly. He could hear her
+agitated breathing, hear too the little quiver in her voice when she
+spoke.
+
+"Did you see who was in that box on the right?--the lower box.... I
+thought it was Mrs. Ashton."
+
+Micky answered casually that very likely it was.
+
+"Odd, eh," he said, "that we should dine at the same place and have
+tickets for the same show?"
+
+Esther said "Yes--yes" twice in nervous hurry.
+
+There was something strained and unnatural about her, and though Micky
+could not see her face clearly he knew that something had happened to
+distress her.
+
+"What is it?" he asked anxiously. "Is anything the matter?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"No.... No."
+
+She sat very still till the curtain fell again, but Micky had the
+feeling that she was not paying the least attention to what was going
+on on the stage, and he knew that her eyes turned again and again to
+the stage box. What was she afraid of, he asked himself in perplexity,
+even if Mrs. Ashton did see her and recognize her, surely--then in a
+flash he knew ... the light had been turned up suddenly, and in that
+moment he saw the figure of a man move quickly from the front of the
+box to the screen of the curtains.
+
+Micky gripped the arms of his seat; for the moment he could not move.
+
+It was Raymond--he knew it as certainly as if he had been told.
+
+No doubt he had seen Esther, whilst she ... poor child! Had she seen
+him too?
+
+He looked down at her; she was sitting up stiffly, her hands clasped
+in the lap of the new frock of which she had been so innocently proud;
+her face was as white as the soft tulle of her sleeves, and her eyes
+were fixed on the box with its velvet curtains where Mrs. Ashton sat
+laughing and chatting with a girl in a pink frock.
+
+They both turned from time to time to some one who stood behind them
+in the shadow; once the curtains moved a little and a man's hand and
+arm showed distinctly.
+
+Micky could bear it no longer; he touched Esther's clasped hands.
+
+"Are you ill?--would you like me to take you out?"
+
+But she shook her head.
+
+"No, no ... please leave me alone."
+
+June had discovered a friend in a seat a row or two ahead with whom
+she was trying to carry on a conversation; she had no eyes for Micky
+or Esther. Micky gave a sigh of relief when the lights were lowered
+again; he could feel all that Esther was suffering, he could put
+himself in her place so thoroughly.
+
+If he went round to the box and made sure if it were Ashton, perhaps
+that would be the best way; he could manage to give him the tip then
+to keep out of the way. He half rose in his seat, but Esther moved at
+once, laying her fingers on his arm.
+
+"Oh, don't go--don't leave me here," she said tremulously.
+
+It was not the man himself she wanted, but his presence somehow gave
+her a feeling of confidence; if, indeed, it was Raymond up there in
+the box. She tried to argue herself out of the fancy; he would have
+let her know if he had come to London--surely she would have been the
+first to whom he would have come; she was mad to ever think the man up
+there in the background could be Raymond.
+
+But the conviction was there in her mind.
+
+"It is he--I know it's he," something in her heart was saying over and
+over again obstinately.
+
+The rest of the play seemed endless; she rose with a quick breath of
+thankfulness when it was over.
+
+"You are in a hurry," June said. "Haven't you enjoyed it?"
+
+"Yes, oh yes, but it's hot--I want to get out."
+
+Micky was deliberately being as slow as he could--he blocked the way
+out obstinately; the stalls were almost empty when at last they left
+them.
+
+June touched his arm.
+
+"Micky--is--Esther ill? Look how white she is."
+
+Esther was some little way ahead of them; she seemed to be trying to
+get out as quickly as possible.
+
+"It's too hot for her, poor darling!" June said. "Micky----"
+
+Micky laughed savagely.
+
+"It's not that," he said, "but Ashton was up in that box with his
+mother, and she saw him."
+
+"Micky----" He silenced her with a frown. He followed Esther as
+quickly as he could, but she was outside in the cold night air before
+he overtook her. There was a crowd here too--rows of cars and
+carriages outside, and women in thin evening frocks and furs shivering
+in the cold wind.
+
+Micky drew Esther's hand through his arm.
+
+"We shall find our cab this way, I think," he said evenly.
+
+He had seen Mrs. Ashton only a few yards away, and he dreaded every
+moment that Esther would see her, and see, too, who was with her.
+
+A sudden block in the crowd momentarily hindered them, and in that
+second a man's light laugh rang out above the noise and chatter of
+voices.
+
+Micky felt the girl beside him give a convulsive start. She tried to
+drag her fingers from his, but he held them fast.
+
+The crowd was moving again now; a second, and Raymond and his mother
+were lost to sight.
+
+Micky had slipped an arm round Esther; he was white to the lips. He
+knew now how near he had been to discovery and the wreck of all his
+hopes. He tried to pretend that he did not understand the cause of her
+agitation. He looked down at her.
+
+"Better now you're in the air?" he asked. "It was hot in the theatre.
+I--Esther----"
+
+She had swung heavily against him, and looking down in sudden alarm,
+Micky saw that she had fainted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+Looking back to that night at the theatre it always seemed to June
+Mason that she had been most extraordinarily blind in not seeing
+before that it was Esther for whom Micky Mellowes cared.
+
+One glance at his face as he lifted the girl in his arms told her more
+than any words would have done; there was a sort of indescribable rage
+and pain in his eyes as he looked down at the white face lying against
+his shoulder.
+
+People gathered about them, curious and sympathetic. June heard some
+one say that it had been so "deuced hot in the theatre, no wonder
+people fainted," but she knew all the time that it was nothing to do
+with the heat; she stooped mechanically and picked up Esther's gloves
+which had fallen from her nerveless hand before she followed Micky
+back into the foyer, where he laid Esther down on one of the long
+velvet lounges.
+
+Afterwards she realised that the sudden discovery that Micky loved her
+friend had been something of a shock to her, that she had even been
+faintly jealous; she did not want to marry him herself, and yet they
+had been such good friends, it gave her an odd little pain to think
+that there was somebody else whom he placed a long way ahead of her in
+his heart.
+
+Most of the people had gone, one or two of the theatre attendants
+lingered; it seemed a long time before Esther opened her eyes. She lay
+for a moment, looking vaguely about her, then her eyes came back to
+Micky, who was bending over her, his face scarcely less white than her
+own.
+
+She made an effort to lift herself from his arm; then quite suddenly
+she burst into tears.
+
+The little sound of sobbing broke the spell that seemed, to have held
+June; she went down on her knees beside her, both arms round the
+slender, shaking figure.
+
+Micky had risen to his feet. June glanced up at him.
+
+"Go and find the taxi and leave her to me," she said sharply. The look
+of suffering in his face hurt her. Micky went out into the cold night
+bareheaded. He hardly knew what he was doing. He stood for some
+minutes on the path forgetting why he had come out at all, before some
+one, jostling against him, brought him back to a sense of time and
+place.
+
+He went down the road to look for a taxi. When he came back Esther was
+sitting up, wrapped in her cloak. She was not crying now, but she
+looked like a child who wants to cry but is determined not to.
+
+June was standing beside her.
+
+"We're quite ready," she said. She kept an arm about Esther, and Micky
+followed them silently.
+
+He saw them into the cab, but did not follow. June asked a sharp
+question: "Aren't you coming?"
+
+"No--at least, not if you can manage without me." His voice sounded
+unnerved; he looked away from June to where Esther was huddled into a
+corner beside her, and suddenly, as if urged by an impulse he could
+not control, he leaned forward, groped for her hand in the darkness,
+and, bending, kissed it passionately.
+
+A moment later he had stepped back and shut the door.
+
+He stood looking after the cab till it vanished round a corner, then
+he went back to the theatre for his hat and coat, and set off again
+down the road.
+
+He was not conscious of any real emotion; but he walked swiftly as a
+man does who has a set purpose, and he did not stop till he found
+himself outside the Ashtons' house.
+
+It was not far off midnight, but lights burned in many of the windows,
+and after a swift glance at the face of the house he went up the steps
+and rang the bell.
+
+It was some moments before the door was opened by a mildly amazed-looking
+servant; Micky asked for Mr. Ashton.
+
+"My name is Mellowes," he said, as she obviously hesitated. "If you
+tell him my name he will see me. I know he is in, I saw him at the
+Comedy Theatre to-night."
+
+He stepped past the girl into the hall, and after a slightly scared
+glance at him she shut the door and departed upstairs.
+
+A moment later Micky heard Ashton's voice.
+
+"You old night-bird! What an ungodly hour to call on any one! I was
+just going to bed; come in."
+
+He spoke easily, but there was a slightly anxious look in his eyes; he
+led the way into the library.
+
+The fire was nearly out there and the room felt chilly; he shivered,
+and, stooping, tried to rake the cinders into a blaze.
+
+Micky watched him silently; after a moment Ashton turned.
+
+"Lord, man! what's the matter? You look as cheerful as Doomsday."
+
+Micky was standing stiffly against the table.
+
+"I saw you in the theatre to-night," he began without preamble. "I was
+with Miss Shepstone, and she saw you, too--at least she believes it
+was you, and I am going to tell her that she was mistaken. How soon
+can you get out of town and back to Paris?"
+
+Ashton stared; the colour had rushed to his face; after a moment his
+eyes fell.
+
+"I don't know what the devil you're driving at," he said irritably. "I
+suppose I can come to London without asking you first, can't I? And,
+as for Lallie"--he grinned nervously--"well, you know as well as I do
+that that's all been off for weeks."
+
+Micky stood immovable.
+
+"You haven't answered my question," he said flintily. "How soon can
+you get out of London?"
+
+Ashton swore under his breath.
+
+"I'm dashed if I know what you're driving at," he said sulkily. "If
+you like to take Lallie to theatres, that's your business; she's a
+nice little girl, I admit, but----"
+
+Micky took a step forward.
+
+"If you want to make me forget that this is your mother's house,
+you're going the right way to do it," he said between his teeth. "And
+I don't want any of your bluff. Miss Shepstone thinks she saw you at
+the Comedy to-night; she'll probably write to you or try to see you in
+the morning, and you've got to be out of London by then--do you
+hear?"
+
+Ashton laughed; he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Must?" he said nastily. "How long have you been Lallie's champion?...
+Oh, all right, all right," he broke off hurriedly, as he saw the ugly
+light in Micky's eyes. "But it's a bit thick, you know," he resumed
+injuredly. "I've done with her; you know that. You sent my letter on
+to her yourself. It's absurd if I can't come back home for a few days
+in case she should see me and get upset. I'm sorry if she's still fond
+of me, but, dash it all----"
+
+"You haven't answered my question," said Micky again.
+
+He was controlling himself with a mighty effort, but the veins stood
+out like cords on his forehead and his hands were clenched.
+
+The two men looked at one another, and it was Ashton's eyes that
+fell.
+
+"If you're going to bullyrag me...." he began blusteringly, "I may as
+well tell you that I'm not going back to Paris till I please,
+and----"
+
+"Very well," said Micky. He turned on his heel.
+
+Raymond watched him cross the room anxiously. When he reached the door
+he called to him--
+
+"Micky! What the devil are you going to do?"
+
+And Micky answered without turning--
+
+"I'm going to tell Mrs. Clare the way you've treated Miss Shepstone,
+and if she's half the decent sort I think she is she'll throw you
+overboard as you've thrown scores of others...."
+
+Ashton followed and clutched his arm. "Come back; don't be such a
+firebrand! I'll go--I'll clear out by the first train to-morrow....
+I'm sorry if Esther was upset, but...."
+
+Micky cut him short. "The first train leaves Victoria at 9.40; I'll be
+there to see you off."
+
+Ashton scowled. "It's a nice way to treat a friend," he grumbled. "If
+there's really anything up with Lallie ..."
+
+Micky stood like a statue.
+
+"It's decent of you to take her out," Ashton went on uneasily. "I'm
+much obliged to you, I'm sure. She's never had much of a time. If I'd
+had any money...."
+
+Micky broke out then. "Oh, hold your infernal tongue," he said
+furiously.
+
+He walked out of the room, shutting the door hard behind him. He
+passed the astonished maid in the hall and let himself out into the
+night. The blood was pounding in his veins, he felt in actual need of
+physical violence; he did not know how he had managed to keep his
+hands off Raymond. He walked on at a furious pace; presently he
+laughed with a sort of self-pity.
+
+What was the good of what he had done after all? At best he had only
+succeeded in staving off the inevitable for a little while; Esther
+would have to know sooner or later.
+
+Such wasted love it was! All for a man who was not worth one thought,
+or even a tear!
+
+When he got back to his rooms he told Driver to call him early, as he
+was going to see somebody off by train. He was at Victoria long before
+Ashton; the greeting between the two men was constrained.
+
+"I was going back to-day, anyway," Ashton said jauntily. "I'm going to
+be married the day after to-morrow----" He looked at Micky with
+triumphant eyes. "To Mrs. Clare," he added.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Micky got back to his rooms, Driver met him; Driver with a
+spark of unwonted animation in his dull eyes, and who closed the
+sitting-room door mysteriously behind him as he came forward.
+
+"If you please, sir--there is a lady to see you."
+
+"A lady!" said Micky blankly; then he laughed. "Rubbish! You're
+dreaming, man."
+
+"No sir," said Driver stolidly.
+
+Micky stared at him for a moment, then he passed him, and threw open
+the door of the sitting-room.
+
+It was Esther who rose from a chair by the fire as he entered.
+
+For an instant Micky was unable to believe his own eyes, then he shut
+the door and took a step forward.
+
+"You!" he said. "I never thought...."
+
+She broke in agitatedly.
+
+"Oh, I know; I suppose I shouldn't have come; I don't know what June
+would say if she knew; but--but there wasn't anybody else I could come
+to, and you said ... you said...." She flushed up nervously. "Oh, you
+did say you would be a friend to me, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Micky.
+
+He might have reminded her that she had declined his friendship; he
+might have reminded her of all the not very kind things which she had
+said to him, but it was such happiness to see her here in his room
+that he was in no mood to be critical.
+
+"Do sit down ... there's no hurry, is there?" He wanted to put her at
+her ease; he did not like to see the nervous agitation in her face;
+but she shook her head.
+
+"I'm not going to stay, only ... only I...." Her voice changed
+suddenly. "Oh, Mr. Mellowes, will you tell me how I can get to
+Paris?"
+
+"Paris!" Micky echoed the word helplessly. "Paris!" he said again. For
+the moment he stared at her with blank eyes.
+
+She rushed on impetuously.
+
+"I have a friend there--some one I ... some one I ... oh, it's the man
+I'm engaged to, and I want to see him--I must see him! I've got the
+money to get there. I hope you don't think I was going to ask you to
+lend me that...." she added in distress.
+
+"Miss Shepstone ... I--I...." Micky was horribly upset. "I never
+thought anything of the sort. And--and even if you were going to ask
+me, you know quite well that anything I have, anything...."
+
+She stopped him hurriedly.
+
+"Oh, I know, it's very kind of you." Her blue eyes sought his face
+with a sort of abasement. "I don't think I've ever really realised how
+kind you've been to me," she said. "But ... but I've been so worried
+and unhappy ... I--I do hope you'll forgive me if I was rude or
+unkind."
+
+Micky did not answer; so it had come at last, the explanations which
+he had always dreaded; he racked his brains in vain to think of a way
+out of it--to make out the best story he could.
+
+She seemed to realise his perturbation, she came a step nearer to
+him.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes," she said earnestly, "will you tell me something?"
+
+"Yes," said Micky inaudibly, but he did not look at her.
+
+She looked up at him, trying to see his face before she asked her
+question.
+
+"Do you--do you know who the man is that I am going to marry?"
+
+In the silence that followed her timid question, Micky felt that he
+lived through years. Should he tell her the truth, or should he not?
+Ashton was out of London by this time; in another forty-eight hours he
+would be married to another woman; he raised his head with a sort of
+desperation. "No," he said.
+
+He tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that at least it was
+substantially the truth; she was not going to marry Ashton--she never
+could marry him now.
+
+He heard the sigh of relief she gave.
+
+"I'm glad," she said. "Somehow, lately, I have thought that you did
+know. Mr. Mellowes ... last night ... I thought I saw him in the
+theatre last night. I know now that I was mistaken." She paused a
+moment and looked past him to the window and the cold grey street
+outside. "I couldn't have seen him," she said again, as if to convince
+herself rather than him. "Because he is in Paris--I found out this
+morning that he is still in Paris."
+
+"Yes," said Micky. His voice sounded choked. "And so--so you want to
+go out there to him, is that it?"
+
+Her face brightened.
+
+"Yes. I should have told June only--only she isn't very sympathetic.
+You see"--she smiled faintly--"she hates my 'phantom lover,' as she
+calls him, and so--so I know she would only do her best to keep me
+from going to him; but you----"
+
+"I am afraid," said Micky quietly, "that I shall try and do the same
+thing."
+
+He turned and looked at her squarely.
+
+"You've never been to Paris," he said, "and probably you can't speak a
+word of French. You've probably never travelled any distance alone.
+Miss Shepstone, it's impossible for you to go. I am only advising you
+for your own good. Why not write to--to--your fiancé and ask him to
+make arrangements for you?"
+
+He broke off helplessly. The poor little letter in which she had
+already done so lay in his pocket at that moment.
+
+It turned him sick to think of the tissue of lies and deceit his own
+actions were forcing upon him.
+
+"I--I have asked him," she said almost in a whisper, "but he said he
+couldn't have me--then! But that's quite a long time ago," she added
+hopefully. "And I thought if he saw me--if I got there and surprised
+him----"
+
+Micky turned away. He could imagine so well what would happen if
+indeed she found Ashton. He walked over to the window and stood
+looking into the street with unseeing eyes.
+
+"Have a little patience," he said presently. "Take my advice and stay
+here. If he--if he can, he will send for you, I am sure." She looked
+up quickly, a spark of anger in her eyes.
+
+"You sound as if you think that will never be," she said sharply.
+
+Micky met her gaze unflinchingly.
+
+"I don't think anything of the sort. I know--I know if I were in his
+place, whoever he is--I should be counting the moments till I could
+... could have you with me." He smothered the momentary seriousness of
+his words with a little laugh. "And now, after that pretty compliment,
+aren't you going to reward me by taking my most excellent advice?"
+
+The ghost of a smile crossed her face.
+
+"I wanted you to say something so different," she told him wistfully.
+
+"I know--but I'm not going to. Any one would advise you as I have. It
+isn't ... it isn't that I'm prejudiced, or anything like that. I would
+give a great deal to see you happy. I hope you believe me."
+
+She sat twisting her hands together nervously. After a moment she
+looked up at him.
+
+"Thank you," she said.
+
+She rose and began to pull on her gloves.
+
+"I hope you don't think it's very dreadful of me to have come," she
+said deprecatingly. "But ... but this morning, somehow, I felt I must
+have someone to talk to--some one to advise me...."
+
+"I am honoured that you came," said Micky gravely. Her eyes fell
+before his.
+
+"And--and you won't tell June?" she appealed.
+
+He smiled rather sadly.
+
+"I am not likely ever to tell any one," he said.
+
+"No, I know. Mr. Mellowes"--she held out her hand to him suddenly,
+her fair face flushing--"I should like to take back something I
+said to you one day. Perhaps you don't remember, but I do, and
+lately--especially since last night, when you were so kind--I've
+felt that I wasn't just to you; and so ... if you will forgive me,
+I should like to be friends with you after all."
+
+She was crimson by the time she had finished, but Micky took her hand
+without answering, held it for a moment, then let it go.
+
+"I suppose I mustn't offer you anything?" he said with forced
+lightness. "No coffee--or tea? It's cold out this morning. If you
+would care for anything, my man would bring it at once."
+
+She laughed and shook her head.
+
+"I don't want anything, thank you." She looked round at Micky's
+luxuriously furnished room. "Isn't it beautiful?" she asked him.
+
+He smiled. "Do you like it? I am glad."
+
+"I think it's lovely." She looked up at him. "I seem to have been
+climbing a ladder lately," she said. "Since I left that awful place in
+the Brixton Road--where I am now is heaps better than that was, but
+this----"
+
+Micky was silent. It trembled on his lips to say that everything he
+had in the world was hers if only she would take it, but he knew the
+utter futility of it. Money and possessions counted very little with
+her. She would not have minded the house in the Brixton Road at all
+with the man she loved.
+
+He went downstairs with her.
+
+"So we're really friends now?" he said when he bade her good-bye. "And
+you'll promise to let me advise you again when you're not quite sure
+what you ought to do?" There was a note of anxiety in his voice.
+
+She flushed nervously.
+
+"It's kind of you to be interested." It seemed strange to her that
+after all that had happened they should have so easily got back to
+their old footing of friendliness. But Micky was not at all happy.
+When she had gone he stood for a long time at the window staring
+moodily out.
+
+When Driver brought lunch, he found Micky poring over a Bradshaw; he
+spoke to the man with elaborate carelessness.
+
+"You'll have to take another trip to Paris--to-morrow will do."
+
+"Yes sir." Driver smoothed a crease in the cloth. "To post another
+letter, sir?" he asked expressionlessly.
+
+Micky looked up sharply, but Driver met his eyes innocently.
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"No; it isn't a letter this time," he said. "It's to buy a fur coat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+"The phantom lover," said June Mason lugubriously, "is certainly
+turning up trumps."
+
+It was a week later, and she was giving Micky tea.
+
+Esther was out. She knew now that it was to see Esther he came. She
+was quite reconciled to the fact, and had got over her first pang of
+jealousy, but Esther's indifference to him enraged her.
+
+"Can't the girl see what she's throwing away?" she asked herself
+furiously. "What on earth is she made of that she can't see what's
+waiting for her to take? If Micky had adored me as he adores her ...
+well--my name wouldn't have been June Mason to-day."
+
+But she kept such thoughts to herself and treated Micky very much the
+same as usual, though unconsciously there was a slight restraint in
+her manner, especially when Esther was present.
+
+"I'm beginning to think that I've misjudged our Raymond," she went on
+laughingly. "Perhaps some one has converted him. Anyway, he's treating
+Esther handsomely. First the money, and last week the fur coat...."
+Micky looked up with sudden interest.
+
+"Oh, it's come, then, has it!" he said eagerly.
+
+"Come! It's been here two days. How did you know?" she asked with
+sudden suspicion.
+
+"I heard you talking about it. Wasn't it you? No? Then it must have
+been Miss Shepstone."
+
+"I dare say," said June easily. "I never saw any one so delighted with
+a thing as she was with that coat. And it is a beauty, Micky. I only
+hope it's paid for," she added practically.
+
+"Why shouldn't it be paid for?" Micky said.
+
+She made a little grimace.
+
+"Because Raymond Ashton never paid for things if he could help it; and
+you know he didn't," she told him. "However, as he seems to be a
+reformed character, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Suddenly
+she began to laugh. "And that isn't all," she said again. "This
+morning a collar arrived for that blessed cat----" She indicated
+Charlie sleeping peacefully on the rug. "A silver collar, too my boy,
+with Esther's name on it...."
+
+Micky stooped to examine the collar; his face was red when, after a
+moment, he looked up again.
+
+"Esther declares she never told him we'd got a cat," June told him
+doubtfully. "But, of course, she must have done so or else the man's
+got second sight."
+
+Micky was drinking his tea; he choked suddenly.
+
+A feeling of panic closed upon him. Never told him she'd got a cat!
+of course she hadn't! What a fool he had been to make such a
+blunder--what an utter blockhead.
+
+"I expect she did tell him," he managed to say.
+
+"Yes, that's what I think." June lit a cigarette and passed the
+lighted match over to Micky.
+
+"Anyway, Esther goes about the place singing all day," she added
+drily. "There's no doubt at all that she's up in the seventh heaven of
+happiness. Reams of letters the man writes her. Perhaps, as the novels
+tell us, love is a wonderful thing----" She looked at Micky with a
+comical expression in her queer eyes. "I should say it must be if it's
+reformed that man," she added cynically.
+
+Micky said nothing. He had been very uncomfortable about things during
+the last few days. As far as he could find out, Ashton had not yet
+been married. Supposing it had all been bluff when he said he was
+going to be married--supposing he turned up again in London?
+
+Micky stayed as long as he could in case Esther came in; it was only
+when he began to feel sure that June knew why he was dragging his
+visit to such a length that he said he ought to be going.
+
+"There's no hurry," she said kindly. "Why not wait till Esther comes
+in?"
+
+Micky shook his head; he said he couldn't spare the time, but in his
+heart he knew quite well that he intended to wait.
+
+"I suppose she--er--she never talks any more about taking a job now,
+eh?" he asked after a moment.
+
+"No, I don't think so; that man's word is law to her, you know. I
+believe if he said 'Come out here and marry me at once,' she'd fly off
+by the next train. As a matter of fact, I'm expecting something of the
+sort almost daily."
+
+"I don't think she'll do that," Micky said. He stood back to the fire,
+with his hands in his pockets, staring up at the ceiling.
+
+"No!" June watched him quizzically. "Do you know, Micky," she said at
+last, "that I consider you've altered a lot lately?"
+
+He swung round at once, and scrutinised himself in the glass over the
+mantelshelf.
+
+"For the worse, or the better?" he asked anxiously. "I know I never
+was exactly an Adonis."
+
+She laughed merrily.
+
+"I don't mean your face, stupid, but yourself. You're quieter, you
+don't go about so much; in fact"--she challenged him deliberately--"I
+believe you're in love."
+
+"So I am," said Micky stolidly.
+
+She pretended not to take him seriously.
+
+"It's no joking matter--I mean what I say."
+
+"So do I," said Micky. He laughed. He came over to where she was
+sitting, and stood behind her chair so that she could not see his
+face. "I've tried to make up my mind to tell you lots of times," he
+said. "But I thought perhaps you'd have guessed before now...." He
+stopped and moved away restlessly.
+
+June sat very still; presently--
+
+"It's Esther," she said quietly.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Poor old Micky!..."
+
+"You needn't be sorry for me; I walked into it with my eyes wide open.
+I knew she was engaged--I knew it all the time."
+
+"And Esther ... does she know? Have you told her?"
+
+"Yes.... She took it as an insult. Perhaps it was; I don't know. You
+see, I knew she was engaged to that other fellow."
+
+"An outsider! who isn't worth a thought," June cried indignantly.
+"Micky, however could she have refused you?"
+
+He laughed. He looked down at her with a comical expression in his
+eyes.
+
+"She's not the first woman who's done that," he reminded her.
+
+She sat up with sudden haste.
+
+"That wasn't anything, but this...."
+
+"This," said Micky, "isn't anything either, except on my side. You
+always told me that some day I shouldn't be able to have what I
+wanted. You were right."
+
+"I should like to slap her!" said June viciously.
+
+He laughed outright.
+
+"If you did I should slap you, my dear." He went back to his chair by
+the fire. "It's only between ourselves, June," he said.
+
+"Of course ... and, Micky--do you think she will marry Ashton?"
+
+Micky did not answer for a moment.
+
+"No," he said at last. "I don't think so."
+
+June stared at him.
+
+"Then--then do you mean----" But he would not tell her anything.
+
+"You've heard quite enough for one day," he said teasingly. "Don't
+worry your head about me. I don't know why I told you--somehow I
+thought you'd guessed."
+
+June threw her cigarette into the fire.
+
+"I did. I'll be honest--I did guess," she broke off. "Here is Esther,"
+she added.
+
+She got up and opened the door.
+
+"The lady with the fur coat," she announced drily. "Pray come in,
+madame!"
+
+"June," said Esther protestingly.
+
+She seemed to guess who was there. She looked past her friend at once
+to Micky.
+
+She coloured faintly as he rose to greet her.
+
+He had not seen her in the fur coat before. The dark fur suited her
+fairness admirably; the heavy folds hung gracefully about her slim
+figure; her face rose like a flower from the big, upstanding collar.
+
+"And where have you been all the afternoon?" June demanded. "We waited
+tea for you till nearly five."
+
+Esther made a little grimace. "I've had my tea out--with Mr. Harley."
+
+"Harley?" said Micky sharply.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"He's one of the tribe who live here," she explained. "He's a great
+admirer of Esther's. And he's quite a nice boy too, isn't he?" she
+appealed to her friend.
+
+"Very nice," Esther agreed. "I met him quite by chance, and so we went
+and had some tea."
+
+Micky was frowning; it was odd that he felt more jealous of this man
+whom he had never seen than he had ever done of Ashton. He hated to
+feel that Esther had gone out with him wearing her new coat.
+
+He stood by silently while the two girls chattered together; he felt
+very much out of it and unwanted.
+
+"I'm glad everybody likes my coat," Esther said. She had taken it off
+and was holding it at arm's length, admiring its beauty.
+
+"It was a lovely present, wasn't it?" She appealed to Micky.
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+She laid her cheek to the big, soft collar.
+
+"It's something I have wanted all my life," she told him.
+
+Micky put out his hand and took it from her. He hated to see her
+standing there looking so happy because she believed it had come from
+Ashton; he threw it down on the couch.
+
+"I shall have to be going," he said abruptly. He shook hands with
+June, but he walked out of the room without speaking to Esther.
+
+"I don't want any dinner," he told Driver when he got in. "I'm going
+to bed."
+
+Driver opened his mouth to say something and closed it again; he
+brought the evening papers and his master's slippers and turned to
+leave the room. At the door he stopped and looked back.
+
+"Have you seen the evening paper, sir?" he asked deprecatingly.
+
+"No," said Micky. Something in the man's voice arrested his attention;
+he turned in his chair. "Why?" he asked curtly.
+
+Driver came back a step.
+
+"There's a notice of Mr. Ashton's marriage in it, that's all, sir," he
+said woodenly. "I thought that you'd be interested."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+So it had come at last. Micky sat staring down at the small paragraph
+which briefly announced the marriage of Tubby Clare's wealthy widow to
+Mr. Raymond Ashton.
+
+The ceremony, so the paper declared, which had taken place quietly in
+Paris would be a complete surprise to everybody. Mrs. Clare, as all
+the world knew, inherited something like £90,000 under the will of her
+late husband.
+
+Micky whistled softly. Raymond had done well for himself. He would
+be able to live in luxury for the rest of his life; to discharge all
+his debts, if his wife chose to allow him to do so; all but one
+debt--the greatest of them all, and one which he could never hope to
+liquidate--a woman's broken heart.
+
+Esther--what would she say if she knew? And supposing she knew
+now----! It was quite likely that a copy of this same paper had fallen
+into her hands. The thought turned Micky cold; he looked up hurriedly
+at the clock--not yet eight! On what pretext could he go back to
+Elphinstone Road?
+
+He threw the paper down and rose to his feet. His gloves! He would
+make them the excuse--he could go back for his gloves. He taxied down
+the whole way; he sent his name up to June and waited in the hall.
+After a moment she came flying down the stairs.
+
+"Micky! Is anything the matter? What in the world...."
+
+He explained in stammering haste.
+
+"Have you seen the evening paper? No, well, take care not to let Miss
+Shepstone see it. I had to come back and tell you. Ashton--the damned
+outsider...." He ground his teeth.
+
+"Not dead!" said June with a gasp.
+
+"No--he was married yesterday in Paris."
+
+June sat down on the bottom stair; she felt as if all the strength had
+gone out of her.
+
+"It can't be true," she said at last. "Why, she had a letter from him
+only yesterday. Are you sure? It must be another Ashton."
+
+"It isn't--I knew it was coming. He's married Tubby Clare's widow--for
+her money, of course. If Esther knows...."
+
+"It will break her heart," said June.
+
+There were footsteps on the landing above; Micky glanced up
+hurriedly.
+
+"Can't we go somewhere and talk? Everybody will hear if we stay here.
+Where is Miss Shepstone?"
+
+"She's in my room; she's writing to him at this minute----" She broke
+off, drawing in her breath hard. "Oh, Micky, are you quite, quite
+sure? I can't believe it." She stared at him for a moment, then she
+laughed incredulously. "Why, it's only three days ago he sent her that
+fur coat--and the collar for Charlie. Oh, I'm sure it's a mistake!"
+
+"It's not a mistake," said Micky fiercely; he looked away from her.
+"Confound it, isn't there a room where we can go and talk?" he broke
+out again.
+
+She got up from the stairs and led the way across the hall.
+
+"There's the drawing-room. Nobody uses it now because it's so cold."
+She opened the door and peeped in. "There's nobody there."
+
+Micky followed her, shutting the door behind him. The room was chilly
+and uninviting, with a lofty ceiling and a hideous wallpaper. There
+was a gas stove at the far end of the room, turned very low, and
+hissing softly as if in protest.
+
+June knelt down and turned the tap on to its fullest extent.
+
+"The thing is," Micky said hurriedly, "what are we going to do?
+If she stays in London, she's bound to hear about it. All the
+papers will be full of it to-morrow. They'll probably publish his
+confounded portrait. Can't you get her out of London? We've got
+to do something."
+
+June did not look at him. The odd little twinge of jealousy tore her
+heart again. Even though she did not love Micky, she quite realised
+what she was losing. After all it must be a very beautiful thing to be
+cared for as Micky cared for Esther.
+
+She raised her eyes with a little ghost of a smile.
+
+"I'll do anything I can, Micky. If you've got anything to suggest----"
+
+"I thought out crowds of plans coming along in the cab, but they're
+all rotten," Micky admitted dolefully. "I thought you'd be able to
+help me. Can't you be called off to a relative in the country or
+something, and ask Miss Shepstone to go with you?"
+
+June started up.
+
+"Of course I can. I've got an aunt down at Enmore. She's always asking
+me to go and see her. I'll send her a wire. It's too late to-night,
+but in the morning...."
+
+Micky felt in his pocket for a pencil.
+
+"Give me the address and I'll send it first thing." He paused.
+"Supposing Miss Shepstone won't go, though?"
+
+"Oh, she'll go," said June quickly. "I'll tell her it means business
+for me. I'll do the pathetic. I wonder what time there's a train."
+
+"I'll look up all the trains, and arrange everything. Does Miss
+Shepstone know I'm here now?"
+
+"No----"
+
+"Very well, tell her one of your business agents called, and that
+you've got to go off early to-morrow. You can write me a note and post
+it to-night, asking me to see you off. It's quite a usual thing for
+you to do, you know----"
+
+June smiled rather sadly.
+
+"Poor old Micky!" she said.
+
+Micky frowned.
+
+"Don't talk rubbish," he said rather shortly. "I'd do the same for any
+one."
+
+June knew it would be useless to contradict.
+
+"If you can keep her out of town for a week it may all have blown
+over," he went on. "I'll run down and see you if I may----"
+
+"You know you may; but, Micky--don't you think all this is rather
+mistaken kindness? She'll have to know sooner or later; why not tell
+her at once? When the letters stop coming she'll begin to worry, and
+then----"
+
+Micky shook his head obstinately.
+
+"I've my own reasons; be a pal and help me, June."
+
+"Very well, old boy."
+
+She gave him her hand.
+
+"I think you're making a mistake, but I suppose you know your own
+business best. At any rate, I've warned you."
+
+"You're a dear," said Micky gratefully.
+
+June went to the front door with him; in spite of her promise she was
+not feeling happy. Esther would have to know. She went slowly back up
+the stairs.
+
+"It's a mistake," she told herself again, with a sense of foreboding.
+"Micky's making a mistake."
+
+But she determined to act up to her part. She ran up the last flight
+of stairs with a great noise and show of excitement. She burst into
+their sitting-room breathless.
+
+"Such news, Esther! Are you game for a dash down into the wilds of
+nowhere? I've got to go off on business. One of my agents has just
+been here. He's made a mess of things, as usual, and I've got to go
+down and put things right. Oh, it's quite country! I don't know if you
+like the country. I adore it myself. A place called Enmore. I've got
+an antediluvian aunt who lives there, and we'll go and foist ourselves
+on her. She's always asking me to go and see her, so she'll be
+delighted. Well, what do you say?"
+
+"You haven't given me a chance to say anything," Esther protested
+laughing. "You're like a whirlwind, sweeping every one off their feet.
+Where is Enmore to start with? And how can I go? Your aunt doesn't
+know me."
+
+"She'll love you because I do," said June promptly. "Now don't spoil
+everything. The greatest fun of it all is rushing off at a moment's
+notice. I shall send Micky a note to-night and tell him to look up
+trains for us and come and see us off. Micky's always to be relied on.
+If I look trains up myself I always go by the wrong ones and never get
+there." She was sitting down to her desk as she spoke; she looked
+across at Esther, pen in hand. "Well?" she queried.
+
+Esther looked down at Charlie sprawling in the firelight.
+
+"What's going to become of Charlie?" she asked.
+
+"Lydia will look after him," June said promptly. "She adores cats.
+That's one excuse surmounted. Any more?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should like to come, but----"
+
+"Then that's settled. We'll stay a week if we're not bored to death.
+It's a desolate spot--just a handful of houses and a haystack and a
+few things like that, but if you like the country we ought to have a
+good time. I wish I'd got a car...."
+
+"Isn't it rather a funny place to go to for business?" Esther asked
+innocently.
+
+"Not in the least," June declared. "All the ingredients for my skin
+food came from the country--herbs and attar of flowers and all the
+rest of it. Besides"--she swallowed hard before uttering the biggest
+fib of all--"my agent lives down there, you see."
+
+"Oh!" said Esther. She was rather pleased at the idea of a change.
+
+"I suppose we can have letters sent on?" she asked after a moment.
+
+June's scratching pen stopped for a moment; then flew on again faster
+than before.
+
+"Oh, of course!" she said airily.
+
+Her kind heart gave a little throb of pity as she realised that there
+would never be any letters to send on--not any, at least, of which
+Esther was thinking.
+
+The phantom lover had gone for ever.
+
+She looked round at the girl pityingly. She looked so happy and
+unconscious sitting there in the firelight, and all the time if she
+knew what had just happened over in Paris her heart would surely
+break.
+
+"Beast!" said June under her breath.
+
+Esther turned.
+
+"What did you say?" she asked.
+
+"I was only talking to the pen," June answered irascibly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Micky turned up at Paddington the following morning laden with papers
+and chocolates.
+
+"Any one would think we were going to the other side of the world,"
+June told him. "Do you know, my good man, that it's only a couple of
+hours' run to Enmore?"
+
+"Is it?" said Micky guilelessly. "Well, any way, I'm sure you won't be
+able to get De Bry's chocolates down there, so they'll come in
+useful." He looked at Esther. She was wearing the fur coat and a bunch
+of violets.
+
+"I think it's awfully exciting," she said, meeting his eyes. "We never
+thought about going till quite late last night, did we, June?"
+
+"Things done in a hurry are almost the most enjoyable," June answered
+sententiously. "I'm quite bucked at the idea of living the simple life
+for a few days."
+
+"Pity you haven't got a car down there," Micky said. "There ought to
+be some fine runs round about."
+
+"So there are," said June promptly. Her queer eyes twinkled as she
+looked at him. "Micky, would you like to be a perfect dear and come
+down in yours, and take us out? You can stay at the local inn and play
+the heavy swell----"
+
+Micky flushed eagerly.
+
+"That's a ripping idea," he said. He turned to Esther: "I'll come like
+a shot if I shan't be in the way," he added.
+
+Esther smiled; she was surprised to find that the idea was not at all
+distasteful to her.
+
+"Oh yes; do come!" she said.
+
+June had got into the carriage, and was busy arranging her various
+possessions.
+
+"You'll be left behind, Esther," she said warningly.
+
+Esther turned at once.
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Mellowes."
+
+Micky took her hand in a hard grip.
+
+"Good-bye--but only till to-morrow...."
+
+He stood back as the train started; the last glimpse the two girls had
+of him was his radiantly smiling face.
+
+"Do you know," said June, settling herself in a corner, "I believe I'm
+half in love with that man, after all. Isn't he just a dear?"
+
+"He's awfully kind," Esther agreed.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the train drew into the little station at Enmore June looked at
+Esther with a sort of apprehension.
+
+"It's a most awful one-eyed hole, you know," she said. "I do hope you
+won't be bored to death. It won't be so bad if Micky keeps his promise
+and comes down, but if he doesn't...."
+
+"Don't you think he will?" Esther asked quickly.
+
+"Oh, I dare say he will. I hope he will, I'm sure; somebody has got to
+amuse you while I go and see to my business."
+
+"I can amuse myself."
+
+June sniffed.
+
+"Can you? Well, it's more than I could when I used to stay down here.
+There's only a church and a village inn and a handful of cottages. My
+aunt has by far the most distinguished-looking house in the village,
+and I dare say you won't think much of that."
+
+They were on the platform now, and June eyed their two suit-cases
+ruefully.
+
+"We shall have to carry them," she said. "No porters or taxicabs here,
+my dear. Come along."
+
+She grabbed her own, and Esther followed her out into the road.
+
+It was cold but sunny, and the fresh air of the country was something
+quite different from the chilly, damp atmosphere they had left behind
+in London.
+
+Esther drew a deep breath.
+
+"It's lovely," she said. "Do you know"--she looked ahead of her down
+the winding road with a little frown--"I've got the sort of feeling
+that something is going to happen to me here."
+
+"Goodness!" said June. "Don't you start having instincts too! It's bad
+enough for me to have them. What can happen to you, pray, unless you
+get melancholia or something?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+It was only a little way into the village; as soon as they came in
+sight of it June pointed excitedly to a red gabled house just visible
+through the trees.
+
+"That's where my aunt lives. She's an old maid, you know, and
+incidentally she thinks I'm a most heaven-born genius. She's nearly
+sixty, but I'll bet anything you like she uses June Mason's Skin
+Beautifier."
+
+She paused to open the iron gate of the little garden, but before
+there was time to ring the bell the door opened and a little lady with
+grey hair and a wonderful complexion very much like June's stood there
+with outstretched hands.
+
+"My dears! I never was so delighted! June--after all these months you
+really have come to see me."
+
+She kissed June heartily and turned to Esther. June introduced them.
+
+"My friend, Esther Shepstone--my aunt, Miss Dearling. I don't know
+what you think of us for arriving on top of our wire like this," she
+said, laughing. "But I like to do things in a hurry--so here we are,
+and we're just starving."
+
+They followed Miss Dearling into a quaint little square room, where
+the table was laid for lunch. June talked away all the time.
+
+"There's another member of the party coming down to-morrow," she said.
+"No; a man this time--Micky Mellowes! You remember him? Yes; I thought
+you would." She flushed a little. "He's going to bring his car down
+and take us all out for rides; so we're in for a good time."
+
+"I remember Mr. Mellowes quite well," Miss Dearling said. When she was
+alone with Esther for a moment she whispered to her--
+
+"We all hoped June meant to marry him, you know, my dear. Perhaps she
+has changed her mind, as she is allowing him to come down. Such a very
+charming man--have you seen him?--and so rich."
+
+"Yes, I've seen him," Esther said. "He is nice--very!"
+
+"It would be the dream of my life fulfilled if I could see June
+married to him," the old lady went on. "June wants a firm hand. She is
+wonderfully high-spirited and clever, you know, but I always feel that
+she would be so much happier with some one to look after her, and he
+is just the man to take care of a woman."
+
+"Yes," said Esther.
+
+She felt Miss Dearling glance at her hands.
+
+"Are you--are you engaged to be married?" she asked, after a moment.
+"Please forgive my curiosity, but I am always so interested in young
+people's love-affairs...."
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"Yes, I am engaged," she said. "But he is away just now--abroad. I
+hope we shall be married as soon as he comes home again."
+
+Miss Dearling said that she hoped so, too; later, when she got a
+moment alone with June she asked interestedly about the man to whom
+Esther was engaged.
+
+"I do hope he is nice," she said anxiously. "Such a very charming
+girl! such a sweet-looking girl! Is he nice, my dear?"
+
+June crossed the room and shut the door; then she turned round with a
+little grimace.
+
+"He's a pig!" she said.
+
+Miss Dearling screamed.
+
+"Oh, my dear!"
+
+"He is," June maintained stoutly. "She doesn't think so, of course,
+but he is, all the same." She broke off as Esther came back.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+Esther woke in the morning with a pleasurable sense of something going
+to happen. She lay still for a moment looking round her at the heavy,
+old fashioned furniture and flowered chintz curtains.
+
+Miss Dearling's house was essentially Early Victorian, from its wool
+mats and stuffed birds in the sitting-room to the high four-posted
+bedsteads and faded Brussels carpets.
+
+But there was something very old-world and charming about it too, in
+spite of rather ugly furniture, and Esther was just admiring the
+dressing-table, with its petticoat of spotted muslin and pink ribbons,
+when the door opened and June thrust her head round.
+
+"Can I come in?" She did not wait for an answer, but came in, her long
+mauve silk kimono making a little rustling sound as she walked.
+
+"I'm really dressed," she explained, sitting down on Esther's bed.
+"All but my frock, at least, and as the post has just come, and a
+letter from Micky, I thought I'd come and tell you that he'll be down
+to-day--after lunch, and he wants us to meet him. I can't go, as I've
+got a business appointment at three, so you must. He's going to drive
+up to the station and wait there for one of us to come and show him
+where we live."
+
+There was a little silence. Esther flushed beneath the elder girl's
+shrewd gaze.
+
+"I should have thought he could have found out where we live," she
+said rather awkwardly. "And it's such a little way----"
+
+June rose with a great show of dignity.
+
+"Oh, very well, if you don't want to be obliging, but I do think you
+might...."
+
+"Silly--of course I will." Esther caught her hand. "I'll go; the
+station at three o'clock, and then what am I to do? Bring him here, or
+what?"
+
+"Do what you like, my child--I shan't be in till five. Don't let him
+be bored, that's all, or he'll go back to town--the one thing Micky
+cannot stand is being bored."
+
+Esther made a little grimace.
+
+She felt nervous when at five minutes to three exactly she walked down
+the winding road to the station.
+
+June ought to have come herself, she argued; it was a most silly thing
+to send her--she hoped he would not come at all; but all the time she
+was listening for the sound of a car or a motor-horn. The sleepy-eyed
+factotum of the station walked up and stared at her curiously. After a
+few turns he ventured to ask if she wanted to go by train.
+
+"No, I'm waiting for a gentleman--I--oh, here he is."
+
+"'Twas her young gentleman for sure," the sleepy-eyed one told his
+colleague afterwards. "She blushed up like a rose when she saw him."
+
+Micky noticed that blush, too, as he turned the car with a fine sweep
+and came to a standstill.
+
+Esther greeted him with a torrent of explanation.
+
+"June couldn't come, so she made me--she had to go out on business.
+She would make me come!"
+
+"It's very kind," Micky said. "I'm later than I expected--the roads
+are bad down in this part of the world. Well, and how do you like
+Enmore?"
+
+"It's very quiet, but I like it for a change, and June's aunt is ever
+so kind."
+
+"Yes, a dear old lady; I know her well. Did you tell her I was
+coming?"
+
+"June did...."
+
+His eyes swept her face anxiously. No trace of tears or sadness
+to-day, at all events.
+
+"Are we supposed to go straight home?" he asked after a moment.
+"Because, if not, what do you say to a run round first?"
+
+Esther's eyes sparkled.
+
+"I should love it!" She got in beside him, and the car started away.
+
+"I only brought the two-seater," Micky explained audaciously. "I hate
+a crowd. This will take three at a pinch, but it's much more
+comfortable for two."
+
+"It's lovely!" Esther agreed.
+
+She leaned back luxuriously.
+
+"It must be splendid to be able to have a car like this of your very
+own," she said suddenly.
+
+Micky laughed rather ruefully.
+
+"There are other things I would far rather have," he said.
+
+"Are there?" She looked up at him innocently. "What things?" she
+asked.
+
+Micky's hands tightened over the wheel.
+
+"Am I really to answer that question?" he asked.
+
+"No," said Esther hurriedly.
+
+She could not think why she had been so stupid as to say such a thing.
+She felt very vexed.
+
+They went some way in silence. Esther glanced at the man beside her
+timidly.
+
+Would he end up by some day marrying June? she wondered. Lucky June,
+if he did--lucky ... she checked the thought with a little sense of
+shame. Only a few days ago she had declared that she disliked him.
+Perhaps it was the car that made her feel so suddenly envious of the
+woman who would one day be this man's wife.
+
+Micky glanced down at her.
+
+"Are you cold?" he asked.
+
+"I am a little"--she smiled up at him--"in spite of my new coat," she
+said. "I think we had better go home."
+
+June came to the door to meet them.
+
+"I got home earlier than I thought," she told Esther. "Well, Micky?"
+
+"Are there any letters?" Esther asked. She felt a swift feeling of
+envy as she looked at these two, so openly and unfeignedly glad to see
+one another. "I suppose it's expecting too much though," she added
+with a sigh.
+
+June did not answer, and Esther went on and up the stairs.
+
+"There is one for her," June said in an undertone to Micky as soon as
+she had gone. "And one from Paris, too--from that man! Micky, are you
+sure it isn't all a mistake about him being married?"
+
+"Sure," said Micky stolidly.
+
+"Then shall I--what shall I do about that letter--it was sent on from
+London. Ought I to let her have it?"
+
+Micky was taking off his coat, his back was turned.
+
+"Oh, let her have it," he said casually. "It may be the last she'll
+ever get."
+
+He turned swiftly. "Let me look at it."
+
+June took it from her dress and handed it to him.
+
+He glanced at the writing and gave it back to her.
+
+"Oh yes, I should let her have it," he said again.
+
+But June still hesitated.
+
+"Micky--supposing it's to tell her about--you know ... about this
+marriage?"
+
+There was a moment's silence.
+
+"Oh, it would hardly be that," Micky said positively. "At least--well,
+if it is, we must chance it." But his voice did not sound as if he
+were at all anxious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+June raked up another appointment for the following day. "I'm behaving
+like an angel to you," she told Micky. "Yesterday I tramped about the
+fields till I was worn out so that I should be out of the way and
+Esther could meet you. Oh, she didn't want to go at all," she hastened
+to add as she saw the look of pleasure that filled his eyes. "I had to
+make her go."
+
+"Yes, I quite believe that," Micky said.
+
+He was standing beside the car at Miss Dearling's gate, and Esther was
+upstairs putting on her hat. She had protested twenty times that she
+did not really want to go; she had begged June to take her place; she
+had implored Micky to take June instead; but they had both refused.
+
+"I'm not keen on motoring when it's cold," June declared. "Besides,
+I've got my business to see to, and I don't want Micky. You go,
+Esther, and amuse the poor soul!--just to please me."
+
+Esther said "Very well," and tried to look as if she were not anxious
+at all, but she was really looking forward to another drive.
+
+"Didn't you really want to come?" Micky asked as they drove away.
+
+Esther laughed. "Of course I did; I wanted to come so badly I had to
+pretend that I didn't just for decency's sake."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Did you have good news from Paris yesterday?" he asked deliberately.
+
+He felt as if he must speak of Ashton to in some way check the wave of
+joy that had filled his heart at her words; it was not to be with him
+that she had wished to come, but for the drive and the comfort of the
+car.
+
+He saw how her face clouded at his question.
+
+"Yes, thank you," she said, but her voice did not sound very
+enthusiastic. Presently: "Mr. Mellowes," she said suddenly, "do you
+know that I have always been sorry that I did not go to Paris that day
+when I wanted to?--I wish I had now."
+
+"Why now?" Micky asked.
+
+She gave a little troubled laugh.
+
+"I don't know. I really can't explain." She did not understand herself
+what she really meant, but last night when she had read Raymond's
+letter, it had suddenly come over her with a sickening feeling of
+dismay that in some indefinite way he was really getting to be what
+June had always called him--a phantom lover! It seemed so long since
+she had seen him. After all, what were letters and words? But she
+could not explain this to Micky.
+
+"I think I know what you mean," he said after a moment. "You are
+getting tired of this separation. Is that it? Letters are all very
+well, but they are not enough...."
+
+She looked up at him in surprise.
+
+"Why, that is just what I do mean? How did you know?"
+
+He laughed rather ruefully.
+
+"Perhaps I've felt like it myself," he said.
+
+"Have you?" There was a little note of wonderment in her voice.
+
+"I said 'perhaps,'" he reminded her.
+
+She changed the subject; she drew his attention to the country through
+which they were passing. It was bare and wind-swept, but there was a
+sort of rugged picturesqueness about it that appealed to Esther.
+
+"I believe I should like to live in the country, after all," she said
+suddenly. "You seem to be able to really breathe down here; it's not
+shut in like London is."
+
+"Dear old London," Micky said. "We all run it down, but we're all glad
+to get back there when we've been away for more than a few days." He
+leaned forward, wrapping the rug more closely round her. "Where do you
+think you will live when you are married?" he asked.
+
+The hot colour flooded her face; she looked up at him in a scared sort
+of way.
+
+"What a question! How do I know? I've never even thought about it."
+
+"Haven't you?" said Micky. "I have, crowds of times. I've worked it
+all out to a nicety. I shall have a house in London and a place in the
+country as well, so that if my wife doesn't like town we can divide
+our time and stay six months at each."
+
+"We are not all rich like you are, you know," Esther said drily. "I
+dare say when I get married--if I ever do--I shall just have a little
+flat somewhere and stay there for the rest of my life, and be very
+happy too," she added with a sort of defiance.
+
+"Yes," said Micky after a moment. "I think I could be very happy in a
+flat, too, for the rest of my life--with the right woman." He looked
+down at her, smiling thoughtfully "The only trouble is, that I shall
+probably have to marry the wrong one."
+
+"If you do, it will be your own fault, I should think," said Esther,
+laughing. She could not quite understand this man. Had he ever really
+loved her, or had it all just been a pretence?
+
+"No," said Micky promptly. "I think it will be your fault."
+
+Esther raised her eyes slowly. Micky was smiling.
+
+"Yes, I mean it," he said seriously. "The first time I ever saw you I
+thought to myself, 'Here she is! That right woman I've been waiting
+for all my life'--but, of course, you didn't think I was the right
+man, and so that ended it," he added philosophically.
+
+Esther did not like to hear him speak so lightly. She would have been
+surprised if she could have known the desperate unhappiness in his
+heart, the bitterness that drove him to speak so flippantly of all
+that he held best and dearest.
+
+She made no attempt to answer him, and presently he said again with
+change of voice--
+
+"Are you hungry, I wonder? Because I am! And I've got a firm
+conviction that we're coming to a wayside inn. Do you see the chimneys
+through the trees?..."
+
+He slowed the car a little.
+
+"There's another car outside--what do you say? Shall we risk it?"
+
+"It would be rather nice," Esther admitted. She was feeling cold; she
+was rather glad when the car stopped and Micky gave her his hand.
+
+"They've got a fire anyway," he said cheerily. "I saw it through the
+window, and we'll ask for some coffee."
+
+He led the way into the parlour. Two men wrapped in heavy coats stood
+by the fire; they moved to make way for Esther. After a moment they
+went out of the room, and she saw them in the road bending over the
+car next to Micky's.
+
+"We can have coffee and buns," Micky said, coming back after a moment.
+"I don't know what they'll be like, but----"
+
+"I shall enjoy them anyway," she told him. "I really am hungry."
+
+He pulled off his gloves and dragged a chair up to the fire for her.
+
+"This is fine," he said. "Have you ever thought what a novelty a
+honeymoon would be touring through villages like this? I should like
+to just start away and go on driving for miles and miles, just staying
+anywhere and getting meals anyhow."
+
+Esther laughed. "I should have thought it was just the sort of thing
+you would hate," she said.
+
+"That's where you're mistaken," he told her. "I live in town and in
+the way I do because people expect it of me, and I'm too lazy to
+bother to change. It's not a bit the life I should choose if I had my
+way. I hate dressing for dinner, and wading through six or seven
+courses, and being bored stiff half the time by some dressed-up woman
+beside me...."
+
+He looked at her with a comical expression.
+
+Esther leaned her chin in her hand and raised serious eyes to his
+face.
+
+"Well, how would you really like to live, then?" she asked.
+
+Micky sat down on the edge of the table and stuck his long legs out
+before him. He kept his eyes fixed on his boots as he answered--
+
+"Well, I should like a place in the country, as I said, and a
+garden--a ripping garden, with lots of roses and grass--walks like you
+see in old-fashioned pictures, and a high box hedge--that's one of the
+things I simply must have! Have you ever smelt a box hedge after a hot
+sun has been on it? No? well, you ought to; it's fine!"
+
+He paused reflectively.
+
+"I should like to look after the roses myself, I think," he went on
+presently. "I dare say I should make a mess of it, but I should like
+to have a try, anyway. And I should like to keep lots of animals,
+horses and dogs and chickens. Do you know"--he half turned to
+her--"I've always had a fancy for great Danes--you can't keep 'em in
+town, only in the country. Some people I once stayed with down in
+Lincoln had a couple--ripping dogs they were--almost as big as ponies,
+and they used to let the kids play with them and pull them about. Old
+Lancing had a boy, you know--a ripping little kid of five--a real
+sport he was, too--Uncle Micky he used to call me." Micky chuckled
+reminiscently. "It must be jolly fine to have a youngster of your own
+like that," he added.
+
+This was a new Micky, indeed! Esther watched him with fascinated eyes.
+She had not known that he was fond of children; she had taken it for
+granted that men hardly ever were. She supposed drearily that she had
+got that idea from Raymond. He had always said he would not stand
+"kids." It was odd that, though Micky had used the same word, it had
+sounded somehow quite different when he said it.
+
+Micky raised his eyes suddenly. "What are you thinking about?" he
+asked.
+
+She shook her head; her lip quivered a little.
+
+Micky half rose to go to her, when the two men who owned the second
+car came back into the room again. Micky turned on his heel.
+
+"I suppose we ought to be getting on," he said constrainedly. "I'll go
+and start up; you stay here."
+
+He went out, leaving Esther by the fire.
+
+Her thoughts were a little confused. What had he been going to say,
+she wondered. It seemed hardly possible that she had really had that
+little glimpse of the other Micky whom she had never seen before; the
+Micky who was not at all a man about town, but just an ordinary person
+who thought it must be fine to have a home in the country and lots of
+roses and a little son of his own.
+
+The two men behind her were talking together; one of them was laughing
+a good deal in a sneering way.
+
+"She must be a fool, you know," he said drily. "I'm surprised at any
+woman being caught like that. It was only her money he was after, of
+course."
+
+"I've never seen her myself," the other said disinterestedly--he
+sounded rather bored--"and I only know him slightly. You met them in
+Paris, you say?"
+
+"Yes--last week." There was the sound of a match being struck and a
+little pause while he puffed at a cigarette.
+
+Esther turned in her chair; it was odd how the mention of Paris always
+seemed to grip her heart. She looked at the two men, but they were
+both strangers to her.
+
+"Perhaps he won't really marry her," the elder one said yawning.
+"There's many a slip you know, and from what I know of Raymond
+Ashton----" He shrugged his shoulders eloquently.
+
+The girl by the fire sat very still. She was staring at the two men
+with piteous grey eyes; she felt as if all the blood in her body had
+ebbed to her heart, where it was hammering enough to kill her.
+
+Like some one in a dream she heard the laugh the other man gave----
+
+"Not marry her! My dear boy, he must! It's his last chance, and he
+knows it! He's up to his neck in debt and borrowed money. As a matter
+of fact, I shouldn't be at all surprised if Tubby Clare's little widow
+hasn't already changed her name for Raymond Ashton's."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Outside in the road Micky suddenly started up the engine of his car.
+The dull throb, throb, came faintly to Esther as she sat there as
+motionless as if she had been carved in stone.
+
+The little vibrant noise sounded like the beating of some one's heart,
+she thought dully; she found herself listening to it subconsciously.
+
+The two men behind her had moved out to the doorway; she could still
+hear them talking and laughing together. Something within her urged
+her to get up and follow them to tell them that she had heard what
+they said, to tell them that it was all a lie--a shameful lie. But she
+could not move.
+
+She told herself that if she kept quite still for a few moments she
+would wake and find that she had just dreamed it all. She stared hard
+into the glowing fire, trying to believe that it was all part of her
+dream, that it was not real warmth which she felt on her face at all,
+that those leaping flames were only pictures of her imagination, that
+even if she thrust her hand into them they would not burn her, but
+would just melt away into the silence around like phantoms.
+
+The phantom lover! June's half-mocking words beat dully against her
+brain. June had always hated Raymond; she would be glad if this thing
+were true.
+
+She suddenly realised that she was shivering in every limb. With an
+effort she dragged her chair closer to the fire. She put out her hands
+to the flames....
+
+"Good heavens! what are you doing?" said Micky's voice at her
+shoulder. She had not heard him come into the room; it was only when
+he bent and caught her hand back from the flames that she realised
+what she had been going to do. She looked up at him with a sick
+smile.
+
+"I thought it wouldn't burn," she said stupidly.
+
+A flash of alarm crept into his eyes; she looked so white.
+
+He kept her hand in his holding it firmly.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked gently.
+
+There was something so kind in his voice that for a moment she felt as
+if she would have given her soul to have been able to lean her head
+against his shoulder and sob out the truth; all she had just heard and
+all the miserable hope and fear that had tortured her for the past few
+weeks.
+
+"What is it?" Micky said again anxiously.
+
+She dragged her hand free of his; she remembered that he, too, had
+hated Raymond, that he, too, would be glad when he knew of this
+nightmare that had suddenly swooped down upon her.
+
+She rose to her feet, holding fast to the chair-back to steady
+herself.
+
+"There isn't anything the matter; but I should like to go home--I'm
+tired, that's all; I'm only tired."
+
+She moved away to the door. The cold air beating on her face gave her
+a grip of herself again. She stood for a moment looking down the
+deserted street, her hands clenched.
+
+It was only for a little while, just until they got back to Enmore,
+that she had got to keep up appearances, and then--then....
+
+A sudden wave of tragedy swept through her soul; oh, it could not be
+true! It was some other man of whom they had been speaking, some other
+Raymond!
+
+She heard Micky laughing with the landlady as he paid for the coffee
+and buns, and she felt that she hated him for not guessing how she
+suffered. She walked down to where the little car stood waiting. If
+only he would be quick and take her back; she could do nothing till
+she got back to Enmore, and each moment was so precious.
+
+It seemed an eternity until Micky joined her. He avoided looking at
+her, though he bent and wrapped the rug carefully over her knees
+before he took his seat.
+
+The other car with its two occupants had vanished down the road some
+minutes since; only a small cloud of grey dust on the horizon showed
+which way they had gone.
+
+Micky drove back faster than he had come. Once or twice he looked down
+at Esther with an anxious pucker between his eyes.
+
+What had happened in those few minutes to make this sudden change? he
+wondered.
+
+She had been happy and smiling enough this morning; now all that he
+could see of her face, half hidden in the big upstand collar of the
+coat he had given her, were two piteous blue eyes staring steadily
+ahead of her down the road.
+
+They had gone some miles almost silently when he felt that he could
+bear it no longer. He stopped the car almost savagely and turned in
+his seat.
+
+"What's the matter? What have I done now?" he asked roughly. "You
+weren't like this when we came out. If I've done anything to annoy
+you...."
+
+She forced herself to laugh. It would be the last straw if she broke
+down now.
+
+"How absurd!" she said in a high-pitched voice. "Nothing is the
+matter. I'm tired, that's all; I shall be glad to get home."
+
+He was not satisfied.
+
+"You're not telling me the truth," he said. His mind searched
+anxiously back to the short time they had stayed in the inn. What
+could have happened? They had seen nobody there except the two men
+with the racing car.
+
+"Those two fellows who came in--they didn't annoy you, or anything
+like that, when I was out of the room?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Of course not; they never spoke to me."
+
+"If you won't tell me what I've done, how can I hope to put things
+right?" he said.
+
+It was always like this, he told himself savagely; one little step
+onward and a dozen back. He did not speak again till they got home.
+
+Esther got out of the car without waiting for him, and went on into
+the house.
+
+After a moment Micky followed.
+
+Esther was in the hall; she turned to him impatiently.
+
+"Every one is out," she said. "Miss Dearling and June are both out."
+
+There was a sort of strain in her voice which Micky could not
+understand. She looked as if she had had some bad shock, and yet what
+could have happened? He had not left her for more than a few minutes.
+
+"Very well, I won't wait," he said formally. He spoke curtly; he felt
+sore enough; he raised his hat stiffly and turned away.
+
+He looked back once at the little house. He thought perhaps Esther
+might be standing at the door in case he should turn, but the door was
+shut, and it was impossible for him to guess that upstairs in the room
+over the porch Esther had shut and locked the door and was pacing up
+and down the room, her hands pressed hard against her eyes,
+sobbing--great tearless sobs that seemed to rend her very heart.
+
+"It's not true--it's not true," she said over and over again under her
+breath. "It's not true--it's not true...."
+
+The striking of a church clock in the village seemed to rouse her.
+June would be back soon, and Miss Dearling.
+
+She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief; they felt hot and burning.
+She looked at herself anxiously in the little mirror--such a white
+face; she turned away impatiently.
+
+Twelve o'clock; there was a train up to town at half-past, she knew.
+The confusion in her brain seemed to have passed all at once; she felt
+quite calm and clear.
+
+She would go to Paris--she would see Raymond, and hear from his own
+lips what a lie it was. She ought to have gone before. She had been a
+fool to listen to Micky; of course he would not wish her to go.
+
+She put a few things into a bag. She took the last letter she had
+had from Raymond, and kissed it before thrusting it back into her
+dress; she scribbled a pencil note to June and fastened it to the
+pincushion.
+
+With the little suit-case in her hand she went downstairs and out into
+the street.
+
+There was nobody about, and she almost ran to the station. The porter
+who had witnessed her meeting yesterday with Micky stared at her
+wonderingly.
+
+The London train was due now, he told her. She'd have to hurry.... She
+was gone before he finished his slow speech.
+
+She found an empty carriage and got in, sitting as far away from the
+door as possible in case any one should come along the platform and
+recognize her. It was only when the train started away that she leaned
+back and closed her eyes.
+
+"I am going to Paris; I can't live without him any longer. Please
+don't worry." Over and over she found herself repeating these words in
+her brain. She wondered where she had heard them and what they really
+meant.
+
+"I am going to Paris; I can't live without him any longer."
+
+They were true anyway. She was going to Paris because she felt she
+could no longer live without Raymond.
+
+She opened her eyes with a little gasp; they were her own words. She
+remembered that she had written them in the note she had left on the
+pincushion for June.
+
+Poor June! She would be angry. And Micky.... A little throb touched
+her heart. She had not been very kind to Micky. She hoped he would
+soon forget her. Her eyes closed again.
+
+How long did it take to get to Paris? She had not the least idea. She
+had not got much money with her; she tried to remember how much, but
+somehow her brain refused to act; she took out her purse and tipped
+its contents into her lap. She started to count it, but after a moment
+she gave it up with a helpless feeling and put it all back again.
+
+"Tubby Clare's little widow...." Who was Tubby Clare? she wondered.
+She laughed foolishly. What a name!
+
+But he had left his widow a great deal of money, and money was
+everything nowadays. Nobody could be happy without money; Raymond had
+told her that months ago; a man with money has the whole world at his
+feet, so he had said.
+
+She thought of Micky--he was one of the richest men in London, and yet
+he was not happy. She had never thought that he looked happy; she
+wondered if it was really because he loved her.
+
+She wished she could stop thinking. She was so tired, she wanted to
+sleep; but the wheel of thought went on and on in her brain.
+
+The miles seemed to crawl by. Soon the fields and open country were
+left behind; the houses were closer together; presently they crowded
+one another, almost jostling each other out of the way, it seemed.
+
+What an ugly place London was. She sat up with a little shiver.
+Strange how cold she felt, and yet her head was burning hot.
+
+Would this journey never end? Surely they had been travelling for days
+and days already.
+
+The train stopped with a jerk.
+
+"Paddington ... all change--all change...."
+
+Esther stumbled to her feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Micky had just reached the unpretentious inn in the village where he
+had taken a room, when he was hailed from across the road by June; a
+very cheerful looking June, in a business-like coat and skirt of rough
+tweed, and carrying a walking-stick, which she proceeded to wave at
+him vigorously.
+
+"Back so soon!" She came across to where he stood by the car, and
+looked at his despondent face. "Not another row?" she demanded
+tersely.
+
+Micky frowned.
+
+"No--merely a sort of frigid silence this time," he said savagely,
+then he laughed. "It's no use, June, I may as well throw up the
+sponge. I seem to put my foot in it whatever I do."
+
+June drew a pattern in the mud at her feet.
+
+"Well, what have you done?" she asked. "Esther was all right this
+morning, and quite pleased to be going with you. I certainly never
+expected to see either of you till this afternoon. Where did you go?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, some little one-eyed place. We stopped at an inn and had some
+coffee, and that seemed to finish it."
+
+"What, the coffee?" asked June with a twinkle.
+
+Micky turned away.
+
+"If you're going to make a joke of everything----" he said with
+dignity.
+
+She laid her hand on his arm.
+
+"I'm sorry, old boy. But you do explain things so badly, you know. You
+had coffee at the inn, yes--and then----"
+
+"I went outside to start up the engine, and when I came back she
+seemed to have utterly changed. She even looked different and she
+hardly spoke all the way home."
+
+"It must be your imagination."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"No, it isn't; and when we got home she went indoors without even
+saying good-bye--confound her!" he added in savage parenthesis.
+
+"Oh, Micky!" said June reproachfully.
+
+He coloured.
+
+"I didn't mean that, but I'm so fed-up with everything----" He leaned
+his elbow on the side of the car and looked away from her down the
+road. "I think I'll get back to town this afternoon," he said after a
+moment. "I was a fool to come at all."
+
+June looked at him silently.
+
+"Well, what are you thinking?" he asked.
+
+She roused herself and answered briskly.
+
+"I think you want your lunch, that's what I think, and I'm going to
+take you back with me to have some. Aunt Mary is expecting you----"
+Her queer eyes twinkled. "Micky, she's quite made up her mind that
+you've come down here after me."
+
+Micky laughed ruefully.
+
+"It would be a dashed sight better for me if I had," he said.
+
+He moved to the door of the car.
+
+"Jump in, and I'll drive you back. I'm not sure that I shall stay to
+lunch, though----" he added darkly.
+
+"Oh yes, you will," June said. "And when you see Esther you'll find
+that it was just imagination on your part--why, only coming down in
+the train the other morning she agreed with me that you were a perfect
+darling--she did, on my word of honour!"
+
+When they reached the house Micky meekly followed June into the hall.
+
+"The table's laid," she informed him. "I'll just go and take off my
+hat and find Esther and Aunt Mary. Go in, Micky."
+
+Micky took off his hat and coat and obeyed.
+
+He looked several sizes too large for the little dining-room as he
+walked over to the fire and stood with his back to it; he looked round
+the room appreciatively.
+
+This was a real home, he thought with sudden wistfulness in spite of
+its small rooms and general atmosphere of a bygone decade; a man could
+be very happy here with a woman he cared for.
+
+"Micky--Micky----" called June urgently. She came clattering down the
+stairs anyhow--she burst into the room, she thrust a scrap of paper
+into his hand.
+
+"She's gone--she's gone! Oh, what fools we've been! I told you what it
+would be. I knew she'd find out sooner or later. Oh, why didn't you
+let me tell her?--I begged you to let me. It's not my fault. I warned
+you what it would be--oh dear! oh dear!" and June fell into a sobbing
+heap on the uncomfortable horsehair couch behind her.
+
+Micky stood clutching the paper and staring at her; it was some
+minutes before he could find his voice, then he went over to where she
+lay, put his hand on her shoulder, and shook her almost roughly.
+
+"What are you talking about, June? For heaven's sake sit up and behave
+like a rational woman. Who's gone? What do you mean?"
+
+She raised her tear-stained face.
+
+"Read it! read it! Oh, Micky, you have been a fool!" she said
+furiously. "It's all your fault. I knew what would happen----"
+
+"Oh, for heaven's sake shut up," said Micky.
+
+He had unfolded the paper, and there was a moment's tragic silence as
+he read the three lines Esther had scribbled.
+
+"I have gone to Paris; I can't live without him any longer. Please
+don't worry about me...."
+
+Twice his lips moved, but no words would come, then he broke out in a
+strangled voice--
+
+"It's a joke--of course it is. She's done it to frighten us. Why, I--I
+only left her here half-an-hour ago--it can't be more. It's a
+joke--of--of course it is ... June...."
+
+"A queer sort of joke," said June sobbing. "Poor darling! and a nice
+sort of reception she'll get when she reaches Paris with that cad
+there...."
+
+"She'll never find him; she doesn't know where he is," Micky said
+hoarsely. There was a stunned look in his eyes--he took a step towards
+the door and came back again as if he did not know what to do.
+
+June was drying her eyes and shedding more tears and drying them
+again; she looked at Micky angrily.
+
+"Of course she'll find him," she said tartly. "She knows his address;
+the brute's written to her dozens of times, and she's written to him
+as well...." Her eyes searched his face with a sort of contempt.
+
+"Well, what are you going to do now you've made such a glorious hash
+of everything?" she demanded.
+
+Micky passed a hand across his eyes.
+
+"I don't know. I'm trying to think. She can't have been gone long. She
+may still be in the village." He dragged out his watch. "There may not
+have been a train up to London--"
+
+"Yes, there was; the twelve-twenty----" The eyes of both of them
+turned to the clock, and Micky gave a smothered groan.
+
+"She must have gone by that. I must follow her, of course."
+
+June bounced up.
+
+"I'll come with you; I'll put on my hat again----" She made a dive for
+the door, but Micky caught her arm and stopped her.
+
+"You can't; I can't take you with me. Be sensible, June--I'll find her
+and bring her back----"
+
+She looked up at him stormily.
+
+"She's my friend, and it's all your fault she's got into this mess. I
+told you not to interfere, and you wouldn't listen----"
+
+It was a woman all over to rave at him now, but Micky took it
+patiently.
+
+"Very well, it's my fault, and as it's my fault it's up to me to try
+and put things right. Don't waste time arguing--if I'm to catch her
+before she leaves England...."
+
+June burst into fresh tears and sobs.
+
+"You won't be able to; she'll get over there and have to bear it all
+alone.... Oh, Micky, I almost hate you when I think what we've
+done...."
+
+Micky went out of the room; he went down to the road and mechanically
+started up the car; he was getting into his seat when June followed
+and called to him--
+
+"You haven't got your coat or cap, Micky."
+
+He came back; he hoisted himself into his coat, and turned away again;
+June caught his hand.
+
+"I didn't mean to be a beast, Micky----"
+
+He gave her fingers a squeeze.
+
+"I know; it's all right; but don't keep me, there's a dear."
+
+But she still clung to him.
+
+"You'll bring her back safely, Micky--promise."
+
+Micky turned away without answering.
+
+"... I can't live without him any longer...."
+
+In spite of everything, that was how she still felt about the brute.
+
+When he got to the station he found there was no train to town for a
+couple of hours; he asked a sleepy porter an agitated question.
+
+"Did you see a young lady go by the twelve-twenty--one of the young
+ladies staying with Miss Dearling. Oh, for heaven's sake hurry up and
+answer, man!"
+
+The man scratched an unshaven chin with irritating consideration.
+
+"Yes, I seen her," he said at last. "She came in running--caught the
+train to London--she...."
+
+But Micky had gone; he would have to drive to town, he decided. If
+Esther had got to know the truth, better hear it from him than from
+that brute.
+
+He drove off at breakneck speed. It seemed miles and miles to London;
+no matter how much of the winding road he covered, it unfolded again
+before his eyes, and mercilessly again.
+
+He went straight to Charing Cross; he left the car in the yard and
+dashed in to inquire about trains; he searched a time-table; 12.59--3
+o'clock--4.5 ... he looked up at the clock--three minutes past four
+now. Micky dashed across the big hall to a gate where a signboard said
+"Dover Express"; he had no ticket; he pushed by the protesting
+inspector; the guard was waving his flag; some one grabbed at Micky
+and missed as he flung himself breathless and panting into the last
+coach of the moving train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+Micky sat for a few moments breathless and exhausted before he pulled
+himself together, and taking off his hat wiped his hot forehead.
+
+The train was gathering speed; he let down the window with a run and
+looked out; the station was out of sight altogether; they were
+crossing the bridge under which the silent Thames flowed sluggishly.
+
+A breath of cold air touched his hot face and he shivered suddenly and
+drew the window up once more.
+
+Something had driven his thoughts back to his first meeting with
+Esther, to the cold silence of the night, and the hard desperation of
+her voice as she said--
+
+"I didn't mean to go home any more--I shouldn't have ever gone home
+again if I hadn't met you...."
+
+If she got to Paris before he saw her she would feel like this again.
+Micky groaned.
+
+Fortunately he had the carriage to himself, but it was a third-class
+compartment, and not a corridor carriage. He cursed his luck here; if
+there had been a corridor he could have gone the length of the train
+and seen if Esther were on it. As it was, he would have to wait till
+they reached Dover, and even then perhaps he would never find her.
+
+He tried to calm himself with the conviction that everything would be
+all right, but in his heart he was despairing; if he found Esther and
+brought her back she would hate him for the rest of his life.
+
+What had happened to make her rush off like this? He could not
+imagine. She had seemed so happy only that morning. What could account
+for the tragedy that seemed to breathe in every word of that little
+note she had left for June?
+
+He took it from his pocket and read it again. It gave no hint of what
+had prompted this sudden flight. He wrote out a couple of telegrams to
+dispatch from Dover--one for June, and another for Driver.
+
+He wished he had got Driver with him. There was a sort of security in
+the man's stolidness.
+
+He realised that he was without luggage, and that he had not much
+money. Supposing he had to go on to Paris, what the dickens was he
+going to do?
+
+When the train ran into Dover he got to his feet with a sigh of
+relief. Quickly as he was out of the train a great many passengers had
+left it before him. He started at a run down the platform. He stared
+at every woman he met, hoping it would be Esther. The crowd was
+getting thick; he had to push his way unceremoniously past people;
+porters with luggage trucks jostled him; he began to lose his
+temper--he was just answering with great heat a man who had cynically
+asked "who he was shoving," when some one touched his arm.
+
+"Micky...."
+
+For a moment Micky's heart beat up in his throat; he turned quickly
+and found himself looking down into the brown eyes of Marie Deland.
+
+If she had hoped for anything better, it must have been a shock to her
+to see the bitter disappointment in Micky's face. He stammered out
+that he had not expected to see her, that he was in a deuce of a
+hurry; he hoped she would forgive him, but--
+
+"Micky, by all that's wonderful!" said another voice, and there was
+Marie's father, the good-natured old man who had pretended to agree
+with his wife when she raved against Micky for the cavalier way in
+which he had treated his daughter, but who in his heart had indulged
+in a quiet chuckle, thinking that Micky had been rather clever to
+escape from the toils at the eleventh hour.
+
+He shook hands with Micky heartily enough; he, at any rate, had no
+grudge against him. He asked Micky a hundred questions.
+
+"Are you going over, my boy? Come with us. I've got a reserved
+carriage on the Paris express. Delighted to see you. Marie and I are
+just off for a little holiday by ourselves."
+
+He touched his daughter's arm. "Ask him to join us, my dear."
+
+Micky did his best to answer civilly; he was in the deuce of a hurry,
+he said again; he had got to meet a friend but had missed her in the
+crowd.
+
+"I came off in the deuce of a hurry," he said. He was chafing bitterly
+at this enforced delay; each moment was so precious.
+
+Marie touched her father's arm.
+
+"We are only keeping Mr. Mellowes, Daddy...." Something in her voice
+made Micky's eyes smart. It was hard luck that for the second time he
+was forced to humiliate her. He stammered out incoherently that he
+hoped they would forgive him, but he was in such a deuce of a
+hurry.... He went off abruptly.
+
+Everybody was off the train now, and many people were already on the
+boat. Micky remembered that he had no ticket; he entered into a hot
+argument with an official, who listened to him skeptically, and took
+as long as possible to make out the ticket; even when Micky had paid
+he still looked suspicious.
+
+The gangway was still down; Micky went on board and stood as close to
+it as he could, scanning the face of each passer.
+
+Esther was not amongst them.
+
+"Stand away there--stand away...."
+
+Micky was pushed aside, and a couple of brawny seamen hauled the
+gangway on to the harbour. The gap of green water was widening slowly
+between the pier and the ship's side. Micky felt as if he were being
+exiled. Supposing she was not on the boat?
+
+He turned away and searched the crowded deck. The boat was full, and
+most of the people were women, but there was nobody who looked in the
+very least like Esther.
+
+She would be wearing the fur coat, he was sure--the coat he had given
+her!
+
+One or two people stared at him curiously. Once he came across Marie
+and her father on the leeward side of the boat. For decency's sake he
+had to stop. He made an inane remark on the weather and said he
+thought they were going to have a smooth crossing.
+
+Marie's brown eyes lifted to his.
+
+"You haven't met your friend?" she said quietly.
+
+Micky had a horrible conviction that she had not believed that he had
+any one to meet. He coloured in confusion as he answered--
+
+"No--no. I'm sorry to say I haven't."
+
+She moved away leaving him with her father. The old man slipped a hand
+through Micky's arm.
+
+"Don't notice her, my boy; women are queer cattle--and I expect she's
+a little sore with you still."
+
+Micky wished it was possible to jump overboard. He found the old man's
+friendliness more insufferable than the look of reproach in Marie's
+eyes. As soon as he could he got away; he went down the companion-way
+and wandered round despondently.
+
+If Esther were on the boat she must have seen him and was deliberately
+keeping out of his way; he glanced in at the open door of the ladies'
+cabin as he passed.
+
+Several pessimistic souls who had already made up their minds to be
+ill, although the sea was like a mill-pond, had arranged themselves on
+the couches, with pillows under their heads; as Micky passed the cabin
+some one slammed the door smartly in his face.
+
+He went upon deck again and stood looking out to sea, with the wind
+stinging his face.
+
+It was getting dark rapidly; the lights of Dover twinkled through the
+greyness. Micky stood and watched till they could no longer be seen.
+He was chilled to the bone in spite of his warm coat; he turned the
+collar up round his throat and thrust his hands deeply into his
+pockets.
+
+His fingers came in contact with the telegrams he had written in the
+train and forgotten to send. He swore under his breath.
+
+He kept out of the Delands' way when they reached Calais; he was first
+off the boat; he stood in the darkness trembling with excitement.
+
+There were all sorts of people pouring past him--men, women, and
+children. They all seemed happy and eager--a couple of Frenchmen
+standing near him chattered incessantly; Micky moistened his dry lips;
+there was a little nerve throbbing in his temple.
+
+Supposing he never saw her again! His hands clenched deep in his
+pockets ... supposing he never met the half-shy glance of her grey
+eyes--supposing he never heard her voice any more--or her laugh....
+
+The sweat broke out on his forehead. For a moment he closed his eyes
+with a sick feeling of hopelessness, and when he opened them again he
+saw Esther standing there not half a dozen paces from him.
+
+The glare from a huge arc lamp shone full on her slim figure and
+golden hair.
+
+She was looking round her in a scared, apprehensive way as if not
+knowing where to go.
+
+A wave of such utter relief swept through Micky's very soul that for a
+moment it almost turned him faint.
+
+She was quite alone, but as Micky watched her he saw a French porter
+in a blue blouse go up to her and start chattering away, pointing to
+the small suit-case she carried and gesticulating violently. Esther
+shook her head--Micky remembered that she knew no French--but the man
+persisted, and she shook her head again in a frightened sort of way.
+
+Micky covered the distance between them in a couple of strides.
+
+"Esther...." he said, in a queer, choked sort of voice.
+
+She turned with a stifled scream, and a most unwilling relief swept
+her face.
+
+"Oh, Micky!" she said breathlessly. She put out her hand as if to grip
+his arm, then drew it away, moving back.
+
+"How did you come here ... oh, how dare you follow me...?" she said
+passionately.
+
+Micky took her arm very gently.
+
+"We found your note," he said. "I had to come ... June said...." Then
+suddenly his calmness broke "Oh, thank God I found you--thank God!" he
+said hoarsely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+Esther seemed arrested by the emotion in Micky's voice.
+
+She stood looking up at him with wide eyes and parted lips, then
+suddenly she broke out again--
+
+"I don't know what you mean. I'll never forgive June if she sent you
+after me. I'm going to Paris. I'm not a child to be followed and
+looked after like this.... Let me go."
+
+Micky released her arm at once. When he spoke his voice was quiet and
+rather stern.
+
+"Please don't make a scene. I have followed you for your own sake. I
+know I can't stop you from going to Paris. I'm not going to try. All I
+do ask you is that you will let me speak to you. If what I have to say
+is useless, I give you my word of honour that I will leave you here
+and let you go on to Paris alone."
+
+She looked at him with stormy eyes.
+
+"I don't believe it--it isn't the first time you've lied to me...."
+she broke off breathlessly. Micky turned pale, but he answered evenly
+enough--
+
+"You're quite justified in saying that; I'm not going to try and deny
+it. But we can't stand here all night--people are beginning to stare
+at us...."
+
+"I don't care----" but she dropped her voice a little, and when Micky
+made a slight movement forward she followed.
+
+It was cold on the quay--there was a fresh wind blowing, and Esther
+shivered.
+
+"There's a restaurant place here," Micky said. "I want a meal if you
+don't; I haven't had anything since breakfast."
+
+He found a table and ordered a meal, but he knew he should not be able
+to eat a thing.
+
+"I don't want anything to eat," Esther said. She sat sideways in her
+chair away from the table; there was a pitiable look of strain in her
+face; she still gripped her suit-case tightly. When Micky asked her to
+be allowed to put it down for her she turned on him almost fiercely.
+
+"Leave me alone--oh, leave me alone!"
+
+The French garcon eyed them both interestedly. Any one far less keen
+of perception than he was could have seen that there was tragedy of
+some kind between this pretty, frail-looking girl and the tall man in
+the big coat.
+
+"You said you were hungry, but you're not eating anything," Esther
+broke out irritably. "How much longer are you going to make me sit
+here? I want to catch a train to Paris to-night."
+
+"There are no trains, except slow ones," Micky told her; "the express
+has gone half an hour ago. I can find you rooms in a hotel close by
+for the night...." His eyes met hers across the table, and he broke
+out, "Esther, for God's sake let me explain things to you. You've all
+your life before you; to-morrow, if you wish it, I'll go away and
+never see you again. But I can't let you go now without telling you
+the truth. I ought to have told you before--it was for your own sake I
+tried to keep it back...."
+
+Her grey eyes searched his face disbelievingly.
+
+"If you've anything to say against Mr. Ashton," she said, "I refuse to
+listen. I shouldn't believe anything you say, for one thing. Why, you
+don't even know his name--unless June has told you," she added
+breathlessly.
+
+"June has told me nothing, but I know, all the same. I knew the first
+night I ever met you--when I left you and went back to my rooms, he
+was there waiting for me...."
+
+She half turned, leaning across the table, and her eyes were like
+fire.
+
+"He was there--who was there?" she asked shrilly.
+
+"Ashton--Raymond Ashton," Micky answered.
+
+There was a tragic silence, then Esther rose to her feet; she stood
+looking dazedly round her in a helpless sort of way.
+
+Micky called for the bill--without waiting for his change he followed
+Esther out into the darkness. She offered no resistance when he drew
+her hand through his arm. He did not know what on earth to do with
+her; if he took her to an hotel it would mean leaving her, and she
+would probably go away in the night. They went back to the station,
+and Micky found a waiting-room with a roaring fire; he dragged one of
+the uncomfortable wooden benches close to it and made Esther sit down;
+he closed the door and came back to her.
+
+There was so much he wanted to say, and for the life of him he did not
+know how to begin. She sat there so silently; she seemed to have
+forgotten his presence altogether.
+
+Micky looked at her, and suddenly he broke out--
+
+"Esther, speak to me--say something--for heaven's sake----"
+
+She moved in a curiously heavy sort of way, as if it were an effort;
+she raised her eyes to his agitated face.
+
+"This morning--was it only this morning?--it seems so long ago." She
+stopped for a moment, then went on again slowly. "When we were at that
+inn in the village--those men with the car--I heard them talking...."
+She stopped again.
+
+"Yes," said Micky.
+
+She frowned as if his monosyllable had interrupted her train of
+thought. She went on presently--
+
+"They were talking about Paris--and Raymond." And now she raised her
+eyes. "If you say that it was true what I heard them say, I will kill
+you," she said with sudden passion. "It's a lie--just a lie to hurt
+me, to hurt me more than I've been hurt already." She stopped,
+panting. "It's a lie--say it's a lie," she drove the words at him.
+
+Micky sat down beside her.
+
+"If they said that Ashton had been married in Paris to Mrs. Clare it
+was the truth," he said.
+
+He marvelled at the steadiness of his voice. He felt sick with shame
+at the part he was having to play. He went on incoherently--
+
+"I knew it before you ever went to Enmore--it was in the London
+papers. I was afraid you would see it. I persuaded June to get you
+down into the country. I suppose I was a fool. I ought to have known
+it was only putting things off."
+
+He looked at her and quickly away again.
+
+"Forget him, Esther, for God's sake. He never cared for you; he isn't
+worth a thought."
+
+She rose to her feet, pushing the hair back from her face as if she
+were distraught.
+
+"How dare you say such things to me?" she said in an odd, choked
+voice. "You always hated him--you and June. Do you think I'm going to
+believe you? Do you think I could believe you for a moment when I have
+his letters--when he has shown me in so many ways how he cares?... I
+don't care what you say--I don't care if the whole world were to tell
+me it was true--I'll never believe it till he tells me himself...."
+Her breath came gaspingly; she looked at Micky's white face with
+passionate hatred in her eyes.
+
+"How do I know it isn't all a made-up story?" she asked him hoarsely.
+
+She hardly knew what she was saying; she leaned her arms on the
+mantelshelf and hid her face in them.
+
+Micky let her alone; he got up and began pacing up and down the room.
+
+He deserved everything she had said; it was all his fault that she had
+got this to bear. With the best intentions in the world he had proved
+himself a blundering fool.
+
+Esther raised her head; she had not shed a tear, but her face was
+white and desolate.
+
+She walked past him to the door.
+
+"I'm going on to Paris to-night," she said. "Nothing you can say will
+stop me--nothing."
+
+"Very well, then I will come with you."
+
+She did not answer; she fumbled helplessly with the door handle. Micky
+came forward to open it for her, and their hands touched. A little
+flame of red rushed to his face; he put his shoulders to the door.
+
+"You can't go like this," he said stammering. "How can I let you go
+like this? Whatever I've done, I haven't deserved that you should
+think as badly of me as you do. It was because I cared for you so
+much--I tried to save you pain ... perhaps it isn't any excuse, but
+it's the truth.... I'd give my very soul if I could undo what's gone,
+if I could save you from this."
+
+She was not looking at him, but the cold contempt in her face stung
+him.
+
+"You may despise me," he broke out again jaggedly. "But it's the truth
+I've told you.... Ashton never cared for you; that night at my
+rooms...." He stopped, he did not want to tell her, but somehow there
+was a compelling force within him that drove the words to his lips.
+
+"He told me he'd had to break with you--that he was going away from
+London because of you. He said he must marry a woman with money--it's
+the truth, if I never speak again. He never cared for you, Esther--he
+was never fit to kiss the ground you walk on. He wanted to be rid of
+you--he----"
+
+Micky stopped; Esther had given a little strangled cry, half-sob,
+half-moan, like some animal in mortal pain; for the moment she saw the
+world red; hardly knowing what she did, she lifted her hand and struck
+Micky across his white face.
+
+"Oh, you liar--you liar," she said. The words were a hoarse whisper,
+her voice was almost gone.
+
+She fell away from him, shaking in every limb; she dropped into a
+chair hiding her face.
+
+Micky stood like a man turned to stone. She had not hurt him
+physically, though there was a red flush where she had struck him, but
+he felt as if the blow had fallen on his aching heart and his love for
+her.
+
+It seemed a long time before either of them moved or spoke, then
+Esther dragged herself to her feet.
+
+"Please let me pass," she said in a whisper, and Micky stood aside
+without a word.
+
+He followed her out and inquired for a train; there was a slow one at
+ten-fifty they told him. He put Esther into a carriage and got a rug
+for her and a cushion. He knew she had had nothing to eat, and he
+ordered a basket to be made up at the refreshment-room. When he came
+back she was sitting in a corner with her eyes closed. She had taken
+off her hat, and her golden hair was tumbled about her face. She took
+no notice when he put the rug over her; she did not even open her eyes
+when the train started.
+
+Micky sat down in the opposite corner. He felt more tired than he had
+ever done in all his life, and yet he knew that he could not sleep;
+his brain seemed as if it would never rest again. He sat with face
+averted from the girl in the corner, looking out into the darkness.
+
+It seemed strange to realise that he had made this same journey dozens
+of times before. He felt that it was all strange and distasteful to
+him. The chattering voices of the French porters and the whistle of
+the engines sounded new and quaint as if he had never heard them
+before. It seemed an eternity before the train started slowly away.
+
+He leaned back and closed his eyes; his head was splitting, and he was
+cold and hungry.
+
+He must have dozed for a few minutes, for he was roused by a little
+choking sound of sobbing. He opened his eyes--he was awake at once--he
+looked across at Esther. She was lying huddled up, with her face
+turned against the dirty cushions of the carriage, sobbing her heart
+out.
+
+Micky looked at her in miserable indecision. Then he got up
+impulsively, and sat down opposite to where Esther was huddled.
+
+He stretched out his hand and took hers.
+
+"Don't cry--don't; I can't bear it," he said hoarsely. He raised her
+hand to his lips. She had taken off her gloves and her fingers felt
+like ice. He chafed them gently between his own. She still wore the
+cheap little ring which Ashton had given her months ago.
+
+She let her hand lie passively in his. Perhaps she was too miserable
+to remember that it was Micky, and only realised that there was
+something kind and comforting in his touch. Presently her sobs
+quieted. She wiped the tears from her face and brushed back her
+disordered hair.
+
+Micky got up and took down the supper basket he had managed to get at
+the station. There was a small thermos of hot coffee. He poured some
+out and made her drink it. If he had expected her to refuse he was
+agreeably disappointed. She obeyed apathetically; she even ate some
+sandwiches.
+
+Micky was ravenous himself, but he would not touch a thing till she
+had finished.
+
+"You'd be much more comfortable if you put your feet up on the seat
+and tried to sleep," he said presently. "You can have my coat as well
+as the rug. Your hands are like ice."
+
+He took off his coat as he spoke and laid it over her.
+
+"I'm afraid we've got a long journey yet," he said ruefully. "If you
+could get some sleep."
+
+She turned her head away and closed her eyes.
+
+She looked very young and appealing in the depressing light of the
+carriage.
+
+Micky sat looking at her in silence. She cared so little for him that
+she had even forgotten her anger against him; nothing he could do or
+say really mattered to her, she was not sufficiently interested in him
+to even trouble to hate him for long.
+
+He wondered what June was thinking, and Miss Dearling! He wished from
+the depths of his soul that he had remembered to send those wires.
+There was his car, too--he had left that in the yard at Charing
+Cross--what the dickens would become of it?--not that it mattered
+much, he was too miserable to be seriously concerned about anything.
+
+Some minutes passed, but Esther did not move. Micky spoke her name
+once softly--
+
+"Esther...." But she did not answer; he leaned over and touched her
+hand, but she did not stir; in spite of what she had said she was
+asleep.
+
+Micky gave a sigh of relief. He drew his coat and the rug more closely
+around her; he was very cold himself, but that did not trouble him; he
+finished the contents of the supper basket before he went back to his
+own corner.
+
+The train rumbled on through the night; it dragged into many little
+stations and stopped jerkily, but Esther did not wake.
+
+Once when she moved and the rug slipped, Micky rose and quietly
+replaced it. He was very tired himself, but his brain would not allow
+him to sleep; he felt as if he were living through years during these
+long hours.
+
+He sat looking at Esther with wistful eyes. Why was it that people
+never fell in love with the right people? he asked himself vaguely. He
+could have made her so happy.
+
+He closed his eyes for a moment, then dragged them open again. He must
+not go to sleep, whatever happened. He sat up stiffly.
+
+Presently he lifted a corner of the blind. The sky looked a little
+lighter, as if dawn were not far away. He looked at his watch. Nearly
+two!
+
+A sudden impulse came to him to wake Esther and make her listen now to
+what he had to say. The time was getting short, and there was so much
+to tell her and explain.
+
+He rose and bent over her, but she did not move, and he went back
+again to his corner.
+
+He let the window down a little way, hoping the cold night air would
+help to keep him awake. The minutes seemed to drag, though in reality
+only a quarter of an hour had passed when Esther woke with a little
+smothered cry.
+
+Micky was on his feet in an instant.
+
+"It's all right--there's nothing to be afraid of--you've been
+asleep."
+
+She rubbed her eyes childishly with her knuckles; she stared at him
+for a moment unrecognisingly, then, as memory returned, she shrank
+back into her corner.
+
+Micky picked up the rug and coat that had slithered to the floor; he
+waited a few moments till he saw that she was quite awake before he
+spoke, then he said gently--
+
+"I hope you feel better. We shall soon be in now. Are you warm
+enough?"
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+"We shall be into Paris very soon," he said again; "and there is a
+great deal I want to say to you first. Will you listen to me if I try
+to explain?"
+
+She met his eyes unflinchingly.
+
+"There is only one man who can possibly explain anything to me," she
+said then, "and he is not you."
+
+Micky lost his temper; he was cold and tired and hungry, and at that
+moment she seemed the most unreasonable of mortals.
+
+"I shall not allow you to see Ashton, if you mean Ashton," he said
+roughly. "The man isn't fit for you to think about. He's married, you
+know that ... Esther, for your own sake----"
+
+She had turned her face away and was looking out into the darkness;
+she seemed not to be listening.
+
+Micky went on urgently.
+
+"I blame myself. I always meant to tell you before things had gone as
+far as this. I shall never forgive myself for not having done so. I've
+behaved like a cad, but my only excuse is that I loved you; I wanted
+to spare you unnecessary pain----" He was no longer stammering and
+self-conscious, his voice was firm and steady. "I suppose I was a fool
+to imagine that I could ever make you care for me; I suppose it was
+conceit that led me to think I could ever cut out this ... this
+phantom lover of yours----" He laughed mirthlessly.
+
+"Esther, let me take you back home; it's no use seeing Ashton--it only
+means humiliation and pain for you."
+
+Her lips moved, but no words came.
+
+"Let me take you home to June," he went on. "She will tell you that
+what I say is only the truth. She knows him--she...."
+
+She spoke then.
+
+"She always hated him; it isn't likely she would wish me to marry
+him." She bit her lip. "Oh, it's no use saying any more," she broke
+out wildly after a moment. "I'm going to see him--I can't bear it if I
+don't see him--just once! I've got to hear the truth----"
+
+"I've told you the truth," he repeated doggedly. "It's no interest to
+me to try and prevent you from seeing him. I know I've done for
+whatever chance I had with you. Oh, for heaven's sake believe that
+it's only for your sake I want to take you back!"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+In her heart she found it impossible to believe him; she thought
+of the letters she had received from Raymond, the money--the
+presents--why even this coat she wore had come from him; she felt
+that she could laugh at this man opposite to her. A little smile
+curved her lips; a contemptuous smile it seemed to Micky.
+
+For the first time the injustice of it all seemed to strike him; for
+him who had done his best she had nothing but dislike and contempt,
+but for the man who had left her with a brutal letter of farewell, who
+had thrown her over because she had no money, she had endless faith
+and trust, and love!
+
+He broke out in his agitation.
+
+"I've tried to spare you--I've done my best, but you won't let me ...
+I've kept back the truth, but now you'll have to hear it if nothing
+else will keep you from him. He's never given you a thought since he
+left London--he imagines that you've forgotten him. It was he you saw
+at the Comedy Theatre that night when June and I were with you. He
+didn't even trouble to let you know that he was in London--that's how
+he cares for you--this man you refuse to believe one word against
+..." His eyes flamed as they met hers.
+
+She was staring at him now; her face was white and incredulous.
+
+"If you--if you think I'm going to believe that----" she began, in a
+high, unnatural voice. She stopped; she seemed to realise all at once
+that he was speaking the truth. She leaned towards him. Her breath
+came in broken gasps.
+
+"Those letters!" she said shrilly. "Whose letters? They were from
+him--they were from him--weren't they from him?" she asked hoarsely.
+
+"No," said Micky doggedly.
+
+Better to hurt her now, he told himself, than to let her go on to
+worse pain and humiliation.
+
+There was a tragic silence; then she asked again, in a whisper--
+
+"Then who--who wrote them?"
+
+A wave of crimson flooded Micky's white face. He dropped his head in
+his hands as if he could not bear to meet her eyes.
+
+"I did," he said brokenly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+A long moment of silence followed Micky's broken confession. He dared
+not look at Esther, though she was staring at him, staring hard, with
+a curious sort of wonderment in her grey eyes. Then all at once she
+began to laugh, a laugh which held no real mirth, only incredulity.
+
+Micky raised his head sharply.
+
+For a second they stared at one another; then Micky said hoarsely--
+
+"You don't believe me"; and then again, more slowly: "You mean that
+you--don't believe--me?"
+
+He half rose to his feet.
+
+"Esther, I implore you."
+
+She moved back from him.
+
+"It was clever of you--to think of such an excuse," she said
+unevenly.
+
+"It's the truth; I swear it if I never speak again. I know now that I
+must have been out of my mind to attempt such a thing, but it has only
+seemed impossible since you showed me how little you thought of me. I
+wrote those letters--every one of them. I----"
+
+In the excitement of the moment neither of them had noticed that the
+train had reached its destination and was slowly stopping.
+
+A voluble porter had already wrenched open the door and was imploring
+monsieur to accept his services; it was impossible to say any more to
+Esther.
+
+Micky followed her out on to the platform; he felt that the last shred
+of his patience and tenderness had been killed.
+
+She did not believe him--whatever he said she would never believe him;
+it was useless to waste his breath; he might as well give up and let
+her go her own way; perhaps a sharp lesson would teach her better and
+more quickly than all his love had been able to do.
+
+He was dispirited and hungry, and hunger alone makes a man angry. He
+looked at the girl for whose sake he had raced all these miles of
+wild-goose chase, and a boorish longing to hurt her, to let her suffer
+rose in his heart.
+
+Let her go to Ashton and see for herself the sort of man he was.
+
+He spoke with savage impulse.
+
+"I won't bother you with my unwelcome company any longer. You will be
+able to get breakfast in the restaurant, and you will find that most
+people here understand English.... Good-bye----"
+
+Esther gave a little gasp--
+
+"You're not going to leave me?"
+
+The hardness of his eyes did not soften.
+
+"You are not trying to tell me that you wish me to stay, surely?" he
+submitted drily.
+
+She raised her head.
+
+"Certainly not; after all, it's your own fault you came."
+
+He did not answer, perhaps he could not trust himself; he raised his
+hat and turned away unseeingly, and Esther clutched her suit-case
+tightly and walked away with her head in the air, trying to look as if
+she knew every inch of the Gare St. Lazare and had been there
+thousands of times before.
+
+But her heart was beating up in her throat, and she would have given a
+great deal, had it been compatible with dignity, to rush after him and
+beg him to stay.
+
+She wandered out of the station, not knowing where to go, Raymond
+seemed to have faded into the background; she only thought of him
+subconsciously; it was the figure of Micky Mellowes that worried
+her--she could not forget him.
+
+Supposing he had really written those letters? "But he didn't," she
+told herself in an agony. "I know he didn't."
+
+She took one of the letters from her suit-case and stared at the
+handwriting--Raymond's writing. The whole thing was too preposterous.
+
+She did not know what she meant to do, or where she meant to go; it no
+longer seemed that she had come here for any specific purpose.
+
+The early morning greyness and chilliness had faded; the sun had risen
+and cleared away the mists.
+
+She found herself in some gardens where an elderly man was feeding
+sparrows; she sat down on a bench and watched him.
+
+It seemed years ago that she went down to Enmore with June--since she
+sat in the little inn with Micky and heard those two men talking.
+
+The hot blood beat into her cheeks as she remembered something that
+for the moment she had forgotten--that Raymond Ashton was married!
+
+The man gave the sparrows his last crumbs and went away. The little
+brown birds came hopping to Esther's feet, looking up at her with
+bright, eager eyes, as if expecting her to supply a further meal.
+
+The sun faded and went in, and a few drops of rain came pattering
+down. She rose and began to walk on slowly. The light suit-case seemed
+to have grown heavy since yesterday.
+
+At the back of her mind was the frightened knowledge that she was
+alone in Paris; that she had nobody to turn to now that Micky had
+deserted her; but as yet it was only in the background. Raymond was
+somewhere, perhaps quite close; but she no longer felt that she wanted
+to go to him.
+
+Further on she found another bench sheltered under some trees and sat
+down again; she opened the suit-case and took out a bundle of Micky's
+letters ... Micky's! No, Raymond's.... Oh, whose letters were they?
+
+She opened the one that had been written from the hotel in Paris. Its
+fond words seemed to take on a new meaning....
+
+"Some day, if all that I wish for comes true, I will tell you the many
+things you would not let me say when we were last together...."
+
+The one sentence caught her eye. She wondered that she had never
+before thought how unlike Raymond this was. Why was it she had not
+realised before that Raymond could never have written this?
+
+Somewhere in the distance a church clock chimed; Esther found herself
+mechanically counting the bells--nine, ten, eleven! All those hours
+since Micky had left her at the station.
+
+She was cold and hungry, but it did not seem to matter; she felt there
+was a great, unanswered question in her mind which she must settle.
+
+She rose and walked on again; she turned out of the gardens and found
+herself in a street of shops. People looked at her curiously.
+
+Hardly knowing that she did so, she stopped and looked in at a
+jeweller's window; there were trays of precious stones. She felt her
+own ring beneath the glove--she had worn it so long now, she wondered
+how she would feel when she had to take it off. Of course, she could
+not go on wearing it if Raymond was really married.
+
+Micky had once gone into a pond on a bitter night to save a kitten
+from drowning; she wondered what made her remember that.
+
+The man who could save a drowning kitten would never hurt a woman so
+that she could hardly think or feel; June had claimed for Micky that
+he was the best man in the world.
+
+"But I don't believe in him--I don't believe anything he says," Esther
+told herself feverishly; she moved on again away from the trays of
+flashing diamonds.
+
+Two girls passing her were chattering in French--Esther looked after
+them vaguely.
+
+This was really Paris--this rather noisy, confusing place; the Paris
+she had longed to see.
+
+A man passing stared at her, half stopped, went on again, then turned,
+paused irresolutely, and finally came back.
+
+He walked quickly till he drew abreast with her, and there was a
+curious eagerness in his face as he stooped a little to look down at
+hers; then he gave an exclamation of sheer amazement.
+
+"Lallie! Good heavens! What in the world are you doing here?"
+
+It was Raymond Ashton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+And so the dream had come true after all, and she and Raymond were
+together in Paris.
+
+As she looked up into his handsome face it seemed to Esther that all
+the past hours of grief were as if they had never really existed; he
+was smiling down at her in the same old way; the very tone of his
+voice awoke forgotten memories in her heart; she felt as if a gnawing
+pain which had allowed her no rest had suddenly been lulled to sleep.
+
+"I thought it must be you," Raymond was saying nervously. "And yet I
+could not be sure. Somehow I never thought of you and Paris as being
+in any way compatible, and yet----" He broke off; it had been on the
+tip of his tongue to say that she had never looked sweeter or more
+desirable.
+
+His overwhelming conceit suddenly woke the wish in his heart to know
+if she still cared, or if she had forgotten him, and a little flush
+crossed his face and his eyes grew tender as they met the tragedy of
+hers; he looked hastily round.
+
+"We can't talk here. Will you come to a café? There is so much I
+should like to say to you. When did you come over? What are you doing
+here?"
+
+They were walking slowly along, the man's head bent ardently towards
+her.
+
+He had once told Micky that this girl was the only woman he had ever
+loved, and perhaps it was right--as he accounted love.
+
+He took her to a café--one where there would be nobody likely to
+recognise him; he ordered coffee and biscuits.
+
+"Now we can talk undisturbed," he said; he moved his chair closer to
+Esther's--he laid his hand on hers.
+
+She did not move or try to evade his touch; she just looked down at
+his hand for a moment and then up at the handsome face which had for
+so long meant all the world to her.
+
+"I never thought we should meet again here of all places," he said in
+his soft voice. "How long ago does it seem to you since we said
+good-bye?"
+
+She could not answer, but the thought floated through her mind that
+they never had said good-bye, that he had just walked out of her life
+and stayed away until this moment, when fate had thrown them
+together.
+
+"If you knew how often I have thought about you," he said.
+
+"Did you get my letter, Lallie? The one I wrote on New Year's Eve--and
+the money? I sent you some money."
+
+A swift flush dyed her cheeks; she raised her eyes.
+
+That had been his letter then, after all--Micky had lied to her; she
+caught her breath on a little gasp.
+
+"Yes," she said faintly. "Yes--yes, I got it--thank you."
+
+"I've often thought since that I might have written you a kinder
+letter," he said after a moment. "But everything had gone wrong
+then--the mater cut up rough--and I was up to my eyes in debt. It was
+the best thing for both of us to put an end to it, don't you think it
+was? You used to say that you wouldn't mind being poor, but in the end
+you'd have hated it as much as I should." He paused as if expecting
+her to speak, but she was plucking at the blue-and-white fringe of the
+tablecloth with nervous fingers.
+
+What did he mean--that he might have written her a kinder letter--when
+she always remembered it as one of the dearest she had ever received?
+
+He went on again--
+
+"It hurt me more than you'll ever know." There was a sort of
+self-satisfaction in his voice. "It took me a long time to forget you,
+Lallie, and then, just as I was beginning, I saw you at the
+theatre--in the stalls ... with Mellowes." His brows met above his
+handsome eyes. "Mellowes wasn't long picking you up," he added
+jealously.
+
+Her lip quivered, but she did not raise her eyes.
+
+"You saw me, too, didn't you?" he persisted. "I know you did, because
+Mellowes came round afterwards and cursed me to all eternity." He
+laughed. "I should have made a point of seeing you the next day if it
+hadn't been for his confounded interference," he went on. "He told me
+to get out of London and leave you alone." He bent towards her a
+little. "What is Mellowes to you?" he asked her deliberately.
+
+She raised her eyes now, and somehow it seemed as if, in the last few
+moments, the man she had known and loved had changed into a
+stranger--some one whom she had never seen before, whom she hoped
+never to see again.
+
+She forced her lips to smile; she felt at that moment she would die
+rather than let him see how she was suffering, or guess how she had
+suffered in the past.
+
+"He's been kind to me," she said voicelessly. "That's all."
+
+Raymond made a little, inarticulate sound.
+
+"He's got me to thank for ever getting to know you," he said. "I gave
+him your address and asked him to take you out a bit if he fancied
+it.... I asked him to be kind to you."
+
+The hands in her lap twitched convulsively.
+
+"If I'd had one tenth of his beastly money," Raymond said then
+savagely, "we shouldn't be sitting here now as if we were strangers--as
+if ... Lallie--do you remember the good time we used to have----"
+
+"I remember everything." He bent closer.
+
+"I never cared for any woman in all my life but you. It's cursed hard
+luck." He sighed. "You know I'm married?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"Oh yes!" The words came stiffly.
+
+His eyes searched her white face jealously.
+
+"You don't seem to care. I've often wondered if you knew--and if you
+minded!" He sat staring before him, and there was a little smile in
+his eyes. "We do things in style now, I can tell you," he said with
+sudden change of voice. "She's as rich as you please, and she likes to
+spend her money." Another silence.
+
+"I hope you'll be happy," Esther said faintly.
+
+Afterwards she wondered what made her say it, seeing that she did not
+care in the very least if he were happy or not; why should she care?
+This man was a stranger to her.
+
+He laughed ruefully.
+
+"Oh, I suppose we shall," he said. "She's not a bad sort, and she lets
+me alone...." He roused himself suddenly and bent closer to her.
+"Lallie--you'll let me see you again. There's no reason why we can't
+be--friends--just because I'm married----" He tried to take her hand,
+but now she repulsed him, though very gently.
+
+"You're not going to be a little prude?" he said in a whisper. "I can
+give you the time of your life if you'll let me. I've plenty of money
+now----"
+
+"Your wife's money," said Esther with stiff lips.
+
+He looked annoyed.
+
+"If you like to put it that way--but she doesn't mind--she's too fond
+of me to mind how much I spend ... Lallie----" She hated to hear that
+name, because once she had loved it.
+
+She closed her eyes for a moment with a little sick shudder.
+
+"Are you faint?" he asked anxiously. "I suppose it is warm in here.
+Take your coat off! Jove! that's a fine coat----" He ran an
+appreciative hand down the soft fur sleeve; a sudden suspicion
+crept into his eyes. "Who gave you that?" he asked sharply. "Not
+Mellowes----?"
+
+"No--at least...." She could not go on. Micky had given it to her, she
+knew, but she would have bitten her tongue through rather than have
+told this man.
+
+It had been Micky all the time--Micky....
+
+She thrust the thought of him from her; she did not want to think of
+him now. There would be plenty of time later on; plenty of time when
+she had shaken off the last rag of the past.
+
+"It cost a pretty penny, whoever bought it," he said sulkily. "What
+else has he given you? If you can take presents from him you can't
+refuse to let me see you sometimes, and after all--you did love me
+once.... Esther, do you remember the way you cried that last day?"
+
+"Yes," she said mechanically, "I remember; I remember everything."
+
+"You loved me well enough then," he reminded her moodily. "You didn't
+behave like an iceberg then, Lallie, and I'm not really changed; I'm
+the same man I was--I care for you just as much----"
+
+"You're married!" she said.
+
+She felt as if she had so much time mapped out before her during which
+she must put up with this man's society; as if each moment were
+another inch torn in the rags of disillusionment which had got to be
+destroyed thoroughly before she could ever hope to gather up the
+broken threads of her life again.
+
+He laughed at her reminder.
+
+"I'm not the only married man who sometimes forgets that he is no
+longer a bachelor," he said detestably.
+
+He laid an arm familiarly along the back of her chair. He touched her
+chin with his fingers.
+
+She moved back, the hot blood rushing riotously over her face. She was
+white no longer; she looked like a marble Galatea suddenly brought to
+life.
+
+Raymond Ashton laughed, well pleased. He was confident that he had not
+lost his power over her. For the moment his appalling vanity blinded
+him to the fact that it was not love in her eyes, but scorn.
+
+"What are you thinking, Lallie?" he asked her.
+
+She sat very straight and stiff in her chair.
+
+"I am thinking," she said, "how impossible it seems that I can ever
+have thought that I cared for you." Her voice was low but very clear,
+and he heard each word distinctly. "I am thinking that you are the
+most contemptible thing I have ever met in my life--I am thinking how
+sorry I am for the woman who is your wife."
+
+She pushed back her chair and rose.
+
+"Would you like to hear any more of my thoughts?" she asked.
+
+Ashton had risen too; there was a look of bewildered amazement in his
+face; he tried to laugh. Even now he thought she was joking.
+
+"Lallie--" he said hoarsely. He half held his hand to her. "Lallie--"
+he said again--but the cold contempt of her face struck the appeal
+from her lips.
+
+He drew himself up with a poor attempt at dignity.
+
+"So virtue is to be the order of the day, is it?" he said sneeringly.
+"Very well----" His eyes flamed as they rested on her face. "It
+makes one wonder why you are here--in Paris--alone!" he said
+insultingly--"If you are alone."
+
+There was a little point of silence. For a moment Esther scanned his
+handsome face as if she were trying to remember what it was she had
+ever loved in him--his eyes!--but they were so cruel and insolent--his
+lips ... she shuddered, realising that in all her life she could
+never undo the memory of his kisses--then she pulled herself together
+with a great effort and turned away.
+
+He followed. His amazement had gone now--he was merely furiously
+angry--his face was crimson--he caught her arm in a grip that hurt.
+
+"My God, you're not going like this," he said furiously. "It's only a
+few weeks ago that you were crying round my neck and begging me not to
+throw you over. Oh, that hurts, does it?" he said as she winced. "I
+dare say you'd like all that wiped out and forgotten. But I've got a
+few letters to remember you by--a few letters that would hardly make
+pleasant reading for the next man who is fool enough to waste his time
+on you--and I promise you I'll send them along if it's Mellowes or any
+other man----"
+
+She raised triumphant eyes to his face.
+
+"He wouldn't read them," she said passionately. "Send them if you
+like; but he wouldn't read them----" She was not conscious of the
+admission in her words--she only knew that the knowledge that Micky
+was there somewhere in the background gave her the strength to defy
+Ashton.
+
+She saw the sudden fury that filled his eyes.
+
+"Then--then you admit that it's Mellowes," he stammered. "That it's he
+who has taken my place--who has cut me out----" His voice changed to a
+sort of threat.
+
+"I might have know what he meant to do. I might have guessed. Wait
+till I see him--wait till I get back to London."
+
+Esther smiled--a little smile of security and confidence.
+
+"There is no need to wait," she said quietly. "Mr. Mellowes is here in
+Paris with me, if you wish to see him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+Ashton echoed Esther's words hoarsely.
+
+"Here! With you! in Paris!... Micky----"
+
+A wave of bitterest jealousy surged through him. He fell back a step,
+struck dumb by the force of his emotions, and Esther fled away from
+him down the street.
+
+She seemed to have awakened all at once to her true position. She was
+alone, with only a few shillings in her pocket and in a strange city.
+
+She was tired to death. She felt as if her limbs would give way
+beneath her. The driver of a fiacre looked at her and drew his horse
+to the kerb.
+
+Esther nodded; she threw her suit-case on to the seat and clambered in
+after it.
+
+But where to go? The old blinding fear of her loneliness rushed back.
+Where could she go?
+
+Then she suddenly remembered the hotel from which Micky had written to
+her. She would go there. It would be somewhere at least to sleep and
+rest.
+
+It was only a little drive to the hotel; she wished it had been
+longer.
+
+A commissionaire came forward, and said something in French. She
+looked up at him, but his face seemed all indistinct and unreal. She
+tried to answer, but her own voice sounded as if it were miles away.
+
+They were in the small, rather dreary lounge. Esther passed a hand
+across her eyes. She must conquer this absurd weakness. She forced
+herself to remember that she was alone, but she felt as if she had no
+will-power left.
+
+A door in front of her opened suddenly, and a man came into the
+lounge.
+
+When he saw Esther he stopped. The hot colour rushed to his face. He
+seemed to be waiting for some sign from her. For a moment their eyes
+met; then, hardly knowing what she did, Esther held out her hand.
+
+"Oh, please," she said faintly, "oh, please tell me--what I am to
+do?"
+
+But for the next few minutes she was past remembering anything, though
+she never really lost consciousness. She only knew that everything was
+all right now Micky was here--and the sheer relief the knowledge
+brought with it for the time threw her into a sort of apathy.
+
+Some one took off her hat and the big fur coat that had grown so
+heavy; some one had bathed her face and unlaced her shoes, and now
+Micky stood there looking down at her with eyes that hurt, though they
+smiled.
+
+"I've told them to bring lunch in here," he went on. "You'll like it
+better than the public room--and I haven't had mine yet."
+
+Esther looked up at him.
+
+"And can we--can we go back to London to-day?" she asked.
+
+"We can go any time you like," he said.
+
+He felt he had aged years during that morning. No sooner had Esther
+got out of his sight at the station than he was beside himself with
+remorse for having allowed her to go; he had spent the whole morning
+wandering about looking for her. He had been to this hotel a dozen
+times; he had only just come in again when she followed.
+
+The relief of having her safely in his charge once more was almost
+more than he could bear. He walked over to the door, then stopped and
+looked back at her.
+
+"You won't ... you won't run away from me again, will you?" he asked.
+For the first time there was real emotion in his voice.
+
+Esther had been sitting looking into the fire; she raised her head
+now.
+
+"Don't go," she said tremulously. "Please don't go. I want to speak to
+you."
+
+He flushed crimson, he tried to make some excuse.
+
+"Another time.... You're tired. I'll come back presently. You ought to
+get some rest if we're to go back to-night."
+
+"No," she said. "It must be now."
+
+He shut the door, but he kept as far away from her as possible,
+standing over by the window that looked into the dreary winter
+garden.
+
+There was something implacable about his tall figure.
+
+"Oh, won't you come here?" she said.
+
+He obeyed at once. He rested an elbow on the mantelshelf and kept his
+eyes fixed on the fire.
+
+There as a little silence, then Esther said, almost in a whisper:
+
+"I want to beg your pardon. I hope you will--will try and forgive
+me."
+
+Micky did not move.
+
+She struggled on:
+
+"I've seen ... Mr. Ashton." Somehow she could not bring herself to
+speak of him by his Christian name.
+
+"And I know--I know--that I've been--been a fool."
+
+Her voice broke. She gripped the arms of the chair hard to keep
+herself from breaking down.
+
+Micky forced himself to speak.
+
+"I'm glad you've seen him--as you wished it," he said jerkily. "But as
+hoping I will forgive you, there's nothing to forgive--it's all the
+other way on. I behaved like--like a cad--it's for you to forgive
+me."
+
+He smiled faintly.
+
+"And now we've both said the right thing I'll go and see about that
+train," he said.
+
+But again she stopped him.
+
+"I don't want you to go--I want to talk to you. I want ... oh, I don't
+know what I do want!" she finished, with a sob.
+
+"You're tired out," Micky said calmly, though he looked anything but
+calm, "and I'm going to bully you and insist that you rest. I'll come
+back presently...."
+
+He went away quickly, as if he were afraid of being kept against his
+will but outside the door he stood still for a moment with his hand
+over his eyes before he pulled himself together and went on.
+
+Esther listened to his departing steps with a sinking at her heart.
+
+What had she hoped for? She hardly knew, but she felt as if she had
+made an overture of friendship that had been kindly but decidedly
+refused.
+
+Her cheeks burned. It was not what she had expected.
+
+It seemed an eternity till Micky came back again.
+
+"There's a train in half an hour," he told her. "We can get back to
+town very comfortably. I've wired to June to meet us. She probably
+came up from Enmore yesterday."
+
+June! Esther had almost forgotten June.
+
+"You ought to be getting ready if we are to catch that train," Micky
+said. "Would you rather stay till to-morrow? I'm afraid the journey
+will tire you dreadfully."
+
+She rose hurriedly.
+
+"No, no--oh no, I'd much rather go!"
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+Micky had reserved a carriage.
+
+"I think I will go in a smoker," he said. He put some magazines
+and a box of chocolates on the seat; he avoided looking at her.
+"It's a corridor train so I'll come and see that you are all right
+occasionally--if I may."
+
+She did not answer; she felt a little chill of disappointment. He had
+not asked a single question about Raymond, and now he was suggesting
+that they travel the long journey separately.
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"Will you be all right?" he asked awkwardly.
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+He went away, and presently the train started. Esther looked out of
+the window and watched the city as it was rapidly left behind.
+
+"I never want to see it again," was the thought in her heart. "I wish
+I never had seen it."
+
+She felt like a naughty child who has run away from home and is being
+ignominiously brought back.
+
+Last night seemed like some fevered dream; Raymond Ashton some man of
+whom she had read in a book or seen in a play.
+
+A phantom lover!--he had not even been that, and once she had wished
+to die because she had got to be separated from him.
+
+Her eyes fell on her hand--she still wore his ring.
+
+With sudden passion she dragged it from her finger; she let the window
+down with a run and flung the ring far out into the grey evening. It
+was the end of a dream; the final uprooting of an illusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+Esther slept through the long journey fitfully--she was mentally and
+physically exhausted. She was only thoroughly aroused by people out in
+the corridor moving about collecting bags and baggage.
+
+She opened her eyes with a confused feeling--the train was slackening
+speed, and Micky stood in the doorway.
+
+"We are nearly in," he said.
+
+The train was almost at a standstill.
+
+"Calais! Calais!"
+
+Esther rose to her feet--her limbs were trembling, and her head ached
+dully.
+
+Micky took her suit-case from the rack.
+
+"You'd better fasten your coat," he said casually. "It will be cold on
+the boat."
+
+She looked at him half fearfully. Was this the same man who had
+followed her from Enmore with such passionate haste and eagerness? He
+was perfectly undisturbed now at all events, he seemed even to avoid
+looking at her.
+
+When they got on board he found her a chair on the leeside of the
+boat.
+
+"Are you a good sailor?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know. I've never been any distance until yesterday."
+
+"You'd better stay here; it's preferable to that stuffy cabin."
+
+But he left her alone almost the whole time, though she knew that he
+walked up and down close to where she sat. She could see the glow of
+his cigar through the darkness and hear the slow sound of his steps.
+
+She tried to think things over quietly as she sat there, but
+everything seemed so unreal, and most of all the fact that Micky had
+once professed to love her.
+
+In the train he left her to herself till they reached London. He was
+sure she "did not want to be bothered," he said, and he was going to
+smoke.
+
+Esther felt a little pang of disappointment. It seemed a long time
+till the train steamed fussily into Charing Cross; and the old weary
+feeling of loneliness had settled again upon her heart by the time
+Micky came to the door of the carriage.
+
+"June is sure to be somewhere about," he said laconically. "Will you
+stay here while I see if I can find her?"
+
+She took a hurried step forward.
+
+"No, I'll come with you."
+
+She felt afraid of June's kindly quizzical eyes; June who knew why she
+had run away to Paris, and what had been awaiting her there.
+
+She touched Micky's arm--the eyes she raised to his face were
+troubled.
+
+"When shall I see you again?" she asked falteringly.
+
+He half smiled.
+
+"Why do you want to see me again?" he questioned gravely. "You can
+have no use for me--after this!"
+
+Esther flushed painfully. Through the crowd she saw June pushing
+towards them. This was the last moment she would have with Micky, she
+knew, and in a flash something seemed to tell her what this man had
+meant to her during the last two terrible days.
+
+"Oh," she said tremblingly, "if you only would let me thank you."
+
+Micky laughed harshly--
+
+"I hate thanks," he said.
+
+June was upon them; she seized Esther and kissed her rapturously.
+
+"You darling! You'll never know how glad I am to see you. I've been
+here for hours. Aren't you dead tired? Micky, she looks worn out."
+
+"Does she?" said Micky.
+
+He was dead beat himself; he looked round vacantly.
+
+"I wired Driver--I thought he'd be here...."
+
+"Here, sir," said a voice at his elbow, and there was Driver, stolid
+and impenetrable as ever.
+
+Micky was unfeignedly glad to see the little man; for almost the
+first time in his life he realised that sometimes dullness and
+short-sightedness are a blessing in disguise. Apparently to
+Driver there was nothing odd in this mad rush over to Paris; his
+expressionless eyes saw the untidiness of his master' toilet without
+changing.
+
+"I've brought the car, sir," he said.
+
+"Good man; get me a taxi, then. You must take the car down to your
+rooms," Micky said to June. "No, don't argue; I insist----"
+
+He put the two girls into the car; he did not look at Esther, though
+he squeezed June's hand when he said good-bye.
+
+"Let me know if you get back all right; I shall see you soon."
+
+He raised his hat, stood aside, and the car started forward.
+
+June looked at Esther with a sort of shyness. It seemed as if years
+must have passed since they were down at Enmore.
+
+The car had rolled out of the station and into the heart of London
+before either of them spoke; then Esther said, stiltedly:
+
+"It was kind of you to come."
+
+June flushed.
+
+"It wasn't kind at all," she said bluntly. "You're my friends, or, at
+least, you were, and, as for Micky--well, I love him."
+
+There was a sort of defiance in her voice. She had seen the tired,
+strained look in Micky's face, and she was nearer being angry with
+Esther than she had ever been, but she turned and took her hand.
+
+"Somehow I never thought I should see you again," she said, with real
+emotion. "I haven't slept a wink since you went away."
+
+"You're much too good to me," Esther said. "Everyone is much too good
+to me."
+
+"I think Micky is, certainly," June agreed exasperatedly. "The man's a
+perfect fool to run about like he does after a woman who doesn't care
+two hoots about him.... There! now I oughtn't to have said that.
+Esther, if you're crying...."
+
+Esther had covered her face with her hands.
+
+"I'm not crying," she said in a stifled voice. "But I'm so ashamed. I
+don't know what you must think of me--it's so--so humiliating."
+
+"It's nothing of the kind," June declared. "The only mistake you've
+made is to put your money on the wrong man, if you'll excuse the
+expression. Raymond Ashton was always an outsider.... There! I won't
+say another word. You've come home, and that's all that matters."
+
+It was only when they were safely up in the room with the mauve
+cushions that she flung her hat down on the sofa and drew a long
+breath.
+
+"Well, I never thought we should be here together again," she said
+tragically. "It seemed like the end of everything when I found your
+note on the pincushion. I don't know what I should have done if it
+hadn't been for Micky."
+
+"I don't know what I should have done either," Esther said. She met
+June's eyes and flushed crimson. "I've been horrid about him, I know,"
+she added bravely. "And now I'm sorry."
+
+June said "Humph." She sat for a moment staring at the floor, then she
+got up and searched for the inevitable cigarettes.
+
+"You ought to go to bed," she said in her most matter-of-fact tone.
+"Where did you sleep last night?"
+
+"Nowhere--at least--we were in the train all night. I did sleep a
+little, but...."
+
+June took her by the shoulders.
+
+"Off you go to bed, and don't argue. I've had a fire put in your room,
+and Charlie is there with a new bow on. I'll come and tuck you up when
+you're ready, and...."
+
+But Esther refused to move.
+
+"I couldn't sleep if I went to bed. I want to tell you about--about
+what's happened...." She paused breathlessly, but June was not going
+to help her.
+
+"I don't want to hear anything," she said flatly. She looked at Esther
+and saw the tears in the younger girl's eyes. She put an arm round
+her, drawing her down to the sofa.
+
+"Tell me all about it, then," she said. "I'm just--just longing to
+know."
+
+"But there isn't much to tell, except----" Esther held out her left
+hand. "I'm not engaged any more," she said with a faint attempt to
+laugh. "He--Mr. Ashton--is married...."
+
+"I know--Micky told me before we went to Enmore. I hope he's married a
+vixen who'll lead him an awful dance. It would serve her right to let
+her know the sort of man he is--to let her know the sort of letters
+he's been writing to you--to show him up properly."
+
+Esther hid her face in the mauve cushions.
+
+"Oh, but he has never written to me," she said chokingly. "I've never
+had a letter from him since he went away, and that was on New Year's
+Eve. It's all been a mistake--a sham ... he never cared for me--he
+never really wanted me...."
+
+June threw away the cigarette and tried to raise Esther.
+
+"What are you talking about? He did write to you--you told me yourself
+that he wrote beautiful letters--he sent you that money--Esther! what
+do you mean?"
+
+Esther looked up; for a moment June caught a glimpse of misty, shamed
+eyes.
+
+"They weren't from him: those letters--the money never came from him,"
+she said in a stifled voice.
+
+"What! My good child, have you gone out of your mind?"
+
+June was a hundred miles from guessing the truth. "If he didn't write
+them, then who in the world did?" she demanded crisply. "And if he
+didn't send the money, who in the wide world...."
+
+She caught her breath on a sudden illuminating thought.
+
+"Esther ... not--not--Micky!"
+
+"Yes." It was the smallest whisper, and it was followed by a tragic
+silence; then June got up and began walking aimlessly about the room;
+she felt as if she had been robbed of all breath.
+
+Twice she turned and looked at Esther's huddled figure, then she went
+back, laid a hand on her arm and said in an odd, gentle voice that was
+strangely unlike her own brisk tones:
+
+"And do you mean to say that you don't just think him the finest man
+in all the world?"
+
+Esther sat up with sudden passion.
+
+"I didn't think of him at all--it was like having a knife turned in my
+heart when I knew," she said wildly. "Oh, you can't understand if
+you've never cared for anybody what it feels like to know that you've
+been made a fool of. When he told me I felt that I hated him--there
+didn't seem anything fine or good in what he had done; I only knew
+that I'd been played with, made fun of...." She stopped, sobbing
+desperately, but for once June attempted no consolation. She was
+looking at Micky's portrait on the shelf, and there was a wonderful
+tenderness in her queer eyes.
+
+"Who told you?" she asked then. "Who told you that it was Micky?"
+
+"He did--he only told me when he knew why I was going to Paris--he
+told me in the train. It's been from Mr. Mellowes all along--the money
+I've had every week--my clothes--this coat ... he's been paying for my
+food, and for me to live here...." She raised her eyes to June's face.
+"Did you know?" she asked shakily. "He said you didn't, but
+somehow...."
+
+June rounded on her angrily.
+
+"If Micky said that I didn't, that ought to be good enough," she said
+curtly. "And of course, I didn't know--if I had, I should have told
+him that he was a fool to waste his time and money on a girl who
+thought nothing of him," she added flatly. Her voice changed all at
+once. "Oh, isn't he just splendid!" she said emotionally. "I don't
+understand it in the very least, why he has done it, or how he managed
+it, or anything, but I think it's the finest thing in all the
+world----" Esther turned away.
+
+"I knew him before we met here--he wanted to tell you, but I asked him
+not to----" She stopped and dragged on again.
+
+"I met him on New Year's Eve--I was so miserable--there seemed nothing
+to live for, and he was kind and so ... so ... I told him a little of
+what was wrong, and I suppose he guessed the rest."
+
+"And when he went to Paris that time it was all for your sake, and it
+was for your sake he kept coming here--oh!"--June rose to her feet
+with a gesture of intolerance--"if you don't just adore the ground he
+walks on," she said, "you ought to, and that's all I've got to say."
+
+Esther made no answer; she was looking into the fire with eyes that as
+yet saw only the ruins of a dream that had been so beautiful, the
+rapidly receding shadow of the man whom she had once made a giant
+figure in her life.
+
+"I never want to care for any one again," she said presently in a hard
+voice. "You told me once that people were happier if they didn't love,
+and I think you were right."
+
+"I was an idiot to ever say such a thing," June cried in a rage. "And
+you're a bigger idiot if you pretend to think I was right. There's
+nothing better in the whole world than being loved----" Her face
+flushed like a rose. "If Micky had cared for me even a quarter as well
+as he does for you I would have married him, and that's the truth,"
+she declared. "It was only because I knew he hadn't anything except
+friendship to offer me that I knew it wasn't fair...." She tried to
+cover the seriousness of her words with a laugh. She lit another
+cigarette. "And now, having got rid of my heroics, let's talk sense,"
+she added more calmly. "But you ought to go to bed. You look worn out.
+You'll be a wreck in the morning."
+
+"I don't want to go to bed. I have such a lot to tell you. I shall
+have to leave here, of course; I haven't got any money. I must try and
+find a post. I thought of asking Eldred's to take me back; there might
+be a vacancy now...." But her voice sounded weary and hopeless.
+
+June swooped down on her.
+
+"You poor tired baby, come along to bed and don't worry any more.
+You've got me whatever happens, and if the worst comes to the worst
+there's always June Mason's wonderful skin food for both of us to live
+on."
+
+They went upstairs together.
+
+"There's nothing like sunshine to put you on good terms with
+yourself," she said philosophically. "Whenever I'm in the dumps or
+feel that I'm looking particularly plain, I put on my best hat and go
+out in the sunshine, and I assure you I'm a good-looking woman when I
+come home again."
+
+"You're always better than good-looking," Esther told her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+June tucked Esther up in bed and replenished the fire. She turned out
+the gas, leaving the room fire-lit.
+
+"June," Esther said timidly. "What did your aunt think? What did she
+say--when--when----"
+
+"She said we must go back and finish our visit another time--she took
+a great fancy to you."
+
+"You're saying that to please me."
+
+"I'm not! honest Injun!" June heard the tears in Esther's voice; she
+bent and kissed her gently.
+
+"Now, not another word! I refuse to answer another question! Pleasant
+dreams--or better still, no dreams at all." She went away, and shut
+her door behind her.
+
+Esther lay awake for a long time watching the firelight on the walls
+and ceiling, and thinking of what had happened.
+
+It seemed impossible that she had even really seen and spoken to
+Raymond Ashton; impossible that instead of loving him desperately, she
+could only shudder at the memory of him.
+
+The tears forced their way to her eyes, and scorched her cheeks. But
+for Micky, where might she not have been now?--and he had refused to
+even let her thank him. Her heart was filled with a new humility. At
+best her words would be so poor--like beggars in the palace of his
+generosity.
+
+But she would see him again soon--she comforted herself with the
+assurance. In spite of his changed manner and apparent indifference,
+she was sure she would see him again. Micky--as June had said of
+him--never failed!
+
+It was her last thought as she fell asleep, that she would surely see
+him the next day.
+
+But Micky did not come!
+
+Esther rested till lunch time, after which June insisted on a walk.
+
+"The sun's shining, and it's wicked to stay indoors," she declared;
+she marched Esther about for half an hour.
+
+Esther had been so sure that Micky would come. She glanced up at the
+clock, and then at Micky's photograph--but to-day he seemed to be
+looking past her into the room to where June was bustling about, and
+she gave a little sigh.
+
+The evening dragged away.
+
+"What are you thinking about?" June asked once abruptly. "You look so
+sad, don't look sad, my dear! there's lots of happy days to come
+yet--happier days than you've ever had."
+
+Esther was only half listening. It was too late for Micky to come now
+was the thought in her mind. Supposing he never came again?
+
+She cried herself to sleep that night. When she woke it was late in
+the morning, and June had had her breakfast and gone out.
+
+She came in while Esther was dressing. She looked very pleased and
+alert.
+
+"Business, my child!" she said enthusiastically. "Such a duck of an
+American! and Micky's introduction! Mr. George P. Rochester!--isn't it
+a lovely name? He's going to establish me firmly in little old New
+York, as he calls it, and make my fortune. I'm going out to lunch with
+him at one o'clock, and you're coming too!--Oh, yes you _are_!" as
+Esther shook her head. "I've told him all about you already." Esther
+laughed.
+
+"You must have got on very fast," she said. "And anyway I'm not going
+to play odd-man-out."
+
+June made a little grimace.
+
+"I telephoned Micky and asked him to come and make a fourth," she
+admitted.
+
+Esther flushed. She looked up eagerly:
+
+"And--and is he coming?"
+
+June shook her head.
+
+"No, he isn't," she said with overdone indifference. "He said he'd got
+an engagement already, but between you and me and the doorpost," she
+added darkly, "I don't believe it! I think he just didn't _want_ to
+come."
+
+"Oh," said Esther faintly. "I expect he has a good many engagements,"
+she added after a moment.
+
+June said "Humph!" She recalled the curt manner of Micky's refusal,
+and wondered if there had been a more serious rupture between himself
+and Esther than she was ever likely to hear about.
+
+"So we shall have to make up our minds to enjoy ourselves without his
+distinguished company," she said airly. "I dare say we shall be able
+to manage quite nicely. Esther, aren't you going to wear your fur
+coat?"
+
+"My fur coat!" said Esther rather unsteadily. "It's not mine."
+
+She was taking from the wardrobe the shabby jacket she had worn the
+first night she met Micky; it looked more shabby and unsmart than
+ever, but she was going to wear it whatever happened.
+
+She was smarting with humiliation. She had offered Micky her little
+olive branch when they parted two days ago at Charing Cross, and this
+is how he had accepted it!
+
+"If he's trying to pay me out, I suppose it's only what I deserve,"
+she thought miserably, and yet it did not seem like Micky to
+deliberately try or wish to hurt or humiliate any one.
+
+She did her best to push the shadow aside. She tried to laugh and talk
+with June as they went off to meet Mr. George P. Rochester.
+
+He was a big, bluff man, with a hand-clasp like the grip of a bear,
+and a twang that could be cut with a knife.
+
+They lunched at a restaurant which she had never even heard of, though
+June seemed quite at home. There were several people at other tables,
+whom June knew, and Esther felt very out of it all, and unhappy.
+
+It was a good thing she had refused to marry Micky, she thought with a
+sort of anger. She knew none of his friends and nothing of the life to
+which he had always been accustomed. She did not realise that it was
+the knowledge of her shabby coat that was affecting her spirits more
+keenly than anything.
+
+June's clothes were not new, but they had an unmistakable "cut" about
+them, and Rochester was exceedingly well dressed.
+
+He talked to June a great deal. Once or twice he tried to draw Esther
+into the conversation, but, seeing that she wished to be let alone, he
+soon gave up the attempt.
+
+He was certainly a most friendly person--one would have thought that
+he and June had known one another for years. Before lunch was ended he
+had invited himself to tea for the following afternoon.
+
+"That's Yankee push if you like!" June said when he had gone. "Give me
+a Yankee every time to make things go!" She looked at Esther
+excitedly. "Do you know," she said, "I've a great mind to try and
+persuade that man to come into partnership with me."
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should say he'd suggest it himself if you give him another day or
+two," she said drily. She wandered listlessly round the room.
+
+"I shall have to leave here at the end of the week," she said
+suddenly. "It's impossible to go on living here, and letting you pay
+my rent and my food bill. I owe you more than I can ever repay
+already."
+
+"If you talk like that I'll--I'll kill you!" said June in a rage. "You
+don't understand what friendship means. Micky had tried to teach you,
+and so have I, and all you do is to throw it back in our faces.... O
+Esther, don't!..."
+
+Esther had turned away and covered her face with her hands.
+
+"I know you think I'm ungrateful and horrid," she said brokenly. "But
+how would you like to be in my position? I haven't a shilling of my
+own in the world--the things I've been wearing since I came here are
+paid for by ... by ... oh, you know! I hate to look at that fur coat
+and my new frock. You talk to me about being proud and obstinate;
+well, I can't help it, you must go on thinking it, that's all; I'd
+rather die than take anything more from any one. I kept myself before,
+and I will again...."
+
+"I didn't mean to hurt you--I'm a perfect beast," June declared in
+remorse. "But it does seem such a shame."
+
+Esther raised a flushed face.
+
+"We can't all have money and be independent," she said hardily. "But I
+think you might try and understand how I feel about it."
+
+"I only know that I'm dying to help you, and you won't let me," June
+said grumpily. "Lord! where is my cigarette case? I shall swear or do
+something worse if I can't smoke."
+
+She went out of the room, and Esther heard her go clattering up the
+stairs. There were tears in her eyes now, but she brushed them angrily
+away; after all, what was there to cry for! It was only that she had
+got to go back to where she had left off that New Year's Eve when she
+first met Micky; everything was just as it had been then, save that
+she was the poorer now by the loss of a dream.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+
+June's friendship with Mr. George P. Rochester grew apace.
+
+"Micky's introductions are _always_ a success," she told Esther. "And
+Micky likes him too--awfully! Mr. Rochester is round at Micky's rooms
+nearly every night. They're _ever_ such pals!"
+
+"Are they?" said Esther. The mention of Micky's name always seemed to
+make her heart quiver. She wondered if June knew why he never came to
+the house now, and what she thought about it all.
+
+In her own mind she was sure that Micky had cast her off, and the
+knowledge left her with a sense of desolation.
+
+She never spoke of him unless June did so first, and she tried never
+to think of him. But Micky was a personality not to be lightly
+dismissed from memory, and he haunted her thoughts waking and
+sleeping.
+
+"If I could only get some work," she told herself, "it would be
+better. It's so dreadful having nothing to do."
+
+She had applied to Eldred's unsuccessfully--she had climbed the narrow
+stairs of the agency a dozen times only to be met with rebuff.
+
+"You refused an excellent post I offered to you," she was told icily.
+"I am not likely to be able to find you such another."
+
+June coaxed her into helping with the "swindle."
+
+"If you don't I'll have to pay some one else to do it," she declared.
+"And oh, Esther, _don't_ be so proud!"
+
+So Esther gave in. She filled the little mauve pots with the profound
+skin food and fastened on lids and labels till her head swam.
+
+Sometimes Mr. George P. Rochester came to help--at least he called it
+"help"--but he did very little actual work, as he was always too busy
+looking at June and talking to her.
+
+"Has he suggested the partnership yet?" Esther asked one night.
+
+June flushed rosily.
+
+"Don't be absurd," she answered, and something in her voice woke a
+little note of fear in Esther's heart.
+
+Was she to lose June too? Was there to be nothing left to her in all
+the world? Her hands shook as she went on mechanically filling the row
+of little mauve pots.
+
+"Esther," said June suddenly, "how long is it since you saw Micky?"
+
+There was a little pause, then Esther said constrainedly. "I've never
+seen him since--since we came back from Paris."
+
+She waited a moment.
+
+"Why?" she asked with an effort.
+
+June kept her eyes bent on her work.
+
+"Because I haven't seen him myself for nearly a week," she said
+slowly. "And I hear--I hear that he's running round with that Deland
+girl again."
+
+She did not dare to look up as she spoke, and she went on quickly, "Of
+course it may only be gossip--but George--Mr. Rochester----" she
+hurriedly corrected herself, "tells me that Micky took him to their
+house to dinner last night."
+
+Silence. June filled pots at random, wildly, then Esther spoke.
+
+"I've done eight dozen," she said. "Do you think that is enough to go
+on with?"
+
+June raised her eyes guiltily, then suddenly she pushed the laden tray
+from her and ran round to Esther.
+
+"Oh," she said impulsively, "if only--only you could have made
+yourself care for him."
+
+She put her arms round the younger girl's unresponsive figure.
+
+"I want you to be happy too, so badly," she went on earnestly. "I
+didn't mean to tell you yet, but I must somehow. George--Mr.
+Rochester----" she broke off, laughing and crying together.
+
+"The man's a perfect disgrace," she protested, "I told him so, too!
+I've only known him three weeks, and--and----" she raised tear-drowned
+eyes to Esther's face. "What can you do when a man that size kisses
+you?" she demanded.
+
+Esther had to laugh.
+
+"Why, do what you did," she said. "Kiss him in return."
+
+June wiped her eyes and laughed, and shed more tears.
+
+"I never meant to marry any one," she said angrily. "But the dreadful
+creature seems to want me so desperately badly. I'm really utterly
+miserable, only----"
+
+"O June!" said Esther.
+
+"So I am! At least!"--June looked up and suddenly laughed. "I'm not,"
+she said. "I'm a wicked liar! but oh, such a gloriously happy, wicked
+liar!"
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+"And it's all entirely due to me," Micky said when June rang him up
+the following morning to tell him the news.
+
+"I introduced you! What do I get out of it all I should like to
+know?"
+
+His voice was playful, but June took him seriously.
+
+"O Micky! if you could only be as happy as I am," she said eagerly.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"If wishes were horses, my dear----" he said sententiously. "But don't
+worry about me, I'm all right."
+
+"Then, will you come to dinner to-night? No, _not_ at the boarding
+house! We'll go to the Savoy--just to celebrate! We four!"
+
+"We _four!_" said Micky sharply.
+
+"Yes--I shall bring Esther, of course."
+
+There was the smallest possible pause, then Micky said:
+
+"I'm sorry, but I've another engagement. I promised the Delands to go
+with them to the Hoopers' dance."
+
+June said "_Hang_ the Delands," and rang off in a huff.
+
+Micky hung up the receiver and turned away. He was sorry to disappoint
+June, and yet he had no smallest intention of meeting Esther. If she
+had wanted him she would have sent a note or a message--but she did
+not want him! More than once she had said that she hated him--it was
+time to learn that she meant what she said. Micky's pride had got the
+upper hand at last, and he would rather have died now than make the
+smallest overture to the girl at whose feet he had once been willing
+to grovel.
+
+Driver came to the door:
+
+"A parcel, sir. Shall I bring it in?"
+
+Micky answered absently:
+
+"All right."
+
+Driver went out of the room. After a moment he came back with a square
+box which he set down on the table.
+
+"Shall I open it, sir?" he asked, as Micky did not speak.
+
+Micky started.
+
+"Yes; oh, yes--open it. What the dickens is it? I haven't ordered
+anything."
+
+Driver said that he did not know--that it had been left by a
+messenger. He untied the knotted string with neat precision, and
+rolled it into a ball before he removed the paper.
+
+Micky walked up to the table and lifted the lid with faint curiosity.
+
+"A fur coat," he said blankly. "A fur----" He stopped. For a moment he
+stood staring down into the box, then he let the lid fall over it
+again.
+
+"All right--you can go," he said.
+
+Driver walked to the door stoically, and Micky went back to the fire.
+
+So she would not even keep the fur coat! She cared so little for him
+that she must needs send back his paltry gifts. What a fool he was to
+care--what a fool!
+
+Driver, coming back for a moment, stopped petrified in the doorway.
+Micky was standing by the mantelpiece with his face buried in his
+arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+
+It was late that night when Micky turned up at the Delands'. He had
+taken extravagant pains with his toilet, lingering over it as long as
+possible. Ever since the arrival of that parcel from Esther, he had
+been trying to make up his mind to take the irrevocable step, and ask
+Marie Deland to be his wife. He was miserably sure that she would
+accept him, miserably sure that he was already forgiven for the past.
+
+He kept on persuading himself that it was the one and only thing left
+to him to do. He tried to believe that once the affair was settled, he
+would find some sort of happiness. After all, what did it matter whom
+he married if it could not be Esther?
+
+He looked pale but determined when he walked into the Delands'
+drawing-room and found Marie there alone. She turned to greet him with
+a little eager movement that was somehow comforting.
+
+Here, at any rate, was some one who really cared for him and was glad
+to see him. He took the hand she held out and, bending, kissed it.
+
+She caught her breath on a little sound that was almost a sob, but she
+checked it instantly and tried to laugh.
+
+"This is almost like old times," she said.
+
+"Quite like old times," Micky answered recklessly. "We've just turned
+the pages back again and gone on where we left off, that's all."
+
+He looked at her and tried to forget everything else. She was pretty
+and dainty enough to satisfy the most exciting man, and she loved him!
+To a man who is disappointed and unhappy there is great consolation in
+the knowledge that to one person at least he counts before anything
+else in the world.
+
+She looked up at him, and impulsively he took a step towards her;
+another moment and Micky would have sealed his fate, had not Mrs.
+Deland pushed open the door and walked into the room.
+
+It had not been any effort for her to forgive Micky for his cavalier
+treatment of her daughter. For the last week she had been busy telling
+every one that Marie and Micky had made up their quarrel--"entirely
+Marie's fault it was, you know," and so on.
+
+"You are going to give me half your dances at least," Micky said, when
+they reached the Hoopers'. He took the card from Marie's hand and
+filled in his own initials recklessly against the numbers.
+
+She laughed tremulously; she was too happy to think of anything but
+the present; she had got Micky again, and that was all she cared
+about.
+
+"Good-evening!" said a voice at her side, and, turning, she found
+Raymond Ashton at her elbow.
+
+Marie did not care particularly for Ashton. She greeted him rather
+coldly.
+
+"So you're back in town," she said. "And your wife?"
+
+"Not here to-night," he answered. "She has a bad cold, so I persuaded
+her to stay at home. May I have a dance?"
+
+She gave him her card reluctantly. She would have liked to have
+refused, but she thought Micky would be annoyed; she did not know that
+he and this man were friends no longer.
+
+She saw him glance at Micky's many initials on her card, saw the half
+ironical smile he gave as he looked at her.
+
+"Mellowes is back, then?" he said.
+
+"Yes--he came with us to-night."
+
+"Really! I thought----" he paused eloquently.
+
+Marie flushed, she knew quite well what he meant; that he must have
+known how Micky had once deserted her.
+
+"I understood that Mellowes was in Paris."
+
+Ashton went on calmly.
+
+"At least I was told so by an ... acquaintance of mine--who was
+staying there with him."
+
+Marie's eyes dilated.
+
+"Father and I crossed by the same boat as he did," she said with an
+effort. "He was alone then----"
+
+Ashton laughed detestably. "Ah, but not afterwards," he said--then
+checked himself. "But I forgot. I must not tell tales out of school,
+only as every one seems to have learned of his _penchant_ for the
+little lady from Eldred's"--he laughed lightly.
+
+Marie stood staring down the long ballroom. The colour slowly
+faded from her cheeks, leaving her as white as her frock. She looked
+at Ashton, intent on a crease in his glove, and she broke out
+stammering:
+
+"How dare you say such a thing! I don't believe you--in Paris--Micky----"
+
+He raised his brows with assumed surprise.
+
+"I'm sorry--perhaps I should not have spoken--but I thought every one
+knew----"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders. "Of course it may be a mistake, but I
+happen to know the lady in question slightly--through Mellowes--and it
+was she who told me.... I am sorry if my carelessness has pained
+you--excuse me, I am engaged for this dance."
+
+He bowed and left her standing there, white and dazed.
+
+"I don't believe it! I don't," she told herself despairingly, and yet
+in her heart something told her that, for once at least, Ashton had
+spoken the truth.
+
+"Our dance, I think," said Micky beside her.
+
+She laid her hand on his arm mechanically; they went the round of the
+room once, then Micky, glancing down, saw how white she was and how
+her head drooped towards his shoulder.
+
+He tightened his arm a little--he swept her skilfully out of the crowd
+and into a small anteroom; he put her into a chair and bent over her
+in concern.
+
+"You are not well--what can I do? Can I get you anything?"
+
+For a moment she did not speak, then all at once she rose to her feet;
+she clutched Micky by both arms; he could feel how her hands shook;
+there was heartbroken tragedy in her brown eyes as she looked into his
+face. For once she had forgotten her pride and the indifference into
+which she had been drilled for twenty years; she was no longer Marie
+Deland, a sought-after and courted beauty; she was just an unhappy,
+jealous woman.
+
+"It isn't true, Micky, is it?" she entreated him; her voice was only a
+broken whisper. "Tell me--oh, please, please, tell me. You don't care
+for her, do you?--it isn't true, is it?"
+
+She forgot that he did not know of what she was speaking; it seemed as
+if everybody in the world must know of this tragedy that had desolated
+her life.
+
+"I can't bear it any longer--it's no use.... I've borne all I can....
+O Micky ... Micky."
+
+He forced her hands from his arms; he put her back into the chair and
+sat beside her; he hated to see the white despair of her face.
+
+"You're ill--upset.... It's all right--everything is all right. You're
+not to worry any more.... Everything is all right."
+
+At that moment he would have given his soul could he have truthfully
+said that he wanted her for his wife. He cursed himself for a cur and
+a coward, but somehow he could not force the words to his lips.
+
+She lay back against the cushions, hiding her face.
+
+There was a tragic moment of silence. Out in the ballroom a noisy
+one-step was in boisterous progress; there was a great deal of
+laughter and chattering; the little anteroom seemed as if it must be
+in another world.
+
+Micky got up. He walked across the room and shut the door. There was a
+hard look about his mouth. For an instant he stood staring down at the
+floor irresolutely, then he came back to Marie. He bent over her, but
+he did not touch her.
+
+He spoke her name gently.
+
+"Marie."
+
+She did not raise her head.
+
+"I want to speak to you," he said huskily.
+
+She looked up then. Her face was flashed and quivering, and the brown
+eyes that for a moment met his own were full of an unutterable grief
+and shame.
+
+"Oh," she said in a broken whisper. "If you'd just go away--and leave
+me to myself."
+
+Micky did not answer. The impossibility of ever going back now struck
+him to the soul. This was the end, the very end--he had burned his
+boats and bidden good-bye to the woman he loved for ever.
+
+Then all his natural chivalry rose in his heart. Hitherto it had been
+only of himself that he had thought, but now ... his eyes softened as
+they rested on the girl's bowed head; he stooped and took her hand,
+held it fast in his steady grip.
+
+"Will you marry me?" he said very gently.
+
+And, oh, the long time before she answered! It seemed to Micky that he
+lived through years as he stood there with the rattling tune of the
+one-step in his ears and Marie's tragic figure before his eyes. Was
+she never going to speak?
+
+Then she sat up very stiff and straight--there were tears scorching
+her flushed cheeks, and her eyes seemed to burn.
+
+"Will I--will I--marry you?" she echoed, as if not understanding.
+
+Her voice rose a little.
+
+"Then it isn't true ... it can't be true--what he said?"
+
+"What did he say? Who are you talking about? What do you mean?"
+
+She began to sob; quiet, tearless sobs that seemed to bring no relief
+with them.
+
+"Raymond Ashton--he told me--here! just now--that you...." She
+stopped, catching her breath at the change in Micky's face; it no
+longer looked tender--his eyes were fierce.
+
+"Ashton! What has he said?" His voice was roughly insistent.
+
+"He told me that you--you were in Paris--a week or two ago--with a
+girl from Eldred's."
+
+"It's a lie!" The words escaped Micky before he could check them; his
+first thought was to defend Esther. "It's an infernal lie!" he said
+again violently.
+
+It turned him cold to think of all that the brute must have implied.
+
+The tears were frozen on Marie's cheeks--her hands were clasped
+together in her lap.
+
+When at last she found her voice it was strained and cracked.
+
+"... that she told him you were there with her...." Her brown eyes
+searched his face as if they were trying to read his very soul. "If
+it's a lie," she said shrilly, "it's she who is lying--she told
+Raymond Ashton that she was there with you."
+
+"She told him...."
+
+For a moment Micky stood like a man turned to stone. Was this the
+truth?--that Esther had told Ashton....
+
+He looked again at Marie.
+
+"When did Ashton tell you this?"
+
+"To-night--not a moment ago--he is here."
+
+"Here!" Then to how many more people had he told the same distorted
+story?
+
+The blood beat into Micky's face; it seemed to hammer maddeningly
+against his temples. Nothing counted but the fact that Esther's name
+was being bandied about on the lips of the creature. To stop him--to
+stop his lying tongue was the one thought in Micky's mind; he saw the
+whole world red as he tore open the door of the silent room and strode
+out into the corridor.
+
+The noisy ragtime had ceased, but a storm of deafening applause and
+cries of "Encore!" filled the ballroom.
+
+An elderly man cannoned into Micky, and stopped short with a laughing
+apology.
+
+"Hullo, Mellowes--not dancing--what the deuce is the matter?" he asked
+with sudden change of voice.
+
+Micky passed a shaking hand across his mouth--
+
+"Nothing ... where's Ashton--have you seen Ashton?"
+
+"I've just left him; he isn't dancing either. Can't think what's
+happened to you youngsters to-day. When I was your age...." He broke
+off, realising that Micky was not listening. "Ashton's in the
+smoking-room," he said uneasily.
+
+Micky went on; his hands were clenched, his teeth set.
+
+The smoking-room door was half ajar; he could see that there were
+several men there. There was a clink of glasses and the sound of
+voices talking in a rather subdued way.
+
+Micky paused. He knew that if Ashton were there it would mean a scene,
+and a scene in any one else's house.... The thought snapped at the
+sound of his own name.
+
+"Mellowes! Well, you do surprise me." There was a chuckle. "Always
+thought he was one of the good boys.... It just shows that you never
+know a man till you find him out. Rather an error of judgment to
+choose Paris, eh? Who did you say she was?"
+
+"A girl from Eldred's--pretty little thing. I knew her before he did.
+As a matter of fact, it was only when I cooled off...."
+
+That was Ashton's voice; Micky could not see him, but he could picture
+vividly the eloquent shrug, the meaning smile with which he finished
+his incomplete sentence.
+
+The hot blood died down, leaving him cool and alert. He pushed the
+door wide and walked into the room.
+
+The group of men by the fireplace scattered; some one coughed
+deprecatingly; some one else seized upon a siphon and began filling an
+already full glass recklessly.
+
+Nobody spoke.
+
+Micky kicked the door to behind him, shutting it with a slam.
+
+His eyes went straight to Ashton--a pale Ashton, trying to smile
+unconcernedly and brazen the situation out.
+
+"I'll give you two minutes in which to apologise," Micky said in a
+voice of steel. "Two minutes in which to retract the damned lies
+you've just been saying in this room--or--or I'll thrash you within an
+inch of your life."
+
+In the silence following one could have heard a pin drop. Every one
+looked at Ashton. Micky took out his watch.
+
+It seemed an eternity before Ashton spoke.
+
+"If you've been listening----" he began blustering.
+
+He moistened his dry lips.
+
+"What I said is the truth," he broke out spluttering. "You were in
+Paris with...." But the name was never spoken--Micky's clenched fist
+shot out and struck him right in the mouth.
+
+In a moment the room was in an uproar; half a dozen men rushed at
+Micky and pinned his arms.
+
+"Mellowes--for God's sake--if Hooper comes in...."
+
+Ashton had staggered back against the wall; his mouth was cut and
+bleeding; he was swearing horribly.
+
+Micky was crimson in the face; the veins stood out like cords on his
+forehead; he was straining every nerve to free himself from his
+captors.
+
+"Apologise!" he gasped. "Apologise, you dammed cad!"
+
+Ashton laughed savagely.
+
+"Apologise! What for? It's the truth, and you know it. Apologise! I'll
+repeat it.... I say that you were in Paris three weeks ago with Esther
+Shepstone, one of the girls from Eldred's...."
+
+Micky suddenly stopped struggling, but his breath came in deep gasps
+as he spoke. He looked round at the faces of the other men.
+
+"I know most of you--here," he said in a laboured voice. "And most of
+you know me--and you know that I'm not a damned liar like Ashton; and
+I know that you'll believe me--believe me--when I tell you that the
+lady who was with me in--in Paris--three weeks ago--is my wife ...
+we've been married some time--and it is solely by her wish that it has
+been kept a secret."
+
+If Micky had dropped a bomb in the room it could hardly have created
+more consternation. The incredulity on the faces of the men around him
+would have been amusing to an onlooker, but to Micky the whole thing
+was tragedy.
+
+He had brought Esther to this with his blundering quixotism; he was
+nearly beside himself with remorse.
+
+If he had been free he would have half killed Ashton. His hands ached
+to get at him; to take him by his lying throat and choke the breath
+from his body.
+
+He looked at the men around him with passionate eyes.
+
+"I've never given any of you cause to doubt my word yet," he said
+hoarsely. "And I'm sure you'll agree with me that this man should be
+made to retract what he said and apologise."
+
+"Certainly--he ought to apologise. It's disgraceful--infernally
+disgraceful," said a man who had been listening to Ashton's story
+eagerly enough a moment ago.
+
+"What do you say, gentlemen?"
+
+There was a chorus of assent. The men who had been holding Micky's
+arms let him go.
+
+Ashton backed a step away.
+
+His face was livid, his eyes furious, but he knew that there was no
+other course open to him; nobody in the room had any sympathy with him
+now.
+
+"I apologise," he said savagely. "I didn't know that--the--lady--Mellowes
+had married--the lady."
+
+His tone added that even now he did not believe it; he edged away to
+the door and disappeared.
+
+Micky dropped into a chair; he looked thoroughly done up. Some one
+pushed a glass of whisky across to him. There was an uncomfortable
+silence. Perhaps they were all feeling guilty; perhaps they all
+remembered with what relish they had listened to this spicy bit of
+scandal.
+
+"Never could stand Ashton," some one said presently, in gruff
+abasement. "Worm--the man is!--perfect outsider!"
+
+There were several grunts of assent; the sympathy was decidedly with
+Micky.
+
+After a moment he rose to his feet.
+
+"I suppose an apology is due from me too," he said; he spoke with
+difficulty. "But I think any of you--in the same circumstances----"
+
+He waited a moment.
+
+"Quite right--certainly.... Should have done the same myself."
+
+Micky smiled faintly.
+
+"And I am sure you won't let this go any further--for--for my wife's
+sake," he added.
+
+They pressed round him, shaking him by the hand and reassuring him.
+Micky took it for what it was worth. He knew that those of them who
+were married men would go straight home and tell their wives of the
+scene at Hoopers', and he knew how speedily the story would spread.
+
+He got away as soon as he could and left the house.
+
+He never gave Marie another thought, till he found himself out in the
+street and walking away through the fresh spring night.
+
+He took off his hat and let the air blow on his hot forehead; his hand
+still trembled with excitement.
+
+He tried to think, but his thoughts would not come clearly. When he
+got back to his rooms he asked Driver for a stiff brandy. The man
+looked at his master diffidently, and asked if anything were the
+matter.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Why? Do I look as if there is?" He glanced at himself in the mirror.
+His face was very white.
+
+"No, there's nothing the matter. I'm tired, that's all."
+
+Driver turned to the door, but Micky called him back.
+
+"You've been with me a good many years, Driver," he said.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And you've been a faithful servant."
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+The man's stolidness did not change a fraction.
+
+Micky took a gulp at the brandy.
+
+"If you were to hear that I'm married, you wouldn't be surprised,
+would you?" he asked with a rush.
+
+Driver stood immovable.
+
+"Not in the least, sir."
+
+"You would even say that you knew that I've been married some weeks,
+wouldn't you?"
+
+"I should, sir."
+
+"Good--you may go."
+
+"Thank you, sir, and good-night."
+
+"Good-night," said Micky.
+
+And now, what was to be done now?
+
+When he left this room three hours ago it had been with the
+determination to put the past behind him for ever, and what had he
+done? Only walked more deeply into his quixotism and seriously
+compromised the woman he loved.
+
+He had said that she was his wife. It gave him a little thrill to
+remember that a dozen of his acquaintances had heard him say it, and
+were probably even now spreading the story of his marriage far and
+wide.
+
+He paced up and down the room. He had failed all round; even love and
+desperate desire had not been able to help him.
+
+He thought suddenly of June; June who, with all her bluntness, had a
+great heart and a deep understanding.
+
+She would not want explanations; she would know why he had done it,
+and sympathise.
+
+But June was obviously not the one concerned. It was not to June that
+he must confess.
+
+The clock in his room struck twelve; too late to do anything to-night.
+The memory of Marie returned--Marie as she had looked when he found
+her in the drawing-room that night; as she had looked when he had left
+her in the little anteroom at the Hoopers' and gone out with murder in
+his heart to find Ashton.
+
+He stopped dead in his pacing.
+
+"Oh, you cad--you cad!" he said with a groan.
+
+Life was an intolerable, purposeless thing. He sat down at his desk
+and leaned his head in his hands. His whole life seemed to spell
+failure. With sudden impulse he seized a pen and began to write.
+
+For the first few moments he hardly knew what he wrote. It was only
+when he reached the end of the first page that he seemed to realise
+with a start what he had done. He looked back at the written lines
+with something of a shock. There was no beginning to the letter, no
+date or address; it simply started off as if the pen had been guided
+by some influence outside himself, some desperate need.
+
+  "I don't know what you will think when you get this letter. I am
+  writing it because to-night I think I am half mad. I love you so
+  much; there seems nothing in the whole world that counts any more
+  now that I am beginning to understand that I can never have you.
+  Esther, I ask you on my knees to listen to what I have to say. I
+  have tried to keep away from you, to forget you; I've tried to put
+  you out of my heart and persuade myself that I do not care--but
+  it's no use. I love you; I know you care something for me, but I
+  shall love you always. To-night I have done an unpardonable thing
+  for your sake. I explain things so badly. I can only hope that you
+  will understand and try to make some excuse for me. Some one knows
+  we were together in Paris--I need not tell you who. To-night, at a
+  house where I was, he had told several people that you and I had
+  been to Paris together...."
+
+Micky had gone on writing rapidly--he seemed to have lost himself in a
+sea of eloquence; his heart was pleading with the woman he loved
+through the poor medium of a sheet of unaddressed paper.
+
+  "It nearly drove me mad to hear you spoken of by him. There was a
+  scene, and I knocked him down ... you will hate me for this, but I
+  would have killed him if they had let me. I told them afterwards
+  that you were my wife--try and understand how I have suffered all
+  these weeks--I told them that we had been married some time, and
+  that it had been kept secret by your own wish. It's only now, when
+  I am more alone and can think clearly, that I see what I have
+  done. You don't care for me, and I have compromised you even more
+  than that man did by his lying insinuations. Tell me what I am to
+  do--anything, anything in the world. My whole life is yours to do
+  with as you will. Be my wife, dear, be my wife...."
+
+For a moment the pen faltered, but Micky went on again with an
+effort.
+
+  "I will stay in London twenty-four hours for your answer, and
+  then, if I don't hear...."
+
+The pen faltered again, and this time finally stopped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+
+"The question is," said June critically, looking out of the window to
+the street where a fine drizzle of rain was falling, "does one, or
+does one not, wear one's best hat to go out and meet the one and only
+man one has ever loved?" She turned round and looked at Esther with a
+little nod. "That's grammar, though you may not think it, my dear,"
+she said.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should say one does wear one's best hat," she said decidedly.
+"Especially seeing what a very charming hat it is."
+
+She leaned her elbows on the table and looked at June admiringly. "How
+long is it since you saw the great and only?" she asked.
+
+June did some rapid counting on her white fingers.
+
+"Nineteen hours exactly," she said. "But it seems like ninety! I
+nearly died with joy when his note came at breakfast time----" She
+looked at Esther wistfully. "You don't know how lovely it is to have
+some one of your very own," she said with unwonted sentimentality.
+
+Esther averted her eyes.
+
+"I envy you," she said quietly. "But you'll be late if you stand
+rhapsodising here--be off!"
+
+June bent and kissed her.
+
+"I shan't be long--he's only asked me for lunch...."
+
+Esther smiled.
+
+"I have known lunches that lasted till tea-time," she said. "When
+there has been a great deal to talk about."
+
+June went downstairs singing. During the last few days she had, as she
+would have expressed it, begun to discover herself all over again.
+Certainly the world had utterly changed, and was more like a fairy
+city than a place where it rained a great deal and where buses and
+taxicabs splashed pedestrians with mud.
+
+Lydia met her at the foot of the stairs; she smiled at sight of the
+new hat.
+
+"I was just coming up, Miss June," she said. "There's a letter for
+Miss Shepstone."
+
+June held out her hand.
+
+"I'll take it, and save you the trouble----" She became conscious all
+at once of the girl's admiring eyes, and blushed.
+
+"Do you like my hat, Lydia?" She turned round for inspection.
+
+Lydia admired enthusiastically, as she admired everything of June's,
+and forgetful of everything but the moment, June thrust the letter for
+Esther into her coat pocket and went out blissfully into the rain to
+meet George Rochester.
+
+George was ardent; he went into rhapsodies over the hat; he forgot to
+eat his most excellent lunch, and hardly took his eyes off June.
+
+"It's all so much waste of time this being engaged," he said with
+pretended annoyance. "Why don't we do the trick and get married? What
+are we waiting for? I'll take you to the States for a wedding trip."
+
+June laughed, and protested blushingly that it was much too soon.
+
+"I haven't thought about it," she declared, not quite truthfully.
+"There's tons of things to see to first. What about my business and
+Esther?"
+
+"Leave the one to look after the other," he said promptly.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I couldn't--I should hate to leave Esther alone; if only she could be
+married too?"
+
+"Well--find her a husband. What about Mellowes?" he suggested
+jokingly.
+
+June's face sobered.
+
+"Oh--Micky!" she said. She was not sure if she was justified in
+telling Rochester that Micky had once cared for Esther. "I thought he
+was practically engaged to Marie Deland," she said doubtfully.
+
+Rochester gave an exclamation.
+
+"That reminds me," he said. "There seems to have been a bit of a row
+at the Hoopers' dance last night.... I wasn't there--but I heard some
+fellows at the club talking it over just now. Do you know a man named
+Ashton?"
+
+June sniffed inelegantly.
+
+"Do I not!"
+
+"Well, if you don't like him, you'll be pleased to hear that Micky
+knocked him into the middle of next week," Rochester said calmly.
+
+June's eyes gleamed.
+
+"Never! Well, I'm delighted to hear it! What was it about?"
+
+Rochester shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, they were gossiping about some woman, as far as I could make
+out--a woman Micky had been rather friendly with, from what I
+gathered--they didn't mention her name, but----" he hesitated. "They
+spoke of her as a girl from ... I've forgotten the name, but I think
+it was a petticoat shop----"
+
+"Eldred's?" said June sharply.
+
+"Yes, that was it! What do you know about it?"
+
+"Nothing--go on! What were they saying?"
+
+"That she'd been to Paris with Mellowes, and Mellowes overheard it,
+and there was a bit of a fight, and Mellowes said that the girl was
+his wife...."
+
+June gasped.
+
+"_What_!"
+
+Rochester looked rather uncomfortable.
+
+"It's only club talk," he said deprecatingly. "Dare say it's all
+lies."
+
+June pushed back her chair; her brain was in a whirl; she stared at
+Rochester with dazed eyes.
+
+"Of course you're mad, quite mad," she said calmly.
+
+"Or I am! which is it?... My dear man, the girl Micky went to Paris
+with was Esther! _my_ Esther Shepstone! and here you are trying to
+tell me that she and Micky are _married_!" She burst into hysterical
+laughter.
+
+"I'm not trying to tell you," he protested injuredly. "It's only
+what I heard; and any way, if Mellowes went to Paris with Miss
+Shepstone----"
+
+He broke off before the anger in June's eyes.
+
+"If you speak about Esther in that tone of voice again, I shall hate
+you for ever," she said furiously. "If you must know the truth, I'll
+tell it to you, and another time just don't judge people till you've
+heard both sides of the question," and she promptly proceeded to tell
+him the whole story of her meeting with Esther, and all that had
+happened since.
+
+Rochester listened quietly, but when she had finished, he said--
+
+"Micky ought to have finished that skunk last night. If he cares for
+Miss Shepstone...."
+
+"Oh but I don't think he does now," June struck in sadly. "He hasn't
+been near her since they came back from Paris, and every one says that
+Marie Deland----" she broke off.
+
+"And when Miss Shepstone gets to hear what happened last night?"
+Rochester asked drily.
+
+"Oh, but she won't--she doesn't know anybody who would tell her except
+you or me," June said positively. "And of course she must _never_
+know. She never liked Micky, though _why_!..." She shrugged her
+shoulders. "Have you seen him to-day?" she asked.
+
+"No--I'm going to this evening."
+
+"But you won't let him know what I've told you? promise me!"
+
+"Is it likely that I should? Men don't gossip."
+
+"Oh, don't they?" June answered tartly. "I wouldn't trust one of them,
+not even you," she added with a melting smile.
+
+In spite of her promise to Esther, it was past tea-time when she got
+back home; she threw her hat and coat down anywhere and poked up the
+fire.
+
+"Haven't you had tea? What have you been doing all day?" she demanded
+crisply. "You _haven't_ had tea!--Good gracious, I'll make some at
+once; I had some with George, but I'm quite ready for some more. My
+word! what a difference a man can make in one's life," she said,
+suddenly grave. "And to think that I ever talked piffle about not
+wanting to get married."
+
+She bustled round the room singing blithely; she was brimful of
+happiness. "You needn't be surprised to hear that I'm going to be
+married quite soon," she said with elaborate carelessness. "Lord!
+won't people have forty fits? Except for Micky, my crowd don't know
+I'm engaged yet. I'm going to take George home to see them on Sunday.
+I've discovered that he's fourth cousin, about ninety times removed,
+to a baronet, so, perhaps, that will put them all in a good temper
+with him. My people do love titles! Give them a lord, or something,
+and it doesn't matter what else he is, or isn't.... You're not
+listening, Esther."
+
+"I am. I heard every word you said."
+
+Esther was sitting by the fire with Charlie curled up in her lap; her
+face looked very sad and thoughtful. So she was to lose June quite
+soon!--her lips trembled; what was there left for her in all the
+world? It almost seemed as if time had stood still for a moment, and
+then suddenly rushed her back again with breathless speed, to leave
+her bereft of hope and happiness, as she had been before she met
+Micky.
+
+Charlie had been her only friend then. Was he all that was to remain
+to her now?
+
+June watched her across the room.
+
+"What are you thinking about?" she asked suddenly; but Esther only
+shook her head.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+For two days Micky Mellowes never left his rooms, and hardly ate a
+thing, and for once in his life Driver permitted a spark of anxiety to
+creep into his dull eyes. He was sure that his master was ill; he
+tried tempting dishes and alluring cocktails, but Micky refused them
+all.
+
+"My good man, I'm not an invalid," he protested irritably.
+
+He hated it, because he knew his agitation was apparent; he tried to
+settle to read, but whenever a bell rang through the house he started
+up with racing pulses.
+
+She must have got his letter, he knew. If there was any hope for him
+at all she would write at once or send for him. His nerves began to
+wear to rags.
+
+Sometimes his hopes soared to the skies, to drop to zero again. Once
+in a fit of despondency he told Driver to pack his bag, as they would
+be leaving early in the morning.
+
+"Yes, sir--where shall we be going, sir?" Driver asked stoically.
+
+Micky swore.
+
+"You do ask such damned silly questions," he complained irritably.
+
+An hour later, when he found Driver packing, he called him a fool, and
+told him to unpack at once.
+
+And so the days dragged away.
+
+"Any more posts to-night?" Micky asked jerkily, on the second day.
+
+Driver eyed the clock.
+
+"There should be one at nine, sir."
+
+But nine came, and half-past, and no post.
+
+"Is it too late for the post now, Driver?" Micky asked feverishly,
+when it was nearly ten.
+
+"The post went by, sir," was the answer. "I was down at the door and
+saw the postman pass."
+
+Micky went back to his chair. It was all he could expect, he told
+himself--there had been no answer to his letter: there never would be
+an answer now.
+
+When Driver came into the room again, Micky said without looking up--
+
+"Pack that bag again, there's a good fellow, will you?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Driver imperturbably.
+
+He hesitated, then asked--
+
+"And--er--where did you say we should be going, sir?"
+
+"I didn't say," said Micky. "And I don't care--on the Continent--anywhere
+you like--look up some hotels...."
+
+One place was as good as another, he argued, as he sat and watched
+Driver pack. Wherever he went he was going to be infernally miserable,
+so what did it matter?
+
+When Driver stoically inquired how long he expected to be away, Micky
+answered violently that he was never coming back if he could help it;
+he said he hated London--he said he was sick to death of his flat and
+wanted a change.
+
+"I shan't come back till the autumn anyway," he declared recklessly.
+
+"Very good, sir," was the stolid reply. Driver knew his master; he
+could remember another occasion when Micky had left London in a rage
+never to return, and ten days had seen him back again.
+
+Certainly this was rather a different case from that other; this time
+there was a woman behind it. Driver knew this perfectly well, though
+beyond the posting of letters and the buying of the fur coat he had
+had no firsthand evidence.
+
+But he kept his thoughts to himself and packed shirts and socks and
+coats by the score, as if to keep up the belief that they were really
+going for months, instead of the day which were the limit he
+prescribed in his own mind.
+
+When Rochester called later on in the evening, Micky was almost rude
+to him. The American looked so unfeignedly happy that it got on
+Micky's nerves; but George P. Rochester was difficult to snub; he
+looked on at the packing with childlike amazement.
+
+"It's a sudden idea of yours, this flitting!" he submitted mildly.
+Micky did not answer.
+
+"Hope you'll be back in time for my wedding, Sonnie," Rochester said
+again.
+
+Micky flushed crimson; there was something rather pathetic about him
+at that moment.
+
+"Oh, I'll be back all right," he said shortly.
+
+Rochester laughed.
+
+"You won't have to stay away long then," he said significantly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+
+Esther woke from a troubled sleep that night, to find June standing
+beside her. Pale moonlight shone into the room from half-drawn blinds,
+filling it with an eerie light, as Esther started up trembling and
+frightened.
+
+"What is it? is anything the matter? Oh, I thought you were a ghost!"
+She clutched at June with both hands. "Oh, is anything the matter?"
+she asked again.
+
+June laughed nervously; she found matches and lit a candle, then she
+came back to Esther and thrust something into her hands.
+
+"You'll never forgive me," she said. "But I've had it in my coat
+pocket for two days...." She pushed her dark hair back from her
+forehead tragically. "Lydia gave it to me for you the day I went out
+in my best hat to meet George, and I was such a selfish, conceited pig
+that he put everything else out of my head, and I forgot all about it
+till just now, when I was lying awake thinking ... and then ... oh,
+Esther, it's from Micky!"
+
+Esther looked down at the crumpled envelope--
+
+"From--Micky?..." she said. She was only half awake; she made a very
+fair picture there with her long hair tumbling about her shoulders,
+and her face a little flushed and startled.
+
+June turned to the door.
+
+"I'll go away--you don't want me.... I'll go----" but Esther caught
+her hand.
+
+"No--no.... Wait! please wait!"
+
+"Very well--but I'm half frozen...." June looked plaintively at
+Esther, but Esther had forgotten her, and she dragged the quilt from
+the bed, and wrapped it round her small figure till she looked like a
+mummy.
+
+There was a long silence, then Esther raised her eyes to June's
+anxious face.
+
+Her own was quite colourless, and her grey eyes looked dazed.
+
+"Will you--will you--read it?" she said faintly. "Please--I want you
+to--I ... somehow I feel as if I'm dreaming."
+
+But June at any rate was wide awake. It only took her two minutes to
+read Micky's passionate appeal; the next she was laughing and crying
+together, and hugging Esther boisterously.
+
+"Oh, isn't he the most wonderful man? Don't you love him? Don't you
+just adore him? Oh, if you're going to break his heart after all this,
+I'll _never_ forgive you!... Why, my George isn't in it with Micky,
+poor darling!"--she shook Esther in her excitement--"What are you made
+of, that you can't see what a king he is? I don't believe there's any
+blood in your veins at all," she declared indignantly. "You haven't
+got a heart.... Oh, Esther darling! I didn't mean it--I--oh, I'm such
+an idiot!..."
+
+And the two girls clasped each other and cried together.
+
+"And now if this ridiculous midnight scene is ended," June said
+presently, sniffing her tears away, "let's talk sense. I'll go and see
+Micky in the morning and explain everything. He knows what I am--he
+won't be at all surprised--oh, I'm so glad--so more than glad.... Oh,
+Esther, _why_ do you hide your face?"
+
+"Because I'm so ashamed," Esther said in a stifled voice. "I'm not
+worth loving--I've ... oh, you don't _know_ how I've treated him!"
+
+June was silent for a minute, then she said gently--
+
+"But Micky will forget all that--Micky never remembered a mean thing
+against anybody in his life." She forced Esther to look at her. "Tell
+me one thing, and then I'll go and leave you in peace," she coaxed.
+"Do you--do you ... _you_ know?"
+
+But in this instance, at least, a verbal answer was not necessary.
+
+June kissed her rapturously.
+
+"Oh, you darling," she said. She blew out the candle, and sped down to
+her own room again like a ghost in the moonlight.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Was there anything else you was wanting, sir?" Driver inquired
+stolidly. He stood on the platform looking in at the first-class
+compartment where Micky sat alone in durance vile, waiting for the
+train to start.
+
+He frowned, and pulled his soft hat further down over his eyes as he
+answered--
+
+"No, nothing.... I'll see you at Dover."
+
+There were many people on the platform; in the next carriage a pretty
+girl was seeing a man off--looking up at him as he stood on the
+footboard with eyes that told their story eloquently.
+
+Micky looked at her enviously. He would have given his right hand if
+there had been some one there to see him off with just that expression
+in her eyes--the right some one, of course. He turned away from the
+window with an uncomfortable lump in his throat.
+
+He had nothing in the world but his confounded money, and a lot of
+good that was to him! It could not buy happiness.
+
+The guard came down the platform--
+
+"Take your seats--take your seats...."
+
+A girl and a man pushed past him. The girl was staring eagerly in at
+all the windows as she passed. When she saw Micky she gave a little
+cry of relief.
+
+"Here he is--Micky! Micky!"
+
+Micky started to his feet.
+
+"June!" he said. For a moment he thought something must have
+happened--something was wrong--Esther!... her name was trembling on
+his lips, but June rushed on impetuously before he had time to speak
+it.
+
+"We thought we'd come and see you off--George told me you were going,
+and I guessed you'd be on this train.... I'm so glad we found
+you--it's rotten seeing oneself off, isn't it?..."
+
+Rochester came up laughing and red in the face; he took off his hat
+and mopped his hot forehead.
+
+"I can't keep pace with her, she's like a whirlwind," he said
+whimsically. "She raced me off here before I could say a word."
+
+"It's kind of you to come," Micky said.
+
+He was pleased to see them; he felt decidedly less ill-tempered than
+he had done a moment ago. He looked down at June's radiant face, and a
+little doubt went through his heart.
+
+He was in that dangerous state through which so many men have to pass
+when the woman they love will have none of them. If Marie Deland had
+happened to turn up then, he would have asked for forgiveness and have
+married her offhand and regretted it the next day; and now, as he
+looked at June, he wondered if he had been a fool not to properly
+appreciate her. He felt a vague twinge of jealousy, realising that the
+days were gone for ever when he had been the most wonderful man in all
+the world to her.
+
+He had never loved her save in a brotherly way, and he did not love
+her now, but at heart men are all dogs in the manger, and it was some
+such feeling that filled Micky's heart as he leaned out of the window
+and looked at this girl.
+
+"I hope you'll have a good time," she said cheerily. "Have you got
+anything to read?"
+
+"I shan't want anything--I'm not in a reading mood."
+
+Micky was longing to ask about Esther, but pride prevented him.
+
+The guard was blowing his whistle; doors were slamming; June gripped
+Micky's hand.
+
+"Be a good boy, and have a good time," she said. There was a furious
+excitement in her eyes.
+
+He made a grimace.
+
+"I'm not expecting to have a good time," he answered.
+
+The train was slowly moving; June ran a few steps to keep up with it.
+Micky blurted out his question at last--
+
+"Miss Shepstone ... Esther ... is she all right, June?"
+
+June smiled.
+
+"Oh, she's first rate," she said airily. "She's gone away for a
+holiday.... Good-bye." She fell back laughing and waving her hand.
+
+Micky kept his head out of the window till a cloud of smoke from the
+engine blown backwards shut out all sight of her, then he drew in,
+dragging the window up with a slam.
+
+Gone away for a holiday, had she?--well--it was nothing to him. He
+turned round to go back to his seat in the corner then stopping dead,
+staring as if he had seen a ghost; for Esther was sitting there just
+behind him, looking up at him with scared eyes.
+
+For a moment Micky did not move; he was like a man turned to stone.
+Then the blood rushed to his face in a crimson tide; he broke out into
+stammering speech--
+
+"You ... you ... what ... what ... I thought...." He swayed forward a
+little and caught her hands. "You are real--I thought ... I thought I
+was just imagining it all; I thought.... Oh, wait a moment...." He sat
+down and leaned his head in his hands.
+
+He felt sure that he must be mad or dreaming--the world had turned
+upside down and pitched his thoughts into chaos; he was sure that when
+next he looked Esther would no longer be there--he dreaded having to
+raise his eyes.
+
+Esther stretched a timid hand to him; her voice shook as she said--
+
+"Oh, I thought ... I thought perhaps you'd be glad to see me--just ...
+just a little--glad...."
+
+"Glad!" Micky echoed the word with almost a shout. He got up and went
+over to her; he looked down at her with an agony of doubt and fear in
+his eyes.
+
+"Why have you come?" he asked hoarsely. "If this is only a joke--if
+it's any nonsense of June's ... by God, it's the cruellest joke you
+could have played on me.... I--I...."
+
+Esther covered her face with her hands.
+
+"If that's all you've got to say to me," she began tremblingly.
+
+"Esther...."
+
+He drew her hands down; he forced her to look at him; for a long
+moment his eyes searched her face disbelievingly, not daring to
+hope....
+
+Her cheeks flamed, but she met his eyes bravely.
+
+Micky drew a long breath; he passed a hand across his eyes as if to
+waken himself.
+
+Then all at once he seemed to realise that this was in very truth the
+woman he wanted sitting beside him; that she was here and for his
+sake; that he was alone and unhappy no longer; and that after all the
+weeks of hunger and restlessness he had got his heart's desire.
+
+He looked down at her tremulous face with eyes of passionate
+tenderness.
+
+"Is this my wife?" he asked hoarsely, and Esther answered--
+
+"If you still want me."
+
+"Want you!" Micky caught her to him. "Haven't I always wanted
+you?..."
+
+Fortunately the train was not very full, and the corridor immediately
+outside their carriage was deserted, or somebody might have had a very
+interesting demonstration of how to kiss a woman who had refused for
+months to be kissed.
+
+Micky was like a boy in his happiness. He looked years younger than
+the gloomy man who had dismissed Driver ten minutes since. He could
+not take his eyes from Esther--he could not believe in his own
+happiness even while he was engulfed in it. His arm was round her,
+regardless of chance wanderers in the corridor--he held her hand to
+his lips and kissed it passionately.
+
+"What have you done with ... that other ring you used to wear?" he
+asked jealously.
+
+She turned her face away.
+
+"I threw it out of the window when we came back from Paris," she told
+him.
+
+"I'll give you another. I'm going to give you everything you want
+now."
+
+"You've been too good to me already," she said. "I can never repay
+you."
+
+"You've given me yourself. There is nothing else in the world that I
+want."
+
+He laughed happily.
+
+He bent his head towards her.
+
+"Esther ... when did you ... when did you first ... think that you
+liked me ... just a little?"
+
+Her head dropped; he could not see her face.
+
+"I don't know," she said in a whisper.
+
+"In Paris," he urged, "or before? Tell me."
+
+"I think it was in Paris--after ... after I saw ... Raymond! You were
+so kind ... so different."
+
+He laughed ruefully.
+
+"I was nearer hating you then than ever in my life."
+
+He saw the colour creep into her face. "You've told me ever so many
+times that you hated me," he went on quickly, "but you never told me
+that you ... loved me, Esther!"
+
+He waited, but she did not look at him.
+
+Then suddenly she took his hand in both of hers; she bent her head and
+kissed it with a sort of passionate gratitude that brought a mist to
+Micky's eyes. He seemed to see her all at once as he had first seen
+her that New Year's Eve; alone, unhappy--with nobody to care what she
+did, or what became of her.
+
+"You're so much, much too good for me," she said brokenly. "You've
+done everything for me, and I've done nothing for you--I haven't
+even been ... nice! I can't tell you what I feel about it all--I only
+know that--just lately--you've--you've made everything seem so
+different--since you wrote me that letter--it makes me feel in my
+heart that it's always really been you--always you, and never ...
+never any one else."
+
+"Darling," said Micky huskily. "And perhaps--some day--do you ... do
+you ... think ... you could ever care for me more than ... than you
+cared for ... that other fellow, confound him!" he added fiercely.
+
+She looked up at him and smiled.
+
+"I think," she said slowly, "that I only ... only really began to care
+for--him--when he went away--and when those letters began to come; and
+so you see--it was always you, because it was you who wrote them."
+
+"It was a rotten thing to do, but I wanted to help you."
+
+"You did help me ... and--Micky...."
+
+"Darling...."
+
+"My fur coat ... can I--will you give it back to me?"
+
+"I'll give you everything in the world if you'll say you love me...."
+
+"I do--I...."
+
+"Say it then," he urged gently.
+
+For a moment she did not answer; she was still a little afraid of him;
+she still felt something of pride and constraint between them; though
+she knew it was for her to sweep away the last barrier.
+
+She looked up at him, the sensitive colour rushing to her face.
+
+"I love you," she said softly. "Oh, Micky, some one will see----"
+
+But Micky only laughed.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+The train was running on to Dover Harbour before Micky realised it; he
+looked at Esther with pretended dismay in his happy eyes.
+
+"And pray, what am I to do with you, madame? Do you realise that I'm
+going to Paris?"
+
+"I know----" She laughed. "I'm going there too--of course, if you'd
+like to travel in a different train to me...."
+
+She was a very different Esther from the pale, frightened-looking girl
+who had said good-bye to June at Victoria. Her eyes were dancing now,
+and her face was radiant. Micky regarded her with proud satisfaction.
+
+"You look years younger and prettier already," he said. "And that's
+after only an hour or two of my wonderful society; so what you'll look
+like when we've been married for years and years...."
+
+He stopped, and a sudden emotion filled his face.
+
+"What shall we do, love of mine?" he asked tenderly, "Shall we go on,
+or shall we go back?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I don't mind--either way, I'm afraid you'll have to pay for me," she
+told him saucily. "June rushed me off so, I forgot my purse--Mr.
+Rochester got me a ticket, but...."
+
+"We'll go on," said Micky hurriedly. The train was almost at a
+standstill. "You said you hated Paris--but you won't hate it with me.
+We'll get married as soon as we get there--I'll take you everywhere."
+
+Her eyes fell.
+
+"I haven't any nice clothes--I only brought a small case; I never
+thought you ... you...." She stopped, stammering.
+
+"Paris is full of clothes," he told her. "We'll stay just long enough
+to buy what you want, and then we'll go south. Esther, you've never
+seen the south of France in springtime, have you? I'll take you there
+for our honeymoon."
+
+She drew back a little.
+
+"But, Micky--there's June--what will she say--what will she think?"
+
+"She'll think that you've behaved sensibly--at last!" he answered
+audaciously. "June knew she wouldn't see either of us again for some
+time when we left her at Victoria--June is a most discerning woman."
+
+"She's a dear," said Esther warmly. "I owe all my happiness to her."
+
+Micky pretended to look offended.
+
+"I was under the delusion that you owed it to me," he said with
+dignity.
+
+"To you!" Her face changed wonderfully; she bent her head and kissed
+the sleeve of his coat.
+
+"I can't talk about what I owe you--it's just--everything!"
+
+Micky drew himself up a dignified inch.
+
+"I'm beginning to think I'm a very wonderful man, do you know?" he
+said, addressing some imaginary person.
+
+Driver appeared at the door. He hesitated for just the faintest
+possible moment when he saw Esther, but his face was as stolid as
+ever.
+
+Micky rose to the occasion, though he turned rather red.
+
+"Driver," he said, "let me introduce you to my wife----"
+
+Driver touched a respectful forelock; if he felt surprise he did not
+show it.
+
+He took Esther's suit-case down from the rack.
+
+"Was you--was you wanting to send a wire, sir?" he asked stolidly.
+
+Micky looked at the girl beside him.
+
+"Send June one from Paris," she said. "I don't know what she'll
+say----"
+
+But June might have been expecting the wire, judging from the calm way
+in which she received it; she showed it to Rochester as if it were
+nothing out of the way; she looked over his shoulder as he read it.
+
+  "Married in Paris this morning. Love from Mr. and Mrs. Micky."
+
+She laughed and met Rochester's eyes; there seemed to be an inquiry in
+his. June hesitated a moment, then she nodded.
+
+And forty-eight hours later Micky and Esther read her reply just as
+they were leaving for the flower-fields of France--
+
+  "Married in London this morning--June and George."
+
+"Some people have no originality," Micky complained in pretended
+disgust.
+
+"But if they're half as happy as _we_ are," Esther said shyly.
+
+Micky looked scornfully sceptical.
+
+"Oh well! if you're going to expect the impossible...." he submitted.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+_"The Books You Like to Read at the Price You Like to Pay_"
+
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+
+--including the wrapper which covers every Grosset & Dunlap book. When
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+
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+
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+
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+
+
+
+
+B. M. BOWER'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+CASEY RYAN
+
+CHIP OF THE FLYING U
+
+COW-COUNTRY
+
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+
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+
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+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+ZANE GREY'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+TO THE LAST MAN
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER
+
+THE MAN OF THE FOREST
+
+THE DESERT OF WHEAT
+
+THE U. P. TRAIL
+
+WILDFIRE
+
+THE BORDER LEGION
+
+THE RAINBOW TRAIL
+
+THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT
+
+RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
+
+THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS
+
+THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN
+
+THE LONE STAR RANGER
+
+DESERT GOLD
+
+BETTY ZANE
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS
+
+The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore,
+with Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.
+
+ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE
+
+THE YOUNG LION HUNTER
+
+THE YOUNG FORESTER
+
+THE YOUNG PITCHER
+
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+
+THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+ETHEL M. DELL'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+THE LAMP IN THE DESERT
+
+The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and tells of the
+lamp of love that continues to shine through all sorts of tribulations
+to final happiness.
+
+GREATHEART
+
+The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals a noble soul.
+
+THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE
+
+A hero who worked to win even when there was only "a hundredth
+chance."
+
+THE SWINDLER
+
+The story of a "bad man's" soul revealed by a woman's faith.
+
+THE TIDAL WAVE
+
+Tales of love and of women who learned to know the true from the
+false.
+
+THE SAFETY CURTAIN
+
+A very vivid love story of India. The volume also contains four other
+long stories of equal interest.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+"STORM COUNTRY" BOOKS BY
+
+GRACE MILLER WHITE
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+JUDY OF ROGUES' HARBOR
+
+Judy's untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things, her faith in
+life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess. Her faith and sincerity
+catch at your heart strings. This book has all of the mystery and
+tense action of the other Storm Country books.
+
+TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY
+
+It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary Pickford made
+her reputation as a motion picture actress. How love acts upon a
+temperament such as hers--a temperament that makes a woman an angel or
+an outcast, according to the character of the man she loves--is the
+theme of the story.
+
+THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY
+
+The sequel to "Tess of the Storm Country," with the same wild
+background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters--tempestuous,
+passionate, brooding. Tess learns the "secret" of her birth and finds
+happiness and love through her boundless faith in life.
+
+FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING
+
+A haunting story with its scene laid near the country familiar to
+readers of "Tess of the Storm Country."
+
+ROSE O' PARADISE
+
+"Jinny" Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate
+yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe Grandoken, a
+crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her romance is full of power
+and glory and tenderness.
+
+_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE NOVELS OF
+
+MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+DANGEROUS DAYS.
+
+A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and
+stirring appeal.
+
+THE AMAZING INTERLUDE.
+
+Illustrations by The Kinneys.
+
+The story of a great love which cannot be pictured--an interlude--amazing,
+romantic.
+
+LOVE STORIES.
+
+This book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love
+affairs--sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.
+
+"K." Illustrated.
+
+K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where
+beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse. The
+joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and
+sympathetic appreciation.
+
+THE MAN IN LOWER TEN.
+
+Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.
+
+An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death of the
+"Man in Lower Ten."
+
+WHEN A MAN MARRIES.
+
+Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.
+
+A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that his
+aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the family
+income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the young man met
+the situation is entertainingly told.
+
+THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph.
+
+The occupants of "Sunnyside" find the dead body of Arnold Armstrong on
+the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank failure is
+announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of absorbing
+interest.
+
+THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.)
+
+Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly
+realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young ambitious
+doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together with
+world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their love and
+slender means.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+RUBY M. AYRE'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+RICHARD CHATTERTON
+
+A fascinating story in which love and jealousy play strange tricks
+with women's souls.
+
+A BACHELOR HUSBAND
+
+Can a woman love two men at the same time?
+
+In its solving of this particular variety of triangle "A Bachelor
+Husband" will particularly interest, and strangely enough, without one
+shock to the most conventional minded.
+
+THE SCAR
+
+With fine comprehension and insight the author shows a terrific
+contrast between the woman whose love was of the flesh and one whose
+love was of the spirit.
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF BARRY WICKLOW
+
+Here is a man and woman who, marrying for love, yet try to build their
+wedded life upon a gospel of hate for each other and yet win back to a
+greater love for each other in the end.
+
+THE UPHILL ROAD
+
+The heroine of this story was a consort of thieves. The man was fine,
+clean, fresh from the West. It is a story of strength and passion.
+
+WINDS OF THE WORLD
+
+Jill, a poor little typist, marries the great Henry Sturgess and
+inherits millions, but not happiness. Then at last--but we must leave
+that to Ruby M. Ayres to tell you as only she can.
+
+THE SECOND HONEYMOON
+
+In this story the author has produced a book which no one who has
+loved or hopes to love can afford to miss. The story fairly leaps from
+climax to climax.
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+Have you not often heard of someone being in love with love rather
+than the person they believed the object of their affections? That was
+Esther! But she passes through the crisis into a deep and profound
+love.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+JACKSON GREGORY'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+THE EVERLASTING WHISPER
+
+The story of a strong man's struggle against savage nature and
+humanity, and of a beautiful girl's regeneration from a spoiled child
+of wealth into a courageous strong-willed woman.
+
+DESERT VALLEY
+
+A college professor sets out with his daughter to find gold. They meet
+a rancher who loses his heart, and become involved in a feud. An
+intensely exciting story.
+
+MAN TO MAN
+
+Encircled with enemies, distrusted, Steve defends his rights. How he
+won his game and the girl he loved is the story filled with breathless
+situations.
+
+THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN
+
+Dr. Virginia Page is forced to go with the sheriff on a night journey
+into the strongholds of a lawless band. Thrills and excitement sweep
+the reader along to the end.
+
+JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCH
+
+Judith Sanford part owner of a cattle ranch realizes she is being
+robbed by her foreman. How, with the help of Bud Lee, she checkmates
+Trevor's scheme makes fascinating reading.
+
+THE SHORT CUT
+
+Wayne is suspected of killing his brother after a violent quarrel.
+Financial complications, villains, a horse-race and beautiful Wanda,
+all go to make up a thrilling romance.
+
+THE JOYOUS TROUBLE MAKER
+
+A reporter sets up housekeeping close to Beatrice's Ranch much to her
+chagrin. There is "another man" who complicates matters, but all turns
+out as it should in this tale of romance and adventure.
+
+SIX FEET FOUR
+
+Beatrice Waverly is robbed of $5,000 and suspicion fastens upon Buck
+Thornton, but she soon realizes he is not guilty. Intensely exciting,
+here is a real story of the Great Far West.
+
+WOLF BREED
+
+No Luck Drennan had grown hard through loss of faith in men he had
+trusted. A woman hater and sharp of tongue, he finds a match in Ygerne
+whose clever fencing wins the admiration and love of the "Lone Wolf."
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom Lover, by Ruby M. Ayres
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30286 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30286 ***</div>
+
+<table style='margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; border: black 2px solid;' summary="">
+  <tr><td>
+  <table style='width:22em; margin: 3px 3px; border: black 1px solid;' summary="">
+
+<tr><td>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.8em;margin-top:20px;'>THE</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:2.0em;margin-bottom:40px;'>PHANTOM LOVER</p>
+<p class='tp' >BY</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.2em;margin-bottom:40px;'>RUBY M. AYRES</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;'>AUTHOR OF</p>
+<p class='tp' >A BACHELOR HUSBAND,<br />THE SCAR, ETC.</p>
+</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>
+<div style='margin:60px auto; text-align:center;'>
+<img alt='emblem' src='images/f0001-img.png' />
+</div>
+</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>
+<p class='tp' >NEW YORK</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.2em;letter-spacing:0.2em;'>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</p>
+<p class='tp' style='margin-bottom:20px;'>PUBLISHERS</p>
+</td></tr>
+
+  </table>
+  </td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-top:5px;'>Made in the United States of America</p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;'><span class='smcap'>Copyright, 1921, by</span></p>
+<p class='tp' style='margin-bottom:40px;'>W. J. WATT &amp; COMPANY</p>
+<p class='tp' ><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:10px;'>DEDICATED<br />TO MY FRIEND</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.2em;font-style:italic;'>Janet Moore</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-top:10px;'>THE REAL &lsquo;JUNE MASON&rsquo;<br />IN THIS STORY</p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1' name='page_1'></a>1</span></div>
+<h1>THE PHANTOM LOVER</h1>
+<div class='chsp' style='padding-top:0'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_I' id='CHAPTER_I'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Somewhere out in the night a woman was crying,
+crying desolately. The sad, rather monotonous
+sound broke the silence of the street and floated
+through the open window of a room where Micky Mellowes
+was wondering how the deuce he should get
+through the long evening lying before him.</p>
+<p>Micky was in a bad temper. It was not often that he
+was in a bad temper, but he had begun the day by waking
+with a headache, which was still with him, and which
+accounted for the wide open window and the breath of
+icy air which was filling the room and fluttering the
+curtains; and half an hour ago some people with whom
+he had been going to dine had rung up and told him that
+the party was off owing to the sudden death of a relative,
+thereby leaving the evening long and empty on his
+hands.</p>
+<p>It was New Year&rsquo;s Eve, too, which made matters a
+thundering sight worse.</p>
+<p>He wondered if Marie Deland was feeling as sick
+about it as he was. Micky was in the middle of an interesting
+flirtation with Marie, which bade fair to develop
+into something deeper with careful engineering on
+the part of her family, for Micky was a catch, and
+though so far he had proved himself singularly adroit
+in avoiding mothers with marriageable daughters, the
+Delands were beginning to pat each other on the back
+and to look pleased.</p>
+<p>When the sound of crying reached him he had been
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span>
+feeling so thoroughly fed-up with life that it had seemed
+impossible for anything ever to interest him again; but
+now he climbed out of his chair with a faint show of
+energy and strolled over to the window.</p>
+<p>It was a cold, clear night, with myriads of stars in
+the dark sky that seemed to shed a faintly luminous
+light to earth, bright enough at all events for Micky
+to distinguish the figure of a girl walking slowly along
+the pathway below.</p>
+<p>She was walking so slowly and dispiritedly that a sort
+of vague curiosity stirred in Micky&rsquo;s heart; here, at least,
+was some one even more fed-up with life than he himself,
+and with a sudden impulse he turned from the window,
+and, snatching up a hat and coat which he had
+thrown down when he came in an hour earlier, made
+for the stairs.</p>
+<p>He was half-way down when an apologetic cough at
+his elbow arrested him; he stopped and turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you please, sir, Mr. Ashton has just sent round
+to ask if you could make it convenient to be in at ten
+o&rsquo;clock this evening, as he wants to see you particularly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked surprised; Ashton had been very particularly
+engaged for that evening, he knew. Evidently
+something had happened to upset his plans as well.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ten o&rsquo;clock? All right; I dare say I shall be in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went on down the stairs.</p>
+<p>Out on the path he paused and looked up and down
+the street.</p>
+<p>The impulse that had sent him out had died away;
+it was beastly cold, and much more comfortable by the
+fire. He hesitated, and in that moment he saw the figure
+of the girl again.</p>
+<p>She had stopped now in the light of a street lamp,
+and seemed to be looking at something she carried in
+her arms&ndash;&ndash;a child! Surely not a child!</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s curiosity was aroused. He buttoned the collar
+of his coat more closely round his chin and went on.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span></div>
+<p>The girl had moved too, almost as if she felt instinctively
+that she was being followed, and as Micky drew
+abreast with her she shrank a little to one side as if
+afraid.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; asked Micky bluntly.</p>
+<p>They were some few yards from the lamp now. But,
+as she turned to look up at him with startled eyes, its
+yellow light fell on her face; and Micky saw with amazement
+that she was quite young and exceedingly pretty,
+in spite of the distress in her eyes, and the tears that
+were still wet on her cheeks.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; he asked again, more gently, and
+waited for the pathetically shaken denial which he felt
+sure would come.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing&ndash;&ndash;nothing at all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing!&rdquo; There was a note of exasperation in his
+voice. &ldquo;You were crying&ndash;&ndash;I heard you, and people don&rsquo;t
+walk about the streets at this time of night and cry if
+there&rsquo;s nothing the matter. If that&rsquo;s a baby you&rsquo;ve got
+with you, you ought to know better than to&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He
+broke off. She was laughing, a weak, uncertain little
+laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A baby!&rdquo; she said tremulously. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t a baby; it&rsquo;s
+a cat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A cat!&rdquo; Micky&rsquo;s voice was full of disgust. He looked
+down at her from his superior height with sudden suspicion.
+If this was just a hoax?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what&rsquo;s the matter anyway?&rdquo; he asked again.</p>
+<p>She looked away from him without answering.</p>
+<p>Micky began to feel a bit of a fool; he wished he had
+not yielded to the impulse to follow her. After all, it
+was no business of his if a stranger chose to walk about
+his road and weep; he looked at her impatiently.</p>
+<p>Her hair beneath its not very smart hat shone golden
+in the lamplight, and the little oval of cheek and rounded
+chin which was all he could see of her averted face
+somehow touched a forgotten chord in his heart and
+made him think of his boyhood and the girl-mother
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span>
+who had not lived long enough to be more than a memory....</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m interfering or trying to annoy you,&rdquo;
+he said again. &ldquo;But if there is anything I can do to
+help you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t anything.... I ought to have
+known better than to let you hear that I was crying
+... there&rsquo;s nothing the matter, I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Then quite
+suddenly she broke down again into bitter sobbing. &ldquo;Oh,
+I&rsquo;m so miserable&ndash;&ndash;so utterly miserable&ndash;&ndash;I wish I were
+dead!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was appalled; he had heard women say that
+sort of thing before, and had said it himself scores of
+times, but never with that note of tragedy which he heard
+in this girl&rsquo;s voice.</p>
+<p>Ten minutes ago he had considered himself the most
+miserable of mortals because he had been let down over
+a dinner; he was ashamed of his temper now as he stood
+there in the starlight and listened to this girl&rsquo;s sobbing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Look here,&rdquo; he said after a moment, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ll never feel
+any better if you stay out here in the cold. I don&rsquo;t
+suppose you&rsquo;ve had a respectable meal for hours either&ndash;&ndash;I
+know what women are. Where do you live? You&rsquo;ll
+soon feel better when you get beside a fire and have
+something to eat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going home any more,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She spoke quite quietly, but with a sort of despair
+which there was no mistaking.</p>
+<p>Micky was a rapid thinker. He had clean forgotten
+his headache. This was adventure with a capital letter.
+There was still something of romance in the world which
+his jaded palate had not yet tasted.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;re tired,&rdquo; he said gently, &ldquo;and probably
+fed-up. So am I. I was just wondering what in the
+world to do with myself when I heard you crying. It
+made me feel a sort of kinship with you&ndash;&ndash;it did, upon
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span>
+my word. If I&rsquo;d been a woman I dare say I should have
+been howling like anything. Will you come along with
+me and let me give you some supper? I&rsquo;m hungry
+too....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shrank back from him with a little gesture of
+fear.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no&ndash;&ndash;please let me go!...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She tried to pass him, but Micky barred the way.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t walk about the streets all night,&rdquo; he said
+determinedly. &ldquo;The cat will hate it anyway, even if you
+don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo; There was a hint of laughter in his voice,
+though he had never felt more serious in all his life.
+&ldquo;And if you don&rsquo;t want me to take pity on you, you
+might at least take pity on me ... please don&rsquo;t think
+I&rsquo;m a bounder trying to annoy you or anything like that
+... perhaps I want a friend just as badly as you
+do....&rdquo; He stopped, aghast at his own temerity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you do,&rdquo; she said tremulously, &ldquo;I am more sorry
+for you than I can say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad you said that,&rdquo; Micky answered, &ldquo;because
+now you&rsquo;ll come along and have that supper with me.
+There&rsquo;s a little caf&eacute; quite near here that I know. If we
+are both miserable, we can at least be miserable together.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Something told him that this girl was at the end of her
+tether; that she was desperate, and his first casual curiosity
+concerning her deepened in the most surprising
+fashion.</p>
+<p>He felt in some inexplicable way that a curtain had
+been lifted from a phase of life hitherto hidden from
+him; as if he were standing on the threshold of a new
+world, where women only weep for something real and
+tragic, not just butterfly tears of petulance like the women
+of his own class.</p>
+<p>The girl was silent for a moment; then suddenly she
+laughed, a hard little laugh of recklessness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I suppose I may as well.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span></div>
+<p>Micky was infinitely relieved; somehow he had not
+really thought that she would allow him to accompany
+her.</p>
+<p>They walked along for a few steps in silence. Once
+or twice the cat, tucked under the girl&rsquo;s arm, gave a faint
+mieow of protest, and Micky smiled to himself in the
+darkness.</p>
+<p>It was the cat that seemed to give such a real touch
+of pathos to the whole adventure, he thought, and wondered
+why. He looked down at her deprecatingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me carry it,&rdquo; he suggested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Carry it?&rdquo; she echoed. &ldquo;What do you mean?&ndash;&ndash;Oh,
+the cat; no, thank you. He wouldn&rsquo;t like it: he hates
+strangers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Micky. He felt chagrined. &ldquo;Is it a great
+pet?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; She hunched her queer burden more closely
+under her arm. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t really mine,&rdquo; she explained.
+&ldquo;But they were so unkind to it in the house that I had
+to bring it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was dying to ask questions, but somehow it
+hardly seemed a propitious moment. He did not speak
+again till they reached the little caf&eacute;.</p>
+<p>It was a quiet little downstairs place, and just now was
+almost deserted.</p>
+<p>Micky chose a corner table which was partially
+screened from the rest of the room. As he stood up to
+take off his coat he looked at the girl interestedly.</p>
+<p>She was better than pretty, he decided with a little
+pleasurable thrill; he could not remember when he had
+seen a face that appealed to him so strongly in spite of
+its pathos and the tear stains round her eyes.</p>
+<p>And such sweet eyes they were!&ndash;&ndash;really grey with dark
+lashes and daintily pencilled brows. She looked up suddenly,
+meeting his earnest regard.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she said. There was a touch of defiance in
+her voice; the colour had risen in her white cheeks.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; said Micky with a friendly smile.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></div>
+<p>He sat down opposite to her; he was thanking his lucky
+stars that the Delands&rsquo; message had reached him before
+he changed into evening clothes; somehow as he looked at
+this girl he felt slightly ashamed of his own lazy, luxurious
+life and the banking account which, like the cruse of
+oil, never failed. That this girl had no surplus of this
+world&rsquo;s goods he was certain, though she was neatly
+dressed and was unmistakably a lady. Her gloves were
+worn and had been carefully mended, and her coat looked
+far too thin for such a cold night.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what are we going to have?&rdquo; he asked. It was
+surprising how cheerful he felt. &ldquo;And what about that
+wonderful cat of yours? By the way, hasn&rsquo;t it got a
+name?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She smiled faintly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I call him Charlie,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Charlie!&rdquo; Micky&rsquo;s eyes twinkled. &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s original,
+anyway,&rdquo; he said with a chuckle. &ldquo;And Charlie must
+have some milk, I suppose. I say, he&rsquo;s a bit thin, isn&rsquo;t
+he?&rdquo; he asked dubiously.</p>
+<p>She had taken off the shawl which had been wrapped
+about it, and the poor animal sat on her lap blinking in
+the light, a forlorn enough specimen, with a long tail and
+fierce eyes.</p>
+<p>The girl stroked its head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been half starved,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d be thin if
+you hadn&rsquo;t had any more to eat than he&rsquo;s had.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I should,&rdquo; said Micky humbly. He thought
+guiltily of the waste which he knew went on in his own
+establishment; it was odd that it had never struck him
+before that there must be many people in the world, not
+to mention cats, who would be glad enough of the waste
+from his table.</p>
+<p>He picked up the menu to hide his discomfort. When
+the waiter came he ordered the best dinner the restaurant
+served. He was conscious that the girl was watching
+him anxiously. When the waiter had gone, she said, &ldquo;I
+can&rsquo;t afford to have a dinner like that.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span></div>
+<p>Micky flushed crimson.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you were dining with me,&rdquo; he stammered.
+&ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I hope you will&ndash;&ndash;I shall be only too honoured....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her grey eyes met his anxiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never done a thing like this before,&rdquo; she said in
+distress. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you are thinking of me
+... but ... well, I suppose I was just desperate....&rdquo;
+She broke off biting her lip, then she
+rushed on again. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t suppose you&rsquo;ll ever see me
+any more, so it doesn&rsquo;t really matter much, but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope to see you again, many times,&rdquo; said Micky,
+with an earnestness that surprised himself.</p>
+<p>She looked away, and her face hardened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose men are all the same,&rdquo; she said, after a
+moment. &ldquo;However....&rdquo; she shrugged her shoulders
+with a sort of recklessness that made Micky frown. She
+leaned back in her chair with sudden weariness. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+very kind of you,&rdquo; she said disinterestedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not kind at all,&rdquo; he hastened to assure her. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+much more pleased to be with you than you are to be with
+me. If it hadn&rsquo;t been for you I should have spent this
+evening alone&ndash;&ndash;New Year&rsquo;s Eve, too,&rdquo; he added, with a
+sort of chagrin and a sudden memory of Marie Deland.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s Eve!&rdquo; she echoed. She closed her eyes
+for a moment, and Micky had an uncomfortable sort of
+feeling that she was looking back on the year that was
+dying and could see nothing pleasant in the whole of the
+twelve months. Presently she opened them again with a
+little sigh. &ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t want another year like the
+last one,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t have,&rdquo; he told her promptly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a
+sort of feeling that there are lots of good things coming
+along for you. The luck has to change some time or
+other, and if you&rsquo;ve had a rotten time in the past you
+won&rsquo;t have it in the future.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in luck,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you? I do,&rdquo; Micky declared. He hated the
+despondency in her face; he felt a strong desire to see
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span>
+her smiling and happy. He rattled on, talking any nonsense
+that came into his head.</p>
+<p>The waiter came down the room and set the dishes
+on the table. He gave a sort of supercilious sniff when
+Micky asked for a saucer of milk for the cat. He looked
+at Charlie with scorn&ndash;&ndash;Charlie, curled up on the girl&rsquo;s
+lap now and purring lustily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course, you know, we really ought to have a bottle
+of wine,&rdquo; Micky said dubiously. &ldquo;Just something cheap,
+as it&rsquo;s New Year&rsquo;s Eve.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He would like to have given her champagne, but dared
+not suggest it. He was quite sure that if she knew he
+was a rich man she would fly off at a tangent. He ordered
+an inexpensive bottle of red wine and filled her
+glass.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, here&rsquo;s luck to the New Year,&rdquo; he said sententiously.
+&ldquo;And to our delightfully unexpected meeting,&rdquo;
+he added.</p>
+<p>She flushed up to her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you always as kind to people as you have been to
+me?&rdquo; she asked tensely.</p>
+<p>Micky blushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I say!&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t call this being
+kind, do you? I assure you it&rsquo;s just pure selfishness. I
+should have spent my evening alone if we hadn&rsquo;t met&ndash;&ndash;and
+I hate being alone; I bore myself stiff in five minutes.
+I&rsquo;m just&ndash;&ndash;honoured that you should have allowed
+me to eat my supper with you. If you knew how beastly
+fed-up I was feeling ... the world seemed a positively
+loathsome place.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed; she leaned her elbows on the table and
+her chin in her hands, looking at him with thoughtful
+eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you poor?&rdquo; she asked with disarming frankness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor as a church mouse,&rdquo; said Micky promptly. &ldquo;At
+least&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he hastened to amend his words&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m one of
+those unfortunate beggars who spend money as fast as
+they get it. I&rsquo;ve never saved a halfpenny in my life.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span></div>
+<p>This at least was the truth.</p>
+<p>She nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Neither have I&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve never had one to save....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The despondency was back again in her voice; Micky
+broke in hastily&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Before we go any further I think we ought to know
+one another&rsquo;s names.&rdquo; He fumbled in a pocket for a
+card, but changed his mind quickly, remembering that
+his cards bore the address of the expensive flat which he
+honoured with his presence. &ldquo;My name is Mellowes,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got several Christian names as well, but people
+call me Micky....&rdquo; He waited, looking at her
+expectantly. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you tell me yours?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She was staring down at her plate. He could see the
+dark fringe of lashes against her cheeks. Suddenly she
+looked up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you want to know my name? We shall
+never meet again, I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky leaned a little forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said quietly, &ldquo;it will be the greatest
+disappointment I have ever had.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him with a sort of fear.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean that,&rdquo; she said, with a catch in her
+voice. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t really mean that ... you&rsquo;re just
+one of those men who say things like that to every woman
+you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She broke off, struck by the chagrin in Micky&rsquo;s
+face. &ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;I oughtn&rsquo;t to have said that,&rdquo; she went on
+hurriedly. &ldquo;I beg your pardon ... I ought not to
+have said it, and I will tell you my name if you really
+want to know. My name is Esther&ndash;&ndash;Esther Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you!&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;And now we&rsquo;re going to
+drink to good resolutions for the New Year ...
+have you made one yet?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the use? Besides ... I don&rsquo;t want to
+make any.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then, I&rsquo;ll make one for you.&rdquo; He refilled
+her glass and handed it to her. &ldquo;Now say after me: &lsquo;I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
+resolve that during the coming year I will be good friends
+with Micky Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rsquo; Oh, I say, don&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;please
+don&rsquo;t....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had dropped her face in her hands again, and
+Micky had a miserable conviction that she was crying.</p>
+<p>But he was wrong, for presently she looked up again,
+and her eyes were dry, though a little hard and bright.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in a man&rsquo;s friendship for a woman,&rdquo;
+she said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll say it, if you like,&rdquo; and she took the
+glass from his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And to-morrow,&rdquo; said Micky presently, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to
+take you out to tea or something&ndash;&ndash;if I may,&rdquo; he added
+hurriedly.</p>
+<p>He waited, but she did not speak. &ldquo;May I?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She was twisting the stem of her wineglass nervously;
+after a moment she began to speak jerkily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When I came out to-night I didn&rsquo;t mean to go back
+any more,&rdquo; she said. Her voice was low and full of a
+weary bitterness. &ldquo;I was so unhappy I didn&rsquo;t want to live.&rdquo;
+She caught her breath. &ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for
+you&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she was looking at him now with shame in her
+eyes. &ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for you I shouldn&rsquo;t have gone
+back&ndash;&ndash;ever&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;But now....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But now,&rdquo; said Micky as she paused, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re going
+back, and we&rsquo;re going to start the new year&ndash;&ndash;friends,
+you and I! Is that a bargain?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Outside Micky hailed a taxicab.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re much too tired to walk,&rdquo; he said when she
+protested. &ldquo;And it will be a new experience for Charlie,&rdquo;
+he added with a twinkle.</p>
+<p>He put her into the cab, and stood for a moment at
+the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And the address?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She hesitated, looking away from him; then suddenly
+she told him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Brixton Road&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s a very horrid boarding-house,&rdquo;
+she added with a half-sigh.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Boarding-houses are all horrid,&rdquo; said Micky cheerily.
+&ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll come down myself to-morrow and see how
+bad it really is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He tried to see her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shall you be in if I come in the afternoon?&rdquo; he
+asked anxiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;About four, then,&rdquo; said Micky. He groped for her
+hand, found it, and pressed it. &ldquo;Good-night,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And the next moment Micky was alone in the starlight.</p>
+<p>He stood looking after the taxi with a queer sense
+of unreality. Had he just dreamt it all, and was there
+really no such girl as Esther Shepstone? No Charlie?
+He shook himself together with a laugh. Of course it
+was real, all of it! He walked on soberly through the
+cold night.</p>
+<p>To-morrow he would go to the very horrid boarding-house
+in the Brixton Road and see her again.</p>
+<p>Esther! He liked her name; there was something
+quaint and old-world about it. It seemed impossible that
+they had only met a few hours ago.</p>
+<p>His headache had quite vanished. He was whistling
+a snatch of song when he let himself into the house
+and went upstairs.</p>
+<p>He opened the door of his sitting-room, and then
+stopped dead on the threshold. The lights were burning
+fully, and a man was ensconced in his favourite armchair
+by the fire&ndash;&ndash;Ashton. Lord! he had forgotten all
+about Ashton.</p>
+<p>Micky looked guiltily at the clock&ndash;&ndash;nearly eleven!&ndash;&ndash;he
+began a half-apology.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Awfully sorry, old man&ndash;&ndash;I was kept.... Been
+waiting long?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I got here at ten.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton climbed out of the chair and looked at Micky
+with a sort of shamefacedness.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t take your coat off,&rdquo; he said suddenly. &ldquo;I want
+you to come out again&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Out! Now! Look at the time, man!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s only eleven.... I&rsquo;m catching the
+midnight to Dover....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dover! What in the world....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton turned round and looked down at the fire with
+a sort of embarrassment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the mater,&rdquo; he said jerkily. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s found out&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked puzzled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Found out! What on earth....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton made an impatient gesture. He was a good-looking
+man, with dark eyes that could look all manner
+of things without in the least meaning them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;About that girl at Eldred&rsquo;s,&rdquo; he said in a strangled
+voice. &ldquo;You know! I told you about her. Lord, man,
+don&rsquo;t look so confoundedly ignorant! I told you about
+her,&rdquo; he broke off. &ldquo;Well, some one&rsquo;s told the mater,
+and this morning....&rdquo; he shrugged his shoulders.
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s been old Harry to pay! She told me if I didn&rsquo;t
+give her up she&rsquo;d cut me out of her will. She would,
+too!&rdquo; he added, in savage parenthesis.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well! and what did you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton looked round.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hang it all! what could I say? Told her I would, of
+course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a sharp silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you liked the girl,&rdquo; said Micky bluntly.</p>
+<p>The other man winced.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I did&ndash;&ndash;so I do.... It&rsquo;s a rotten shame. If
+you&rsquo;d ever seen her ... you never have, have you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Neither has the mater.... Women are all the
+same; because the girl has to work for her living they
+think she isn&rsquo;t fit for me to marry.... It&rsquo;s all a lot
+of rot.... However&ndash;&ndash;beggars can&rsquo;t be choosers&ndash;&ndash;and
+so I&rsquo;m off to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span></div>
+<p>Micky looked at him keenly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean that you&rsquo;re going without a word to the
+girl?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What can I do?&ndash;&ndash;I went and saw her this morning&ndash;&ndash;we
+had a rotten scene. I meant to tell her it was all
+up, but somehow I couldn&rsquo;t; I&rsquo;m too dashed fond of her,
+and that&rsquo;s the truth. I can&rsquo;t bear to see her cry&ndash;&ndash;it
+makes me feel such a cur....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited a moment, but Micky made no comment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So the only thing is to clear out,&rdquo; Ashton went on
+jerkily. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t afford to quarrel with the mater, you
+know that.... Perhaps some day....&rdquo; He
+stopped. &ldquo;After all, she can&rsquo;t live for ever,&rdquo; he added
+brutally.</p>
+<p>Micky said nothing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I&rsquo;m off to-night,&rdquo; Ashton went on with an effort.
+&ldquo;I wanted to see you&ndash;&ndash;I knew I could trust you....&rdquo;
+He fumbled in a pocket. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a letter here....
+I&rsquo;ve written&ndash;&ndash;I couldn&rsquo;t see her again. I know I&rsquo;m a
+coward, but ... well, there it is!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He threw the letter down on the table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you go and see her, old chap, and give her
+that?&rdquo; he asked with an effort. &ldquo;Tell her I&ndash;&ndash;oh, tell
+her what you like,&rdquo; he went on fiercely. &ldquo;Tell her that
+if I could afford it....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stopped again, and this time the silence was unbroken
+for some minutes.</p>
+<p>Then he roused himself and picked up his coat. &ldquo;Well,
+I must be getting along. I left my baggage at the station.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked at Micky. &ldquo;I suppose you think I&rsquo;m an infernal
+sweep, eh?&rdquo; he asked curtly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>He had always expected that Ashton&rsquo;s romance would
+end like this, and he felt vaguely sorry for the girl,
+though he had never seen her. She must have expected
+it, too, he thought. She must have known Ashton&rsquo;s position
+all along. He followed his friend out of the room.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t told me her address,&rdquo; he said suddenly.</p>
+<p>He decided that it would be better to send the letter&ndash;&ndash;he
+did not want to see her. He hated a scene as much
+as Ashton did.</p>
+<p>Ashton was at the top of the stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s on the letter. What have you done with it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was an irritable note in his voice. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t leave
+it lying there for that man of yours to see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky went back into the room. The letter lay on
+the table where Ashton had thrown it down.</p>
+<p>He picked it up, glancing casually at the written address
+as he did so. Then suddenly his tall figure stiffened,
+and a curiously blank look filled his eyes, for the
+name scribbled there in Ashton&rsquo;s writing was&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Esther Shepstone,&rdquo; and, below it, the number
+of the very horrid boarding-house in the Brixton Road.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_II' id='CHAPTER_II'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky stood staring at the envelope in his hand.
+He felt as if something had happened to paralyse
+all power of action.</p>
+<p>Esther Shepstone and Ashton&rsquo;s girl from Eldred&rsquo;s were
+one and the same; that was all he could grasp, and it
+sounded absurd and impossible.</p>
+<p>He had heard so much of this girl&ndash;&ndash;Ashton had talked
+about her times without number&ndash;&ndash;Lallie he had called
+her; now he came to think of it, Micky could not remember
+having ever heard her spoken of by any other name;
+and Lallie and Esther Shepstone were one and the same.</p>
+<p>Was this, then, why she had cried, because of Ashton...?</p>
+<p>Ashton called to him impatiently from the stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What the deuce are you doing? I shall miss my
+train.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky roused himself with a start, and, dropping the
+letter into his pocket, went slowly out of the room; he
+felt as if he could not have hurried had his life depended
+upon it; there was an absurdly cold sort of feeling round
+his heart.</p>
+<p>It was ridiculous, of course; it was nothing to him
+if the girl with whom he had dined an hour ago loved
+Ashton; he had never seen her before. That sounded
+an absurd truth, too; it seemed impossible that until this
+evening he and she had never met.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For heaven&rsquo;s sake, hurry up, man,&rdquo; said Ashton again
+sharply.</p>
+<p>He was at the bottom of the stairs; the face he turned
+over his shoulder to Micky looked pale and harassed.</p>
+<p>Micky quickened his steps and joined his friend in the
+porch below; they stood together out on the path waiting
+for a taxicab.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span></div>
+<p>Micky glanced at Ashton with a curious sense of unreality;
+he felt as if he had never seen him before; it
+seemed impossible that this Ashton could know Esther&ndash;&ndash;and
+Charlie!</p>
+<p>A taxicab drew up to the kerb; Ashton banged open
+the door and got in. Micky followed, and they drove
+some way in silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take thundering good care I don&rsquo;t stay away
+long,&rdquo; Ashton said suddenly, with a sort of growl. &ldquo;And
+if the mater thinks it will make me forget Lallie&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought her name was Esther,&rdquo; said Micky quietly.
+He was looking out of the window into the starry night.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So it is&ndash;&ndash;but I always call her Lallie.&rdquo; He looked
+at his friend with a sort of vague suspicion. &ldquo;How do
+you know what her name is?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I saw it on the letter you gave me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton grunted.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think it would be better if you posted it to her
+yourself and have done with it,&rdquo; Micky said with an
+effort. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a rotten hand at this sort of thing. It can&rsquo;t
+do any good if I go and see her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You said you would go&ndash;&ndash;you might be a sport and
+stick to your word,&rdquo; Ashton protested. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d do the
+same for you any day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky rather doubted it, but did not like to say so.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you knew how sick I am about the whole business,&rdquo;
+Ashton went on jerkily. &ldquo;You may not believe
+me, but I tell you, Micky, that I&rsquo;d marry that girl to-morrow
+if only&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If only&ndash;&ndash;what?&rdquo; Micky asked as he paused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you know! What the dickens can I do without
+a bob to my name except what the mater chooses to
+dole out? I tell you,&rdquo; he went on with a sort of snarl,
+&ldquo;it&rsquo;ll be very different when I get the money. Gad! if
+only I&rsquo;d got it now!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Money isn&rsquo;t everything,&rdquo; said Micky sententiously.
+&ldquo;And if you like the girl, why not marry her and face
+it out?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span></div>
+<p>Ashton gave a savage little laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all very fine for you to say that money isn&rsquo;t
+everything&ndash;&ndash;that&rsquo;s only because you&rsquo;ve got it, and are
+never likely to be without it. You don&rsquo;t know what it
+feels like to be up to your eyes in debt and not knowing
+where to turn for a fiver. Bah! what&rsquo;s the good of
+talking?&rdquo; He let down the window with a run, turning
+his face to the keen night air.</p>
+<p>They were nearing their destination, and there was
+still something he wanted to say to Micky which so far,
+he had been afraid to put into words.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I suppose I shan&rsquo;t be seeing you again for a
+bit,&rdquo; he said, with rather a forced laugh. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been
+a good pal to me, Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky said &ldquo;Rot!&rdquo; rather shortly; he frowned in the
+darkness; Ashton got on his nerves; he rather wished
+he had not come to see him off.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but you have&ndash;&ndash;whether you like me to say so
+or not,&rdquo; the other man went on obstinately. &ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;and
+there&rsquo;s one last thing I&rsquo;m going to ask you before I
+go....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited, but Micky did not speak.</p>
+<p>The taxi was turning into the station yard now, moving
+slowly because of the congested traffic.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you could give Lallie some money,&rdquo; Ashton went
+on with a rush. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d send her some, but I&rsquo;ve only just
+got enough to get out of the way with. I&rsquo;ll pay you
+back as soon as the mater condescends to send me another
+cheque....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s face felt hot.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hasn&rsquo;t she&ndash;&ndash;hasn&rsquo;t she got any, then?&rdquo; he asked with
+an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;at least I promised her some when I saw her
+this morning. She&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;s left Eldred&rsquo;s. You see&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he
+drew a hard breath&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;you see, I hoped we&rsquo;d be able to
+get married, and so&ndash;&ndash;well, there was no sense in her staying
+on there. She was worked to death, poor kid.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He glanced at Micky, but could not see his face.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You understand, don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he said, encouraged by
+his silence. &ldquo;She owes them a bit at the boarding-house
+where she is living. I promised to wipe it off for her,
+but the mater cutting up rough altered everything, and
+so ... if you could give her a little&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see to it,&rdquo; said Micky. He opened the door of
+the taxi and got out before it was at a standstill. He
+took off his hat and let the cold air play on his hot
+forehead. He could hardly trust himself to speak.</p>
+<p>He was thankful when Ashton went off to see to his
+luggage. He walked into the station and found himself
+aimlessly staring at a notice board. He could not remember
+when he had felt so furiously angry.</p>
+<p>Had Ashton changed? he was asking himself in bewilderment.
+Or was it merely that he had never seen
+the man he really was until to-night?</p>
+<p>He tried to remember what Ashton had told him about
+Esther Shepstone in the past. That she had been at
+Eldred&rsquo;s he knew, and that Eldred&rsquo;s was a place where
+women bought silk petticoats and things he also knew.
+He had heard Marie Deland and her friends talking
+about it lots of times. Marie had once invited him to
+accompany her there when they had been out together,
+but he had refused and had waited outside for her. Now
+he came to think of it, that was about all Ashton had
+ever told him of Esther Shepstone.</p>
+<p>He knew that Ashton had been seen about with her a
+great deal; knew that he had had to stand a lot of harmless
+chaff in consequence; he himself had joked about
+Ashton&rsquo;s &ldquo;latest&rdquo; as they had all called her: it seemed a
+memory to be ashamed of, when he thought of the way
+he had heard her sobbing in the street that night, of the
+distress in her eyes, of the hopeless way in which she
+had spoken.</p>
+<p>Ashton rejoined him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Buck up! The train&rsquo;s in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They went along the platform, followed by a porter
+with Ashton&rsquo;s baggage. Micky looked at it resentfully;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span>
+Ashton was evidently prepared to enjoy himself; this was
+no rush after mere solitude and forgetfulness.</p>
+<p>He stood stiffly at the carriage door while Ashton
+stowed his smaller traps on the rack. Presently he came
+to the window.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll do the best you can, won&rsquo;t you, old man?&rdquo;
+There was a real anxiety in his eyes, but Micky was not
+looking at him; he answered stiffly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ll do what I can.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll soon get another job,&rdquo; Ashton went on, with
+forced confidence. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry she left Eldred&rsquo;s, now it&rsquo;s
+come to this, but how was I to know?&rdquo; he appealed to
+Micky, but he might as well have appealed to a brick
+wall for all response he got.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when I come back&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said again. &ldquo;Tell
+her that when I come back many things may be all right
+again ... tell her that, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell her,&rdquo; said Micky stolidly.</p>
+<p>The guard was blowing his whistle now, doors were
+being shut.</p>
+<p>Micky roused himself and looked at his friend.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;are you going to write to her?&rdquo; he
+asked constrainedly.</p>
+<p>Ashton coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s better not&ndash;&ndash;far better let the thing drop till
+I come back. I&rsquo;ve explained it all in my letter&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;ll understand.
+It&rsquo;s no use writing&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t you think it&rsquo;s better
+not&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky hunched his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s your affair,&rdquo; he said laconically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, well, I shan&rsquo;t write&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll send you my address
+as soon as I know where I&rsquo;m staying, and you can let
+me know what she said and how she takes it....
+Oh, confound it!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A porter had come along and slammed the door; the
+train was slowly moving; Micky was vaguely glad that
+there had been no time in which to shake hands. A
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span>
+moment, and he was walking away alone down the platform.</p>
+<p>His hands were deep thrust in the pockets of his coat;
+he took no notice of anything; he walked on and out
+of the station.</p>
+<p>Well, this had been an eventful New Year&rsquo;s Eve with a
+vengeance; he glanced up at the clock in the dome behind
+him&ndash;&ndash;only a quarter to twelve now, and yet so much
+had been crowded into the past four hours. Since the
+moment when the Delands rang up to cancel his engagement
+to dine he seemed to have stepped out of the
+old world into a new. He wondered what Esther Shepstone
+was doing in the very horrid boarding-house of
+which she had told him&ndash;&ndash;if she was thinking of Ashton.</p>
+<p>What a cad the man was, what a cad!&ndash;&ndash;he was amazed
+that he had not discovered it before&ndash;&ndash;to clear off and
+leave a girl like this, without a word of farewell except
+the letter. He wondered if he meant to deliver it and
+admit that he knew Ashton, or if he meant just to stick
+a stamp on and post it to her.</p>
+<p>He realised that there was nothing very much to be
+proud of in an admission that he knew Ashton, and yet
+they had been friends for years.</p>
+<p>It was striking twelve when he got home; he stood for
+a moment on the doorstep, looking up at the starry sky.</p>
+<p>Several clocks were chiming midnight in the distance;
+he listened with a queer sense of fatalism.</p>
+<p>This was the strangest New Year&rsquo;s Eve he had ever
+spent in his life. At this hour last year he had been
+dancing the old year out, and to-night, had things gone
+as he had thought, he would have been somewhere with
+Marie Deland&ndash;&ndash;he might even have proposed to her by
+this time. He smiled faintly, remembering that the intention
+had really been somewhere in the background
+of his mind; but that, too, had faded out now to give
+place to other, more important, factors.</p>
+<p>Nine, ten, eleven, twelve! He counted the strokes
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span>
+mechanically; there was a breathless pause, then the clash
+of bells.</p>
+<p>Some irrepressibles in a block of flats near by raised a
+cheer; the front door of a house opposite was open, and
+Micky caught a glimpse of a crowded hall and black-coated
+men and girls in pretty frocks.</p>
+<p>He felt strangely removed from all the noise and laughter;
+after a moment he turned and went up to his room.</p>
+<p>The fire had been carefully made up and his slippers
+and dressing-gown put to warm. Micky looked at them
+with a sort of disgust; it was sickening for a healthy
+grown man to be so pampered; he kicked the slippers
+into a corner and tossed the dressing-gown on to the
+couch.</p>
+<p>He wondered what sort of a room Esther Shepstone
+had in the very horrid boarding-house&ndash;&ndash;what odd corner
+the thin black cat curled into to sleep.</p>
+<p>He took Ashton&rsquo;s letter from his pocket and stuck it
+up against the clock on the mantelshelf.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Esther Shepstone....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was fate, that&rsquo;s what it was! He wondered if she
+would ever have lived to get that letter had fate not
+thrown her across his path that night.</p>
+<p>She had been desperate&ndash;&ndash;at the end of her tether, and
+all for the sake of that cad Ashton.</p>
+<p>He turned his back on the letter and lit a cigarette, but
+he let it go out almost at once, and turned back again
+to stare once more at the name scrawled on the envelope.</p>
+<p>What had Ashton written to her? It worried him because
+he did not know. Ashton had had other love-affairs&ndash;&ndash;not
+quite such serious ones, perhaps, but still serious
+enough&ndash;&ndash;and Micky knew that when he had wearied
+of them he had set about getting free of them by the
+shortest route, caring little if it were also a brutal one.
+He thought of the despair he had seen in Esther&rsquo;s face
+that evening; he dreaded that there might be something
+in Ashton&rsquo;s farewell letter that would plunge her back
+more deeply into her misery.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span></div>
+<p>Out in the night the bells were still ringing joyously.</p>
+<p>It was New Year&rsquo;s morning, and perhaps, if he sent
+that letter ... He stood quite still for a moment,
+staring at it; then suddenly he threw his cigarette into
+the fire and snatched the letter down from the shelf.</p>
+<p>He tore it open impulsively and drew out the enclosure.
+He unfolded it and began to read. The silence of
+the room was unbroken save for the little crisp sound
+as Micky turned the paper; then the letter fluttered to
+the rug at his feet and lay there, half-curled up, as if it
+were ashamed of the words it bore and wished to hide
+them.</p>
+<p>Micky raised his eyes and looked at his reflection in
+the glass above the mantelshelf. The pallor of his face
+surprised him, and the look of passionate anger in his
+eyes.</p>
+<p>He was a man of the world. He was no better and
+no worse than many of the men whom he knew and
+called his friends, but this letter, in its brutal callousness,
+seemed to shame his very manhood.</p>
+<p>He had liked Ashton, had been his constant companion
+for months, but he had never suspected him of being
+capable of this.</p>
+<p>He supposed he ought to be ashamed of having opened
+the letter, but he was not ashamed; he was glad that he
+had been able to spare the girl this last and hardest
+blow of all&ndash;&ndash;the knowledge that the man whom she loved
+and trusted was unworthy.</p>
+<p>Presently he picked the letter up from the rug. He
+picked it up with the tips of his fingers, as if it were
+something repulsive to him, and threw it down on the
+table.</p>
+<p>The first few words stared up at him as it lay there.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Lallie</span>,&ndash;&ndash;By the time you get this letter I shall be out of
+England, and I hope you won&rsquo;t make things worse for me than
+they already are by trying to find out where I have gone or by
+writing to my people and making a scene. The worst of these
+little flirtations is that they always have to end, as this must, and
+you must have known it.&rdquo;...</p>
+</blockquote>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span></div>
+<p>Micky drew in his breath hard; not an hour ago in
+this very room Ashton had made out how cut-up he was
+at the turn his affairs had taken, and yet all the time he
+had written this letter.</p>
+<p>He flicked over a page and read on:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;... I shall never forget you and the good times we&rsquo;ve had
+together. I should try and get back at Eldred&rsquo;s, if I were you.
+It&rsquo;s a good thing we didn&rsquo;t get married as matters have turned
+out, or the fat would have been in the fire with a vengeance. As
+it is, I shall have all my work cut out to put the mater in a good
+temper again. I am sending you some money by Mickey Mellowes;
+he&rsquo;s a friend of mine and as rich as Cr&oelig;sus, and as
+selfish as the devil. If he offers to take you out, let him, by all
+means. It wouldn&rsquo;t be a bad thing if he took a fancy to you; he
+doesn&rsquo;t care a hang for any one but himself. If only I&rsquo;d got half
+his money ... but what&rsquo;s the use of talking about it? Anyway,
+this is good-bye; I shan&rsquo;t write again. Be a sensible girl,
+and try to see things from my point of view. It would only have
+meant ruin for both of us if I&rsquo;d stuck to you. Good-bye; I send
+you my love for the last time.</p>
+<p class='ralign'><span class='smcap'>Raymond Ashton</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>And this from the man whom she loved; the man who
+had pretended to love her!</p>
+<p>Micky dragged forward a chair with his foot and sat
+down straddlewise. He leaned an elbow on the chair-back
+and ran his fingers through his hair with a sort of
+bewilderment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as rich as Cr&oelig;sus and as selfish as the devil....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And this from Ashton, his friend&ndash;&ndash;the man whom he
+had helped out of scrapes scores of times; the man to
+whom he had lent money without the least hope of its
+ever being returned; Micky felt as if he had a blow in
+the face.</p>
+<p>His thoughts were in a whirl; the whole world needed
+readjusting. Was he selfish? he asked himself in perplexity&ndash;&ndash;if
+so, it was quite unconsciously, and anyway
+Ashton was the last person who should have made the
+accusation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am sending you some money by a friend of
+mine....&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span></div>
+<p>There was no hint that the money was first to be borrowed;
+he had evidently been sure of his prey; Micky
+swore under his breath.</p>
+<p>Of course, Ashton had not dreamed of the letter being
+opened, had not dreamed of anything but that his carefully-made
+plans would be minutely carried out and nothing
+more said.</p>
+<p>Micky sat for a long time, lost in thought; the hands
+of the clock crawled round to one and the chime struck;
+he looked up then, glancing at the clock vaguely.</p>
+<p>If he had not met Esther Shepstone there might have
+been no Esther in the world at all now; if he allowed
+that letter to reach its destination he would be plunging
+her back again into the abyss of despair from which he
+had dragged her only that evening. She loved Ashton; of
+that Micky was sure. Very well then, she should at least
+have some part of her ideal left to her.</p>
+<p>He went over to his desk and took up paper and pen;
+he spread Ashton&rsquo;s letter out before him and studied the
+writing carefully.</p>
+<p>Ordinary sort of writing, rather unformed and sprawly,
+but after a trial run Micky managed a very presentable
+copy of it.</p>
+<p>He sat back in his chair and eyed his handiwork with
+pride; he had missed his vocation, he told himself with a
+chuckle; he ought to have been a forger.</p>
+<p>Then he dipped the pen in the ink again and squared
+his elbows. He had never written a love-letter in his life,
+but he knew positively that he was about to write one
+now.</p>
+<p>He thought of Esther and the wistfulness of her grey
+eyes; she was the girl whom a man could love. He coloured
+a little as the thought involuntarily crossed his
+mind; she was a girl whom&ndash;&ndash;he began to write rapidly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My darling little girl&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was naturally rather eloquent with his pen,
+though he had never before tried it in this especial direction.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;This is the most difficult letter I have ever had to
+write in all my life; first, because I love you so much;
+and, secondly, because I am afraid it is going to hurt you
+nearly as much as it hurts me. Dear, as it will be some
+time before I see you again, and because I cannot explain
+everything to you, I am going to ask you to trust
+me till we meet again. I am leaving England to-night....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky paused and ran his fingers through his hair
+agitatedly before he struggled on once more: &ldquo;I shall
+be thinking of you every minute till we meet again, and
+of the happy times we have had together. I will write
+to you whenever I can....&rdquo; The pen paused, and
+Micky groaned, recalling that Ashton had said he should
+not write at all.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll have to do, anyway,&rdquo; he muttered, and again the
+pen flew: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not much of a hand at writing letters,
+as you know, but you must try and read between the
+lines, and guess at all I would say were we together
+... All I will say to you when we meet again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>That last sentence was rather neat, Micky thought with
+pride, then a wave of compunction swept through his
+heart as he remembered the tragedy behind it all, and he
+finished the page soberly enough: &ldquo;Ever yours, Raymond
+Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Damn him!&rdquo; said Micky under his breath, as he blotted
+the signature; then he took two ten-pound notes from
+a drawer in his desk, and, enclosing them in the envelope,
+sealed and stamped it.</p>
+<p>It was half-past one, but Micky climbed into his coat
+again. He locked Ashton&rsquo;s letter into his desk, and, taking
+the one he had written, went quietly down to the
+street.</p>
+<p>The world was sleeping and deserted, and Micky&rsquo;s footsteps
+echoed hollowly along the pavement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a fool, you know!&rdquo; he told himself, with a
+sort of humour. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re a bally fool, my boy! It won&rsquo;t
+end here, you see if it does.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But he went on to the pillar-box at the street corner.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span></div>
+<p>When he reached it he stood for a moment with the
+letter in his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a fool,&rdquo; he told himself again hardily. &ldquo;Micky,
+my boy, you&rsquo;re a bally idiot, interfering with what doesn&rsquo;t
+concern you&ndash;&ndash;with what doesn&rsquo;t concern you in the very
+least.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked up at the stars and thought of Esther Shepstone,
+of her eyes and her wavering smile, and the soft
+note in her voice as she had asked him&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you always as kind to every one as you have
+been to me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>No concern of his! It was every concern of his; he
+knew that he was only living for the hours to pass before
+he saw her again. No concern of his! when the greatest
+miracle of all the world had come to pass during those
+last hours of the old year, inasmuch that Micky Mellowes,
+heartwhole and a bachelor for thirty odd years,
+had been bowled over by a girl without a shilling to her
+name&ndash;&ndash;a girl who loved another man, but a girl to whom
+Micky had without wishing it, without knowing it, dedicated
+the rest of his life!</p>
+<p>He was her champion for the future, some one to
+stand between her and the callousness of the man of
+whom even now she was probably thinking.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No concern of mine!&rdquo; said Micky to himself with fine
+scorn. &ldquo;Why, of course it is! Every concern of mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He squared his shoulders and dropped the envelope
+into the pillar-box.</p>
+<p>And so Micky Mellowes posted his first love-letter.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_III' id='CHAPTER_III'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+</div>
+<p>In spite of the events of the night Micky Mellowes
+slept soundly. It was half-past nine when he woke,
+to find his man Driver moving noiselessly about the
+room.</p>
+<p>When he saw that Micky was awake he approached
+the bed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-morning, sir, and a happy New Year.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver had an expressionless voice; he announced tea
+or tragedy in exactly the same tone.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eh?&rdquo; said Micky vacantly; the words opened the door
+of memory, and he sat up with a start. It was New
+Year&rsquo;s Day, and last night ... ye gods! what had
+not happened last night? Micky tingled to the tips of
+his fingers as he remembered the letter he had written
+and posted; he had expected to feel rotten about it in
+the light of day; it was an agreeable surprise to find
+that he did not feel anything of the kind.</p>
+<p>When he went in to breakfast there was a pile of letters
+waiting for him; he looked them through carelessly&ndash;&ndash;there
+was one from Marie Deland, which he opened
+with a vague feeling of nervousness.</p>
+<p>Marie was a nice little girl; he really was quite fond
+of her, and yet ... surely the days of miracles had
+not yet passed away, seeing that in a few short hours
+his feeling for her had changed from something warmer
+to more brotherly affection.</p>
+<p>It made him feel uncomfortable to read what she had
+written; it was really only quite an ordinary letter of
+regret that she had not seen him last night, but Micky
+imagined he could read more between the lines.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;... I quite hoped you would drop in, if only
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span>
+for a few moments,&rdquo; so she wrote. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been so dull.
+I am writing this alone in the library.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky knew that library well; he and she had spent a
+good deal of time there together talking sweet nothings;
+he wondered if he would have been an engaged man by
+this time if that relative of the Delands had not so conveniently
+died, and if Esther had not chosen his particular
+street in which to weep.</p>
+<p>He screwed the letter up and tossed it into the fire;
+he would answer it some time, or call; there was no immediate
+hurry. When he had finished his breakfast he
+went to his locked desk and took out Ashton&rsquo;s letter&ndash;&ndash;somehow
+until he actually saw it again he could not quite
+believe that the events of last night had not all been a
+dream; but the letter was real enough, at all events with
+its callous beginning to &ldquo;Dear Lallie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The morning seemed to drag; twice people rang him
+up on the &rsquo;phone and asked him to lunch, but Micky
+was not in the mood for lunch; he felt a suppressed sort
+of excitement, as if something of great import were
+about to happen.</p>
+<p>Driver looked at him woodenly once or twice; his face
+was as expressionless as his voice, but his dull eyes saw
+everything, and behind them his keen brain wondered
+what had happened to make Micky so restless.</p>
+<p>Towards one o&rsquo;clock he ventured a gentle reminder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have an engagement for half-past three, sir&ndash;&ndash;Miss
+Langdon&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was yawning over the paper then; he looked up
+with an absurdly blank face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I say!&ndash;&ndash;well, I can&rsquo;t go, anyway. What was it
+for? I&rsquo;m going out&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve got an important appointment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver never showed surprise at anything if he felt it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was a musical &lsquo;At &rsquo;Ome,&rsquo; sir,&rdquo; he answered stolidly.
+&ldquo;Shall I ring up and say that you won&rsquo;t be able to come?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, ring up,&rdquo; said Micky. He coloured self-consciously
+beneath the man&rsquo;s stoic eyes and hurriedly buried
+his head again in the newspaper.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span></div>
+<p>At three o&rsquo;clock he changed his clothes for an immaculate
+morning-coat and grey trousers; then, remembering
+what Esther had said about the very horrid boarding-house,
+he changed them again for the oldest tweed suit
+in his possession, and a pair of brown boots that had
+seen their best days and long since been condemned by
+Driver.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How in the world do I get to Brixton?&rdquo; Micky asked
+the man when he was ready. &ldquo;I know I could take a
+taxicab, but I don&rsquo;t want to. What other ways are
+there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver told him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the train, sir, or a tram.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky jumped at the tramcar. He was sure that people
+who lived in Brixton must all use tramcars.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How long would a tramcar take?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>Driver considered. Finally he said that he thought it
+might be the best part of an hour.</p>
+<p>Micky glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter
+past three. He took up his hat hurriedly and went out
+into the street.</p>
+<p>A taxicab would have to do for to-day anyway. He
+could dismiss it at the corner of the road and walk the
+last few yards. A moment later he was being whirled
+through the streets.</p>
+<p>He sat leaning back in the corner with his feet up on
+the seat opposite, feeling decidedly nervous.</p>
+<p>Supposing he did not see Esther&ndash;&ndash;supposing she were
+not there? Supposing she had purposely given him the
+wrong address? Supposing ... oh, supposing a
+thousand and one things! Micky was full of apprehension
+when at last the taxicab stopped at the corner of
+the Brixton Road and the driver came to the door to
+ask what number.</p>
+<p>Micky scrambled out.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ll walk the rest of the way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He paid the man liberally, and set out along the
+crowded pathway. There were so many people about
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
+that he thought it must be a market day or something.
+A word with a policeman elicited the information that he
+was at quite the wrong end of the street for the number
+he wanted. Micky was rather glad. He felt that he
+needed time in which to collect his thoughts, and yet
+when at last he reached his destination he felt as nervous
+as a kitten and strongly inclined to go back. But he
+went on and up the bare strip of garden which led to
+the front door of the house. It wasn&rsquo;t such a bad-looking
+house, he thought. Not nearly as bad as he had expected
+from the girl&rsquo;s description. In fact, once upon a time it
+must have been rather a palatial residence, but all the
+windows now were boxed up with cheap, starchy-looking
+curtains, and there was a sort of third-rate atmosphere
+about the basement and the cheap knocker on the front
+door.</p>
+<p>Micky looked for a bell, but there wasn&rsquo;t one, so he
+knocked.</p>
+<p>It seemed a long time before anybody came. When
+at last they did he heard them coming for a long time
+before the door was opened, heard slipshod steps on shiny
+linoleum, and a husky sort of breathless cough.</p>
+<p>The owner of the cough was young and scared-looking,
+in shoes several sizes too large for her, and a skirt several
+inches too short. When Micky asked for Miss Shepstone
+she stared without answering for a moment, then she
+turned and slopped back the way she had come, leaving
+the door on the chain.</p>
+<p>Micky chuckled to himself; she evidently did not like
+the look of him.</p>
+<p>He waited patiently; then he heard another step along
+the shiny linoleumed floor of the hall&ndash;&ndash;a very different
+step this time&ndash;&ndash;and, turning eagerly, he saw Esther herself
+in the doorway.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really think you would come,&rdquo; she said breathlessly.</p>
+<p>For a moment Micky could not find his tongue. If
+he had thought this girl pretty last night with the tears
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span>
+in her eyes he thought her a thousand times prettier now.
+She looked as if some magician hand had wiped the distress
+from her face and convinced her that the sun still
+shone.</p>
+<p>She wore the same clothes she had worn last night, but
+even they seemed somehow to have changed. There was
+a bunch of violets pinned in her jacket. Micky wondered
+if it were the violets that were responsible for the
+alteration.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When I make an appointment I always keep it,&rdquo; he
+said.</p>
+<p>He had almost added &ldquo;with any one like you,&rdquo; but
+thought better of it. &ldquo;And are you going to let me take
+you out to tea?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She hesitated; she glanced back into the dingy hall
+behind her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am leaving here to-day,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;My box has
+gone already. If you will wait a moment ... I
+would ask you in, but you&rsquo;d hate it so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll wait outside,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>He went down into the street. For the moment he
+had quite forgotten all about Ashton and the letter which
+must by this time be in Esther&rsquo;s possession.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And what about Charlie?&rdquo; he asked whimsically when
+she joined him.</p>
+<p>She smiled, shaking her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I sent him on&ndash;&ndash;in a basket. Nobody wants him here&ndash;&ndash;he
+only gets badgered about all day long; so I&rsquo;m taking
+him with me. Do you think I ought not to?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think Charlie is a most fortunate cat,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>She did not take him seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think he will be happier with me anyway,&rdquo; she said
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to quite a nice boarding-house now. I went
+out this morning and found it.&rdquo; She looked up at him
+with a smile. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think even you would mind coming
+to tea there,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you were going to say mind coming there
+to live,&rdquo; Micky told her audaciously. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been looking
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span>
+about for fresh diggings; I&rsquo;m tired of mine.&rdquo; He stopped
+and glanced behind him. &ldquo;Can we get a tramcar here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not tired,&rdquo; she said quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I must admit that I am,&rdquo; Micky answered. He
+hated walking at the best of times, and he did not like
+to suggest another taxicab. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s go on top.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They climbed up and found a front seat; there was a
+working man next to them smoking shag in a clay pipe;
+he looked at Micky and Esther doubtfully, then asked&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Does your good lady mind smoke, mister?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind at all,&rdquo; she said, laughing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You got home all right last night, then?&rdquo; Micky said
+presently. &ldquo;After you had gone I wished I had seen you
+safely in....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of you, but I was quite all right.&rdquo; There
+was a note of constraint in her voice. &ldquo;I should like to
+thank you for what you did for me last night,&rdquo; she said
+hesitatingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for you....&rdquo; She stopped.</p>
+<p>Micky did not know what to say.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Anyway, it&rsquo;s all right now, eh?&rdquo; he asked presently,
+with awkward cheerfulness. &ldquo;I thought it would be;
+when things look so black that they can&rsquo;t possibly look
+any blacker, they always begin to mend. I&rsquo;ve found that
+out before; I don&rsquo;t know if you have.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I found it out this morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked down at her. She was sitting with her
+hands clasped together in her lap; there was a little flush
+in her cheeks, and her lips were curved into a faint
+smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It seems so wonderful too,&rdquo; she went on softly, &ldquo;that
+it should have happened on New Year&rsquo;s Day&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Fares, all fares, please,&rdquo; said the conductor beside
+them. Micky dived into a pocket and found a shilling.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Two, please,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>He had paid for and shared taxicabs with Marie Deland
+times without number, but it had never given him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
+quite the same pleasurable little thrill as he experienced
+at this moment.</p>
+<p>There was something so pleasantly familiar about this
+tramcar ride, the fact of sharing the same uncomfortable
+seat with Esther Shepstone.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Penny ones?&rdquo; the conductor asked.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at the girl.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where shall we get off?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Penny ones will do,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Micky took the tickets and pocketed his change.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if there are any decent teashops round
+here,&rdquo; he said dubiously. &ldquo;If you would rather go up to
+the West End....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But finally they found a confectioner&rsquo;s quite close to
+where the penny fare ended.</p>
+<p>Micky looked round critically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is this all right?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been here
+before.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have, often,&rdquo; she said. She was drawing off her
+gloves.</p>
+<p>Micky glanced hurriedly at her hands; she was wearing
+a ring. Hardly knowing that he did so, he leaned across
+and touched it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is that an engagement ring?&rdquo; he asked. His voice
+sounded a little breathless.</p>
+<p>She looked up at him, drawing her hand away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you ask me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He drew back; he shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I beg your pardon. I suppose I have no right to
+ask.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He ordered tea. He talked rather forced platitudes
+for the rest of the time. He was just going to call for
+the bill, when Esther Shepstone said suddenly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes, I should like to tell you something.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; Micky did not look at her. Somehow he could
+not trust himself.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t in the least know why I want to tell you,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
+she said again nervously. &ldquo;But&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ve been so kind to
+me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; said Micky gently, as she paused. &ldquo;Yes, what
+is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was twisting her teaspoon, and she kept her eyes
+lowered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Last night, when I met you&ndash;&ndash;I was very unhappy ...
+There didn&rsquo;t seem anything to live for in the world....
+I don&rsquo;t know if you&rsquo;ve ever felt like that, or if you have
+ever cared for any one&ndash;&ndash;really cared, I mean&ndash;&ndash;but if
+you have....&rdquo; She stopped again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think I understand,&rdquo; Micky said, with an effort.
+&ldquo;You mean that there&rsquo;s some one, some man....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She raised her grey eyes to his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s what I mean.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Some man you care for&ndash;&ndash;care for very much,&rdquo; Micky
+went on slowly. &ldquo;Perhaps some one you have quarreled
+with&ndash;&ndash;who hadn&rsquo;t been quite as ... kind as he
+might have been&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The soft colour flooded her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you guess&ndash;&ndash;last night?&rdquo; she asked shyly.</p>
+<p>Micky smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did I? I am not sure, perhaps.&rdquo; He drew a long
+breath that was half a sigh. &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; he queried.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why I am telling you this&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she said
+again, with a sort of distress. &ldquo;It cannot interest you,
+but, somehow, I think I should like you to know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It interests me very much&ndash;&ndash;I am honoured that you
+should tell me.&rdquo; Micky looked again at the ring she
+wore; quite a cheap little ring, with a couple of inferior
+diamonds. &ldquo;You mean that you are engaged to be married?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; at least&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; The words were only a whisper.</p>
+<p>Micky sat very still.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I suppose you will have me for a friend all the
+same, won&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he asked with an effort.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span></div>
+<p>She looked at him in faint amazement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought if I told you that perhaps you&rsquo;d rather
+not....&rdquo; She stopped in confusion.</p>
+<p>Micky leaned a little closer over the table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You said last night that you didn&rsquo;t believe in a man&rsquo;s
+friendship for a woman,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Well, I am going to
+make you believe in it. I&rsquo;m going to be your friend.
+The fact that you are engaged makes no difference to
+me, if it doesn&rsquo;t to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him earnestly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you mean that,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m very glad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you. I suppose I mustn&rsquo;t ask who the&ndash;&ndash;the
+lucky man is?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you. And he&rsquo;s away now&ndash;&ndash;out of England.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her voice changed a little, her eyes looked past Micky
+as if for the moment she had forgotten him.</p>
+<p>Micky watched her jealously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And so whatever was wrong last night is all right
+to-day, is that it?&rdquo; he asked with an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes ... somehow I never thought it would be,
+but this morning&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This morning?&rdquo; he echoed as she stopped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I had a letter this morning,&rdquo; she told him, and her
+voice had softened so wonderfully that Micky caught his
+breath. &ldquo;Oh, I wonder if you have ever been as unhappy
+as I was last night, and then had a letter, a wonderful
+letter like I had this morning? There was something
+in it that seemed to put everything right straight away;
+something that I&rsquo;ve always wanted before and never had.
+I can&rsquo;t explain it any better than that, but perhaps you
+understand. I&rsquo;m just telling you because I feel so happy
+I must tell somebody, and because I didn&rsquo;t want you to
+misjudge him as I did yesterday. I thought he didn&rsquo;t
+really care, and I wanted to die, but to-day, when his letter
+came&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She broke off into a little happy laugh.</p>
+<p>Micky had rammed his clenched hands into his pockets;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span>
+the blood was hammering in his temples; his brain
+felt in a whirl; somehow in all his wildest imaginings
+he had never dreamed of this.</p>
+<p>It was his letter that had brought that new look of
+happiness to her eyes! His letter which perhaps even
+then lay against her heart; the first love-letter he had
+ever written to any woman, and she believed it to have
+been written by Raymond Ashton!</p>
+<p>He did not realise how long he sat there without speaking
+till Esther spoke to him again. There was a little
+anxious note in her voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid I&rsquo;ve bored you horribly with all this. I
+know it&rsquo;s no interest to you, but I felt that I must tell
+somebody.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky roused himself with an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s of great interest to me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And you
+mustn&rsquo;t ever say a thing like that again. We&rsquo;re going to
+be friends, and real friends are always interested in
+everything that concerns the other. I&rsquo;m more glad than
+I can say that you&rsquo;re happy. I only hope it&rsquo;s going to
+last for ever.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Perhaps there was a dubious note in his voice, for an
+anxious gleam crept into the girl&rsquo;s eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You sound as if you don&rsquo;t think that it will,&rdquo; she said
+quickly.</p>
+<p>Micky made a hurried disclaimer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do think so, of course I do! You deserve all the
+happiness you can get, and whoever the man is, if he
+doesn&rsquo;t make you happy&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stopped, with frowning memory of Ashton and
+their parting only last night.</p>
+<p>He hoped in his heart that they would never meet
+again; if they did, he realised that there would be quite
+a few nasty things he would feel called upon to say to
+him.</p>
+<p>The waitress brought the bill at that moment and put
+an end to further conversation, for which he was thankful.
+He realised that he was getting rather out of his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span>
+depth. He breathed more freely when they were safely
+out in the street.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And where is the new boarding-house?&rdquo; he asked
+presently. He wanted to change the subject; every moment
+he was afraid that he would say something to give
+himself away. He supposed he had behaved like an impetuous
+fool. He ought never to have posted that letter&ndash;&ndash;ought
+never to have opened Ashton&rsquo;s; and yet&ndash;&ndash;if he
+had not done so.... He looked down at the girl
+beside him, and wondered grimly how she would have
+felt if he had allowed that callous farewell to reach her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite close to where we are now,&rdquo; she told him.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s rather more expensive than the last one, but it&rsquo;s
+well worth the extra money, and&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she glanced up at
+him smilingly&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m better off to-day than I was yesterday,&rdquo;
+she explained. &ldquo;And when I go back to work
+again&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going back, then?&rdquo; he asked quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I am. I must do something, and they will
+take me back at Eldred&rsquo;s, I know&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eldred&rsquo;s!&rdquo; Micky frowned. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the petticoat
+shop, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; how did you know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the place lots of times. A girl I know buys
+all her&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He stopped. &ldquo;Do you want to go back
+there?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not particularly, but it&rsquo;s easier than looking for a
+fresh place, and I know they will take me. I&rsquo;m in the
+workroom, and it&rsquo;s not really such a hard life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did some rapid thinking; it was surprising how
+easily his brain had taken to hard work during the last
+twenty-four hours.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you get a job as a companion to a nice old
+lady or somebody?&rdquo; he suggested vaguely.</p>
+<p>She laughed again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t sound a bit attractive,&rdquo; she said frankly.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span>
+&ldquo;I think you need an awful lot of patience. It&rsquo;s very
+kind of you to be interested, but I think I shall go back
+to Eldred&rsquo;s, for a time, at least.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not like the idea at all, but he let the subject
+drop.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going back to the Brixton Road?&rdquo; he asked
+after a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no; I paid them before I left this afternoon, so
+I shall go straight to the new place.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to walk there with you, if I may,&rdquo; said
+Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course you may.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when shall I see you again?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re
+not going to vanish for days, are you? I&rsquo;ve got no end
+of time to kill, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But I haven&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she reminded him. &ldquo;At least, I shan&rsquo;t
+have when I start work. But I should like to see you
+again,&rdquo; she added kindly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Micky with faint sarcasm.</p>
+<p>He felt vaguely disappointed with the whole afternoon.
+She was holding him so decidedly at arm&rsquo;s length.
+He supposed it was that infernal fellow Ashton that
+stood between them. There was a sort of irony, too, in
+the fact that he himself had by his own action established
+him more firmly than ever in this girl&rsquo;s affections.</p>
+<p>And the fellow was not worth a thought! That was
+the rotten part of it. As he looked at her he felt strongly
+tempted to blurt out the truth; to tell her that it was he
+who wrote that letter&ndash;&ndash;to undeceive her once and for all.</p>
+<p>But the thing was manifestly impossible. She would
+probably think it an abominable thing to have opened
+Ashton&rsquo;s letter; she would probably be furious if he let
+her know that the money she had received had come from
+him. Whichever way he turned he seemed to be in a
+corner.</p>
+<p>They had reached the new boarding-house now, and
+Micky was relieved to see that it was a decided improvement
+on the one in the Brixton Road.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span></div>
+<p>The windows were not boxed up, and the steps and
+the bell were clean. It was on the sunny side of the
+road, too, and had an air of cheerfulness about it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s much better than the other one, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; Esther
+asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Streets better,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t mind
+living here myself....&rdquo; He waited, but she made
+no comment, and he felt rather snubbed.</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you like the place where you are living now?&rdquo;
+she asked after a moment. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t they make you comfortable
+there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s comfortable enough,&rdquo; said Micky. He wondered
+if he looked as guilty as he felt. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t believe
+in sticking on anywhere too long. A change is
+good for every one. I shall be shifting out some day
+soon, I expect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall see you again soon,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And if there is
+anything I can do for you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, but there isn&rsquo;t.&rdquo; She spoke quite kindly,
+but Micky had the uncomfortable sort of feeling that
+her thoughts were elsewhere. He waited a moment,
+then held out his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, good-bye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye, and thank you for my tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She nodded and smiled and turned away from him.</p>
+<p>There was nothing else for Micky to do but to go;
+he raised his hat and walked off disconsolately.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_IV' id='CHAPTER_IV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>When Esther went upstairs to her room in No.
+11 Elphinstone Road, she found the door standing
+open, and she could hear some one talking
+inside.</p>
+<p>She stood still for a moment in amazement; she
+thought perhaps she had made a mistake and come to the
+wrong room, but a glance reassured her; the number of
+her room was 23, and this one was 23; she pushed the
+door wider and went in.</p>
+<p>Her boxes were there, standing one upon the other, so
+as to make more space in the small room, and on the
+rather shabby rug by the fireplace a woman was kneeling
+with her back to the door.</p>
+<p>She did not hear Esther enter, and for a moment the
+girl stood staring at her in blank amazement. She could
+not see her face, but she could see that the woman was
+small and slightly built, with a wealth of jet black hair
+coiled in becoming carelessness with a couple of yellow
+pins to fasten it.</p>
+<p>She wore a yellow blouse, which Esther would have
+thought hideous on any one else, but somehow against
+that dark coil of hair it looked decidedly picturesque.</p>
+<p>Esther moved a little, deliberately knocking against a
+chair to attract attention, and the girl on the hearthrug
+looked round with a startled exclamation; then scrambled
+to her feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I heard there was a cat,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;Lydia told
+me that he was shut up here alone, so I just had to come
+in and see him. I hope you don&rsquo;t mind. I brought him
+some milk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a moment Esther was too taken aback to answer.
+She looked from the little woman in the yellow blouse to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span>
+Charlie, sprawled on the rug and purring lustily, and then
+back again to the little woman.</p>
+<p>She was very attractive looking, that was Esther&rsquo;s
+first thought, and her next that she had never seen any
+one with such a beautiful complexion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re Miss Shepstone, aren&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; her visitor queried
+in the friendliest of tones. &ldquo;You see, I know quite a
+lot about you already. Lydia told me&ndash;&ndash;Lydia&rsquo;s the housemaid&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ll
+like her; she&rsquo;s a really nice girl. My name
+is June Mason&ndash;&ndash;I live here, too, and I hope we will
+be great friends.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was something so breezily disarming about her
+that Esther held out her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re very kind. I hardly know what to say....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t say anything,&rdquo; Miss Mason answered airily.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to like you; I knew I should somehow when
+I first heard your name. I believe in that sort of thing&ndash;&ndash;I
+don&rsquo;t know if you do, but as soon as Lydia told me
+who it was that had taken this room I knew I should
+like you. I think your name is sweet&ndash;&ndash;Esther! So
+quaint and old-world. Have you had your tea?&ndash;&ndash;yes, oh,
+what a shame! I&rsquo;ve got some ready for you in my
+room. Oh, I hope you don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s awful cheek,&rdquo; she
+broke out with a sort of embarrassment. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a
+sitting-room here as well as a bedroom, and I always
+make my own tea, it&rsquo;s better than you can get downstairs.
+I&rsquo;ve got a fire there too, and if you&rsquo;re ever cold
+I hope you&rsquo;ll come and sit with me. I&rsquo;m out a good
+deal but you can always use my room when I&rsquo;m not
+there, if you care to. Take off your hat and come and
+see it now, or are you too tired? I don&rsquo;t want to worry
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a bit tired,&rdquo; Esther said, laughing; she felt a
+little bewildered by this sudden offer of friendship, but
+June Mason interested her, and after a moment she took
+off her hat obediently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll bring the cat too,&rdquo; Miss Mason said; she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span>
+swooped down with a quick movement and caught the
+cat up in her arms. &ldquo;I love cats,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s
+his name?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Charlie,&rdquo; said Esther shyly. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very thin, but they
+weren&rsquo;t kind to him where he belonged before....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a shame! I simply loathe people who are not
+kind to animals. Never mind, he&rsquo;ll soon get all right.
+Now come along&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll help you unpack your boxes presently.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She led the way downstairs, and Esther followed.</p>
+<p>She had been feeling a little scared of this new boarding-house.
+She felt grateful for this girl&rsquo;s unaffected overture.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mine&rsquo;s the best room in the house,&rdquo; Miss Mason informed
+her. She pushed open the door of a room immediately
+below Esther&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Sit down and make yourself
+at home. I&rsquo;ll get the tea in half a minute. I know you&rsquo;ll
+have another cup. I shall, anyway. Do you smoke?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well I do. I hope you&rsquo;re not shocked. I find it&rsquo;s so
+soothing when you&rsquo;ve got nerves; and I&rsquo;m a frightfully
+nervy person. I am hardly ever still; I&rsquo;m always on
+the go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther could well believe it. She looked on with a
+slightly dazed feeling while June Mason lit a cigarette
+and bustled about the room.</p>
+<p>It was a very comfortable room, with plenty of easy-chairs
+and lots of cushions all in the same pale shade of
+mauve.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think there would be any rooms as comfortable
+as this in the house,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;I suppose you
+pay a great deal for it, though.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about that. Most of the furniture is
+mine and all the cushions. Do you like my cushions?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She put down the teapot, which she had been about to
+fill, and caught up one of the cushions, plumping its softness
+together with her white hands.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Mauve is my lucky colour,&rdquo; she rattled on. &ldquo;Everything
+I do in mauve turns out well. But perhaps you
+don&rsquo;t believe in a superstition like that?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was rather bewildered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure. I never thought about it,&rdquo; she said
+hesitatingly. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a very pretty colour.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason dropped the cushion to the floor, and
+stooping picked Charlie up and deposited him on it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t he look sweet?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;And a black
+cat is lucky too, you know, so that&rsquo;s a comfort.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She went back to the teapot, made the tea, and poured
+out a cup for Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is that chair comfy?&ndash;&ndash;yes, lean back! What are you
+looking at? Oh, my photographs! Yes. I have got a
+lot, haven&rsquo;t I? Lydia dusts them for me! Lydia&rsquo;s a
+treasure! You&rsquo;ll love her. When I get married she&rsquo;s
+going to leave here and come with me&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked interested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going to be married?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Am I? No, I&rsquo;m not. I&rsquo;m too fond of my independence.
+Not that I don&rsquo;t like men. I do like them, and
+I&rsquo;ve got some awfully good pals amongst them, too.
+Look!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She turned with one of her rapid movements, caught
+up a photograph from the shelf and handed it to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There! that&rsquo;s one of the nicest men I ever met in my
+life,&rdquo; she said enthusiastically. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think he&rsquo;s got
+a ripping face?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther took the portrait laughingly&ndash;&ndash;she thought June
+Mason one of the most amusing people she had ever
+met&ndash;&ndash;then she caught her breath on a little smothered
+exclamation as she found herself looking straight into
+the pictured eyes of Micky Mellowes.</p>
+<p>June Mason was too occupied with a fresh cigarette
+to notice the blank look that filled Esther&rsquo;s eyes.</p>
+<p>She sat there in the big chair, staring at Micky&rsquo;s portrait
+with a sense of foreboding. Surely it was something
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+bigger than just chance that had introduced him
+into her life for the second time.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the best,&rdquo; June Mason went on. She
+dragged forward another chair and plumped down into
+it comfortably.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you admire him?&rdquo; She opened her eyes wide,
+looking across at Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, oh yes! I think he&rsquo;s quite nice,&rdquo; Esther said
+stiltedly. &ldquo;But not a bit good-looking, do you think?&rdquo;
+she asked, with a sort of hesitation.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason took the portrait from her and held it
+at arm&rsquo;s length.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Um!&rdquo; she said critically. &ldquo;Perhaps he isn&rsquo;t, but I
+like him so much, you see, that I&rsquo;m not a fair judge.
+He&rsquo;s been a good friend to me, at all events.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She got up, replaced the frame on the shelf, and
+plumped back once more amongst her mauve cushions.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My people wanted me to marry him at one time,&rdquo;
+she went on airily. &ldquo;I might have done so only I liked
+him too well. He didn&rsquo;t care for me, except as a friend,
+and it seemed a shame to spoil it, so I put my foot down.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean that you refused him?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was interested; she was remembering how
+Micky had told her that he had never really cared for
+any woman in all his life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He never asked me, my dear,&rdquo; Miss Mason answered
+candidly. &ldquo;I let him see that it wouldn&rsquo;t be any good if
+he did, and I know he was frightfully relieved. We were
+never so nearly in love with one another as we were
+when we both knew that we didn&rsquo;t mean to get married.&rdquo;
+She chuckled reminiscently. &ldquo;It finished me with my
+people, though,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;so I cleared out and came
+here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;Micky?&rdquo; Esther asked. &ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I mean Mr. Mellowes....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason looked faintly surprised.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How did you know his name?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Did I
+tell you? I suppose I did. Oh, he&rsquo;s all right; he&rsquo;s the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
+kind of man who always will be all right. He&rsquo;s got another
+girl on the tapis now. I don&rsquo;t know if it will come
+to anything, though. Anyway, she&rsquo;s not good enough for
+him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You seem very fond of him,&rdquo; Esther said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am. He&rsquo;s a dear! I should love to see him happily
+married to a girl with a heart of gold like his own.
+I think I know him better than most people, and his
+little corner of the world would be amazed if they knew
+the amount of good Micky manages to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had flushed up with her own enthusiasm. Her
+curious eyes (Esther could not decide if they were grey,
+blue, or green, or a mixture of all three) were very
+bright and expressive.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard lots of rotten things said about him,&rdquo; she
+went on, &ldquo;and I know that none of them are really deserved&ndash;&ndash;at
+least most of them are not. He isn&rsquo;t a saint&ndash;&ndash;but
+what man is, I should like to know? But Micky&rsquo;s the
+sort who would give his life for a friend or any one little
+and weak. Do you know&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she flung away the half-smoked
+cigarette and leaned forward with her elbows
+on her knees&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;last winter, down in the country, I saw
+Micky go into a dirty pond in evening dress to rescue
+a drowning cat. What do you think of that?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A&ndash;&ndash;a&ndash;&ndash;cat!&rdquo; said Esther faintly. She looked at Charlie,
+and remembered how Micky had paid for milk for
+him the night of their strange meeting.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A miserable drowning cat!&rdquo; Miss Mason went on
+with tragic emphasis. &ldquo;He heard it mewing from the
+road, and he went in after it without stopping to think.
+Now, I call a man a hero who will do a thing like that
+when he is on his way to a dance he is very keen about,
+don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. Her heart warmed towards Mellowes.
+Kind as he had been to her, she had not been
+quite sure of him; it made her feel happier to hear him
+so warmly championed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll be sick to death of my chatter,&rdquo; June Mason
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span>
+broke out with sudden change of voice. She helped herself
+to a third cigarette. &ldquo;I hope you don&rsquo;t mind smoke,&rdquo;
+she apologised. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m always at it; I think I smoke dozens
+a day&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Or throw them away half smoked,&rdquo; Esther thought
+amusedly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind at all,&rdquo; she answered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t told me a thing about yourself,&rdquo; Miss
+Mason reminded her reproachfully. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s not fair
+that I should do all the talking. I know your name,
+and that&rsquo;s about all. Have you got any people? Where
+do you come from?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t much to tell you. I haven&rsquo;t any people. I
+was born in India, and my mother died there. I don&rsquo;t
+know anything about my father. I was sent home to an
+aunt, and she looked after me till about three years ago,
+when she died. I came to London then, and they took
+me on at Eldred&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;do you know Eldred&rsquo;s?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do I not?&rdquo; said Miss Mason fervently. &ldquo;Scrumptious
+things they make; but what prices! I can&rsquo;t afford
+them very often, but I go in there a good deal. I know
+the manager, and he&rsquo;s going to do some business for me&ndash;&ndash;at
+least I hope he is. If I can get my stuff into his
+place it will be a splendid thing. All London shops
+there, you know; all London with any money, that is!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked mystified.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your stuff!&rdquo; she echoed. &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June Mason laughed merrily. She had a very infectious
+laugh and a trick of covering her face with her
+hands while she was laughing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I forgot that you didn&rsquo;t know!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I seem
+to know you so well, I can&rsquo;t remember that we never
+saw one another before to-day. My dear, I make face
+cream. Wait a moment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She sprang up and disappeared behind a mauve curtain
+into an adjoining room. Esther heard her moving
+about, opening and shutting boxes and singing a snatch
+of song all the time. Presently she came back with a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span>
+tray crowded with little pots and phials of all sizes and
+descriptions. She plumped down on her knees beside
+Esther&rsquo;s chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There you are!&rdquo; she said lightly, though there was
+an odd dash of pride in her voice. &ldquo;Face cream, night
+and day cream, eyelash tonic, and all the rest of it! Of
+course, I&rsquo;m only just starting&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m not like those people
+who advertise in all the papers and charge about a guinea
+for a shilling jar; but my stuff is as good as theirs any
+day, and better, because it&rsquo;s pure. Look!&rdquo; She took a
+lid off a little white pot with a mauve label and held it
+to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t that a glorious perfume?&rdquo; she demanded. She
+sniffed it herself with relish. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s all my invention,
+and I&rsquo;m as proud of it as a cat would be of nine
+tails. When I&rsquo;ve got things a little more ship-shape,
+Micky&rsquo;s going to put it on the market for me. It wants
+a man behind all these sort of things you know. I can
+do all the donkey work, but I&rsquo;ve got no head for business.
+I never know the difference between a loss and a profit.
+It was partly over this that I quarrelled with my people&ndash;&ndash;they
+said it was low-down to make face cream and sell
+it&ndash;&ndash;they&rsquo;re awful snobs! So I just cleared off and
+changed my surname and came here. I&rsquo;m quite happy,
+and if I haven&rsquo;t got as much money as I had, I don&rsquo;t
+mind&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve got my liberty, and that&rsquo;s worth every thing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re just wonderful,&rdquo; Esther said. She
+picked up a lid from one of the little pots and looked at
+the mauve and white label.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June Mason&rsquo;s natural beautifier....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at the glowing face opposite to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you use it for your own skin?&rdquo; she asked shyly.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason chuckled; she pushed the tray to one side
+along the floor.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind telling you that I&rsquo;ve never used cream
+to my skin at all,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But people think I do, and
+so there you are! Have some more tea?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She refilled Esther&rsquo;s cup and lit another cigarette. &ldquo;So
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
+that&rsquo;s what I am,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And now go on, and tell
+me about yourself. You said you were at Eldred&rsquo;s!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I was there for two years. I rather liked it!
+I love pretty things, and I was in the workroom. They
+paid me quite well, too, though it was hard work, and
+then&ndash;&ndash;well, then I left&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; her voice changed subtly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The query was only interested, and not at all impertinent.</p>
+<p>Esther flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well&ndash;&ndash;well&ndash;&ndash;I thought I was going to be married.
+He&ndash;&ndash;well, he asked me to leave to marry him, and so
+I did....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you&rsquo;re not married?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Esther was looking away into the fire. &ldquo;No,
+I&rsquo;m not married,&rdquo; she said in a stifled voice. &ldquo;He&ndash;&ndash;my
+fianc&eacute;&ndash;&ndash;has had to go away on business&ndash;&ndash;abroad, and I
+don&rsquo;t know when I shall see him again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her voice sounded sad and dispirited.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You poor little thing!&rdquo; said June Mason. She leaned
+over and laid her hand on Esther&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Never mind! The
+time will soon pass, and then he&rsquo;ll come back and you&rsquo;ll
+live happily ever after&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know. I keep on telling myself it&rsquo;s foolish to worry.
+I felt quite happy this morning. I had a letter from
+him, and somehow when I read it things didn&rsquo;t seem half
+so bad; but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And you&rsquo;ll have another to-morrow, I expect.&rdquo; Miss
+Mason insisted. &ldquo;And another the next day, and one
+every day while he&rsquo;s away. There! That&rsquo;s better,&rdquo; she
+added cheerily as Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to see you look so sad. I&rsquo;m going to
+cheer you up. I shan&rsquo;t allow you to be miserable. And
+anyway,&rdquo; she added, with a sudden softening, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve got
+some one who loves you, and that&rsquo;s worth everything else
+in the world.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. Her eyes shone and she thought
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span>
+of the letter which was even then lying against her heart.
+Somehow she had never realised how much he really
+cared for her till to-day.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And what are you going to do till he comes home?&rdquo;
+Miss Mason asked interestedly. &ldquo;If you had something
+to do you&rsquo;d find the time pass ever so much more
+quickly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a question of having to do something rather than
+how to pass the time,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t any money
+except what I can make. My aunt left me a little when
+she died, but it was only a very little, and I spent most
+of it at first while I was looking for work. So I&rsquo;m going
+back to Eldred&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;if they will have me, and I think they
+will.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason said &ldquo;Humph!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re too good for a petticoat shop,&rdquo; she
+said bluntly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re wasted there! Nobody sees you, and
+you&rsquo;re so pretty&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, what nonsense!&rdquo; Esther exclaimed. She laughed
+in sheer amusement. To her it seemed absurd for this
+girl to call her pretty; she considered June Mason such
+a personality&ndash;&ndash;so attractive!</p>
+<p>She really did make a picturesque figure as she sat
+there with her mauve cushions all around her. Her
+yellow blouse and dark hair and wonderful rose-leaf
+skin reminded one of some brilliant portrait painted by
+a master-hand.</p>
+<p>Esther would have been surprised could she have
+known the thought in June&rsquo;s mind at that moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s just sweet! I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve seen a face
+I admire more. Micky would adore her! She&rsquo;s just the
+sort of woman he always raves about. I must ask him to
+tea to meet her one day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There are heaps of other berths going besides Eldred&rsquo;s,
+you know,&rdquo; she said earnestly. &ldquo;However, you
+must do as you like, of course.&rdquo; She threw away another
+unfinished cigarette. &ldquo;Do you think we are going to be
+friends?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I am sure we are,&rdquo; Esther said. She really did think
+so; she had never met any one in the least like June
+Mason before. She began to feel glad that she had come
+to this house. It was much more expensive than the
+Brixton Road, certainly, but it was well worth it, even if
+only because she had met this quaint little woman.</p>
+<p>It was nearly seven o&rsquo;clock before she thought of going
+back to her own room, and then it was only the chiming
+of a clock on the shelf that roused her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nearly seven!&rdquo; She started up in dismay. &ldquo;I had
+no idea it was so late. I am sorry for having stayed so
+long.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing to be sorry for,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;You
+may go shares with this room if you like. I&rsquo;m out so
+much, it isn&rsquo;t used half the time. Think it over, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed nervously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s awfully kind of you; I should love to, but I
+couldn&rsquo;t afford it. I&rsquo;m really paying more money now
+than I ought to. I want to save, too&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For the wedding! Lucky girl! I hope you&rsquo;ll ask me
+to come and see you married&ndash;&ndash;and I hope he&rsquo;s very nice,&rdquo;
+she added.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He is,&rdquo; said Esther eagerly. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s very handsome,&rdquo;
+she added shyly.</p>
+<p>But Miss Mason was not impressed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care a fig if a man is handsome or not,&rdquo; she
+said bluntly. &ldquo;If he&rsquo;s just manly and straightforward and
+kind, that&rsquo;s all I expect him to be. Now look here&ndash;&ndash;we
+have dinner at half-past seven in this establishment. It&rsquo;s
+only supper really, but we all put on our best blouses&ndash;&ndash;if
+we&rsquo;ve got any&ndash;&ndash;and call it dinner. I&rsquo;ll call for you on the
+way down and we&rsquo;ll go in together. I&rsquo;ll tell Mrs. Elders
+you are going to share my table, if you like; it&rsquo;s deadly
+dull sitting alone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to sit with you very much,&rdquo; Esther said
+eagerly. &ldquo;But I really haven&rsquo;t got a &lsquo;best&rsquo; blouse.&rdquo; She
+glanced down at the plain white silk shirt she wore; it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span>
+had been washed many times, and had lost its first freshness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come down as you are, then,&rdquo; Miss Mason urged,
+&ldquo;and I will too! I hate changing. This yellow rag is good
+enough for the old tabbies we get here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther went half-way down the stairs and came back.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Charlie&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve forgotten Charlie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Charlie can stay where he is till bedtime,&rdquo; June declared.
+&ldquo;You can come up and fetch him then. Hurry,
+or you&rsquo;ll be late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther went down to her room, feeling more light-hearted
+than she had done for a long time.</p>
+<p>As she unpacked her boxes and tidied her hair she
+could hear June Mason moving about upstairs, singing
+cheerily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to like her&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m going to like her awfully,&rdquo;
+she told herself. She hurried to be ready in time, but the
+rather unmelodious dinner-bell had clanged through the
+house twice before June came to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve unpacked, then?&rdquo; she said. She looked round
+the small room approvingly. &ldquo;I can see you&rsquo;re one of the
+tidy ones,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not; I wish I were. However,
+we can&rsquo;t all be the same. Are you ready?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took Esther&rsquo;s arm and they went downstairs together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Every one knows you&rsquo;re coming,&rdquo; June said as they
+neared the dining-room. &ldquo;Every one always knows everything
+that goes on here. Don&rsquo;t take any notice if they
+stare a lot; they must stare at something, poor darlings.
+I&rsquo;ll tell you who they all are and all about them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The dining-room was a long, narrow sort of room that
+looked as if it once had been two rooms recently thrown
+into one; the floor was covered with slippery green linoleum,
+and there was a long table running almost the
+length of the room, with a few smaller ones on either
+side.</p>
+<p>A grey-haired woman with pebble glasses stood at the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span>
+head of the long table; Esther recognised her as the
+proprietress, Mrs. Elders.</p>
+<p>She said good-evening to Esther and stared frigidly at
+June, as if she did not like to see the two girls together.
+She did not approve of the little face cream lady, though
+she was careful never to say so, as June was one of her
+best paying propositions.</p>
+<p>Esther was glad when they reached their own table;
+glad, too, that she was more or less out of the way of
+curious glances.</p>
+<p>The dinner was plain, but infinitely superior to the fare
+she had had to put up with in the Brixton Road.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you have all your meals here?&rdquo; she asked June
+presently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;only breakfast and supper&ndash;&ndash;and not always supper.
+I go out with friends sometimes. Every one hasn&rsquo;t
+given me up just because my family have. But the food
+is quite good here. They&rsquo;re rather too fond of rice and
+stewed apples; but it might be worse. Turn round presently
+and look at the man behind you with the grey hair.
+Isn&rsquo;t he handsome? We call him the colonel, though I
+don&rsquo;t believe he&rsquo;s a colonel at all. He&rsquo;s a dear, but he
+always complains about everything. I know he gives notice
+regularly on Saturday morning and takes it back
+again on Saturday night. Mrs. Elders would think he
+wasn&rsquo;t well if he missed giving her notice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed, and turning in her chair spoke to a young
+man who was sitting alone at one of the smaller tables
+behind her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is your cough better?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to give
+you some special stuff to-night for it. No, it isn&rsquo;t at all
+nasty.&rdquo; She turned back to Esther. &ldquo;May I introduce
+Mr. Harley&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;s the most interesting person in the
+whole house. He writes stories and things, Mr. Harley,
+this is Miss Shepstone&ndash;&ndash;a great friend of mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Harley bowed. He was pale, delicate-looking young
+man with fine dark eyes.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You never told me that you knew Miss Shepstone,&rdquo; he
+said to June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know her till this afternoon,&rdquo; she answered
+promptly; &ldquo;but I make friends quickly, as you know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll like Harley,&rdquo; she told Esther presently in an
+undertone. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very clever, but so delicate, poor boy!
+He ought to live in the country instead of in London.
+He&rsquo;s the sort of person I should love to help if I were
+rich.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be wonderful to be rich,&rdquo; Esther said. There
+was a little flush in her cheeks; she was really enjoying
+herself. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the dream of my life to have enough money
+to be able to do anything I like,&rdquo; she added earnestly.
+&ldquo;Just for a month! If I could be really rich just for one
+month I wouldn&rsquo;t mind going back to being poor again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason said &ldquo;Rubbish!&rdquo; briskly. &ldquo;Money can&rsquo;t
+buy happiness, my dear, and don&rsquo;t you forget it. My
+people think it can, and lots of other people think the
+same. It only shows what fools they are. It was the
+money my people couldn&rsquo;t get over when I declined to
+marry Micky Mellowes....&rdquo; She made a little wry
+face. &ldquo;I remember my mother coming into my room one
+night in her dressing-gown&ndash;&ndash;poor soul!&ndash;&ndash;when she heard
+I&rsquo;d told Micky there was nothing doing, and saying tragically:
+&lsquo;June, you must be mad&ndash;&ndash;stark, staring mad! Why,
+the man&rsquo;s as rich as Cr&oelig;sus!&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rich!&rdquo; Esther was conscious of an odd little sinking
+at her heart. &ldquo;Is Mr. Mellowes rich, then?&rdquo; she asked
+constrainedly.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason was helping herself to a pat of butter.
+She held it poised for a moment on the end of her knife
+while she answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rich? I should think he is! He&rsquo;s one of the richest
+men in London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One of the richest men in London!&ndash;&ndash;but he&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Esther
+had been going to add &ldquo;But he told me that he was
+poor;&rdquo; she only just checked the words in time.</p>
+<p>June nodded.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the despair of all the match-making mammas,&rdquo;
+she said lightly. &ldquo;Over thirty, he is, and still a bachelor!
+I&rsquo;m not sure if he isn&rsquo;t on the verge of being caught
+now, but you never can tell! With a little luck he may
+escape&ndash;&ndash;she isn&rsquo;t good enough for him, anyway. Have
+you finished? I&rsquo;m dying for a cigarette, and we aren&rsquo;t
+allowed to smoke here. Come up to my room and I&rsquo;ll
+make you some coffee; the stuff they give us here isn&rsquo;t
+fit to drink.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She pushed back her chair and rose, and Esther followed.</p>
+<p>She kept her eyes down as she walked the length of
+the room; the colour rose in her cheeks as she realised
+how every one was staring at her. The colonel, whom
+June had declared was not a colonel at all, rose and held
+the door open for them to pass out.</p>
+<p>June chuckled as they went upstairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve made an impression, my dear! It isn&rsquo;t often
+he does that for any one.&rdquo; She slipped an arm through
+Esther&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Why are you frowning so? Have I said anything
+to annoy you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course not. I was only thinking.... Do
+you&ndash;&ndash;do your friends ever come here to see you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was thinking of Micky Mellowes, and wondering
+if he ever came to the boarding-house, and if so, why he
+had not told her that he knew somebody living here.
+After all, if he had deceived her in one instance he would
+do so in many others&ndash;&ndash;she felt a curious sense of hurt
+pride; why had he gone out of his way to tell her he was
+a poor man, when all the time&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To tell you the truth,&rdquo; June said frankly, &ldquo;none of my
+friends know where I am living. Call it false pride if
+you like, but there you are. I have all my letters, except
+business ones, sent to my club&ndash;&ndash;I belong to an unpretentious
+club&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll take you there some day&ndash;&ndash;and not even
+Micky knows that I live here. You see, when I flew
+in the face of providence, otherwise my noble family,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
+they stopped my allowance, so as I&rsquo;m entirely self-supporting,
+I had to be careful and live inexpensively, so I
+came here. And I&rsquo;m very comfortable. If I want to
+meet any of my friends we meet out somewhere. I think
+it&rsquo;s better; it leaves me quite free....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were back in her room again now, and Charlie
+had looked up with one eye from his mauve cushion, and
+purred, by way of a greeting.</p>
+<p>June lit a cigarette and rushed about in pursuit of
+the coffee-pot. All her movements were quick. She
+seemed to breathe life and energy.</p>
+<p>Esther walked over to the fireplace, and found herself
+looking at Micky&rsquo;s photograph.</p>
+<p>After all, he was just like all the other men she had
+ever known; apparently none of them could be simple
+and sincere; she supposed it had been his way of condescending
+to her, to pretend that he was poor and in
+similar circumstances to herself; perhaps he had guessed
+that she would never have allowed him to pay for her
+supper or tea, or have talked to her as he had done, if she
+had known him to be a rich man.</p>
+<p>She need never see him again, that was one thing; her
+heart hardened as she met the frankness of his pictured
+eyes; he was not as honest as he looked.</p>
+<p>She had mistaken condescension for kindness. She
+bit her lip with mortification as she recalled the confidence
+she had made to him only that afternoon. He was probably
+laughing at it now, and no doubt would repeat all
+she had said to his friends as a good joke.</p>
+<p>She went to her own room as soon as she had had the
+coffee. She made the excuse that she was tired, but
+when she went upstairs she sat down on the side of the
+bed and made no effort to undress. A sort of shadow
+seemed to have fallen on her spirits. She felt mortified
+that Micky should so deliberately have lied to her; her
+cheeks burned as she thought of the despair she had
+been in last night when she met him. She hoped she
+would never see him again.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span></div>
+<p>She looked round the little room with angry eyes. If
+only Fate had set her feet in sunnier paths. She looked
+at the plain furniture and cheap carpet; the wallpaper
+was hideous; there was a frightful oleograph of two
+Early Victorian women with crinolines and ringlet curls
+hanging over the mantlepiece. They both looked smug
+and self-satisfied. There was an enlarged photograph of
+a bald-headed man wearing a Masonic apron on another
+wall. He was fat and had his right hand plastered carefully
+along a chair-back to bring into prominence a large
+signet ring. Esther looked at him and shivered. She felt
+utterly alone and cut off from the world. She longed for
+Raymond Ashton with all her soul. She hated Micky
+Mellowes because his kindly condescension had made her
+feel her position more acutely now she knew him to be
+what he was.</p>
+<p>In spite of the new friend she had made in June Mason
+she felt lonely and unwanted; she began to cry like a
+child, as she sat there on the side of the iron bedstead;
+the tears ran down her cheeks and she made no effort to
+wipe them away.</p>
+<p>She wanted to be happy so badly, and it seemed as if
+she never was to be happy. The elation that had come to
+her when she read Micky&rsquo;s letter that morning had faded
+miserably; after all, what was a letter when it was a real,
+living personality she wanted, and not mere words?</p>
+<p>Downstairs she could hear June Mason moving about
+and singing; she at least was happy with her little mauve
+pots and her cheery optimism.</p>
+<p>Esther cried all the time she undressed; she crept into
+bed sobbing miserably, like a child who sleeps at a boarding-school
+for the first time.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_V' id='CHAPTER_V'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky passed three days before he made any attempt
+to see Esther Shepstone again; days that
+seemed like a month at least, and during which
+he lost his appetite and forgot to smoke.</p>
+<p>That she did not particularly care if she saw him again
+or not, he was miserably sure. She had no thoughts for
+any one but Ashton. He felt as if he could not settle
+to anything. On the third morning Marie Deland rang
+him up. He had told her many times that her voice on
+the telephone cheered him, but to-day it made him frown.</p>
+<p>He tried to answer her cheery &ldquo;That you, Micky?&rdquo; as
+cheerily, but he knew it was a failure.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; she asked quickly. &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you
+well? Or are you cross?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a hint of laughter in her voice. She had
+never known Micky cross; he was always the cheeriest of
+mortals.</p>
+<p>Micky grabbed at the excuse she offered him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a brute of a headache,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor old boy!&rdquo; The pretty, sympathetic voice irritated
+him. &ldquo;Come out for a walk; it will do you good.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thanks&ndash;&ndash;thanks awfully, but I don&rsquo;t think it would.
+I&rsquo;m a perfect bear&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;d hate me. Some other time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little pause. Micky could have kicked
+himself as he remembered on what terms they had parted.
+It was not her fault that a miracle had happened since
+then to metamorphose the whole world. He supposed uncomfortably
+that she was just the same as she had been
+when he last saw her. He knew she must be wondering
+why he had stayed away so long. He tried to soften his
+words.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll look in to-night, if I may. Sorry to be such a
+bear.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span></div>
+<p>She answered rather dispiritedly that it was all right,
+that she was sorry he felt ill. It was a relief when she
+rang off. He took his hat and went off to call on Esther.</p>
+<p>He felt that he could settle to nothing till he had seen
+her again; there was a curious jealousy in his heart about
+Ashton; he would have given anything he possessed to be
+able to disillusion her, but knew it was impossible without
+hopelessly compromising himself.</p>
+<p>It was a bitter disappointment to find that she was out
+when he reached the boarding-house; his face fell absurdly
+when he turned and walked away.</p>
+<p>He wondered if she really was out, or only out to
+him.</p>
+<p>After a moment he laughed at himself. A few days
+ago he had not known there was such a person as Esther
+Shepstone in the world, and yet now here he was, consumed
+with jealousy because she was not in when he
+called.</p>
+<p>He took a taxicab back to the West End; he walked
+about for half an hour staring aimlessly into shop windows,
+then went back to his rooms. He could not understand
+his extraordinary restlessness; he had only once
+before felt anything like it in all his life, and that had
+been the first time he ever backed a horse, and was waiting
+a wire from the course to say if the brute had won.</p>
+<p>He recalled the fever of impatience that had consumed
+him then, and laughed; after all, it had been nothing
+compared with this.</p>
+<p>Driver came into the room.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you please, sir, Miss Mason has been on the &rsquo;phone.
+She said would I ask you to meet her for tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not look enthusiastic; he liked June awfully,
+but to-day every one and everything seemed a bore.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tea! Where?&rdquo; he asked vaguely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Mason said that you would know, sir; the same
+place as usual.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, all right!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked at the clock and sighed. After all, June
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+was always amusing; he went off almost cheerfully to the
+unpretentious club of which she had spoken to Esther.
+He had to wait in the lobby while a boy in buttons fetched
+June to him. She came downstairs looking very much
+at home, and smoking the inevitable cigarette. It was
+one of June Mason&rsquo;s charms that she always managed to
+look at home wherever she was.</p>
+<p>She had taken off her coat, but she wore a green hat
+with a gold ornament that suited her to perfection, set
+on her dark head at rakish angle.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I began to think you were not coming,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She gave him her left hand, and Micky squeezed it in
+friendly fashion. They went upstairs together to a small
+tea-room, which was just now deserted save for two
+waitresses who were giggling together over a newspaper.</p>
+<p>June walked over to a table in the window, and Micky
+followed.</p>
+<p>He had been here with her scores of times before, and
+the two waitresses smiled at one another knowingly; they
+were quite sure that this was romance.</p>
+<p>Micky was sitting with an elbow on the table, absently
+smoothing the back of his head; he was wishing it was
+Esther sitting opposite to him; he looked up with a little
+start when June spoke to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up, Micky? I&rsquo;ve never seen you looking so
+depressed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He roused himself with an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, nothing, nothing! It&rsquo;s the beastly weather, I
+expect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him quizzically with her queer eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t have thought the weather would depress
+you,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;However, if you say it does&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shook himself together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not depressed any longer,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;Well,
+and how are you? And how is the swindle?&rdquo; It was
+Micky&rsquo;s pet joke to call June&rsquo;s invention the &ldquo;swindle,&rdquo;
+though in his heart he was almost as proud of it as she
+was.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span></div>
+<p>She laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very well, thank you; but that isn&rsquo;t what I want
+to talk to you about to-day. Micky, would you like to
+come to tea with me one afternoon?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tea! Haven&rsquo;t I come to tea with you to-day?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Silly! I don&rsquo;t mean here; I mean where I live. It&rsquo;s
+a boarding-house. I dare say you&rsquo;ll hate it, but it&rsquo;s really
+quite a nice place, and beggars can&rsquo;t be choosers, anyway.
+I&rsquo;ve got a very comfortable sitting-room and most
+of my own furniture, and I can give you a good cup of
+tea, or anything else, if you prefer it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall be delighted,&rdquo; Micky looked puzzled. &ldquo;But isn&rsquo;t
+this rather a breaking of rules? It&rsquo;s not so very long
+ago that you made me swear never to try and find out
+where you lived. I thought it was all to be a deadly
+secret.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So it was, but I&rsquo;ve decided to admit you. I know
+you&rsquo;re safe, and, Micky, wouldn&rsquo;t you like to meet the
+dearest, prettiest, most attractive little girl....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky moved his chair back in mock alarm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June! You&rsquo;re not turning match-maker! If you are,
+I give you fair warning that our friendship will have
+to end once and for ever. I&rsquo;ll put up with a lot from you,
+but not this&ndash;&ndash;not....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be an idiot!&rdquo; said June calmly. &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t
+the slightest fear! And anyway&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she added, with a
+half sigh, &ldquo;she&rsquo;s engaged, so it wouldn&rsquo;t be any good. But
+I want you to help her.... Oh, I know I&rsquo;m always
+bringing you foundlings to help and look after, but you&rsquo;ve
+got such a big heart&ndash;&ndash;and such a big banking account,&rdquo;
+she added audaciously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, go on&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said resignedly. &ldquo;Who is the
+foundling this time, and what am I to do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a darling,&rdquo; June said warmly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve only
+known her for four days&ndash;&ndash;she lives in the same house. I
+took a fancy to her from the first moment I saw her.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span>
+No, it was before that&ndash;&ndash;it was when I first heard her
+name....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky raised his brows.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a creature of impulse! My dear, you&rsquo;ll burn
+your fingers badly some day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when I do,&rdquo; said Miss Mason sharply, &ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t
+come crying to you for sympathy; however ... Well,
+she&rsquo;s poor! she&rsquo;s one of those horribly poor, frightfully
+proud people whom it&rsquo;s impossible to help. I&rsquo;ve tried all
+ways! I asked her to go shares with my sitting-room,
+and she said she couldn&rsquo;t afford it; she&rsquo;ll hardly let me
+give her a cup of tea or coffee for fear I should think
+she is sponging on me. She seems most frightfully alone
+in the world. She says she engaged to a man, but he&rsquo;s
+abroad, and I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s not nice, anyway. He&rsquo;s only
+written to her once since I&rsquo;ve known her, at all events,
+and this morning when there wasn&rsquo;t a letter, I know she
+went back to her room and cried. I knocked at the
+door, but she wouldn&rsquo;t let me in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She paused, and looked at Micky for sympathy.</p>
+<p>He half smiled; he knew how enthusiastic June always
+was about everything.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, and what do you want me to do for this damsel
+in distress?&rdquo; he asked gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to get her a berth somewhere,&rdquo; he was
+told promptly. &ldquo;No, it&rsquo;s no use saying you can&rsquo;t! My
+dear man, you must know scores of people who&rsquo;d take her
+in. She thought she was fixed up all right, but now it
+appears that the people she was with before haven&rsquo;t got
+a vacancy for her, and so that&rsquo;s knocked on the head.
+She told me that she&rsquo;s have to just take the first thing that
+came along. I don&rsquo;t believe she&rsquo;s hardly got a shilling to
+her name. I offered to take her into partnership with
+me. I said we&rsquo;d go travelling together for my beauty
+cream, but she wouldn&rsquo;t hear of it.... She&rsquo;s so
+proud!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;and here a sound of tears crept into June Mason&rsquo;s
+voice. &ldquo;I ask you, Micky, what can be done with
+any one like that?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span></div>
+<p>Micky shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If she&rsquo;ll take anything that comes along, she ought to
+get a job pretty soon,&rdquo; he said laconically. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll speak to
+a man I know&ndash;&ndash;can she write a decent hand and all that
+sort of thing?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course she can! But I want a good berth, mind
+you! I&rsquo;ve never been so fond of anybody as I am of her.
+She&rsquo;s awfully worried about this horrid man she&rsquo;s engaged
+to. She doesn&rsquo;t say much about him, but this morning
+she said that there didn&rsquo;t seem to be anything to live
+for, and her eyes looked so sad....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled at her serious face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d make an eloquent appeal in a court of law,&rdquo; he
+said. He took a pencil from his pocket and an envelope.
+&ldquo;Give me her name and address, and I&rsquo;ll see what I can
+do. I don&rsquo;t promise anything, mind you, but I&rsquo;ll do what
+I can....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; said June warmly. &ldquo;I know you were
+the one to come to. I&rsquo;m quite sure when you&rsquo;ve seen
+Esther you&rsquo;ll ... why, what&rsquo;s the matter, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky had looked up sharply. His face had paled a
+little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What name did you say?&rdquo; he asked. He never knew
+how he managed to control his voice. His heart seemed
+to be thumping in his throat. &ldquo;What name did you say?&rdquo;
+he asked again, with an effort. &ldquo;I did not catch it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Esther,&rdquo; said June, &ldquo;Esther Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VI' id='CHAPTER_VI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s pencil jerked suddenly, sending an aimless
+scrawl across the paper; for an instant he
+stared at his companion with blank eyes. Fortunately
+June Mason was too intent on the relighting of her
+cigarette to have any attention to spare for him; she went
+on talking as she puffed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes....&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;puff&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;that&rsquo;s her name....&rdquo; Another
+puff. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it a change from your eternal Violets
+and Dorothys?&rdquo;... Puff, puff. &ldquo;Oh, bother!&rdquo; She
+threw the cigarette into an empty grate behind her and
+prepared to give Micky her undivided attention once
+more. &ldquo;Well, what do you think about it? You haven&rsquo;t
+written her name down. Esther Shepstone, I said....
+Write it down,&rdquo; she commanded.</p>
+<p>Micky obeyed at once. He was beginning to recover
+himself a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall be able to help her all right,&rdquo; he said quickly.
+&ldquo;Only, of course, you won&rsquo;t let her know I&rsquo;m mixed up in
+it at all; she&rsquo;d hate it if she knew, she....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How do you know she would?&rdquo; June demanded with
+suspicion.</p>
+<p>Micky met her eyes squarely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, you said she was proud or something, didn&rsquo;t
+you? And anyway I don&rsquo;t want to pose as a blessed philanthropist;
+I&rsquo;m not one either, but I&rsquo;ll see what I can do
+for&ndash;&ndash;for this new friend of yours. You say she&rsquo;s poor?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Horribly poor, I&rsquo;m afraid,&rdquo; said June with a sigh.
+&ldquo;Micky, it&rsquo;s rather pathetic&ndash;&ndash;somebody sent her some
+money&ndash;&ndash;not very much, but still, it was money she evidently
+didn&rsquo;t expect. I&rsquo;ve got a sort of idea that it was
+from this man she&rsquo;s supposed to be engaged to&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you say &lsquo;supposed&rsquo;&ndash;&ndash;she is engaged to him,
+isn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She says so, and she wears a ring, but I&rsquo;ve a sort of
+instinctive feeling that there&rsquo;s something funny behind it.
+Anyway, I know she&rsquo;s not happy; but don&rsquo;t interrupt.
+About this money&ndash;&ndash;well, it was partly my fault! I persuaded
+her to go and buy herself some clothes&ndash;&ndash;she had
+such a few things, poor child! And I even went with her
+and she bought a frock and a new coat....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky eagerly; he was glad she had bought
+a new coat; he remembered how thin hers had been on
+that memorable night, and how she had shivered in the
+cold night air.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She was as pleased as a child with a new toy,&rdquo; Miss
+Mason went on. &ldquo;She brought them all up to my room
+to show me when they came home, and we both tried
+them on ... and you&rsquo;ve no idea how sweet she
+looked,&rdquo; she added with enthusiasm. &ldquo;Of course, I suppose
+this is boring you horribly,&rdquo; she said deprecatingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky honestly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not boring me at all,
+I promise you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, anyway, she got the clothes, and now the place
+where she was before say they can&rsquo;t take her back&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s
+Eldred&rsquo;s, the petticoat shop. I don&rsquo;t suppose you know
+it, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know it very well,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, do you?&rdquo; She laughed. &ldquo;Well, they either won&rsquo;t
+or can&rsquo;t take her back, and now she feels that she ought
+not to have spent the money on the new frock and coat,
+and this morning she told me that she was afraid she
+would have to leave Elphinstone Road, as it was more
+than she could afford.&rdquo; June&rsquo;s eyes flashed. &ldquo;Micky,
+what can one do with people who are poor and proud?
+It&rsquo;s a most difficult combination to fight. I blundered in
+and offended her by offering to lend her some money,
+and, of course, she wouldn&rsquo;t hear of it, and there you
+are!&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span></div>
+<p>She sighed, and leaned back in her chair despondently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have a cake,&rdquo; said Micky absently; he pushed the
+plate across to her. &ldquo;The ones with the white sugar are
+nice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason ignored him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s all the interest you take&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she said offendedly.</p>
+<p>Micky started.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear girl, I&rsquo;m full of interest&ndash;&ndash;chock full to the
+brim! But we came here for tea, so we may as well eat
+something while I try to think of a plan.&rdquo; He wrinkled
+his forehead. &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; he ejaculated, &ldquo;that chap&ndash;&ndash;what
+did you say his name was?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What chap? Oh, the fianc&eacute;! I don&rsquo;t know; she
+hasn&rsquo;t even let me see his photograph yet; but she says
+he writes dreams of letters. I haven&rsquo;t seen them either,
+of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He may send her some more money. After all, you
+say it&rsquo;s only four days since she heard from him. That&rsquo;s
+not very long; men are always rotten letter writers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason looked wise.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Four days is a long time when you&rsquo;re in love,&rdquo; she
+said. &ldquo;If you were engaged to Esther Shepstone I&rsquo;ll bet
+you&rsquo;d write to her every day. You&rsquo;re just the kind. Oh,
+I know what you&rsquo;re going to say&ndash;&ndash;that you&rsquo;re cut out
+for a bachelor, and rubbish like that, but you wait and
+see, Micky&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s never too late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never written a love-letter in my life,&rdquo; Micky declared
+indignantly. &ldquo;And, anyway&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June leaned across the table and looked at him with
+accusing eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never? On your word of honour, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed and coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, perhaps&ndash;&ndash;once!&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s beside
+the point, isn&rsquo;t it?... I&rsquo;ll think things over and
+write to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, but soon, Micky, soon! It&rsquo;s not a case where
+you can sit down with your feet on the mantelpiece and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
+give yourself a week to turn things over in your mind.
+I want to know at once, to-morrow&ndash;&ndash;to-night, if possible.
+I know what Esther is&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;ll be gone before I can turn
+round, and I should hate her to go. I haven&rsquo;t got many
+friends, and I do feel that she and I are going to be real
+friends&ndash;&ndash;great friends ... I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve
+taken such a fancy to anybody&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know how glad I am to hear you say
+that,&rdquo; said Micky. His eyes were shining. Then he
+realised that he had displayed rather unnecessary warmth
+and hastened to amend his words. &ldquo;I always said that
+what you wanted was a real woman friend,&rdquo; he added
+more quietly.</p>
+<p>June was drawing on her gloves; she had very white
+hands and beautifully-kept finger-nails, and she was very
+proud of them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never mind me,&rdquo; she said briskly. &ldquo;You bustle about
+and find a post for Esther, and I&rsquo;ll love you for ever.
+Are we ready?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She rose and gathered up her various belongings.
+Micky declared that she was always laden with small,
+oddly-shaped parcels.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Samples, my dear man, samples!&rdquo; she said briskly
+when Micky asked if he might not be allowed to carry
+some. &ldquo;And they&rsquo;re much too precious to risk you dropping
+any.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s just one stipulation,&rdquo; Micky said as he followed
+her downstairs again. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not to tell Miss
+Shepstone anything about me&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m going to be very strict
+on this subject. Will you promise?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Bless your heart, yes&ndash;&ndash;and if you come to tea one
+day&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll come to tea,&rdquo; Micky said hastily.
+&ldquo;I should only feel rotten&ndash;&ndash;self-conscious and all the rest
+of it, even if I was quite sure she didn&rsquo;t know anything&ndash;&ndash;not
+that there&rsquo;s anything to know yet,&rdquo; he added quickly.
+&ldquo;I may not be able to help her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason laughed.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;ll help her right enough,&rdquo; she said breezily.
+&ldquo;I know you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She dismissed him when they reached the street. &ldquo;No,
+I don&rsquo;t want you to come with me; I&rsquo;ve got some business
+to see to and you&rsquo;d only be a nuisance.&rdquo; She gave his
+hand a squeeze. &ldquo;Good-bye, and thanks ever so much
+Micky. You&rsquo;ll write to me&ndash;&ndash;or wire?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;As soon as there is anything to report.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He raised his hat and turned away, and June dived
+across the road, perilously near to a motor-omnibus,
+clutching her samples jealously to her heart.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be all right now,&rdquo; she told herself, with a sense
+of comfort. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s always all right as soon as
+Micky gets hold of it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A soliloquy which made it seem all the more curious
+that she should have hesitated to trust herself to him for
+life. Perhaps, as she had told Esther, she cared too much
+for him to take the risk for them both. He had told her
+candidly that he did not care for her as a man should
+care for the woman he marries.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And he makes a ripping friend! Ripping!&rdquo; she told
+herself as she scurried along to interview another beauty
+specialist about the &ldquo;swindle,&rdquo; as Micky politely called it.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VII' id='CHAPTER_VII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky went straight home when he left June.
+What he had heard about Esther had disturbed
+him very much. He loathed to think that she
+was unhappy.</p>
+<p>The question was, how best to help her, and quickly.
+He was thankful she had made a friend of June. June
+was one of the best, the loyalest pal a man could ever
+have.</p>
+<p>But, as June had said, Esther was too proud to take
+help unless it was most tactfully offered. He racked his
+brains in vain. It was a sickening thought that, with all
+his wealth, he could give her nothing. Even the few
+paltry pounds she had unconsciously taken from him
+would have been indignantly rejected had she known who
+was the donor.</p>
+<p>With sudden impulse he sat down and wrote to her.
+After all, she had accepted his friendship; there was no
+reason on earth why he should not write and ask to be
+allowed to see her again. He wrote most carefully lest
+she should discover some likeness to the letter he had
+written to replace Ashton&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>Might he take her out to dinner one night? Any night
+would suit him. And did she like theatres? He had a
+friend who sometimes gave him a couple of seats for a
+show. He would arrange for any night she liked to
+mention.</p>
+<p>He thought that was a neat stroke of diplomacy&ndash;&ndash;of
+course, she would not think he could afford to buy seats,
+and anyway it was true that he had a friend who often
+gave him boxes and things&ndash;&ndash;he would have to be careful
+that Phillips did not send along a box this time though.</p>
+<p>He ended up by hoping formally that she and Charlie
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span>
+were quite well and comfortably settled into their new
+home, and he signed himself: &ldquo;Yours very sincerely,
+Micky Mellowes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When he had finished the letter, he realised that he had
+written it on his own heavily embossed writing paper, so
+he had to dig Driver up and borrow a cheap sheet of unstamped
+grey paper and write it all out again. Then he went out and
+posted it himself.</p>
+<p>As soon as it had gone he wished he had sent it by
+hand; it meant such a deuce of a time to wait for a reply;
+he calculated that he could not possibly hear before to-morrow
+night.</p>
+<p>But in this he was pleasantly disappointed, for his own
+letter reached the boarding-house in Elphinstone Road
+that night, and Esther&rsquo;s reply was waiting for him with
+the kidney and bacon in the morning.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s heart began to thump when he saw the letter
+beside his plate; he had never seen Esther&rsquo;s handwriting,
+but he knew by instinct that it was hers. He scanned the
+first lines eagerly, and his face fell.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Mr. Mellowes</span>,&ndash;&ndash;Thank you for your letter. I am sorry,
+but I cannot come out with you, either to dinner or to a theatre.&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p class='ralign'>Yours very truly, <span class='smcap'>Esther Shepstone</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s face was pathetic in its disappointment. He
+read the few curt lines through again and again, vainly
+trying to find something more behind the unmistakable
+refusal, but there it was in all its bald decision.</p>
+<p>She did not want to go out with him any more; she
+did not care if she saw him again or not.</p>
+<p>Micky left his breakfast, he no longer had any appetite.
+He had never had such a snub in all his life&ndash;&ndash;out
+of his disappointment anger was rising steadily; she had
+no right to snub him like that without a reason.</p>
+<p>Driver, coming into the room at that moment, saw the
+untouched breakfast and halted midway between door
+and table to stare at his master.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span></div>
+<p>Micky stood with his hands deep thrust into his pockets,
+glowering into the fire. Driver advanced a step.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Beg pardon, sir&ndash;&ndash;but wasn&rsquo;t you well?&rdquo; he asked stoically.</p>
+<p>Micky began to swear, then his mood changed and he
+laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;m all right&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He hesitated. &ldquo;Driver, would
+you like to go to Paris?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver raised wooden eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Anywhere you wish, sir,&rdquo; he answered, in his usual
+expressionless voice. &ldquo;When were you thinking of starting,
+sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not thinking of starting at all,&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;I
+want you to go&ndash;&ndash;alone! You&rsquo;ve been often enough now
+not to get lost. Do you think you can manage it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, if you think you can manage without me
+here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was the faintest touch of amazement in the man&rsquo;s
+even voice; he knew how helpless Micky was, or pretended
+to be&ndash;&ndash;knew how he hated being left to do for
+himself.</p>
+<p>But Micky only laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I can manage all right. I shall probably go away
+somewhere myself for a few days. Besides, you won&rsquo;t
+be gone long&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He paused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir,&rdquo; said Driver.</p>
+<p>Micky was leaning against the mantelshelf; his eyes
+were all crinkled up into a laugh as if he had heard some
+excellent joke which he was about to repeat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, you won&rsquo;t be gone long,&rdquo; he said again. &ldquo;A
+couple of days, I should think. You can put up at the
+hotel we stayed at last time; they&rsquo;ll look after you, and
+the manager speaks English.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Driver hesitated. &ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;what were
+you wanting me to do when I get there, sir?&rdquo; he asked,
+after a moment.</p>
+<p>Micky clung to his joke for an instant longer, then
+suddenly he let it go.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to post a letter for me,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>Driver was too well trained to show amazement at
+Micky&rsquo;s instructions, but just for a fractional second he
+forgot to answer with his usual &ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; and stood immovable.
+Then he recovered himself, and said it twice
+with hurried apology.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And am I to go at once, sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To-morrow morning will do,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;You can
+go by the first boat train.&rdquo; He looked at the man anxiously.
+He had a sort of uncomfortable feeling that
+Driver must be thinking he was not quite right in the
+head. After a moment he dismissed him.</p>
+<p>Then Micky went over to his desk and rummaged
+amongst the many papers and letters there till he found
+a sheet of paper embossed with the name of an hotel in
+Paris. It had not been used, and Micky heaved a sigh
+of relief.</p>
+<p>He went to bed late that night. He forgot all about
+his promise to go round to the Delands. He spent the
+time writing letters and tearing them up again till the
+wastepaper basket was full; then he carried it over to
+the fireplace and burnt every scrap of paper it contained.</p>
+<p>There were two finished letters lying on his desk. One
+was sealed and addressed, but not stamped, and the other
+was written on a sheet of Driver&rsquo;s plain notepaper, which
+Micky folded and unfolded with a sort of nervous dissatisfaction.</p>
+<p>Its contents were not very long, but they had taken a
+good deal of composing.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Miss Shepstone</span>,&ndash;&ndash;I received your note in reply to my
+letter and cannot help saying that I feel very hurt at your decided
+refusal to allow me to take you out. I thought we were to
+be friends? Have I been so unfortunate as to offend you? If
+so, I can only assure you that it has been utterly unintentional.
+Won&rsquo;t you let me see you, if only for a moment? I will meet you
+at any time or place.&ndash;&ndash;
+                         Yours sincerely, MICKEY MELLOWES.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>He gave a dissatisfied growl as he finished reading it.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span>
+Not a very eloquent epistle. There was so much more
+which he wanted to say, but did not dare to. He folded
+it again and thrust it into an envelope; then he addressed
+it and laid it beside that other on his desk, comparing the
+two handwritings with complacence.</p>
+<p>Not in the least alike! Nobody would ever suspect that
+they had been written by the same person.</p>
+<p>He rang for Driver and gave him the unstamped envelope.
+&ldquo;This is what I want you to post in Paris. Mind
+you put enough stamps on. You&rsquo;d better have it weighed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo; Driver looked at the other letter. &ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;is
+that for the post too, sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky put his hand behind him with a guilty gesture.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; I&rsquo;ll post that myself,&rdquo; he said, and he went out
+then and there into the cold night and did so.</p>
+<p>As it dropped into the letter-box Micky looked up at
+the stars and sighed.</p>
+<p>What the dickens could he have done to make her so
+distant? At any rate he would let her see that he was not
+to be so easily snubbed. If she didn&rsquo;t answer his letter he
+would go boldly round to Elphinstone Road, and stay
+there till he saw her.</p>
+<p>He was half way to bed before he remembered that he
+had promised to go to the Delands that evening. He
+stopped short with his necktie half undone and swore.</p>
+<p>What the deuce would they think of him?</p>
+<p>Well, he would have to plead that headache still, that
+was all, and if Marie chose to cut up rough....
+Micky felt mean because he rather hoped that she would.
+He knew that he wanted their friendship to cease, but,
+man-like, he did not altogether like having to take the
+initiative. Marie was a nice little girl, and if it hadn&rsquo;t
+been for that relative of hers dying on New Year&rsquo;s Eve&ndash;&ndash;well,
+he would probably have been engaged to her by
+this time.</p>
+<p>He went to bed feeling miserable.</p>
+<p>Driver had just left the house to catch the boat train
+the following morning when June Mason rang Micky up.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Any news for me?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;I hate worrying
+you so soon, but Esther&rsquo;s given notice. She&rsquo;s told Mrs.
+Elders that she can&rsquo;t afford to stay on. I nearly shook
+her this morning. I asked her to let me help her for the
+time being. I even said that I would take five per cent.
+interest on the hateful money if she was so abominably
+proud, and she laughed! She cried the next minute and
+said I was much too kind to her, but she wouldn&rsquo;t listen.
+What have you done?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Everything,&rdquo; said Micky promptly. &ldquo;In a couple of
+days&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My good man, that&rsquo;s much too long to wait.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the best I can do,&rdquo; said Micky rather shortly.
+&ldquo;And you&rsquo;ll find it&rsquo;s a good best if you&rsquo;ll be patient.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He heard the sigh she gave.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Honest Injun!&rdquo; he said seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, very well. If you let me down, Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t be let down,&rdquo; Micky said.</p>
+<p>June went back to Elphinstone Road with a heavy
+heart.</p>
+<p>She was very thorough in her friendships, and it really
+seemed a terrible thing to her that Esther would not
+accept help.</p>
+<p>She felt so genuinely fond of the girl herself that she
+could not understand the feeling of affection and confidence
+not being reciprocated; she went up to her room
+and tucked herself into the big armchair amongst the
+mauve cushions and smoked innumerable cigarettes. Charlie
+was asleep by the fire; he found his way upstairs now
+without invitation; he was beginning to get quite respectable-looking;
+he had lost his wild, scared look, and even
+his purr had taken on a sleekier, smoother sound.</p>
+<p>June stared at him for some time, then suddenly she
+got up and went downstairs.</p>
+<p>She knocked at Esther&rsquo;s door, but there was no answer,
+and she went back to her own room dejectedly.</p>
+<p>If only Esther were not so proud they might have such
+good times together! If only Esther had a little money
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span>
+and could go shares with this room; but what was the
+good of wishing? She hurled one of the mauve cushions
+across the room, and after that she felt better.</p>
+<p>She went down to lunch because she hoped Esther
+would be there, but she was not. The long room was
+rather empty, and June ate her cold meat and pudding
+hurriedly and went back upstairs.</p>
+<p>It was getting dusk when she heard Esther come in;
+she waited eagerly, but the footsteps did not come on to
+her door. June threw another cushion across the room
+to keep the other company; it was her chief vent for
+anger or irritation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Confounded pride,&rdquo; she said under her breath. She
+paced up and down for some minutes, then she caught
+Charlie up from his cushion and went downstairs to Esther&rsquo;s
+room with him in her arms.</p>
+<p>Her knock was answered immediately and Esther stood
+there in the doorway.</p>
+<p>June spoke without looking at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve brought Charlie down&ndash;&ndash;I thought if he stayed up
+in my room any longer you&rsquo;d be wanting to pay me for
+his board and lodging.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She thrust the cat into Esther&rsquo;s arms and turned away.</p>
+<p>She was feeling very sore; hers was such a generous
+nature that she could not understand why Esther could
+not see how glad she would have been to help her; she
+went back to her own room and slammed the door.</p>
+<p>A moment later she was sorry for what she had done;
+twice she went half way down the stairs to apologise,
+then came back again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do her good,&rdquo; she told herself snappishly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve no
+patience with such silly pride, and as for you, my boy,&rdquo;
+she stopped and shook her fist at Micky&rsquo;s photograph,
+&ldquo;if you don&rsquo;t buck up and find her something....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The two days dragged away. June purposely avoided
+Esther; she never went into the dining-room to meals,
+and Esther never came upstairs to June&rsquo;s room; there
+was a kind of armed neutrality between them.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span></div>
+<p>Charlie, too, seemed to have been told to keep away,
+and June missed his lusty purr in the silent room.</p>
+<p>She shed a few tears into the mauve cushions; she
+thought Esther was wilfully misunderstanding her; she
+wrote to Micky on the second day with a great deal of
+emphasis.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you dead or asleep? Here am I, just living to
+hear from you, and you leave me without a word! Esther
+and I haven&rsquo;t spoken for two days, not that you care, of
+course. You don&rsquo;t believe in my friendships, I know, but
+it&rsquo;s a very serious thing for me. I&rsquo;m more fond of that
+girl than I&rsquo;ve ever been of anybody, and now she&rsquo;ll walk
+out of this house and my life, and it will be your
+fault....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She knew this was unfair to Micky, but she knew that
+Micky would understand&ndash;&ndash;Micky always understood.</p>
+<p>But Micky frowned over the letter. Did she imagine
+he enjoyed sitting down here doing nothing? What pleasure
+did she suppose he was getting out of the whole
+thing?</p>
+<p>He threw the letter into the fire. Something ought to
+happen to-morrow, anyway. The last two days had
+seemed like months.</p>
+<p>To kill time he went round to the Delands. He felt a
+little nervous as he reached the house. It seemed an unconscionable
+time since he was last here. When the butler
+opened the door he felt an insane desire to say, &ldquo;Good
+evening, Jessop! You&rsquo;re still here, then.&rdquo; Such a decade
+ago it seemed since Jessop had been wont to admit him
+without question and take his hat and coat.</p>
+<p>But Jessop did not smile to-night, and did not move
+back an inch when he saw who was the caller.</p>
+<p>Micky was nonplussed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Er&ndash;&ndash;anybody in?&rdquo; he asked awkwardly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir; the mistress and the young ladies are all out,
+sir....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; There was a little silence; then Micky turned
+on his heel. &ldquo;Well, good-night!&rdquo; he said jerkily.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span></div>
+<p>He walked away, not sure if he was relieved or disappointed.
+A few yards down the road he almost cannoned
+into a man he knew.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hullo, Philips! Where are you off to?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Philips stopped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hullo, Micky! Not coming my way? I&rsquo;m going to
+the Delands. What&rsquo;s up with you? Haven&rsquo;t seen you for
+a week or more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been seedy,&rdquo; Micky said hurriedly. &ldquo;And the
+Delands are out. I&rsquo;ve just called there myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eh?&rdquo; Philips tried hard to see his face through the
+darkness. &ldquo;Rot,&rdquo; he said at last. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got a musical
+evening on&ndash;&ndash;I had a special invite.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky said nothing. This was a nasty blow; apparently
+the Delands were only &ldquo;not at home&rdquo; to him. Jove!
+he must have behaved caddishly. He walked on feeling
+very subdued. Had he quite lost his wits, he wondered,
+that for the sake of a girl who would have none of him
+he was willing to offend all his old friends? He tried
+to look at his behaviour from Marie Deland&rsquo;s point of
+view. Yes, it must look pretty rotten, he was forced
+to admit.</p>
+<p>He thought about it all the time he walked home. He
+asked himself honestly if this new game was worth the
+candle.</p>
+<p>Esther loved another man.</p>
+<p>Already she had shown him that she cared nothing for
+him or his friendship, and yet&ndash;&ndash;yet&ndash;&ndash;&ndash; Micky set his
+teeth. He had never wanted anything really badly in
+all his life before, but now he wanted this girl.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not done yet, anyway,&rdquo; he told himself. &ldquo;After
+all&ndash;&ndash;let the best man win.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He felt that he had decided a question of great importance
+as he went back to his rooms; it was a pleasant
+surprise to find Driver there; Micky beamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got back, then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man took Micky&rsquo;s hat and coat, and turned to go.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span></div>
+<p>Micky stared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Everything all right?&rdquo; he asked, with a touch of anxiety.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You posted the letter?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, and had it weighed....&rdquo; There was a
+little pause.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is that all?&rdquo; Micky asked. &ldquo;Nothing else happened?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man raised his expressionless eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should have got in this morning, sir, but we had a
+rough crossing, and I was ill&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor old Driver!&ndash;&ndash;anything else?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir&ndash;&ndash;I met Mr. Ashton in Paris. He seemed very
+surprised to see me there without you, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s face changed; he had not counted on this.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good Lord!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t tell him you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver raised his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never tell anybody anything, sir,&rdquo; he said woodenly.</p>
+<p>Micky breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good man.... He was alone, of course?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alone at the hotel, but I saw him out driving twice
+with the same lady, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You saw him out twice&ndash;&ndash;driving with the same lady?&rdquo;
+Micky echoed the man&rsquo;s words vaguely. &ldquo;All right&ndash;&ndash;you
+can go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir.&rdquo; Driver departed, closing the door
+noiselessly.</p>
+<p>Ashton had soon found consolation, Micky thought
+savagely. He wondered what Esther would say if she
+could know. What was Driver thinking about it all?
+Driver was safe as the Bank of England; but, all the
+same, it was not altogether pleasant to feel that he had
+had to give himself away to his valet.</p>
+<p>He looked up at the clock. Past nine! So there
+would not be another post in to-night.</p>
+<p>Esther had not answered his note, and two whole days
+had elapsed.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span></div>
+<p>Micky began pacing the room. Why had she so suddenly
+thrown him over, he wondered miserably.</p>
+<p>He could not imagine what he had done to offend her.</p>
+<p>He hardly knew how the days had passed since New
+Year&rsquo;s Eve. He had not visited any of his old haunts or
+seen any of his friends. It almost seemed as if he had
+opened the book of a new life and forgotten about the old.</p>
+<p>She might have answered his letter. Dash it all! he
+wasn&rsquo;t just a bounder who had spoken to her for his
+own amusement. He kicked a hassock out of his way
+and went to bed.</p>
+<p>If he didn&rsquo;t hear in the morning, he would risk it and
+go round to see her. At the worst she could only have
+the door shut in his face....</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And even then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he told his reflection in the mirror
+fiercely, as he struggled with a stud. &ldquo;Even then I&rsquo;m
+not done&ndash;&ndash;and I&rsquo;ll show her that I&rsquo;m not....&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>June Mason was mixing perfume the following morning
+when a little knock came at her door.</p>
+<p>She looked up from her work and listened; after a
+second she resumed her occupation briskly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come in,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She did not raise her eyes when the door opened,
+though she knew quite well who had entered the room,
+and for a second Esther Shepstone stood on the threshold
+hesitatingly, then she spoke.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;May I come in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June Mason looked up with an exaggerated start; she
+was a picturesque figure at that moment in a big white
+overall, and with a scarf of her favourite mauve tied
+over her dark head.</p>
+<p>She held a little phial in either hand, and there was
+a delicious faint smell of rose perfume in the room.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Gracious! I thought you were dead
+and buried long enough ago. Oh yes, come in....
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+You don&rsquo;t mind me going on with my work, do you?
+I&rsquo;m up to my eyes in it.... Sit down.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Esther stood where she was, the eagerness died
+out of her pretty face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t stay if you&rsquo;re busy,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come
+another time, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she hesitated. Across the room
+the eyes of the two girls met, and June Mason promptly
+put down the two little phials.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come in and apologise, and so will I,&rdquo; she said heartily.
+&ldquo;There!&rdquo; She reached up&ndash;&ndash;Esther was taller than
+she&ndash;&ndash;and gave the younger girl a sounding kiss. &ldquo;There!
+I don&rsquo;t often kiss people, so you can consider yourself
+flattered.&rdquo; She dragged forward a chair and pushed
+Esther into it. &ldquo;Now, what do you want, and where&rsquo;s
+that Charlie? You&rsquo;ve no idea how I&rsquo;ve missed him.
+No&ndash;&ndash;you stay there, and I&rsquo;ll go and fetch him up.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She darted off, and returned a moment later with
+Charlie in her arms. There were yards of mauve ribbon
+lying on the table and she cut off a length and tied
+it in a bow round his neck; then she kissed his head
+and dropped him on to his cushion. &ldquo;There! Now, we&rsquo;re
+quite at home again,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And now, fire away and
+tell me why you&rsquo;re here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She packed all the dishes and boxes on to a tray, put
+them out of sight behind a screen and came back to the
+fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you like this perfume? It&rsquo;s something new! I&rsquo;m
+trying to blend it with white rose. Isn&rsquo;t it gorgeous?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Beautiful!&rdquo; said Esther. She consented to have her
+chin dabbed. &ldquo;What are you making now?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason chuckled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m only experimising, as Micky calls it,&rdquo; she
+said lightly. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to talk shop. You&rsquo;ve got
+some news; I can see by your face that you have.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed and flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I have,&rdquo; she said tremulously. &ldquo;Such wonderful
+news.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; said June drily. &ldquo;From the young man, of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span>
+course? Well, is he on his way home, and have you got
+to get a wedding dress in the next five minutes or something?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, it isn&rsquo;t anything like that,&rdquo; said Esther. There
+was a shade of regret in her voice. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s in Paris&ndash;&ndash;he
+says he&rsquo;s not staying there, but he had to pay a business
+call.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June gave a rather unladylike sniff, but Esther was too
+engrossed to notice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He seems to have been very lucky,&rdquo; she went on.
+&ldquo;He hadn&rsquo;t got very much money when he went away,
+but he&rsquo;s got some appointment now; he does not say
+what and....&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she gave a little excited laugh&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;he
+says that he&rsquo;s going to send me &pound;3 a week for as long
+as he is away.... Isn&rsquo;t it wonderfully good of
+him? I suppose I ought not to take it, but he says that
+if things had turned out as he hoped, we should have
+been married, and so ... you don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s
+wrong of me to take it, do you?&rdquo; she asked anxiously.</p>
+<p>June rose to her feet. She looked chagrined; she had
+been so sure that this man was a rotter, that it was a
+bit of a set-back to hear this news.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You take it, my dear, and don&rsquo;t be a goose,&rdquo; she said
+promptly. &ldquo;As he says, if you were his wife you&rsquo;d take
+it, and as you&rsquo;re going to be married, it&rsquo;s quite the right
+thing if he&rsquo;s well off that he should help you! I hope
+you won&rsquo;t let your silly pride make you send it back;
+you&rsquo;d only hurt his feelings.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t do that for anything,&rdquo; Esther said quickly.
+&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s such a lot of money.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rubbish!&rdquo; said June. &ldquo;Why, Micky Mellowes
+wouldn&rsquo;t even stop to pick it up if he dropped it in the
+road.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are not all millionaires like Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; Esther
+said sharply. &ldquo;And he ought to be ashamed of himself
+if he really wouldn&rsquo;t stop to pick it up.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you take things so literally, my dear,&rdquo; she said.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span>
+&ldquo;I know you don&rsquo;t like Micky, though you&rsquo;ve never seen
+him, but I&rsquo;m going to ask him here to tea one day, if he&rsquo;ll
+come&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t suppose he will,&rdquo; said Esther. &ldquo;Elphinstone
+Road wouldn&rsquo;t be good enough for him, would it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June frowned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to hear you talk like that about Micky!
+It&rsquo;s not fair, when you don&rsquo;t know him. I tell you he&rsquo;s
+one of the best&ndash;&ndash;and, anyway, as he&rsquo;s a friend of
+mine&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;d no right to have said anything about
+him at all; please forgive me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; June said laconically. &ldquo;But he isn&rsquo;t
+a bit of a snob; he&rsquo;d do anything in the world for anybody.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther glanced up at his portrait on the shelf. She felt
+a trifle ashamed of what she had said; after all, Micky
+had been good to her in his own way, even if his own
+way had been patronising.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And so I shall stay on here,&rdquo; she said, after a moment.
+&ldquo;And if you think you would still like me to share
+this room&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June pounced upon her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You darling! It&rsquo;s too good to be true. Of course, I
+should love it! I&rsquo;ll go and tell old Mother Elders straight
+away; it will put her in a good temper for a month.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s out,&rdquo; Esther said quickly. &ldquo;I went to tell her
+myself as soon as I got my letter.... It only came
+this morning.&rdquo; She coloured sensitively beneath June&rsquo;s
+quizzical eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And of course you&rsquo;ve been devouring it ever since,&rdquo;
+June said. &ldquo;Well, and very nice too! There&rsquo;s nothing
+to be ashamed of. I&rsquo;ll admit that I didn&rsquo;t think somehow
+that he could be a very nice sort of person, this young
+man of yours. No, I don&rsquo;t know why I thought so&ndash;&ndash;just
+an idea of mine. I get hold of ideas like that. But
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span>
+I&rsquo;ve changed my mind now; I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s a dear, or
+you&rsquo;d never look so happy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should love you to see him,&rdquo; Esther said with enthusiasm.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure you would like him. I don&rsquo;t know
+his people, of course&ndash;&ndash;I suppose if they thought he cared
+for me they&rsquo;d be angry&ndash;&ndash;but it doesn&rsquo;t really matter, and
+I know he doesn&rsquo;t care at all for his mother....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked up from stroking Charlie.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, I wish you hadn&rsquo;t said that,&rdquo; she said frankly.
+&ldquo;No man can be really nice who doesn&rsquo;t love his own
+mother.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked distressed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But she&rsquo;s horrid!&rdquo; she said eagerly. &ldquo;He has told me
+how horrid she is to him&ndash;&ndash;really she is&ndash;&ndash;and as he&rsquo;s her
+only son&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She stopped. &ldquo;After all,&rdquo; she went on,
+&ldquo;there&rsquo;s no law to make you like a woman just because
+you happen to be her son, is there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unnatural not to,&rdquo; June answered shortly. &ldquo;However,
+as neither of us know his mother, we&rsquo;ll give him
+the benefit of the doubt. She may be a perfect old cat.
+Some women are.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She wandered round the room to find a cigarette, and
+Esther sat looking into the fire.</p>
+<p>She could not remember her own mother. But somehow
+she felt sure that, had she been living, she would
+have adored her.</p>
+<p>She had never heard Raymond say anything nice of
+Mrs. Ashton&ndash;&ndash;he had always spoken about her in a bitter,
+half sneering way.</p>
+<p>She looked across to June timidly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you always judge people by what you call &lsquo;instinct&rsquo;?&rdquo;
+she asked. &ldquo;When I first knew you you told
+me that you felt sure you would like me before ever you
+saw me, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I was right,&rdquo; June said triumphantly. &ldquo;I nearly
+always am right when I get an instinct about anything.
+Micky says it&rsquo;s all rot!&ndash;&ndash;there I am, talking about him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+again&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s a habit, so don&rsquo;t notice it! But even he has
+to admit how often I am right; I could give you dozens
+of instances.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not pursue the subject; she was remembering
+how June had said that she had an &ldquo;instinct&rdquo; that
+Raymond was not nice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re the most original person I&rsquo;ve ever met,&rdquo;
+she said with a little smile.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eccentric, Micky says I am&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she answered, then
+broke off with a comical look of despair. &ldquo;You really
+must excuse me for everlastingly dragging him in,&rdquo; she
+apologised. &ldquo;As I said before, it&rsquo;s a habit&ndash;&ndash;and there
+goes the dinner gong. Are we going to feed here to-day?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther rose from the chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m hungry, so I do hope there&rsquo;s
+something nice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They went down together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Curry,&rdquo; said June, sniffing the air critically. &ldquo;The
+colonel will be pleased; he&rsquo;s always telling us how they
+used to make curry in India, poor old chap! Though
+I don&rsquo;t think any of us really believe that he&rsquo;s ever been
+there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But the colonel was not there.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s ill,&rdquo; so young Harley told the two girls as they
+sat down at their table. &ldquo;I went up to see him this morning,
+and he really looks ill.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t look in exactly rude health yourself,&rdquo; said
+June in her blunt fashion. She noticed that Harley
+looked at Esther a great deal, and she made up her mind
+to tell him at the earliest opportunity that Esther was
+engaged. June scented romance everywhere.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They are the first violets I have seen this year,&rdquo; Esther
+was saying, looking at a little bunch the young man
+wore in his coat.</p>
+<p>He took them out eagerly and laid them down beside
+her plate.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Do have them, will you? I never wear flowers really,
+but a girl in the street begged me to buy them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther took them up eagerly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They are my favourite flowers,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And I
+haven&rsquo;t had any given to me for&ndash;&ndash;oh, for ever so long.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It gave her a little pang to remember that Ashton had
+always brought her violets in the first days of their acquaintance.
+It was one of the many little attentions which
+he had gradually dropped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not to let Mr. Harley fall in love with you,
+mind,&rdquo; June said severely as they went upstairs after
+dinner. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s much too nice to be made unhappy&ndash;&ndash;even
+by you,&rdquo; she added affectionately.</p>
+<p>Esther stared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, whatever do you mean?&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;I never
+see him or speak to him, except at meal times.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I mean what I say,&rdquo; June insisted. &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t you see
+how he looked at you when you took his violets?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed with vexation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, what perfect nonsense!&rdquo; she protested.</p>
+<p>But June only laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Onlookers see most of the game,&rdquo; she declared.
+&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you coming up to my room? Our room, I
+mean.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to go out&ndash;&ndash;I had an appointment at half-past
+two, but I&rsquo;ll love to come to tea with you,&rdquo; she
+added, seeing the disappointment in June&rsquo;s face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then, four o&rsquo;clock. But who is the appointment
+with? You won&rsquo;t need to find a berth now.
+You&rsquo;re a lady of leisure.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But I shall try all the same. I don&rsquo;t mean to be
+lazy just because he&rsquo;s so good to me. I shall save all
+I can. I went to an agency yesterday&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll rob you,&rdquo; June protested. &ldquo;They always do.
+I know what agents are,&rdquo; she added darkly.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>But if she had hoped great things from her call that
+afternoon she was disappointed. The thin, aristocratic-looking
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span>
+person who owned the &ldquo;Bureau,&rdquo; as it was called,
+looked at her with coldly critical eyes, and said that she
+had no vacancies likely to suit her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you told me to call,&rdquo; Esther protested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly; there might have been something,&rdquo; was all
+the answer she received. &ldquo;Call again to-morrow, if you
+please.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther went out dispiritedly. There were so many
+girls of her own class and age in the bare waiting-room;
+she felt quite sure that they would all get berths before
+she had a chance.</p>
+<p>She felt glad that she had June Mason to go back to.
+June was always sympathetic. She went straight upstairs
+to the sitting-room with the mauve cushions.</p>
+<p>June opened the door before she had time to knock.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it was you. I heard your step. What&rsquo;s
+the matter? You sounded dispirited as you came upstairs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I believe you must have second sight, or whatever
+they call it. But you&rsquo;re right this time; I am rather down
+on my luck. They haven&rsquo;t anything at the agency to
+suit me. I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She stopped, looking past June into
+the cosy room to where a man had just risen from a
+chair by the fire&ndash;&ndash;a tall man&ndash;&ndash;who looked across at her
+with eyes that were half-abashed, half-defiant. Micky
+Mellowes.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VIII' id='CHAPTER_VIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>June introduced Micky and Esther with a sort of
+hurried self-consciousness. It was not by her invitation
+that Micky was here this afternoon, and the
+fact that she had asked him to help Esther embarrassed
+her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;Miss Shepstone; you&rsquo;ve both heard of
+each other, so I can leave you to entertain one another
+while I get tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And she bolted out of the room.</p>
+<p>Esther looked after her with angry eyes; she thought
+June might have stayed&ndash;&ndash;she took a quick step forward
+to call her back, but Micky stopped her; he put a hand on
+the door above her head, shutting it fast.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to speak to you, whether you like it or not,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>She faced him angrily; she was very flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you mean. You&rsquo;ve no right to
+speak to me like that. If Miss Mason has asked you
+here to meet me&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June didn&rsquo;t know I was coming. She has no more
+idea than the dead that we have ever met before. I
+haven&rsquo;t told her, and I don&rsquo;t suppose you have&ndash;&ndash;or will,&rdquo;
+he added grimly. &ldquo;However, as we are alone, will you
+tell me what I&rsquo;ve done to offend you? It&rsquo;s not fair to
+take me for a friend and then fling me over as if I were
+an old glove.... If I&rsquo;ve annoyed you, the least you
+can do is to tell me how and give me a chance to explain.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had walked back to the fire and Mellowes followed
+her. He knew that he had only got a few moments,
+and he meant to make the most of them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You refuse to see me or to allow me to take you out,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
+he went on urgently. &ldquo;And you haven&rsquo;t even answered
+my last letter. If I have offended you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Esther, as he paused. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not at
+all offended.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then why, in the name of all that&rsquo;s holy&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he began
+again, in exasperation. She cut him short.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t tell me the truth about yourself. You made
+out you were poor! You pretended to be some one quite
+different to what you are. You&rsquo;ve a perfect right to, I
+suppose, if you wish, but I hate being deceived and
+treated like that. I suppose you think anything is good
+enough for me! Perhaps it is, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky brought his fist down with a bang on the back
+of the big armchair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I give you my word of honour, Miss Shepstone, that
+what I said was only because it seemed the best way to
+make you trust me. I had absolutely no other reason for
+pretending to&ndash;&ndash;to&ndash;&ndash;be anything but what I am. I know
+you&rsquo;d have gone off at a tangent if I&rsquo;d said I was unfortunate
+enough to be rich, I know&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t even write to me from your real address&ndash;&ndash;you
+just put a number.&rdquo; She broke into an angry little
+laugh. &ldquo;I suppose you thought I shouldn&rsquo;t understand
+that a number can also be an expensive flat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky turned pale with anger.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re deliberately trying to make out that I&rsquo;m a
+bounder. It&rsquo;s not fair&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t deserve it; and as to thinking
+anything good enough for you&ndash;&ndash;I suppose you&rsquo;d only
+take it as a fresh insult if I told you that there is nothing
+in the world I consider good enough for you.... I
+... oh, what&rsquo;s the good of arguing,&rdquo; he broke out
+with sudden rage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no good at all, and there&rsquo;s nothing to argue about,&rdquo;
+Esther said stiffly. She had taken off her gloves and was
+flattening them out nervously. &ldquo;You offered me your
+friendship, and now I decline it. I suppose I am free
+to do so?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky violently, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re not ... I&ndash;&ndash;I
+...&rdquo; He turned away sharply, realising with
+dismay how nearly he had blurted out the truth about
+Ashton. After a moment he spoke more quietly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is pure chance that brought me here. I have known
+June Mason for years; we are old friends. She has no
+idea that I have ever seen you before, but I will tell her
+this moment if you wish it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She raised passionate eyes to his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I will never forgive you as long as I live if you dare
+to,&rdquo; she said stormily.</p>
+<p>Micky frowned till his brows nearly met above his
+kind eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Whatever I say or offer to do is wrong, of course,&rdquo;
+he said savagely. &ldquo;If I had not offered to tell her, you
+would probably have said that I was ashamed of knowing
+you ... oh, good Heavens! whatever have I said
+now?&rdquo; he added as he saw the hot blood rush to her face.</p>
+<p>He went over to her and tried to take her hand. &ldquo;Do
+forgive me; I beg of you to forgive me&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m a clumsy
+idiot&ndash;&ndash;but you don&rsquo;t know how hurt I&rsquo;ve felt about being
+turned down in this way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s absurd to feel hurt&ndash;&ndash;I haven&rsquo;t turned you down;
+I wish you wouldn&rsquo;t keep saying that I have. Why I&ndash;&ndash;I
+hardly know you,&rdquo; she added with a little angry laugh.</p>
+<p>Micky turned away; he stood staring down into the
+fire; neither of them spoke again till June returned.</p>
+<p>She carried a tray of cakes and hot toast; she set it
+down with a thump on the round table by the fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I coaxed it out of Mrs. Elders,&rdquo; she explained breathlessly.
+&ldquo;I generally keep some cake up here myself, but
+I haven&rsquo;t got a bit to-day. Esther, fetch the cloth, there&rsquo;s
+a dear; and, Micky, you put the kettle on&ndash;&ndash;I have filled
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She bustled about, talking the whole time; if she noticed
+the constraint between the other two she said nothing
+till tea was ready, and she sat down amongst the
+mauve cushions with a breathless sigh.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re going to be cosy. Well, and how have
+you two been getting on? Micky, I&rsquo;ve told Esther so
+much about you, she&rsquo;s sick to death of the sound of your
+name.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never said so,&rdquo; Esther protested quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have some cake,&rdquo; Micky said; he deposited a slice on
+June&rsquo;s plate and adroitly changed the subject. He was
+furiously angry; he had not believed that Esther had it
+in her to turn on him as she had done. But the more she
+snubbed him, the more determined he was not to be
+snubbed. As he sat there stirring his tea and listening to
+June&rsquo;s chatter he was watching Esther all the time.</p>
+<p>She had taken off her coat now. He wondered if it was
+the coat his money had bought her; it was not half good
+enough, anyway. He thought of the furs and expensive
+gloves which Marie Deland wore, and he longed to be able
+to give some to this little girl who sat there with such
+angry defiance in her eyes.</p>
+<p>He realised that this pride of hers was going to be
+the hardest barrier of all between them.</p>
+<p>She could not forgive him because he was a rich man
+and had pretended to be poor; she could not forget that
+he had paid for her dinner and a saucer of milk for the
+cat. He looked down to where Charlie sat blinking in
+the firelight, and a little smile crossed his face. He wondered
+if perhaps some day soon she would offer to repay
+him for that night&ndash;&ndash;if she would insist on doing so, as
+she had insisted on paying her share of everything with
+June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;More tea?&rdquo; June demanded across the table, and
+Micky said, &ldquo;Oh&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;yes, thanks,&rdquo; hurriedly. As long as
+the meal was unfinished Esther would have to stay in the
+room, he thought; she could not very well leave before;
+but in this he was mistaken, for Esther put her cup down
+almost at once and looked at June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you think me very rude if I run away?&rdquo; she
+asked. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to see Mrs. Elders and tell her I am staying
+on&ndash;&ndash;I think she has been trying to let my room.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span></div>
+<p>June looked disappointed. &ldquo;Oh, well, if you really must
+go,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Come back when you&rsquo;ve seen her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Esther. She turned to Micky, who
+had risen. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t say good-bye, then,&rdquo; she said with an
+effort to speak lightly.</p>
+<p>He held open the door for her, and a moment later
+she had gone. As soon as he came back to his chair June
+rounded on him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What have you said to annoy her?&rdquo; She looked quite
+angry! &ldquo;I wanted you to like each other. Really, Micky,
+you are the limit! She won&rsquo;t come back again, you see
+if she does.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think she will.&rdquo; He
+laughed a rather chagrined laugh. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t said anything
+as far as I know,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;ve
+said, I fancy. You&rsquo;ve fed her up with accounts of what
+a wonderful person I am.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So you are,&rdquo; said June.</p>
+<p>He frowned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of you to think so, but I don&rsquo;t know anybody
+else who shares your opinion.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t help the world being full of idiots, can
+I?&rdquo; she demanded in exasperation. &ldquo;And, Micky, why
+did you come here to-day? When I asked you before you
+said you didn&rsquo;t want to come; you&rsquo;ve soon changed your
+mind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I came to tell you about Miss Shepstone. You asked
+me to get her a berth....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear boy, you&rsquo;re too late! She doesn&rsquo;t want your
+help now, or mine either, for that matter,&rdquo; she added
+ruefully. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a lady of means&ndash;&ndash;that wonderful man
+of hers who&rsquo;s tucked up in Paris having the time of his
+life is going to allow her three pounds a week.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She paused and looked across at him expectantly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, why don&rsquo;t you look surprised?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Micky swallowed hard.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am surprised!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Too jolly surprised for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span>
+anything. It&rsquo;s good news, eh? I suppose she was
+pleased....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course she was! She&rsquo;s staying on now, and is
+going to share my room. She had a qualm just for a
+moment, as to whether she ought to take the money, but
+I soon put her mind at ease. &lsquo;Take all you can get, my
+dear,&rsquo; I said. After all, I dare say if the man&rsquo;s giving
+her three pounds he could afford to give her about double
+that amount; men are not particularly generous from
+what I know of them&ndash;&ndash;except you, Micky....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky got red.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But three pounds a week is enough to live on? Don&rsquo;t
+you think it is?&rdquo; he asked, with a touch of anxiety in his
+voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s enough to live here on,&rdquo; June admitted. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s
+not great wealth. Still, she&rsquo;s going to get a berth as
+well, so perhaps, after all, the one you&rsquo;ve heard of will
+suit her. What is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was stooping, patting Charlie&rsquo;s head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s in an office,&rdquo; he said, after a moment; his voice
+sounded a little uncertain. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it would really
+suit her, though&ndash;&ndash;now I&rsquo;ve seen her,&rdquo; he hastened to add.
+&ldquo;It would be too hard work&ndash;&ndash;late hours and all the rest
+of it, dontcherknow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked at his bent head shrewdly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Perhaps it&rsquo;s just as well this
+phantom lover of Esther&rsquo;s has turned up trumps, if that&rsquo;s
+all you&rsquo;d got to offer her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Phantom lover!&rdquo; said Micky; his voice sounded as if
+he were annoyed. &ldquo;Whom are you talking about?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther&rsquo;s beloved,&rdquo; June said airily. &ldquo;She won&rsquo;t tell
+me his name, so I call him the phantom lover, because
+I&rsquo;ve got an eerie sort of feeling in my mind about him
+that he doesn&rsquo;t really exist. What do you think, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear girl, how can I possibly know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June produced some cigarettes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If he were all that she&rsquo;d like me to believe he is,&rdquo;
+she said shrewdly, &ldquo;she&rsquo;d tell me more about him. She
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span>
+certainly got a bit more confidential to-day, and said that
+he had a cat for a mother and a few things like that.
+She had another letter from him this morning; he&rsquo;s in
+Paris&ndash;&ndash;on business, so he tells her.&rdquo; She laughed, turning
+her face for a moment against the mauve cushion.
+Suddenly she sat upright again, &ldquo;Micky, I should hate
+that man if I knew him!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Another of your &lsquo;instinctive hates&rsquo;?&rdquo; he asked whimsically.</p>
+<p>She nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know you don&rsquo;t believe in them, but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t I?&rdquo; said Micky thoughtfully. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not so sure.&rdquo;
+He looked at his watch. &ldquo;Well, I must be trotting.
+There&rsquo;s nothing else I can do for you, I suppose? No
+more waifs who want billets...?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re laughing at me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not&ndash;&ndash;I never laugh at you.&rdquo; He laid his hand on
+her shoulder for a moment. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t bother to get up;
+you look so comfortable ... Good-bye&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye&ndash;&ndash;and, Micky, don&rsquo;t make up your mind not
+to like Esther just because of this afternoon.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear, I never thought of such a thing,&rdquo; he protested
+lamely.</p>
+<p>June snuggled more cosily into the cushions.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, but I know what you are,&rdquo; she said, for once
+hopelessly on the wrong track.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed to himself as he went down the stairs;
+he wondered if he was getting clever, or if June was not
+so quick to see a thing as he had believed, that she had
+not noticed the constraint between himself and Esther.</p>
+<p>He looked about him eagerly as he went out, hoping
+to catch a glimpse of Esther, but the house seemed deserted,
+quite different from what he had pictured it to be.
+He had always thought that a London boarding-house
+must be noisy and crowded and perpetually smelling of
+soap and cabbage water; he was relieved to find that this
+was fairly comfortable and quiet.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span></div>
+<p>He picked up a taxicab at the corner of the road and
+was driven back to his flat. He felt very depressed.
+Everybody seemed to have interests in life except himself.
+He wished he had got married years ago and settled
+down. He thought of Marie Deland with remorseful
+affection. Here was another woman who must be
+thinking him a positive outsider. How in the world did
+a man put an end to a flirtation that was growing rapidly
+into something else without hurting a woman&rsquo;s feelings,
+he wondered.</p>
+<p>Ashton had accomplished it quite successfully several
+times. Micky sighed, and let himself into his flat.</p>
+<p>There were several letters lying on the table; he flicked
+them through disinterestedly; then he stopped&ndash;&ndash;the last
+one was from Ashton.</p>
+<p>Micky stood for quite a minute staring down at the
+handwriting, which he had been at such pains to copy.
+Then he ripped open the envelope.</p>
+<p>Ashton wrote from Paris:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Mickey</span>,&ndash;&ndash;Just a line to send you my address, as promised.
+Hope things are going well with you. I am staying on
+here for the present, as I have run up against Maisie Clare&ndash;&ndash;you
+remember her, Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow? My son, she&rsquo;s got
+pots of money, and at the present moment things are looking
+promising! The mater would be pleased if I could manage to
+pull it off. By the way, I dare say Driver told you I met him
+the other day&ndash;&ndash;he was very mysterious and hadn&rsquo;t a word to say!
+Surely he wasn&rsquo;t joy-riding over here by himself? Remember
+me to every one.&ndash;&ndash;Yours, <span class='smcap'>R. F. Ashton</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>And not one word about Esther! Not a single mention
+of the girl who was thinking of him night and day,
+and only living to see him again.</p>
+<p>Micky crushed the letter and tossed it into the fire.
+That settled it, he told himself; he no longer had the
+slightest compunction in cutting Ashton out; the fellow
+was not worth a moment&rsquo;s consideration.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_IX' id='CHAPTER_IX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther trudged to and fro from the agency where
+the stiff and stately lady presided so many times
+during the next few days that she began to hate the
+sight of the tall building and the dark stairs covered with
+worn linoleum.</p>
+<p>Every day the waiting-room seemed crowded with
+girls, many of whom were a great deal more shabby and
+hopeless looking than she was, and they all sat patiently
+on the wooden chairs and eyed one another with a sort of
+jealous suspicion till their turn came to pass within the
+magic portal which guarded the stiff and stately lady
+from the vulgar gaze.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I told you an agency wouldn&rsquo;t be any good,&rdquo; June
+Mason said when Esther came home after another fruitless
+journey. &ldquo;They take your money and forget you
+till you turn up to remind them that you&rsquo;re still in existence.
+Give it up, my dear, and come into partnership
+with me. I should love to take you round to all the big
+stores and tell them that you owe your milk and rose
+complexion to my famous cream.&rdquo; She burst out laughing.
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you imagine it! Esther, you and I ought to
+tour the country in a caravan or something. Call ourselves
+the new Sequah.&rdquo; She rolled over in the big chair
+and hid her face in the cushions.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed; she felt quite at home now in June&rsquo;s
+room. There were a few of her own possessions lying
+about, and she had bought Charlie a new cushion of his
+own. It gave her a sense of independence to know that
+she was paying her share of everything.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall get something if I wait long enough,&rdquo; Esther
+said presently. &ldquo;Do you know, I rather think I should
+like to be a companion, after all. I told Mr.&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span>
+stopped; she had been about to add that she had once
+told Micky how she would hate it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It might not be so bad,&rdquo; June admitted; &ldquo;but you
+want some one with pots of money and a good temper.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at Esther consideringly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There wouldn&rsquo;t have to be any eligible sons either,&rdquo;
+she said bluntly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re much too pretty&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What nonsense!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June dragged Esther to her feet and made her look in
+the glass.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now dare to call it nonsense&ndash;&ndash;look at yourself,&rdquo; she
+commanded.</p>
+<p>But Esther only looked at June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Next to you,&rdquo; she began, but June cut her short.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to try blatant flattery,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>They both laughed at that.</p>
+<p>Some one tapped at the door; Lydia, the smiling housemaid,
+appeared; she looked at the two girls with a sort of
+parental expression; she was very fond of them both,
+and never minded how late or how hard she worked to
+do little extra jobs for either of them. It was her greatest
+pride to stay in when her &ldquo;evening out&rdquo; came and
+help June label the little mauve pots; she recommended
+the famous cream to all her friends; she was as proud
+of it as if it were her own invention.</p>
+<p>She carried a note on a tray now, which she handed
+to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I found it on the hall table, Miss,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It must
+have been left by messenger.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She waited a moment to make up the fire and tidy the
+hearth; she was always glad of an excuse to stay in the
+room; she was never tired of telling her friends what a
+pretty room it was&ndash;&ndash;she loved the mauve cushions and
+the many photographs.</p>
+<p>She went away with a reluctant backward look. June
+yawned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Another love-letter?&rdquo; she asked chaffingly. She looked
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
+across at Esther, and was surprised to see the embarrassment
+in the girl&rsquo;s face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s from Mr. Harley,&rdquo; she said, in distress. &ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m
+sure I&rsquo;ve never let him think I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She handed the
+letter to June. &ldquo;He wants me to go to a theatre with
+him,&rdquo; she added in confusion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I should go,&rdquo; said June promptly. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t
+get much fun, and the man knows you&rsquo;re engaged, and if
+he likes to chance it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But how does he know I&rsquo;m engaged? I&rsquo;ve never
+told him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I did,&rdquo; June said calmly. &ldquo;I saw the way the wind
+was blowing and told him to save complications.&rdquo; She
+made a little grimace at Esther. &ldquo;And after this note are
+you still going to declare that he isn&rsquo;t more than ordinarily
+interested? Esther, you&rsquo;re the most unsuspecting
+baby&ndash;&ndash;&ndash; Say you&rsquo;ll go, of course. There&rsquo;s no harm
+in it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I certainly shall not go,&rdquo; Esther said; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want
+to, for one thing, and, for another, it would not be
+fair&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean to Mr. Harley?&rdquo; June asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, and to&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To the phantom lover! Oh, I see!&rdquo; said June drily.</p>
+<p>Esther coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you mean,&rdquo; she said with a touch
+of dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, you do,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t look so angry!
+What am I to call him, pray? You haven&rsquo;t told me his
+name.&rdquo; She waited, but Esther did not speak. &ldquo;Of
+course, if you&rsquo;d rather not,&rdquo; she added, rather stiffly.</p>
+<p>Esther got up and came over to sit on the arm of her
+chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t that I don&rsquo;t want you to know, but&ndash;&ndash;well, I
+promised him not to tell any one; you see, his people
+would be furious if they knew. After all, I suppose I&rsquo;m
+not anybody, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June pushed her away.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you make me tired!&rdquo; she said crossly. &ldquo;Why will
+you insist on belittling yourself? Who on earth is this
+wonderful man that he sets himself up for such a model
+of superiority? He can&rsquo;t be anybody if he&rsquo;s ashamed of
+you. You don&rsquo;t like Micky, I know, but, with all his
+money and position, if he loved you he&rsquo;d be only too
+proud to shout it from the housetops, and not care a
+hang what the world thought. There&rsquo;s no rotten pride
+about Micky&ndash;&ndash;if he loved a beggar girl he&rsquo;d be proud of
+it.... No, don&rsquo;t say any more, it makes me boil!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She lit another cigarette and puffed at it furiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you&ndash;&ndash;do you think I should go with Mr. Harley,
+then?&rdquo; Esther asked presently. Her pretty face was
+flushed and troubled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said June emphatically. &ldquo;I think you
+ought to please yourself. I don&rsquo;t want to advise you,
+but it does seem to me that you&rsquo;re throwing away any
+chance of real happiness for a&ndash;&ndash;for a, what do they call
+it?&ndash;&ndash;something beginning with a &lsquo;c&rsquo;....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Chimera,&rdquo; said Esther. She sat with downcast eyes
+for a moment, then suddenly she began to cry. Perhaps
+in her heart she felt in some mysterious way that June
+was right, that this girl, with her odd instinct, had put
+her hand right on the heart of things, and that her happiness
+did not really lie with Raymond Ashton.</p>
+<p>And yet she loved him. Night and day he was never
+out of her thoughts. She slept with his letters under her
+pillow. Since he went away he had done much to blot
+out all that had gone before. And yet sometimes the
+memory of that past unhappiness, of its disagreements
+and quarrels and petty unkindnesses would raise its ugly
+head and look at her with a sort of leer as if daring her
+to forget entirely.</p>
+<p>June was all remorse in a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a pig!&rdquo; she said disgustedly. &ldquo;I ought to be
+kicked. Why do you let me talk so much? It&rsquo;s awful
+cheek of me to dare to criticise you. I&rsquo;ll never do it
+again. He may be an angel for all I know. Esther, if
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
+you don&rsquo;t stop crying I shall cry too, and then there&rsquo;ll be
+a nice sort of noise.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther dried her eyes and laughed shakily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m silly; I don&rsquo;t know why I cried. There&rsquo;s nothing
+to cry for,&rdquo; she protested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why women always cry,&rdquo; said June hardily.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_X' id='CHAPTER_X'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther climbed the stairs of the agency again the
+following morning. There was a little feeling of
+despondency in her heart. She had slept badly,
+and she had not been able to forget what June had said
+about Ashton.</p>
+<p>Esther was influenced by June&rsquo;s &ldquo;instincts,&rdquo; as she
+chose to call them; she knew it was foolish, but the fact
+remained all the same.</p>
+<p>When she opened the waiting-room door she felt half
+inclined to turn and go away again. She would only
+meet with the same answer: &ldquo;Nothing that will suit you
+to-day, Miss Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But for a wonder the room was almost empty, and the
+tall and stately one was standing at the communicating
+door.</p>
+<p>When she saw Esther she came forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was hoping you would call, Miss Shepstone. Will
+you come into my room?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther&rsquo;s heart leapt. She obeyed eagerly.</p>
+<p>A lady was sitting at the table looking rather bored and
+irritated.</p>
+<p>She was grey-haired and handsome, and most beautifully
+dressed. She turned slightly when Esther entered,
+and stared at her through her lorgnette, then she looked
+at the stiff and stately one.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is this&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;the young lady?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, madam&ndash;&ndash;this is Miss Shepstone.&rdquo; The stately
+one introduced Esther with a wave of her hand. &ldquo;This
+lady, Miss Shepstone, is looking for a companion. Some
+one who can work well&ndash;&ndash;and read aloud.&rdquo; She looked
+at Esther sharply. &ldquo;Can you read aloud?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span></div>
+<p>Esther stammered out that she supposed she could,
+but ...</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is a minor detail,&rdquo; the lady with the lorgnette
+interrupted. &ldquo;Miss Shepstone, I am not wanting a companion
+in the ordinary sense of the word. That is to
+say, I do not want you to be constantly with me. You
+will have your own bedroom and sitting-room&ndash;&ndash;and I
+shall only want you at certain hours of the day. You
+will write letters for me and make yourself generally
+useful.&rdquo; She paused, she searched the girl&rsquo;s eager face
+through her glasses.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How old are you?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Twenty-four,&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Humph! And what have you done up till now?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was in the workroom at Eldred&rsquo;s. The manager
+has promised to give me a reference, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eldred&rsquo;s!&rdquo; the sharp gaze wavered a little. &ldquo;And
+why did you leave there, may I ask?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I left to get married, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you are not married, of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nor going to be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not for the present, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was cut short again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get used to you and to get you used to
+my ways and then for you to leave me,&rdquo; she was told.
+&ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t want a young man constantly dangling
+round the house.&rdquo; Her voice was sharp, but not unkind,
+and there was a smile in the keen eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Esther. &ldquo;I quite understand.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the owner of the lorgnette then, &ldquo;what
+do you think about it? Do you think you would like to
+come? Do you think you would like me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled, there was something in this blunt questioning
+that reminded her of June Mason.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I think I should, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I hate that word,&rdquo; she was told promptly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t
+want any &lsquo;buts&rsquo; in the question. You either wish to come
+or you do not. I will give you fifty pounds a year, and
+your keep, of course. It&rsquo;s too much for an inexperienced
+girl like you, but I think I shall rather like you. Well,
+what do you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not know what to say. The offer was
+tempting enough, but she thought of June Mason and the
+room with the mauve cushions where she was settling
+down so happily, and her heart sank.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to think it over,&rdquo; she said, stammering.
+&ldquo;I have a friend I should like to talk it over with if you
+don&rsquo;t mind. If you will give me just a day or two....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take a week by all means. I am going away myself
+for a few days, and I shan&rsquo;t want you till I come back.
+Write and tell me what you decide to do. Here is my
+card....&rdquo; She took one from a heavy silver case
+and laid it on the table. She looked at Esther quizzically,
+then suddenly she held out her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye, Miss Shepstone. I hope I shall see you
+again,&rdquo; and the next moment she had gone.</p>
+<p>The stiff and stately owner of the agency was smiling,
+well pleased.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are most fortunate, Miss Shepstone,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;You have secured one of the best posts I have on my
+books. If you take my advice you will not hesitate.
+Make up your mind at once.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not answer. She took up the card from
+the table, then she drew in her breath with a hard sound,
+for the name printed there was Mrs. Raymond Ashton.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XI' id='CHAPTER_XI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther never knew how she got out into the street.
+She walked along like some one in a dream; her
+cheeks were burning hot.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Raymond Ashton! Raymond&rsquo;s mother! The
+woman of whom he had spoken so often and so bitterly.
+The woman who had raised such a fierce objection to
+her marriage with Raymond.</p>
+<p>There was not much resemblance between mother and
+son; they were both handsome, but there was a sort of
+humour in Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s face which Raymond&rsquo;s lacked.
+Esther tried vainly to find some likeness between them.</p>
+<p>She realised how different this woman was to what
+she had pictured her, remembered that spontaneously offered
+hand. Had Mrs. Ashton known who she was?
+Oh, surely not, or she would never have appeared so
+anxious to engage her.</p>
+<p>How angry Raymond would be. Angry that the woman
+he loved was to go to his mother as a paid companion.
+Esther could not help smiling. For her own sake
+she would not mind it. At least she would be with his
+mother and in his home; but, of course, the thing was
+impossible&ndash;&ndash;such a situation would not be tolerable. She
+would have to write and refuse.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good afternoon!&rdquo; said a voice, and, turning hurriedly,
+Esther found Micky Mellowes beside her.</p>
+<p>He looked as if he were not quite sure of his reception;
+but to-day Esther had other thoughts to occupy her
+which were more interesting than he was&ndash;&ndash;and the smile
+she gave him was almost friendly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good afternoon! Isn&rsquo;t it cold?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Very.... Where are you hurrying off to?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He tried to speak casually, but his heart was beating
+uncomfortably.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going back home,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been
+to an agency looking for a berth.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A berth!&rdquo; A frown came between his eyes. &ldquo;What
+sort of a berth?&rdquo; he asked quickly.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m think of taking your advice&ndash;&ndash;and going as
+companion to an old lady&ndash;&ndash;not that she&rsquo;s very old,&rdquo; she
+added doubtfully, with sudden memory of Raymond&rsquo;s
+mother.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean that you have decided?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She hesitated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I have the refusal of it.&rdquo; She looked at him
+with defiant eyes. &ldquo;I am only just hesitating&ndash;&ndash;I want
+to talk to Miss Mason about it&ndash;&ndash;she is much more worldly
+wise than I am.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June is a very sensible woman,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am glad
+you like her.&rdquo; He hesitated. &ldquo;And the&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;post?&rdquo; he
+asked with an effort. &ldquo;Will it be in town?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was obviously not going to tell him any more, but
+Micky persevered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wonder if it is likely to be any one I know. I have
+quite an extensive acquaintance in London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t suppose you will
+know these people, anyway,&rdquo; she added with an unconscious
+touch of loftiness in her voice. &ldquo;The name is
+Ashton&ndash;&ndash;Mrs. Raymond Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was the barest possible silence before Micky
+answered, a silence during which the blank dismay and
+anger that crossed his face would have been amusing had
+it not also had something of pathos in it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ashton?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Oh, yes, I know Raymond Ashton
+very well.&rdquo; He was watching her with jealous eyes,
+and she turned her head sharply and looked up at him.</p>
+<p>Just for a moment a traitorous eagerness crossed her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
+face; he could almost see the quick question on her lips,
+then she laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really! How funny! But, of course, as you say, you
+must know a great many people.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have known the Ashtons for years. You will like
+Mrs. Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a sort of quiet insinuation in the words, and
+Esther bit her lip.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;the son?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I think you said you
+knew the son.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I know him&ndash;&ndash;he is in Paris, I believe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was conscious of a queer tightening about his
+throat; it was a tremendous effort to force himself to
+speak lightly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And shall I like him as well, do you think?&rdquo; Esther
+asked deliberately.</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you like him?&rdquo; she persisted.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s restraint broke its bonds; if he had died for it
+he could not have checked the words that rushed to his
+lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I detest the fellow!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a beastly outsider!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He dared not look at her. He held his breath, waiting
+for the storm to break, but if he had lost his self-control
+she kept hers admirably.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really,&rdquo; she said. Her voice was a little breathless,
+but quite calm. &ldquo;What does a man mean when he calls
+another man&ndash;&ndash;such a name?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her face was quite colourless, even to the lips, and her
+hands were clenched in the shabbiness of the cheap little
+muff she carried.</p>
+<p>He blunderingly tried to make amends.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I ought not to have said that, just because he&rsquo;s not the
+sort of man I care about,&rdquo; he said stammeringly. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s
+quite all right&ndash;&ndash;it all depends from what point of view
+you regard him. I hope you will forget that I said that,
+Miss Shepstone. It&ndash;&ndash;it was unpardonable.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of complete indifference to me what you
+say about&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Ashton,&rdquo; she told him.</p>
+<p>She stopped. They had been walking along together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Which way are you going?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Micky flushed up to his eyes; he knew this was a dismissal.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was coming along to see June,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hoped
+you would allow me to walk along with you&ndash;&ndash;if I am not
+intruding.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther forced a smile, but her lips felt stiff.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but I am not going back,&rdquo; she said. Her voice
+sounded as if it were cut in ice. &ldquo;So I won&rsquo;t detain you.
+Good-bye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She turned and left him, walking quickly away again
+in the direction from which she had just come.</p>
+<p>Her eyes were smarting with tears that had to be restrained.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How dare he&ndash;&ndash;oh, how dare he?&rdquo; she asked herself
+passionately. &ldquo;What does he know about Raymond?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She could not trust herself to go back home. She
+walked about in the cold till she was tired out. She
+wanted to be sure that Micky would have left Elphinstone
+Road before she got there. She wondered if June
+knew the Ashtons too. She probably did, as Micky Mellowes
+knew them. They were both of Raymond&rsquo;s own
+world, these two. It was only she, who loved him best,
+who was outside the magic circle of his friends.</p>
+<p>It was nearly supper time when she got in. She paused
+for a moment in the hall and looked anxiously at the
+rows of coats and hats hanging there. She thought she
+would know Micky&rsquo;s if she saw them there. She forgot
+that he might have taken them up to June&rsquo;s room. She
+turned away with a little sigh.</p>
+<p>At the foot of the stairs she met young Harley. He
+coloured sensitively when he saw her and stood aside
+for her to pass.</p>
+<p>Esther flushed too. She wondered what he thought of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span>
+her note refusing the theatre. With sudden impulse she
+spoke&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you are not angry with me, Mr. Harley, but&ndash;&ndash;but
+perhaps you do not know that I am engaged to be
+married, and so ... so I don&rsquo;t think I should accept
+invitations from any one else, though&ndash;&ndash;though it was kind
+of you to ask me,&rdquo; she added.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should have been delighted if you could have come,&rdquo;
+he said. &ldquo;But, of course, if your fianc&eacute; would not care
+about it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He broke off as if there was nothing more
+to be said.</p>
+<p>Esther wondered if Raymond really would mind; at
+first he had been very jealous, and could not bear her
+to speak to another man, but latterly&ndash;&ndash;she hated it, because
+she could not forget that once he had told her she
+could marry a man with money if she only played her
+cards carefully&ndash;&ndash;the man who had said that seemed a
+different personality altogether from the man whose letters
+she had only lived for during the last fortnight.</p>
+<p>Was she mean and unforgiving that she continually
+found herself remembering the quarrels and scenes they
+had had? She wanted so earnestly to forget them; she
+went up to June&rsquo;s room with dragging steps.</p>
+<p>The door of the room opened before she reached the
+landing, and June came out.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I knew it was you,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Poor soul! how tired
+you sound. Another day of miserable failure, I suppose.
+Never mind, come and sit down in the warm, and you&rsquo;ll
+soon forget it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed rather shamefacedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a day of success, strange to relate,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m tired, dead tired&ndash;&ndash;I must have walked miles.&rdquo;
+She suddenly remembered Micky; she looked round with&ndash;&ndash;a
+quick suspicion. &ldquo;Have you been alone all the afternoon?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, quite alone,&rdquo; June laughed. &ldquo;Who did you expect
+to find here, pray?&rdquo; she demanded.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Nobody&ndash;&ndash;I only wondered if you had had any visitors.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I might have known it wasn&rsquo;t the truth that he was
+coming here,&rdquo; she told herself vexedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, and what about the success?&rdquo; June asked; she
+was sitting on the hearthrug stroking Charlie. &ldquo;You
+don&rsquo;t mean to say that the old dear at the agency really
+had something to offer you this time?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, and she&rsquo;s desperately anxious for me to take it,
+too. It&rsquo;s quite a good offer, but it means leaving here
+and living in; and I don&rsquo;t believe I want to leave here,&rdquo;
+she added ruefully.</p>
+<p>June looked dismayed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t let you go,&rdquo; she said promptly. &ldquo;Just as we
+are settling down so cosily.&rdquo; She put her white hands
+over her ears. &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t want to hear another thing
+about it, if that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t listen&ndash;&ndash;write
+and refuse it&ndash;&ndash;write and refuse it at once.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed; she pulled June&rsquo;s hands down and
+held them firmly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you know any people named
+Ashton?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was longing to find out if June did know them;
+it seemed such a lifetime since she had seen Raymond
+or spoken to him, she was hungry to hear him spoken
+of, even if only by this woman who probably had merely
+known him as an ordinary acquaintance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ashton!&rdquo; June wrinkled up her nose. &ldquo;I know some
+Ashtons who live in Brayanstone Square,&rdquo; she said at
+last. &ldquo;A mother and son. A very handsome woman
+she is, with white hair, she has a sort of grande dame
+look about her&ndash;&ndash;the sort of woman you can imagine in
+a powdered wig and a crinoline, curtsying to the queen.&rdquo;
+She scrambled up, and, snatching a paper fan from the
+shelf, swept Esther a graceful curtsy to illustrate her
+meaning.</p>
+<p>But Esther was too much in earnest to be amused.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be the same Mrs. Ashton,&rdquo; she said eagerly.
+&ldquo;This is her card&ndash;&ndash;she gave it to me to-day&ndash;&ndash;Mrs. Raymond
+Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June glanced at the card and nodded briskly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s the same. I don&rsquo;t know her frightfully well;
+she&rsquo;s rather reserved, too; but I admire her immensely&ndash;&ndash;well,
+go on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She wants me to go to her as a sort of companion&ndash;&ndash;she
+has offered me fifty pounds a year.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June whistled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not bad, is it? But you&rsquo;ll refuse, of course?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I asked her to let me think it over; I said I should
+like to talk it over with you first.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June clasped her hands round her knees and stared
+into the fire thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a widow, isn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo; Esther said hesitatingly.
+&ldquo;At least&ndash;&ndash;she didn&rsquo;t say anything about a husband.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, she&rsquo;s a widow right enough,&rdquo; June said. &ldquo;And
+delighted to be, I should think,&rdquo; she added bluntly. &ldquo;I
+never knew the departed spouse, but from all accounts he
+was a perfect terror.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther said nothing. Raymond had always spoken of
+his father as being a &ldquo;rare old sport.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>After a moment&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a son, too,&rdquo; June said. &ldquo;A kind of Adonis to
+look at, beautiful eyes and all that sort of thing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. She tried hard to keep the eagerness
+from her voice. &ldquo;Do you&ndash;&ndash;do you know the son
+too?&rdquo; she asked nervously.</p>
+<p>June gave a queer little laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I know him. That is to say, I say &lsquo;How
+d&rsquo;ye do&rsquo; to him when I have the misfortune to meet him,
+but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther&rsquo;s hands were clasped in her lap.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why&ndash;&ndash;why&ndash;&ndash;misfortune?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>June Mason shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s hard to explain&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;s never
+done me any harm, but there are some people one hates
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span>
+by instinct, and Raymond Ashton is one of the people
+I hate.&rdquo; She smoothed a crease in the skirt of her frock.
+&ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a&ndash;&ndash;such an awful outsider,&rdquo; she added, unconsciously
+choosing the word Micky Mellowes had used
+a few hours before.</p>
+<p>Esther sat very still. Twice she tried to speak, but
+no words would come. She knew that it was unfair
+to June to sit there and allow her to go on talking about
+Raymond, but something in her heart seemed to have
+set a seal on her lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s that insufferable kind of creature who thinks
+himself irresistible,&rdquo; June went on. &ldquo;Micky has often
+told me the way he brags about his so-called &lsquo;conquests.&rsquo;
+Conquests, indeed! What are they but a few poor ignorant
+girls hoodwinked by his handsome face and
+smooth tongue? Dozens of girls he&rsquo;s had, my dear, literally
+dozens! Only the other day some one told me
+that Mrs. Ashton had to threaten to cut him off with a
+shilling if he didn&rsquo;t give up some little person he was
+supposed to be going to marry! I don&rsquo;t know how true
+it is, mind you, but that&rsquo;s the sort of man he is&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve no
+time for him at all,&rdquo; she finished vigorously.</p>
+<p>She turned to look at Esther, and gave a little exclamation
+of alarm. &ldquo;How pale you are! Don&rsquo;t you feel
+well?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite all right&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m just tired&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll
+go down to supper to-night. I&rsquo;ll just stay here and be
+quiet. I wanted to hear what you had to say about my
+future employer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Future fiddlesticks!&rdquo; June retorted. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going
+to her, my dear; I shan&rsquo;t let you. If Raymond came
+home while you were there, you&rsquo;d never have any peace.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was lying back now with closed eyes. Over and
+over again in her mind she was saying to herself&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe it&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t believe a word of it; it&rsquo;s all
+cruel lies&ndash;&ndash;first Mr. Mellowes and now June. They both
+hate him, that&rsquo;s what it is; but I don&rsquo;t believe a word
+of what they say.&rdquo; June was bustling about the room
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span>
+fetching cushions and a light rug which she had laid over
+Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have a little sleep, and you&rsquo;ll feel heaps better,&rdquo;
+she said.</p>
+<p>She went away, shutting the door quietly; and Esther
+hid her face in her hands.</p>
+<p>She hardly knew why she was crying, she only knew
+that she was utterly miserable.</p>
+<p>She took Ashton&rsquo;s last letter from her dress and read it
+through again&ndash;&ndash;how could any one, reading it, doubt that
+he loved her? How could any one, knowing his careful
+thought for her, believe that he was the detestable personality
+June and Micky had described?</p>
+<p>She kissed the signature passionately. Nobody in all
+the world counted but this one man.</p>
+<p>She got up and went over to June&rsquo;s desk, which both
+girls used; she felt that she must write to him and tell
+him how much she wanted him.</p>
+<p>When she had finished writing she looked to the head
+of the paper on which she had written for the address,
+and then she saw a postscript scribbled in a corner which
+she had not noticed before.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t write to me here&ndash;&ndash;I shall have left this hotel by the
+time you get my letter. I will write again as soon as possible.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>It was like a door with iron bars being closed in her
+face; she could not write after all! She could have no
+relief for all her longing and unhappiness; she must just
+wait and wait, eating her very soul out, till he wrote
+again.</p>
+<p>She tore up what she had written and threw it into the
+fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The phantom lover&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;June&rsquo;s half playful, half mocking
+words came back to her with foreboding. Was he indeed
+only a phantom lover? Just a creation of her own
+brain and desire? She tried to thrust the thought from
+her; she was tired and fanciful; in the morning she would
+be all right; it was not fair to him, it was not fair to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span>
+herself to be so doubting. She went back to June&rsquo;s
+couch and curled up amongst the mauve pillows; life was
+so hard, so disappointing; it gave so little of all that one
+desired; the tears fell again, presently she cried herself
+to sleep.</p>
+<p>June came back on tiptoe; she stole across the room
+and looked at Esther, then she went back to the hearthrug
+to keep Charlie company.</p>
+<p>The fire had died down and she replenished it as quietly
+as she could, putting a knob on at a time with her
+fingers.</p>
+<p>As she leaned over to poke them softly together she
+caught sight of a scrap of paper lying in the grate. It
+looked like part of a torn letter, and without thinking
+June picked it up&ndash;&ndash;the one word &ldquo;dearest&rdquo; stared up at
+her in Esther&rsquo;s writing.</p>
+<p>June looked at it for a long moment, then she turned
+her head and glanced at Esther, still sleeping.</p>
+<p>June frowned; she hunched her shoulders impatiently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;More phantom lover, I suppose,&rdquo; she told herself
+crossly; she threw the little scrap of paper into the fire
+and watched it burn with a sort of vixenish delight.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XII' id='CHAPTER_XII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve decided to accept Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s offer,&rdquo; said
+Esther suddenly.</p>
+<p>It was the following afternoon, and she had
+been helping June paste labels on to the little mauve pots.
+She looked up as she spoke, with the paste brush still in
+her hand and her fingers all sticky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you hear what I said?&rdquo; she demanded guiltily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I heard,&rdquo; June said rather tartly. &ldquo;And I think
+you&rsquo;re a mean pig. However, go on! Have your own
+way! Don&rsquo;t mind me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t that at all,&rdquo; Esther declared. &ldquo;But I must
+do something&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve been idle quite long enough. I shall
+be sorry to leave you, but I shall still pay for my half
+of the room.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you&ndash;&ndash;thank you very much,&rdquo; said June drily.
+Esther flushed in distress.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be so unkind! It&rsquo;s not that I want to leave
+you. I&rsquo;ve been happier here with you than anywhere
+else, but I must work, I can&rsquo;t live on nothing....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You could live on three pounds a week if you wished
+to. What do you suppose the phantom lover will say
+if he knows that his money hasn&rsquo;t helped you, and that
+you&rsquo;re going to make a drudge of yourself?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t be a drudge&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June broke in impatiently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, very well&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t want to argue, but I think
+it&rsquo;s mean of you. If you really liked me you&rsquo;d stay....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall come to see you whenever I get any time off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, once a week for two hours, I suppose&ndash;&ndash;and when
+I shall probably be out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall write first and let you know when I&rsquo;m coming.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span></div>
+<p>June took no notice; she screwed the lid on to a perfume
+bottle and wiped her fingers on the white overall.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t put any more labels on,&rdquo; she said shortly.
+&ldquo;I can do the rest myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took the tray away from Esther and carried it into
+her bedroom; when she came back there was a suspicion
+of tears in her eyes. Esther looked distressed. She felt
+that she was behaving meanly, and yet she meant to
+go to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky Mellowes is coming directly,&rdquo; June said tartly.
+&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t want to see him you&rsquo;d better go. I know
+you hate him....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther turned scarlet. She took off the apron she
+had borrowed from June and turned to the door.</p>
+<p>Before she reached it June followed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a pig. I apologise humbly! Please stay. Why
+don&rsquo;t you box my ears when I speak to you like this?&rdquo;
+She dragged Esther back to the fire. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m wild because
+you&rsquo;ve made up your mind to leave me. Our friendship
+doesn&rsquo;t mean anything to you.... There&rsquo;s Micky&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;ll
+want to know why I&rsquo;ve been crying. Amuse him
+for five minutes, there&rsquo;s an angel, and I&rsquo;ll come back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was gone in a flash.</p>
+<p>A smiling Lydia showed Micky into the room. Lydia
+liked Micky; he was always courteous, and he had been
+generous with his tips on each occasion that he had visited
+the house.</p>
+<p>Micky looked a little embarrassed when he saw Esther.
+He glanced quickly round the room. &ldquo;June ... I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s coming in a moment,&rdquo; Esther explained. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t
+you sit down?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky sat on the arm of the big chair; he was cold;
+he leaned forward, rubbing his hands vigorously. Esther
+watched him critically.</p>
+<p>She had told June that she did not consider him in
+the least good-looking, but now the thought crossed her
+mind that this had not been quite a fair thing.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span></div>
+<p>He was tall and well made, and he had brown hair
+that grew well about his temples, and waved slightly
+where it parted.</p>
+<p>His nose was nothing particular and slightly crooked,
+and his eyes were nondescript in colour, but kind ... so
+kind! Esther remembered it was the first thing she had
+noticed about him the night they met.</p>
+<p>He looked up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;have you found another berth yet?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Esther said.</p>
+<p>She was amazed at the sudden change in his face; a
+look of furious anger flashed into his eyes; he rose to
+his feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not serious?&rdquo; he said quietly.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed; she felt painfully nervous without
+knowing why.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Serious? Indeed I am!&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;Mr. Mellowes,
+what are you doing?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky had caught her hands. Jealousy was driving
+him with whips of fire&ndash;&ndash;jealousy of this phantom lover,
+whom he himself had created.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not to go,&rdquo; he said hoarsely. &ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;I can&rsquo;t
+bear to think of you having to work for your living.
+There&rsquo;s no need&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s all nonsense. You&rsquo;d hate being at
+the Ashtons.... Esther&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She wrenched herself free; she was white to the lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must be mad!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;How dare you speak
+like this? What is it to you what I do? How dare you
+try to interfere? What business is it of yours?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed shakily; he had recovered himself a little
+now.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s everything to me,&rdquo; he said rather hoarsely. &ldquo;You
+must know that it is. Esther, will you marry me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>If only premeditated proposals were made, there would
+be few marriages in the world. Ten minutes ago, when
+Micky Mellowes walked into the room, he had no intention
+of asking Esther to marry him, but now it seemed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+as if he had come for that express purpose as he stood
+there, grimly obstinate.</p>
+<p>There was a moment of silence; then Esther drew
+herself up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you must be mad,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve only seen
+you once or twice in my life. I have told you that I
+am already engaged.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know, but it makes no difference,&rdquo; said Micky.
+&ldquo;I ask you to marry me&ndash;&ndash;will you marry me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She drew back from him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must be mad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve said that two or three times
+already, but I assure you that I&rsquo;m quite sane. I loved
+you the first moment I ever saw you, but, of course, you
+won&rsquo;t believe it. However, that doesn&rsquo;t matter&ndash;&ndash;you
+haven&rsquo;t answered my question. Will you marry me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know I am engaged&ndash;&ndash;how dare you?...&rdquo;
+She backed away from him till she was close to the door.
+Micky laughed savagely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be afraid&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m not going to hurt you&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m
+not going to move from this hearthrug, but I should
+like you to answer my question. Once again, will you
+marry me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He forgot his promise and took a step towards her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can make you happier than any other man possibly
+could. I&rsquo;ve never cared for a woman in my life till I met
+you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t marry you if you were the only man in
+the world&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t even like you....&rdquo; Her voice
+shook with anger now. &ldquo;My answer is no&ndash;&ndash;no&ndash;&ndash;no! I
+shall never change my mind if I live to be a hundred
+...&rdquo; she added vehemently. The words seemed
+forced from her by something in his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You will,&rdquo; said Micky calmly, though he felt anything
+but calm. &ldquo;Women always do; but if you don&rsquo;t feel like
+changing it just at this moment, will you please tell June
+I am here? I came to see her, and I&rsquo;m tired of waiting....&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span>
+He turned away and went back to his seat on
+the arm of the big chair as if nothing had happened, but
+his hand shook when he tried to light a cigarette.</p>
+<p>When June came back he was absently turning the
+pages of a magazine; she looked at him for a moment,
+then began to laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky! What in the world has happened to you lately?
+Do you always read a paper upside down?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky started, looked down at the magazine, and said a
+bad word; then he laughed too, and flinging the magazine
+across the room got to his feet, stretching his long arms.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Esther?&rdquo; June demanded. &ldquo;I asked her to
+stay and amuse you till I came back....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She did her best,&rdquo; said Micky drily. &ldquo;But I am
+afraid I bored her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked annoyed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do think you two might try and like one another, if
+only for my sake,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so perfectly obvious
+that you hate one another, and I cannot see why for the
+life of me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One of your instinctive hates, perhaps,&rdquo; Micky submitted,
+with a touch of irony. He went back to the
+chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Shepstone tells me she has found a berth,&rdquo; he
+said, after a moment. June nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. Did she tell you with whom?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; Mrs. Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Something in the tone of his voice made June look up
+quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Micky shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing&ndash;&ndash;I dared to suggest that perhaps she would
+not like the place, and she flew at me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just like Esther; she asks for your advice, and
+then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t ask for mine,&rdquo; Micky cut in. &ldquo;I very kindly
+volunteered the information.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; June was on her knees now toasting buns.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re stale,&rdquo; she informed Micky candidly. &ldquo;But
+you won&rsquo;t know it when they&rsquo;re toasted.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky watched in silence. He was wondering if June
+had heard anything of his conversation with Esther; they
+had both spoken rather loudly. He was also wondering
+whether he should tell June the whole story.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must make allowances for her,&rdquo; June said briskly,
+as he was still hesitating. &ldquo;I know she&rsquo;s worried about
+this man. I discovered another thing this morning,
+Micky&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she turned with a sudden jerk to look at him,
+and the bun fell off the fork into the fire.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what have you discovered now?&rdquo; he inquired.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, that she can&rsquo;t write to him&ndash;&ndash;he doesn&rsquo;t give
+her an address&ndash;&ndash;or, if he does, he takes good care to
+move on before she has time to answer his letters. It
+looks to me, Micky, as if that young man is shirking
+his responsibilities. If you ask my candid opinion, Esther
+won&rsquo;t ever see him again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky said &ldquo;Rot!&rdquo; rather uncomfortably. &ldquo;If the fellow
+is travelling&ndash;&ndash;moving about....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He could give her an address and have the letters
+sent on, couldn&rsquo;t he?&rdquo; June demanded.</p>
+<p>Micky rubbed his chin.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s she want to write to him for?&rdquo; he asked presently.</p>
+<p>June swung round, and a second bun almost shared
+the fate of the first, but she grabbed it back in time.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What does she want to write to him for?&rdquo; she echoed
+with scorn. &ldquo;My poor child, what does any one want to
+write to any one for? She&rsquo;s in love with the man, and
+when you&rsquo;re in love you simply have to write it down&ndash;&ndash;at
+least, that&rsquo;s what I understand from people with wide
+experience. Esther&rsquo;s bursting to write and tell the phantom
+lover how much she loves him and what a wonderful
+man he is; as a matter of fact she does write to him,
+and tears the letters up again, and that&rsquo;s no satisfaction.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+I wish to goodness he&rsquo;d get run over and done with,&rdquo; she
+added exasperatedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t suppose she wishes it,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s because she doesn&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s good for her;
+he was probably the first man who had ever paid her any
+attention, and from what she says he&rsquo;s a bit of a swell,
+and I suppose she was flattered....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rot!&rdquo; said Micky violently; it made him boil to hear
+June say things like this. Ashton superior to Esther? It
+was like the man&rsquo;s confounded impudence to even think
+such a thing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not such rot,&rdquo; June said wisely. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what all
+the trouble is about, or my name&rsquo;s not what it is. He
+has a stuck-up old cat of a mother who won&rsquo;t condescend
+to know Esther.... What did you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; said Micky. He got up and began strolling
+about the room with his hands in his pockets, and June
+finished toasting her buns and made the tea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just go up and tell Esther,&rdquo; she said. She went
+out of the room and upstairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tea,&rdquo; she announced cheerfully, knocking at Esther&rsquo;s
+door; she turned the handle and went in. Esther was
+standing by the window looking out into the neglected
+garden at the back of the house; she turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really hungry, and if you&rsquo;d like to have Mr.
+Mellowes to yourself&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she began.</p>
+<p>June stared at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; she said then drily, &ldquo;if I&rsquo;d wanted to have
+Mr. Mellowes to myself I should have married him long
+ago; so don&rsquo;t pretend you&rsquo;re not dying for one of the
+stale but toasted buns.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She linked her arm in Esther&rsquo;s, and they went downstairs
+together. Esther did not want to come, but it
+seemed easier to give way than to make excuses. She
+took the chair which Micky brought forward; she felt a
+little nervous and ill at ease. Once, when their eyes
+met, she found herself colouring sensitively.</p>
+<p>Micky let her alone in a marked fashion and talked to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span>
+June. He had found the man he had been looking for
+for months, he declared, a good business man, honest&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really honest, Micky?&rdquo; June asked, laughing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really honest,&rdquo; Micky maintained. &ldquo;Do you think I&rsquo;d
+put you on to him else? I&rsquo;ve told him all about you. I
+went out to lunch with him yesterday and we talked face
+creams and vanities till my head reeled. He&rsquo;s full of
+ideas, bursting with fresh notions for advertising. He
+didn&rsquo;t say so in actual words, but he thinks you&rsquo;ll be a
+little gold mine if you&rsquo;ll put yourself in his hands.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s eyes sparkled; she jumped up from her chair,
+put her arms around Micky&rsquo;s neck, and gave him a sounding
+kiss.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and I just love you!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther glanced up quickly. June need not have done
+that, she thought with a touch of irritation, but Micky
+only laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come here and you shall have that back with compound
+interest,&rdquo; he said, but June shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s enough for to-day, and Esther&rsquo;s looking
+shocked to death.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not&ndash;&ndash;I never thought about it,&rdquo; Esther protested
+indignantly. June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, you looked angry anyway,&rdquo; she declared.
+&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t she, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid I didn&rsquo;t notice,&rdquo; he answered coolly, but he
+had, and for a moment his pulses had leapt at sight of
+the anger in Esther&rsquo;s eyes; she could not surely hate
+him as much as she pretended if it annoyed her that
+June should kiss him.</p>
+<p>But she was indifferent enough now at all events; she
+was leaning back listlessly, her eyes fixed on the flames,
+her face sad and thoughtful.</p>
+<p>She was thinking about Ashton, Micky told himself
+savagely, wishing he were here, no doubt&ndash;&ndash;Ashton, who
+even at that moment was probably running round Paris
+with Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span></div>
+<p>June was packing the tea things on to the tray and
+humming a snatch of song. Esther rose.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me do that&ndash;&ndash;you cleared away yesterday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took the tray.</p>
+<p>June asked Micky for a cigarette.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got heaps somewhere,&rdquo; she said vaguely. &ldquo;But
+I never know where they are.&rdquo; She looked over to Esther.
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t bother to put the cups away now,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;Come back and be cosy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was rather surprised that Esther obeyed; she had
+quite expected her to go off and not return.</p>
+<p>Fond as she was of Esther, she could not quite make
+her out; she was full of surprises. It was getting dusk,
+and the room was full of shadows.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shall I light up?&rdquo; Micky asked. &ldquo;Or do we like the
+firelight?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We like the firelight,&rdquo; June said promptly; she nestled
+down amongst her mauve cushions.</p>
+<p>Micky was sitting straddle-ways across a chair between
+the two girls, and Esther had drawn back a little so that
+her face was in shadow. Micky glanced at her once, but
+could only see the glint of firelight on her hair and her
+hands clasped listlessly in the lap of her frock. He
+glanced at them; she still wore Ashton&rsquo;s ring, with its
+three inferior stones; he wondered how long the farce
+was going to be kept up and what would happen to bring
+it to an end.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If some one doesn&rsquo;t talk,&rdquo; June said drowsily, &ldquo;I
+shall go to sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a quiet peacefulness in the cosy little room.
+Micky crossed his arms on the chair back and leaned
+his chin on them, staring into the fire, and Esther, from
+her place in the shadows, looked at him unobserved.</p>
+<p>Not in the least good-looking, she told herself again,
+and yet in common fairness she had to admit to herself
+that there was something about Micky Mellowes that was
+undeniably attractive.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span></div>
+<p>She liked the obstinacy of his chin&ndash;&ndash;she liked the way
+his hair grew, and the shape of his hands&ndash;&ndash;strong, manly
+hands they were, in spite of the fact that they had probably
+never done a day&rsquo;s useful work in their lives. Of
+course he was too well dressed. To begin with, there
+was no need to wear grey spats over his shoes, or to have
+his trousers so immaculately creased. She forgot that
+she had liked Ashton to indulge in both these weaknesses.</p>
+<p>Micky was whistling a snatch of a love-song under his
+breath. Esther did not know what it was; she had never
+heard the melody before, but something in the softly
+sentimental notes brought the tears to her eyes; before
+she was aware of it they were tumbling down fast.</p>
+<p>June sprang suddenly to her feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why are we all mooning like this? Micky, give me
+a match.&rdquo; She almost snatched the box from him and
+lit the gas; the yellow flare flooded the room. Micky,
+glancing at Esther, saw the tears on her cheeks and the
+way she averted her head.</p>
+<p>He scowled and rose to his feet, standing so that his
+tall figure shielded her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I must be getting along,&rdquo; he said. He pulled
+out his watch and looked at it, but he never noticed what
+the time was.</p>
+<p>He was thinking of Esther and the tears he had surprised.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when are you going to introduce me to this man
+who is to make my fortune?&rdquo; June demanded crisply.
+She was standing on a footstool, trying to see herself in
+a glass above the mantelshelf.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther, you might have told me what a sight I look!
+My hair is all over the place.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it looked nice,&rdquo; Esther said hurriedly. She
+knew Micky had seen her tears, and was silently hating
+him for it.</p>
+<p>Micky answered hesitatingly, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll let you know&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll
+fix it up and let you know. There&rsquo;s no hurry, is there?
+I don&rsquo;t want him to think we are too keen.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;But I am keen,&rdquo; June insisted. &ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t you be
+keen if some one had told you you would be a gold mine,
+properly handled?&rdquo; she laughed. &ldquo;Oh, I forgot! money
+is no object to you. Well, bide your own time, my dear,
+but don&rsquo;t let it be too long.... Must you really
+go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid so; and, June&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Um!&rdquo; said June, intent on another cigarette.</p>
+<p>Micky fidgeted. He looked down at the carpet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t hear anything of me for a few days
+you&rsquo;ll know I&rsquo;m out of London....&rdquo; He looked at
+Esther, but she was kneeling down by the fire stroking
+Charlie.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Out of London!&rdquo; June said in surprise. &ldquo;Where are
+you going?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky cleared his throat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought of running over to Paris for a day or two,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paris!&rdquo; They were both looking at him now. Micky
+was painfully aware of the eagerness in Esther&rsquo;s face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; I haven&rsquo;t been since September. Anything I
+can do for you while I&rsquo;m there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June raised her brows comically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not for me, but perhaps Esther ... Esther has
+a great friend over there, haven&rsquo;t you, my child?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther turned crimson from chin to brow.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes is not at all likely to meet any friend
+of mine,&rdquo; she said stiffly.</p>
+<p>Micky felt horribly sorry for her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be too sure, Miss Shepstone,&rdquo; he said lightly.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a small world, you know, and it&rsquo;s the most unexpected
+things that happen.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Esther seemed not to have heard.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIII' id='CHAPTER_XIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky went to Paris. &ldquo;No, I shan&rsquo;t want you,
+Driver,&rdquo; he told his man awkwardly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m only
+going for a day or two. I&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;I shan&rsquo;t want
+you,&rdquo; he said again lamely.</p>
+<p>He looked at the man guiltily, but Driver was as impassive
+as ever. &ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; he said. He could
+not understand what had happened to Micky; as a rule,
+he refused even to take his own railway ticket or speak
+to a porter. This new independence worried him.</p>
+<p>But Micky went off cheerfully enough. He rang June
+up at her club the morning he started and told her he
+was really going. He heard her cheery laugh across the
+telephone. &ldquo;Micky, you&rsquo;re not up to any mischief?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;As if I should be!&rdquo; he answered with dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t trust you,&rdquo; she said promptly. &ldquo;However,
+have a good time, and if you see the phantom lover, you
+might push him into the Seine for me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll remember,&rdquo; Micky said grimly. He hesitated.
+&ldquo;Everything all right?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She echoed his words, not understanding. &ldquo;Everything
+all right? Do you mean the swindle? Oh, yes, it&rsquo;s going
+fine, thank you. I had another order from those American
+export people this morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good.... And&ndash;&ndash;Miss Shepstone gone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, she&rsquo;s going on Saturday. Sickening, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;ll stay long,&rdquo; Micky said soothingly.
+&ldquo;It won&rsquo;t do her any harm to see how she likes it. Well,
+good-bye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stood for a moment after he had hung up the receiver,
+staring at it. He wished he had not arranged
+to go to Paris. Supposing Ashton took it into his head
+to come back while he was away? Supposing he went
+home and found Esther there?</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span></div>
+<p>He tried to believe that it was not at all likely, but at
+the last moment, as he got into the train and received
+his ticket from the solemn Driver, Micky said&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know where to find me if anything happens&ndash;&ndash;if
+anything should be the matter?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo; Driver raised wooden eyes to his master&rsquo;s
+face. &ldquo;Was you expecting anything to happen, sir?&rdquo;
+he asked stolidly.</p>
+<p>Micky got red. &ldquo;No, you fool!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; Driver retorted unmoved.</p>
+<p>And so Micky went to Paris. It was dark when he
+got there, and he drove at once to a small and unpretentious
+hotel in a narrow side street, where he had never
+been before, but of which he had heard from Philips.</p>
+<p>After all, it was only for a few nights. He did not
+want to stay in Paris long&ndash;&ndash;Paris always bored him, but
+he made a little grimace as he looked up at the windows
+of the hotel. It certainly was a rotten-looking little
+show, he thought as he followed the concierge into the
+hall. This, too, was small and unpretentious, with a polished
+floor and wicker chairs scattered about. There
+was a kind of winter garden leading from the lounge,
+where a few neglected palms and ferns were struggling
+for an existence, and the whole place was silent, almost
+deserted.</p>
+<p>Micky was too late for dinner, but a smiling host,
+with a short dark beard, assured him that he could have
+a most excellent supper in less time than he would enumerate
+of what that supper would consist. Micky said
+he didn&rsquo;t care what it was. He followed his suit-case
+up the wide, shallow stairs to a quaint little room with
+a low ceiling and polished floor.</p>
+<p>He was beginning to feel more at home after all; one
+could be quiet here and not be eternally running up
+against people whom one knew; he felt more cheerful
+when he went down to his supper.</p>
+<p>He asked the waiter if there were many people staying
+there. His tone of voice sounded as if he sincerely hoped
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span>
+there were not, and the waiter tactfully submitted that
+the place was almost empty.</p>
+<p>Micky proceeded with his supper.</p>
+<p>It was nearly ten o&rsquo;clock, but he went out into the
+lounge when he had finished and sat down at a table in
+one of the most secluded corners.</p>
+<p>There were pen and ink and a supply of hotel note
+paper, which Micky looked at with great satisfaction,
+before he took up a pen, carefully examined the nib,
+squared his elbows and began to write.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;My darling&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky wrote the words hurriedly and covered them
+over with a sheet of blotting paper as if they made him
+feel guilty.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought I should have been leaving Paris before now, but
+have been delayed. I shall be staying here till the end of the
+week and am writing this so that you can let me have a letter
+before I leave. I hope you have received both my other letters
+safely, and are quite well and as happy as possible, seeing that
+we cannot be together&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>He sat back for a moment and looked at this frowningly,
+then he wrote on hurriedly.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to miss me, you see&ndash;&ndash;I want you to feel as I do,
+that there is only one thing to look forward to and that is when
+we shall be together again. Dearest, it seems now that I have
+never really told you how well I love you. Some day, if all
+that I wish for comes true, I will tell you the many things you
+would not let me say when we were last together....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s pen flew easily enough. For the moment he
+had forgotten why and for whom he was writing, and
+thought only of Esther as she had looked when he last
+saw her with the tears wet on her cheeks.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Write to me as soon as you get this, so that I may have
+a letter to take with me when I leave. I shall watch for every
+post and count the minutes till it comes. I have arranged with
+my bankers to send the money to you every week. Dearest, if
+this is not enough, please let me know, and I will send some
+more....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span></div>
+<p>Micky scratched out the last five words, finally rewriting
+the whole page to add</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;... Let me know and we must see what can be done.
+I cannot bear to think that you are wanting anything which it is
+in my power to give you. Tell me all about yourself; if you
+are well and happy&ndash;&ndash;and how often you think of me. I shall
+write again soon, perhaps to-morrow ... and till then, and
+for ever, I am always yours, Micky ....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>He added his own signature without noticing it, then
+realised what he had done and rewrote the last page in
+a panic.</p>
+<p>Supposing he had sent it!&ndash;&ndash;it made him hot all over
+to think what would have happened. He would have to
+be more careful, he told himself severely. He carefully
+directed the letter and went out to post it, then he went
+to bed in the little room with the low ceiling and lay
+awake half the night.</p>
+<p>Now the letter had gone he wished he had never sent
+it; after all, it was cheating Esther. It was not fair to
+make her write to him; he felt that he had behaved like
+a cur ... he tossed and turned from side to side.
+Perhaps she would not write! He almost hoped she
+would not. When at last he dozed off it was almost
+daybreak; when he woke it was eleven o&rsquo;clock and the
+sunshine was pouring into his room.</p>
+<p>He had a bit of a headache and felt wretched; he drank
+four cups of strong coffee and went out.</p>
+<p>He avoided the popular thoroughfares; he sauntered
+about till lunch time and then went back to the hotel.
+Apparently the waiter had spoken the truth when he said
+the place was almost empty, for only two of the twenty
+tables were occupied beside his own.</p>
+<p>Micky felt bored; he made up his mind to tell Philips
+what he thought of his recommendation when he got
+back to London. He slept all the afternoon, then dressed
+and went off to dinner at the hotel where he and Driver
+stayed when they were last in Paris. Here at least was
+a welcome; most of the waiters recognised him; the attention
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span>
+was excellent, and he got a decent dinner. The
+hotel was full, but though Micky looked suspiciously at
+every one who came in, he recognised nobody.</p>
+<p>He wondered how long he had got to stay in Paris.
+Esther could not get his letter and send a reply that
+would arrive in less than three days; he calculated that
+he could not get back to London before Sunday morning.</p>
+<p>And Esther was going to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s on Saturday.</p>
+<p>He had just finished his dinner when the swing doors
+opened and a man came into the room with a lady in
+evening dress.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at them, and his heart began to race&ndash;&ndash;for
+the man was Raymond Ashton, and the woman,
+Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow.</p>
+<p>Ashton saw Micky at once, and his face fell into almost
+comical lines of dismay, but he pulled himself together
+at once and spoke to the woman beside him.</p>
+<p>Micky knew Mrs. Clare slightly; he rose and went
+towards them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I heard you were in Paris,&rdquo; he said. He shook hands
+with Mrs. Clare; she was rather a pretty little woman,
+small and plump, with round, meaningless eyes and a
+friendly smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to the opera,&rdquo; Ashton said. &ldquo;Mrs. Clare
+is not staying here, but she very kindly consented to come
+and dine with me. Are you staying here, Micky? When
+did you come over?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Last night; and I&rsquo;m not staying here. Just dropped
+in for some grub.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better dine with us,&rdquo; Ashton said, but he did
+not sound very enthusiastic.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed. &ldquo;Thanks, but I have dined. I was
+just leaving when you came in.&rdquo; He thought of Esther,
+and his face hardened. This was the man of whom she
+was thinking all day and every day; this man who was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span>
+so obviously going to try and marry Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little
+widow.</p>
+<p>He stood talking to them for a few moments, then excused
+himself.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t told me where you are staying,&rdquo; Ashton
+said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;and I&rsquo;m going away to-morrow anyway....
+When are you coming back to town?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton looked quickly at his companion. &ldquo;Oh, not yet
+awhile,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I see.&rdquo; Micky met his eyes steadily. &ldquo;By the way,
+I got your letter,&rdquo; he said after a moment. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t
+ask about that letter you gave me. I posted it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Raymond turned crimson. &ldquo;The letter&ndash;&ndash;oh yes, thanks&ndash;&ndash;thanks,
+very much. You didn&rsquo;t take it then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I posted it.&rdquo; Micky&rsquo;s voice was flinty.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Er&ndash;&ndash;thanks awfully!&rdquo; Ashton said again. He twisted
+his moustache nervously. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see you some other time,&rdquo;
+he said with a rush. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll drop you a line.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Right oh!&rdquo; said Micky laconically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope I shall see you again too, Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; Mrs.
+Clare said. She thought she was saying the right thing.
+She thought these two men were friends, and she was
+sufficiently in love with Raymond to wish to be liked by
+his friends.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, Mrs. Clare,&rdquo; Micky said stolidly. &ldquo;But I
+am going back to London to-morrow; I am afraid I shall
+have very little time, though I should be delighted, of
+course&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He felt rather sorry for this woman. After all, she
+was harmless and good natured, she deserved a better
+fate than to be snapped up by a good-looking fortune-hunter.</p>
+<p>He was getting into his coat in the lounge when Ashton
+came after him. He looked worried and abashed; he
+asked a hurried question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s all right, eh, Micky?&ndash;&ndash;Lallie, I mean&ndash;&ndash;I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span>
+thought from the way you looked just now&ndash;&ndash;she&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;s
+all right&ndash;&ndash;eh?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear chap&ndash;&ndash;how should I know? She never answered
+my letter, though I sent the money, as you
+wished. I thought you would have heard.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I told you I didn&rsquo;t mean to write&ndash;&ndash;I said that I wanted
+the whole affair cut out,&rdquo; Ashton said irritably.</p>
+<p>Micky made no response.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She sure to be all right, anyway,&rdquo; Ashton said after a
+moment. &ldquo;If she hadn&rsquo;t I should have heard&ndash;&ndash;eh?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked at him coolly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You rather sound as if you were expecting to hear
+she&rsquo;d done something foolish&ndash;&ndash;jumped off Waterloo
+Bridge or something&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said drily.</p>
+<p>Ashton laughed. &ldquo;Well, you never know,&rdquo; he said
+heartlessly. &ldquo;Women are such queer creatures&ndash;&ndash;and
+Lallie was so excitable; she said more than once that
+she&rsquo;d do away with herself&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s all rot, of course, but
+... what did you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; said Micky curtly. &ldquo;Good-night.&rdquo; He
+turned on his heel and went out.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIV' id='CHAPTER_XIV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky stayed in Paris four days; the four longest
+days of his life.</p>
+<p>He wandered about killing time and wishing
+everything and every one at the bottom of the sea.</p>
+<p>It seemed impossible that he had ever managed to
+have a good time over here&ndash;&ndash;the noise and bustle of the
+streets got on his nerves; the things that had always
+amused him before bored him and left him cold; he
+thought of London with a deadly sort of home-sickness.</p>
+<p>Esther did not mean to write to him, he was sure, and
+in some ways he hoped she would not; he realised that
+he was playing a mean trick on her, cheating her out of
+fond words and a love-letter to which he had not the
+smallest claim.</p>
+<p>He tried to salve his conscience by making up his mind
+to leave on the Monday morning whatever happened; if
+there was no letter by that time there would never be
+one. Esther would have gone to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s. It was
+surprising how much he hated the thought of her being
+with Raymond&rsquo;s mother. During the interminable hours
+when he walked about Paris trying to kill time he thought
+out all manner of possibilities that might result from this
+unforeseen contingency. Mrs. Ashton might get fond of
+Esther&ndash;&ndash;and if she got fond of Esther, well&ndash;&ndash;who knew
+what might happen in the future in spite of Tubby
+Clare&rsquo;s little widow? He had not run across Ashton
+again, and he sincerely hoped that he would not.</p>
+<p>When Monday morning came he packed his portmanteau
+before he left his room&ndash;&ndash;there would be no letter
+for him, so he might as well clear out and go home without
+making a further fool of himself. There was not
+the least hope in his heart when he went to the bureau
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
+and asked for letters; the reply came as it had done each
+morning: &ldquo;Nothing for monsieur....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky turned away. He was half way to the dining-room
+before it suddenly dawned upon him that they did
+not know he was expecting letters in the name of Ashton&ndash;&ndash;that
+he had forgotten to tell them. He went back
+hurriedly to the bureau.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Any letters for Ashton?&ndash;&ndash;I am expecting one for a
+friend of mine of that name....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited breathlessly while the girl sorted through
+the pigeon-holes on the wall; he felt as if he could hardly
+breathe when she came back with a grey envelope in her
+hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mais oui....&rdquo; she said smilingly. &ldquo;I did not
+know it was for monsieur....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mickey almost snatched it from her; he had not even
+glanced at the writing, but he knew it must be from
+Esther. He sat down at the breakfast table with his
+thoughts in a whirl; he was sure that the waiter must
+know how excited he felt. He ordered coffee and rolls
+before he opened the envelope; he laid it down on the
+cloth beside him and stared at it very much as a sentimental
+girl might stare at her first love-letter, hesitating
+to open it, wishing to prolong the ultimate delight.</p>
+<p>Finally he cut it open carefully and drew out the contents.
+His pulses were racing, he did not know if shame
+or delight were the greatest emotion in his heart; he
+glanced at the first two words and the blood rushed to
+his face.</p>
+<p>It seemed almost sacrilege to read what she had written
+to the man she loved&ndash;&ndash;he pushed the paper back into
+its envelope&ndash;&ndash;he did not look at it again till he had
+finished his pretence of a meal, then he took it out with
+him into the rather dingy winter garden and sat down in
+the quietest corner he could find.</p>
+<p>There he faced the greatest moment of his life; as to
+whether he should go on with this thing or wipe it out
+of his life once and for all.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span></div>
+<p>Ashton had done with Esther; he was as sure of that
+as he was sure that Ashton meant to marry Mrs. Clare.
+This being so, was it wrong of him to try and give Esther
+some happiness in place of what she had lost? She had
+refused to marry him&ndash;&ndash;she had said that she could never
+care for him; could he hope to make her change her
+mind? In his heart he was sure that he could; he wanted
+her so badly that it seemed to him as if the very force
+of his desire must compel some return from her.</p>
+<p>He sat staring down the dismal garden with moody
+eyes. He knew it was a big risk; he thought of her as
+he had first seen her and as he had last seen her. He
+had never once really thought that she looked happy&ndash;&ndash;she
+had never quite lost the shadow in her eyes or the
+droop to her lips which he had at first noticed, and he
+wanted her to be happy. He wanted her happiness far
+more than he wanted his own.</p>
+<p>He took the letter from his pocket and looked at the
+address on the envelope. &ldquo;Raymond Ashton, Esq....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He hated the sight of that name&ndash;&ndash;some day Esther
+would hate it too, when she knew how he had deceived
+her.</p>
+<p>It was a great risk&ndash;&ndash;but ...</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll chance it,&rdquo; said Mickey under his breath, and
+drew out the letter again.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>My Darling Boy</span>,&ndash;&ndash;You can never know how glad and happy
+I was to get your letter to-night and to know that I can really
+write to you at last. I have been so miserable during these weeks
+in spite of all your goodness&ndash;&ndash;and you have been good. It makes
+me feel mean and ungrateful now when I remember how horrid
+I often was to you before you went away. When you come back
+I will make it all up to you, and show you how nice I really can
+be, because I do love you&ndash;&ndash;I have never loved any one but you.
+Thank you so much for the money you have sent me&ndash;&ndash;I was very
+much down on my luck when it came. They haven&rsquo;t a vacancy
+for me just now at Eldred&rsquo;s, or else they did not want me back,
+and I am going to try and find another berth. I am living in a
+new boarding-house, as you will see; it&rsquo;s ever so much nicer than
+the Brixton Road, and I shall be able to stay on now you are so
+generously sending me money. I have made a nice friend
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span>
+here, too, a girl named June Mason&ndash;&ndash;she tells me that she knows
+your mother, and you, too!&ndash;&ndash;I did not let her know how well I
+knew you, dear, as I thought perhaps you would rather I said
+nothing about it. She has a man friend who sometimes comes to
+see her&ndash;&ndash;a Mr. Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;she thinks the world of him, but I
+think he is detestable....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Mickey caught his breath hard. After a moment he
+went on reading:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;June tells me he is very rich, and quite a &lsquo;somebody,&rsquo; but I
+cannot see anything out of the ordinary about him, and he isn&rsquo;t a
+bit good looking. He knows you, too&ndash;&ndash;but he does not say much
+about you. Dearest, it seems such a long time since I saw you&ndash;&ndash;and
+I cannot help wondering if you really miss me and want me
+as much as I want you.... Sometimes I would give just
+anything to lay my head on your shoulder and say how much I
+love you. I&rsquo;m very lonely, really; though June is so kind she
+isn&rsquo;t any one of my very own, is she? And now I wonder if you
+will be very angry with me if I ask you something? I don&rsquo;t
+think I should have dared to, only your last letters have been so
+dear and kind. Raymond, why can&rsquo;t I come out to you and be
+with you? We could get married, and we should be ever so happy
+even if we have to be poor&ndash;&ndash;at least, I know I could, and from
+your letters, somehow I think it sounds as if you, too, have realised
+that there isn&rsquo;t much happiness away from me. I have had
+the offer of a good post&ndash;&ndash;I won&rsquo;t tell you what it is, as I want
+it to be a surprise to you if I do take it. But if you would like
+me to come, I will just leave everything and come to you. Couldn&rsquo;t
+you send me a wire when you get this letter? I shall be longing
+and waiting to hear from you. I am a little bit afraid in my
+heart, really, now I have written this, but your last letter is lying
+beside me, and I keep peeping at it and reading what you say
+there, and somehow I feel that it&rsquo;s going to be all right.&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p class='ralign'>With all my love for ever and ever, <span class='smcap'>Lallie</span>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Mickey sat there staring down at her signature a long
+time after he had reached the end.</p>
+<p>Then he moved slowly as if it cost him an effort. He
+was rather pale now, and there was a hard line round
+his mouth. So that was how she thought of him! Somehow
+he had not imagined how much it would hurt to
+read the fond words and to know all the time that they
+were written to another man. And to a man so unworthy!
+He thought of Ashton as he had seen him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span>
+three nights ago with Mrs. Clare; of his callous questioning
+about Esther; of his almost brutal remarks, and
+it made his blood boil.</p>
+<p>He could picture her so well&ndash;&ndash;waiting for a wire that
+would never come.</p>
+<p>He hated Ashton at that moment. His brows almost
+met above his eyes in a scowl as he went up to the bureau
+and asked for his bill. The smiling French girl sobered
+a little meeting his gaze; for once she did not dare to
+smile or dimple; she gave him his account silently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, but they are funny, these English;&rdquo; she told her
+father afterwards. &ldquo;To-day he had no smile, the tall
+monsieur&ndash;&ndash;not even one little smile!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She watched Micky across the lounge with interested
+eyes as he sat down at one of the tables and proceeded to
+write a letter. It took him a long time, and twice she
+saw that he tore up what he had written and flung it
+into the wastepaper basket, but at last he had finished,
+and getting up, stalked away.</p>
+<p>Celeste ventured out then&ndash;&ndash;there was nobody about,
+and tiptoeing across the lounge, took the torn papers
+from the paper-basket. They were torn across and
+across, but on one or two slips the writing was visible,
+and she carried them back with her to the shelter of the
+bureau.</p>
+<p>She spread them out on the desk before her, carefully
+piecing them together. She knew English quite well,
+and she soon made out one sentence:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is not that I do not love you&ndash;&ndash;I have never loved
+you better than at this moment&ndash;&ndash;but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Celeste was sentimental. She gave a big sigh of
+sympathy for the big Englishman. &ldquo;No wonder he has
+no smile!&rdquo; she told herself. &ldquo;<i>C&rsquo;est si triste!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XV' id='CHAPTER_XV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>It was raining and miserable when Micky arrived in
+London. The roads were wet and slippery, and every
+taxi and omnibus splashed pedestrians with mud.</p>
+<p>Micky shivered as he stood waiting while a porter
+lugged his traps down from the rack. He had felt
+depressed in Paris, but now London seemed a thousand
+times worse. The sight of Driver waiting on the platform
+annoyed him. He answered the man&rsquo;s stolid greeting
+snappishly. He had wanted to come home, and yet
+now he was here he wished himself a thousand miles
+away. He leaned back in a corner of the taxi and shut
+his eyes.</p>
+<p>The last four days had got on his nerves; Esther&rsquo;s
+letter in his pocket was like an eternal reproach.</p>
+<p>Why had he come back at all? She did not want
+him&ndash;&ndash;nobody wanted him in the whole forsaken world.
+The silence of his flat seemed a thing to be dreaded in
+his present mood. Driver&rsquo;s inscrutable face would, he
+felt, drive him mad. With sudden impulse he leaned
+forward and called to the chauffeur, &ldquo;Stop&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve changed
+my mind&ndash;&ndash;drive me back to the Savoy....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There would be life there, at any rate&ndash;&ndash;life and people
+and music&ndash;&ndash;something to make a man forget the depression
+that sat like a ton weight on his shoulders.</p>
+<p>He felt utterly at a loose end; he stalked moodily into
+the lounge. There were many people there, girls in pretty
+dinner frocks, with their attendant cavaliers. Micky
+glanced at none of them, till suddenly a girl who had
+been sitting on a couch listening rather listlessly to the
+conversation of a youth beside her, rose to her feet when
+she saw Micky, the hot colour flying to her cheeks.</p>
+<p>For a moment she hesitated, waiting for him to look
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span>
+at her, to speak&ndash;&ndash;but Micky had stalked by without turning
+his eyes, and after the barest second she followed
+and touched his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky....&rdquo; she said breathlessly, and again
+&ldquo;Micky,&rdquo; with an odd little catch in her voice.</p>
+<p>Micky turned as if he had been shot, then stopped
+dead, colouring up to the roots of his hair, for the girl
+was Marie Deland.</p>
+<p>She smiled tremulously, reading the distress in his
+eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought I was never going to see you any more,&rdquo;
+she said. She tried hard to speak casually, but her voice
+quivered a little. &ldquo;Where have you been hiding all this
+time, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stammered out that he really didn&rsquo;t know&ndash;&ndash;that
+he&rsquo;d only just come back from Paris&ndash;&ndash;that he did
+call to see her one night, but that they told him she
+wasn&rsquo;t in. She broke in there impetuously&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know; I&rsquo;m so sorry. It wasn&rsquo;t my fault. I was
+there all the time. Mother&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She stopped, biting her
+lip, but there was no need to explain further. Micky
+could well imagine that it was by Mrs. Deland&rsquo;s orders
+that the butler had said &ldquo;Not at home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His heart was full of remorse as he looked down at
+Marie. Such a little while ago he had thought of her
+as his wife. He had fully meant to marry her.</p>
+<p>He broke out again agitatedly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know you must think I&rsquo;m an awful sweep. I&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;oh,
+I can&rsquo;t explain.&rdquo; He glanced past her to where the
+rather vapid-looking youth to whom she had been speaking
+sat tugging at an incipient moustache.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you doing here?&rdquo; he asked again. &ldquo;Who
+are you with?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She told him that she was with her married sister
+and some friends.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have dinner here,&rdquo; she said. She
+was longing to ask Micky to dine with them, but was
+obviously afraid to do so.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span></div>
+<p>After a moment&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I ought to be going,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Violet
+will wonder where I am, Micky.&rdquo; She looked up at him
+with abashed eyes. &ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I suppose&ndash;&ndash;you wouldn&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;will
+you come out to tea with me to-morrow?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s face reflected the flush in her own; he looked
+away in miserable embarrassment. He knew that she
+felt the same towards him as she had done before that
+memorable New Year&rsquo;s Eve, and he knew that whatever
+happened now he could never feel the same to her any
+more.</p>
+<p>He answered that he would be pleased, very pleased.
+Where should he meet her&ndash;&ndash;or should he call for her?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll meet you,&rdquo; she said quickly. &ldquo;You know where
+we always used to go&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll be there at four, Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She put out her hand and Micky was forced to take
+it; he felt how her fingers shook in his, and he cursed
+himself for a brute as he turned away and left her.</p>
+<p>In a way he was glad they had met. Any other
+woman would have given him the snubbing which he
+knew he so richly deserved. Deep down in his heart he
+wished that she had done so; anything would have been
+easier to meet than this trembling overture of friendship.
+He knew that the little abashed expression in Marie&rsquo;s
+dark eyes could only mean one thing, that he had cut
+her to the soul and that she still cared for him.</p>
+<p>He left the Savoy without having any dinner; he
+went back to his rooms, where the imperturbable Driver
+was brushing and refolding his master&rsquo;s clothes. It had
+almost broken Driver&rsquo;s heart to see the way in which
+Micky had packed his things; he raised eyes of wooden
+reproach as Micky entered the room.</p>
+<p>There was a pile of letters on the table. Micky flicked
+them through carelessly; nothing of interest&ndash;&ndash;a few bills
+and a good many invitations; nothing from Esther&ndash;&ndash;not
+even a note from June.</p>
+<p>He sat down by the fire and proceeded to cut the
+many envelopes open. He kept thinking of Marie and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span>
+wondering if it would be kinder not to meet her to-morrow,
+after all; if he could possibly write her a note that
+would tactfully explain the situation.</p>
+<p>He just glanced at each of the notes as he opened
+them, and let them drop to the carpet at his feet. They
+could be answered later; there was nothing of importance,
+nothing he ... his attention was arrested:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Mr. Mellowes</span>,&ndash;&ndash;I wonder if it will be asking too much
+of you to come round and see me one afternoon for half an
+hour?&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p class='ralign'>Yours sincerely, <span class='smcap'>Laura Ashton</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky glanced quickly at the address at the top of
+the paper&ndash;&ndash;it was from Raymond&rsquo;s mother.</p>
+<p>What in the world could she want with him, he
+wondered blankly. He looked across at Driver.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This note&ndash;&ndash;the one that came by hand&ndash;&ndash;when did
+it come?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>Driver replied that it had been there for two days.
+He waited a moment, then went on brushing Micky&rsquo;s
+coat.</p>
+<p>Micky felt rather disturbed.</p>
+<p>Raymond&rsquo;s mother! What in the wide world could
+she want with him? Supposing it were anything to do
+with Esther ...</p>
+<p>He wrote a note in reply at once and said he would
+call the following afternoon; he could just look in early
+for half an hour and go on afterwards to meet Marie;
+it was strange how he dreaded both these appointments.</p>
+<p>He felt ridiculously nervous when he reached Mrs.
+Ashton&rsquo;s house. For the first time it occurred to him
+that possibly Esther would be here too.</p>
+<p>He was kept waiting some minutes in the drawing
+room&ndash;&ndash;minutes during which he wandered restlessly
+about staring at the pictures and the photographs.</p>
+<p>There were many portraits of Raymond&ndash;&ndash;Raymond
+at all stages of his chequered career, smiling and handsome.
+Micky turned his back on them with a feeling
+of disgust.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span></div>
+<p>The door opened behind him, and, turning sharply,
+he found himself face to face with Mrs. Ashton.</p>
+<p>She came forward with outstretched hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is kind of you, Mr. Mellowes. I did not know
+you had been away till I got your note this morning.
+I was wondering why I had had no reply to mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky blurted out that he had been in Paris&ndash;&ndash;that he
+only came back yesterday evening.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s face changed a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paris! Have you been with that son of mine?&rdquo;
+she asked sharply.</p>
+<p>Micky coloured. &ldquo;I met him&ndash;&ndash;quite by chance, though.
+We were not together more than a few minutes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She smiled rather ironically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you got tired of him at last, then?&rdquo; she asked.
+She moved over to the fire. She looked back at Micky
+quizzically. &ldquo;I have often wondered how you put up
+with his friendship so long, Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; she added
+rather sadly.</p>
+<p>Micky felt embarrassed. He had always liked Mrs.
+Ashton. He stammered out that he and Raymond had
+always been very good friends.</p>
+<p>She drew her chair a little closer to the fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well&ndash;&ndash;then, perhaps, you will be kind enough
+to answer a question I am going to ask you. Mr. Mellowes,
+what was the name of that girl at Eldred&rsquo;s whom
+Raymond was always about with before Christmas?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The question was so unexpected that Micky was utterly
+taken aback. Before he was aware of it he had told a
+lie.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&ndash;&ndash;at least, he always spoke of her as
+&lsquo;Lallie.&rsquo; I never once saw him with her, Mrs. Ashton&ndash;&ndash;he
+never introduced me to her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked rather incredulous.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And yet you were such friends,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Micky coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Our tastes were not always identical,&rdquo; he said rather
+stiffly. &ldquo;I am not very interested in women, and he&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;And he is,&rdquo; she finished for him. &ldquo;There is no need
+to tell me that&ndash;&ndash;I know my son. So you cannot tell
+me the name of this girl? I had hoped that you would
+be able to do so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky met her eyes unflinchingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I dare say I could find out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If she is
+still at Eldred&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She is not there.&rdquo; Mrs. Ashton looked up at Micky
+with an anxious line between her handsome eyes. &ldquo;Mr.
+Mellowes, I have always prided myself on my sense of
+justice, and somehow lately I have got an uncomfortable
+feeling that when I forbade Raymond to have anything
+more to do with that girl it would have been better if
+I had advised her to have nothing more to do with him.
+He is my son, and perhaps it seems strange for me to
+speak about him like that, but you cannot have been
+friends with him all these months without finding him
+out, so I need not apologise. Raymond is just his father
+over again....&rdquo; She paused, and a painful little
+smile curved her lips.</p>
+<p>She looked at Micky rather pathetically. &ldquo;There is no
+need for me to say any more, is there?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer. He had heard many stories
+about Raymond&rsquo;s father, all more or less unsavoury, and
+he knew that from all accounts Mrs. Ashton had been
+greatly to be pitied during his lifetime.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So if you can&rsquo;t help me in this,&rdquo; she went on
+presently, &ldquo;I am afraid I have brought you here for
+nothing. I want to find out who this girl is, and see
+her for myself.&rdquo; She paused, but Micky&rsquo;s face was
+inscrutable.</p>
+<p>In his heart he was convinced that she did not believe
+him, but he had no intention of telling her Esther&rsquo;s
+name; he longed to know if Esther were in the house,
+but, of course, it was impossible to ask.</p>
+<p>It almost seemed as if Mrs. Ashton could read his
+thoughts, for she said suddenly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know, Mr. Mellowes, that I am going to
+have a companion?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky echoed her last word vacantly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Companion?&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;er....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, a girl,&rdquo; Mrs. Ashton went on; &ldquo;I have always
+envied people with daughters; a daughter is so much
+more to a mother than a son; but as I was not fortunate
+enough to have one of my own I am going to try having
+a companion. Raymond will be annoyed, I dare say&ndash;&ndash;he
+has always pooh-poohed the idea when I have mentioned
+it to him, but now&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she shrugged her shoulders
+and sighed impatiently. &ldquo;Well, he can no longer
+object, I think, seeing that he is to be married himself....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky made a little quick movement, almost knocking
+over a vase of flowers standing at his elbow; he
+recovered himself with an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Married?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Why, I thought....&rdquo; he
+broke off. &ldquo;He did not say anything about it to me
+when I met him in Paris,&rdquo; he said lamely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No?&rdquo; Her handsome eyes searched his agitated face
+critically. &ldquo;Well, he is to be married all the same,&rdquo;
+she said. &ldquo;I heard from him only this morning. He
+is engaged to Tom Clare&rsquo;s widow&ndash;&ndash;Tubby Clare, I
+believe he was always called.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XVI' id='CHAPTER_XVI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>When Micky left Mrs. Ashton he raced off to
+meet Marie.</p>
+<p>She was looking quite her prettiest, in dark
+furs with a bunch of violets in the breast of her coat,
+but Micky would not have noticed if she had been
+shabby, his thoughts were elsewhere. He did not even
+see that she wore the bracelet he had given her for a
+Christmas present, or remember that he had once told
+her violets were his favourite flowers.</p>
+<p>He apologised breathlessly for being late.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I had an appointment,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;Raymond&rsquo;s
+mother; she wrote and asked me to call this afternoon.&rdquo;
+He hesitated, then added, &ldquo;Did you know that Raymond
+is going to be married? Oh, but, of course, you cannot
+know, as Mrs. Ashton only knew this morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Marie&rsquo;s dark eyes opened; like most women, she
+loved to hear of an engagement or marriage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;At last!&ndash;&ndash;not to&ndash;&ndash;surely not to
+that little girl at Eldred&rsquo;s?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky flushed angrily. Did every one know about
+Esther? he asked himself savagely. He answered shortly
+that it was to Mrs. Clare, Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow.</p>
+<p>Marie looked amazed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But we all thought&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she said, then stopped,
+remembering that Micky and Raymond had been great
+friends. &ldquo;I hope he&rsquo;ll be happy,&rdquo; she said lamely.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed shortly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t deserve to be.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She made no comment.</p>
+<p>There was an excited flush in her cheeks, and a nervous
+note in her voice when she spoke; it was like old times
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span>
+to be here with him again, until she met his eyes across
+the little table, and then it seemed as if she were looking
+into the face of a stranger, a man who was like Micky&ndash;&ndash;enough
+like him to hurt, and yet not Micky at all.</p>
+<p>She aroused herself to amuse him. Micky had always
+told her she cheered him up in the old days, but this
+afternoon he answered her in monosyllables, and she
+saw with bitter mortification how often he looked at the
+clock. At last she was driven to remark on it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky, are you in a hurry to get away?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She asked the question lightly, but there was a strained
+note in her voice.</p>
+<p>Micky did not look at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;no, not at all,&rdquo; he said hurriedly. &ldquo;But I suppose
+we ought to be moving soon....&rdquo; There was
+a little pause. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been nice seeing you again,&rdquo; he
+added with an effort.</p>
+<p>She sat staring down at her plate. Her pretty colour
+had faded; she was very pale, and she bit her lip hard
+to hide its trembling.</p>
+<p>Suddenly she looked up at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;may I ask you a question?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A hundred if you like.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She picked up a teaspoon and twisted it nervously.
+Micky watched her with apprehension; he knew what
+was coming, and his heart sank.</p>
+<p>If only she would be content to leave things as they
+were; if only she would accept the friendship he was
+willing to give and close the book of the past for ever.</p>
+<p>He did not understand that it was because she cared
+for him so much that at the risk of losing her self-respect
+and pride she must ask him for the truth, must
+know ...</p>
+<p>He heard her catch her breath, then suddenly she
+spoke:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky ... why was it? What have I done?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a quiver in her voice that set him on edge;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span>
+he could not stand the sound of unhappiness in any
+woman&rsquo;s voice, and he had once thought he loved
+Marie....</p>
+<p>He answered without looking at her, realising that
+it was kinder to tell the truth out and have done with
+it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I meant to have written to you&ndash;&ndash;I hope some day
+you will try and forgive me, but ... but....&rdquo;
+He could not go on for the life of him, but he had said
+enough, and he knew that she understood.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean ... you mean that there is some one
+else?&rdquo; she asked with stiff lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; He looked at her white, stricken face, and
+felt himself a brute.</p>
+<p>It seemed an eternity before she could steady her
+voice enough to speak.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is it&ndash;&ndash;is it some one I know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, dear,&rdquo; said Micky very gently. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t any
+one you have ever seen&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She picked up her big muff suddenly and held it so
+that her face was hidden; the little word of endearment
+that had escaped Micky&rsquo;s lips had almost broken her
+down. This was the end of all she had ever hoped for,
+and for the moment she could not choke the anguish in
+her heart.</p>
+<p>The following silence seemed unending; then she
+looked round for her gloves, and put them on, buttoning
+them with shaking fingers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am ready if you are,&rdquo; she said. She did not look
+at him, but it felt like dying to walk beside him out
+of the shop and into the cold air and know that perhaps
+this was the last time they would ever be alone, he and
+she. Once her steps faltered a little, and Micky put
+out his hand to steady her, but she drew away from him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Please don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said in a whisper.</p>
+<p>There was a taxi waiting at the roadside, and Micky
+called to the man. There was a slight cold drizzle of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span>
+rain falling as he held open the door. He would have
+followed but she stopped him. &ldquo;I should like to go
+alone, if you don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked up, and for a moment he saw her face in
+the light of the taxi lamp; such a white, quivering face
+it was.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Marie!...&rdquo; said Micky in a choked voice, but
+she waved him away.</p>
+<p>He stood there on the kerb till the taxi had whirled
+out of sight, and once again he asked himself desperately
+if it were all worth while, if he were not throwing away
+the real thing for a chimera.</p>
+<p>There was probably a no more unhappy man in London
+at that moment than Micky Mellowes.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XVII' id='CHAPTER_XVII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther had spent a week indoors with a cold,
+and it was the longest she could ever remember.
+June was kindness itself, and fussed and petted
+and made much of her, but the days dragged.</p>
+<p>There was only one thing to live for&ndash;&ndash;the post! And
+though the rat-tat rang through the house three or four
+times a day, there was never anything for Esther.</p>
+<p>Her own letter to Paris remained unanswered. The
+telegram for which she longed never came.</p>
+<p>June watched her with a mixture of sympathy and
+impatience.</p>
+<p>What was the good of putting all one&rsquo;s eggs in the
+same basket? she asked herself crossly. What was the
+good of falling in love if nothing better than unhappiness
+ever came of it? She began to hate the phantom
+lover, as she called him, with increased hatred.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;re strong enough to go yet, you
+know,&rdquo; she said to Esther one afternoon when they were
+sitting together in the firelight. &ldquo;Write and tell Mrs.
+Ashton you can&rsquo;t come for another week, or that you
+can&rsquo;t go at all. I do wish you would.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I promised to go, and I must do something. I shall
+be all right by Monday. Mrs. Ashton has waited long
+enough as it is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked pale and ill, June thought angrily, and
+put it all down to &ldquo;that man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Has Mr. Mellowes come back from Paris yet?&rdquo;
+Esther asked suddenly. June was faintly amazed; Esther
+never spoke of Micky. She answered rather dubiously
+that she did not know.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I expect he&rsquo;s having such a good time that he&rsquo;ll stay
+for weeks,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;I wish he would come back,
+I want him to get on with my business....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes....&rdquo; announced Lydia at the door.</p>
+<p>June scrambled to her feet with a scream of delight.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky! you villain! we were just talking about you.
+When did you come back? Why haven&rsquo;t you been before?
+What have you been doing?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She dragged him over to the fire; she fussed over him
+and told him he was just in time for tea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther&rsquo;s been indoors a week with a cold,&rdquo; she explained.
+&ldquo;No, don&rsquo;t you get up, Esther. Micky won&rsquo;t
+mind....&rdquo; She pushed Esther back amongst the
+sofa pillows. &ldquo;Poor darling! She&rsquo;s really been quite ill,&rdquo;
+she declared.</p>
+<p>Micky said formally that he was sorry that she was
+not well, but that the weather was enough to kill anybody;
+he added that he had been in town since Sunday,
+but ...</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Four days, and you&rsquo;ve not been to see me!&rdquo; said June.
+&ldquo;What a shame, to neglect us so!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been busy,&rdquo; Micky defended himself; &ldquo;I expected
+to hear you had gone to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s,&rdquo; he said to
+Esther.</p>
+<p>She raised her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;I am going on Monday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Micky blankly.</p>
+<p>June had opened the door and was calling over the
+balusters to Lydia for hot water.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And bring lots of it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re thirsty....&rdquo;
+She came back into the room. &ldquo;The postman&rsquo;s just
+come,&rdquo; she said with a nod and a smile to Esther. &ldquo;Lydia
+will bring our letters up if there are any.&rdquo; She turned
+again to Micky. &ldquo;Well, truant! And what have you
+been doing? Having a good time?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I have not,&rdquo; Micky said decidedly. &ldquo;Paris is
+not what it used to be, or I am not!&rdquo; He laughed.
+&ldquo;How&rsquo;s the swindle?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span></div>
+<p>June began to answer, but stopped as Lydia came into
+the room. She brought a jug of hot water. June danced
+up to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No letters? I thought I heard the postman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One for Miss Shepstone,&rdquo; Lydia said smilingly.</p>
+<p>Micky looked across at Esther&ndash;&ndash;her whole face was
+transformed as she turned eagerly with outstretched
+hand.</p>
+<p>There was a moment of silence, then she gave a little
+sigh of utter contentment. June sniffed inelegantly&ndash;&ndash;Micky
+looked hard into the fire; his heart was thumping;
+that letter ought to have been delivered yesterday, he
+knew; it was cursed bad luck that it should arrive while
+he was here.</p>
+<p>There was a little silence in the room while Esther
+opened it. She seemed to have forgotten that she was
+not alone. Her pale cheeks were flushed and her whole
+face tremulous.</p>
+<p>June was bustling about, making a great clatter with
+the teacups. Micky got up and began to prowl round
+the room; his nerves felt jumpy. Because he knew so
+well who had written that letter he was sure every one
+else must know it too. Presently June nudged him as she
+passed. When he looked at her she made a little grimace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it awful?&rdquo; she said in a stage whisper.</p>
+<p>Micky smiled stiffly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t I help get the tea?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Toast some
+buns or something?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t any to toast,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;Sit down
+and make yourself at home. Esther!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she raised her
+voice elaborately&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;are you going to have any tea, my
+child?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had come to the end of her letter; she folded
+it hurriedly and put it away; she cast a quick look at
+Micky, but he did not see it. June was chattering away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So Esther is going on Monday,&rdquo; she informed Micky,
+&ldquo;and I shall be left once more to my lonesome. I&rsquo;m
+not at all sure that I shall stay on myself,&rdquo; she added.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span>
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been so jolly having some one to share this room
+with me that I&rsquo;m not looking forward to my own eternal
+company.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I may not go after all,&rdquo; Esther said suddenly. There
+was a note of nervousness in her voice. She coloured,
+meeting June&rsquo;s amazed eyes.</p>
+<p>June screamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not go! Well, I never!&rdquo; She sat down in a heap
+on the hearthrug staring at Esther. &ldquo;I never knew such
+a girl,&rdquo; she complained. &ldquo;Micky, I appeal to you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Micky was not going to be appealed to; he was
+stolidly stirring his tea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I can change my mind if I like?&rdquo; Esther
+said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it isn&rsquo;t you who have changed your mind,&rdquo; June
+cut in ironically. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that phantom lover
+of yours has said in his letter. Own up, now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, and if it is?&rdquo; Esther demurred. &ldquo;I suppose
+he has a right to say what he likes, hasn&rsquo;t he?&rdquo; But
+she was laughing as she spoke; she felt wonderfully
+happy and light-hearted. &ldquo;I believe you&rsquo;re jealous,&rdquo; she
+declared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Jealous, indeed!&rdquo; said June indignantly. Then suddenly
+she sighed. &ldquo;Well, perhaps I am; who knows?
+What does he say? or mayn&rsquo;t we ask?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky had stopped stirring his tea; there was a sort
+of intentness about his big figure.</p>
+<p>Esther looked at him, and suddenly she stiffened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never mind what he says,&rdquo; she answered defensively.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, all right&ndash;&ndash;sorry if I was inquisitive.&rdquo; She deliberately
+turned and began talking to Micky; Esther was
+left to herself, but she did not mind, she had enough
+now to think about. The longed-for letter had come
+at last.</p>
+<p>She woke from her reverie with a start when Micky
+rose and said he must be going.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you be so long before you come and see
+me again,&rdquo; June said in her downright way. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t
+go without that sample, Micky&ndash;&ndash;it will go in your pocket
+quite easily.&rdquo; She darted off to her room to fetch it,
+and Micky moved a step nearer to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have had good news?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>She looked up startled.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s eyes flamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That being so, of course, it is useless for me to ask
+if you have changed your mind yet?&rdquo; he said again.</p>
+<p>Esther gave a stifled cry.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you trying to insult me?&rdquo; she asked under her
+breath.</p>
+<p>He half smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am, if it&rsquo;s an insult to ask you to marry me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was no time for more. June came back then
+with her hands full of samples, which she proceeded to
+stuff into Micky&rsquo;s pocket.</p>
+<p>He submitted laughingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Supposing I get run over!&rdquo; he said resignedly.
+&ldquo;People will think I&rsquo;ve been robbing a beauty shop.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It will be a fine advertisement for me, anyway,&rdquo;
+June declared. &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you see all the halfpenny papers
+coming out with great headlines? Tragic Death of a
+Young Millionaire! Pockets Stuffed with June Mason&rsquo;s
+Skin Food!&rdquo; She laughed merrily. &ldquo;That would be
+worth something, eh, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Heartless woman!&rdquo; he answered. He turned to
+Esther. &ldquo;Good-bye, Miss Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was glad that he did not offer to shake hands
+with her; she was glad that June went to see him off.
+As soon as the door had closed on them she took her
+letter out again; she pressed the paper to her lips.</p>
+<p>It was worth waiting for, worth the heartache and
+disappointment; she closed her eyes for a moment and
+thought of Raymond Ashton. How she must have misjudged
+him in the past. It did not seem true now that
+they had ever quarrelled, or parted in anger; that she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span>
+had ever been so unhappy that she did not want to
+live....</p>
+<p>June came running up the stairs; she was singing
+cheerily; Esther smiled as she listened ... it must be
+wonderful to be always as happy and light-hearted as
+June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, dreamer?&rdquo; said June. She shut the door with
+a little slam and came over to where her friend sat.
+&ldquo;A penny for your thoughts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at Esther&rsquo;s flushed face in the firelight.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And so everything is all right after all, eh?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p>Esther nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I&rsquo;m not really going to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s after all,&rdquo;
+she said with a sort of shamefaced delight. &ldquo;Only I
+didn&rsquo;t want to say so in front of Mr. Mellowes....
+Oh, aren&rsquo;t you glad?&rdquo; she asked anxiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear, of course I am!&rdquo; said June heartily. &ldquo;But
+for the life of me I can&rsquo;t understand how it is that this
+man of yours has got such an influence over you. He&rsquo;s
+only got to hold up his little finger and you&rsquo;re on your
+knees. I&rsquo;m beginning to think he must be a kind of
+wonder after all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not answer for a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He isn&rsquo;t at all wonderful, really,
+except to me, and&ndash;&ndash;and I love him, you see,&rdquo; she added
+shyly. &ldquo;I suppose every man is wonderful to the woman
+who loves him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Until she&rsquo;s his wife,&rdquo; said June tartly. &ldquo;And then
+she thinks he&rsquo;s all sorts of an idiot, and tells him so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Esther was too happy to take her seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve never been in love,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;or you wouldn&rsquo;t
+talk like that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I never wish to be in love, thank you,&rdquo; said
+June. &ldquo;If you and Micky are samples of objects who
+are in love....&rdquo; She made a little grimace, screwing
+up her nose in disgust.</p>
+<p>Esther coloured.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky!&rdquo; she said, surprised into using his Christian
+name. &ldquo;Is he in love? How do you know he is?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a bat, and I haven&rsquo;t known Micky years
+for nothing. He hasn&rsquo;t been himself for a long time.
+I&rsquo;ve seen it, though I haven&rsquo;t said a word. He&rsquo;s in love
+right enough, there can&rsquo;t be any other explanation, seeing
+that he&rsquo;s too rich to ever be in debt, and they are the
+only two things that ever make a man miserable,&rdquo; she
+added.</p>
+<p>Esther wondered if June was trying to sound her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who the wretched female is,&rdquo; June
+went on, puckering her brows. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to guess, but
+it&rsquo;s no good. There was a Miss Deland he used to go
+about with at one time, but I know that&rsquo;s all off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Was he engaged to her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;not really! But her people wanted it, and Micky
+didn&rsquo;t mind; he&rsquo;d have drifted into it sure enough if
+something very tremendous hadn&rsquo;t happened to make him
+change his mind. I know Micky&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;d have slipped into
+matrimony as easily as he gets into a taxi, unless some
+one had turned him away from it.&rdquo; She glanced down
+at the letter in Esther&rsquo;s lap. &ldquo;Tell me what he says,&rdquo;
+she coaxed. &ldquo;Take pity on a poor creature who hasn&rsquo;t
+a phantom lover of her own, or a real one either,&rdquo; she
+added laughing.</p>
+<p>Esther hesitated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m never quite sure whether you&rsquo;re laughing at me
+or not,&rdquo; she said nervously. &ldquo;I know you don&rsquo;t mean
+to, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laid her hand on Esther&rsquo;s lap.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I laugh at every one and everything,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But
+it&rsquo;s only my way, and doesn&rsquo;t mean anything. Perhaps
+I&rsquo;m a bit jealous&ndash;&ndash;because you love this phantom lover
+so much better than you love me,&rdquo; she added.</p>
+<p>Esther drew the letter from its envelope.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll read you just a few little bits,&rdquo; she said shyly.
+The blood surged into her pretty face.</p>
+<p>June leaned back in a corner and closed her eyes. She
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
+held a cigarette between her lips and puffed at it lazily.
+There was a little silence; then Esther said suddenly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t. It makes me feel too self-conscious. But
+he just says that he doesn&rsquo;t want me to go into any berth
+just yet. He says that he may be home very soon
+now....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said June chagrined. &ldquo;And then, of course,
+you&rsquo;ll be married and live happily ever after....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. &ldquo;I hope so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June opened her eyes.</p>
+<p>Charlie, curled up on his cushion, started to purr lazily.
+Presently June flopped down on her knees beside him
+and began stroking his head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll let me have Charlie when you&rsquo;re married, won&rsquo;t
+you?&rdquo; she said suddenly. &ldquo;I am sure the phantom lover
+won&rsquo;t want him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not answer; she hated herself for remembering
+that Raymond had once said he loathed cats.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I told you how Micky went into a pond after a
+drowning kitten, didn&rsquo;t I?&rdquo; June asked reminiscently.
+&ldquo;I should have loved him for that alone, if for nothing
+else....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther made no comment. She moved a little, and
+the letter slipped from her lap to the floor.</p>
+<p>June picked it up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Or is it sacrilege to touch it?&rdquo; she asked teasingly.
+She laid it on Esther&rsquo;s lap.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I couldn&rsquo;t help seeing the writing,&rdquo; she said,
+after a moment. &ldquo;And, do you know, it&rsquo;s awfully like
+Micky&rsquo;s! If I hadn&rsquo;t known it wasn&rsquo;t his I should have
+declared it was,&rdquo; she said rather disconnectedly.</p>
+<p>Esther grabbed the letter up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, it isn&rsquo;t his, anyway,&rdquo; she said sharply.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XVIII' id='CHAPTER_XVIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther wrote to Mrs. Ashton that same night and
+told her she must regretfully decline the offered
+position; she gave no reason, but she permitted
+herself a little sigh of regret when the letter was dispatched.</p>
+<p>She would like to have gone; she would like to have
+seen Raymond&rsquo;s home and to have got to know his
+mother, but it was his wish that she should not go.</p>
+<p>She tried to believe that she was happy in the knowledge
+of his love, but in her heart she knew that she was
+restless and dissatisfied.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If I had something to do I should be ever so much
+happier,&rdquo; she told June again and again, and June quite
+agreed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be awful, killing time,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;When I
+think of the life I used to lead at home before I started
+trying to improve people&rsquo;s complexions, I wonder I didn&rsquo;t
+go mad. Nothing but silly tea-parties and scandal....
+Ugh! But all the same Micky and I agreed that you
+wouldn&rsquo;t like being at Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky!&rdquo; said Esther scornfully. &ldquo;As if I care what
+he thinks....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked mildly amazed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, all right,&rdquo; she said smoothly. &ldquo;I suppose I may
+mention his name sometimes, mayn&rsquo;t I?&rdquo; She began
+to laugh. &ldquo;Do you know that for once in my life I&rsquo;ve
+been totally wrong with regard to you two? I was so
+sure you&rsquo;d more than like each other&ndash;&ndash;I even thought it
+quite possible that Micky might fall in love with you&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;re
+so exactly suited to him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad you think so,&rdquo; said Esther drily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry
+I can&rsquo;t oblige you by agreeing.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span></div>
+<p>June said &ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; She yawned. &ldquo;All the same,&rdquo;
+she added after a moment, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m convinced that things
+would have been different if it hadn&rsquo;t been for that
+phantom lover of yours; you&rsquo;re so crazy about him.&rdquo;
+There was a touch of exasperation in her voice.</p>
+<p>Esther flushed angrily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s absurd of you to talk like this,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Mr.
+Mellowes is the last man on earth I should ever have
+looked at, even supposing Raymond....&rdquo; She had
+spoken the name before she was aware of it; in her
+momentary flash of temper the secret she had so carefully
+guarded escaped her.</p>
+<p>It was too late to attempt to cover what she had said;
+she knew by the sudden expression of June&rsquo;s face that
+she had heard.</p>
+<p>There was a poignant silence, then June sat up with
+a little jerk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course, that&rsquo;s let the cat out of the bag,&rdquo; she said
+curtly. &ldquo;And you let me run him down! How mean,
+how unutterably mean of you, Esther!... I can&rsquo;t
+think now why I never guessed! Raymond Ashton!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had flushed scarlet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never said that was his name,&rdquo; she tried to defend
+herself. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s purely your imagination. And even supposing
+it is, do you think I mind what you say about him,
+or Mr. Mellowes either? Neither of you know him as
+I do, or you would never say such cruel, wicked things.&rdquo;
+She stopped with a sob in her voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then it is Raymond Ashton?&rdquo; June said gently. She
+got up and came over to where Esther was sitting. &ldquo;Oh,
+I am sorry I said anything about him!&rdquo; she cried impulsively.
+&ldquo;You ought to have stopped me. How on
+earth was I to know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care what you said; it&rsquo;s all untrue,&rdquo; Esther
+protested stormily. &ldquo;Nothing you could ever say about
+him would influence me or make me feel any differently.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June got up for a cigarette; when she was nonplussed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+she invariably had to smoke; she took several agitated
+puffs before she looked at her friend again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, anything I said was in absolute innocence, you
+know that,&rdquo; she said in distress. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d no more idea than
+the dead that you and he.... So that&rsquo;s why he
+doesn&rsquo;t want you to go to his mother?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t know; I never told him it was to Mrs.
+Ashton&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;I just said I had had an offer of a berth. I
+suppose you are trying to make out now that he&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Heaven bless the child!&rdquo; June cried. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying
+to make out anything! I&rsquo;m struck all of a heap like!
+as Lydia says. So he&rsquo;s the phantom lover, is he?...
+Well&ndash;&ndash;I can&rsquo;t find any words to suit the case.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a phantom lover,&rdquo; Esther protested. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s
+a real lover, a very real lover.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June stopped and took her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to let you quarrel with me over him, no
+matter how badly you want to,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;No man is
+worth two friends having a row over. I&rsquo;m quite prepared
+to take him to my arms and love him if you do....
+Oh, Esther, don&rsquo;t look like that!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There were tears in Esther&rsquo;s eyes, and her lips were
+trembling. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re making fun of me,&rdquo; she protested.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unkind of you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June turned away; she wondered if perhaps, after all,
+she and every one else had thoroughly misunderstood
+Raymond, and if this girl&rsquo;s warm championing of him
+was deserved.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not nearly good enough for her,&rdquo; she was telling
+herself indignantly. &ldquo;She&rsquo;ll never really be happy with
+him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you won&rsquo;t tell Mr. Mellowes, or any one else,&rdquo;
+Esther was saying defiantly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want my affairs
+talked over by every one.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall not tell any one,&rdquo; June said quietly.</p>
+<p>She stood looking down into the fire, and her face was
+troubled.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span></div>
+<p>Presently she walked to Esther, and, stooping, kissed
+her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m awfully glad I know,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It makes our
+friendship seem so much more real.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled faintly.</p>
+<p>But June was ill at ease. She felt instinctively that
+things were not all right.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t the man himself,&rdquo; she told herself obstinately.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s some foolish, mistaken ideal of him that she has
+created.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She wondered what he really was doing in Paris.
+Micky would know&ndash;&ndash;he and Micky had been such great
+friends. There would be no harm in speaking of him
+to Micky, at least that would not be betraying any secret
+or confidence.</p>
+<p>She rang Micky up the following morning. She made
+the excuse that she wanted to see him on business. She
+took him to lunch at her club.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t look well,&rdquo; was her greeting. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s
+the matter, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky frowned. If there was one thing he hated it
+was for any one to remark on his appearance. He
+answered brusquely that he had never been better in
+his life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By the way, I was going to write when you rang
+up,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got some tickets for a first night
+to-morrow. Would you care to come along and&ndash;&ndash;and
+bring Miss Shepstone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June beamed. She liked going out with Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should love it,&rdquo; she said with enthusiasm. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t
+answer for Esther, though.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Try to persuade her,&rdquo; he urged carelessly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t
+suppose she&rsquo;s been about much; it would do her good.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She told me she loves theatres,&rdquo; June admitted; &ldquo;but
+the trouble will probably be that she hasn&rsquo;t got a dress.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A dress?&rdquo; Micky echoed vaguely. &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you lend
+her one of yours?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span></div>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear boy, she&rsquo;s much taller than me and slimmer.
+... However, I&rsquo;ll see what can be done. Where shall
+we meet you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll call for you at seven. We&rsquo;ll have some grub first.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good! And if Esther won&rsquo;t come?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, well, if she won&rsquo;t, you come along, of course;
+but try and persuade her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s refused Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s offer, you know,&rdquo; June
+said presently. She kept her eyes lowered; she felt self-conscious
+and guilty.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Has she?&rdquo; Micky did not sound particularly interested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; the phantom lover objected, or something, and
+I think it&rsquo;s just as well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She said something about it when I had tea with you
+the other day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So she did. I dare say that wretched Raymond would
+have tried to make love to her if she had gone,&rdquo; she
+added deliberately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s away just now,&rdquo; Micky said quickly. &ldquo;I ran
+across him when I was over in Paris last week.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked up quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you? What&rsquo;s he doing there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing particular; he often goes over, you know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stand that man,&rdquo; June said, after a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No?&rdquo; Micky&rsquo;s voice was casual.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never could see why you were so thick with him,&rdquo;
+she went on.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed lazily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps because I haven&rsquo;t your gift of second sight,
+my dear,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t have thought it would need second sight
+to see what he is,&rdquo; June declared.</p>
+<p>She looked across at Micky and was surprised by the
+hard expression of his face. &ldquo;I hate men who flirt,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span>
+she added. &ldquo;Micky, do you know that I&rsquo;ve got a kind
+of feeling about Esther&rsquo;s phantom lover that he doesn&rsquo;t
+really exist?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky sat up with sudden attention.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I mean that he isn&rsquo;t really a tangible man,&rdquo; she explained
+haltingly.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, he is,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>June caught her breath.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean&ndash;&ndash;oh, do you mean that you know
+him?&rdquo; she asked excitedly.</p>
+<p>Micky met her eyes with a faintly ironical smile in
+his own.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I know him,&rdquo; he answered hardily. &ldquo;And so
+do you. My dear, I may be very green, but your careful
+questioning wouldn&rsquo;t deceive a mouse.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky!&rdquo; said June indignantly. She flushed all over
+her face, and her queer eyes blazed angrily. She really
+felt that she had a done a dreadful thing in having
+allowed him to guess.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t look so upset,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve
+not told me anything; I knew it long before you did.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When? How&ndash;&ndash;oh, Micky, do tell me!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing to tell. Ashton often spoke about
+her to me. I knew she was at Eldred&rsquo;s, and&ndash;&ndash;well that&rsquo;s
+all,&rdquo; he added lamely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All!&rdquo; said June disappointedly. &ldquo;But surely you know
+more than that! What do you think of him? Do you
+think he really cares for her? Oh, Micky, do you think
+he&rsquo;s good enough for her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know that it matters very much what I think,&rdquo;
+he said drily. &ldquo;She&ndash;&ndash;she loves him apparently, and that&rsquo;s
+all that counts, I imagine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, she loves him right enough,&rdquo; June admitted
+gloomily. &ldquo;It was quite an accident that she told me
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
+his name, of course, and she made me promise not to
+tell any one, particularly you. I suppose because she
+knows that you and he were friends.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Possibly, if she does know. I rather doubt if Ashton
+said much to her about me, though. He used to keep
+things to himself a good deal.&rdquo; He picked up the menu.
+&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going to have anything more to eat? I
+thought you were hungry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not now; I&rsquo;m too excited. Micky, when you saw
+him in Paris, didn&rsquo;t he say anything, ask you anything?
+Oh, it all seems so extraordinary!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear girl, what could he ask me?&rdquo; Micky objected
+gently. &ldquo;I never discuss&ndash;&ndash;Miss Shepstone with him, and
+he is not in the least likely to tell me his private affairs,
+and I&rsquo;m sure I don&rsquo;t want to know them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June was silent for a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther is laying up trouble for herself,&rdquo; she said then.
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think she is?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t thought about it,&rdquo; Micky maintained stolidly.
+&ldquo;And if you take my advice, you won&rsquo;t either. It never
+does to meddle with other people&rsquo;s affairs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But she&rsquo;s my friend,&rdquo; June objected hotly. &ldquo;And do
+you mean to say that I have got to stand by and see her
+ruin her life?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s not married yet,&rdquo; he said laconically. &ldquo;Have
+some tipsy cake, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t want any more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I do. Waitress....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was a deliberate attempt to change the conversation,
+and June knew it; she sat back in her chair frowning.</p>
+<p>She supposed Micky would not talk about Ashton because
+he was his friend; men were so absurdly loyal to
+one another.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you loved Esther as much as I do,&rdquo; she said suddenly,
+&ldquo;you wouldn&rsquo;t stand by and say nothing while she
+goes and marries that man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was prodding the tipsy cake with a fork.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;She hasn&rsquo;t married him yet,&rdquo; he said stoically. &ldquo;And
+if she&rsquo;s happy&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She isn&rsquo;t, my good man! at least only in theory!&rdquo;
+June declared. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not Raymond Ashton she really
+cares for, but some wonderful person she thinks he is.
+She is looking at him through rose-coloured glasses.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what most women do, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he asked.
+&ldquo;My dear girl, don&rsquo;t get so upset; I thought you wanted
+to bring me out to talk business.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is business, my business at least, even if you&rsquo;re
+not interested. No wonder you didn&rsquo;t want her to go
+to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well&ndash;&ndash;I thought it would be better not, certainly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June regarded him severely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a deep soul,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I never even guessed
+that you knew anything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why should you? And I don&rsquo;t know anything. Can&rsquo;t
+we talk about something else?&rdquo; he asked plaintively.</p>
+<p>It was getting on his nerves, this constant conversation
+about Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So you&rsquo;ll come along to-morrow, eh?&rdquo; he asked
+presently. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long time since we went for a little
+jaunt together.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall love it.&rdquo; But June answered absently; her
+thoughts were still with Esther.</p>
+<p>Silence fell. Micky had finished his tipsy cake and
+was leaning back in his chair, a cigarette hanging dejectedly
+between his lips. He had lit it, but it had gone
+out, and though matches stood beside him he made no
+effort to light it again.</p>
+<p>June watched him across the table. He didn&rsquo;t look a
+bit well, she thought. What was the matter with him?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know, Micky,&rdquo; she said impulsively, &ldquo;I had quite
+made up my mind that you and Esther were to fall in
+love with one another. It would have been ideal, wouldn&rsquo;t
+it?&rdquo; she asked wickedly.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span></div>
+<p>A little spasm crossed Micky&rsquo;s face, but it was gone
+so quickly June could never be quite sure if she had not
+imagined it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ideal,&rdquo; he said quietly. &ldquo;Shall we go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll let you know about to-morrow,&rdquo; June said, as
+they parted. &ldquo;I shall have to wear the same old purple
+frock I wore when you took me out last time; you won&rsquo;t
+mind?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not a bit, as long as you come; and ... let me
+know about Miss Shepstone. If she won&rsquo;t come I&rsquo;ll give
+the ticket away.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll let you know,&rdquo; said June vaguely.</p>
+<p>She walked home deep in thought. So Micky had
+known all along? She was not quite sure that she was
+pleased with him for keeping the fact from her. They
+had been such pals, he and she; surely he might have
+trusted her and told her!</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I&rsquo;m not to be trusted with a secret, though,&rdquo;
+she thought with a comical sigh. &ldquo;Look how easily I
+gave Esther&rsquo;s away!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Tea was ready when she got in, and Esther and Charlie
+sat curled up together in the firelight.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got an invitation for us both to-morrow night,&rdquo;
+June said, even as she opened the door.</p>
+<p>Esther looked up eagerly; she had had rather a dull
+day of it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A theatre,&rdquo; said June. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s from Micky. I tell you
+at once, so you shan&rsquo;t throw cold water on it. He&rsquo;s got
+some seats for a first night, and asks us both to go. What
+do you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t a dress,&rdquo; said Esther promptly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I told him you&rsquo;d say that,&rdquo; June answered calmly,
+&ldquo;and he said it didn&rsquo;t matter&ndash;&ndash;or something to that effect.
+Micky never notices what you wear,&rdquo; she went on airily.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to wear an old purple rag that I&rsquo;ve had for
+about forty years.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed. &ldquo;I dare say I can buy one in time,&rdquo;
+she said; she did not intend Micky to think she could
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span>
+not afford a frock. &ldquo;I think I should rather like to go,&rdquo;
+she added shyly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good!&rdquo; June hid the amazement she felt. &ldquo;Well,
+Micky&rsquo;s going to call for us and take us out to dinner
+first. It&rsquo;ll be a scrumptious dinner&ndash;&ndash;Micky always does
+the thing in style!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of him to ask me,&rdquo; Esther said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; June demanded. &ldquo;Oh, you mean because you
+don&rsquo;t like one another? But that wouldn&rsquo;t trouble Micky;
+he&rsquo;d take you out if he hated the sight of you, he&rsquo;s so
+kind-hearted.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you for a doubtful compliment,&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>She was making plans rapidly in her mind. Micky
+had never seen her well dressed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I had another cheque from Raymond this morning,&rdquo;
+she said flushing. &ldquo;So it will come in useful. I can get
+a ready-made frock&ndash;&ndash;I shan&rsquo;t look so bad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll look an angel whatever you wear,&rdquo; said June
+affectionately. &ldquo;I know a little woman just off the Brompton
+Road who&rsquo;ll fix you up,&rdquo; June said eagerly. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s
+got the tiniest shop, but it&rsquo;s cram full of the sweetest
+things. She&rsquo;s awfully nice, too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t afford much,&rdquo; Esther said dubiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She won&rsquo;t charge you much,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s
+a friend of mine. She has my creams on her counter.
+It&rsquo;s a fine advertisement, you see. She gets lots of
+actresses and smart people in, and they ask what it is,
+and try a jar and send for more, and, there you
+are!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If she&rsquo;s too expensive&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she protested.</p>
+<p>But she ended by paying much more than she had
+originally intended. There was such a gem of a frock&ndash;&ndash;black
+velvet and a white transparent bodice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You look a duck!&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t she,
+Fifine?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But the mirror told Esther how charming she really
+looked without any further words.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I really ought not to have spent so much,&rdquo; she said
+as they went home. &ldquo;But it is rather nice, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky will be absolutely bowled over,&rdquo; June declared.
+&ldquo;I shall have to take a back seat all the evening.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And Micky apparently was &ldquo;bowled over,&rdquo; judging by
+the look that crept into his eyes when he arrived and
+found Esther alone in the sitting-room.</p>
+<p>June was late, as usual; she called out to him from
+her room that she wouldn&rsquo;t be half a minute.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no hurry,&rdquo; Micky answered quickly. He went
+over to where Esther stood, a little flushed and shy in
+her new frock.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very kind of you to come,&rdquo; he said rather agitatedly.
+She looked up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very kind of you to ask me,&rdquo; she answered. She
+felt much more at her ease with him now. She knew
+that she was looking particularly pretty. &ldquo;And it isn&rsquo;t
+the first time we have had dinner together, is it?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p>He answered eagerly that he was glad she remembered;
+he had almost thought she must have forgotten.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I shall never forget that, though it seems so long
+ago since that night. I was unhappy then, but now....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But now?&rdquo; he asked as she paused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now everything has come right,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;You
+said you were sure it would, if you remember.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His face changed a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am glad I was such a good prophet,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>June came bustling in; she was flushed and breathless,
+and laden with flowers, fan, and gloves, all of which
+she dropped to the sofa.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite ready. Esther, where&rsquo;s my cloak? Do find
+it, there&rsquo;s an angel. Oh, and my slippers&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve got everything
+else....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But it was at least another ten minutes before they
+were in the taxi and racing away through the night.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve booked a table at Marnio&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;I hope
+you like Marnio&rsquo;s, June?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I like anything to-night,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going
+to enjoy myself thoroughly, whatever happens.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky glanced at Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And you, Miss Shepstone?&rdquo; he asked rather nervously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther&rsquo;s too excited to speak,&rdquo; June answered for her.
+&ldquo;Oh, are we here already?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She led the way into the lounge of the big restaurant;
+Micky was well known here apparently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Every one in London knows Micky,&rdquo; June whispered
+to Esther with a sort of pride. &ldquo;Look at the attention
+he gets!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther glanced at him; probably anybody with Micky&rsquo;s
+money could get the same attention, she thought.</p>
+<p>There were a good many people in the lounge; Esther
+looked at them interestedly. Some of the women were
+beautifully dressed, but the black and white frock held
+its own bravely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You look nicer than any of them,&rdquo; June told her.
+&ldquo;I knew&ndash;&ndash;hullo!&ndash;&ndash;Micky&rsquo;s found a friend.&rdquo; She looked
+across to where he was standing, and Esther followed
+her gaze.</p>
+<p>Micky was talking to two ladies&ndash;&ndash;one of them was
+young and rather pretty, and the other&ndash;&ndash;Esther&rsquo;s face
+flushed suddenly, and she bit her lip hard, for the other
+was Mrs. Ashton, Raymond&rsquo;s mother.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIX' id='CHAPTER_XIX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther unconsciously put out her hand and
+grasped June&rsquo;s arm; she would have given anything
+had it been possible to run away. She saw Mrs.
+Ashton turn and look towards where they were standing,
+and in another moment she had crossed the lounge and
+was shaking hands with June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was just inviting Mr. Mellowes to come and dine
+with us,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But he tells me he already has an
+engagement.&rdquo; Her eyes smiled at June. &ldquo;I suppose you
+are the engagement?&rdquo; she submitted.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>A string band was playing a ragtime tune when they
+entered the restaurant. To Esther&rsquo;s unaccustomed eyes
+the room with its flowers and many lights was the most
+wonderful place she had ever seen. She kept close to
+Micky as he threaded his way through the small tables
+till he found their own, rather at the end of the room
+and away from the noisy band.</p>
+<p>He put Esther into a comfortable chair and himself
+took her cloak.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mind being left while I go back for June?&rdquo;
+he asked hurriedly; &ldquo;she seems to have got lost.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked after him as he went quickly back down
+the length of the room. She liked him in evening dress.
+If only it had been Raymond instead!&ndash;&ndash;she stifled a little
+sigh; she meant to enjoy herself this evening; she was
+not going to allow one single despondent thought.</p>
+<p>June and Micky rejoined her almost at once.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought some one had eloped with you,&rdquo; June said
+laughingly. &ldquo;Where did you get to? Micky, how hot
+this room is&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m just stifling!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She threw off her wrap and snatched up a paper fan
+from the table. Micky sat down between the two girls.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Shepstone didn&rsquo;t want to see Mrs. Ashton, I
+rather fancy,&rdquo; he said coolly. He looked at Esther with
+a slight smile in his eyes. &ldquo;I believe she was afraid Mrs.
+Ashton would demand a reason for having had her kind
+offer so cavalierly refused,&rdquo; he went on banteringly.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I believe I was,&rdquo; she admitted. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m an awful
+coward over explaining things to people.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So am I,&rdquo; said Micky drily. He was wondering
+how he was ever going to explain the most difficult occurrence
+of his whole life, and if, when he had done so, it
+would ever be believed.</p>
+<p>He looked at Esther a great deal during dinner; he
+had never seen her so animated; her eyes were sparkling,
+and her cheeks were flushed; she talked a great deal,
+and was particularly friendly to him; he was quite sorry
+when it was time to go on to the theatre.</p>
+<p>As they left the restaurant he noticed that she kept
+close to him again, and that she looked anxiously round
+for Mrs. Ashton.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s upstairs in the gallery.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She smiled. She thought he was very quick to understand
+her. Raymond had never seemed to understand
+things without an explanation. She wished he had been
+rather more like Micky in some ways; she wished&ndash;&ndash;she
+looked up at Micky guiltily; how could she compare the
+two men?&ndash;&ndash;the one whom she loved, and the other
+whom she did not even like!</p>
+<p>They were late, and the curtain had risen when they
+were shown into their seats. The theatre was dark, and
+Esther could hardly see her way. She put out her hand
+with a smothered laugh and felt for Micky&rsquo;s. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t
+see,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>His fingers closed about hers; such a little hand it
+felt. He wondered why she was being so kind to him
+to-night. He did not realise that she was enjoying
+herself so much that she felt on good terms with the
+whole world.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span></div>
+<p>Esther sat between him and June, and Micky hardly
+looked at the stage at all. His eyes turned again and
+again to her rapt face and the eagerness of her eyes.</p>
+<p>She had been to theatres lots of times, so she told him
+in a whisper, but never in the stalls before. She asked
+him if he didn&rsquo;t like some of the frocks worn by the
+people close by.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s eyes flashed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not so well as yours,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>She drew away from him a little, and he wished he
+had not said it. In that one moment he felt that he had
+broken down all the friendliness she had shown him that
+evening. She did not speak again for some time.</p>
+<p>In the interval June leaned over to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you bored, Micky? You look bored to death.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stifled a sigh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said rather wearily.</p>
+<p>His eyes wandered round the crowded house. There
+were several people in the stalls whom he knew. He
+noticed that people were looking at Esther, and he felt
+a little thrill of pride.</p>
+<p>They were wondering who she was, of course. He
+wished with all his heart that he could stand up in his
+seat and announce to an interested world that she was
+the woman he intended to marry.</p>
+<p>When the light went down again Esther leaned a little
+closer to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; Micky bent his head towards her eagerly. He
+could hear her agitated breathing, hear too the little
+quiver in her voice when she spoke.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you see who was in that box on the right?&ndash;&ndash;the
+lower box.... I thought it was Mrs. Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky answered casually that very likely it was.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Odd, eh,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that we should dine at the same
+place and have tickets for the same show?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther said &ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;yes&rdquo; twice in nervous hurry.</p>
+<p>There was something strained and unnatural about her,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span>
+and though Micky could not see her face clearly he knew
+that something had happened to distress her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he asked anxiously. &ldquo;Is anything the
+matter?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.... No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She sat very still till the curtain fell again, but Micky
+had the feeling that she was not paying the least attention
+to what was going on on the stage, and he knew that her
+eyes turned again and again to the stage box. What
+was she afraid of, he asked himself in perplexity, even
+if Mrs. Ashton did see her and recognize her, surely&ndash;&ndash;then
+in a flash he knew ... the light had been turned
+up suddenly, and in that moment he saw the figure of
+a man move quickly from the front of the box to the
+screen of the curtains.</p>
+<p>Micky gripped the arms of his seat; for the moment
+he could not move.</p>
+<p>It was Raymond&ndash;&ndash;he knew it as certainly as if he had
+been told.</p>
+<p>No doubt he had seen Esther, whilst she ... poor
+child! Had she seen him too?</p>
+<p>He looked down at her; she was sitting up stiffly,
+her hands clasped in the lap of the new frock of which
+she had been so innocently proud; her face was as white
+as the soft tulle of her sleeves, and her eyes were fixed
+on the box with its velvet curtains where Mrs. Ashton
+sat laughing and chatting with a girl in a pink frock.</p>
+<p>They both turned from time to time to some one who
+stood behind them in the shadow; once the curtains
+moved a little and a man&rsquo;s hand and arm showed distinctly.</p>
+<p>Micky could bear it no longer; he touched Esther&rsquo;s
+clasped hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you ill?&ndash;&ndash;would you like me to take you out?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But she shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, no ... please leave me alone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June had discovered a friend in a seat a row or two
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+ahead with whom she was trying to carry on a conversation;
+she had no eyes for Micky or Esther. Micky gave a
+sigh of relief when the lights were lowered again; he
+could feel all that Esther was suffering, he could put
+himself in her place so thoroughly.</p>
+<p>If he went round to the box and made sure if it were
+Ashton, perhaps that would be the best way; he could
+manage to give him the tip then to keep out of the way.
+He half rose in his seat, but Esther moved at once, laying
+her fingers on his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t go&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t leave me here,&rdquo; she said tremulously.</p>
+<p>It was not the man himself she wanted, but his presence
+somehow gave her a feeling of confidence; if, indeed,
+it was Raymond up there in the box. She tried to argue
+herself out of the fancy; he would have let her know if
+he had come to London&ndash;&ndash;surely she would have been the
+first to whom he would have come; she was mad to ever
+think the man up there in the background could be Raymond.</p>
+<p>But the conviction was there in her mind.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is he&ndash;&ndash;I know it&rsquo;s he,&rdquo; something in her heart was
+saying over and over again obstinately.</p>
+<p>The rest of the play seemed endless; she rose with a
+quick breath of thankfulness when it was over.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are in a hurry,&rdquo; June said. &ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you enjoyed
+it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, oh yes, but it&rsquo;s hot&ndash;&ndash;I want to get out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was deliberately being as slow as he could&ndash;&ndash;he
+blocked the way out obstinately; the stalls were almost
+empty when at last they left them.</p>
+<p>June touched his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;is&ndash;&ndash;Esther ill? Look how white she is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was some little way ahead of them; she seemed
+to be trying to get out as quickly as possible.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too hot for her, poor darling!&rdquo; June said.
+&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed savagely.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but Ashton was up in that
+box with his mother, and she saw him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He silenced her with a frown. He followed
+Esther as quickly as he could, but she was outside
+in the cold night air before he overtook her. There
+was a crowd here too&ndash;&ndash;rows of cars and carriages outside,
+and women in thin evening frocks and furs shivering
+in the cold wind.</p>
+<p>Micky drew Esther&rsquo;s hand through his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We shall find our cab this way, I think,&rdquo; he said
+evenly.</p>
+<p>He had seen Mrs. Ashton only a few yards away, and
+he dreaded every moment that Esther would see her, and
+see, too, who was with her.</p>
+<p>A sudden block in the crowd momentarily hindered
+them, and in that second a man&rsquo;s light laugh rang out
+above the noise and chatter of voices.</p>
+<p>Micky felt the girl beside him give a convulsive start.
+She tried to drag her fingers from his, but he held them
+fast.</p>
+<p>The crowd was moving again now; a second, and
+Raymond and his mother were lost to sight.</p>
+<p>Micky had slipped an arm round Esther; he was white
+to the lips. He knew now how near he had been to
+discovery and the wreck of all his hopes. He tried to
+pretend that he did not understand the cause of her
+agitation. He looked down at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Better now you&rsquo;re in the air?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;It was hot
+in the theatre. I&ndash;&ndash;Esther&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had swung heavily against him, and looking down
+in sudden alarm, Micky saw that she had fainted.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XX' id='CHAPTER_XX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Looking back to that night at the theatre it always
+seemed to June Mason that she had been most
+extraordinarily blind in not seeing before that it
+was Esther for whom Micky Mellowes cared.</p>
+<p>One glance at his face as he lifted the girl in his arms
+told her more than any words would have done; there
+was a sort of indescribable rage and pain in his eyes as
+he looked down at the white face lying against his shoulder.</p>
+<p>People gathered about them, curious and sympathetic.
+June heard some one say that it had been so &ldquo;deuced
+hot in the theatre, no wonder people fainted,&rdquo; but she
+knew all the time that it was nothing to do with the
+heat; she stooped mechanically and picked up Esther&rsquo;s
+gloves which had fallen from her nerveless hand before
+she followed Micky back into the foyer, where he laid
+Esther down on one of the long velvet lounges.</p>
+<p>Afterwards she realised that the sudden discovery that
+Micky loved her friend had been something of a shock
+to her, that she had even been faintly jealous; she did not
+want to marry him herself, and yet they had been such
+good friends, it gave her an odd little pain to think that
+there was somebody else whom he placed a long way
+ahead of her in his heart.</p>
+<p>Most of the people had gone, one or two of the theatre
+attendants lingered; it seemed a long time before Esther
+opened her eyes. She lay for a moment, looking vaguely
+about her, then her eyes came back to Micky, who was
+bending over her, his face scarcely less white than her
+own.</p>
+<p>She made an effort to lift herself from his arm; then
+quite suddenly she burst into tears.</p>
+<p>The little sound of sobbing broke the spell that seemed,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span>
+to have held June; she went down on her knees beside
+her, both arms round the slender, shaking figure.</p>
+<p>Micky had risen to his feet. June glanced up at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Go and find the taxi and leave her to me,&rdquo; she said
+sharply. The look of suffering in his face hurt her.
+Micky went out into the cold night bareheaded. He
+hardly knew what he was doing. He stood for some
+minutes on the path forgetting why he had come out at
+all, before some one, jostling against him, brought him
+back to a sense of time and place.</p>
+<p>He went down the road to look for a taxi. When
+he came back Esther was sitting up, wrapped in her
+cloak. She was not crying now, but she looked like a
+child who wants to cry but is determined not to.</p>
+<p>June was standing beside her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re quite ready,&rdquo; she said. She kept an arm about
+Esther, and Micky followed them silently.</p>
+<p>He saw them into the cab, but did not follow. June
+asked a sharp question: &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you coming?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;at least, not if you can manage without me.&rdquo;
+His voice sounded unnerved; he looked away from June
+to where Esther was huddled into a corner beside her,
+and suddenly, as if urged by an impulse he could not
+control, he leaned forward, groped for her hand in the
+darkness, and, bending, kissed it passionately.</p>
+<p>A moment later he had stepped back and shut the door.</p>
+<p>He stood looking after the cab till it vanished round
+a corner, then he went back to the theatre for his hat
+and coat, and set off again down the road.</p>
+<p>He was not conscious of any real emotion; but he
+walked swiftly as a man does who has a set purpose, and
+he did not stop till he found himself outside the Ashtons&rsquo;
+house.</p>
+<p>It was not far off midnight, but lights burned in many
+of the windows, and after a swift glance at the face of
+the house he went up the steps and rang the bell.</p>
+<p>It was some moments before the door was opened by
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
+a mildly amazed-looking servant; Micky asked for Mr.
+Ashton.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My name is Mellowes,&rdquo; he said, as she obviously
+hesitated. &ldquo;If you tell him my name he will see me. I
+know he is in, I saw him at the Comedy Theatre
+to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stepped past the girl into the hall, and after a
+slightly scared glance at him she shut the door and
+departed upstairs.</p>
+<p>A moment later Micky heard Ashton&rsquo;s voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You old night-bird! What an ungodly hour to call
+on any one! I was just going to bed; come in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He spoke easily, but there was a slightly anxious look
+in his eyes; he led the way into the library.</p>
+<p>The fire was nearly out there and the room felt chilly;
+he shivered, and, stooping, tried to rake the cinders into
+a blaze.</p>
+<p>Micky watched him silently; after a moment Ashton
+turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lord, man! what&rsquo;s the matter? You look as cheerful
+as Doomsday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was standing stiffly against the table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I saw you in the theatre to-night,&rdquo; he began without
+preamble. &ldquo;I was with Miss Shepstone, and she saw you,
+too&ndash;&ndash;at least she believes it was you, and I am going to
+tell her that she was mistaken. How soon can you get
+out of town and back to Paris?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton stared; the colour had rushed to his face;
+after a moment his eyes fell.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the devil you&rsquo;re driving at,&rdquo; he
+said irritably. &ldquo;I suppose I can come to London without
+asking you first, can&rsquo;t I? And, as for Lallie&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he
+grinned nervously&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;well, you know as well as I do that
+that&rsquo;s all been off for weeks.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stood immovable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t answered my question,&rdquo; he said flintily.
+&ldquo;How soon can you get out of London?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span></div>
+<p>Ashton swore under his breath.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m dashed if I know what you&rsquo;re driving at,&rdquo; he said
+sulkily. &ldquo;If you like to take Lallie to theatres, that&rsquo;s
+your business; she&rsquo;s a nice little girl, I admit, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky took a step forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you want to make me forget that this is your
+mother&rsquo;s house, you&rsquo;re going the right way to do it,&rdquo; he
+said between his teeth. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t want any of your
+bluff. Miss Shepstone thinks she saw you at the Comedy
+to-night; she&rsquo;ll probably write to you or try to see you
+in the morning, and you&rsquo;ve got to be out of London by
+then&ndash;&ndash;do you hear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton laughed; he shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Must?&rdquo; he said nastily. &ldquo;How long have you been
+Lallie&rsquo;s champion?... Oh, all right, all right,&rdquo; he
+broke off hurriedly, as he saw the ugly light in Micky&rsquo;s
+eyes. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a bit thick, you know,&rdquo; he resumed injuredly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done with her; you know that. You sent
+my letter on to her yourself. It&rsquo;s absurd if I can&rsquo;t come
+back home for a few days in case she should see me
+and get upset. I&rsquo;m sorry if she&rsquo;s still fond of me, but,
+dash it all&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t answered my question,&rdquo; said Micky
+again.</p>
+<p>He was controlling himself with a mighty effort, but
+the veins stood out like cords on his forehead and his
+hands were clenched.</p>
+<p>The two men looked at one another, and it was Ashton&rsquo;s
+eyes that fell.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to bullyrag me....&rdquo; he began
+blusteringly, &ldquo;I may as well tell you that I&rsquo;m not going
+back to Paris till I please, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Micky. He turned on his heel.</p>
+<p>Raymond watched him cross the room anxiously.
+When he reached the door he called to him&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky! What the devil are you going to do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And Micky answered without turning&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to tell Mrs. Clare the way you&rsquo;ve treated
+Miss Shepstone, and if she&rsquo;s half the decent sort I think
+she is she&rsquo;ll throw you overboard as you&rsquo;ve thrown
+scores of others....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton followed and clutched his arm. &ldquo;Come back;
+don&rsquo;t be such a firebrand! I&rsquo;ll go&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll clear out by the
+first train to-morrow.... I&rsquo;m sorry if Esther was
+upset, but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky cut him short. &ldquo;The first train leaves Victoria
+at 9.40; I&rsquo;ll be there to see you off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton scowled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a nice way to treat a friend,&rdquo;
+he grumbled. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s really anything up with Lallie
+...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stood like a statue.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s decent of you to take her out,&rdquo; Ashton went on
+uneasily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m much obliged to you, I&rsquo;m sure. She&rsquo;s
+never had much of a time. If I&rsquo;d had any money....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky broke out then. &ldquo;Oh, hold your infernal
+tongue,&rdquo; he said furiously.</p>
+<p>He walked out of the room, shutting the door hard
+behind him. He passed the astonished maid in the hall
+and let himself out into the night. The blood was pounding
+in his veins, he felt in actual need of physical
+violence; he did not know how he had managed to keep
+his hands off Raymond. He walked on at a furious pace;
+presently he laughed with a sort of self-pity.</p>
+<p>What was the good of what he had done after all?
+At best he had only succeeded in staving off the inevitable
+for a little while; Esther would have to know
+sooner or later.</p>
+<p>Such wasted love it was! All for a man who was not
+worth one thought, or even a tear!</p>
+<p>When he got back to his rooms he told Driver to call
+him early, as he was going to see somebody off by train.
+He was at Victoria long before Ashton; the greeting
+between the two men was constrained.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was going back to-day, anyway,&rdquo; Ashton said
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
+jauntily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be married the day after to-morrow&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+He looked at Micky with triumphant eyes.
+&ldquo;To Mrs. Clare,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>When Micky got back to his rooms, Driver met him;
+Driver with a spark of unwonted animation in his dull
+eyes, and who closed the sitting-room door mysteriously
+behind him as he came forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you please, sir&ndash;&ndash;there is a lady to see you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A lady!&rdquo; said Micky blankly; then he laughed. &ldquo;Rubbish!
+You&rsquo;re dreaming, man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No sir,&rdquo; said Driver stolidly.</p>
+<p>Micky stared at him for a moment, then he passed him,
+and threw open the door of the sitting-room.</p>
+<p>It was Esther who rose from a chair by the fire as
+he entered.</p>
+<p>For an instant Micky was unable to believe his own
+eyes, then he shut the door and took a step forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I never thought....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She broke in agitatedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I know; I suppose I shouldn&rsquo;t have come; I
+don&rsquo;t know what June would say if she knew; but&ndash;&ndash;but
+there wasn&rsquo;t anybody else I could come to, and you
+said ... you said....&rdquo; She flushed up nervously.
+&ldquo;Oh, you did say you would be a friend to me,
+didn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>He might have reminded her that she had declined his
+friendship; he might have reminded her of all the not
+very kind things which she had said to him, but it was
+such happiness to see her here in his room that he was
+in no mood to be critical.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do sit down ... there&rsquo;s no hurry, is there?&rdquo;
+He wanted to put her at her ease; he did not like to
+see the nervous agitation in her face; but she shook her
+head.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to stay, only ... only I....&rdquo; Her
+voice changed suddenly. &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Mellowes, will
+you tell me how I can get to Paris?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paris!&rdquo; Micky echoed the word helplessly. &ldquo;Paris!&rdquo;
+he said again. For the moment he stared at her with
+blank eyes.</p>
+<p>She rushed on impetuously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have a friend there&ndash;&ndash;some one I ... some
+one I ... oh, it&rsquo;s the man I&rsquo;m engaged to, and I
+want to see him&ndash;&ndash;I must see him! I&rsquo;ve got the money
+to get there. I hope you don&rsquo;t think I was going to
+ask you to lend me that....&rdquo; she added in distress.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Shepstone ... I&ndash;&ndash;I....&rdquo; Micky was
+horribly upset. &ldquo;I never thought anything of the sort.
+And&ndash;&ndash;and even if you were going to ask me, you know
+quite well that anything I have, anything....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She stopped him hurriedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I know, it&rsquo;s very kind of you.&rdquo; Her blue eyes
+sought his face with a sort of abasement. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think
+I&rsquo;ve ever really realised how kind you&rsquo;ve been to me,&rdquo;
+she said. &ldquo;But ... but I&rsquo;ve been so worried and
+unhappy ... I&ndash;&ndash;I do hope you&rsquo;ll forgive me if I
+was rude or unkind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer; so it had come at last, the
+explanations which he had always dreaded; he racked
+his brains in vain to think of a way out of it&ndash;&ndash;to make
+out the best story he could.</p>
+<p>She seemed to realise his perturbation, she came a step
+nearer to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; she said earnestly, &ldquo;will you tell me
+something?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky inaudibly, but he did not look at
+her.</p>
+<p>She looked up at him, trying to see his face before
+she asked her question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you&ndash;&ndash;do you know who the man is that I am
+going to marry?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the silence that followed her timid question, Micky
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span>
+felt that he lived through years. Should he tell her the
+truth, or should he not? Ashton was out of London by
+this time; in another forty-eight hours he would be married
+to another woman; he raised his head with a sort of
+desperation. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>He tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that
+at least it was substantially the truth; she was not going
+to marry Ashton&ndash;&ndash;she never could marry him now.</p>
+<p>He heard the sigh of relief she gave.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Somehow, lately, I have thought
+that you did know. Mr. Mellowes ... last night ... I
+thought I saw him in the theatre last night.
+I know now that I was mistaken.&rdquo; She paused a moment
+and looked past him to the window and the cold grey
+street outside. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t have seen him,&rdquo; she said
+again, as if to convince herself rather than him. &ldquo;Because
+he is in Paris&ndash;&ndash;I found out this morning that he is still
+in Paris.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky. His voice sounded choked. &ldquo;And
+so&ndash;&ndash;so you want to go out there to him, is that it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her face brightened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. I should have told June only&ndash;&ndash;only she isn&rsquo;t
+very sympathetic. You see&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she smiled faintly&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;she
+hates my &lsquo;phantom lover,&rsquo; as she calls him, and so&ndash;&ndash;so I
+know she would only do her best to keep me from going
+to him; but you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; said Micky quietly, &ldquo;that I shall try
+and do the same thing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He turned and looked at her squarely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve never been to Paris,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and probably
+you can&rsquo;t speak a word of French. You&rsquo;ve probably
+never travelled any distance alone. Miss Shepstone, it&rsquo;s
+impossible for you to go. I am only advising you for
+your own good. Why not write to&ndash;&ndash;to&ndash;&ndash;your fianc&eacute; and
+ask him to make arrangements for you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He broke off helplessly. The poor little letter in which
+she had already done so lay in his pocket at that moment.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span></div>
+<p>It turned him sick to think of the tissue of lies and deceit
+his own actions were forcing upon him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I have asked him,&rdquo; she said almost in a whisper,
+&ldquo;but he said he couldn&rsquo;t have me&ndash;&ndash;then! But that&rsquo;s
+quite a long time ago,&rdquo; she added hopefully. &ldquo;And I
+thought if he saw me&ndash;&ndash;if I got there and surprised
+him&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky turned away. He could imagine so well what
+would happen if indeed she found Ashton. He walked
+over to the window and stood looking into the street
+with unseeing eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have a little patience,&rdquo; he said presently. &ldquo;Take
+my advice and stay here. If he&ndash;&ndash;if he can, he will send
+for you, I am sure.&rdquo; She looked up quickly, a spark
+of anger in her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You sound as if you think that will never be,&rdquo; she
+said sharply.</p>
+<p>Micky met her gaze unflinchingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anything of the sort. I know&ndash;&ndash;I know
+if I were in his place, whoever he is&ndash;&ndash;I should be counting
+the moments till I could ... could have you
+with me.&rdquo; He smothered the momentary seriousness of
+his words with a little laugh. &ldquo;And now, after that
+pretty compliment, aren&rsquo;t you going to reward me by
+taking my most excellent advice?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The ghost of a smile crossed her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wanted you to say something so different,&rdquo; she told
+him wistfully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know&ndash;&ndash;but I&rsquo;m not going to. Any one would advise
+you as I have. It isn&rsquo;t ... it isn&rsquo;t that I&rsquo;m prejudiced,
+or anything like that. I would give a great deal
+to see you happy. I hope you believe me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She sat twisting her hands together nervously. After
+a moment she looked up at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She rose and began to pull on her gloves.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s very dreadful of me to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
+have come,&rdquo; she said deprecatingly. &ldquo;But ... but
+this morning, somehow, I felt I must have someone to
+talk to&ndash;&ndash;some one to advise me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am honoured that you came,&rdquo; said Micky gravely.
+Her eyes fell before his.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;and you won&rsquo;t tell June?&rdquo; she appealed.</p>
+<p>He smiled rather sadly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am not likely ever to tell any one,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I know. Mr. Mellowes&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she held out her hand
+to him suddenly, her fair face flushing&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I should like
+to take back something I said to you one day. Perhaps
+you don&rsquo;t remember, but I do, and lately&ndash;&ndash;especially since
+last night, when you were so kind&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve felt that I wasn&rsquo;t
+just to you; and so ... if you will forgive me, I
+should like to be friends with you after all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was crimson by the time she had finished, but
+Micky took her hand without answering, held it for a
+moment, then let it go.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I mustn&rsquo;t offer you anything?&rdquo; he said
+with forced lightness. &ldquo;No coffee&ndash;&ndash;or tea? It&rsquo;s cold
+out this morning. If you would care for anything, my
+man would bring it at once.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed and shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want anything, thank you.&rdquo; She looked round
+at Micky&rsquo;s luxuriously furnished room. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it beautiful?&rdquo;
+she asked him.</p>
+<p>He smiled. &ldquo;Do you like it? I am glad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s lovely.&rdquo; She looked up at him. &ldquo;I seem
+to have been climbing a ladder lately,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Since
+I left that awful place in the Brixton Road&ndash;&ndash;where I
+am now is heaps better than that was, but this&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was silent. It trembled on his lips to say that
+everything he had in the world was hers if only she
+would take it, but he knew the utter futility of it. Money
+and possessions counted very little with her. She would
+not have minded the house in the Brixton Road at all
+with the man she loved.</p>
+<p>He went downstairs with her.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;So we&rsquo;re really friends now?&rdquo; he said when he bade
+her good-bye. &ldquo;And you&rsquo;ll promise to let me advise you
+again when you&rsquo;re not quite sure what you ought to
+do?&rdquo; There was a note of anxiety in his voice.</p>
+<p>She flushed nervously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of you to be interested.&rdquo; It seemed strange
+to her that after all that had happened they should have
+so easily got back to their old footing of friendliness.
+But Micky was not at all happy. When she had gone
+he stood for a long time at the window staring moodily
+out.</p>
+<p>When Driver brought lunch, he found Micky poring
+over a Bradshaw; he spoke to the man with elaborate
+carelessness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to take another trip to Paris&ndash;&ndash;to-morrow
+will do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes sir.&rdquo; Driver smoothed a crease in the cloth. &ldquo;To
+post another letter, sir?&rdquo; he asked expressionlessly.</p>
+<p>Micky looked up sharply, but Driver met his eyes
+innocently.</p>
+<p>Micky coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; it isn&rsquo;t a letter this time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s to buy
+a fur coat.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXI' id='CHAPTER_XXI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>&ldquo;The phantom lover,&rdquo; said June Mason lugubriously,
+&ldquo;is certainly turning up trumps.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was a week later, and she was giving Micky
+tea.</p>
+<p>Esther was out. She knew now that it was to see
+Esther he came. She was quite reconciled to the fact,
+and had got over her first pang of jealousy, but Esther&rsquo;s
+indifference to him enraged her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t the girl see what she&rsquo;s throwing away?&rdquo; she
+asked herself furiously. &ldquo;What on earth is she made of
+that she can&rsquo;t see what&rsquo;s waiting for her to take? If
+Micky had adored me as he adores her ... well&ndash;&ndash;my
+name wouldn&rsquo;t have been June Mason to-day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But she kept such thoughts to herself and treated
+Micky very much the same as usual, though unconsciously
+there was a slight restraint in her manner, especially
+when Esther was present.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m beginning to think that I&rsquo;ve misjudged our Raymond,&rdquo;
+she went on laughingly. &ldquo;Perhaps some one has
+converted him. Anyway, he&rsquo;s treating Esther handsomely.
+First the money, and last week the fur coat....&rdquo;
+Micky looked up with sudden interest.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s come, then, has it!&rdquo; he said eagerly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come! It&rsquo;s been here two days. How did you
+know?&rdquo; she asked with sudden suspicion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I heard you talking about it. Wasn&rsquo;t it you? No?
+Then it must have been Miss Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I dare say,&rdquo; said June easily. &ldquo;I never saw any one
+so delighted with a thing as she was with that coat. And
+it is a beauty, Micky. I only hope it&rsquo;s paid for,&rdquo; she
+added practically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why shouldn&rsquo;t it be paid for?&rdquo; Micky said.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span></div>
+<p>She made a little grimace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because Raymond Ashton never paid for things if
+he could help it; and you know he didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she told him.
+&ldquo;However, as he seems to be a reformed character, we&rsquo;ll
+give him the benefit of the doubt.&rdquo; Suddenly she began
+to laugh. &ldquo;And that isn&rsquo;t all,&rdquo; she said again. &ldquo;This
+morning a collar arrived for that blessed cat&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She
+indicated Charlie sleeping peacefully on the rug. &ldquo;A
+silver collar, too my boy, with Esther&rsquo;s name on it....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stooped to examine the collar; his face was red
+when, after a moment, he looked up again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther declares she never told him we&rsquo;d got a cat,&rdquo;
+June told him doubtfully. &ldquo;But, of course, she must
+have done so or else the man&rsquo;s got second sight.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was drinking his tea; he choked suddenly.</p>
+<p>A feeling of panic closed upon him. Never told him
+she&rsquo;d got a cat! of course she hadn&rsquo;t! What a fool he
+had been to make such a blunder&ndash;&ndash;what an utter blockhead.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I expect she did tell him,&rdquo; he managed to say.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s what I think.&rdquo; June lit a cigarette and
+passed the lighted match over to Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Anyway, Esther goes about the place singing all day,&rdquo;
+she added drily. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt at all that she&rsquo;s up
+in the seventh heaven of happiness. Reams of letters
+the man writes her. Perhaps, as the novels tell us, love
+is a wonderful thing&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She looked at Micky with a
+comical expression in her queer eyes. &ldquo;I should say it
+must be if it&rsquo;s reformed that man,&rdquo; she added cynically.</p>
+<p>Micky said nothing. He had been very uncomfortable
+about things during the last few days. As far as he
+could find out, Ashton had not yet been married. Supposing
+it had all been bluff when he said he was going to
+be married&ndash;&ndash;supposing he turned up again in London?</p>
+<p>Micky stayed as long as he could in case Esther came
+in; it was only when he began to feel sure that June
+knew why he was dragging his visit to such a length that
+he said he ought to be going.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no hurry,&rdquo; she said kindly. &ldquo;Why not wait
+till Esther comes in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky shook his head; he said he couldn&rsquo;t spare the
+time, but in his heart he knew quite well that he intended
+to wait.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose she&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;she never talks any more about
+taking a job now, eh?&rdquo; he asked after a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think so; that man&rsquo;s word is law to her,
+you know. I believe if he said &lsquo;Come out here and marry
+me at once,&rsquo; she&rsquo;d fly off by the next train. As a matter
+of fact, I&rsquo;m expecting something of the sort almost daily.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;ll do that,&rdquo; Micky said. He stood
+back to the fire, with his hands in his pockets, staring up
+at the ceiling.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No!&rdquo; June watched him quizzically. &ldquo;Do you know,
+Micky,&rdquo; she said at last, &ldquo;that I consider you&rsquo;ve altered
+a lot lately?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He swung round at once, and scrutinised himself in
+the glass over the mantelshelf.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For the worse, or the better?&rdquo; he asked anxiously.
+&ldquo;I know I never was exactly an Adonis.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed merrily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mean your face, stupid, but yourself. You&rsquo;re
+quieter, you don&rsquo;t go about so much; in fact&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she challenged
+him deliberately&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I believe you&rsquo;re in love.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I am,&rdquo; said Micky stolidly.</p>
+<p>She pretended not to take him seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no joking matter&ndash;&ndash;I mean what I say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So do I,&rdquo; said Micky. He laughed. He came over
+to where she was sitting, and stood behind her chair so
+that she could not see his face. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to make up
+my mind to tell you lots of times,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I
+thought perhaps you&rsquo;d have guessed before now....&rdquo;
+He stopped and moved away restlessly.</p>
+<p>June sat very still; presently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Esther,&rdquo; she said quietly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor old Micky!...&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be sorry for me; I walked into it with
+my eyes wide open. I knew she was engaged&ndash;&ndash;I knew
+it all the time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And Esther ... does she know? Have you told
+her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.... She took it as an insult. Perhaps it
+was; I don&rsquo;t know. You see, I knew she was engaged
+to that other fellow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An outsider! who isn&rsquo;t worth a thought,&rdquo; June cried
+indignantly. &ldquo;Micky, however could she have refused
+you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He laughed. He looked down at her with a comical
+expression in his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s not the first woman who&rsquo;s done that,&rdquo; he reminded
+her.</p>
+<p>She sat up with sudden haste.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That wasn&rsquo;t anything, but this....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This,&rdquo; said Micky, &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t anything either, except on
+my side. You always told me that some day I shouldn&rsquo;t
+be able to have what I wanted. You were right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to slap her!&rdquo; said June viciously.</p>
+<p>He laughed outright.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you did I should slap you, my dear.&rdquo; He went
+back to his chair by the fire. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only between ourselves,
+June,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course ... and, Micky&ndash;&ndash;do you think she
+will marry Ashton?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer for a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said at last. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June stared at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then&ndash;&ndash;then do you mean&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; But he would not
+tell her anything.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve heard quite enough for one day,&rdquo; he said
+teasingly. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry your head about me. I don&rsquo;t
+know why I told you&ndash;&ndash;somehow I thought you&rsquo;d
+guessed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June threw her cigarette into the fire.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I did. I&rsquo;ll be honest&ndash;&ndash;I did guess,&rdquo; she broke off.
+&ldquo;Here is Esther,&rdquo; she added.</p>
+<p>She got up and opened the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The lady with the fur coat,&rdquo; she announced drily.
+&ldquo;Pray come in, madame!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June,&rdquo; said Esther protestingly.</p>
+<p>She seemed to guess who was there. She looked past
+her friend at once to Micky.</p>
+<p>She coloured faintly as he rose to greet her.</p>
+<p>He had not seen her in the fur coat before. The dark
+fur suited her fairness admirably; the heavy folds hung
+gracefully about her slim figure; her face rose like a
+flower from the big, upstanding collar.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And where have you been all the afternoon?&rdquo; June
+demanded. &ldquo;We waited tea for you till nearly five.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther made a little grimace. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had my tea out&ndash;&ndash;with
+Mr. Harley.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Harley?&rdquo; said Micky sharply.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the tribe who live here,&rdquo; she explained.
+&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great admirer of Esther&rsquo;s. And he&rsquo;s quite a
+nice boy too, isn&rsquo;t he?&rdquo; she appealed to her friend.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very nice,&rdquo; Esther agreed. &ldquo;I met him quite by
+chance, and so we went and had some tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was frowning; it was odd that he felt more
+jealous of this man whom he had never seen than he
+had ever done of Ashton. He hated to feel that Esther
+had gone out with him wearing her new coat.</p>
+<p>He stood by silently while the two girls chattered
+together; he felt very much out of it and unwanted.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad everybody likes my coat,&rdquo; Esther said. She
+had taken it off and was holding it at arm&rsquo;s length,
+admiring its beauty.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was a lovely present, wasn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; She appealed
+to Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>She laid her cheek to the big, soft collar.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I have wanted all my life,&rdquo; she told
+him.</p>
+<p>Micky put out his hand and took it from her. He
+hated to see her standing there looking so happy because
+she believed it had come from Ashton; he threw it
+down on the couch.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall have to be going,&rdquo; he said abruptly. He shook
+hands with June, but he walked out of the room without
+speaking to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want any dinner,&rdquo; he told Driver when he
+got in. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver opened his mouth to say something and closed
+it again; he brought the evening papers and his master&rsquo;s
+slippers and turned to leave the room. At the door he
+stopped and looked back.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you seen the evening paper, sir?&rdquo; he asked
+deprecatingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky. Something in the man&rsquo;s voice arrested
+his attention; he turned in his chair. &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+he asked curtly.</p>
+<p>Driver came back a step.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a notice of Mr. Ashton&rsquo;s marriage in it, that&rsquo;s
+all, sir,&rdquo; he said woodenly. &ldquo;I thought that you&rsquo;d be
+interested.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXII' id='CHAPTER_XXII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>So it had come at last. Micky sat staring down at
+the small paragraph which briefly announced the
+marriage of Tubby Clare&rsquo;s wealthy widow to Mr.
+Raymond Ashton.</p>
+<p>The ceremony, so the paper declared, which had taken
+place quietly in Paris would be a complete surprise to
+everybody. Mrs. Clare, as all the world knew, inherited
+something like &pound;90,000 under the will of her late husband.</p>
+<p>Micky whistled softly. Raymond had done well for
+himself. He would be able to live in luxury for the
+rest of his life; to discharge all his debts, if his wife
+chose to allow him to do so; all but one debt&ndash;&ndash;the greatest
+of them all, and one which he could never hope to
+liquidate&ndash;&ndash;a woman&rsquo;s broken heart.</p>
+<p>Esther&ndash;&ndash;what would she say if she knew? And supposing
+she knew now&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;! It was quite likely that a copy
+of this same paper had fallen into her hands. The
+thought turned Micky cold; he looked up hurriedly at the
+clock&ndash;&ndash;not yet eight! On what pretext could he go back
+to Elphinstone Road?</p>
+<p>He threw the paper down and rose to his feet. His
+gloves! He would make them the excuse&ndash;&ndash;he could go
+back for his gloves. He taxied down the whole way;
+he sent his name up to June and waited in the hall.
+After a moment she came flying down the stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky! Is anything the matter? What in the
+world....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He explained in stammering haste.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you seen the evening paper? No, well, take
+care not to let Miss Shepstone see it. I had to come
+back and tell you. Ashton&ndash;&ndash;the damned outsider....&rdquo;
+He ground his teeth.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Not dead!&rdquo; said June with a gasp.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;he was married yesterday in Paris.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June sat down on the bottom stair; she felt as if all
+the strength had gone out of her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It can&rsquo;t be true,&rdquo; she said at last. &ldquo;Why, she had
+a letter from him only yesterday. Are you sure? It
+must be another Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;I knew it was coming. He&rsquo;s married Tubby
+Clare&rsquo;s widow&ndash;&ndash;for her money, of course. If Esther
+knows....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It will break her heart,&rdquo; said June.</p>
+<p>There were footsteps on the landing above; Micky
+glanced up hurriedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t we go somewhere and talk? Everybody will
+hear if we stay here. Where is Miss Shepstone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s in my room; she&rsquo;s writing to him at this
+minute&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She broke off, drawing in her breath hard.
+&ldquo;Oh, Micky, are you quite, quite sure? I can&rsquo;t believe
+it.&rdquo; She stared at him for a moment, then she laughed
+incredulously. &ldquo;Why, it&rsquo;s only three days ago he sent
+her that fur coat&ndash;&ndash;and the collar for Charlie. Oh, I&rsquo;m
+sure it&rsquo;s a mistake!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a mistake,&rdquo; said Micky fiercely; he looked
+away from her. &ldquo;Confound it, isn&rsquo;t there a room where
+we can go and talk?&rdquo; he broke out again.</p>
+<p>She got up from the stairs and led the way across
+the hall.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the drawing-room. Nobody uses it now because
+it&rsquo;s so cold.&rdquo; She opened the door and peeped
+in. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nobody there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky followed her, shutting the door behind him.
+The room was chilly and uninviting, with a lofty ceiling
+and a hideous wallpaper. There was a gas stove at the
+far end of the room, turned very low, and hissing softly
+as if in protest.</p>
+<p>June knelt down and turned the tap on to its fullest
+extent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The thing is,&rdquo; Micky said hurriedly, &ldquo;what are we
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span>
+going to do? If she stays in London, she&rsquo;s bound to
+hear about it. All the papers will be full of it to-morrow.
+They&rsquo;ll probably publish his confounded portrait. Can&rsquo;t
+you get her out of London? We&rsquo;ve got to do something.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June did not look at him. The odd little twinge of
+jealousy tore her heart again. Even though she did not
+love Micky, she quite realised what she was losing. After
+all it must be a very beautiful thing to be cared for as
+Micky cared for Esther.</p>
+<p>She raised her eyes with a little ghost of a smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do anything I can, Micky. If you&rsquo;ve got anything
+to suggest&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought out crowds of plans coming along in the
+cab, but they&rsquo;re all rotten,&rdquo; Micky admitted dolefully.
+&ldquo;I thought you&rsquo;d be able to help me. Can&rsquo;t you be
+called off to a relative in the country or something, and
+ask Miss Shepstone to go with you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June started up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I can. I&rsquo;ve got an aunt down at Enmore.
+She&rsquo;s always asking me to go and see her. I&rsquo;ll send
+her a wire. It&rsquo;s too late to-night, but in the morning....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky felt in his pocket for a pencil.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Give me the address and I&rsquo;ll send it first thing.&rdquo; He
+paused. &ldquo;Supposing Miss Shepstone won&rsquo;t go, though?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, she&rsquo;ll go,&rdquo; said June quickly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell her it
+means business for me. I&rsquo;ll do the pathetic. I wonder
+what time there&rsquo;s a train.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll look up all the trains, and arrange everything.
+Does Miss Shepstone know I&rsquo;m here now?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, tell her one of your business agents called,
+and that you&rsquo;ve got to go off early to-morrow. You
+can write me a note and post it to-night, asking me to
+see you off. It&rsquo;s quite a usual thing for you to do, you
+know&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span></div>
+<p>June smiled rather sadly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor old Micky!&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Micky frowned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t talk rubbish,&rdquo; he said rather shortly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d
+do the same for any one.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June knew it would be useless to contradict.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you can keep her out of town for a week it may
+all have blown over,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll run down and
+see you if I may&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know you may; but, Micky&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t you think all
+this is rather mistaken kindness? She&rsquo;ll have to know
+sooner or later; why not tell her at once? When the
+letters stop coming she&rsquo;ll begin to worry, and then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky shook his head obstinately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve my own reasons; be a pal and help me, June.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, old boy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She gave him her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re making a mistake, but I suppose you
+know your own business best. At any rate, I&rsquo;ve warned
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; said Micky gratefully.</p>
+<p>June went to the front door with him; in spite of her
+promise she was not feeling happy. Esther would have
+to know. She went slowly back up the stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a mistake,&rdquo; she told herself again, with a sense
+of foreboding. &ldquo;Micky&rsquo;s making a mistake.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But she determined to act up to her part. She ran
+up the last flight of stairs with a great noise and show
+of excitement. She burst into their sitting-room breathless.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Such news, Esther! Are you game for a dash down
+into the wilds of nowhere? I&rsquo;ve got to go off on business.
+One of my agents has just been here. He&rsquo;s made
+a mess of things, as usual, and I&rsquo;ve got to go down and
+put things right. Oh, it&rsquo;s quite country! I don&rsquo;t know
+if you like the country. I adore it myself. A place
+called Enmore. I&rsquo;ve got an antediluvian aunt who lives
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
+there, and we&rsquo;ll go and foist ourselves on her. She&rsquo;s
+always asking me to go and see her, so she&rsquo;ll be delighted.
+Well, what do you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t given me a chance to say anything,&rdquo;
+Esther protested laughing. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re like a whirlwind,
+sweeping every one off their feet. Where is Enmore
+to start with? And how can I go? Your aunt doesn&rsquo;t
+know me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll love you because I do,&rdquo; said June promptly.
+&ldquo;Now don&rsquo;t spoil everything. The greatest fun of it
+all is rushing off at a moment&rsquo;s notice. I shall send
+Micky a note to-night and tell him to look up trains for
+us and come and see us off. Micky&rsquo;s always to be relied
+on. If I look trains up myself I always go by the wrong
+ones and never get there.&rdquo; She was sitting down to her
+desk as she spoke; she looked across at Esther, pen in
+hand. &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she queried.</p>
+<p>Esther looked down at Charlie sprawling in the firelight.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s going to become of Charlie?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lydia will look after him,&rdquo; June said promptly. &ldquo;She
+adores cats. That&rsquo;s one excuse surmounted. Any more?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to come, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then that&rsquo;s settled. We&rsquo;ll stay a week if we&rsquo;re not
+bored to death. It&rsquo;s a desolate spot&ndash;&ndash;just a handful of
+houses and a haystack and a few things like that, but
+if you like the country we ought to have a good time.
+I wish I&rsquo;d got a car....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it rather a funny place to go to for business?&rdquo;
+Esther asked innocently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not in the least,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;All the ingredients
+for my skin food came from the country&ndash;&ndash;herbs and
+attar of flowers and all the rest of it. Besides&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she
+swallowed hard before uttering the biggest fib of all&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;my
+agent lives down there, you see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Esther. She was rather pleased at the
+idea of a change.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose we can have letters sent on?&rdquo; she asked
+after a moment.</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s scratching pen stopped for a moment; then
+flew on again faster than before.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, of course!&rdquo; she said airily.</p>
+<p>Her kind heart gave a little throb of pity as she realised
+that there would never be any letters to send on&ndash;&ndash;not
+any, at least, of which Esther was thinking.</p>
+<p>The phantom lover had gone for ever.</p>
+<p>She looked round at the girl pityingly. She looked so
+happy and unconscious sitting there in the firelight, and
+all the time if she knew what had just happened over
+in Paris her heart would surely break.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Beast!&rdquo; said June under her breath.</p>
+<p>Esther turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What did you say?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was only talking to the pen,&rdquo; June answered irascibly.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXIII' id='CHAPTER_XXIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky turned up at Paddington the following
+morning laden with papers and chocolates.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Any one would think we were going to the
+other side of the world,&rdquo; June told him. &ldquo;Do you know,
+my good man, that it&rsquo;s only a couple of hours&rsquo; run to
+Enmore?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is it?&rdquo; said Micky guilelessly. &ldquo;Well, any way, I&rsquo;m
+sure you won&rsquo;t be able to get De Bry&rsquo;s chocolates down
+there, so they&rsquo;ll come in useful.&rdquo; He looked at Esther.
+She was wearing the fur coat and a bunch of violets.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s awfully exciting,&rdquo; she said, meeting his
+eyes. &ldquo;We never thought about going till quite late last
+night, did we, June?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Things done in a hurry are almost the most enjoyable,&rdquo;
+June answered sententiously. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite bucked
+at the idea of living the simple life for a few days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pity you haven&rsquo;t got a car down there,&rdquo; Micky said.
+&ldquo;There ought to be some fine runs round about.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So there are,&rdquo; said June promptly. Her queer eyes
+twinkled as she looked at him. &ldquo;Micky, would you like
+to be a perfect dear and come down in yours, and take
+us out? You can stay at the local inn and play the
+heavy swell&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky flushed eagerly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a ripping idea,&rdquo; he said. He turned to Esther:
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come like a shot if I shan&rsquo;t be in the way,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+<p>Esther smiled; she was surprised to find that the idea
+was not at all distasteful to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes; do come!&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>June had got into the carriage, and was busy arranging
+her various possessions.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll be left behind, Esther,&rdquo; she said warningly.</p>
+<p>Esther turned at once.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye, Mr. Mellowes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky took her hand in a hard grip.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye&ndash;&ndash;but only till to-morrow....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stood back as the train started; the last glimpse
+the two girls had of him was his radiantly smiling face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; said June, settling herself in a corner,
+&ldquo;I believe I&rsquo;m half in love with that man, after all. Isn&rsquo;t
+he just a dear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s awfully kind,&rdquo; Esther agreed.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>When the train drew into the little station at Enmore
+June looked at Esther with a sort of apprehension.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a most awful one-eyed hole, you know,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;I do hope you won&rsquo;t be bored to death. It won&rsquo;t be
+so bad if Micky keeps his promise and comes down, but
+if he doesn&rsquo;t....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think he will?&rdquo; Esther asked quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I dare say he will. I hope he will, I&rsquo;m sure;
+somebody has got to amuse you while I go and see to
+my business.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can amuse myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June sniffed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can you? Well, it&rsquo;s more than I could when I used
+to stay down here. There&rsquo;s only a church and a village
+inn and a handful of cottages. My aunt has by far
+the most distinguished-looking house in the village, and
+I dare say you won&rsquo;t think much of that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were on the platform now, and June eyed their
+two suit-cases ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We shall have to carry them,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;No porters
+or taxicabs here, my dear. Come along.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She grabbed her own, and Esther followed her out
+into the road.</p>
+<p>It was cold but sunny, and the fresh air of the country
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span>
+was something quite different from the chilly, damp atmosphere
+they had left behind in London.</p>
+<p>Esther drew a deep breath.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s lovely,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you know&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she looked
+ahead of her down the winding road with a little frown&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve
+got the sort of feeling that something is going to
+happen to me here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Goodness!&rdquo; said June. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you start having instincts
+too! It&rsquo;s bad enough for me to have them. What
+can happen to you, pray, unless you get melancholia or
+something?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>It was only a little way into the village; as soon as
+they came in sight of it June pointed excitedly to a red
+gabled house just visible through the trees.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s where my aunt lives. She&rsquo;s an old maid, you
+know, and incidentally she thinks I&rsquo;m a most heaven-born
+genius. She&rsquo;s nearly sixty, but I&rsquo;ll bet anything you
+like she uses June Mason&rsquo;s Skin Beautifier.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She paused to open the iron gate of the little garden, but
+before there was time to ring the bell the door opened
+and a little lady with grey hair and a wonderful complexion
+very much like June&rsquo;s stood there with outstretched
+hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dears! I never was so delighted! June&ndash;&ndash;after
+all these months you really have come to see me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She kissed June heartily and turned to Esther. June
+introduced them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My friend, Esther Shepstone&ndash;&ndash;my aunt, Miss Dearling.
+I don&rsquo;t know what you think of us for arriving
+on top of our wire like this,&rdquo; she said, laughing. &ldquo;But
+I like to do things in a hurry&ndash;&ndash;so here we are, and we&rsquo;re
+just starving.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They followed Miss Dearling into a quaint little square
+room, where the table was laid for lunch. June talked
+away all the time.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s another member of the party coming down
+to-morrow,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;No; a man this time&ndash;&ndash;Micky
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span>
+Mellowes! You remember him? Yes; I thought you
+would.&rdquo; She flushed a little. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to bring his
+car down and take us all out for rides; so we&rsquo;re in for a
+good time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I remember Mr. Mellowes quite well,&rdquo; Miss Dearling
+said. When she was alone with Esther for a moment
+she whispered to her&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We all hoped June meant to marry him, you know,
+my dear. Perhaps she has changed her mind, as she
+is allowing him to come down. Such a very charming
+man&ndash;&ndash;have you seen him?&ndash;&ndash;and so rich.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ve seen him,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;He is nice&ndash;&ndash;very!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It would be the dream of my life fulfilled if I could
+see June married to him,&rdquo; the old lady went on. &ldquo;June
+wants a firm hand. She is wonderfully high-spirited
+and clever, you know, but I always feel that she would
+be so much happier with some one to look after her,
+and he is just the man to take care of a woman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>She felt Miss Dearling glance at her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you&ndash;&ndash;are you engaged to be married?&rdquo; she asked,
+after a moment. &ldquo;Please forgive my curiosity, but I am
+always so interested in young people&rsquo;s love-affairs....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I am engaged,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But he is away just
+now&ndash;&ndash;abroad. I hope we shall be married as soon as he
+comes home again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Dearling said that she hoped so, too; later, when
+she got a moment alone with June she asked interestedly
+about the man to whom Esther was engaged.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do hope he is nice,&rdquo; she said anxiously. &ldquo;Such a
+very charming girl! such a sweet-looking girl! Is he
+nice, my dear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June crossed the room and shut the door; then she
+turned round with a little grimace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a pig!&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Miss Dearling screamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, my dear!&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;He is,&rdquo; June maintained stoutly. &ldquo;She doesn&rsquo;t think
+so, of course, but he is, all the same.&rdquo; She broke off
+as Esther came back.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>Esther woke in the morning with a pleasurable sense
+of something going to happen. She lay still for a moment
+looking round her at the heavy, old fashioned furniture
+and flowered chintz curtains.</p>
+<p>Miss Dearling&rsquo;s house was essentially Early Victorian,
+from its wool mats and stuffed birds in the sitting-room
+to the high four-posted bedsteads and faded Brussels
+carpets.</p>
+<p>But there was something very old-world and charming
+about it too, in spite of rather ugly furniture, and
+Esther was just admiring the dressing-table, with its
+petticoat of spotted muslin and pink ribbons, when the
+door opened and June thrust her head round.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can I come in?&rdquo; She did not wait for an answer,
+but came in, her long mauve silk kimono making a little
+rustling sound as she walked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really dressed,&rdquo; she explained, sitting down on
+Esther&rsquo;s bed. &ldquo;All but my frock, at least, and as the
+post has just come, and a letter from Micky, I thought
+I&rsquo;d come and tell you that he&rsquo;ll be down to-day&ndash;&ndash;after
+lunch, and he wants us to meet him. I can&rsquo;t go, as I&rsquo;ve
+got a business appointment at three, so you must. He&rsquo;s
+going to drive up to the station and wait there for one
+of us to come and show him where we live.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence. Esther flushed beneath the
+elder girl&rsquo;s shrewd gaze.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should have thought he could have found out where
+we live,&rdquo; she said rather awkwardly. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s such
+a little way&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June rose with a great show of dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, very well, if you don&rsquo;t want to be obliging, but
+I do think you might....&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Silly&ndash;&ndash;of course I will.&rdquo; Esther caught her hand.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go; the station at three o&rsquo;clock, and then what am
+I to do? Bring him here, or what?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do what you like, my child&ndash;&ndash;I shan&rsquo;t be in till five.
+Don&rsquo;t let him be bored, that&rsquo;s all, or he&rsquo;ll go back to
+town&ndash;&ndash;the one thing Micky cannot stand is being bored.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther made a little grimace.</p>
+<p>She felt nervous when at five minutes to three exactly
+she walked down the winding road to the station.</p>
+<p>June ought to have come herself, she argued; it was
+a most silly thing to send her&ndash;&ndash;she hoped he would not
+come at all; but all the time she was listening for the
+sound of a car or a motor-horn. The sleepy-eyed factotum
+of the station walked up and stared at her curiously.
+After a few turns he ventured to ask if she
+wanted to go by train.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m waiting for a gentleman&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;oh, here he is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Twas her young gentleman for sure,&rdquo; the sleepy-eyed
+one told his colleague afterwards. &ldquo;She blushed
+up like a rose when she saw him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky noticed that blush, too, as he turned the car
+with a fine sweep and came to a standstill.</p>
+<p>Esther greeted him with a torrent of explanation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June couldn&rsquo;t come, so she made me&ndash;&ndash;she had to go
+out on business. She would make me come!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very kind,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m later than I expected&ndash;&ndash;the
+roads are bad down in this part of the world.
+Well, and how do you like Enmore?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very quiet, but I like it for a change, and June&rsquo;s
+aunt is ever so kind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, a dear old lady; I know her well. Did you tell
+her I was coming?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June did....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His eyes swept her face anxiously. No trace of tears
+or sadness to-day, at all events.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are we supposed to go straight home?&rdquo; he asked
+after a moment. &ldquo;Because, if not, what do you say to
+a run round first?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span></div>
+<p>Esther&rsquo;s eyes sparkled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should love it!&rdquo; She got in beside him, and the car
+started away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I only brought the two-seater,&rdquo; Micky explained
+audaciously. &ldquo;I hate a crowd. This will take three at
+a pinch, but it&rsquo;s much more comfortable for two.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s lovely!&rdquo; Esther agreed.</p>
+<p>She leaned back luxuriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be splendid to be able to have a car like this
+of your very own,&rdquo; she said suddenly.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed rather ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There are other things I would far rather have,&rdquo; he
+said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are there?&rdquo; She looked up at him innocently. &ldquo;What
+things?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s hands tightened over the wheel.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Am I really to answer that question?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Esther hurriedly.</p>
+<p>She could not think why she had been so stupid as
+to say such a thing. She felt very vexed.</p>
+<p>They went some way in silence. Esther glanced at
+the man beside her timidly.</p>
+<p>Would he end up by some day marrying June? she
+wondered. Lucky June, if he did&ndash;&ndash;lucky ... she
+checked the thought with a little sense of shame. Only
+a few days ago she had declared that she disliked him.
+Perhaps it was the car that made her feel so suddenly
+envious of the woman who would one day be this man&rsquo;s
+wife.</p>
+<p>Micky glanced down at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you cold?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am a little&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she smiled up at him&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;in spite of my
+new coat,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I think we had better go home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June came to the door to meet them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I got home earlier than I thought,&rdquo; she told Esther.
+&ldquo;Well, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are there any letters?&rdquo; Esther asked. She felt a
+swift feeling of envy as she looked at these two, so
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+openly and unfeignedly glad to see one another. &ldquo;I suppose
+it&rsquo;s expecting too much though,&rdquo; she added with a
+sigh.</p>
+<p>June did not answer, and Esther went on and up the
+stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is one for her,&rdquo; June said in an undertone to
+Micky as soon as she had gone. &ldquo;And one from Paris,
+too&ndash;&ndash;from that man! Micky, are you sure it isn&rsquo;t all a
+mistake about him being married?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; said Micky stolidly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then shall I&ndash;&ndash;what shall I do about that letter&ndash;&ndash;it
+was sent on from London. Ought I to let her have it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was taking off his coat, his back was turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, let her have it,&rdquo; he said casually. &ldquo;It may be
+the last she&rsquo;ll ever get.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He turned swiftly. &ldquo;Let me look at it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June took it from her dress and handed it to him.</p>
+<p>He glanced at the writing and gave it back to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I should let her have it,&rdquo; he said again.</p>
+<p>But June still hesitated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;supposing it&rsquo;s to tell her about&ndash;&ndash;you know
+... about this marriage?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a moment&rsquo;s silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it would hardly be that,&rdquo; Micky said positively.
+&ldquo;At least&ndash;&ndash;well, if it is, we must chance it.&rdquo; But his
+voice did not sound as if he were at all anxious.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXIV' id='CHAPTER_XXIV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>June raked up another appointment for the following
+day. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m behaving like an angel to you,&rdquo; she
+told Micky. &ldquo;Yesterday I tramped about the fields
+till I was worn out so that I should be out of the way
+and Esther could meet you. Oh, she didn&rsquo;t want to go
+at all,&rdquo; she hastened to add as she saw the look of pleasure
+that filled his eyes. &ldquo;I had to make her go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I quite believe that,&rdquo; Micky said.</p>
+<p>He was standing beside the car at Miss Dearling&rsquo;s
+gate, and Esther was upstairs putting on her hat. She
+had protested twenty times that she did not really want
+to go; she had begged June to take her place; she had
+implored Micky to take June instead; but they had both
+refused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not keen on motoring when it&rsquo;s cold,&rdquo; June declared.
+&ldquo;Besides, I&rsquo;ve got my business to see to, and
+I don&rsquo;t want Micky. You go, Esther, and amuse the
+poor soul!&ndash;&ndash;just to please me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther said &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; and tried to look as if she
+were not anxious at all, but she was really looking forward
+to another drive.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t you really want to come?&rdquo; Micky asked as
+they drove away.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed. &ldquo;Of course I did; I wanted to come
+so badly I had to pretend that I didn&rsquo;t just for decency&rsquo;s
+sake.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you have good news from Paris yesterday?&rdquo; he
+asked deliberately.</p>
+<p>He felt as if he must speak of Ashton to in some way
+check the wave of joy that had filled his heart at her
+words; it was not to be with him that she had wished
+to come, but for the drive and the comfort of the car.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span></div>
+<p>He saw how her face clouded at his question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, thank you,&rdquo; she said, but her voice did not sound
+very enthusiastic. Presently: &ldquo;Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; she said
+suddenly, &ldquo;do you know that I have always been sorry
+that I did not go to Paris that day when I wanted to?&ndash;&ndash;I
+wish I had now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why now?&rdquo; Micky asked.</p>
+<p>She gave a little troubled laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I really can&rsquo;t explain.&rdquo; She did not
+understand herself what she really meant, but last night
+when she had read Raymond&rsquo;s letter, it had suddenly
+come over her with a sickening feeling of dismay that in
+some indefinite way he was really getting to be what
+June had always called him&ndash;&ndash;a phantom lover! It seemed
+so long since she had seen him. After all, what were
+letters and words? But she could not explain this to
+Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think I know what you mean,&rdquo; he said after a
+moment. &ldquo;You are getting tired of this separation. Is
+that it? Letters are all very well, but they are not
+enough....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked up at him in surprise.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, that is just what I do mean? How did you
+know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He laughed rather ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps I&rsquo;ve felt like it myself,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you?&rdquo; There was a little note of wonderment
+in her voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I said &lsquo;perhaps,&rsquo;&rdquo; he reminded her.</p>
+<p>She changed the subject; she drew his attention to the
+country through which they were passing. It was bare
+and wind-swept, but there was a sort of rugged picturesqueness
+about it that appealed to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I believe I should like to live in the country, after
+all,&rdquo; she said suddenly. &ldquo;You seem to be able to really
+breathe down here; it&rsquo;s not shut in like London is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dear old London,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;We all run it down,
+but we&rsquo;re all glad to get back there when we&rsquo;ve been
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span>
+away for more than a few days.&rdquo; He leaned forward,
+wrapping the rug more closely round her. &ldquo;Where do
+you think you will live when you are married?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>The hot colour flooded her face; she looked up at him
+in a scared sort of way.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a question! How do I know? I&rsquo;ve never
+even thought about it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;I have, crowds of times.
+I&rsquo;ve worked it all out to a nicety. I shall have a house
+in London and a place in the country as well, so that
+if my wife doesn&rsquo;t like town we can divide our time
+and stay six months at each.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are not all rich like you are, you know,&rdquo; Esther
+said drily. &ldquo;I dare say when I get married&ndash;&ndash;if I ever
+do&ndash;&ndash;I shall just have a little flat somewhere and stay
+there for the rest of my life, and be very happy too,&rdquo;
+she added with a sort of defiance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky after a moment. &ldquo;I think I could
+be very happy in a flat, too, for the rest of my life&ndash;&ndash;with
+the right woman.&rdquo; He looked down at her, smiling
+thoughtfully &ldquo;The only trouble is, that I shall probably
+have to marry the wrong one.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you do, it will be your own fault, I should think,&rdquo;
+said Esther, laughing. She could not quite understand
+this man. Had he ever really loved her, or had it all
+just been a pretence?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky promptly. &ldquo;I think it will be your
+fault.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther raised her eyes slowly. Micky was smiling.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I mean it,&rdquo; he said seriously. &ldquo;The first time
+I ever saw you I thought to myself, &lsquo;Here she is! That
+right woman I&rsquo;ve been waiting for all my life&rsquo;&ndash;&ndash;but, of
+course, you didn&rsquo;t think I was the right man, and so
+that ended it,&rdquo; he added philosophically.</p>
+<p>Esther did not like to hear him speak so lightly. She
+would have been surprised if she could have known the
+desperate unhappiness in his heart, the bitterness that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span>
+drove him to speak so flippantly of all that he held best
+and dearest.</p>
+<p>She made no attempt to answer him, and presently
+he said again with change of voice&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you hungry, I wonder? Because I am! And
+I&rsquo;ve got a firm conviction that we&rsquo;re coming to a wayside
+inn. Do you see the chimneys through the
+trees?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He slowed the car a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s another car outside&ndash;&ndash;what do you say? Shall
+we risk it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It would be rather nice,&rdquo; Esther admitted. She was
+feeling cold; she was rather glad when the car stopped
+and Micky gave her his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got a fire anyway,&rdquo; he said cheerily. &ldquo;I
+saw it through the window, and we&rsquo;ll ask for some
+coffee.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He led the way into the parlour. Two men wrapped
+in heavy coats stood by the fire; they moved to make
+way for Esther. After a moment they went out of the
+room, and she saw them in the road bending over the
+car next to Micky&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We can have coffee and buns,&rdquo; Micky said, coming
+back after a moment. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;ll be
+like, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall enjoy them anyway,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;I really
+am hungry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He pulled off his gloves and dragged a chair up to
+the fire for her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is fine,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Have you ever thought what
+a novelty a honeymoon would be touring through villages
+like this? I should like to just start away and go on
+driving for miles and miles, just staying anywhere and
+getting meals anyhow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed. &ldquo;I should have thought it was just
+the sort of thing you would hate,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s where you&rsquo;re mistaken,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I live
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span>
+in town and in the way I do because people expect it
+of me, and I&rsquo;m too lazy to bother to change. It&rsquo;s not
+a bit the life I should choose if I had my way. I hate
+dressing for dinner, and wading through six or seven
+courses, and being bored stiff half the time by some
+dressed-up woman beside me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked at her with a comical expression.</p>
+<p>Esther leaned her chin in her hand and raised serious
+eyes to his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, how would you really like to live, then?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p>Micky sat down on the edge of the table and stuck
+his long legs out before him. He kept his eyes fixed
+on his boots as he answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I should like a place in the country, as I said,
+and a garden&ndash;&ndash;a ripping garden, with lots of roses and
+grass&ndash;&ndash;walks like you see in old-fashioned pictures,
+and a high box hedge&ndash;&ndash;that&rsquo;s one of the things I simply
+must have! Have you ever smelt a box hedge after
+a hot sun has been on it? No? well, you ought to;
+it&rsquo;s fine!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He paused reflectively.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to look after the roses myself, I think,&rdquo;
+he went on presently. &ldquo;I dare say I should make a mess
+of it, but I should like to have a try, anyway. And I
+should like to keep lots of animals, horses and dogs and
+chickens. Do you know&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he half turned to her&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve
+always had a fancy for great Danes&ndash;&ndash;you can&rsquo;t keep
+&rsquo;em in town, only in the country. Some people I once
+stayed with down in Lincoln had a couple&ndash;&ndash;ripping dogs
+they were&ndash;&ndash;almost as big as ponies, and they used to let
+the kids play with them and pull them about. Old Lancing
+had a boy, you know&ndash;&ndash;a ripping little kid of five&ndash;&ndash;a
+real sport he was, too&ndash;&ndash;Uncle Micky he used to call me.&rdquo;
+Micky chuckled reminiscently. &ldquo;It must be jolly fine to
+have a youngster of your own like that,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+<p>This was a new Micky, indeed! Esther watched him
+with fascinated eyes. She had not known that he was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+fond of children; she had taken it for granted that men
+hardly ever were. She supposed drearily that she had
+got that idea from Raymond. He had always said he
+would not stand &ldquo;kids.&rdquo; It was odd that, though Micky
+had used the same word, it had sounded somehow quite
+different when he said it.</p>
+<p>Micky raised his eyes suddenly. &ldquo;What are you thinking
+about?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She shook her head; her lip quivered a little.</p>
+<p>Micky half rose to go to her, when the two men who
+owned the second car came back into the room again.
+Micky turned on his heel.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose we ought to be getting on,&rdquo; he said constrainedly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go and start up; you stay here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went out, leaving Esther by the fire.</p>
+<p>Her thoughts were a little confused. What had he
+been going to say, she wondered. It seemed hardly
+possible that she had really had that little glimpse of the
+other Micky whom she had never seen before; the Micky
+who was not at all a man about town, but just an ordinary
+person who thought it must be fine to have a
+home in the country and lots of roses and a little son
+of his own.</p>
+<p>The two men behind her were talking together; one
+of them was laughing a good deal in a sneering way.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She must be a fool, you know,&rdquo; he said drily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+surprised at any woman being caught like that. It was
+only her money he was after, of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen her myself,&rdquo; the other said disinterestedly&ndash;&ndash;he
+sounded rather bored&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;and I only know him
+slightly. You met them in Paris, you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;last week.&rdquo; There was the sound of a match
+being struck and a little pause while he puffed at a
+cigarette.</p>
+<p>Esther turned in her chair; it was odd how the mention
+of Paris always seemed to grip her heart. She
+looked at the two men, but they were both strangers
+to her.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps he won&rsquo;t really marry her,&rdquo; the elder one
+said yawning. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s many a slip you know, and
+from what I know of Raymond Ashton&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He
+shrugged his shoulders eloquently.</p>
+<p>The girl by the fire sat very still. She was staring
+at the two men with piteous grey eyes; she felt as if all
+the blood in her body had ebbed to her heart, where
+it was hammering enough to kill her.</p>
+<p>Like some one in a dream she heard the laugh the
+other man gave&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not marry her! My dear boy, he must! It&rsquo;s his
+last chance, and he knows it! He&rsquo;s up to his neck in
+debt and borrowed money. As a matter of fact, I
+shouldn&rsquo;t be at all surprised if Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow
+hasn&rsquo;t already changed her name for Raymond Ashton&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXV' id='CHAPTER_XXV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Outside in the road Micky suddenly started up
+the engine of his car. The dull throb, throb, came
+faintly to Esther as she sat there as motionless
+as if she had been carved in stone.</p>
+<p>The little vibrant noise sounded like the beating of
+some one&rsquo;s heart, she thought dully; she found herself
+listening to it subconsciously.</p>
+<p>The two men behind her had moved out to the doorway;
+she could still hear them talking and laughing together.
+Something within her urged her to get up and
+follow them to tell them that she had heard what they
+said, to tell them that it was all a lie&ndash;&ndash;a shameful lie.
+But she could not move.</p>
+<p>She told herself that if she kept quite still for a few
+moments she would wake and find that she had just
+dreamed it all. She stared hard into the glowing fire,
+trying to believe that it was all part of her dream, that
+it was not real warmth which she felt on her face at
+all, that those leaping flames were only pictures of her
+imagination, that even if she thrust her hand into them
+they would not burn her, but would just melt away
+into the silence around like phantoms.</p>
+<p>The phantom lover! June&rsquo;s half-mocking words beat
+dully against her brain. June had always hated Raymond;
+she would be glad if this thing were true.</p>
+<p>She suddenly realised that she was shivering in every
+limb. With an effort she dragged her chair closer to
+the fire. She put out her hands to the flames....</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good heavens! what are you doing?&rdquo; said Micky&rsquo;s
+voice at her shoulder. She had not heard him come into
+the room; it was only when he bent and caught her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+hand back from the flames that she realised what she
+had been going to do. She looked up at him with a
+sick smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it wouldn&rsquo;t burn,&rdquo; she said stupidly.</p>
+<p>A flash of alarm crept into his eyes; she looked so
+white.</p>
+<p>He kept her hand in his holding it firmly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; he asked gently.</p>
+<p>There was something so kind in his voice that for a
+moment she felt as if she would have given her soul
+to have been able to lean her head against his shoulder
+and sob out the truth; all she had just heard and all
+the miserable hope and fear that had tortured her for
+the past few weeks.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; Micky said again anxiously.</p>
+<p>She dragged her hand free of his; she remembered
+that he, too, had hated Raymond, that he, too, would
+be glad when he knew of this nightmare that had suddenly
+swooped down upon her.</p>
+<p>She rose to her feet, holding fast to the chair-back
+to steady herself.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t anything the matter; but I should like
+to go home&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m tired, that&rsquo;s all; I&rsquo;m only tired.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She moved away to the door. The cold air beating on
+her face gave her a grip of herself again. She stood for
+a moment looking down the deserted street, her hands
+clenched.</p>
+<p>It was only for a little while, just until they got back
+to Enmore, that she had got to keep up appearances, and
+then&ndash;&ndash;then....</p>
+<p>A sudden wave of tragedy swept through her soul;
+oh, it could not be true! It was some other man of
+whom they had been speaking, some other Raymond!</p>
+<p>She heard Micky laughing with the landlady as he paid
+for the coffee and buns, and she felt that she hated him
+for not guessing how she suffered. She walked down
+to where the little car stood waiting. If only he would
+be quick and take her back; she could do nothing till
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span>
+she got back to Enmore, and each moment was so
+precious.</p>
+<p>It seemed an eternity until Micky joined her. He
+avoided looking at her, though he bent and wrapped the
+rug carefully over her knees before he took his seat.</p>
+<p>The other car with its two occupants had vanished
+down the road some minutes since; only a small cloud
+of grey dust on the horizon showed which way they
+had gone.</p>
+<p>Micky drove back faster than he had come. Once or
+twice he looked down at Esther with an anxious pucker
+between his eyes.</p>
+<p>What had happened in those few minutes to make this
+sudden change? he wondered.</p>
+<p>She had been happy and smiling enough this morning;
+now all that he could see of her face, half hidden
+in the big upstand collar of the coat he had given her,
+were two piteous blue eyes staring steadily ahead of
+her down the road.</p>
+<p>They had gone some miles almost silently when he
+felt that he could bear it no longer. He stopped the
+car almost savagely and turned in his seat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter? What have I done now?&rdquo; he
+asked roughly. &ldquo;You weren&rsquo;t like this when we came
+out. If I&rsquo;ve done anything to annoy you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She forced herself to laugh. It would be the last
+straw if she broke down now.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How absurd!&rdquo; she said in a high-pitched voice.
+&ldquo;Nothing is the matter. I&rsquo;m tired, that&rsquo;s all; I shall be
+glad to get home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was not satisfied.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not telling me the truth,&rdquo; he said. His mind
+searched anxiously back to the short time they had
+stayed in the inn. What could have happened? They
+had seen nobody there except the two men with the racing
+car.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Those two fellows who came in&ndash;&ndash;they didn&rsquo;t annoy
+you, or anything like that, when I was out of the room?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span></div>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course not; they never spoke to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you won&rsquo;t tell me what I&rsquo;ve done, how can I hope
+to put things right?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>It was always like this, he told himself savagely; one
+little step onward and a dozen back. He did not speak
+again till they got home.</p>
+<p>Esther got out of the car without waiting for him,
+and went on into the house.</p>
+<p>After a moment Micky followed.</p>
+<p>Esther was in the hall; she turned to him impatiently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Every one is out,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Miss Dearling and
+June are both out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a sort of strain in her voice which Micky
+could not understand. She looked as if she had had
+some bad shock, and yet what could have happened?
+He had not left her for more than a few minutes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, I won&rsquo;t wait,&rdquo; he said formally. He spoke
+curtly; he felt sore enough; he raised his hat stiffly and
+turned away.</p>
+<p>He looked back once at the little house. He thought
+perhaps Esther might be standing at the door in case he
+should turn, but the door was shut, and it was impossible
+for him to guess that upstairs in the room over the
+porch Esther had shut and locked the door and was
+pacing up and down the room, her hands pressed hard
+against her eyes, sobbing&ndash;&ndash;great tearless sobs that seemed
+to rend her very heart.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not true&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s not true,&rdquo; she said over and over
+again under her breath. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not true&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s not
+true....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The striking of a church clock in the village seemed
+to rouse her. June would be back soon, and Miss Dearling.</p>
+<p>She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief; they felt
+hot and burning. She looked at herself anxiously in the
+little mirror&ndash;&ndash;such a white face; she turned away impatiently.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span></div>
+<p>Twelve o&rsquo;clock; there was a train up to town at half-past,
+she knew. The confusion in her brain seemed to
+have passed all at once; she felt quite calm and clear.</p>
+<p>She would go to Paris&ndash;&ndash;she would see Raymond, and
+hear from his own lips what a lie it was. She ought to
+have gone before. She had been a fool to listen to
+Micky; of course he would not wish her to go.</p>
+<p>She put a few things into a bag. She took the last
+letter she had had from Raymond, and kissed it before
+thrusting it back into her dress; she scribbled a pencil
+note to June and fastened it to the pincushion.</p>
+<p>With the little suit-case in her hand she went downstairs
+and out into the street.</p>
+<p>There was nobody about, and she almost ran to the
+station. The porter who had witnessed her meeting yesterday
+with Micky stared at her wonderingly.</p>
+<p>The London train was due now, he told her. She&rsquo;d
+have to hurry.... She was gone before he finished
+his slow speech.</p>
+<p>She found an empty carriage and got in, sitting as far
+away from the door as possible in case any one should
+come along the platform and recognize her. It was only
+when the train started away that she leaned back and
+closed her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am going to Paris; I can&rsquo;t live without him any
+longer. Please don&rsquo;t worry.&rdquo; Over and over she found
+herself repeating these words in her brain. She wondered
+where she had heard them and what they really
+meant.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am going to Paris; I can&rsquo;t live without him any
+longer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were true anyway. She was going to Paris because
+she felt she could no longer live without Raymond.</p>
+<p>She opened her eyes with a little gasp; they were her
+own words. She remembered that she had written them
+in the note she had left on the pincushion for June.</p>
+<p>Poor June! She would be angry. And Micky....
+A little throb touched her heart. She had not been very
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span>
+kind to Micky. She hoped he would soon forget her.
+Her eyes closed again.</p>
+<p>How long did it take to get to Paris? She had not
+the least idea. She had not got much money with her;
+she tried to remember how much, but somehow her
+brain refused to act; she took out her purse and tipped
+its contents into her lap. She started to count it, but
+after a moment she gave it up with a helpless feeling and
+put it all back again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow....&rdquo; Who was Tubby
+Clare? she wondered. She laughed foolishly. What a
+name!</p>
+<p>But he had left his widow a great deal of money, and
+money was everything nowadays. Nobody could be
+happy without money; Raymond had told her that months
+ago; a man with money has the whole world at his feet,
+so he had said.</p>
+<p>She thought of Micky&ndash;&ndash;he was one of the richest men
+in London, and yet he was not happy. She had never
+thought that he looked happy; she wondered if it was
+really because he loved her.</p>
+<p>She wished she could stop thinking. She was so tired,
+she wanted to sleep; but the wheel of thought went on
+and on in her brain.</p>
+<p>The miles seemed to crawl by. Soon the fields and
+open country were left behind; the houses were closer
+together; presently they crowded one another, almost
+jostling each other out of the way, it seemed.</p>
+<p>What an ugly place London was. She sat up with a
+little shiver. Strange how cold she felt, and yet her head
+was burning hot.</p>
+<p>Would this journey never end? Surely they had been
+travelling for days and days already.</p>
+<p>The train stopped with a jerk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paddington ... all change&ndash;&ndash;all change....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther stumbled to her feet.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXVI' id='CHAPTER_XXVI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky had just reached the unpretentious inn in
+the village where he had taken a room, when he
+was hailed from across the road by June; a very
+cheerful looking June, in a business-like coat and skirt
+of rough tweed, and carrying a walking-stick, which she
+proceeded to wave at him vigorously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Back so soon!&rdquo; She came across to where he stood
+by the car, and looked at his despondent face. &ldquo;Not another
+row?&rdquo; she demanded tersely.</p>
+<p>Micky frowned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;merely a sort of frigid silence this time,&rdquo; he
+said savagely, then he laughed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s no use, June, I
+may as well throw up the sponge. I seem to put my
+foot in it whatever I do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June drew a pattern in the mud at her feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what have you done?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Esther was
+all right this morning, and quite pleased to be going with
+you. I certainly never expected to see either of you
+till this afternoon. Where did you go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, some little one-eyed place. We stopped at an inn
+and had some coffee, and that seemed to finish it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What, the coffee?&rdquo; asked June with a twinkle.</p>
+<p>Micky turned away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to make a joke of everything&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he
+said with dignity.</p>
+<p>She laid her hand on his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, old boy. But you do explain things so
+badly, you know. You had coffee at the inn, yes&ndash;&ndash;and
+then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I went outside to start up the engine, and when I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+came back she seemed to have utterly changed. She even
+looked different and she hardly spoke all the way home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be your imagination.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shook his head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, it isn&rsquo;t; and when we got home she went indoors
+without even saying good-bye&ndash;&ndash;confound her!&rdquo; he added
+in savage parenthesis.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, Micky!&rdquo; said June reproachfully.</p>
+<p>He coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean that, but I&rsquo;m so fed-up with everything&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+He leaned his elbow on the side of the car
+and looked away from her down the road. &ldquo;I think
+I&rsquo;ll get back to town this afternoon,&rdquo; he said after a
+moment. &ldquo;I was a fool to come at all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked at him silently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what are you thinking?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She roused herself and answered briskly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you want your lunch, that&rsquo;s what I think,
+and I&rsquo;m going to take you back with me to have some.
+Aunt Mary is expecting you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Her queer eyes
+twinkled. &ldquo;Micky, she&rsquo;s quite made up her mind that
+you&rsquo;ve come down here after me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It would be a dashed sight better for me if I had,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>He moved to the door of the car.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Jump in, and I&rsquo;ll drive you back. I&rsquo;m not sure that
+I shall stay to lunch, though&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he added darkly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, you will,&rdquo; June said. &ldquo;And when you see
+Esther you&rsquo;ll find that it was just imagination on your
+part&ndash;&ndash;why, only coming down in the train the other
+morning she agreed with me that you were a perfect
+darling&ndash;&ndash;she did, on my word of honour!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When they reached the house Micky meekly followed
+June into the hall.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The table&rsquo;s laid,&rdquo; she informed him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just go
+and take off my hat and find Esther and Aunt Mary.
+Go in, Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span></div>
+<p>Micky took off his hat and coat and obeyed.</p>
+<p>He looked several sizes too large for the little dining-room
+as he walked over to the fire and stood with his
+back to it; he looked round the room appreciatively.</p>
+<p>This was a real home, he thought with sudden wistfulness
+in spite of its small rooms and general atmosphere
+of a bygone decade; a man could be very happy
+here with a woman he cared for.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; called June urgently. She came
+clattering down the stairs anyhow&ndash;&ndash;she burst into the
+room, she thrust a scrap of paper into his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s gone&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;s gone! Oh, what fools we&rsquo;ve been!
+I told you what it would be. I knew she&rsquo;d find out
+sooner or later. Oh, why didn&rsquo;t you let me tell her?&ndash;&ndash;I
+begged you to let me. It&rsquo;s not my fault. I warned you
+what it would be&ndash;&ndash;oh dear! oh dear!&rdquo; and June fell into
+a sobbing heap on the uncomfortable horsehair couch
+behind her.</p>
+<p>Micky stood clutching the paper and staring at her; it
+was some minutes before he could find his voice, then
+he went over to where she lay, put his hand on her
+shoulder, and shook her almost roughly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you talking about, June? For heaven&rsquo;s
+sake sit up and behave like a rational woman. Who&rsquo;s
+gone? What do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She raised her tear-stained face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Read it! read it! Oh, Micky, you have been a fool!&rdquo;
+she said furiously. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all your fault. I knew what
+would happen&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, for heaven&rsquo;s sake shut up,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>He had unfolded the paper, and there was a moment&rsquo;s
+tragic silence as he read the three lines Esther had scribbled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have gone to Paris; I can&rsquo;t live without him any
+longer. Please don&rsquo;t worry about me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Twice his lips moved, but no words would come, then
+he broke out in a strangled voice&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a joke&ndash;&ndash;of course it is. She&rsquo;s done it to frighten
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span>
+us. Why, I&ndash;&ndash;I only left her here half-an-hour ago&ndash;&ndash;it
+can&rsquo;t be more. It&rsquo;s a joke&ndash;&ndash;of&ndash;&ndash;of course it is ...
+June....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A queer sort of joke,&rdquo; said June sobbing. &ldquo;Poor
+darling! and a nice sort of reception she&rsquo;ll get when she
+reaches Paris with that cad there....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll never find him; she doesn&rsquo;t know where he
+is,&rdquo; Micky said hoarsely. There was a stunned look in
+his eyes&ndash;&ndash;he took a step towards the door and came back
+again as if he did not know what to do.</p>
+<p>June was drying her eyes and shedding more tears
+and drying them again; she looked at Micky angrily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course she&rsquo;ll find him,&rdquo; she said tartly. &ldquo;She
+knows his address; the brute&rsquo;s written to her dozens of
+times, and she&rsquo;s written to him as well....&rdquo; Her
+eyes searched his face with a sort of contempt.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what are you going to do now you&rsquo;ve made
+such a glorious hash of everything?&rdquo; she demanded.</p>
+<p>Micky passed a hand across his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I&rsquo;m trying to think. She can&rsquo;t have
+been gone long. She may still be in the village.&rdquo; He
+dragged out his watch. &ldquo;There may not have been a
+train up to London&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, there was; the twelve-twenty&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; The eyes
+of both of them turned to the clock, and Micky gave a
+smothered groan.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She must have gone by that. I must follow her,
+of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June bounced up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come with you; I&rsquo;ll put on my hat again&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+She made a dive for the door, but Micky caught her
+arm and stopped her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t; I can&rsquo;t take you with me. Be sensible,
+June&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll find her and bring her back&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked up at him stormily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s my friend, and it&rsquo;s all your fault she&rsquo;s got into
+this mess. I told you not to interfere, and you wouldn&rsquo;t
+listen&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span></div>
+<p>It was a woman all over to rave at him now, but
+Micky took it patiently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, it&rsquo;s my fault, and as it&rsquo;s my fault it&rsquo;s up
+to me to try and put things right. Don&rsquo;t waste time
+arguing&ndash;&ndash;if I&rsquo;m to catch her before she leaves
+England....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June burst into fresh tears and sobs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t be able to; she&rsquo;ll get over there and have
+to bear it all alone.... Oh, Micky, I almost hate
+you when I think what we&rsquo;ve done....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky went out of the room; he went down to the
+road and mechanically started up the car; he was getting
+into his seat when June followed and called to him&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t got your coat or cap, Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He came back; he hoisted himself into his coat, and
+turned away again; June caught his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to be a beast, Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He gave her fingers a squeeze.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know; it&rsquo;s all right; but don&rsquo;t keep me, there&rsquo;s a
+dear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But she still clung to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll bring her back safely, Micky&ndash;&ndash;promise.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky turned away without answering.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;... I can&rsquo;t live without him any longer....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In spite of everything, that was how she still felt about
+the brute.</p>
+<p>When he got to the station he found there was no
+train to town for a couple of hours; he asked a sleepy
+porter an agitated question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you see a young lady go by the twelve-twenty&ndash;&ndash;one
+of the young ladies staying with Miss Dearling. Oh,
+for heaven&rsquo;s sake hurry up and answer, man!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man scratched an unshaven chin with irritating
+consideration.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I seen her,&rdquo; he said at last. &ldquo;She came in running&ndash;&ndash;caught
+the train to London&ndash;&ndash;she....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Micky had gone; he would have to drive to town,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span>
+he decided. If Esther had got to know the truth, better
+hear it from him than from that brute.</p>
+<p>He drove off at breakneck speed. It seemed miles and
+miles to London; no matter how much of the winding
+road he covered, it unfolded again before his eyes, and
+mercilessly again.</p>
+<p>He went straight to Charing Cross; he left the car in
+the yard and dashed in to inquire about trains; he
+searched a time-table; 12.59&ndash;&ndash;3 o&rsquo;clock&ndash;&ndash;4.5 ... he
+looked up at the clock&ndash;&ndash;three minutes past four now.
+Micky dashed across the big hall to a gate where a signboard
+said &ldquo;Dover Express&rdquo;; he had no ticket; he pushed
+by the protesting inspector; the guard was waving his
+flag; some one grabbed at Micky and missed as he flung
+himself breathless and panting into the last coach of
+the moving train.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXVII' id='CHAPTER_XXVII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky sat for a few moments breathless and exhausted
+before he pulled himself together, and
+taking off his hat wiped his hot forehead.</p>
+<p>The train was gathering speed; he let down the window
+with a run and looked out; the station was out of
+sight altogether; they were crossing the bridge under
+which the silent Thames flowed sluggishly.</p>
+<p>A breath of cold air touched his hot face and he
+shivered suddenly and drew the window up once more.</p>
+<p>Something had driven his thoughts back to his first
+meeting with Esther, to the cold silence of the night,
+and the hard desperation of her voice as she said&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to go home any more&ndash;&ndash;I shouldn&rsquo;t
+have ever gone home again if I hadn&rsquo;t met you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>If she got to Paris before he saw her she would feel
+like this again. Micky groaned.</p>
+<p>Fortunately he had the carriage to himself, but it
+was a third-class compartment, and not a corridor carriage.
+He cursed his luck here; if there had been a
+corridor he could have gone the length of the train and
+seen if Esther were on it. As it was, he would have to
+wait till they reached Dover, and even then perhaps he
+would never find her.</p>
+<p>He tried to calm himself with the conviction that everything
+would be all right, but in his heart he was despairing;
+if he found Esther and brought her back she would
+hate him for the rest of his life.</p>
+<p>What had happened to make her rush off like this?
+He could not imagine. She had seemed so happy only
+that morning. What could account for the tragedy that
+seemed to breathe in every word of that little note she
+had left for June?</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span></div>
+<p>He took it from his pocket and read it again. It
+gave no hint of what had prompted this sudden flight.
+He wrote out a couple of telegrams to dispatch from
+Dover&ndash;&ndash;one for June, and another for Driver.</p>
+<p>He wished he had got Driver with him. There was
+a sort of security in the man&rsquo;s stolidness.</p>
+<p>He realised that he was without luggage, and that he
+had not much money. Supposing he had to go on to
+Paris, what the dickens was he going to do?</p>
+<p>When the train ran into Dover he got to his feet with
+a sigh of relief. Quickly as he was out of the train a
+great many passengers had left it before him. He started
+at a run down the platform. He stared at every woman
+he met, hoping it would be Esther. The crowd was
+getting thick; he had to push his way unceremoniously
+past people; porters with luggage trucks jostled him;
+he began to lose his temper&ndash;&ndash;he was just answering with
+great heat a man who had cynically asked &ldquo;who he was
+shoving,&rdquo; when some one touched his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a moment Micky&rsquo;s heart beat up in his throat; he
+turned quickly and found himself looking down into the
+brown eyes of Marie Deland.</p>
+<p>If she had hoped for anything better, it must have
+been a shock to her to see the bitter disappointment in
+Micky&rsquo;s face. He stammered out that he had not expected
+to see her, that he was in a deuce of a hurry;
+he hoped she would forgive him, but&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky, by all that&rsquo;s wonderful!&rdquo; said another voice,
+and there was Marie&rsquo;s father, the good-natured old man
+who had pretended to agree with his wife when she raved
+against Micky for the cavalier way in which he had
+treated his daughter, but who in his heart had indulged
+in a quiet chuckle, thinking that Micky had been rather
+clever to escape from the toils at the eleventh hour.</p>
+<p>He shook hands with Micky heartily enough; he, at
+any rate, had no grudge against him. He asked Micky
+a hundred questions.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going over, my boy? Come with us. I&rsquo;ve
+got a reserved carriage on the Paris express. Delighted
+to see you. Marie and I are just off for a little holiday
+by ourselves.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He touched his daughter&rsquo;s arm. &ldquo;Ask him to join
+us, my dear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did his best to answer civilly; he was in the
+deuce of a hurry, he said again; he had got to meet
+a friend but had missed her in the crowd.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I came off in the deuce of a hurry,&rdquo; he said. He
+was chafing bitterly at this enforced delay; each moment
+was so precious.</p>
+<p>Marie touched her father&rsquo;s arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are only keeping Mr. Mellowes, Daddy....&rdquo;
+Something in her voice made Micky&rsquo;s eyes smart. It
+was hard luck that for the second time he was forced
+to humiliate her. He stammered out incoherently that
+he hoped they would forgive him, but he was in such
+a deuce of a hurry.... He went off abruptly.</p>
+<p>Everybody was off the train now, and many people
+were already on the boat. Micky remembered that he
+had no ticket; he entered into a hot argument with an
+official, who listened to him skeptically, and took as long
+as possible to make out the ticket; even when Micky had
+paid he still looked suspicious.</p>
+<p>The gangway was still down; Micky went on board
+and stood as close to it as he could, scanning the face
+of each passer.</p>
+<p>Esther was not amongst them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Stand away there&ndash;&ndash;stand away....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was pushed aside, and a couple of brawny seamen
+hauled the gangway on to the harbour. The gap
+of green water was widening slowly between the pier and
+the ship&rsquo;s side. Micky felt as if he were being exiled.
+Supposing she was not on the boat?</p>
+<p>He turned away and searched the crowded deck. The
+boat was full, and most of the people were women,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span>
+but there was nobody who looked in the very least like
+Esther.</p>
+<p>She would be wearing the fur coat, he was sure&ndash;&ndash;the
+coat he had given her!</p>
+<p>One or two people stared at him curiously. Once he
+came across Marie and her father on the leeward side
+of the boat. For decency&rsquo;s sake he had to stop. He
+made an inane remark on the weather and said he thought
+they were going to have a smooth crossing.</p>
+<p>Marie&rsquo;s brown eyes lifted to his.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t met your friend?&rdquo; she said quietly.</p>
+<p>Micky had a horrible conviction that she had not believed
+that he had any one to meet. He coloured in
+confusion as he answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;no. I&rsquo;m sorry to say I haven&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She moved away leaving him with her father. The
+old man slipped a hand through Micky&rsquo;s arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t notice her, my boy; women are queer cattle&ndash;&ndash;and
+I expect she&rsquo;s a little sore with you still.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky wished it was possible to jump overboard. He
+found the old man&rsquo;s friendliness more insufferable than
+the look of reproach in Marie&rsquo;s eyes. As soon as he
+could he got away; he went down the companion-way
+and wandered round despondently.</p>
+<p>If Esther were on the boat she must have seen him and
+was deliberately keeping out of his way; he glanced in
+at the open door of the ladies&rsquo; cabin as he passed.</p>
+<p>Several pessimistic souls who had already made up
+their minds to be ill, although the sea was like a mill-pond,
+had arranged themselves on the couches, with
+pillows under their heads; as Micky passed the cabin
+some one slammed the door smartly in his face.</p>
+<p>He went upon deck again and stood looking out to
+sea, with the wind stinging his face.</p>
+<p>It was getting dark rapidly; the lights of Dover twinkled
+through the greyness. Micky stood and watched till
+they could no longer be seen. He was chilled to the
+bone in spite of his warm coat; he turned the collar
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span>
+up round his throat and thrust his hands deeply into
+his pockets.</p>
+<p>His fingers came in contact with the telegrams he
+had written in the train and forgotten to send. He swore
+under his breath.</p>
+<p>He kept out of the Delands&rsquo; way when they reached
+Calais; he was first off the boat; he stood in the darkness
+trembling with excitement.</p>
+<p>There were all sorts of people pouring past him&ndash;&ndash;men,
+women, and children. They all seemed happy and eager&ndash;&ndash;a
+couple of Frenchmen standing near him chattered incessantly;
+Micky moistened his dry lips; there was a
+little nerve throbbing in his temple.</p>
+<p>Supposing he never saw her again! His hands clenched
+deep in his pockets ... supposing he never met the
+half-shy glance of her grey eyes&ndash;&ndash;supposing he never
+heard her voice any more&ndash;&ndash;or her laugh....</p>
+<p>The sweat broke out on his forehead. For a moment
+he closed his eyes with a sick feeling of hopelessness,
+and when he opened them again he saw Esther standing
+there not half a dozen paces from him.</p>
+<p>The glare from a huge arc lamp shone full on her
+slim figure and golden hair.</p>
+<p>She was looking round her in a scared, apprehensive
+way as if not knowing where to go.</p>
+<p>A wave of such utter relief swept through Micky&rsquo;s
+very soul that for a moment it almost turned him faint.</p>
+<p>She was quite alone, but as Micky watched her he
+saw a French porter in a blue blouse go up to her and
+start chattering away, pointing to the small suit-case she
+carried and gesticulating violently. Esther shook her
+head&ndash;&ndash;Micky remembered that she knew no French&ndash;&ndash;but
+the man persisted, and she shook her head again
+in a frightened sort of way.</p>
+<p>Micky covered the distance between them in a couple
+of strides.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther....&rdquo; he said, in a queer, choked sort of
+voice.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span></div>
+<p>She turned with a stifled scream, and a most unwilling
+relief swept her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, Micky!&rdquo; she said breathlessly. She put out her
+hand as if to grip his arm, then drew it away, moving
+back.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How did you come here ... oh, how dare you
+follow me...?&rdquo; she said passionately.</p>
+<p>Micky took her arm very gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We found your note,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had to come ...
+June said....&rdquo; Then suddenly his calmness broke
+&ldquo;Oh, thank God I found you&ndash;&ndash;thank God!&rdquo; he said
+hoarsely.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXVIII' id='CHAPTER_XXVIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther seemed arrested by the emotion in Micky&rsquo;s
+voice.</p>
+<p>She stood looking up at him with wide eyes and
+parted lips, then suddenly she broke out again&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you mean. I&rsquo;ll never forgive June
+if she sent you after me. I&rsquo;m going to Paris. I&rsquo;m not
+a child to be followed and looked after like this....
+Let me go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky released her arm at once. When he spoke his
+voice was quiet and rather stern.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Please don&rsquo;t make a scene. I have followed you
+for your own sake. I know I can&rsquo;t stop you from going
+to Paris. I&rsquo;m not going to try. All I do ask you is
+that you will let me speak to you. If what I have to
+say is useless, I give you my word of honour that I
+will leave you here and let you go on to Paris alone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him with stormy eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe it&ndash;&ndash;it isn&rsquo;t the first time you&rsquo;ve lied
+to me....&rdquo; she broke off breathlessly. Micky turned
+pale, but he answered evenly enough&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re quite justified in saying that; I&rsquo;m not going
+to try and deny it. But we can&rsquo;t stand here all night&ndash;&ndash;people
+are beginning to stare at us....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; but she dropped her voice a little,
+and when Micky made a slight movement forward she
+followed.</p>
+<p>It was cold on the quay&ndash;&ndash;there was a fresh wind blowing,
+and Esther shivered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a restaurant place here,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;I
+want a meal if you don&rsquo;t; I haven&rsquo;t had anything since
+breakfast.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span></div>
+<p>He found a table and ordered a meal, but he knew
+he should not be able to eat a thing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want anything to eat,&rdquo; Esther said. She sat
+sideways in her chair away from the table; there was a
+pitiable look of strain in her face; she still gripped her
+suit-case tightly. When Micky asked her to be allowed
+to put it down for her she turned on him almost fiercely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Leave me alone&ndash;&ndash;oh, leave me alone!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The French garcon eyed them both interestedly. Any
+one far less keen of perception than he was could have
+seen that there was tragedy of some kind between this
+pretty, frail-looking girl and the tall man in the big coat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You said you were hungry, but you&rsquo;re not eating anything,&rdquo;
+Esther broke out irritably. &ldquo;How much longer
+are you going to make me sit here? I want to catch a
+train to Paris to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There are no trains, except slow ones,&rdquo; Micky told
+her; &ldquo;the express has gone half an hour ago. I can
+find you rooms in a hotel close by for the night....&rdquo;
+His eyes met hers across the table, and he broke out,
+&ldquo;Esther, for God&rsquo;s sake let me explain things to you.
+You&rsquo;ve all your life before you; to-morrow, if you wish
+it, I&rsquo;ll go away and never see you again. But I can&rsquo;t
+let you go now without telling you the truth. I ought
+to have told you before&ndash;&ndash;it was for your own sake I
+tried to keep it back....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her grey eyes searched his face disbelievingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve anything to say against Mr. Ashton,&rdquo; she
+said, &ldquo;I refuse to listen. I shouldn&rsquo;t believe anything
+you say, for one thing. Why, you don&rsquo;t even know
+his name&ndash;&ndash;unless June has told you,&rdquo; she added breathlessly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June has told me nothing, but I know, all the same.
+I knew the first night I ever met you&ndash;&ndash;when I left you
+and went back to my rooms, he was there waiting for
+me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She half turned, leaning across the table, and her eyes
+were like fire.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;He was there&ndash;&ndash;who was there?&rdquo; she asked shrilly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ashton&ndash;&ndash;Raymond Ashton,&rdquo; Micky answered.</p>
+<p>There was a tragic silence, then Esther rose to her
+feet; she stood looking dazedly round her in a helpless
+sort of way.</p>
+<p>Micky called for the bill&ndash;&ndash;without waiting for his
+change he followed Esther out into the darkness. She
+offered no resistance when he drew her hand through
+his arm. He did not know what on earth to do with
+her; if he took her to an hotel it would mean leaving
+her, and she would probably go away in the night. They
+went back to the station, and Micky found a waiting-room
+with a roaring fire; he dragged one of the uncomfortable
+wooden benches close to it and made Esther sit
+down; he closed the door and came back to her.</p>
+<p>There was so much he wanted to say, and for the
+life of him he did not know how to begin. She sat
+there so silently; she seemed to have forgotten his presence
+altogether.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at her, and suddenly he broke out&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther, speak to me&ndash;&ndash;say something&ndash;&ndash;for heaven&rsquo;s
+sake&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She moved in a curiously heavy sort of way, as if
+it were an effort; she raised her eyes to his agitated
+face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This morning&ndash;&ndash;was it only this morning?&ndash;&ndash;it seems
+so long ago.&rdquo; She stopped for a moment, then went on
+again slowly. &ldquo;When we were at that inn in the village&ndash;&ndash;those
+men with the car&ndash;&ndash;I heard them talking....&rdquo;
+She stopped again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>She frowned as if his monosyllable had interrupted
+her train of thought. She went on presently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They were talking about Paris&ndash;&ndash;and Raymond.&rdquo; And
+now she raised her eyes. &ldquo;If you say that it was true
+what I heard them say, I will kill you,&rdquo; she said with
+sudden passion. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lie&ndash;&ndash;just a lie to hurt me, to
+hurt me more than I&rsquo;ve been hurt already.&rdquo; She stopped,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span>
+panting. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lie&ndash;&ndash;say it&rsquo;s a lie,&rdquo; she drove the words
+at him.</p>
+<p>Micky sat down beside her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If they said that Ashton had been married in Paris
+to Mrs. Clare it was the truth,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>He marvelled at the steadiness of his voice. He felt
+sick with shame at the part he was having to play. He
+went on incoherently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I knew it before you ever went to Enmore&ndash;&ndash;it was
+in the London papers. I was afraid you would see it.
+I persuaded June to get you down into the country. I
+suppose I was a fool. I ought to have known it was
+only putting things off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked at her and quickly away again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Forget him, Esther, for God&rsquo;s sake. He never cared
+for you; he isn&rsquo;t worth a thought.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She rose to her feet, pushing the hair back from her
+face as if she were distraught.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How dare you say such things to me?&rdquo; she said in
+an odd, choked voice. &ldquo;You always hated him&ndash;&ndash;you
+and June. Do you think I&rsquo;m going to believe you? Do
+you think I could believe you for a moment when I have
+his letters&ndash;&ndash;when he has shown me in so many ways
+how he cares?... I don&rsquo;t care what you say&ndash;&ndash;I
+don&rsquo;t care if the whole world were to tell me it was
+true&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll never believe it till he tells me himself....&rdquo;
+Her breath came gaspingly; she looked at Micky&rsquo;s white
+face with passionate hatred in her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How do I know it isn&rsquo;t all a made-up story?&rdquo; she
+asked him hoarsely.</p>
+<p>She hardly knew what she was saying; she leaned
+her arms on the mantelshelf and hid her face in them.</p>
+<p>Micky let her alone; he got up and began pacing up
+and down the room.</p>
+<p>He deserved everything she had said; it was all his
+fault that she had got this to bear. With the best intentions
+in the world he had proved himself a blundering
+fool.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span></div>
+<p>Esther raised her head; she had not shed a tear, but
+her face was white and desolate.</p>
+<p>She walked past him to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going on to Paris to-night,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Nothing
+you can say will stop me&ndash;&ndash;nothing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then I will come with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not answer; she fumbled helplessly with the
+door handle. Micky came forward to open it for her,
+and their hands touched. A little flame of red rushed
+to his face; he put his shoulders to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t go like this,&rdquo; he said stammering. &ldquo;How
+can I let you go like this? Whatever I&rsquo;ve done, I haven&rsquo;t
+deserved that you should think as badly of me as you
+do. It was because I cared for you so much&ndash;&ndash;I tried
+to save you pain ... perhaps it isn&rsquo;t any excuse,
+but it&rsquo;s the truth.... I&rsquo;d give my very soul if I
+could undo what&rsquo;s gone, if I could save you from this.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was not looking at him, but the cold contempt
+in her face stung him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You may despise me,&rdquo; he broke out again jaggedly.
+&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s the truth I&rsquo;ve told you.... Ashton never
+cared for you; that night at my rooms....&rdquo; He
+stopped, he did not want to tell her, but somehow there
+was a compelling force within him that drove the words
+to his lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He told me he&rsquo;d had to break with you&ndash;&ndash;that he was
+going away from London because of you. He said he
+must marry a woman with money&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s the truth, if I
+never speak again. He never cared for you, Esther&ndash;&ndash;he
+was never fit to kiss the ground you walk on. He
+wanted to be rid of you&ndash;&ndash;he&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stopped; Esther had given a little strangled
+cry, half-sob, half-moan, like some animal in mortal pain;
+for the moment she saw the world red; hardly knowing
+what she did, she lifted her hand and struck Micky
+across his white face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you liar&ndash;&ndash;you liar,&rdquo; she said. The words were
+a hoarse whisper, her voice was almost gone.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span></div>
+<p>She fell away from him, shaking in every limb; she
+dropped into a chair hiding her face.</p>
+<p>Micky stood like a man turned to stone. She had not
+hurt him physically, though there was a red flush where
+she had struck him, but he felt as if the blow had fallen
+on his aching heart and his love for her.</p>
+<p>It seemed a long time before either of them moved or
+spoke, then Esther dragged herself to her feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Please let me pass,&rdquo; she said in a whisper, and Micky
+stood aside without a word.</p>
+<p>He followed her out and inquired for a train; there
+was a slow one at ten-fifty they told him. He put Esther
+into a carriage and got a rug for her and a cushion. He
+knew she had had nothing to eat, and he ordered a basket
+to be made up at the refreshment-room. When he came
+back she was sitting in a corner with her eyes closed. She
+had taken off her hat, and her golden hair was tumbled
+about her face. She took no notice when he put the
+rug over her; she did not even open her eyes when the
+train started.</p>
+<p>Micky sat down in the opposite corner. He felt more
+tired than he had ever done in all his life, and yet he
+knew that he could not sleep; his brain seemed as if it
+would never rest again. He sat with face averted from
+the girl in the corner, looking out into the darkness.</p>
+<p>It seemed strange to realise that he had made this
+same journey dozens of times before. He felt that it
+was all strange and distasteful to him. The chattering
+voices of the French porters and the whistle of the engines
+sounded new and quaint as if he had never heard
+them before. It seemed an eternity before the train
+started slowly away.</p>
+<p>He leaned back and closed his eyes; his head was splitting,
+and he was cold and hungry.</p>
+<p>He must have dozed for a few minutes, for he was
+roused by a little choking sound of sobbing. He opened
+his eyes&ndash;&ndash;he was awake at once&ndash;&ndash;he looked across at
+Esther. She was lying huddled up, with her face turned
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
+against the dirty cushions of the carriage, sobbing her
+heart out.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at her in miserable indecision. Then
+he got up impulsively, and sat down opposite to where
+Esther was huddled.</p>
+<p>He stretched out his hand and took hers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t cry&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t; I can&rsquo;t bear it,&rdquo; he said hoarsely.
+He raised her hand to his lips. She had taken off her
+gloves and her fingers felt like ice. He chafed them
+gently between his own. She still wore the cheap little
+ring which Ashton had given her months ago.</p>
+<p>She let her hand lie passively in his. Perhaps she
+was too miserable to remember that it was Micky, and
+only realised that there was something kind and comforting
+in his touch. Presently her sobs quieted. She
+wiped the tears from her face and brushed back her
+disordered hair.</p>
+<p>Micky got up and took down the supper basket he
+had managed to get at the station. There was a small
+thermos of hot coffee. He poured some out and made
+her drink it. If he had expected her to refuse he was
+agreeably disappointed. She obeyed apathetically; she
+even ate some sandwiches.</p>
+<p>Micky was ravenous himself, but he would not touch
+a thing till she had finished.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d be much more comfortable if you put your
+feet up on the seat and tried to sleep,&rdquo; he said presently.
+&ldquo;You can have my coat as well as the rug. Your
+hands are like ice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He took off his coat as he spoke and laid it over her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid we&rsquo;ve got a long journey yet,&rdquo; he said
+ruefully. &ldquo;If you could get some sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She turned her head away and closed her eyes.</p>
+<p>She looked very young and appealing in the depressing
+light of the carriage.</p>
+<p>Micky sat looking at her in silence. She cared so
+little for him that she had even forgotten her anger
+against him; nothing he could do or say really mattered
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span>
+to her, she was not sufficiently interested in him to even
+trouble to hate him for long.</p>
+<p>He wondered what June was thinking, and Miss Dearling!
+He wished from the depths of his soul that he
+had remembered to send those wires. There was his
+car, too&ndash;&ndash;he had left that in the yard at Charing Cross&ndash;&ndash;what
+the dickens would become of it?&ndash;&ndash;not that it mattered
+much, he was too miserable to be seriously concerned
+about anything.</p>
+<p>Some minutes passed, but Esther did not move. Micky
+spoke her name once softly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther....&rdquo; But she did not answer; he leaned
+over and touched her hand, but she did not stir; in spite
+of what she had said she was asleep.</p>
+<p>Micky gave a sigh of relief. He drew his coat and
+the rug more closely around her; he was very cold himself,
+but that did not trouble him; he finished the contents
+of the supper basket before he went back to his
+own corner.</p>
+<p>The train rumbled on through the night; it dragged
+into many little stations and stopped jerkily, but Esther
+did not wake.</p>
+<p>Once when she moved and the rug slipped, Micky
+rose and quietly replaced it. He was very tired himself,
+but his brain would not allow him to sleep; he felt as if he
+were living through years during these long hours.</p>
+<p>He sat looking at Esther with wistful eyes. Why
+was it that people never fell in love with the right people?
+he asked himself vaguely. He could have made her so
+happy.</p>
+<p>He closed his eyes for a moment, then dragged them
+open again. He must not go to sleep, whatever happened.
+He sat up stiffly.</p>
+<p>Presently he lifted a corner of the blind. The sky
+looked a little lighter, as if dawn were not far away.
+He looked at his watch. Nearly two!</p>
+<p>A sudden impulse came to him to wake Esther and
+make her listen now to what he had to say. The time
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span>
+was getting short, and there was so much to tell her and
+explain.</p>
+<p>He rose and bent over her, but she did not move, and
+he went back again to his corner.</p>
+<p>He let the window down a little way, hoping the cold
+night air would help to keep him awake. The minutes
+seemed to drag, though in reality only a quarter of an
+hour had passed when Esther woke with a little smothered
+cry.</p>
+<p>Micky was on his feet in an instant.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right&ndash;&ndash;there&rsquo;s nothing to be afraid of&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ve
+been asleep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She rubbed her eyes childishly with her knuckles; she
+stared at him for a moment unrecognisingly, then, as
+memory returned, she shrank back into her corner.</p>
+<p>Micky picked up the rug and coat that had slithered
+to the floor; he waited a few moments till he saw that
+she was quite awake before he spoke, then he said
+gently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you feel better. We shall soon be in now.
+Are you warm enough?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, thank you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We shall be into Paris very soon,&rdquo; he said again;
+&ldquo;and there is a great deal I want to say to you first.
+Will you listen to me if I try to explain?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She met his eyes unflinchingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is only one man who can possibly explain anything
+to me,&rdquo; she said then, &ldquo;and he is not you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky lost his temper; he was cold and tired and
+hungry, and at that moment she seemed the most unreasonable
+of mortals.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall not allow you to see Ashton, if you mean Ashton,&rdquo;
+he said roughly. &ldquo;The man isn&rsquo;t fit for you to
+think about. He&rsquo;s married, you know that ... Esther,
+for your own sake&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had turned her face away and was looking out
+into the darkness; she seemed not to be listening.</p>
+<p>Micky went on urgently.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I blame myself. I always meant to tell you before
+things had gone as far as this. I shall never forgive
+myself for not having done so. I&rsquo;ve behaved like a cad,
+but my only excuse is that I loved you; I wanted to
+spare you unnecessary pain&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He was no longer
+stammering and self-conscious, his voice was firm and
+steady. &ldquo;I suppose I was a fool to imagine that I could
+ever make you care for me; I suppose it was conceit
+that led me to think I could ever cut out this ... this
+phantom lover of yours&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He laughed mirthlessly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther, let me take you back home; it&rsquo;s no use seeing
+Ashton&ndash;&ndash;it only means humiliation and pain for you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her lips moved, but no words came.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me take you home to June,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;She
+will tell you that what I say is only the truth. She
+knows him&ndash;&ndash;she....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She spoke then.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She always hated him; it isn&rsquo;t likely she would wish
+me to marry him.&rdquo; She bit her lip. &ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s no use
+saying any more,&rdquo; she broke out wildly after a moment.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to see him&ndash;&ndash;I can&rsquo;t bear it if I don&rsquo;t see
+him&ndash;&ndash;just once! I&rsquo;ve got to hear the truth&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told you the truth,&rdquo; he repeated doggedly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+no interest to me to try and prevent you from seeing
+him. I know I&rsquo;ve done for whatever chance I had with
+you. Oh, for heaven&rsquo;s sake believe that it&rsquo;s only for
+your sake I want to take you back!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>In her heart she found it impossible to believe him;
+she thought of the letters she had received from Raymond,
+the money&ndash;&ndash;the presents&ndash;&ndash;why even this coat she
+wore had come from him; she felt that she could laugh
+at this man opposite to her. A little smile curved her
+lips; a contemptuous smile it seemed to Micky.</p>
+<p>For the first time the injustice of it all seemed to
+strike him; for him who had done his best she had nothing
+but dislike and contempt, but for the man who had
+left her with a brutal letter of farewell, who had thrown
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span>
+her over because she had no money, she had endless faith
+and trust, and love!</p>
+<p>He broke out in his agitation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to spare you&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve done my best, but you
+won&rsquo;t let me ... I&rsquo;ve kept back the truth, but now
+you&rsquo;ll have to hear it if nothing else will keep you from
+him. He&rsquo;s never given you a thought since he left London&ndash;&ndash;he
+imagines that you&rsquo;ve forgotten him. It was
+he you saw at the Comedy Theatre that night when June
+and I were with you. He didn&rsquo;t even trouble to let you
+know that he was in London&ndash;&ndash;that&rsquo;s how he cares for
+you&ndash;&ndash;this man you refuse to believe one word against
+...&rdquo; His eyes flamed as they met hers.</p>
+<p>She was staring at him now; her face was white and
+incredulous.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&ndash;&ndash;if you think I&rsquo;m going to believe that&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+she began, in a high, unnatural voice. She stopped; she
+seemed to realise all at once that he was speaking the
+truth. She leaned towards him. Her breath came in
+broken gasps.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Those letters!&rdquo; she said shrilly. &ldquo;Whose letters?
+They were from him&ndash;&ndash;they were from him&ndash;&ndash;weren&rsquo;t
+they from him?&rdquo; she asked hoarsely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky doggedly.</p>
+<p>Better to hurt her now, he told himself, than to let
+her go on to worse pain and humiliation.</p>
+<p>There was a tragic silence; then she asked again, in
+a whisper&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then who&ndash;&ndash;who wrote them?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A wave of crimson flooded Micky&rsquo;s white face. He
+dropped his head in his hands as if he could not bear
+to meet her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I did,&rdquo; he said brokenly.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXIX' id='CHAPTER_XXIX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>A long moment of silence followed Micky&rsquo;s broken
+confession. He dared not look at Esther, though
+she was staring at him, staring hard, with a curious
+sort of wonderment in her grey eyes. Then all at once
+she began to laugh, a laugh which held no real mirth,
+only incredulity.</p>
+<p>Micky raised his head sharply.</p>
+<p>For a second they stared at one another; then Micky
+said hoarsely&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t believe me&rdquo;; and then again, more slowly:
+&ldquo;You mean that you&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t believe&ndash;&ndash;me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He half rose to his feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther, I implore you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She moved back from him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was clever of you&ndash;&ndash;to think of such an excuse,&rdquo;
+she said unevenly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the truth; I swear it if I never speak again. I
+know now that I must have been out of my mind to attempt
+such a thing, but it has only seemed impossible
+since you showed me how little you thought of me. I
+wrote those letters&ndash;&ndash;every one of them. I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the excitement of the moment neither of them had
+noticed that the train had reached its destination and
+was slowly stopping.</p>
+<p>A voluble porter had already wrenched open the door
+and was imploring monsieur to accept his services; it
+was impossible to say any more to Esther.</p>
+<p>Micky followed her out on to the platform; he felt
+that the last shred of his patience and tenderness had
+been killed.</p>
+<p>She did not believe him&ndash;&ndash;whatever he said she would
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span>
+never believe him; it was useless to waste his breath;
+he might as well give up and let her go her own way;
+perhaps a sharp lesson would teach her better and more
+quickly than all his love had been able to do.</p>
+<p>He was dispirited and hungry, and hunger alone makes
+a man angry. He looked at the girl for whose sake he
+had raced all these miles of wild-goose chase, and a
+boorish longing to hurt her, to let her suffer rose in
+his heart.</p>
+<p>Let her go to Ashton and see for herself the sort of
+man he was.</p>
+<p>He spoke with savage impulse.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t bother you with my unwelcome company any
+longer. You will be able to get breakfast in the restaurant,
+and you will find that most people here understand
+English.... Good-bye&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther gave a little gasp&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to leave me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The hardness of his eyes did not soften.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are not trying to tell me that you wish me to
+stay, surely?&rdquo; he submitted drily.</p>
+<p>She raised her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly not; after all, it&rsquo;s your own fault you came.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He did not answer, perhaps he could not trust himself;
+he raised his hat and turned away unseeingly, and
+Esther clutched her suit-case tightly and walked away
+with her head in the air, trying to look as if she knew
+every inch of the Gare St. Lazare and had been there
+thousands of times before.</p>
+<p>But her heart was beating up in her throat, and she
+would have given a great deal, had it been compatible
+with dignity, to rush after him and beg him to stay.</p>
+<p>She wandered out of the station, not knowing where
+to go, Raymond seemed to have faded into the background;
+she only thought of him subconsciously; it was
+the figure of Micky Mellowes that worried her&ndash;&ndash;she
+could not forget him.</p>
+<p>Supposing he had really written those letters? &ldquo;But
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span>
+he didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she told herself in an agony. &ldquo;I know he
+didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took one of the letters from her suit-case and
+stared at the handwriting&ndash;&ndash;Raymond&rsquo;s writing. The
+whole thing was too preposterous.</p>
+<p>She did not know what she meant to do, or where
+she meant to go; it no longer seemed that she had come
+here for any specific purpose.</p>
+<p>The early morning greyness and chilliness had faded;
+the sun had risen and cleared away the mists.</p>
+<p>She found herself in some gardens where an elderly
+man was feeding sparrows; she sat down on a bench
+and watched him.</p>
+<p>It seemed years ago that she went down to Enmore
+with June&ndash;&ndash;since she sat in the little inn with Micky and
+heard those two men talking.</p>
+<p>The hot blood beat into her cheeks as she remembered
+something that for the moment she had forgotten&ndash;&ndash;that
+Raymond Ashton was married!</p>
+<p>The man gave the sparrows his last crumbs and went
+away. The little brown birds came hopping to Esther&rsquo;s
+feet, looking up at her with bright, eager eyes, as if
+expecting her to supply a further meal.</p>
+<p>The sun faded and went in, and a few drops of rain
+came pattering down. She rose and began to walk on
+slowly. The light suit-case seemed to have grown heavy
+since yesterday.</p>
+<p>At the back of her mind was the frightened knowledge
+that she was alone in Paris; that she had nobody
+to turn to now that Micky had deserted her; but as
+yet it was only in the background. Raymond was somewhere,
+perhaps quite close; but she no longer felt that
+she wanted to go to him.</p>
+<p>Further on she found another bench sheltered under
+some trees and sat down again; she opened the suit-case
+and took out a bundle of Micky&rsquo;s letters ...
+Micky&rsquo;s! No, Raymond&rsquo;s.... Oh, whose letters
+were they?</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span></div>
+<p>She opened the one that had been written from the
+hotel in Paris. Its fond words seemed to take on a new
+meaning....</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Some day, if all that I wish for comes true, I will
+tell you the many things you would not let me say
+when we were last together....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The one sentence caught her eye. She wondered that
+she had never before thought how unlike Raymond this
+was. Why was it she had not realised before that Raymond
+could never have written this?</p>
+<p>Somewhere in the distance a church clock chimed;
+Esther found herself mechanically counting the bells&ndash;&ndash;nine,
+ten, eleven! All those hours since Micky had left
+her at the station.</p>
+<p>She was cold and hungry, but it did not seem to matter;
+she felt there was a great, unanswered question in
+her mind which she must settle.</p>
+<p>She rose and walked on again; she turned out of the
+gardens and found herself in a street of shops. People
+looked at her curiously.</p>
+<p>Hardly knowing that she did so, she stopped and
+looked in at a jeweller&rsquo;s window; there were trays of
+precious stones. She felt her own ring beneath the
+glove&ndash;&ndash;she had worn it so long now, she wondered how
+she would feel when she had to take it off. Of course,
+she could not go on wearing it if Raymond was really
+married.</p>
+<p>Micky had once gone into a pond on a bitter night to
+save a kitten from drowning; she wondered what made
+her remember that.</p>
+<p>The man who could save a drowning kitten would
+never hurt a woman so that she could hardly think or
+feel; June had claimed for Micky that he was the best
+man in the world.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t believe in him&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t believe anything
+he says,&rdquo; Esther told herself feverishly; she moved on
+again away from the trays of flashing diamonds.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span></div>
+<p>Two girls passing her were chattering in French&ndash;&ndash;Esther
+looked after them vaguely.</p>
+<p>This was really Paris&ndash;&ndash;this rather noisy, confusing
+place; the Paris she had longed to see.</p>
+<p>A man passing stared at her, half stopped, went on
+again, then turned, paused irresolutely, and finally came
+back.</p>
+<p>He walked quickly till he drew abreast with her, and
+there was a curious eagerness in his face as he stooped
+a little to look down at hers; then he gave an exclamation
+of sheer amazement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lallie! Good heavens! What in the world are you
+doing here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was Raymond Ashton.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXX' id='CHAPTER_XXX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>And so the dream had come true after all, and she
+and Raymond were together in Paris.</p>
+<p>As she looked up into his handsome face it
+seemed to Esther that all the past hours of grief were
+as if they had never really existed; he was smiling down
+at her in the same old way; the very tone of his voice
+awoke forgotten memories in her heart; she felt as if
+a gnawing pain which had allowed her no rest had suddenly
+been lulled to sleep.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it must be you,&rdquo; Raymond was saying nervously.
+&ldquo;And yet I could not be sure. Somehow I
+never thought of you and Paris as being in any way
+compatible, and yet&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He broke off; it had been on
+the tip of his tongue to say that she had never looked
+sweeter or more desirable.</p>
+<p>His overwhelming conceit suddenly woke the wish
+in his heart to know if she still cared, or if she had
+forgotten him, and a little flush crossed his face and his
+eyes grew tender as they met the tragedy of hers; he
+looked hastily round.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t talk here. Will you come to a caf&eacute;? There
+is so much I should like to say to you. When did you
+come over? What are you doing here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were walking slowly along, the man&rsquo;s head bent
+ardently towards her.</p>
+<p>He had once told Micky that this girl was the only
+woman he had ever loved, and perhaps it was right&ndash;&ndash;as
+he accounted love.</p>
+<p>He took her to a caf&eacute;&ndash;&ndash;one where there would be
+nobody likely to recognise him; he ordered coffee and
+biscuits.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Now we can talk undisturbed,&rdquo; he said; he moved his
+chair closer to Esther&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;he laid his hand on hers.</p>
+<p>She did not move or try to evade his touch; she just
+looked down at his hand for a moment and then up at
+the handsome face which had for so long meant all the
+world to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never thought we should meet again here of all
+places,&rdquo; he said in his soft voice. &ldquo;How long ago does
+it seem to you since we said good-bye?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She could not answer, but the thought floated through
+her mind that they never had said good-bye, that he had
+just walked out of her life and stayed away until this
+moment, when fate had thrown them together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you knew how often I have thought about you,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you get my letter, Lallie? The one I wrote on
+New Year&rsquo;s Eve&ndash;&ndash;and the money? I sent you some
+money.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A swift flush dyed her cheeks; she raised her eyes.</p>
+<p>That had been his letter then, after all&ndash;&ndash;Micky had
+lied to her; she caught her breath on a little gasp.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said faintly. &ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;yes, I got it&ndash;&ndash;thank
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve often thought since that I might have written
+you a kinder letter,&rdquo; he said after a moment. &ldquo;But
+everything had gone wrong then&ndash;&ndash;the mater cut up
+rough&ndash;&ndash;and I was up to my eyes in debt. It was the
+best thing for both of us to put an end to it, don&rsquo;t you
+think it was? You used to say that you wouldn&rsquo;t mind
+being poor, but in the end you&rsquo;d have hated it as much
+as I should.&rdquo; He paused as if expecting her to speak,
+but she was plucking at the blue-and-white fringe of
+the tablecloth with nervous fingers.</p>
+<p>What did he mean&ndash;&ndash;that he might have written her a
+kinder letter&ndash;&ndash;when she always remembered it as one
+of the dearest she had ever received?</p>
+<p>He went on again&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It hurt me more than you&rsquo;ll ever know.&rdquo; There was
+a sort of self-satisfaction in his voice. &ldquo;It took me a
+long time to forget you, Lallie, and then, just as I was
+beginning, I saw you at the theatre&ndash;&ndash;in the stalls ...
+with Mellowes.&rdquo; His brows met above his handsome
+eyes. &ldquo;Mellowes wasn&rsquo;t long picking you up,&rdquo; he added
+jealously.</p>
+<p>Her lip quivered, but she did not raise her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You saw me, too, didn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he persisted. &ldquo;I know
+you did, because Mellowes came round afterwards and
+cursed me to all eternity.&rdquo; He laughed. &ldquo;I should have
+made a point of seeing you the next day if it hadn&rsquo;t
+been for his confounded interference,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;He
+told me to get out of London and leave you alone.&rdquo; He
+bent towards her a little. &ldquo;What is Mellowes to you?&rdquo;
+he asked her deliberately.</p>
+<p>She raised her eyes now, and somehow it seemed as
+if, in the last few moments, the man she had known and
+loved had changed into a stranger&ndash;&ndash;some one whom she
+had never seen before, whom she hoped never to see
+again.</p>
+<p>She forced her lips to smile; she felt at that moment
+she would die rather than let him see how she was suffering,
+or guess how she had suffered in the past.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been kind to me,&rdquo; she said voicelessly. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s
+all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Raymond made a little, inarticulate sound.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got me to thank for ever getting to know you,&rdquo;
+he said. &ldquo;I gave him your address and asked him to
+take you out a bit if he fancied it.... I asked him
+to be kind to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The hands in her lap twitched convulsively.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If I&rsquo;d had one tenth of his beastly money,&rdquo; Raymond
+said then savagely, &ldquo;we shouldn&rsquo;t be sitting here
+now as if we were strangers&ndash;&ndash;as if ... Lallie&ndash;&ndash;do
+you remember the good time we used to have&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I remember everything.&rdquo; He bent closer.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I never cared for any woman in all my life but you.
+It&rsquo;s cursed hard luck.&rdquo; He sighed. &ldquo;You know I&rsquo;m
+married?&rdquo; he asked abruptly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes!&rdquo; The words came stiffly.</p>
+<p>His eyes searched her white face jealously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t seem to care. I&rsquo;ve often wondered if you
+knew&ndash;&ndash;and if you minded!&rdquo; He sat staring before him,
+and there was a little smile in his eyes. &ldquo;We do things
+in style now, I can tell you,&rdquo; he said with sudden change
+of voice. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s as rich as you please, and she likes to
+spend her money.&rdquo; Another silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you&rsquo;ll be happy,&rdquo; Esther said faintly.</p>
+<p>Afterwards she wondered what made her say it, seeing
+that she did not care in the very least if he were
+happy or not; why should she care? This man was a
+stranger to her.</p>
+<p>He laughed ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I suppose we shall,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s not a bad
+sort, and she lets me alone....&rdquo; He roused himself
+suddenly and bent closer to her. &ldquo;Lallie&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ll let me
+see you again. There&rsquo;s no reason why we can&rsquo;t be&ndash;&ndash;friends&ndash;&ndash;just
+because I&rsquo;m married&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He tried to
+take her hand, but now she repulsed him, though very
+gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to be a little prude?&rdquo; he said in a
+whisper. &ldquo;I can give you the time of your life if you&rsquo;ll
+let me. I&rsquo;ve plenty of money now&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your wife&rsquo;s money,&rdquo; said Esther with stiff lips.</p>
+<p>He looked annoyed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you like to put it that way&ndash;&ndash;but she doesn&rsquo;t mind&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;s
+too fond of me to mind how much I spend ...
+Lallie&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She hated to hear that name, because once
+she had loved it.</p>
+<p>She closed her eyes for a moment with a little sick
+shudder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you faint?&rdquo; he asked anxiously. &ldquo;I suppose it
+is warm in here. Take your coat off! Jove! that&rsquo;s a
+fine coat&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He ran an appreciative hand down the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span>
+soft fur sleeve; a sudden suspicion crept into his eyes.
+&ldquo;Who gave you that?&rdquo; he asked sharply. &ldquo;Not Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;at least....&rdquo; She could not go on. Micky
+had given it to her, she knew, but she would have bitten
+her tongue through rather than have told this man.</p>
+<p>It had been Micky all the time&ndash;&ndash;Micky....</p>
+<p>She thrust the thought of him from her; she did not
+want to think of him now. There would be plenty of
+time later on; plenty of time when she had shaken
+off the last rag of the past.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It cost a pretty penny, whoever bought it,&rdquo; he said
+sulkily. &ldquo;What else has he given you? If you can take
+presents from him you can&rsquo;t refuse to let me see you
+sometimes, and after all&ndash;&ndash;you did love me once....
+Esther, do you remember the way you cried that last
+day?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said mechanically, &ldquo;I remember; I remember
+everything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You loved me well enough then,&rdquo; he reminded her
+moodily. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t behave like an iceberg then, Lallie,
+and I&rsquo;m not really changed; I&rsquo;m the same man I was&ndash;&ndash;I
+care for you just as much&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re married!&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She felt as if she had so much time mapped out before
+her during which she must put up with this man&rsquo;s
+society; as if each moment were another inch torn in
+the rags of disillusionment which had got to be destroyed
+thoroughly before she could ever hope to gather up the
+broken threads of her life again.</p>
+<p>He laughed at her reminder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the only married man who sometimes forgets
+that he is no longer a bachelor,&rdquo; he said detestably.</p>
+<p>He laid an arm familiarly along the back of her chair.
+He touched her chin with his fingers.</p>
+<p>She moved back, the hot blood rushing riotously over
+her face. She was white no longer; she looked like a
+marble Galatea suddenly brought to life.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span></div>
+<p>Raymond Ashton laughed, well pleased. He was confident
+that he had not lost his power over her. For the
+moment his appalling vanity blinded him to the fact that
+it was not love in her eyes, but scorn.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you thinking, Lallie?&rdquo; he asked her.</p>
+<p>She sat very straight and stiff in her chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am thinking,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;how impossible it seems
+that I can ever have thought that I cared for you.&rdquo; Her
+voice was low but very clear, and he heard each word
+distinctly. &ldquo;I am thinking that you are the most contemptible
+thing I have ever met in my life&ndash;&ndash;I am thinking
+how sorry I am for the woman who is your wife.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She pushed back her chair and rose.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Would you like to hear any more of my thoughts?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p>Ashton had risen too; there was a look of bewildered
+amazement in his face; he tried to laugh. Even now he
+thought she was joking.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lallie&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said hoarsely. He half held his hand to
+her. &ldquo;Lallie&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said again&ndash;&ndash;but the cold contempt
+of her face struck the appeal from her lips.</p>
+<p>He drew himself up with a poor attempt at dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So virtue is to be the order of the day, is it?&rdquo; he
+said sneeringly. &ldquo;Very well&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; His eyes flamed as
+they rested on her face. &ldquo;It makes one wonder why
+you are here&ndash;&ndash;in Paris&ndash;&ndash;alone!&rdquo; he said insultingly&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;If
+you are alone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little point of silence. For a moment
+Esther scanned his handsome face as if she were trying
+to remember what it was she had ever loved in him&ndash;&ndash;his
+eyes!&ndash;&ndash;but they were so cruel and insolent&ndash;&ndash;his lips
+... she shuddered, realising that in all her life she
+could never undo the memory of his kisses&ndash;&ndash;then she
+pulled herself together with a great effort and turned
+away.</p>
+<p>He followed. His amazement had gone now&ndash;&ndash;he was
+merely furiously angry&ndash;&ndash;his face was crimson&ndash;&ndash;he caught
+her arm in a grip that hurt.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;My God, you&rsquo;re not going like this,&rdquo; he said furiously.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s only a few weeks ago that you were crying round
+my neck and begging me not to throw you over. Oh,
+that hurts, does it?&rdquo; he said as she winced. &ldquo;I dare say
+you&rsquo;d like all that wiped out and forgotten. But I&rsquo;ve
+got a few letters to remember you by&ndash;&ndash;a few letters that
+would hardly make pleasant reading for the next man
+who is fool enough to waste his time on you&ndash;&ndash;and I
+promise you I&rsquo;ll send them along if it&rsquo;s Mellowes or any
+other man&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She raised triumphant eyes to his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t read them,&rdquo; she said passionately. &ldquo;Send
+them if you like; but he wouldn&rsquo;t read them&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She
+was not conscious of the admission in her words&ndash;&ndash;she
+only knew that the knowledge that Micky was there
+somewhere in the background gave her the strength to
+defy Ashton.</p>
+<p>She saw the sudden fury that filled his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then&ndash;&ndash;then you admit that it&rsquo;s Mellowes,&rdquo; he stammered.
+&ldquo;That it&rsquo;s he who has taken my place&ndash;&ndash;who
+has cut me out&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; His voice changed to a sort of
+threat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I might have know what he meant to do. I might
+have guessed. Wait till I see him&ndash;&ndash;wait till I get back
+to London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled&ndash;&ndash;a little smile of security and confidence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is no need to wait,&rdquo; she said quietly. &ldquo;Mr.
+Mellowes is here in Paris with me, if you wish to see
+him.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXI' id='CHAPTER_XXXI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Ashton echoed Esther&rsquo;s words hoarsely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here! With you! in Paris!... Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A wave of bitterest jealousy surged through him.
+He fell back a step, struck dumb by the force of his
+emotions, and Esther fled away from him down the street.</p>
+<p>She seemed to have awakened all at once to her true
+position. She was alone, with only a few shillings in her
+pocket and in a strange city.</p>
+<p>She was tired to death. She felt as if her limbs would
+give way beneath her. The driver of a fiacre looked at
+her and drew his horse to the kerb.</p>
+<p>Esther nodded; she threw her suit-case on to the seat
+and clambered in after it.</p>
+<p>But where to go? The old blinding fear of her loneliness
+rushed back. Where could she go?</p>
+<p>Then she suddenly remembered the hotel from which
+Micky had written to her. She would go there. It would
+be somewhere at least to sleep and rest.</p>
+<p>It was only a little drive to the hotel; she wished it
+had been longer.</p>
+<p>A commissionaire came forward, and said something
+in French. She looked up at him, but his face seemed
+all indistinct and unreal. She tried to answer, but her
+own voice sounded as if it were miles away.</p>
+<p>They were in the small, rather dreary lounge. Esther
+passed a hand across her eyes. She must conquer this
+absurd weakness. She forced herself to remember that
+she was alone, but she felt as if she had no will-power
+left.</p>
+<p>A door in front of her opened suddenly, and a man
+came into the lounge.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span></div>
+<p>When he saw Esther he stopped. The hot colour
+rushed to his face. He seemed to be waiting for some
+sign from her. For a moment their eyes met; then,
+hardly knowing what she did, Esther held out her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, please,&rdquo; she said faintly, &ldquo;oh, please tell me&ndash;&ndash;what
+I am to do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But for the next few minutes she was past remembering
+anything, though she never really lost consciousness.
+She only knew that everything was all right now
+Micky was here&ndash;&ndash;and the sheer relief the knowledge
+brought with it for the time threw her into a sort of
+apathy.</p>
+<p>Some one took off her hat and the big fur coat that
+had grown so heavy; some one had bathed her face and
+unlaced her shoes, and now Micky stood there looking
+down at her with eyes that hurt, though they smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told them to bring lunch in here,&rdquo; he went on.
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll like it better than the public room&ndash;&ndash;and I haven&rsquo;t
+had mine yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked up at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And can we&ndash;&ndash;can we go back to London to-day?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We can go any time you like,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>He felt he had aged years during that morning. No
+sooner had Esther got out of his sight at the station than
+he was beside himself with remorse for having allowed
+her to go; he had spent the whole morning wandering
+about looking for her. He had been to this hotel a
+dozen times; he had only just come in again when she
+followed.</p>
+<p>The relief of having her safely in his charge once more
+was almost more than he could bear. He walked over
+to the door, then stopped and looked back at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t ... you won&rsquo;t run away from me
+again, will you?&rdquo; he asked. For the first time there was
+real emotion in his voice.</p>
+<p>Esther had been sitting looking into the fire; she raised
+her head now.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t go,&rdquo; she said tremulously. &ldquo;Please don&rsquo;t go.
+I want to speak to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He flushed crimson, he tried to make some excuse.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Another time.... You&rsquo;re tired. I&rsquo;ll come back
+presently. You ought to get some rest if we&rsquo;re to go
+back to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It must be now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shut the door, but he kept as far away from her
+as possible, standing over by the window that looked
+into the dreary winter garden.</p>
+<p>There was something implacable about his tall figure.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, won&rsquo;t you come here?&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>He obeyed at once. He rested an elbow on the mantelshelf
+and kept his eyes fixed on the fire.</p>
+<p>There as a little silence, then Esther said, almost in
+a whisper:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I want to beg your pardon. I hope you will&ndash;&ndash;will
+try and forgive me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not move.</p>
+<p>She struggled on:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen ... Mr. Ashton.&rdquo; Somehow she could
+not bring herself to speak of him by his Christian name.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I know&ndash;&ndash;I know&ndash;&ndash;that I&rsquo;ve been&ndash;&ndash;been a fool.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her voice broke. She gripped the arms of the chair
+hard to keep herself from breaking down.</p>
+<p>Micky forced himself to speak.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad you&rsquo;ve seen him&ndash;&ndash;as you wished it,&rdquo; he said
+jerkily. &ldquo;But as hoping I will forgive you, there&rsquo;s nothing
+to forgive&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s all the other way on. I behaved like&ndash;&ndash;like
+a cad&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s for you to forgive me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He smiled faintly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And now we&rsquo;ve both said the right thing I&rsquo;ll go and
+see about that train,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>But again she stopped him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want you to go&ndash;&ndash;I want to talk to you. I
+want ... oh, I don&rsquo;t know what I do want!&rdquo; she
+finished, with a sob.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re tired out,&rdquo; Micky said calmly, though he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
+looked anything but calm, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m going to bully you
+and insist that you rest. I&rsquo;ll come back presently....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went away quickly, as if he were afraid of being
+kept against his will but outside the door he stood still
+for a moment with his hand over his eyes before he
+pulled himself together and went on.</p>
+<p>Esther listened to his departing steps with a sinking at
+her heart.</p>
+<p>What had she hoped for? She hardly knew, but she
+felt as if she had made an overture of friendship that
+had been kindly but decidedly refused.</p>
+<p>Her cheeks burned. It was not what she had expected.</p>
+<p>It seemed an eternity till Micky came back again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a train in half an hour,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;We
+can get back to town very comfortably. I&rsquo;ve wired to
+June to meet us. She probably came up from Enmore
+yesterday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June! Esther had almost forgotten June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You ought to be getting ready if we are to catch
+that train,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;Would you rather stay till
+to-morrow? I&rsquo;m afraid the journey will tire you dreadfully.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She rose hurriedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, no&ndash;&ndash;oh no, I&rsquo;d much rather go!&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>Micky had reserved a carriage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think I will go in a smoker,&rdquo; he said. He put some
+magazines and a box of chocolates on the seat; he avoided
+looking at her. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a corridor train so I&rsquo;ll come and
+see that you are all right occasionally&ndash;&ndash;if I may.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not answer; she felt a little chill of disappointment.
+He had not asked a single question about
+Raymond, and now he was suggesting that they travel
+the long journey separately.</p>
+<p>He hesitated.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you be all right?&rdquo; he asked awkwardly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, thank you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went away, and presently the train started. Esther
+looked out of the window and watched the city as it
+was rapidly left behind.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never want to see it again,&rdquo; was the thought in
+her heart. &ldquo;I wish I never had seen it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She felt like a naughty child who has run away from
+home and is being ignominiously brought back.</p>
+<p>Last night seemed like some fevered dream; Raymond
+Ashton some man of whom she had read in a book or
+seen in a play.</p>
+<p>A phantom lover!&ndash;&ndash;he had not even been that, and
+once she had wished to die because she had got to be
+separated from him.</p>
+<p>Her eyes fell on her hand&ndash;&ndash;she still wore his ring.</p>
+<p>With sudden passion she dragged it from her finger;
+she let the window down with a run and flung the ring
+far out into the grey evening. It was the end of a dream;
+the final uprooting of an illusion.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXII' id='CHAPTER_XXXII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther slept through the long journey fitfully&ndash;&ndash;she
+was mentally and physically exhausted. She
+was only thoroughly aroused by people out in the
+corridor moving about collecting bags and baggage.</p>
+<p>She opened her eyes with a confused feeling&ndash;&ndash;the train
+was slackening speed, and Micky stood in the doorway.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are nearly in,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>The train was almost at a standstill.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Calais! Calais!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther rose to her feet&ndash;&ndash;her limbs were trembling, and
+her head ached dully.</p>
+<p>Micky took her suit-case from the rack.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better fasten your coat,&rdquo; he said casually. &ldquo;It
+will be cold on the boat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him half fearfully. Was this the same
+man who had followed her from Enmore with such passionate
+haste and eagerness? He was perfectly undisturbed
+now at all events, he seemed even to avoid looking
+at her.</p>
+<p>When they got on board he found her a chair on the
+leeside of the boat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you a good sailor?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I&rsquo;ve never been any distance until
+yesterday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better stay here; it&rsquo;s preferable to that stuffy
+cabin.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But he left her alone almost the whole time, though
+she knew that he walked up and down close to where
+she sat. She could see the glow of his cigar through
+the darkness and hear the slow sound of his steps.</p>
+<p>She tried to think things over quietly as she sat there,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span>
+but everything seemed so unreal, and most of all the fact
+that Micky had once professed to love her.</p>
+<p>In the train he left her to herself till they reached
+London. He was sure she &ldquo;did not want to be bothered,&rdquo;
+he said, and he was going to smoke.</p>
+<p>Esther felt a little pang of disappointment. It seemed
+a long time till the train steamed fussily into Charing
+Cross; and the old weary feeling of loneliness had settled
+again upon her heart by the time Micky came to the
+door of the carriage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June is sure to be somewhere about,&rdquo; he said laconically.
+&ldquo;Will you stay here while I see if I can find her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took a hurried step forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I&rsquo;ll come with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She felt afraid of June&rsquo;s kindly quizzical eyes; June
+who knew why she had run away to Paris, and what
+had been awaiting her there.</p>
+<p>She touched Micky&rsquo;s arm&ndash;&ndash;the eyes she raised to his
+face were troubled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When shall I see you again?&rdquo; she asked falteringly.</p>
+<p>He half smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you want to see me again?&rdquo; he questioned
+gravely. &ldquo;You can have no use for me&ndash;&ndash;after this!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed painfully. Through the crowd she saw
+June pushing towards them. This was the last moment
+she would have with Micky, she knew, and in a flash
+something seemed to tell her what this man had meant
+to her during the last two terrible days.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she said tremblingly, &ldquo;if you only would let
+me thank you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed harshly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hate thanks,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>June was upon them; she seized Esther and kissed
+her rapturously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You darling! You&rsquo;ll never know how glad I am to
+see you. I&rsquo;ve been here for hours. Aren&rsquo;t you dead
+tired? Micky, she looks worn out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Does she?&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span></div>
+<p>He was dead beat himself; he looked round vacantly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wired Driver&ndash;&ndash;I thought he&rsquo;d be here....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here, sir,&rdquo; said a voice at his elbow, and there was
+Driver, stolid and impenetrable as ever.</p>
+<p>Micky was unfeignedly glad to see the little man;
+for almost the first time in his life he realised that sometimes
+dullness and short-sightedness are a blessing in
+disguise. Apparently to Driver there was nothing odd
+in this mad rush over to Paris; his expressionless eyes
+saw the untidiness of his master&rsquo; toilet without changing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve brought the car, sir,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good man; get me a taxi, then. You must take the car
+down to your rooms,&rdquo; Micky said to June. &ldquo;No, don&rsquo;t
+argue; I insist&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He put the two girls into the car; he did not look
+at Esther, though he squeezed June&rsquo;s hand when he said
+good-bye.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me know if you get back all right; I shall see
+you soon.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He raised his hat, stood aside, and the car started forward.</p>
+<p>June looked at Esther with a sort of shyness. It
+seemed as if years must have passed since they were
+down at Enmore.</p>
+<p>The car had rolled out of the station and into the
+heart of London before either of them spoke; then Esther
+said, stiltedly:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was kind of you to come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t kind at all,&rdquo; she said bluntly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re my
+friends, or, at least, you were, and, as for Micky&ndash;&ndash;well,
+I love him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a sort of defiance in her voice. She had
+seen the tired, strained look in Micky&rsquo;s face, and she
+was nearer being angry with Esther than she had ever
+been, but she turned and took her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Somehow I never thought I should see you again,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span>
+she said, with real emotion. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t slept a wink
+since you went away.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re much too good to me,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;Everyone
+is much too good to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think Micky is, certainly,&rdquo; June agreed exasperatedly.
+&ldquo;The man&rsquo;s a perfect fool to run about like he
+does after a woman who doesn&rsquo;t care two hoots about
+him.... There! now I oughtn&rsquo;t to have said that.
+Esther, if you&rsquo;re crying....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had covered her face with her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not crying,&rdquo; she said in a stifled voice. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m
+so ashamed. I don&rsquo;t know what you must think of me&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s
+so&ndash;&ndash;so humiliating.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nothing of the kind,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;The only
+mistake you&rsquo;ve made is to put your money on the wrong
+man, if you&rsquo;ll excuse the expression. Raymond Ashton
+was always an outsider.... There! I won&rsquo;t say
+another word. You&rsquo;ve come home, and that&rsquo;s all that
+matters.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was only when they were safely up in the room with
+the mauve cushions that she flung her hat down on the
+sofa and drew a long breath.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I never thought we should be here together
+again,&rdquo; she said tragically. &ldquo;It seemed like the end of
+everything when I found your note on the pincushion.
+I don&rsquo;t know what I should have done if it hadn&rsquo;t been
+for Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what I should have done either,&rdquo; Esther
+said. She met June&rsquo;s eyes and flushed crimson. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve
+been horrid about him, I know,&rdquo; she added bravely. &ldquo;And
+now I&rsquo;m sorry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June said &ldquo;Humph.&rdquo; She sat for a moment staring
+at the floor, then she got up and searched for the inevitable
+cigarettes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You ought to go to bed,&rdquo; she said in her most matter-of-fact
+tone. &ldquo;Where did you sleep last night?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nowhere&ndash;&ndash;at least&ndash;&ndash;we were in the train all night.
+I did sleep a little, but....&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span></div>
+<p>June took her by the shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Off you go to bed, and don&rsquo;t argue. I&rsquo;ve had a fire
+put in your room, and Charlie is there with a new bow
+on. I&rsquo;ll come and tuck you up when you&rsquo;re ready,
+and....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Esther refused to move.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t sleep if I went to bed. I want to tell you
+about&ndash;&ndash;about what&rsquo;s happened....&rdquo; She paused
+breathlessly, but June was not going to help her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to hear anything,&rdquo; she said flatly. She
+looked at Esther and saw the tears in the younger girl&rsquo;s
+eyes. She put an arm round her, drawing her down to
+the sofa.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me all about it, then,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just&ndash;&ndash;just
+longing to know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But there isn&rsquo;t much to tell, except&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Esther held
+out her left hand. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not engaged any more,&rdquo; she
+said with a faint attempt to laugh. &ldquo;He&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Ashton&ndash;&ndash;is
+married....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know&ndash;&ndash;Micky told me before we went to Enmore.
+I hope he&rsquo;s married a vixen who&rsquo;ll lead him an awful
+dance. It would serve her right to let her know the
+sort of man he is&ndash;&ndash;to let her know the sort of letters he&rsquo;s
+been writing to you&ndash;&ndash;to show him up properly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther hid her face in the mauve cushions.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but he has never written to me,&rdquo; she said chokingly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had a letter from him since he went
+away, and that was on New Year&rsquo;s Eve. It&rsquo;s all been
+a mistake&ndash;&ndash;a sham ... he never cared for me&ndash;&ndash;he
+never really wanted me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June threw away the cigarette and tried to raise Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you talking about? He did write to you&ndash;&ndash;you
+told me yourself that he wrote beautiful letters&ndash;&ndash;he
+sent you that money&ndash;&ndash;Esther! what do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked up; for a moment June caught a glimpse
+of misty, shamed eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t from him: those letters&ndash;&ndash;the money
+never came from him,&rdquo; she said in a stifled voice.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;What! My good child, have you gone out of your
+mind?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June was a hundred miles from guessing the truth.
+&ldquo;If he didn&rsquo;t write them, then who in the world did?&rdquo;
+she demanded crisply. &ldquo;And if he didn&rsquo;t send the money,
+who in the wide world....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She caught her breath on a sudden illuminating
+thought.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther ... not&ndash;&ndash;not&ndash;&ndash;Micky!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; It was the smallest whisper, and it was followed
+by a tragic silence; then June got up and began
+walking aimlessly about the room; she felt as if she had
+been robbed of all breath.</p>
+<p>Twice she turned and looked at Esther&rsquo;s huddled figure,
+then she went back, laid a hand on her arm and said
+in an odd, gentle voice that was strangely unlike her
+own brisk tones:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And do you mean to say that you don&rsquo;t just think
+him the finest man in all the world?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther sat up with sudden passion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think of him at all&ndash;&ndash;it was like having a
+knife turned in my heart when I knew,&rdquo; she said wildly.
+&ldquo;Oh, you can&rsquo;t understand if you&rsquo;ve never cared for
+anybody what it feels like to know that you&rsquo;ve been made
+a fool of. When he told me I felt that I hated him&ndash;&ndash;there
+didn&rsquo;t seem anything fine or good in what he had
+done; I only knew that I&rsquo;d been played with, made fun
+of....&rdquo; She stopped, sobbing desperately, but for
+once June attempted no consolation. She was looking at
+Micky&rsquo;s portrait on the shelf, and there was a wonderful
+tenderness in her queer eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who told you?&rdquo; she asked then. &ldquo;Who told you that
+it was Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He did&ndash;&ndash;he only told me when he knew why I was
+going to Paris&ndash;&ndash;he told me in the train. It&rsquo;s been from
+Mr. Mellowes all along&ndash;&ndash;the money I&rsquo;ve had every week&ndash;&ndash;my
+clothes&ndash;&ndash;this coat ... he&rsquo;s been paying for
+my food, and for me to live here....&rdquo; She raised
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span>
+her eyes to June&rsquo;s face. &ldquo;Did you know?&rdquo; she asked
+shakily. &ldquo;He said you didn&rsquo;t, but somehow....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June rounded on her angrily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If Micky said that I didn&rsquo;t, that ought to be good
+enough,&rdquo; she said curtly. &ldquo;And of course, I didn&rsquo;t
+know&ndash;&ndash;if I had, I should have told him that he was a
+fool to waste his time and money on a girl who thought
+nothing of him,&rdquo; she added flatly. Her voice changed
+all at once. &ldquo;Oh, isn&rsquo;t he just splendid!&rdquo; she said emotionally.
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand it in the very least, why
+he has done it, or how he managed it, or anything, but
+I think it&rsquo;s the finest thing in all the world&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Esther
+turned away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I knew him before we met here&ndash;&ndash;he wanted to tell
+you, but I asked him not to&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She stopped and
+dragged on again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I met him on New Year&rsquo;s Eve&ndash;&ndash;I was so miserable&ndash;&ndash;there
+seemed nothing to live for, and he was kind and
+so ... so ... I told him a little of what was
+wrong, and I suppose he guessed the rest.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when he went to Paris that time it was all for
+your sake, and it was for your sake he kept coming
+here&ndash;&ndash;oh!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;June rose to her feet with a gesture of intolerance&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;if
+you don&rsquo;t just adore the ground he walks
+on,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you ought to, and that&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;ve got to
+say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther made no answer; she was looking into the fire
+with eyes that as yet saw only the ruins of a dream that
+had been so beautiful, the rapidly receding shadow of
+the man whom she had once made a giant figure in her
+life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never want to care for any one again,&rdquo; she said
+presently in a hard voice. &ldquo;You told me once that people
+were happier if they didn&rsquo;t love, and I think you were
+right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was an idiot to ever say such a thing,&rdquo; June cried
+in a rage. &ldquo;And you&rsquo;re a bigger idiot if you pretend
+to think I was right. There&rsquo;s nothing better in the whole
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
+world than being loved&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Her face flushed like a
+rose. &ldquo;If Micky had cared for me even a quarter as
+well as he does for you I would have married him, and
+that&rsquo;s the truth,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;It was only because I
+knew he hadn&rsquo;t anything except friendship to offer me
+that I knew it wasn&rsquo;t fair....&rdquo; She tried to cover
+the seriousness of her words with a laugh. She lit
+another cigarette. &ldquo;And now, having got rid of my
+heroics, let&rsquo;s talk sense,&rdquo; she added more calmly. &ldquo;But
+you ought to go to bed. You look worn out. You&rsquo;ll
+be a wreck in the morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to go to bed. I have such a lot to tell
+you. I shall have to leave here, of course; I haven&rsquo;t
+got any money. I must try and find a post. I thought of
+asking Eldred&rsquo;s to take me back; there might be a vacancy
+now....&rdquo; But her voice sounded weary and hopeless.</p>
+<p>June swooped down on her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You poor tired baby, come along to bed and don&rsquo;t
+worry any more. You&rsquo;ve got me whatever happens, and
+if the worst comes to the worst there&rsquo;s always June
+Mason&rsquo;s wonderful skin food for both of us to live on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They went upstairs together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing like sunshine to put you on good
+terms with yourself,&rdquo; she said philosophically. &ldquo;Whenever
+I&rsquo;m in the dumps or feel that I&rsquo;m looking particularly
+plain, I put on my best hat and go out in the sunshine,
+and I assure you I&rsquo;m a good-looking woman when I
+come home again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re always better than good-looking,&rdquo; Esther told
+her.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXIII' id='CHAPTER_XXXIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>June tucked Esther up in bed and replenished the
+fire. She turned out the gas, leaving the room fire-lit.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June,&rdquo; Esther said timidly. &ldquo;What did your aunt
+think? What did she say&ndash;&ndash;when&ndash;&ndash;when&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She said we must go back and finish our visit another
+time&ndash;&ndash;she took a great fancy to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re saying that to please me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not! honest Injun!&rdquo; June heard the tears in
+Esther&rsquo;s voice; she bent and kissed her gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, not another word! I refuse to answer another
+question! Pleasant dreams&ndash;&ndash;or better still, no
+dreams at all.&rdquo; She went away, and shut her door behind
+her.</p>
+<p>Esther lay awake for a long time watching the firelight
+on the walls and ceiling, and thinking of what had
+happened.</p>
+<p>It seemed impossible that she had even really seen
+and spoken to Raymond Ashton; impossible that instead
+of loving him desperately, she could only shudder at the
+memory of him.</p>
+<p>The tears forced their way to her eyes, and scorched
+her cheeks. But for Micky, where might she not have
+been now?&ndash;&ndash;and he had refused to even let her thank
+him. Her heart was filled with a new humility. At
+best her words would be so poor&ndash;&ndash;like beggars in the
+palace of his generosity.</p>
+<p>But she would see him again soon&ndash;&ndash;she comforted herself
+with the assurance. In spite of his changed manner
+and apparent indifference, she was sure she would see
+him again. Micky&ndash;&ndash;as June had said of him&ndash;&ndash;never
+failed!</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span></div>
+<p>It was her last thought as she fell asleep, that she
+would surely see him the next day.</p>
+<p>But Micky did not come!</p>
+<p>Esther rested till lunch time, after which June insisted
+on a walk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The sun&rsquo;s shining, and it&rsquo;s wicked to stay indoors,&rdquo;
+she declared; she marched Esther about for half an
+hour.</p>
+<p>Esther had been so sure that Micky would come. She
+glanced up at the clock, and then at Micky&rsquo;s photograph&ndash;&ndash;but
+to-day he seemed to be looking past her into
+the room to where June was bustling about, and she gave
+a little sigh.</p>
+<p>The evening dragged away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you thinking about?&rdquo; June asked once
+abruptly. &ldquo;You look so sad, don&rsquo;t look sad, my dear!
+there&rsquo;s lots of happy days to come yet&ndash;&ndash;happier days
+than you&rsquo;ve ever had.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was only half listening. It was too late for
+Micky to come now was the thought in her mind. Supposing
+he never came again?</p>
+<p>She cried herself to sleep that night. When she woke
+it was late in the morning, and June had had her breakfast
+and gone out.</p>
+<p>She came in while Esther was dressing. She looked
+very pleased and alert.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Business, my child!&rdquo; she said enthusiastically. &ldquo;Such
+a duck of an American! and Micky&rsquo;s introduction! Mr.
+George P. Rochester!&ndash;&ndash;isn&rsquo;t it a lovely name? He&rsquo;s
+going to establish me firmly in little old New York, as
+he calls it, and make my fortune. I&rsquo;m going out to lunch
+with him at one o&rsquo;clock, and you&rsquo;re coming too!&ndash;&ndash;Oh,
+yes you <i>are</i>!&rdquo; as Esther shook her head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told him
+all about you already.&rdquo; Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must have got on very fast,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And
+anyway I&rsquo;m not going to play odd-man-out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June made a little grimace.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I telephoned Micky and asked him to come and make
+a fourth,&rdquo; she admitted.</p>
+<p>Esther flushed. She looked up eagerly:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;and is he coming?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, he isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said with overdone indifference.
+&ldquo;He said he&rsquo;d got an engagement already, but between
+you and me and the doorpost,&rdquo; she added darkly, &ldquo;I
+don&rsquo;t believe it! I think he just didn&rsquo;t <i>want</i> to come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Esther faintly. &ldquo;I expect he has a good
+many engagements,&rdquo; she added after a moment.</p>
+<p>June said &ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; She recalled the curt manner of
+Micky&rsquo;s refusal, and wondered if there had been a more
+serious rupture between himself and Esther than she was
+ever likely to hear about.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So we shall have to make up our minds to enjoy ourselves
+without his distinguished company,&rdquo; she said airly.
+&ldquo;I dare say we shall be able to manage quite nicely.
+Esther, aren&rsquo;t you going to wear your fur coat?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My fur coat!&rdquo; said Esther rather unsteadily. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+not mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was taking from the wardrobe the shabby jacket
+she had worn the first night she met Micky; it looked
+more shabby and unsmart than ever, but she was going
+to wear it whatever happened.</p>
+<p>She was smarting with humiliation. She had offered
+Micky her little olive branch when they parted two days
+ago at Charing Cross, and this is how he had accepted
+it!</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If he&rsquo;s trying to pay me out, I suppose it&rsquo;s only what
+I deserve,&rdquo; she thought miserably, and yet it did not seem
+like Micky to deliberately try or wish to hurt or humiliate
+any one.</p>
+<p>She did her best to push the shadow aside. She tried
+to laugh and talk with June as they went off to meet
+Mr. George P. Rochester.</p>
+<p>He was a big, bluff man, with a hand-clasp like the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span>
+grip of a bear, and a twang that could be cut with a
+knife.</p>
+<p>They lunched at a restaurant which she had never
+even heard of, though June seemed quite at home. There
+were several people at other tables, whom June knew,
+and Esther felt very out of it all, and unhappy.</p>
+<p>It was a good thing she had refused to marry Micky,
+she thought with a sort of anger. She knew none of his
+friends and nothing of the life to which he had always
+been accustomed. She did not realise that it was the
+knowledge of her shabby coat that was affecting her
+spirits more keenly than anything.</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s clothes were not new, but they had an unmistakable
+&ldquo;cut&rdquo; about them, and Rochester was exceedingly
+well dressed.</p>
+<p>He talked to June a great deal. Once or twice he
+tried to draw Esther into the conversation, but, seeing
+that she wished to be let alone, he soon gave up the attempt.</p>
+<p>He was certainly a most friendly person&ndash;&ndash;one would
+have thought that he and June had known one another
+for years. Before lunch was ended he had invited himself
+to tea for the following afternoon.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s Yankee push if you like!&rdquo; June said when
+he had gone. &ldquo;Give me a Yankee every time to make
+things go!&rdquo; She looked at Esther excitedly. &ldquo;Do you
+know,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve a great mind to try and persuade
+that man to come into partnership with me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should say he&rsquo;d suggest it himself if you give him
+another day or two,&rdquo; she said drily. She wandered listlessly
+round the room.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall have to leave here at the end of the week,&rdquo;
+she said suddenly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s impossible to go on living here,
+and letting you pay my rent and my food bill. I owe
+you more than I can ever repay already.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you talk like that I&rsquo;ll&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll kill you!&rdquo; said June in
+a rage. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t understand what friendship means.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span>
+Micky had tried to teach you, and so have I, and all you
+do is to throw it back in our faces.... O Esther,
+don&rsquo;t!...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had turned away and covered her face with
+her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know you think I&rsquo;m ungrateful and horrid,&rdquo; she
+said brokenly. &ldquo;But how would you like to be in my
+position? I haven&rsquo;t a shilling of my own in the world&ndash;&ndash;the
+things I&rsquo;ve been wearing since I came here are paid
+for by ... by ... oh, you know! I hate to
+look at that fur coat and my new frock. You talk to me
+about being proud and obstinate; well, I can&rsquo;t help it,
+you must go on thinking it, that&rsquo;s all; I&rsquo;d rather die
+than take anything more from any one. I kept myself
+before, and I will again....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to hurt you&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m a perfect beast,&rdquo; June
+declared in remorse. &ldquo;But it does seem such a shame.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther raised a flushed face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t all have money and be independent,&rdquo; she
+said hardily. &ldquo;But I think you might try and understand
+how I feel about it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I only know that I&rsquo;m dying to help you, and you
+won&rsquo;t let me,&rdquo; June said grumpily. &ldquo;Lord! where is my
+cigarette case? I shall swear or do something worse if
+I can&rsquo;t smoke.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She went out of the room, and Esther heard her go
+clattering up the stairs. There were tears in her eyes
+now, but she brushed them angrily away; after all, what
+was there to cry for! It was only that she had got
+to go back to where she had left off that New Year&rsquo;s
+Eve when she first met Micky; everything was just as
+it had been then, save that she was the poorer now by
+the loss of a dream.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXIV' id='CHAPTER_XXXIV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>June&rsquo;s friendship with Mr. George P. Rochester
+grew apace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&rsquo;s introductions are <i>always</i> a success,&rdquo; she
+told Esther. &ldquo;And Micky likes him too&ndash;&ndash;awfully! Mr.
+Rochester is round at Micky&rsquo;s rooms nearly every night.
+They&rsquo;re <i>ever</i> such pals!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are they?&rdquo; said Esther. The mention of Micky&rsquo;s name
+always seemed to make her heart quiver. She wondered
+if June knew why he never came to the house now, and
+what she thought about it all.</p>
+<p>In her own mind she was sure that Micky had cast
+her off, and the knowledge left her with a sense of
+desolation.</p>
+<p>She never spoke of him unless June did so first, and
+she tried never to think of him. But Micky was a personality
+not to be lightly dismissed from memory, and
+he haunted her thoughts waking and sleeping.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If I could only get some work,&rdquo; she told herself,
+&ldquo;it would be better. It&rsquo;s so dreadful having nothing to
+do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had applied to Eldred&rsquo;s unsuccessfully&ndash;&ndash;she had
+climbed the narrow stairs of the agency a dozen times
+only to be met with rebuff.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You refused an excellent post I offered to you,&rdquo; she
+was told icily. &ldquo;I am not likely to be able to find you
+such another.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June coaxed her into helping with the &ldquo;swindle.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t I&rsquo;ll have to pay some one else to do it,&rdquo;
+she declared. &ldquo;And oh, Esther, <i>don&rsquo;t</i> be so proud!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So Esther gave in. She filled the little mauve pots
+with the profound skin food and fastened on lids and
+labels till her head swam.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span></div>
+<p>Sometimes Mr. George P. Rochester came to help&ndash;&ndash;at
+least he called it &ldquo;help&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;but he did very little actual
+work, as he was always too busy looking at June and
+talking to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Has he suggested the partnership yet?&rdquo; Esther asked
+one night.</p>
+<p>June flushed rosily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be absurd,&rdquo; she answered, and something in
+her voice woke a little note of fear in Esther&rsquo;s heart.</p>
+<p>Was she to lose June too? Was there to be nothing
+left to her in all the world? Her hands shook as she
+went on mechanically filling the row of little mauve
+pots.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther,&rdquo; said June suddenly, &ldquo;how long is it since
+you saw Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little pause, then Esther said constrainedly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen him since&ndash;&ndash;since we came back
+from Paris.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She waited a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; she asked with an effort.</p>
+<p>June kept her eyes bent on her work.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because I haven&rsquo;t seen him myself for nearly a
+week,&rdquo; she said slowly. &ldquo;And I hear&ndash;&ndash;I hear that he&rsquo;s
+running round with that Deland girl again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not dare to look up as she spoke, and she went
+on quickly, &ldquo;Of course it may only be gossip&ndash;&ndash;but
+George&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Rochester&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she hurriedly corrected
+herself, &ldquo;tells me that Micky took him to their house
+to dinner last night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Silence. June filled pots at random, wildly, then Esther
+spoke.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done eight dozen,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you think that
+is enough to go on with?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June raised her eyes guiltily, then suddenly she pushed
+the laden tray from her and ran round to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she said impulsively, &ldquo;if only&ndash;&ndash;only you could
+have made yourself care for him.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span></div>
+<p>She put her arms round the younger girl&rsquo;s unresponsive
+figure.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to be happy too, so badly,&rdquo; she went on
+earnestly. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to tell you yet, but I must
+somehow. George&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Rochester&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she broke off,
+laughing and crying together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The man&rsquo;s a perfect disgrace,&rdquo; she protested, &ldquo;I
+told him so, too! I&rsquo;ve only known him three weeks,
+and&ndash;&ndash;and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she raised tear-drowned eyes to Esther&rsquo;s
+face. &ldquo;What can you do when a man that size kisses
+you?&rdquo; she demanded.</p>
+<p>Esther had to laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, do what you did,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Kiss him in return.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June wiped her eyes and laughed, and shed more tears.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never meant to marry any one,&rdquo; she said angrily.
+&ldquo;But the dreadful creature seems to want me so desperately
+badly. I&rsquo;m really utterly miserable, only&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O June!&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I am! At least!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;June looked up and suddenly
+laughed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a wicked liar! but
+oh, such a gloriously happy, wicked liar!&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>&ldquo;And it&rsquo;s all entirely due to me,&rdquo; Micky said when
+June rang him up the following morning to tell him the
+news.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I introduced you! What do I get out of it all I
+should like to know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His voice was playful, but June took him seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O Micky! if you could only be as happy as I am,&rdquo;
+she said eagerly.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If wishes were horses, my dear&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said sententiously.
+&ldquo;But don&rsquo;t worry about me, I&rsquo;m all right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then, will you come to dinner to-night? No, <i>not</i> at
+the boarding house! We&rsquo;ll go to the Savoy&ndash;&ndash;just to
+celebrate! We four!&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;We <i>four!</i>&rdquo; said Micky sharply.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;I shall bring Esther, of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was the smallest possible pause, then Micky
+said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, but I&rsquo;ve another engagement. I promised
+the Delands to go with them to the Hoopers&rsquo; dance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June said &ldquo;<i>Hang</i> the Delands,&rdquo; and rang off in a
+huff.</p>
+<p>Micky hung up the receiver and turned away. He
+was sorry to disappoint June, and yet he had no smallest
+intention of meeting Esther. If she had wanted him she
+would have sent a note or a message&ndash;&ndash;but she did not
+want him! More than once she had said that she hated
+him&ndash;&ndash;it was time to learn that she meant what she said.
+Micky&rsquo;s pride had got the upper hand at last, and he
+would rather have died now than make the smallest overture
+to the girl at whose feet he had once been willing
+to grovel.</p>
+<p>Driver came to the door:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A parcel, sir. Shall I bring it in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky answered absently:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver went out of the room. After a moment he
+came back with a square box which he set down on the
+table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shall I open it, sir?&rdquo; he asked, as Micky did not
+speak.</p>
+<p>Micky started.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; oh, yes&ndash;&ndash;open it. What the dickens is it? I
+haven&rsquo;t ordered anything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver said that he did not know&ndash;&ndash;that it had been left
+by a messenger. He untied the knotted string with neat
+precision, and rolled it into a ball before he removed the
+paper.</p>
+<p>Micky walked up to the table and lifted the lid with
+faint curiosity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A fur coat,&rdquo; he said blankly. &ldquo;A fur&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He stopped.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
+For a moment he stood staring down into the box, then
+he let the lid fall over it again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right&ndash;&ndash;you can go,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>Driver walked to the door stoically, and Micky went
+back to the fire.</p>
+<p>So she would not even keep the fur coat! She cared
+so little for him that she must needs send back his paltry
+gifts. What a fool he was to care&ndash;&ndash;what a fool!</p>
+<p>Driver, coming back for a moment, stopped petrified
+in the doorway. Micky was standing by the mantelpiece
+with his face buried in his arms.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXV' id='CHAPTER_XXXV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>It was late that night when Micky turned up at the
+Delands&rsquo;. He had taken extravagant pains with his
+toilet, lingering over it as long as possible. Ever
+since the arrival of that parcel from Esther, he had been
+trying to make up his mind to take the irrevocable step,
+and ask Marie Deland to be his wife. He was miserably
+sure that she would accept him, miserably sure that he
+was already forgiven for the past.</p>
+<p>He kept on persuading himself that it was the one
+and only thing left to him to do. He tried to believe
+that once the affair was settled, he would find some sort
+of happiness. After all, what did it matter whom he
+married if it could not be Esther?</p>
+<p>He looked pale but determined when he walked into
+the Delands&rsquo; drawing-room and found Marie there alone.
+She turned to greet him with a little eager movement
+that was somehow comforting.</p>
+<p>Here, at any rate, was some one who really cared for
+him and was glad to see him. He took the hand she
+held out and, bending, kissed it.</p>
+<p>She caught her breath on a little sound that was almost
+a sob, but she checked it instantly and tried to laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is almost like old times,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Quite like old times,&rdquo; Micky answered recklessly.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just turned the pages back again and gone on
+where we left off, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked at her and tried to forget everything else.
+She was pretty and dainty enough to satisfy the most
+exciting man, and she loved him! To a man who is
+disappointed and unhappy there is great consolation in
+the knowledge that to one person at least he counts before
+anything else in the world.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span></div>
+<p>She looked up at him, and impulsively he took a step
+towards her; another moment and Micky would have
+sealed his fate, had not Mrs. Deland pushed open the
+door and walked into the room.</p>
+<p>It had not been any effort for her to forgive Micky
+for his cavalier treatment of her daughter. For the
+last week she had been busy telling every one that Marie
+and Micky had made up their quarrel&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;entirely Marie&rsquo;s
+fault it was, you know,&rdquo; and so on.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are going to give me half your dances at least,&rdquo;
+Micky said, when they reached the Hoopers&rsquo;. He took
+the card from Marie&rsquo;s hand and filled in his own initials
+recklessly against the numbers.</p>
+<p>She laughed tremulously; she was too happy to think
+of anything but the present; she had got Micky again,
+and that was all she cared about.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-evening!&rdquo; said a voice at her side, and, turning,
+she found Raymond Ashton at her elbow.</p>
+<p>Marie did not care particularly for Ashton. She
+greeted him rather coldly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So you&rsquo;re back in town,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And your wife?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not here to-night,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;She has a bad
+cold, so I persuaded her to stay at home. May I have
+a dance?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She gave him her card reluctantly. She would have
+liked to have refused, but she thought Micky would be
+annoyed; she did not know that he and this man were
+friends no longer.</p>
+<p>She saw him glance at Micky&rsquo;s many initials on her
+card, saw the half ironical smile he gave as he looked
+at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mellowes is back, then?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;he came with us to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really! I thought&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he paused eloquently.</p>
+<p>Marie flushed, she knew quite well what he meant; that
+he must have known how Micky had once deserted her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I understood that Mellowes was in Paris.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton went on calmly.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;At least I was told so by an ... acquaintance
+of mine&ndash;&ndash;who was staying there with him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Marie&rsquo;s eyes dilated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Father and I crossed by the same boat as he did,&rdquo;
+she said with an effort. &ldquo;He was alone then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton laughed detestably. &ldquo;Ah, but not afterwards,&rdquo;
+he said&ndash;&ndash;then checked himself. &ldquo;But I forgot. I must
+not tell tales out of school, only as every one seems to
+have learned of his <i>penchant</i> for the little lady from
+Eldred&rsquo;s&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he laughed lightly.</p>
+<p>Marie stood staring down the long ballroom. The
+colour slowly faded from her cheeks, leaving her as
+white as her frock. She looked at Ashton, intent on a
+crease in his glove, and she broke out stammering:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How dare you say such a thing! I don&rsquo;t believe you&ndash;&ndash;in
+Paris&ndash;&ndash;Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He raised his brows with assumed surprise.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry&ndash;&ndash;perhaps I should not have spoken&ndash;&ndash;but
+I thought every one knew&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders. &ldquo;Of course it may be a
+mistake, but I happen to know the lady in question
+slightly&ndash;&ndash;through Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;and it was she who told
+me.... I am sorry if my carelessness has pained
+you&ndash;&ndash;excuse me, I am engaged for this dance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He bowed and left her standing there, white and
+dazed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe it! I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she told herself despairingly,
+and yet in her heart something told her that, for
+once at least, Ashton had spoken the truth.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Our dance, I think,&rdquo; said Micky beside her.</p>
+<p>She laid her hand on his arm mechanically; they went
+the round of the room once, then Micky, glancing down,
+saw how white she was and how her head drooped
+towards his shoulder.</p>
+<p>He tightened his arm a little&ndash;&ndash;he swept her skilfully
+out of the crowd and into a small anteroom; he put
+her into a chair and bent over her in concern.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You are not well&ndash;&ndash;what can I do? Can I get you
+anything?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a moment she did not speak, then all at once she
+rose to her feet; she clutched Micky by both arms; he
+could feel how her hands shook; there was heartbroken
+tragedy in her brown eyes as she looked into his face.
+For once she had forgotten her pride and the indifference
+into which she had been drilled for twenty years; she
+was no longer Marie Deland, a sought-after and courted
+beauty; she was just an unhappy, jealous woman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t true, Micky, is it?&rdquo; she entreated him; her
+voice was only a broken whisper. &ldquo;Tell me&ndash;&ndash;oh, please,
+please, tell me. You don&rsquo;t care for her, do you?&ndash;&ndash;it
+isn&rsquo;t true, is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She forgot that he did not know of what she was
+speaking; it seemed as if everybody in the world must
+know of this tragedy that had desolated her life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t bear it any longer&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s no use.... I&rsquo;ve
+borne all I can.... O Micky ... Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He forced her hands from his arms; he put her back
+into the chair and sat beside her; he hated to see the
+white despair of her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re ill&ndash;&ndash;upset.... It&rsquo;s all right&ndash;&ndash;everything
+is all right. You&rsquo;re not to worry any more....
+Everything is all right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At that moment he would have given his soul could
+he have truthfully said that he wanted her for his wife.
+He cursed himself for a cur and a coward, but somehow
+he could not force the words to his lips.</p>
+<p>She lay back against the cushions, hiding her face.</p>
+<p>There was a tragic moment of silence. Out in the
+ballroom a noisy one-step was in boisterous progress;
+there was a great deal of laughter and chattering; the
+little anteroom seemed as if it must be in another
+world.</p>
+<p>Micky got up. He walked across the room and shut
+the door. There was a hard look about his mouth. For
+an instant he stood staring down at the floor irresolutely,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span>
+then he came back to Marie. He bent over her, but he
+did not touch her.</p>
+<p>He spoke her name gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Marie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not raise her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I want to speak to you,&rdquo; he said huskily.</p>
+<p>She looked up then. Her face was flashed and quivering,
+and the brown eyes that for a moment met his own
+were full of an unutterable grief and shame.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she said in a broken whisper. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;d just
+go away&ndash;&ndash;and leave me to myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer. The impossibility of ever going
+back now struck him to the soul. This was the end,
+the very end&ndash;&ndash;he had burned his boats and bidden good-bye
+to the woman he loved for ever.</p>
+<p>Then all his natural chivalry rose in his heart. Hitherto
+it had been only of himself that he had thought,
+but now ... his eyes softened as they rested on
+the girl&rsquo;s bowed head; he stooped and took her hand, held
+it fast in his steady grip.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you marry me?&rdquo; he said very gently.</p>
+<p>And, oh, the long time before she answered! It
+seemed to Micky that he lived through years as he stood
+there with the rattling tune of the one-step in his ears
+and Marie&rsquo;s tragic figure before his eyes. Was she never
+going to speak?</p>
+<p>Then she sat up very stiff and straight&ndash;&ndash;there were
+tears scorching her flushed cheeks, and her eyes seemed
+to burn.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will I&ndash;&ndash;will I&ndash;&ndash;marry you?&rdquo; she echoed, as if not
+understanding.</p>
+<p>Her voice rose a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then it isn&rsquo;t true ... it can&rsquo;t be true&ndash;&ndash;what he
+said?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What did he say? Who are you talking about? What
+do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She began to sob; quiet, tearless sobs that seemed to
+bring no relief with them.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Raymond Ashton&ndash;&ndash;he told me&ndash;&ndash;here! just now&ndash;&ndash;that
+you....&rdquo; She stopped, catching her breath at the
+change in Micky&rsquo;s face; it no longer looked tender&ndash;&ndash;his
+eyes were fierce.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ashton! What has he said?&rdquo; His voice was roughly
+insistent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He told me that you&ndash;&ndash;you were in Paris&ndash;&ndash;a week or
+two ago&ndash;&ndash;with a girl from Eldred&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lie!&rdquo; The words escaped Micky before he could
+check them; his first thought was to defend Esther. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+an infernal lie!&rdquo; he said again violently.</p>
+<p>It turned him cold to think of all that the brute must
+have implied.</p>
+<p>The tears were frozen on Marie&rsquo;s cheeks&ndash;&ndash;her hands
+were clasped together in her lap.</p>
+<p>When at last she found her voice it was strained and
+cracked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;... that she told him you were there with her....&rdquo;
+Her brown eyes searched his face as if they
+were trying to read his very soul. &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s a lie,&rdquo; she
+said shrilly, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s she who is lying&ndash;&ndash;she told Raymond
+Ashton that she was there with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She told him....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a moment Micky stood like a man turned to stone.
+Was this the truth?&ndash;&ndash;that Esther had told Ashton....</p>
+<p>He looked again at Marie.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When did Ashton tell you this?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To-night&ndash;&ndash;not a moment ago&ndash;&ndash;he is here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here!&rdquo; Then to how many more people had he told
+the same distorted story?</p>
+<p>The blood beat into Micky&rsquo;s face; it seemed to hammer
+maddeningly against his temples. Nothing counted
+but the fact that Esther&rsquo;s name was being bandied about
+on the lips of the creature. To stop him&ndash;&ndash;to stop his
+lying tongue was the one thought in Micky&rsquo;s mind; he
+saw the whole world red as he tore open the door of the
+silent room and strode out into the corridor.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span></div>
+<p>The noisy ragtime had ceased, but a storm of deafening
+applause and cries of &ldquo;Encore!&rdquo; filled the ballroom.</p>
+<p>An elderly man cannoned into Micky, and stopped
+short with a laughing apology.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hullo, Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;not dancing&ndash;&ndash;what the deuce is
+the matter?&rdquo; he asked with sudden change of voice.</p>
+<p>Micky passed a shaking hand across his mouth&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing ... where&rsquo;s Ashton&ndash;&ndash;have you seen
+Ashton?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve just left him; he isn&rsquo;t dancing either. Can&rsquo;t
+think what&rsquo;s happened to you youngsters to-day. When
+I was your age....&rdquo; He broke off, realising that
+Micky was not listening. &ldquo;Ashton&rsquo;s in the smoking-room,&rdquo;
+he said uneasily.</p>
+<p>Micky went on; his hands were clenched, his teeth set.</p>
+<p>The smoking-room door was half ajar; he could see
+that there were several men there. There was a clink of
+glasses and the sound of voices talking in a rather subdued
+way.</p>
+<p>Micky paused. He knew that if Ashton were there it
+would mean a scene, and a scene in any one else&rsquo;s house....
+The thought snapped at the sound of his own
+name.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mellowes! Well, you do surprise me.&rdquo; There was
+a chuckle. &ldquo;Always thought he was one of the good
+boys.... It just shows that you never know a man
+till you find him out. Rather an error of judgment to
+choose Paris, eh? Who did you say she was?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A girl from Eldred&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;pretty little thing. I knew her
+before he did. As a matter of fact, it was only when I
+cooled off....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>That was Ashton&rsquo;s voice; Micky could not see him,
+but he could picture vividly the eloquent shrug, the meaning
+smile with which he finished his incomplete sentence.</p>
+<p>The hot blood died down, leaving him cool and alert.
+He pushed the door wide and walked into the room.</p>
+<p>The group of men by the fireplace scattered; some
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span>
+one coughed deprecatingly; some one else seized upon
+a siphon and began filling an already full glass recklessly.</p>
+<p>Nobody spoke.</p>
+<p>Micky kicked the door to behind him, shutting it with
+a slam.</p>
+<p>His eyes went straight to Ashton&ndash;&ndash;a pale Ashton, trying
+to smile unconcernedly and brazen the situation out.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give you two minutes in which to apologise,&rdquo;
+Micky said in a voice of steel. &ldquo;Two minutes in which
+to retract the damned lies you&rsquo;ve just been saying in
+this room&ndash;&ndash;or&ndash;&ndash;or I&rsquo;ll thrash you within an inch of your
+life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the silence following one could have heard a pin
+drop. Every one looked at Ashton. Micky took out his
+watch.</p>
+<p>It seemed an eternity before Ashton spoke.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve been listening&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he began blustering.</p>
+<p>He moistened his dry lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What I said is the truth,&rdquo; he broke out spluttering.
+&ldquo;You were in Paris with....&rdquo; But the name was
+never spoken&ndash;&ndash;Micky&rsquo;s clenched fist shot out and struck
+him right in the mouth.</p>
+<p>In a moment the room was in an uproar; half a dozen
+men rushed at Micky and pinned his arms.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;for God&rsquo;s sake&ndash;&ndash;if Hooper comes in....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton had staggered back against the wall; his mouth
+was cut and bleeding; he was swearing horribly.</p>
+<p>Micky was crimson in the face; the veins stood out
+like cords on his forehead; he was straining every nerve
+to free himself from his captors.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Apologise!&rdquo; he gasped. &ldquo;Apologise, you dammed
+cad!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton laughed savagely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Apologise! What for? It&rsquo;s the truth, and you know
+it. Apologise! I&rsquo;ll repeat it.... I say that you
+were in Paris three weeks ago with Esther Shepstone,
+one of the girls from Eldred&rsquo;s....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky suddenly stopped struggling, but his breath
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span>
+came in deep gasps as he spoke. He looked round at
+the faces of the other men.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know most of you&ndash;&ndash;here,&rdquo; he said in a laboured
+voice. &ldquo;And most of you know me&ndash;&ndash;and you know that
+I&rsquo;m not a damned liar like Ashton; and I know that
+you&rsquo;ll believe me&ndash;&ndash;believe me&ndash;&ndash;when I tell you that the
+lady who was with me in&ndash;&ndash;in Paris&ndash;&ndash;three weeks ago&ndash;&ndash;is
+my wife ... we&rsquo;ve been married some time&ndash;&ndash;and
+it is solely by her wish that it has been kept a
+secret.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>If Micky had dropped a bomb in the room it could
+hardly have created more consternation. The incredulity
+on the faces of the men around him would have been
+amusing to an onlooker, but to Micky the whole thing
+was tragedy.</p>
+<p>He had brought Esther to this with his blundering
+quixotism; he was nearly beside himself with remorse.</p>
+<p>If he had been free he would have half killed Ashton.
+His hands ached to get at him; to take him by his
+lying throat and choke the breath from his body.</p>
+<p>He looked at the men around him with passionate eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never given any of you cause to doubt my word
+yet,&rdquo; he said hoarsely. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ll agree with
+me that this man should be made to retract what he
+said and apologise.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly&ndash;&ndash;he ought to apologise. It&rsquo;s disgraceful&ndash;&ndash;infernally
+disgraceful,&rdquo; said a man who had been listening
+to Ashton&rsquo;s story eagerly enough a moment ago.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you say, gentlemen?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a chorus of assent. The men who had been
+holding Micky&rsquo;s arms let him go.</p>
+<p>Ashton backed a step away.</p>
+<p>His face was livid, his eyes furious, but he knew that
+there was no other course open to him; nobody in the
+room had any sympathy with him now.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I apologise,&rdquo; he said savagely. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know that&ndash;&ndash;the&ndash;&ndash;lady&ndash;&ndash;Mellowes
+had married&ndash;&ndash;the lady.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span></div>
+<p>His tone added that even now he did not believe it;
+he edged away to the door and disappeared.</p>
+<p>Micky dropped into a chair; he looked thoroughly
+done up. Some one pushed a glass of whisky across to
+him. There was an uncomfortable silence. Perhaps
+they were all feeling guilty; perhaps they all remembered
+with what relish they had listened to this spicy bit of
+scandal.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never could stand Ashton,&rdquo; some one said presently,
+in gruff abasement. &ldquo;Worm&ndash;&ndash;the man is!&ndash;&ndash;perfect outsider!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There were several grunts of assent; the sympathy
+was decidedly with Micky.</p>
+<p>After a moment he rose to his feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose an apology is due from me too,&rdquo; he said;
+he spoke with difficulty. &ldquo;But I think any of you&ndash;&ndash;in
+the same circumstances&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Quite right&ndash;&ndash;certainly.... Should have done the
+same myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled faintly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I am sure you won&rsquo;t let this go any further&ndash;&ndash;for&ndash;&ndash;for
+my wife&rsquo;s sake,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+<p>They pressed round him, shaking him by the hand
+and reassuring him. Micky took it for what it was
+worth. He knew that those of them who were married
+men would go straight home and tell their wives of the
+scene at Hoopers&rsquo;, and he knew how speedily the story
+would spread.</p>
+<p>He got away as soon as he could and left the house.</p>
+<p>He never gave Marie another thought, till he found
+himself out in the street and walking away through the
+fresh spring night.</p>
+<p>He took off his hat and let the air blow on his hot
+forehead; his hand still trembled with excitement.</p>
+<p>He tried to think, but his thoughts would not come
+clearly. When he got back to his rooms he asked Driver
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span>
+for a stiff brandy. The man looked at his master diffidently,
+and asked if anything were the matter.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why? Do I look as if there is?&rdquo; He glanced at
+himself in the mirror. His face was very white.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, there&rsquo;s nothing the matter. I&rsquo;m tired, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver turned to the door, but Micky called him back.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been with me a good many years, Driver,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And you&rsquo;ve been a faithful servant.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man&rsquo;s stolidness did not change a fraction.</p>
+<p>Micky took a gulp at the brandy.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you were to hear that I&rsquo;m married, you wouldn&rsquo;t
+be surprised, would you?&rdquo; he asked with a rush.</p>
+<p>Driver stood immovable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not in the least, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You would even say that you knew that I&rsquo;ve been
+married some weeks, wouldn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good&ndash;&ndash;you may go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir, and good-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-night,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>And now, what was to be done now?</p>
+<p>When he left this room three hours ago it had been
+with the determination to put the past behind him for
+ever, and what had he done? Only walked more deeply
+into his quixotism and seriously compromised the woman
+he loved.</p>
+<p>He had said that she was his wife. It gave him a
+little thrill to remember that a dozen of his acquaintances
+had heard him say it, and were probably even now
+spreading the story of his marriage far and wide.</p>
+<p>He paced up and down the room. He had failed all
+round; even love and desperate desire had not been able
+to help him.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span></div>
+<p>He thought suddenly of June; June who, with all her
+bluntness, had a great heart and a deep understanding.</p>
+<p>She would not want explanations; she would know
+why he had done it, and sympathise.</p>
+<p>But June was obviously not the one concerned. It
+was not to June that he must confess.</p>
+<p>The clock in his room struck twelve; too late to do
+anything to-night. The memory of Marie returned&ndash;&ndash;Marie
+as she had looked when he found her in the drawing-room
+that night; as she had looked when he had left
+her in the little anteroom at the Hoopers&rsquo; and gone out
+with murder in his heart to find Ashton.</p>
+<p>He stopped dead in his pacing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you cad&ndash;&ndash;you cad!&rdquo; he said with a groan.</p>
+<p>Life was an intolerable, purposeless thing. He sat
+down at his desk and leaned his head in his hands. His
+whole life seemed to spell failure. With sudden impulse
+he seized a pen and began to write.</p>
+<p>For the first few moments he hardly knew what he
+wrote. It was only when he reached the end of the
+first page that he seemed to realise with a start what he
+had done. He looked back at the written lines with
+something of a shock. There was no beginning to the
+letter, no date or address; it simply started off as if the
+pen had been guided by some influence outside himself,
+some desperate need.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you will think when you get this letter. I
+am writing it because to-night I think I am half mad. I love you
+so much; there seems nothing in the whole world that counts
+any more now that I am beginning to understand that I can
+never have you. Esther, I ask you on my knees to listen to
+what I have to say. I have tried to keep away from you, to
+forget you; I&rsquo;ve tried to put you out of my heart and persuade
+myself that I do not care&ndash;&ndash;but it&rsquo;s no use. I love you; I know
+you care something for me, but I shall love you always. To-night
+I have done an unpardonable thing for your sake. I explain
+things so badly. I can only hope that you will understand and
+try to make some excuse for me. Some one knows we were
+together in Paris&ndash;&ndash;I need not tell you who. To-night, at a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span>
+house where I was, he had told several people that you and I
+had been to Paris together....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky had gone on writing rapidly&ndash;&ndash;he seemed to
+have lost himself in a sea of eloquence; his heart was
+pleading with the woman he loved through the poor
+medium of a sheet of unaddressed paper.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;It nearly drove me mad to hear you spoken of by him. There
+was a scene, and I knocked him down ... you will hate me
+for this, but I would have killed him if they had let me. I told
+them afterwards that you were my wife&ndash;&ndash;try and understand
+how I have suffered all these weeks&ndash;&ndash;I told them that we had
+been married some time, and that it had been kept secret by
+your own wish. It&rsquo;s only now, when I am more alone and can
+think clearly, that I see what I have done. You don&rsquo;t care for
+me, and I have compromised you even more than that man did
+by his lying insinuations. Tell me what I am to do&ndash;&ndash;anything,
+anything in the world. My whole life is yours to do with as
+you will. Be my wife, dear, be my wife....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>For a moment the pen faltered, but Micky went on
+again with an effort.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;I will stay in London twenty-four hours for your answer,
+and then, if I don&rsquo;t hear....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The pen faltered again, and this time finally stopped.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXVI' id='CHAPTER_XXXVI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>&ldquo;The question is,&rdquo; said June critically, looking out
+of the window to the street where a fine drizzle of
+rain was falling, &ldquo;does one, or does one not, wear
+one&rsquo;s best hat to go out and meet the one and only man
+one has ever loved?&rdquo; She turned round and looked at
+Esther with a little nod. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s grammar, though you
+may not think it, my dear,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should say one does wear one&rsquo;s best hat,&rdquo; she said
+decidedly. &ldquo;Especially seeing what a very charming hat
+it is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She leaned her elbows on the table and looked at June
+admiringly. &ldquo;How long is it since you saw the great
+and only?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>June did some rapid counting on her white fingers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nineteen hours exactly,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But it seems
+like ninety! I nearly died with joy when his note came
+at breakfast time&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She looked at Esther wistfully.
+&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know how lovely it is to have some one of
+your very own,&rdquo; she said with unwonted sentimentality.</p>
+<p>Esther averted her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I envy you,&rdquo; she said quietly. &ldquo;But you&rsquo;ll be late
+if you stand rhapsodising here&ndash;&ndash;be off!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June bent and kissed her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t be long&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;s only asked me for lunch....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have known lunches that lasted till tea-time,&rdquo; she
+said. &ldquo;When there has been a great deal to talk about.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June went downstairs singing. During the last few
+days she had, as she would have expressed it, begun to
+discover herself all over again. Certainly the world had
+utterly changed, and was more like a fairy city than a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span>
+place where it rained a great deal and where buses and
+taxicabs splashed pedestrians with mud.</p>
+<p>Lydia met her at the foot of the stairs; she smiled at
+sight of the new hat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was just coming up, Miss June,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+a letter for Miss Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June held out her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take it, and save you the trouble&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She became
+conscious all at once of the girl&rsquo;s admiring eyes,
+and blushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you like my hat, Lydia?&rdquo; She turned round for
+inspection.</p>
+<p>Lydia admired enthusiastically, as she admired everything
+of June&rsquo;s, and forgetful of everything but the
+moment, June thrust the letter for Esther into her coat
+pocket and went out blissfully into the rain to meet
+George Rochester.</p>
+<p>George was ardent; he went into rhapsodies over the
+hat; he forgot to eat his most excellent lunch, and hardly
+took his eyes off June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so much waste of time this being engaged,&rdquo;
+he said with pretended annoyance. &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t we do
+the trick and get married? What are we waiting for?
+I&rsquo;ll take you to the States for a wedding trip.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laughed, and protested blushingly that it was
+much too soon.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t thought about it,&rdquo; she declared, not quite
+truthfully. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s tons of things to see to first. What
+about my business and Esther?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Leave the one to look after the other,&rdquo; he said
+promptly.</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;I should hate to leave Esther alone; if
+only she could be married too?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well&ndash;&ndash;find her a husband. What about Mellowes?&rdquo;
+he suggested jokingly.</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s face sobered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh&ndash;&ndash;Micky!&rdquo; she said. She was not sure if she was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span>
+justified in telling Rochester that Micky had once cared
+for Esther. &ldquo;I thought he was practically engaged to
+Marie Deland,&rdquo; she said doubtfully.</p>
+<p>Rochester gave an exclamation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That reminds me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There seems to have
+been a bit of a row at the Hoopers&rsquo; dance last night....
+I wasn&rsquo;t there&ndash;&ndash;but I heard some fellows at the
+club talking it over just now. Do you know a man
+named Ashton?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June sniffed inelegantly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do I not!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, if you don&rsquo;t like him, you&rsquo;ll be pleased to hear
+that Micky knocked him into the middle of next week,&rdquo;
+Rochester said calmly.</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s eyes gleamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never! Well, I&rsquo;m delighted to hear it! What was
+it about?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Rochester shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, they were gossiping about some woman, as far
+as I could make out&ndash;&ndash;a woman Micky had been rather
+friendly with, from what I gathered&ndash;&ndash;they didn&rsquo;t mention
+her name, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he hesitated. &ldquo;They spoke of
+her as a girl from ... I&rsquo;ve forgotten the name,
+but I think it was a petticoat shop&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eldred&rsquo;s?&rdquo; said June sharply.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, that was it! What do you know about it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing&ndash;&ndash;go on! What were they saying?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That she&rsquo;d been to Paris with Mellowes, and Mellowes
+overheard it, and there was a bit of a fight, and
+Mellowes said that the girl was his wife....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June gasped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;<i>What</i>!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Rochester looked rather uncomfortable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s only club talk,&rdquo; he said deprecatingly. &ldquo;Dare say
+it&rsquo;s all lies.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June pushed back her chair; her brain was in a whirl;
+she stared at Rochester with dazed eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course you&rsquo;re mad, quite mad,&rdquo; she said calmly.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Or I am! which is it?... My dear man, the
+girl Micky went to Paris with was Esther! <i>my</i> Esther
+Shepstone! and here you are trying to tell me that she
+and Micky are <i>married</i>!&rdquo; She burst into hysterical
+laughter.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to tell you,&rdquo; he protested injuredly.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s only what I heard; and any way, if Mellowes went
+to Paris with Miss Shepstone&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He broke off before the anger in June&rsquo;s eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you speak about Esther in that tone of voice again,
+I shall hate you for ever,&rdquo; she said furiously. &ldquo;If you
+must know the truth, I&rsquo;ll tell it to you, and another time
+just don&rsquo;t judge people till you&rsquo;ve heard both sides of
+the question,&rdquo; and she promptly proceeded to tell him
+the whole story of her meeting with Esther, and all that
+had happened since.</p>
+<p>Rochester listened quietly, but when she had finished,
+he said&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky ought to have finished that skunk last night.
+If he cares for Miss Shepstone....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh but I don&rsquo;t think he does now,&rdquo; June struck in
+sadly. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t been near her since they came back
+from Paris, and every one says that Marie Deland&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+she broke off.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when Miss Shepstone gets to hear what happened
+last night?&rdquo; Rochester asked drily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but she won&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;she doesn&rsquo;t know anybody who
+would tell her except you or me,&rdquo; June said positively.
+&ldquo;And of course she must <i>never</i> know. She never liked
+Micky, though <i>why</i>!...&rdquo; She shrugged her shoulders.
+&ldquo;Have you seen him to-day?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m going to this evening.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you won&rsquo;t let him know what I&rsquo;ve told you?
+promise me!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is it likely that I should? Men don&rsquo;t gossip.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t they?&rdquo; June answered tartly. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t
+trust one of them, not even you,&rdquo; she added with a
+melting smile.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span></div>
+<p>In spite of her promise to Esther, it was past tea-time
+when she got back home; she threw her hat and
+coat down anywhere and poked up the fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you had tea? What have you been doing all
+day?&rdquo; she demanded crisply. &ldquo;You <i>haven&rsquo;t</i> had tea!&ndash;&ndash;Good
+gracious, I&rsquo;ll make some at once; I had some with
+George, but I&rsquo;m quite ready for some more. My word!
+what a difference a man can make in one&rsquo;s life,&rdquo; she
+said, suddenly grave. &ldquo;And to think that I ever talked
+piffle about not wanting to get married.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She bustled round the room singing blithely; she was
+brimful of happiness. &ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be surprised to hear
+that I&rsquo;m going to be married quite soon,&rdquo; she said with
+elaborate carelessness. &ldquo;Lord! won&rsquo;t people have forty
+fits? Except for Micky, my crowd don&rsquo;t know I&rsquo;m engaged
+yet. I&rsquo;m going to take George home to see them
+on Sunday. I&rsquo;ve discovered that he&rsquo;s fourth cousin,
+about ninety times removed, to a baronet, so, perhaps,
+that will put them all in a good temper with him. My
+people do love titles! Give them a lord, or something,
+and it doesn&rsquo;t matter what else he is, or isn&rsquo;t....
+You&rsquo;re not listening, Esther.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am. I heard every word you said.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was sitting by the fire with Charlie curled up
+in her lap; her face looked very sad and thoughtful.
+So she was to lose June quite soon!&ndash;&ndash;her lips trembled;
+what was there left for her in all the world? It almost
+seemed as if time had stood still for a moment, and then
+suddenly rushed her back again with breathless speed,
+to leave her bereft of hope and happiness, as she had
+been before she met Micky.</p>
+<p>Charlie had been her only friend then. Was he all
+that was to remain to her now?</p>
+<p>June watched her across the room.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you thinking about?&rdquo; she asked suddenly;
+but Esther only shook her head.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span></div>
+<p>For two days Micky Mellowes never left his rooms,
+and hardly ate a thing, and for once in his life Driver
+permitted a spark of anxiety to creep into his dull eyes.
+He was sure that his master was ill; he tried tempting
+dishes and alluring cocktails, but Micky refused them all.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My good man, I&rsquo;m not an invalid,&rdquo; he protested irritably.</p>
+<p>He hated it, because he knew his agitation was apparent;
+he tried to settle to read, but whenever a bell
+rang through the house he started up with racing pulses.</p>
+<p>She must have got his letter, he knew. If there was
+any hope for him at all she would write at once or send
+for him. His nerves began to wear to rags.</p>
+<p>Sometimes his hopes soared to the skies, to drop to
+zero again. Once in a fit of despondency he told Driver
+to pack his bag, as they would be leaving early in the
+morning.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir&ndash;&ndash;where shall we be going, sir?&rdquo; Driver asked
+stoically.</p>
+<p>Micky swore.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You do ask such damned silly questions,&rdquo; he complained
+irritably.</p>
+<p>An hour later, when he found Driver packing, he called
+him a fool, and told him to unpack at once.</p>
+<p>And so the days dragged away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Any more posts to-night?&rdquo; Micky asked jerkily, on
+the second day.</p>
+<p>Driver eyed the clock.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There should be one at nine, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But nine came, and half-past, and no post.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is it too late for the post now, Driver?&rdquo; Micky asked
+feverishly, when it was nearly ten.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The post went by, sir,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;I was
+down at the door and saw the postman pass.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky went back to his chair. It was all he could
+expect, he told himself&ndash;&ndash;there had been no answer to his
+letter: there never would be an answer now.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span></div>
+<p>When Driver came into the room again, Micky said
+without looking up&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pack that bag again, there&rsquo;s a good fellow, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said Driver imperturbably.</p>
+<p>He hesitated, then asked&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;where did you say we should be going,
+sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t say,&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t care&ndash;&ndash;on
+the Continent&ndash;&ndash;anywhere you like&ndash;&ndash;look up some
+hotels....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>One place was as good as another, he argued, as he
+sat and watched Driver pack. Wherever he went he
+was going to be infernally miserable, so what did it
+matter?</p>
+<p>When Driver stoically inquired how long he expected
+to be away, Micky answered violently that he was never
+coming back if he could help it; he said he hated London&ndash;&ndash;he
+said he was sick to death of his flat and wanted
+a change.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t come back till the autumn anyway,&rdquo; he
+declared recklessly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; was the stolid reply. Driver knew
+his master; he could remember another occasion when
+Micky had left London in a rage never to return, and
+ten days had seen him back again.</p>
+<p>Certainly this was rather a different case from that
+other; this time there was a woman behind it. Driver
+knew this perfectly well, though beyond the posting of
+letters and the buying of the fur coat he had had no firsthand
+evidence.</p>
+<p>But he kept his thoughts to himself and packed shirts
+and socks and coats by the score, as if to keep up the
+belief that they were really going for months, instead
+of the day which were the limit he prescribed in his own
+mind.</p>
+<p>When Rochester called later on in the evening, Micky
+was almost rude to him. The American looked so unfeignedly
+happy that it got on Micky&rsquo;s nerves; but George
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span>
+P. Rochester was difficult to snub; he looked on at the
+packing with childlike amazement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a sudden idea of yours, this flitting!&rdquo; he submitted
+mildly. Micky did not answer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hope you&rsquo;ll be back in time for my wedding, Sonnie,&rdquo;
+Rochester said again.</p>
+<p>Micky flushed crimson; there was something rather
+pathetic about him at that moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ll be back all right,&rdquo; he said shortly.</p>
+<p>Rochester laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t have to stay away long then,&rdquo; he said
+significantly.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXVII' id='CHAPTER_XXXVII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther woke from a troubled sleep that night, to
+find June standing beside her. Pale moonlight
+shone into the room from half-drawn blinds, filling
+it with an eerie light, as Esther started up trembling and
+frightened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is it? is anything the matter? Oh, I thought
+you were a ghost!&rdquo; She clutched at June with both
+hands. &ldquo;Oh, is anything the matter?&rdquo; she asked again.</p>
+<p>June laughed nervously; she found matches and lit a
+candle, then she came back to Esther and thrust something
+into her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll never forgive me,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve had
+it in my coat pocket for two days....&rdquo; She pushed
+her dark hair back from her forehead tragically. &ldquo;Lydia
+gave it to me for you the day I went out in my best hat
+to meet George, and I was such a selfish, conceited pig
+that he put everything else out of my head, and I forgot
+all about it till just now, when I was lying awake thinking
+... and then ... oh, Esther, it&rsquo;s from
+Micky!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked down at the crumpled envelope&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;From&ndash;&ndash;Micky?...&rdquo; she said. She was only half
+awake; she made a very fair picture there with her long
+hair tumbling about her shoulders, and her face a little
+flushed and startled.</p>
+<p>June turned to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go away&ndash;&ndash;you don&rsquo;t want me.... I&rsquo;ll
+go&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; but Esther caught her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;no.... Wait! please wait!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well&ndash;&ndash;but I&rsquo;m half frozen....&rdquo; June looked
+plaintively at Esther, but Esther had forgotten her, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span>
+she dragged the quilt from the bed, and wrapped it round
+her small figure till she looked like a mummy.</p>
+<p>There was a long silence, then Esther raised her eyes
+to June&rsquo;s anxious face.</p>
+<p>Her own was quite colourless, and her grey eyes
+looked dazed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you&ndash;&ndash;will you&ndash;&ndash;read it?&rdquo; she said faintly.
+&ldquo;Please&ndash;&ndash;I want you to&ndash;&ndash;I ... somehow I feel as
+if I&rsquo;m dreaming.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But June at any rate was wide awake. It only took
+her two minutes to read Micky&rsquo;s passionate appeal; the
+next she was laughing and crying together, and hugging
+Esther boisterously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, isn&rsquo;t he the most wonderful man? Don&rsquo;t you
+love him? Don&rsquo;t you just adore him? Oh, if you&rsquo;re
+going to break his heart after all this, I&rsquo;ll <i>never</i> forgive
+you!... Why, my George isn&rsquo;t in it with Micky,
+poor darling!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she shook Esther in her excitement&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;What
+are you made of, that you can&rsquo;t see what a king
+he is? I don&rsquo;t believe there&rsquo;s any blood in your veins
+at all,&rdquo; she declared indignantly. &ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t got a
+heart.... Oh, Esther darling! I didn&rsquo;t mean it&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;oh,
+I&rsquo;m such an idiot!...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And the two girls clasped each other and cried together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And now if this ridiculous midnight scene is ended,&rdquo;
+June said presently, sniffing her tears away, &ldquo;let&rsquo;s talk
+sense. I&rsquo;ll go and see Micky in the morning and explain
+everything. He knows what I am&ndash;&ndash;he won&rsquo;t be at all
+surprised&ndash;&ndash;oh, I&rsquo;m so glad&ndash;&ndash;so more than glad....
+Oh, Esther, <i>why</i> do you hide your face?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because I&rsquo;m so ashamed,&rdquo; Esther said in a stifled
+voice. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worth loving&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve ... oh, you
+don&rsquo;t <i>know</i> how I&rsquo;ve treated him!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June was silent for a minute, then she said gently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But Micky will forget all that&ndash;&ndash;Micky never remembered
+a mean thing against anybody in his life.&rdquo; She
+forced Esther to look at her. &ldquo;Tell me one thing, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span>
+then I&rsquo;ll go and leave you in peace,&rdquo; she coaxed. &ldquo;Do
+you&ndash;&ndash;do you ... <i>you</i> know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But in this instance, at least, a verbal answer was not
+necessary.</p>
+<p>June kissed her rapturously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you darling,&rdquo; she said. She blew out the candle,
+and sped down to her own room again like a ghost in
+the moonlight.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>&ldquo;Was there anything else you was wanting, sir?&rdquo;
+Driver inquired stolidly. He stood on the platform looking
+in at the first-class compartment where Micky sat
+alone in durance vile, waiting for the train to start.</p>
+<p>He frowned, and pulled his soft hat further down over
+his eyes as he answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, nothing.... I&rsquo;ll see you at Dover.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There were many people on the platform; in the next
+carriage a pretty girl was seeing a man off&ndash;&ndash;looking up
+at him as he stood on the footboard with eyes that told
+their story eloquently.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at her enviously. He would have given
+his right hand if there had been some one there to see
+him off with just that expression in her eyes&ndash;&ndash;the right
+some one, of course. He turned away from the window
+with an uncomfortable lump in his throat.</p>
+<p>He had nothing in the world but his confounded
+money, and a lot of good that was to him! It could not
+buy happiness.</p>
+<p>The guard came down the platform&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take your seats&ndash;&ndash;take your seats....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A girl and a man pushed past him. The girl was
+staring eagerly in at all the windows as she passed.
+When she saw Micky she gave a little cry of relief.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here he is&ndash;&ndash;Micky! Micky!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky started to his feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June!&rdquo; he said. For a moment he thought something
+must have happened&ndash;&ndash;something was wrong&ndash;&ndash;Esther!...
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span>
+her name was trembling on his lips, but June rushed on
+impetuously before he had time to speak it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We thought we&rsquo;d come and see you off&ndash;&ndash;George told
+me you were going, and I guessed you&rsquo;d be on this
+train.... I&rsquo;m so glad we found you&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s rotten
+seeing oneself off, isn&rsquo;t it?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Rochester came up laughing and red in the face; he
+took off his hat and mopped his hot forehead.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t keep pace with her, she&rsquo;s like a whirlwind,&rdquo;
+he said whimsically. &ldquo;She raced me off here before I
+could say a word.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of you to come,&rdquo; Micky said.</p>
+<p>He was pleased to see them; he felt decidedly less
+ill-tempered than he had done a moment ago. He looked
+down at June&rsquo;s radiant face, and a little doubt went
+through his heart.</p>
+<p>He was in that dangerous state through which so
+many men have to pass when the woman they love will
+have none of them. If Marie Deland had happened to
+turn up then, he would have asked for forgiveness and
+have married her offhand and regretted it the next day;
+and now, as he looked at June, he wondered if he had
+been a fool not to properly appreciate her. He felt
+a vague twinge of jealousy, realising that the days were
+gone for ever when he had been the most wonderful
+man in all the world to her.</p>
+<p>He had never loved her save in a brotherly way, and
+he did not love her now, but at heart men are all dogs
+in the manger, and it was some such feeling that filled
+Micky&rsquo;s heart as he leaned out of the window and looked
+at this girl.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you&rsquo;ll have a good time,&rdquo; she said cheerily.
+&ldquo;Have you got anything to read?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t want anything&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m not in a reading mood.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was longing to ask about Esther, but pride prevented
+him.</p>
+<p>The guard was blowing his whistle; doors were slamming;
+June gripped Micky&rsquo;s hand.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Be a good boy, and have a good time,&rdquo; she said.
+There was a furious excitement in her eyes.</p>
+<p>He made a grimace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not expecting to have a good time,&rdquo; he answered.</p>
+<p>The train was slowly moving; June ran a few steps to
+keep up with it. Micky blurted out his question at last&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Shepstone ... Esther ... is she all
+right, June?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, she&rsquo;s first rate,&rdquo; she said airily. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s gone
+away for a holiday.... Good-bye.&rdquo; She fell back
+laughing and waving her hand.</p>
+<p>Micky kept his head out of the window till a cloud
+of smoke from the engine blown backwards shut out
+all sight of her, then he drew in, dragging the window
+up with a slam.</p>
+<p>Gone away for a holiday, had she?&ndash;&ndash;well&ndash;&ndash;it was nothing
+to him. He turned round to go back to his seat in the
+corner then stopping dead, staring as if he had seen a
+ghost; for Esther was sitting there just behind him,
+looking up at him with scared eyes.</p>
+<p>For a moment Micky did not move; he was like a
+man turned to stone. Then the blood rushed to his face
+in a crimson tide; he broke out into stammering speech&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You ... you ... what ... what ...
+I thought....&rdquo; He swayed forward a little and caught
+her hands. &ldquo;You are real&ndash;&ndash;I thought ... I thought
+I was just imagining it all; I thought.... Oh, wait
+a moment....&rdquo; He sat down and leaned his head
+in his hands.</p>
+<p>He felt sure that he must be mad or dreaming&ndash;&ndash;the
+world had turned upside down and pitched his thoughts
+into chaos; he was sure that when next he looked Esther
+would no longer be there&ndash;&ndash;he dreaded having to raise
+his eyes.</p>
+<p>Esther stretched a timid hand to him; her voice shook
+as she said&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I thought ... I thought perhaps you&rsquo;d be
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span>
+glad to see me&ndash;&ndash;just ... just a little&ndash;&ndash;glad....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Glad!&rdquo; Micky echoed the word with almost a shout.
+He got up and went over to her; he looked down at her
+with an agony of doubt and fear in his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why have you come?&rdquo; he asked hoarsely. &ldquo;If this
+is only a joke&ndash;&ndash;if it&rsquo;s any nonsense of June&rsquo;s ...
+by God, it&rsquo;s the cruellest joke you could have played on
+me.... I&ndash;&ndash;I....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther covered her face with her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s all you&rsquo;ve got to say to me,&rdquo; she began
+tremblingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He drew her hands down; he forced her to look at
+him; for a long moment his eyes searched her face disbelievingly,
+not daring to hope....</p>
+<p>Her cheeks flamed, but she met his eyes bravely.</p>
+<p>Micky drew a long breath; he passed a hand across
+his eyes as if to waken himself.</p>
+<p>Then all at once he seemed to realise that this was
+in very truth the woman he wanted sitting beside him;
+that she was here and for his sake; that he was alone
+and unhappy no longer; and that after all the weeks of
+hunger and restlessness he had got his heart&rsquo;s desire.</p>
+<p>He looked down at her tremulous face with eyes of
+passionate tenderness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is this my wife?&rdquo; he asked hoarsely, and Esther answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you still want me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Want you!&rdquo; Micky caught her to him. &ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t I
+always wanted you?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Fortunately the train was not very full, and the corridor
+immediately outside their carriage was deserted,
+or somebody might have had a very interesting demonstration
+of how to kiss a woman who had refused for
+months to be kissed.</p>
+<p>Micky was like a boy in his happiness. He looked
+years younger than the gloomy man who had dismissed
+Driver ten minutes since. He could not take his eyes
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span>
+from Esther&ndash;&ndash;he could not believe in his own happiness
+even while he was engulfed in it. His arm was round
+her, regardless of chance wanderers in the corridor&ndash;&ndash;he
+held her hand to his lips and kissed it passionately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What have you done with ... that other ring
+you used to wear?&rdquo; he asked jealously.</p>
+<p>She turned her face away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I threw it out of the window when we came back
+from Paris,&rdquo; she told him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give you another. I&rsquo;m going to give you everything
+you want now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been too good to me already,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I
+can never repay you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve given me yourself. There is nothing else in
+the world that I want.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He laughed happily.</p>
+<p>He bent his head towards her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther ... when did you ... when did
+you first ... think that you liked me ... just
+a little?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her head dropped; he could not see her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; she said in a whisper.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In Paris,&rdquo; he urged, &ldquo;or before? Tell me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think it was in Paris&ndash;&ndash;after ... after I saw
+... Raymond! You were so kind ... so different.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He laughed ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was nearer hating you then than ever in my life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He saw the colour creep into her face. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve told
+me ever so many times that you hated me,&rdquo; he went on
+quickly, &ldquo;but you never told me that you ... loved
+me, Esther!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited, but she did not look at him.</p>
+<p>Then suddenly she took his hand in both of hers; she
+bent her head and kissed it with a sort of passionate
+gratitude that brought a mist to Micky&rsquo;s eyes. He seemed
+to see her all at once as he had first seen her that New
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span>
+Year&rsquo;s Eve; alone, unhappy&ndash;&ndash;with nobody to care what
+she did, or what became of her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re so much, much too good for me,&rdquo; she said
+brokenly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve done everything for me, and I&rsquo;ve
+done nothing for you&ndash;&ndash;I haven&rsquo;t even been ... nice!
+I can&rsquo;t tell you what I feel about it all&ndash;&ndash;I only know
+that&ndash;&ndash;just lately&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ve&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ve made everything seem
+so different&ndash;&ndash;since you wrote me that letter&ndash;&ndash;it makes
+me feel in my heart that it&rsquo;s always really been you&ndash;&ndash;always
+you, and never ... never any one else.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Darling,&rdquo; said Micky huskily. &ldquo;And perhaps&ndash;&ndash;some
+day&ndash;&ndash;do you ... do you ... think ...
+you could ever care for me more than ... than you
+cared for ... that other fellow, confound him!&rdquo; he
+added fiercely.</p>
+<p>She looked up at him and smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think,&rdquo; she said slowly, &ldquo;that I only ... only
+really began to care for&ndash;&ndash;him&ndash;&ndash;when he went away&ndash;&ndash;and
+when those letters began to come; and so you see&ndash;&ndash;it
+was always you, because it was you who wrote them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was a rotten thing to do, but I wanted to help you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You did help me ... and&ndash;&ndash;Micky....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Darling....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My fur coat ... can I&ndash;&ndash;will you give it back
+to me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give you everything in the world if you&rsquo;ll say you
+love me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do&ndash;&ndash;I....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Say it then,&rdquo; he urged gently.</p>
+<p>For a moment she did not answer; she was still a
+little afraid of him; she still felt something of pride and
+constraint between them; though she knew it was for her
+to sweep away the last barrier.</p>
+<p>She looked up at him, the sensitive colour rushing to
+her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I love you,&rdquo; she said softly. &ldquo;Oh, Micky, some one
+will see&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span></div>
+<p>But Micky only laughed.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>The train was running on to Dover Harbour before
+Micky realised it; he looked at Esther with pretended dismay
+in his happy eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And pray, what am I to do with you, madame? Do
+you realise that I&rsquo;m going to Paris?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She laughed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going there too&ndash;&ndash;of
+course, if you&rsquo;d like to travel in a different train to
+me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was a very different Esther from the pale, frightened-looking
+girl who had said good-bye to June at Victoria.
+Her eyes were dancing now, and her face was
+radiant. Micky regarded her with proud satisfaction.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You look years younger and prettier already,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s after only an hour or two of my wonderful
+society; so what you&rsquo;ll look like when we&rsquo;ve been
+married for years and years....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stopped, and a sudden emotion filled his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What shall we do, love of mine?&rdquo; he asked tenderly,
+&ldquo;Shall we go on, or shall we go back?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind&ndash;&ndash;either way, I&rsquo;m afraid you&rsquo;ll have to
+pay for me,&rdquo; she told him saucily. &ldquo;June rushed me
+off so, I forgot my purse&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Rochester got me a ticket,
+but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll go on,&rdquo; said Micky hurriedly. The train was
+almost at a standstill. &ldquo;You said you hated Paris&ndash;&ndash;but
+you won&rsquo;t hate it with me. We&rsquo;ll get married as soon
+as we get there&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll take you everywhere.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her eyes fell.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t any nice clothes&ndash;&ndash;I only brought a small
+case; I never thought you ... you....&rdquo; She
+stopped, stammering.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paris is full of clothes,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll stay
+just long enough to buy what you want, and then we&rsquo;ll
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span>
+go south. Esther, you&rsquo;ve never seen the south of France
+in springtime, have you? I&rsquo;ll take you there for our
+honeymoon.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She drew back a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But, Micky&ndash;&ndash;there&rsquo;s June&ndash;&ndash;what will she say&ndash;&ndash;what
+will she think?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll think that you&rsquo;ve behaved sensibly&ndash;&ndash;at last!&rdquo;
+he answered audaciously. &ldquo;June knew she wouldn&rsquo;t
+see either of us again for some time when we left her at
+Victoria&ndash;&ndash;June is a most discerning woman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a dear,&rdquo; said Esther warmly. &ldquo;I owe all my
+happiness to her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky pretended to look offended.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was under the delusion that you owed it to me,&rdquo;
+he said with dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To you!&rdquo; Her face changed wonderfully; she bent
+her head and kissed the sleeve of his coat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t talk about what I owe you&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s just&ndash;&ndash;everything!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky drew himself up a dignified inch.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m beginning to think I&rsquo;m a very wonderful man,
+do you know?&rdquo; he said, addressing some imaginary person.</p>
+<p>Driver appeared at the door. He hesitated for just
+the faintest possible moment when he saw Esther, but
+his face was as stolid as ever.</p>
+<p>Micky rose to the occasion, though he turned rather
+red.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Driver,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;let me introduce you to my
+wife&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver touched a respectful forelock; if he felt surprise
+he did not show it.</p>
+<p>He took Esther&rsquo;s suit-case down from the rack.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Was you&ndash;&ndash;was you wanting to send a wire, sir?&rdquo;
+he asked stolidly.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at the girl beside him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Send June one from Paris,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know
+what she&rsquo;ll say&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span></div>
+<p>But June might have been expecting the wire, judging
+from the calm way in which she received it; she showed
+it to Rochester as if it were nothing out of the way;
+she looked over his shoulder as he read it.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Married in Paris this morning. Love from Mr. and Mrs.
+Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>She laughed and met Rochester&rsquo;s eyes; there seemed
+to be an inquiry in his. June hesitated a moment, then
+she nodded.</p>
+<p>And forty-eight hours later Micky and Esther read her
+reply just as they were leaving for the flower-fields of
+France&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Married in London this morning&ndash;&ndash;June and George.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Some people have no originality,&rdquo; Micky complained
+in pretended disgust.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But if they&rsquo;re half as happy as <i>we</i> are,&rdquo; Esther said
+shyly.</p>
+<p>Micky looked scornfully sceptical.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh well! if you&rsquo;re going to expect the impossible....&rdquo;
+he submitted.</p>
+<p style='font-variant:small-caps;text-align:center; margin-top:2em;'>The End</p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><i>&ldquo;The Books You Like to Read<br />
+at the Price You Like to Pay</i>&rdquo;<br />
+<br />
+<span style='font-style:italic;font-size:1.4em;'>There Are Two Sides<br />
+to Everything</span>&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ndash;&ndash;including the wrapper which covers
+every Grosset &amp; Dunlap book. When
+you feel in the mood for a good romance,
+refer to the carefully selected list
+of modern fiction comprising most of
+the successes by prominent writers of
+the day which is printed on the back of
+every Grosset &amp; Dunlap book wrapper.</p>
+<p>You will find more than five hundred
+titles to choose from&ndash;&ndash;books for every
+mood and every taste and every pocket-book.</p>
+<p><i>Don&rsquo;t forget the other side, but in case
+the wrapper is lost, write to the publishers
+for a complete catalog</i>.</p>
+<p class='center'><i>There is a Grosset &amp; Dunlap Book<br />
+for every mood and for every taste</i></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>B. M. BOWER&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>CASEY RYAN</p>
+<p>CHIP OF THE FLYING U</p>
+<p>COW-COUNTRY</p>
+<p>FLYING U RANCH</p>
+<p>FLYING U&rsquo;S LAST STAND, THE</p>
+<p>GOOD INDIAN</p>
+<p>GRINGOS, THE</p>
+<p>HAPPY FAMILY, THE</p>
+<p>HER PRAIRIE KNIGHT</p>
+<p>HERITAGE OF THE SIOUX, THE</p>
+<p>LONG SHADOW, THE</p>
+<p>LONESOME TRAIL, THE</p>
+<p>LOOKOUT MAN, THE</p>
+<p>LURE OF THE DIM TRAILS, THE</p>
+<p>PHANTOM HERD, THE</p>
+<p>QUIRT, THE</p>
+<p>RANGE DWELLERS, THE</p>
+<p>RIM O&rsquo; THE WORLD</p>
+<p>SKYRIDER</p>
+<p>STARR OF THE DESERT</p>
+<p>THUNDER BIRD, THE</p>
+<p>TRAIL OF THE WHITE MULE, THE</p>
+<p>UPHILL CLIMB, THE</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>ZANE GREY&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>TO THE LAST MAN</p>
+<p>THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER</p>
+<p>THE MAN OF THE FOREST</p>
+<p>THE DESERT OF WHEAT</p>
+<p>THE U. P. TRAIL</p>
+<p>WILDFIRE</p>
+<p>THE BORDER LEGION</p>
+<p>THE RAINBOW TRAIL</p>
+<p>THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT</p>
+<p>RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE</p>
+<p>THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS</p>
+<p>THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN</p>
+<p>THE LONE STAR RANGER</p>
+<p>DESERT GOLD</p>
+<p>BETTY ZANE</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS</p>
+<p>The life story of &ldquo;Buffalo Bill&rdquo; by his sister Helen Cody
+Wetmore, with Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>ZANE GREY&rsquo;S BOOKS FOR BOYS</span></p>
+<p>KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE</p>
+<p>THE YOUNG LION HUNTER</p>
+<p>THE YOUNG FORESTER</p>
+<p>THE YOUNG PITCHER</p>
+<p>THE SHORT STOP</p>
+<p>THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>ETHEL M. DELL&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>THE LAMP IN THE DESERT</p>
+<p>The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and
+tells of the lamp of love that continues to shine through
+all sorts of tribulations to final happiness.</p>
+<p>GREATHEART</p>
+<p>The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals
+a noble soul.</p>
+<p>THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE</p>
+<p>A hero who worked to win even when there was only
+&ldquo;a hundredth chance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>THE SWINDLER</p>
+<p>The story of a &ldquo;bad man&rsquo;s&rdquo; soul revealed by a
+woman&rsquo;s faith.</p>
+<p>THE TIDAL WAVE</p>
+<p>Tales of love and of women who learned to know the
+true from the false.</p>
+<p>THE SAFETY CURTAIN</p>
+<p>A very vivid love story of India. The volume also
+contains four other long stories of equal interest.</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.4em;'>&ldquo;STORM COUNTRY&rdquo; BOOKS BY</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style='font-size:1.8em;'>GRACE MILLER WHITE</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>JUDY OF ROGUES&rsquo; HARBOR</p>
+<p>Judy&rsquo;s untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things,
+her faith in life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess.
+Her faith and sincerity catch at your heart strings. This
+book has all of the mystery and tense action of the other
+Storm Country books.</p>
+<p>TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY</p>
+<p>It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary
+Pickford made her reputation as a motion picture actress.
+How love acts upon a temperament such as hers&ndash;&ndash;a temperament
+that makes a woman an angel or an outcast, according
+to the character of the man she loves&ndash;&ndash;is the
+theme of the story.</p>
+<p>THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY</p>
+<p>The sequel to &ldquo;Tess of the Storm Country,&rdquo; with the
+same wild background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters&ndash;&ndash;tempestuous,
+passionate, brooding. Tess learns the
+&ldquo;secret&rdquo; of her birth and finds happiness and love through
+her boundless faith in life.</p>
+<p>FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING</p>
+<p>A haunting story with its scene laid near the country
+familiar to readers of &ldquo;Tess of the Storm Country.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>ROSE O&rsquo; PARADISE</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Jinny&rdquo; Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate
+yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe
+Grandoken, a crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her
+romance is full of power and glory and tenderness.</p>
+<p class='center'><i>Ask for Complete free list of G. &amp; D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction</i><br />
+<br />
+<span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.4em;'>THE NOVELS OF</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style='font-size:1.8em;'>MARY ROBERTS RINEHART</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>DANGEROUS DAYS.</p>
+<p>A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and
+stirring appeal.</p>
+<p>THE AMAZING INTERLUDE.</p>
+<p>Illustrations by The Kinneys.</p>
+<p>The story of a great love which cannot be pictured&ndash;&ndash;an interlude&ndash;&ndash;amazing,
+romantic.</p>
+<p>LOVE STORIES.</p>
+<p>This book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love
+affairs&ndash;&ndash;sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;K.&rdquo; Illustrated.</p>
+<p>K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where
+beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse.
+The joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and
+sympathetic appreciation.</p>
+<p>THE MAN IN LOWER TEN.</p>
+<p>Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.</p>
+<p>An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death
+of the &ldquo;Man in Lower Ten.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>WHEN A MAN MARRIES.</p>
+<p>Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.</p>
+<p>A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that
+his aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the
+family income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the
+young man met the situation is entertainingly told.</p>
+<p>THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph.</p>
+<p>The occupants of &ldquo;Sunnyside&rdquo; find the dead body of Arnold
+Armstrong on the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank
+failure is announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of
+absorbing interest.</p>
+<p>THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.)</p>
+<p>Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly
+realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young
+ambitious doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together
+with world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their
+love and slender means.</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>RUBY M. AYRE&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>RICHARD CHATTERTON</p>
+<p>A fascinating story in which love and jealousy play
+strange tricks with women&rsquo;s souls.</p>
+<p>A BACHELOR HUSBAND</p>
+<p>Can a woman love two men at the same time?</p>
+<p>In its solving of this particular variety of triangle &ldquo;A
+Bachelor Husband&rdquo; will particularly interest, and strangely
+enough, without one shock to the most conventional minded.</p>
+<p>THE SCAR</p>
+<p>With fine comprehension and insight the author shows a
+terrific contrast between the woman whose love was of the
+flesh and one whose love was of the spirit.</p>
+<p>THE MARRIAGE OF BARRY WICKLOW</p>
+<p>Here is a man and woman who, marrying for love, yet try
+to build their wedded life upon a gospel of hate for each
+other and yet win back to a greater love for each other in
+the end.</p>
+<p>THE UPHILL ROAD</p>
+<p>The heroine of this story was a consort of thieves. The
+man was fine, clean, fresh from the West. It is a story of
+strength and passion.</p>
+<p>WINDS OF THE WORLD</p>
+<p>Jill, a poor little typist, marries the great Henry Sturgess
+and inherits millions, but not happiness. Then at last&ndash;&ndash;but
+we must leave that to Ruby M. Ayres to tell you as only
+she can.</p>
+<p>THE SECOND HONEYMOON</p>
+<p>In this story the author has produced a book which no
+one who has loved or hopes to love can afford to miss.
+The story fairly leaps from climax to climax.</p>
+<p>THE PHANTOM LOVER</p>
+<p>Have you not often heard of someone being in love with
+love rather than the person they believed the object of their
+affections? That was Esther! But she passes through the
+crisis into a deep and profound love.</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>JACKSON GREGORY&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>THE EVERLASTING WHISPER</p>
+<p>The story of a strong man&rsquo;s struggle against savage nature and humanity,
+and of a beautiful girl&rsquo;s regeneration from a spoiled child of wealth into
+a courageous strong-willed woman.</p>
+<p>DESERT VALLEY</p>
+<p>A college professor sets out with his daughter to find gold. They meet
+a rancher who loses his heart, and become involved in a feud. An intensely
+exciting story.</p>
+<p>MAN TO MAN</p>
+<p>Encircled with enemies, distrusted, Steve defends his rights. How he
+won his game and the girl he loved is the story filled with breathless
+situations.</p>
+<p>THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN</p>
+<p>Dr. Virginia Page is forced to go with the sheriff on a night journey
+into the strongholds of a lawless band. Thrills and excitement sweep the
+reader along to the end.</p>
+<p>JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCH</p>
+<p>Judith Sanford part owner of a cattle ranch realizes she is being robbed
+by her foreman. How, with the help of Bud Lee, she checkmates Trevor&rsquo;s
+scheme makes fascinating reading.</p>
+<p>THE SHORT CUT</p>
+<p>Wayne is suspected of killing his brother after a violent quarrel. Financial
+complications, villains, a horse-race and beautiful Wanda, all go to make
+up a thrilling romance.</p>
+<p>THE JOYOUS TROUBLE MAKER</p>
+<p>A reporter sets up housekeeping close to Beatrice&rsquo;s Ranch much to her
+chagrin. There is &ldquo;another man&rdquo; who complicates matters, but all turns
+out as it should in this tale of romance and adventure.</p>
+<p>SIX FEET FOUR</p>
+<p>Beatrice Waverly is robbed of $5,000 and suspicion fastens upon Buck
+Thornton, but she soon realizes he is not guilty. Intensely exciting, here is a
+real story of the Great Far West.</p>
+<p>WOLF BREED</p>
+<p>No Luck Drennan had grown hard through loss of faith in men he had
+trusted. A woman hater and sharp of tongue, he finds a match in Ygerne
+whose clever fencing wins the admiration and love of the &ldquo;Lone Wolf.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+
+<!-- generated by ppg.rb version: 3.17 -->
+<!-- timestamp: Mon Oct 19 02:43:19 -0600 2009 -->
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30286 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #30286 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30286)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom Lover, by Ruby M. Ayres
+
+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: The Phantom Lover
+
+Author: Ruby M. Ayres
+
+Release Date: October 19, 2009 [EBook #30286]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM LOVER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+BY
+
+RUBY M. AYRES
+
+AUTHOR OF A BACHELOR HUSBAND, THE SCAR, ETC.
+
+NEW YORK
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+Made in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1921, BY W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATED
+
+TO MY FRIEND
+
+Janet Moore
+
+THE REAL 'JUNE MASON'
+
+IN THIS STORY
+
+
+
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Somewhere out in the night a woman was crying, crying desolately. The
+sad, rather monotonous sound broke the silence of the street and
+floated through the open window of a room where Micky Mellowes was
+wondering how the deuce he should get through the long evening lying
+before him.
+
+Micky was in a bad temper. It was not often that he was in a bad
+temper, but he had begun the day by waking with a headache, which was
+still with him, and which accounted for the wide open window and the
+breath of icy air which was filling the room and fluttering the
+curtains; and half an hour ago some people with whom he had been going
+to dine had rung up and told him that the party was off owing to the
+sudden death of a relative, thereby leaving the evening long and empty
+on his hands.
+
+It was New Year's Eve, too, which made matters a thundering sight
+worse.
+
+He wondered if Marie Deland was feeling as sick about it as he was.
+Micky was in the middle of an interesting flirtation with Marie, which
+bade fair to develop into something deeper with careful engineering on
+the part of her family, for Micky was a catch, and though so far he
+had proved himself singularly adroit in avoiding mothers with
+marriageable daughters, the Delands were beginning to pat each other
+on the back and to look pleased.
+
+When the sound of crying reached him he had been feeling so thoroughly
+fed-up with life that it had seemed impossible for anything ever to
+interest him again; but now he climbed out of his chair with a faint
+show of energy and strolled over to the window.
+
+It was a cold, clear night, with myriads of stars in the dark sky that
+seemed to shed a faintly luminous light to earth, bright enough at all
+events for Micky to distinguish the figure of a girl walking slowly
+along the pathway below.
+
+She was walking so slowly and dispiritedly that a sort of vague
+curiosity stirred in Micky's heart; here, at least, was some one even
+more fed-up with life than he himself, and with a sudden impulse he
+turned from the window, and, snatching up a hat and coat which he had
+thrown down when he came in an hour earlier, made for the stairs.
+
+He was half-way down when an apologetic cough at his elbow arrested
+him; he stopped and turned.
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"If you please, sir, Mr. Ashton has just sent round to ask if you
+could make it convenient to be in at ten o'clock this evening, as he
+wants to see you particularly."
+
+Micky looked surprised; Ashton had been very particularly engaged for
+that evening, he knew. Evidently something had happened to upset his
+plans as well.
+
+"Ten o'clock? All right; I dare say I shall be in."
+
+He went on down the stairs.
+
+Out on the path he paused and looked up and down the street.
+
+The impulse that had sent him out had died away; it was beastly cold,
+and much more comfortable by the fire. He hesitated, and in that
+moment he saw the figure of the girl again.
+
+She had stopped now in the light of a street lamp, and seemed to be
+looking at something she carried in her arms--a child! Surely not a
+child!
+
+Micky's curiosity was aroused. He buttoned the collar of his coat more
+closely round his chin and went on.
+
+The girl had moved too, almost as if she felt instinctively that she
+was being followed, and as Micky drew abreast with her she shrank a
+little to one side as if afraid.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Micky bluntly.
+
+They were some few yards from the lamp now. But, as she turned to look
+up at him with startled eyes, its yellow light fell on her face; and
+Micky saw with amazement that she was quite young and exceedingly
+pretty, in spite of the distress in her eyes, and the tears that were
+still wet on her cheeks.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked again, more gently, and waited for the
+pathetically shaken denial which he felt sure would come.
+
+"Nothing--nothing at all."
+
+"Nothing!" There was a note of exasperation in his voice. "You were
+crying--I heard you, and people don't walk about the streets at this
+time of night and cry if there's nothing the matter. If that's a baby
+you've got with you, you ought to know better than to----" He broke
+off. She was laughing, a weak, uncertain little laugh.
+
+"A baby!" she said tremulously. "It isn't a baby; it's a cat."
+
+"A cat!" Micky's voice was full of disgust. He looked down at her from
+his superior height with sudden suspicion. If this was just a hoax?
+
+"Well, what's the matter anyway?" he asked again.
+
+She looked away from him without answering.
+
+Micky began to feel a bit of a fool; he wished he had not yielded to
+the impulse to follow her. After all, it was no business of his if a
+stranger chose to walk about his road and weep; he looked at her
+impatiently.
+
+Her hair beneath its not very smart hat shone golden in the lamplight,
+and the little oval of cheek and rounded chin which was all he could
+see of her averted face somehow touched a forgotten chord in his heart
+and made him think of his boyhood and the girl-mother who had not
+lived long enough to be more than a memory....
+
+"Don't think I'm interfering or trying to annoy you," he said again.
+"But if there is anything I can do to help you...."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"There isn't anything.... I ought to have known better than to let you
+hear that I was crying ... there's nothing the matter, I----" Then
+quite suddenly she broke down again into bitter sobbing. "Oh, I'm so
+miserable--so utterly miserable--I wish I were dead!"
+
+Micky was appalled; he had heard women say that sort of thing before,
+and had said it himself scores of times, but never with that note of
+tragedy which he heard in this girl's voice.
+
+Ten minutes ago he had considered himself the most miserable of
+mortals because he had been let down over a dinner; he was ashamed of
+his temper now as he stood there in the starlight and listened to this
+girl's sobbing.
+
+"Look here," he said after a moment, "you'll never feel any better if
+you stay out here in the cold. I don't suppose you've had a
+respectable meal for hours either--I know what women are. Where do you
+live? You'll soon feel better when you get beside a fire and have
+something to eat."
+
+"I'm not going home any more," she said.
+
+She spoke quite quietly, but with a sort of despair which there was no
+mistaking.
+
+Micky was a rapid thinker. He had clean forgotten his headache. This
+was adventure with a capital letter. There was still something of
+romance in the world which his jaded palate had not yet tasted.
+
+"I'm sure you're tired," he said gently, "and probably fed-up. So am
+I. I was just wondering what in the world to do with myself when I
+heard you crying. It made me feel a sort of kinship with you--it did,
+upon my word. If I'd been a woman I dare say I should have been
+howling like anything. Will you come along with me and let me give you
+some supper? I'm hungry too...."
+
+She shrank back from him with a little gesture of fear.
+
+"Oh no--please let me go!..."
+
+She tried to pass him, but Micky barred the way.
+
+"You can't walk about the streets all night," he said determinedly.
+"The cat will hate it anyway, even if you don't mind." There was a
+hint of laughter in his voice, though he had never felt more serious
+in all his life. "And if you don't want me to take pity on you, you
+might at least take pity on me ... please don't think I'm a bounder
+trying to annoy you or anything like that ... perhaps I want a friend
+just as badly as you do...." He stopped, aghast at his own temerity.
+
+"If you do," she said tremulously, "I am more sorry for you than I can
+say."
+
+"I'm glad you said that," Micky answered, "because now you'll come
+along and have that supper with me. There's a little café quite near
+here that I know. If we are both miserable, we can at least be
+miserable together."
+
+Something told him that this girl was at the end of her tether; that
+she was desperate, and his first casual curiosity concerning her
+deepened in the most surprising fashion.
+
+He felt in some inexplicable way that a curtain had been lifted from a
+phase of life hitherto hidden from him; as if he were standing on the
+threshold of a new world, where women only weep for something real and
+tragic, not just butterfly tears of petulance like the women of his
+own class.
+
+The girl was silent for a moment; then suddenly she laughed, a hard
+little laugh of recklessness.
+
+"Very well," she said. "I suppose I may as well."
+
+Micky was infinitely relieved; somehow he had not really thought that
+she would allow him to accompany her.
+
+They walked along for a few steps in silence. Once or twice the cat,
+tucked under the girl's arm, gave a faint mieow of protest, and Micky
+smiled to himself in the darkness.
+
+It was the cat that seemed to give such a real touch of pathos to the
+whole adventure, he thought, and wondered why. He looked down at her
+deprecatingly.
+
+"Let me carry it," he suggested.
+
+"Carry it?" she echoed. "What do you mean?--Oh, the cat; no, thank
+you. He wouldn't like it: he hates strangers."
+
+"Oh!" said Micky. He felt chagrined. "Is it a great pet?" he asked.
+
+"Yes." She hunched her queer burden more closely under her arm. "It
+isn't really mine," she explained. "But they were so unkind to it in
+the house that I had to bring it."
+
+Micky was dying to ask questions, but somehow it hardly seemed a
+propitious moment. He did not speak again till they reached the little
+café.
+
+It was a quiet little downstairs place, and just now was almost
+deserted.
+
+Micky chose a corner table which was partially screened from the rest
+of the room. As he stood up to take off his coat he looked at the girl
+interestedly.
+
+She was better than pretty, he decided with a little pleasurable
+thrill; he could not remember when he had seen a face that appealed to
+him so strongly in spite of its pathos and the tear stains round her
+eyes.
+
+And such sweet eyes they were!--really grey with dark lashes and
+daintily pencilled brows. She looked up suddenly, meeting his earnest
+regard.
+
+"Well?" she said. There was a touch of defiance in her voice; the
+colour had risen in her white cheeks.
+
+"Well?" said Micky with a friendly smile.
+
+He sat down opposite to her; he was thanking his lucky stars that the
+Delands' message had reached him before he changed into evening
+clothes; somehow as he looked at this girl he felt slightly ashamed of
+his own lazy, luxurious life and the banking account which, like the
+cruse of oil, never failed. That this girl had no surplus of this
+world's goods he was certain, though she was neatly dressed and was
+unmistakably a lady. Her gloves were worn and had been carefully
+mended, and her coat looked far too thin for such a cold night.
+
+"Well, what are we going to have?" he asked. It was surprising how
+cheerful he felt. "And what about that wonderful cat of yours? By the
+way, hasn't it got a name?"
+
+She smiled faintly.
+
+"I call him Charlie," she said.
+
+"Charlie!" Micky's eyes twinkled. "Well, it's original, anyway," he
+said with a chuckle. "And Charlie must have some milk, I suppose. I
+say, he's a bit thin, isn't he?" he asked dubiously.
+
+She had taken off the shawl which had been wrapped about it, and the
+poor animal sat on her lap blinking in the light, a forlorn enough
+specimen, with a long tail and fierce eyes.
+
+The girl stroked its head.
+
+"He's been half starved," she said. "You'd be thin if you hadn't had
+any more to eat than he's had."
+
+"I'm sure I should," said Micky humbly. He thought guiltily of the
+waste which he knew went on in his own establishment; it was odd that
+it had never struck him before that there must be many people in the
+world, not to mention cats, who would be glad enough of the waste from
+his table.
+
+He picked up the menu to hide his discomfort. When the waiter came he
+ordered the best dinner the restaurant served. He was conscious that
+the girl was watching him anxiously. When the waiter had gone, she
+said, "I can't afford to have a dinner like that."
+
+Micky flushed crimson.
+
+"I thought you were dining with me," he stammered. "I--I hope you
+will--I shall be only too honoured...."
+
+Her grey eyes met his anxiously.
+
+"I've never done a thing like this before," she said in distress. "I
+don't know what you are thinking of me ... but ... well, I suppose I
+was just desperate...." She broke off biting her lip, then she rushed
+on again. "I don't suppose you'll ever see me any more, so it doesn't
+really matter much, but...."
+
+"I hope to see you again, many times," said Micky, with an earnestness
+that surprised himself.
+
+She looked away, and her face hardened.
+
+"I suppose men are all the same," she said, after a moment.
+"However...." she shrugged her shoulders with a sort of recklessness
+that made Micky frown. She leaned back in her chair with sudden
+weariness. "It's very kind of you," she said disinterestedly.
+
+"It's not kind at all," he hastened to assure her. "I'm much more
+pleased to be with you than you are to be with me. If it hadn't been
+for you I should have spent this evening alone--New Year's Eve, too,"
+he added, with a sort of chagrin and a sudden memory of Marie Deland.
+
+"New Year's Eve!" she echoed. She closed her eyes for a moment, and
+Micky had an uncomfortable sort of feeling that she was looking back
+on the year that was dying and could see nothing pleasant in the whole
+of the twelve months. Presently she opened them again with a little
+sigh. "Well, I don't want another year like the last one," she said.
+
+"You won't have," he told her promptly. "I've got a sort of feeling
+that there are lots of good things coming along for you. The luck has
+to change some time or other, and if you've had a rotten time in the
+past you won't have it in the future."
+
+"I don't believe in luck," she said.
+
+"Don't you? I do," Micky declared. He hated the despondency in her
+face; he felt a strong desire to see her smiling and happy. He rattled
+on, talking any nonsense that came into his head.
+
+The waiter came down the room and set the dishes on the table. He gave
+a sort of supercilious sniff when Micky asked for a saucer of milk for
+the cat. He looked at Charlie with scorn--Charlie, curled up on the
+girl's lap now and purring lustily.
+
+"Of course, you know, we really ought to have a bottle of wine," Micky
+said dubiously. "Just something cheap, as it's New Year's Eve."
+
+He would like to have given her champagne, but dared not suggest it.
+He was quite sure that if she knew he was a rich man she would fly off
+at a tangent. He ordered an inexpensive bottle of red wine and filled
+her glass.
+
+"Well, here's luck to the New Year," he said sententiously. "And to
+our delightfully unexpected meeting," he added.
+
+She flushed up to her eyes.
+
+"Are you always as kind to people as you have been to me?" she asked
+tensely.
+
+Micky blushed.
+
+"Oh, I say!" he protested. "You don't call this being kind, do you? I
+assure you it's just pure selfishness. I should have spent my evening
+alone if we hadn't met--and I hate being alone; I bore myself stiff in
+five minutes. I'm just--honoured that you should have allowed me to
+eat my supper with you. If you knew how beastly fed-up I was feeling
+... the world seemed a positively loathsome place."
+
+She laughed; she leaned her elbows on the table and her chin in her
+hands, looking at him with thoughtful eyes.
+
+"Are you poor?" she asked with disarming frankness.
+
+"Poor as a church mouse," said Micky promptly. "At least"--he hastened
+to amend his words--"I'm one of those unfortunate beggars who spend
+money as fast as they get it. I've never saved a halfpenny in my
+life."
+
+This at least was the truth.
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Neither have I--I've never had one to save...."
+
+The despondency was back again in her voice; Micky broke in hastily--
+
+"Before we go any further I think we ought to know one another's
+names." He fumbled in a pocket for a card, but changed his mind
+quickly, remembering that his cards bore the address of the expensive
+flat which he honoured with his presence. "My name is Mellowes," he
+said. "I've got several Christian names as well, but people call me
+Micky...." He waited, looking at her expectantly. "Won't you tell me
+yours?" he asked.
+
+She was staring down at her plate. He could see the dark fringe of
+lashes against her cheeks. Suddenly she looked up.
+
+"Why do you want to know my name? We shall never meet again, I----"
+
+Micky leaned a little forward.
+
+"If we don't," he said quietly, "it will be the greatest disappointment
+I have ever had."
+
+She looked at him with a sort of fear.
+
+"You don't mean that," she said, with a catch in her voice. "You don't
+really mean that ... you're just one of those men who say things like
+that to every woman you----" She broke off, struck by the chagrin in
+Micky's face. "No--I oughtn't to have said that," she went on
+hurriedly. "I beg your pardon ... I ought not to have said it, and I
+will tell you my name if you really want to know. My name is
+Esther--Esther Shepstone."
+
+"Thank you!" said Micky. "And now we're going to drink to good
+resolutions for the New Year ... have you made one yet?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"What's the use? Besides ... I don't want to make any."
+
+"Very well, then, I'll make one for you." He refilled her glass and
+handed it to her. "Now say after me: 'I resolve that during the coming
+year I will be good friends with Micky Mellowes----' Oh, I say,
+don't--please don't...."
+
+She had dropped her face in her hands again, and Micky had a miserable
+conviction that she was crying.
+
+But he was wrong, for presently she looked up again, and her eyes were
+dry, though a little hard and bright.
+
+"I don't believe in a man's friendship for a woman," she said. "But
+I'll say it, if you like," and she took the glass from his hand.
+
+"And to-morrow," said Micky presently, "I'm going to take you out to
+tea or something--if I may," he added hurriedly.
+
+He waited, but she did not speak. "May I?" he asked.
+
+She was twisting the stem of her wineglass nervously; after a moment
+she began to speak jerkily.
+
+"When I came out to-night I didn't mean to go back any more," she
+said. Her voice was low and full of a weary bitterness. "I was so
+unhappy I didn't want to live." She caught her breath. "If it hadn't
+been for you"--she was looking at him now with shame in her eyes. "If
+it hadn't been for you I shouldn't have gone back--ever----" she
+added. "But now...."
+
+"But now," said Micky as she paused, "you're going back, and we're
+going to start the new year--friends, you and I! Is that a bargain?"
+he asked.
+
+"Yes...."
+
+Outside Micky hailed a taxicab.
+
+"You're much too tired to walk," he said when she protested. "And it
+will be a new experience for Charlie," he added with a twinkle.
+
+He put her into the cab, and stood for a moment at the door.
+
+"And the address?" he asked.
+
+She hesitated, looking away from him; then suddenly she told him.
+
+"It's Brixton Road--it's--it's a very horrid boarding-house," she
+added with a half-sigh.
+
+"Boarding-houses are all horrid," said Micky cheerily. "But I'll come
+down myself to-morrow and see how bad it really is."
+
+He tried to see her face.
+
+"Shall you be in if I come in the afternoon?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"About four, then," said Micky. He groped for her hand, found it, and
+pressed it. "Good-night," he said.
+
+"Good-night."
+
+And the next moment Micky was alone in the starlight.
+
+He stood looking after the taxi with a queer sense of unreality. Had
+he just dreamt it all, and was there really no such girl as Esther
+Shepstone? No Charlie? He shook himself together with a laugh. Of
+course it was real, all of it! He walked on soberly through the cold
+night.
+
+To-morrow he would go to the very horrid boarding-house in the Brixton
+Road and see her again.
+
+Esther! He liked her name; there was something quaint and old-world
+about it. It seemed impossible that they had only met a few hours
+ago.
+
+His headache had quite vanished. He was whistling a snatch of song
+when he let himself into the house and went upstairs.
+
+He opened the door of his sitting-room, and then stopped dead on the
+threshold. The lights were burning fully, and a man was ensconced in
+his favourite armchair by the fire--Ashton. Lord! he had forgotten all
+about Ashton.
+
+Micky looked guiltily at the clock--nearly eleven!--he began a
+half-apology.
+
+"Awfully sorry, old man--I was kept.... Been waiting long?"
+
+"I got here at ten."
+
+Ashton climbed out of the chair and looked at Micky with a sort of
+shamefacedness.
+
+"Don't take your coat off," he said suddenly. "I want you to come out
+again----"
+
+"Out! Now! Look at the time, man!"
+
+"I know--it's only eleven.... I'm catching the midnight to Dover...."
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Dover! What in the world...."
+
+Ashton turned round and looked down at the fire with a sort of
+embarrassment.
+
+"It's the mater," he said jerkily. "She's found out----"
+
+Micky looked puzzled.
+
+"Found out! What on earth...."
+
+Ashton made an impatient gesture. He was a good-looking man, with dark
+eyes that could look all manner of things without in the least meaning
+them.
+
+"About that girl at Eldred's," he said in a strangled voice. "You
+know! I told you about her. Lord, man, don't look so confoundedly
+ignorant! I told you about her," he broke off. "Well, some one's told
+the mater, and this morning...." he shrugged his shoulders. "There's
+been old Harry to pay! She told me if I didn't give her up she'd cut
+me out of her will. She would, too!" he added, in savage parenthesis.
+
+"Well! and what did you say?"
+
+Ashton looked round.
+
+"Hang it all! what could I say? Told her I would, of course."
+
+There was a sharp silence.
+
+"I thought you liked the girl," said Micky bluntly.
+
+The other man winced.
+
+"So I did--so I do.... It's a rotten shame. If you'd ever seen her ...
+you never have, have you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Neither has the mater.... Women are all the same; because the girl
+has to work for her living they think she isn't fit for me to
+marry.... It's all a lot of rot.... However--beggars can't be
+choosers--and so I'm off to-night."
+
+Micky looked at him keenly.
+
+"You mean that you're going without a word to the girl?"
+
+"What can I do?--I went and saw her this morning--we had a rotten
+scene. I meant to tell her it was all up, but somehow I couldn't; I'm
+too dashed fond of her, and that's the truth. I can't bear to see her
+cry--it makes me feel such a cur...."
+
+He waited a moment, but Micky made no comment.
+
+"So the only thing is to clear out," Ashton went on jerkily. "I can't
+afford to quarrel with the mater, you know that.... Perhaps some
+day...." He stopped. "After all, she can't live for ever," he added
+brutally.
+
+Micky said nothing.
+
+"So I'm off to-night," Ashton went on with an effort. "I wanted to see
+you--I knew I could trust you...." He fumbled in a pocket. "There's a
+letter here.... I've written--I couldn't see her again. I know I'm a
+coward, but ... well, there it is!"
+
+He threw the letter down on the table.
+
+"Will you go and see her, old chap, and give her that?" he asked with
+an effort. "Tell her I--oh, tell her what you like," he went on
+fiercely. "Tell her that if I could afford it...."
+
+He stopped again, and this time the silence was unbroken for some
+minutes.
+
+Then he roused himself and picked up his coat. "Well, I must be
+getting along. I left my baggage at the station."
+
+He looked at Micky. "I suppose you think I'm an infernal sweep, eh?"
+he asked curtly.
+
+"No," said Micky.
+
+He had always expected that Ashton's romance would end like this, and
+he felt vaguely sorry for the girl, though he had never seen her. She
+must have expected it, too, he thought. She must have known Ashton's
+position all along. He followed his friend out of the room.
+
+"You haven't told me her address," he said suddenly.
+
+He decided that it would be better to send the letter--he did not want
+to see her. He hated a scene as much as Ashton did.
+
+Ashton was at the top of the stairs.
+
+"It's on the letter. What have you done with it?"
+
+There was an irritable note in his voice. "Don't leave it lying there
+for that man of yours to see."
+
+Micky went back into the room. The letter lay on the table where
+Ashton had thrown it down.
+
+He picked it up, glancing casually at the written address as he did
+so. Then suddenly his tall figure stiffened, and a curiously blank
+look filled his eyes, for the name scribbled there in Ashton's writing
+was--
+
+"Miss Esther Shepstone," and, below it, the number of the very horrid
+boarding-house in the Brixton Road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Micky stood staring at the envelope in his hand. He felt as if
+something had happened to paralyse all power of action.
+
+Esther Shepstone and Ashton's girl from Eldred's were one and the
+same; that was all he could grasp, and it sounded absurd and
+impossible.
+
+He had heard so much of this girl--Ashton had talked about her times
+without number--Lallie he had called her; now he came to think of it,
+Micky could not remember having ever heard her spoken of by any other
+name; and Lallie and Esther Shepstone were one and the same.
+
+Was this, then, why she had cried, because of Ashton...?
+
+Ashton called to him impatiently from the stairs.
+
+"What the deuce are you doing? I shall miss my train."
+
+Micky roused himself with a start, and, dropping the letter into his
+pocket, went slowly out of the room; he felt as if he could not have
+hurried had his life depended upon it; there was an absurdly cold sort
+of feeling round his heart.
+
+It was ridiculous, of course; it was nothing to him if the girl with
+whom he had dined an hour ago loved Ashton; he had never seen her
+before. That sounded an absurd truth, too; it seemed impossible that
+until this evening he and she had never met.
+
+"For heaven's sake, hurry up, man," said Ashton again sharply.
+
+He was at the bottom of the stairs; the face he turned over his
+shoulder to Micky looked pale and harassed.
+
+Micky quickened his steps and joined his friend in the porch below;
+they stood together out on the path waiting for a taxicab.
+
+Micky glanced at Ashton with a curious sense of unreality; he felt as
+if he had never seen him before; it seemed impossible that this Ashton
+could know Esther--and Charlie!
+
+A taxicab drew up to the kerb; Ashton banged open the door and got in.
+Micky followed, and they drove some way in silence.
+
+"I'll take thundering good care I don't stay away long," Ashton said
+suddenly, with a sort of growl. "And if the mater thinks it will make
+me forget Lallie----"
+
+"I thought her name was Esther," said Micky quietly. He was looking
+out of the window into the starry night.
+
+"So it is--but I always call her Lallie." He looked at his friend with
+a sort of vague suspicion. "How do you know what her name is?" he
+asked.
+
+"I saw it on the letter you gave me."
+
+Ashton grunted.
+
+"I think it would be better if you posted it to her yourself and have
+done with it," Micky said with an effort. "I'm a rotten hand at this
+sort of thing. It can't do any good if I go and see her."
+
+"You said you would go--you might be a sport and stick to your word,"
+Ashton protested. "I'd do the same for you any day."
+
+Micky rather doubted it, but did not like to say so.
+
+"If you knew how sick I am about the whole business," Ashton went on
+jerkily. "You may not believe me, but I tell you, Micky, that I'd
+marry that girl to-morrow if only----"
+
+"If only--what?" Micky asked as he paused.
+
+"Oh, you know! What the dickens can I do without a bob to my name
+except what the mater chooses to dole out? I tell you," he went on
+with a sort of snarl, "it'll be very different when I get the money.
+Gad! if only I'd got it now!"
+
+"Money isn't everything," said Micky sententiously. "And if you like
+the girl, why not marry her and face it out?"
+
+Ashton gave a savage little laugh.
+
+"It's all very fine for you to say that money isn't everything--that's
+only because you've got it, and are never likely to be without it. You
+don't know what it feels like to be up to your eyes in debt and not
+knowing where to turn for a fiver. Bah! what's the good of talking?"
+He let down the window with a run, turning his face to the keen night
+air.
+
+They were nearing their destination, and there was still something he
+wanted to say to Micky which so far, he had been afraid to put into
+words.
+
+"Well, I suppose I shan't be seeing you again for a bit," he said,
+with rather a forced laugh. "You've been a good pal to me, Micky----"
+
+Micky said "Rot!" rather shortly; he frowned in the darkness; Ashton
+got on his nerves; he rather wished he had not come to see him off.
+
+"Oh, but you have--whether you like me to say so or not," the other
+man went on obstinately. "And--and there's one last thing I'm going to
+ask you before I go...."
+
+He waited, but Micky did not speak.
+
+The taxi was turning into the station yard now, moving slowly because
+of the congested traffic.
+
+"If you could give Lallie some money," Ashton went on with a rush.
+"I'd send her some, but I've only just got enough to get out of the
+way with. I'll pay you back as soon as the mater condescends to send
+me another cheque...."
+
+Micky's face felt hot.
+
+"Hasn't she--hasn't she got any, then?" he asked with an effort.
+
+"No--at least I promised her some when I saw her this morning.
+She--she's left Eldred's. You see"--he drew a hard breath--"you see, I
+hoped we'd be able to get married, and so--well, there was no sense in
+her staying on there. She was worked to death, poor kid."
+
+He glanced at Micky, but could not see his face.
+
+"You understand, don't you?" he said, encouraged by his silence. "She
+owes them a bit at the boarding-house where she is living. I promised
+to wipe it off for her, but the mater cutting up rough altered
+everything, and so ... if you could give her a little----"
+
+"I'll see to it," said Micky. He opened the door of the taxi and got
+out before it was at a standstill. He took off his hat and let the
+cold air play on his hot forehead. He could hardly trust himself to
+speak.
+
+He was thankful when Ashton went off to see to his luggage. He walked
+into the station and found himself aimlessly staring at a notice
+board. He could not remember when he had felt so furiously angry.
+
+Had Ashton changed? he was asking himself in bewilderment. Or was it
+merely that he had never seen the man he really was until to-night?
+
+He tried to remember what Ashton had told him about Esther Shepstone
+in the past. That she had been at Eldred's he knew, and that Eldred's
+was a place where women bought silk petticoats and things he also
+knew. He had heard Marie Deland and her friends talking about it lots
+of times. Marie had once invited him to accompany her there when they
+had been out together, but he had refused and had waited outside for
+her. Now he came to think of it, that was about all Ashton had ever
+told him of Esther Shepstone.
+
+He knew that Ashton had been seen about with her a great deal; knew
+that he had had to stand a lot of harmless chaff in consequence; he
+himself had joked about Ashton's "latest" as they had all called her:
+it seemed a memory to be ashamed of, when he thought of the way he had
+heard her sobbing in the street that night, of the distress in her
+eyes, of the hopeless way in which she had spoken.
+
+Ashton rejoined him.
+
+"Buck up! The train's in."
+
+They went along the platform, followed by a porter with Ashton's
+baggage. Micky looked at it resentfully; Ashton was evidently
+prepared to enjoy himself; this was no rush after mere solitude and
+forgetfulness.
+
+He stood stiffly at the carriage door while Ashton stowed his smaller
+traps on the rack. Presently he came to the window.
+
+"You'll do the best you can, won't you, old man?" There was a real
+anxiety in his eyes, but Micky was not looking at him; he answered
+stiffly--
+
+"Yes, I'll do what I can."
+
+"She'll soon get another job," Ashton went on, with forced confidence.
+"I'm sorry she left Eldred's, now it's come to this, but how was I to
+know?" he appealed to Micky, but he might as well have appealed to a
+brick wall for all response he got.
+
+"And when I come back----" he said again. "Tell her that when I come
+back many things may be all right again ... tell her that, will you?"
+
+"I'll tell her," said Micky stolidly.
+
+The guard was blowing his whistle now, doors were being shut.
+
+Micky roused himself and looked at his friend.
+
+"Are you--er--are you going to write to her?" he asked constrainedly.
+
+Ashton coloured.
+
+"No--it's better not--far better let the thing drop till I come back.
+I've explained it all in my letter--she'll understand. It's no use
+writing--don't you think it's better not----"
+
+Micky hunched his shoulders.
+
+"It's your affair," he said laconically.
+
+"Yes, well, I shan't write--I'll send you my address as soon as I know
+where I'm staying, and you can let me know what she said and how she
+takes it.... Oh, confound it!"
+
+A porter had come along and slammed the door; the train was slowly
+moving; Micky was vaguely glad that there had been no time in which to
+shake hands. A moment, and he was walking away alone down the
+platform.
+
+His hands were deep thrust in the pockets of his coat; he took no
+notice of anything; he walked on and out of the station.
+
+Well, this had been an eventful New Year's Eve with a vengeance; he
+glanced up at the clock in the dome behind him--only a quarter to
+twelve now, and yet so much had been crowded into the past four hours.
+Since the moment when the Delands rang up to cancel his engagement to
+dine he seemed to have stepped out of the old world into a new. He
+wondered what Esther Shepstone was doing in the very horrid
+boarding-house of which she had told him--if she was thinking of
+Ashton.
+
+What a cad the man was, what a cad!--he was amazed that he had not
+discovered it before--to clear off and leave a girl like this, without
+a word of farewell except the letter. He wondered if he meant to
+deliver it and admit that he knew Ashton, or if he meant just to stick
+a stamp on and post it to her.
+
+He realised that there was nothing very much to be proud of in an
+admission that he knew Ashton, and yet they had been friends for
+years.
+
+It was striking twelve when he got home; he stood for a moment on the
+doorstep, looking up at the starry sky.
+
+Several clocks were chiming midnight in the distance; he listened with
+a queer sense of fatalism.
+
+This was the strangest New Year's Eve he had ever spent in his life.
+At this hour last year he had been dancing the old year out, and
+to-night, had things gone as he had thought, he would have been
+somewhere with Marie Deland--he might even have proposed to her by
+this time. He smiled faintly, remembering that the intention had
+really been somewhere in the background of his mind; but that, too,
+had faded out now to give place to other, more important, factors.
+
+Nine, ten, eleven, twelve! He counted the strokes mechanically; there
+was a breathless pause, then the clash of bells.
+
+Some irrepressibles in a block of flats near by raised a cheer; the
+front door of a house opposite was open, and Micky caught a glimpse of
+a crowded hall and black-coated men and girls in pretty frocks.
+
+He felt strangely removed from all the noise and laughter; after a
+moment he turned and went up to his room.
+
+The fire had been carefully made up and his slippers and dressing-gown
+put to warm. Micky looked at them with a sort of disgust; it was
+sickening for a healthy grown man to be so pampered; he kicked the
+slippers into a corner and tossed the dressing-gown on to the couch.
+
+He wondered what sort of a room Esther Shepstone had in the very
+horrid boarding-house--what odd corner the thin black cat curled into
+to sleep.
+
+He took Ashton's letter from his pocket and stuck it up against the
+clock on the mantelshelf.
+
+"Miss Esther Shepstone...."
+
+It was fate, that's what it was! He wondered if she would ever have
+lived to get that letter had fate not thrown her across his path that
+night.
+
+She had been desperate--at the end of her tether, and all for the sake
+of that cad Ashton.
+
+He turned his back on the letter and lit a cigarette, but he let it go
+out almost at once, and turned back again to stare once more at the
+name scrawled on the envelope.
+
+What had Ashton written to her? It worried him because he did not
+know. Ashton had had other love-affairs--not quite such serious ones,
+perhaps, but still serious enough--and Micky knew that when he had
+wearied of them he had set about getting free of them by the shortest
+route, caring little if it were also a brutal one. He thought of the
+despair he had seen in Esther's face that evening; he dreaded that
+there might be something in Ashton's farewell letter that would plunge
+her back more deeply into her misery.
+
+Out in the night the bells were still ringing joyously.
+
+It was New Year's morning, and perhaps, if he sent that letter ... He
+stood quite still for a moment, staring at it; then suddenly he threw
+his cigarette into the fire and snatched the letter down from the
+shelf.
+
+He tore it open impulsively and drew out the enclosure. He unfolded it
+and began to read. The silence of the room was unbroken save for the
+little crisp sound as Micky turned the paper; then the letter
+fluttered to the rug at his feet and lay there, half-curled up, as if
+it were ashamed of the words it bore and wished to hide them.
+
+Micky raised his eyes and looked at his reflection in the glass above
+the mantelshelf. The pallor of his face surprised him, and the look of
+passionate anger in his eyes.
+
+He was a man of the world. He was no better and no worse than many of
+the men whom he knew and called his friends, but this letter, in its
+brutal callousness, seemed to shame his very manhood.
+
+He had liked Ashton, had been his constant companion for months, but
+he had never suspected him of being capable of this.
+
+He supposed he ought to be ashamed of having opened the letter, but he
+was not ashamed; he was glad that he had been able to spare the girl
+this last and hardest blow of all--the knowledge that the man whom she
+loved and trusted was unworthy.
+
+Presently he picked the letter up from the rug. He picked it up with
+the tips of his fingers, as if it were something repulsive to him, and
+threw it down on the table.
+
+The first few words stared up at him as it lay there.
+
+  "DEAR LALLIE,--By the time you get this letter I shall be out of
+  England, and I hope you won't make things worse for me than they
+  already are by trying to find out where I have gone or by writing
+  to my people and making a scene. The worst of these little
+  flirtations is that they always have to end, as this must, and you
+  must have known it."...
+
+Micky drew in his breath hard; not an hour ago in this very room
+Ashton had made out how cut-up he was at the turn his affairs had
+taken, and yet all the time he had written this letter.
+
+He flicked over a page and read on:--
+
+  "... I shall never forget you and the good times we've had
+  together. I should try and get back at Eldred's, if I were you.
+  It's a good thing we didn't get married as matters have turned
+  out, or the fat would have been in the fire with a vengeance. As
+  it is, I shall have all my work cut out to put the mater in a good
+  temper again. I am sending you some money by Mickey Mellowes; he's
+  a friend of mine and as rich as Croesus, and as selfish as the
+  devil. If he offers to take you out, let him, by all means. It
+  wouldn't be a bad thing if he took a fancy to you; he doesn't care
+  a hang for any one but himself. If only I'd got half his money ...
+  but what's the use of talking about it? Anyway, this is good-bye;
+  I shan't write again. Be a sensible girl, and try to see things
+  from my point of view. It would only have meant ruin for both of
+  us if I'd stuck to you. Good-bye; I send you my love for the last
+  time.
+
+                                                    RAYMOND ASHTON."
+
+And this from the man whom she loved; the man who had pretended to
+love her!
+
+Micky dragged forward a chair with his foot and sat down straddlewise.
+He leaned an elbow on the chair-back and ran his fingers through his
+hair with a sort of bewilderment.
+
+"He's as rich as Croesus and as selfish as the devil...."
+
+And this from Ashton, his friend--the man whom he had helped out of
+scrapes scores of times; the man to whom he had lent money without the
+least hope of its ever being returned; Micky felt as if he had a blow
+in the face.
+
+His thoughts were in a whirl; the whole world needed readjusting. Was
+he selfish? he asked himself in perplexity--if so, it was quite
+unconsciously, and anyway Ashton was the last person who should have
+made the accusation.
+
+"I am sending you some money by a friend of mine...."
+
+There was no hint that the money was first to be borrowed; he had
+evidently been sure of his prey; Micky swore under his breath.
+
+Of course, Ashton had not dreamed of the letter being opened, had not
+dreamed of anything but that his carefully-made plans would be
+minutely carried out and nothing more said.
+
+Micky sat for a long time, lost in thought; the hands of the clock
+crawled round to one and the chime struck; he looked up then, glancing
+at the clock vaguely.
+
+If he had not met Esther Shepstone there might have been no Esther in
+the world at all now; if he allowed that letter to reach its
+destination he would be plunging her back again into the abyss of
+despair from which he had dragged her only that evening. She loved
+Ashton; of that Micky was sure. Very well then, she should at least
+have some part of her ideal left to her.
+
+He went over to his desk and took up paper and pen; he spread Ashton's
+letter out before him and studied the writing carefully.
+
+Ordinary sort of writing, rather unformed and sprawly, but after a
+trial run Micky managed a very presentable copy of it.
+
+He sat back in his chair and eyed his handiwork with pride; he had
+missed his vocation, he told himself with a chuckle; he ought to have
+been a forger.
+
+Then he dipped the pen in the ink again and squared his elbows. He had
+never written a love-letter in his life, but he knew positively that
+he was about to write one now.
+
+He thought of Esther and the wistfulness of her grey eyes; she was the
+girl whom a man could love. He coloured a little as the thought
+involuntarily crossed his mind; she was a girl whom--he began to write
+rapidly.
+
+"My darling little girl----"
+
+Micky was naturally rather eloquent with his pen, though he had never
+before tried it in this especial direction.
+
+"This is the most difficult letter I have ever had to write in all my
+life; first, because I love you so much; and, secondly, because I am
+afraid it is going to hurt you nearly as much as it hurts me. Dear, as
+it will be some time before I see you again, and because I cannot
+explain everything to you, I am going to ask you to trust me till we
+meet again. I am leaving England to-night...."
+
+Micky paused and ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly before he
+struggled on once more: "I shall be thinking of you every minute till
+we meet again, and of the happy times we have had together. I will
+write to you whenever I can...." The pen paused, and Micky groaned,
+recalling that Ashton had said he should not write at all.
+
+"It'll have to do, anyway," he muttered, and again the pen flew: "I'm
+not much of a hand at writing letters, as you know, but you must try
+and read between the lines, and guess at all I would say were we
+together ... All I will say to you when we meet again."
+
+That last sentence was rather neat, Micky thought with pride, then a
+wave of compunction swept through his heart as he remembered the
+tragedy behind it all, and he finished the page soberly enough: "Ever
+yours, Raymond Ashton."
+
+"Damn him!" said Micky under his breath, as he blotted the signature;
+then he took two ten-pound notes from a drawer in his desk, and,
+enclosing them in the envelope, sealed and stamped it.
+
+It was half-past one, but Micky climbed into his coat again. He locked
+Ashton's letter into his desk, and, taking the one he had written,
+went quietly down to the street.
+
+The world was sleeping and deserted, and Micky's footsteps echoed
+hollowly along the pavement.
+
+"You're a fool, you know!" he told himself, with a sort of humour.
+"You're a bally fool, my boy! It won't end here, you see if it does."
+
+But he went on to the pillar-box at the street corner.
+
+When he reached it he stood for a moment with the letter in his hand.
+
+"You're a fool," he told himself again hardily. "Micky, my boy, you're
+a bally idiot, interfering with what doesn't concern you--with what
+doesn't concern you in the very least."
+
+He looked up at the stars and thought of Esther Shepstone, of her eyes
+and her wavering smile, and the soft note in her voice as she had
+asked him--
+
+"Are you always as kind to every one as you have been to me?"
+
+No concern of his! It was every concern of his; he knew that he was
+only living for the hours to pass before he saw her again. No concern
+of his! when the greatest miracle of all the world had come to pass
+during those last hours of the old year, inasmuch that Micky Mellowes,
+heartwhole and a bachelor for thirty odd years, had been bowled over
+by a girl without a shilling to her name--a girl who loved another
+man, but a girl to whom Micky had without wishing it, without knowing
+it, dedicated the rest of his life!
+
+He was her champion for the future, some one to stand between her and
+the callousness of the man of whom even now she was probably
+thinking.
+
+"No concern of mine!" said Micky to himself with fine scorn. "Why, of
+course it is! Every concern of mine."
+
+He squared his shoulders and dropped the envelope into the pillar-box.
+
+And so Micky Mellowes posted his first love-letter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+In spite of the events of the night Micky Mellowes slept soundly. It
+was half-past nine when he woke, to find his man Driver moving
+noiselessly about the room.
+
+When he saw that Micky was awake he approached the bed.
+
+"Good-morning, sir, and a happy New Year."
+
+Driver had an expressionless voice; he announced tea or tragedy in
+exactly the same tone.
+
+"Eh?" said Micky vacantly; the words opened the door of memory, and he
+sat up with a start. It was New Year's Day, and last night ... ye
+gods! what had not happened last night? Micky tingled to the tips of
+his fingers as he remembered the letter he had written and posted; he
+had expected to feel rotten about it in the light of day; it was an
+agreeable surprise to find that he did not feel anything of the kind.
+
+When he went in to breakfast there was a pile of letters waiting for
+him; he looked them through carelessly--there was one from Marie
+Deland, which he opened with a vague feeling of nervousness.
+
+Marie was a nice little girl; he really was quite fond of her, and yet
+... surely the days of miracles had not yet passed away, seeing that
+in a few short hours his feeling for her had changed from something
+warmer to more brotherly affection.
+
+It made him feel uncomfortable to read what she had written; it was
+really only quite an ordinary letter of regret that she had not seen
+him last night, but Micky imagined he could read more between the
+lines.
+
+"... I quite hoped you would drop in, if only for a few moments," so
+she wrote. "It's been so dull. I am writing this alone in the
+library."
+
+Micky knew that library well; he and she had spent a good deal of time
+there together talking sweet nothings; he wondered if he would have
+been an engaged man by this time if that relative of the Delands had
+not so conveniently died, and if Esther had not chosen his particular
+street in which to weep.
+
+He screwed the letter up and tossed it into the fire; he would answer
+it some time, or call; there was no immediate hurry. When he had
+finished his breakfast he went to his locked desk and took out
+Ashton's letter--somehow until he actually saw it again he could not
+quite believe that the events of last night had not all been a dream;
+but the letter was real enough, at all events with its callous
+beginning to "Dear Lallie."
+
+The morning seemed to drag; twice people rang him up on the 'phone and
+asked him to lunch, but Micky was not in the mood for lunch; he felt a
+suppressed sort of excitement, as if something of great import were
+about to happen.
+
+Driver looked at him woodenly once or twice; his face was as
+expressionless as his voice, but his dull eyes saw everything, and
+behind them his keen brain wondered what had happened to make Micky so
+restless.
+
+Towards one o'clock he ventured a gentle reminder.
+
+"You have an engagement for half-past three, sir--Miss Langdon's."
+
+Micky was yawning over the paper then; he looked up with an absurdly
+blank face.
+
+"Oh, I say!--well, I can't go, anyway. What was it for? I'm going
+out--I've got an important appointment."
+
+Driver never showed surprise at anything if he felt it.
+
+"It was a musical 'At 'Ome,' sir," he answered stolidly. "Shall I ring
+up and say that you won't be able to come?"
+
+"Yes, ring up," said Micky. He coloured self-consciously beneath the
+man's stoic eyes and hurriedly buried his head again in the
+newspaper.
+
+At three o'clock he changed his clothes for an immaculate morning-coat
+and grey trousers; then, remembering what Esther had said about the
+very horrid boarding-house, he changed them again for the oldest tweed
+suit in his possession, and a pair of brown boots that had seen their
+best days and long since been condemned by Driver.
+
+"How in the world do I get to Brixton?" Micky asked the man when he
+was ready. "I know I could take a taxicab, but I don't want to. What
+other ways are there?"
+
+Driver told him.
+
+"There's the train, sir, or a tram."
+
+Micky jumped at the tramcar. He was sure that people who lived in
+Brixton must all use tramcars.
+
+"How long would a tramcar take?" he asked.
+
+Driver considered. Finally he said that he thought it might be the
+best part of an hour.
+
+Micky glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter past three. He
+took up his hat hurriedly and went out into the street.
+
+A taxicab would have to do for to-day anyway. He could dismiss it at
+the corner of the road and walk the last few yards. A moment later he
+was being whirled through the streets.
+
+He sat leaning back in the corner with his feet up on the seat
+opposite, feeling decidedly nervous.
+
+Supposing he did not see Esther--supposing she were not there?
+Supposing she had purposely given him the wrong address? Supposing
+... oh, supposing a thousand and one things! Micky was full of
+apprehension when at last the taxicab stopped at the corner of the
+Brixton Road and the driver came to the door to ask what number.
+
+Micky scrambled out.
+
+"Oh, I'll walk the rest of the way."
+
+He paid the man liberally, and set out along the crowded pathway.
+There were so many people about that he thought it must be a market
+day or something. A word with a policeman elicited the information
+that he was at quite the wrong end of the street for the number he
+wanted. Micky was rather glad. He felt that he needed time in which to
+collect his thoughts, and yet when at last he reached his destination
+he felt as nervous as a kitten and strongly inclined to go back. But
+he went on and up the bare strip of garden which led to the front door
+of the house. It wasn't such a bad-looking house, he thought. Not
+nearly as bad as he had expected from the girl's description. In fact,
+once upon a time it must have been rather a palatial residence, but
+all the windows now were boxed up with cheap, starchy-looking
+curtains, and there was a sort of third-rate atmosphere about the
+basement and the cheap knocker on the front door.
+
+Micky looked for a bell, but there wasn't one, so he knocked.
+
+It seemed a long time before anybody came. When at last they did he
+heard them coming for a long time before the door was opened, heard
+slipshod steps on shiny linoleum, and a husky sort of breathless
+cough.
+
+The owner of the cough was young and scared-looking, in shoes several
+sizes too large for her, and a skirt several inches too short. When
+Micky asked for Miss Shepstone she stared without answering for a
+moment, then she turned and slopped back the way she had come, leaving
+the door on the chain.
+
+Micky chuckled to himself; she evidently did not like the look of
+him.
+
+He waited patiently; then he heard another step along the shiny
+linoleumed floor of the hall--a very different step this time--and,
+turning eagerly, he saw Esther herself in the doorway.
+
+"I didn't really think you would come," she said breathlessly.
+
+For a moment Micky could not find his tongue. If he had thought this
+girl pretty last night with the tears in her eyes he thought her a
+thousand times prettier now. She looked as if some magician hand had
+wiped the distress from her face and convinced her that the sun still
+shone.
+
+She wore the same clothes she had worn last night, but even they
+seemed somehow to have changed. There was a bunch of violets pinned in
+her jacket. Micky wondered if it were the violets that were
+responsible for the alteration.
+
+"When I make an appointment I always keep it," he said.
+
+He had almost added "with any one like you," but thought better of it.
+"And are you going to let me take you out to tea?" he asked.
+
+She hesitated; she glanced back into the dingy hall behind her.
+
+"I am leaving here to-day," she said. "My box has gone already. If you
+will wait a moment ... I would ask you in, but you'd hate it so."
+
+"I'll wait outside," said Micky.
+
+He went down into the street. For the moment he had quite forgotten
+all about Ashton and the letter which must by this time be in Esther's
+possession.
+
+"And what about Charlie?" he asked whimsically when she joined him.
+
+She smiled, shaking her head.
+
+"I sent him on--in a basket. Nobody wants him here--he only gets
+badgered about all day long; so I'm taking him with me. Do you think I
+ought not to?"
+
+"I think Charlie is a most fortunate cat," said Micky.
+
+She did not take him seriously.
+
+"I think he will be happier with me anyway," she said "I'm going to
+quite a nice boarding-house now. I went out this morning and found
+it." She looked up at him with a smile. "I don't think even you would
+mind coming to tea there," she said.
+
+"I thought you were going to say mind coming there to live," Micky
+told her audaciously. "I've been looking about for fresh diggings; I'm
+tired of mine." He stopped and glanced behind him. "Can we get a
+tramcar here?"
+
+"I'm not tired," she said quickly.
+
+"Well, I must admit that I am," Micky answered. He hated walking at
+the best of times, and he did not like to suggest another taxicab.
+"Let's go on top."
+
+They climbed up and found a front seat; there was a working man next
+to them smoking shag in a clay pipe; he looked at Micky and Esther
+doubtfully, then asked--
+
+"Does your good lady mind smoke, mister?"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I don't mind at all," she said, laughing.
+
+"You got home all right last night, then?" Micky said presently.
+"After you had gone I wished I had seen you safely in...."
+
+"It's kind of you, but I was quite all right." There was a note of
+constraint in her voice. "I should like to thank you for what you did
+for me last night," she said hesitatingly.
+
+"If it hadn't been for you...." She stopped.
+
+Micky did not know what to say.
+
+"Anyway, it's all right now, eh?" he asked presently, with awkward
+cheerfulness. "I thought it would be; when things look so black that
+they can't possibly look any blacker, they always begin to mend. I've
+found that out before; I don't know if you have."
+
+"I found it out this morning."
+
+Micky looked down at her. She was sitting with her hands clasped
+together in her lap; there was a little flush in her cheeks, and her
+lips were curved into a faint smile.
+
+"It seems so wonderful too," she went on softly, "that it should have
+happened on New Year's Day----"
+
+"Fares, all fares, please," said the conductor beside them. Micky
+dived into a pocket and found a shilling.
+
+"Two, please," he said.
+
+He had paid for and shared taxicabs with Marie Deland times without
+number, but it had never given him quite the same pleasurable little
+thrill as he experienced at this moment.
+
+There was something so pleasantly familiar about this tramcar ride,
+the fact of sharing the same uncomfortable seat with Esther
+Shepstone.
+
+"Penny ones?" the conductor asked.
+
+Micky looked at the girl.
+
+"Where shall we get off?" he asked.
+
+"Penny ones will do," she said.
+
+Micky took the tickets and pocketed his change.
+
+"I don't know if there are any decent teashops round here," he said
+dubiously. "If you would rather go up to the West End...."
+
+But finally they found a confectioner's quite close to where the penny
+fare ended.
+
+Micky looked round critically.
+
+"Is this all right?" he asked. "I've never been here before."
+
+"I have, often," she said. She was drawing off her gloves.
+
+Micky glanced hurriedly at her hands; she was wearing a ring. Hardly
+knowing that he did so, he leaned across and touched it.
+
+"Is that an engagement ring?" he asked. His voice sounded a little
+breathless.
+
+She looked up at him, drawing her hand away.
+
+"Why do you ask me?"
+
+He drew back; he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I beg your pardon. I suppose I have no right to ask."
+
+He ordered tea. He talked rather forced platitudes for the rest of the
+time. He was just going to call for the bill, when Esther Shepstone
+said suddenly--
+
+"Mr. Mellowes, I should like to tell you something."
+
+"Yes!" Micky did not look at her. Somehow he could not trust himself.
+
+"I don't in the least know why I want to tell you," she said again
+nervously. "But--you've been so kind to me...."
+
+"Yes!" said Micky gently, as she paused. "Yes, what is it?"
+
+She was twisting her teaspoon, and she kept her eyes lowered.
+
+"Last night, when I met you--I was very unhappy ... There didn't seem
+anything to live for in the world.... I don't know if you've ever felt
+like that, or if you have ever cared for any one--really cared, I
+mean--but if you have...." She stopped again.
+
+"I think I understand," Micky said, with an effort. "You mean that
+there's some one, some man...."
+
+She raised her grey eyes to his face.
+
+"Yes, that's what I mean."
+
+"Some man you care for--care for very much," Micky went on slowly.
+"Perhaps some one you have quarreled with--who hadn't been quite as
+... kind as he might have been----"
+
+The soft colour flooded her face.
+
+"Did you guess--last night?" she asked shyly.
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Did I? I am not sure, perhaps." He drew a long breath that was half a
+sigh. "Well?" he queried.
+
+"I don't know why I am telling you this----" she said again, with a
+sort of distress. "It cannot interest you, but, somehow, I think I
+should like you to know."
+
+"It interests me very much--I am honoured that you should tell me."
+Micky looked again at the ring she wore; quite a cheap little ring,
+with a couple of inferior diamonds. "You mean that you are engaged to
+be married?"
+
+"Yes; at least----" The words were only a whisper.
+
+Micky sat very still.
+
+"Well, I suppose you will have me for a friend all the same, won't
+you?" he asked with an effort.
+
+She looked at him in faint amazement.
+
+"I thought if I told you that perhaps you'd rather not...." She
+stopped in confusion.
+
+Micky leaned a little closer over the table.
+
+"You said last night that you didn't believe in a man's friendship for
+a woman," he said. "Well, I am going to make you believe in it. I'm
+going to be your friend. The fact that you are engaged makes no
+difference to me, if it doesn't to you."
+
+She looked at him earnestly.
+
+"If you mean that," she said, "I think I'm very glad."
+
+"Thank you. I suppose I mustn't ask who the--the lucky man is?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I can't tell you. And he's away now--out of England."
+
+Her voice changed a little, her eyes looked past Micky as if for the
+moment she had forgotten him.
+
+Micky watched her jealously.
+
+"And so whatever was wrong last night is all right to-day, is that
+it?" he asked with an effort.
+
+"Yes ... somehow I never thought it would be, but this morning----"
+
+"This morning?" he echoed as she stopped.
+
+"I had a letter this morning," she told him, and her voice had
+softened so wonderfully that Micky caught his breath. "Oh, I wonder if
+you have ever been as unhappy as I was last night, and then had a
+letter, a wonderful letter like I had this morning? There was
+something in it that seemed to put everything right straight away;
+something that I've always wanted before and never had. I can't
+explain it any better than that, but perhaps you understand. I'm just
+telling you because I feel so happy I must tell somebody, and because
+I didn't want you to misjudge him as I did yesterday. I thought he
+didn't really care, and I wanted to die, but to-day, when his letter
+came----" She broke off into a little happy laugh.
+
+Micky had rammed his clenched hands into his pockets; the blood was
+hammering in his temples; his brain felt in a whirl; somehow in all
+his wildest imaginings he had never dreamed of this.
+
+It was his letter that had brought that new look of happiness to her
+eyes! His letter which perhaps even then lay against her heart; the
+first love-letter he had ever written to any woman, and she believed
+it to have been written by Raymond Ashton!
+
+He did not realise how long he sat there without speaking till Esther
+spoke to him again. There was a little anxious note in her voice.
+
+"I'm afraid I've bored you horribly with all this. I know it's no
+interest to you, but I felt that I must tell somebody."
+
+Micky roused himself with an effort.
+
+"It's of great interest to me," he said. "And you mustn't ever say a
+thing like that again. We're going to be friends, and real friends are
+always interested in everything that concerns the other. I'm more glad
+than I can say that you're happy. I only hope it's going to last for
+ever."
+
+Perhaps there was a dubious note in his voice, for an anxious gleam
+crept into the girl's eyes.
+
+"You sound as if you don't think that it will," she said quickly.
+
+Micky made a hurried disclaimer.
+
+"I do think so, of course I do! You deserve all the happiness you can
+get, and whoever the man is, if he doesn't make you happy----"
+
+He stopped, with frowning memory of Ashton and their parting only last
+night.
+
+He hoped in his heart that they would never meet again; if they did,
+he realised that there would be quite a few nasty things he would feel
+called upon to say to him.
+
+The waitress brought the bill at that moment and put an end to further
+conversation, for which he was thankful. He realised that he was
+getting rather out of his depth. He breathed more freely when they
+were safely out in the street.
+
+"And where is the new boarding-house?" he asked presently. He wanted
+to change the subject; every moment he was afraid that he would say
+something to give himself away. He supposed he had behaved like an
+impetuous fool. He ought never to have posted that letter--ought never
+to have opened Ashton's; and yet--if he had not done so.... He looked
+down at the girl beside him, and wondered grimly how she would have
+felt if he had allowed that callous farewell to reach her.
+
+"It's quite close to where we are now," she told him. "It's rather
+more expensive than the last one, but it's well worth the extra money,
+and"--she glanced up at him smilingly--"I'm better off to-day than I
+was yesterday," she explained. "And when I go back to work again----"
+
+"Are you going back, then?" he asked quickly.
+
+"Of course I am. I must do something, and they will take me back at
+Eldred's, I know----"
+
+"Eldred's!" Micky frowned. "That's the petticoat shop, isn't it?"
+
+She laughed.
+
+"Yes; how did you know?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I've seen the place lots of times. A girl I know buys all her----" He
+stopped. "Do you want to go back there?" he asked.
+
+"Not particularly, but it's easier than looking for a fresh place, and
+I know they will take me. I'm in the workroom, and it's not really
+such a hard life."
+
+Micky did some rapid thinking; it was surprising how easily his brain
+had taken to hard work during the last twenty-four hours.
+
+"Why don't you get a job as a companion to a nice old lady or
+somebody?" he suggested vaguely.
+
+She laughed again.
+
+"It doesn't sound a bit attractive," she said frankly. "I think you
+need an awful lot of patience. It's very kind of you to be interested,
+but I think I shall go back to Eldred's, for a time, at least."
+
+Micky did not like the idea at all, but he let the subject drop.
+
+"Are you going back to the Brixton Road?" he asked after a moment.
+
+"Oh no; I paid them before I left this afternoon, so I shall go
+straight to the new place."
+
+"I should like to walk there with you, if I may," said Micky.
+
+"Of course you may."
+
+"And when shall I see you again?" he asked. "You're not going to
+vanish for days, are you? I've got no end of time to kill, and----"
+
+"But I haven't," she reminded him. "At least, I shan't have when I
+start work. But I should like to see you again," she added kindly.
+
+"Thank you," said Micky with faint sarcasm.
+
+He felt vaguely disappointed with the whole afternoon. She was holding
+him so decidedly at arm's length. He supposed it was that infernal
+fellow Ashton that stood between them. There was a sort of irony, too,
+in the fact that he himself had by his own action established him more
+firmly than ever in this girl's affections.
+
+And the fellow was not worth a thought! That was the rotten part of
+it. As he looked at her he felt strongly tempted to blurt out the
+truth; to tell her that it was he who wrote that letter--to undeceive
+her once and for all.
+
+But the thing was manifestly impossible. She would probably think it
+an abominable thing to have opened Ashton's letter; she would probably
+be furious if he let her know that the money she had received had come
+from him. Whichever way he turned he seemed to be in a corner.
+
+They had reached the new boarding-house now, and Micky was relieved to
+see that it was a decided improvement on the one in the Brixton Road.
+
+The windows were not boxed up, and the steps and the bell were clean.
+It was on the sunny side of the road, too, and had an air of
+cheerfulness about it.
+
+"It's much better than the other one, isn't it?" Esther asked.
+
+"Streets better," he assured her. "I shouldn't mind living here
+myself...." He waited, but she made no comment, and he felt rather
+snubbed.
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Don't you like the place where you are living now?" she asked after a
+moment. "Don't they make you comfortable there?"
+
+"Oh, it's comfortable enough," said Micky. He wondered if he looked as
+guilty as he felt. "But I don't believe in sticking on anywhere too
+long. A change is good for every one. I shall be shifting out some day
+soon, I expect."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"I shall see you again soon," he said. "And if there is anything I can
+do for you----"
+
+"Thank you, but there isn't." She spoke quite kindly, but Micky had
+the uncomfortable sort of feeling that her thoughts were elsewhere. He
+waited a moment, then held out his hand.
+
+"Well, good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye, and thank you for my tea."
+
+She nodded and smiled and turned away from him.
+
+There was nothing else for Micky to do but to go; he raised his hat
+and walked off disconsolately.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+When Esther went upstairs to her room in No. 11 Elphinstone Road, she
+found the door standing open, and she could hear some one talking
+inside.
+
+She stood still for a moment in amazement; she thought perhaps she had
+made a mistake and come to the wrong room, but a glance reassured her;
+the number of her room was 23, and this one was 23; she pushed the
+door wider and went in.
+
+Her boxes were there, standing one upon the other, so as to make more
+space in the small room, and on the rather shabby rug by the fireplace
+a woman was kneeling with her back to the door.
+
+She did not hear Esther enter, and for a moment the girl stood staring
+at her in blank amazement. She could not see her face, but she could
+see that the woman was small and slightly built, with a wealth of jet
+black hair coiled in becoming carelessness with a couple of yellow
+pins to fasten it.
+
+She wore a yellow blouse, which Esther would have thought hideous on
+any one else, but somehow against that dark coil of hair it looked
+decidedly picturesque.
+
+Esther moved a little, deliberately knocking against a chair to
+attract attention, and the girl on the hearthrug looked round with a
+startled exclamation; then scrambled to her feet.
+
+"I heard there was a cat," she explained. "Lydia told me that he was
+shut up here alone, so I just had to come in and see him. I hope you
+don't mind. I brought him some milk."
+
+For a moment Esther was too taken aback to answer. She looked from the
+little woman in the yellow blouse to Charlie, sprawled on the rug and
+purring lustily, and then back again to the little woman.
+
+She was very attractive looking, that was Esther's first thought, and
+her next that she had never seen any one with such a beautiful
+complexion.
+
+"You're Miss Shepstone, aren't you?" her visitor queried in the
+friendliest of tones. "You see, I know quite a lot about you already.
+Lydia told me--Lydia's the housemaid--you'll like her; she's a really
+nice girl. My name is June Mason--I live here, too, and I hope we will
+be great friends."
+
+There was something so breezily disarming about her that Esther held
+out her hand.
+
+"You're very kind. I hardly know what to say...."
+
+"Don't say anything," Miss Mason answered airily. "I'm going to like
+you; I knew I should somehow when I first heard your name. I believe
+in that sort of thing--I don't know if you do, but as soon as Lydia
+told me who it was that had taken this room I knew I should like you.
+I think your name is sweet--Esther! So quaint and old-world. Have you
+had your tea?--yes, oh, what a shame! I've got some ready for you in
+my room. Oh, I hope you don't think it's awful cheek," she broke out
+with a sort of embarrassment. "I've got a sitting-room here as well as
+a bedroom, and I always make my own tea, it's better than you can get
+downstairs. I've got a fire there too, and if you're ever cold I hope
+you'll come and sit with me. I'm out a good deal but you can always
+use my room when I'm not there, if you care to. Take off your hat and
+come and see it now, or are you too tired? I don't want to worry
+you."
+
+"I'm not a bit tired," Esther said, laughing; she felt a little
+bewildered by this sudden offer of friendship, but June Mason
+interested her, and after a moment she took off her hat obediently.
+
+"We'll bring the cat too," Miss Mason said; she swooped down with a
+quick movement and caught the cat up in her arms. "I love cats," she
+said. "What's his name?"
+
+"Charlie," said Esther shyly. "He's very thin, but they weren't kind
+to him where he belonged before...."
+
+"What a shame! I simply loathe people who are not kind to animals.
+Never mind, he'll soon get all right. Now come along--I'll help you
+unpack your boxes presently."
+
+She led the way downstairs, and Esther followed.
+
+She had been feeling a little scared of this new boarding-house. She
+felt grateful for this girl's unaffected overture.
+
+"Mine's the best room in the house," Miss Mason informed her. She
+pushed open the door of a room immediately below Esther's. "Sit down
+and make yourself at home. I'll get the tea in half a minute. I know
+you'll have another cup. I shall, anyway. Do you smoke?"
+
+"No," said Esther.
+
+"Well I do. I hope you're not shocked. I find it's so soothing when
+you've got nerves; and I'm a frightfully nervy person. I am hardly
+ever still; I'm always on the go."
+
+Esther could well believe it. She looked on with a slightly dazed
+feeling while June Mason lit a cigarette and bustled about the room.
+
+It was a very comfortable room, with plenty of easy-chairs and lots of
+cushions all in the same pale shade of mauve.
+
+"I didn't think there would be any rooms as comfortable as this in the
+house," Esther said. "I suppose you pay a great deal for it, though."
+
+"I don't know about that. Most of the furniture is mine and all the
+cushions. Do you like my cushions?"
+
+She put down the teapot, which she had been about to fill, and caught
+up one of the cushions, plumping its softness together with her white
+hands.
+
+"Mauve is my lucky colour," she rattled on. "Everything I do in mauve
+turns out well. But perhaps you don't believe in a superstition like
+that?"
+
+Esther was rather bewildered.
+
+"I'm not sure. I never thought about it," she said hesitatingly. "But
+it's a very pretty colour."
+
+Miss Mason dropped the cushion to the floor, and stooping picked
+Charlie up and deposited him on it.
+
+"Doesn't he look sweet?" she demanded. "And a black cat is lucky too,
+you know, so that's a comfort."
+
+She went back to the teapot, made the tea, and poured out a cup for
+Esther.
+
+"Is that chair comfy?--yes, lean back! What are you looking at? Oh, my
+photographs! Yes. I have got a lot, haven't I? Lydia dusts them for
+me! Lydia's a treasure! You'll love her. When I get married she's
+going to leave here and come with me----"
+
+Esther looked interested.
+
+"Are you going to be married?" she asked.
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"Am I? No, I'm not. I'm too fond of my independence. Not that I don't
+like men. I do like them, and I've got some awfully good pals amongst
+them, too. Look!"
+
+She turned with one of her rapid movements, caught up a photograph
+from the shelf and handed it to Esther.
+
+"There! that's one of the nicest men I ever met in my life," she said
+enthusiastically. "Don't you think he's got a ripping face?"
+
+Esther took the portrait laughingly--she thought June Mason one of the
+most amusing people she had ever met--then she caught her breath on a
+little smothered exclamation as she found herself looking straight
+into the pictured eyes of Micky Mellowes.
+
+June Mason was too occupied with a fresh cigarette to notice the blank
+look that filled Esther's eyes.
+
+She sat there in the big chair, staring at Micky's portrait with a
+sense of foreboding. Surely it was something bigger than just chance
+that had introduced him into her life for the second time.
+
+"He's one of the best," June Mason went on. She dragged forward
+another chair and plumped down into it comfortably.
+
+"Don't you admire him?" She opened her eyes wide, looking across at
+Esther.
+
+"Yes, oh yes! I think he's quite nice," Esther said stiltedly. "But
+not a bit good-looking, do you think?" she asked, with a sort of
+hesitation.
+
+Miss Mason took the portrait from her and held it at arm's length.
+
+"Um!" she said critically. "Perhaps he isn't, but I like him so much,
+you see, that I'm not a fair judge. He's been a good friend to me, at
+all events."
+
+She got up, replaced the frame on the shelf, and plumped back once
+more amongst her mauve cushions.
+
+"My people wanted me to marry him at one time," she went on airily. "I
+might have done so only I liked him too well. He didn't care for me,
+except as a friend, and it seemed a shame to spoil it, so I put my
+foot down."
+
+"You mean that you refused him?"
+
+Esther was interested; she was remembering how Micky had told her that
+he had never really cared for any woman in all his life.
+
+"He never asked me, my dear," Miss Mason answered candidly. "I let him
+see that it wouldn't be any good if he did, and I know he was
+frightfully relieved. We were never so nearly in love with one another
+as we were when we both knew that we didn't mean to get married." She
+chuckled reminiscently. "It finished me with my people, though," she
+added, "so I cleared out and came here."
+
+"And--Micky?" Esther asked. "I--I mean Mr. Mellowes...."
+
+Miss Mason looked faintly surprised.
+
+"How did you know his name?" she asked. "Did I tell you? I suppose I
+did. Oh, he's all right; he's the kind of man who always will be all
+right. He's got another girl on the tapis now. I don't know if it will
+come to anything, though. Anyway, she's not good enough for him."
+
+"You seem very fond of him," Esther said.
+
+"I am. He's a dear! I should love to see him happily married to a girl
+with a heart of gold like his own. I think I know him better than most
+people, and his little corner of the world would be amazed if they
+knew the amount of good Micky manages to do."
+
+She had flushed up with her own enthusiasm. Her curious eyes (Esther
+could not decide if they were grey, blue, or green, or a mixture of
+all three) were very bright and expressive.
+
+"I've heard lots of rotten things said about him," she went on, "and I
+know that none of them are really deserved--at least most of them are
+not. He isn't a saint--but what man is, I should like to know? But
+Micky's the sort who would give his life for a friend or any one
+little and weak. Do you know"--she flung away the half-smoked
+cigarette and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees--"last
+winter, down in the country, I saw Micky go into a dirty pond in
+evening dress to rescue a drowning cat. What do you think of that?"
+
+"A--a--cat!" said Esther faintly. She looked at Charlie, and
+remembered how Micky had paid for milk for him the night of their
+strange meeting.
+
+"A miserable drowning cat!" Miss Mason went on with tragic emphasis.
+"He heard it mewing from the road, and he went in after it without
+stopping to think. Now, I call a man a hero who will do a thing like
+that when he is on his way to a dance he is very keen about, don't
+you?"
+
+"Yes," said Esther. Her heart warmed towards Mellowes. Kind as he had
+been to her, she had not been quite sure of him; it made her feel
+happier to hear him so warmly championed.
+
+"You'll be sick to death of my chatter," June Mason broke out with
+sudden change of voice. She helped herself to a third cigarette. "I
+hope you don't mind smoke," she apologised. "I'm always at it; I think
+I smoke dozens a day----"
+
+"Or throw them away half smoked," Esther thought amusedly. "I don't
+mind at all," she answered.
+
+"You haven't told me a thing about yourself," Miss Mason reminded her
+reproachfully. "And it's not fair that I should do all the talking. I
+know your name, and that's about all. Have you got any people? Where
+do you come from?"
+
+Esther flushed a little.
+
+"There isn't much to tell you. I haven't any people. I was born in
+India, and my mother died there. I don't know anything about my
+father. I was sent home to an aunt, and she looked after me till about
+three years ago, when she died. I came to London then, and they took
+me on at Eldred's--do you know Eldred's?"
+
+"Do I not?" said Miss Mason fervently. "Scrumptious things they make;
+but what prices! I can't afford them very often, but I go in there a
+good deal. I know the manager, and he's going to do some business for
+me--at least I hope he is. If I can get my stuff into his place it
+will be a splendid thing. All London shops there, you know; all London
+with any money, that is!"
+
+Esther looked mystified.
+
+"Your stuff!" she echoed. "What do you mean?"
+
+June Mason laughed merrily. She had a very infectious laugh and a
+trick of covering her face with her hands while she was laughing.
+
+"I forgot that you didn't know!" she said. "I seem to know you so
+well, I can't remember that we never saw one another before to-day. My
+dear, I make face cream. Wait a moment."
+
+She sprang up and disappeared behind a mauve curtain into an
+adjoining room. Esther heard her moving about, opening and shutting
+boxes and singing a snatch of song all the time. Presently she came
+back with a tray crowded with little pots and phials of all sizes and
+descriptions. She plumped down on her knees beside Esther's chair.
+
+"There you are!" she said lightly, though there was an odd dash of
+pride in her voice. "Face cream, night and day cream, eyelash tonic,
+and all the rest of it! Of course, I'm only just starting--I'm not
+like those people who advertise in all the papers and charge about a
+guinea for a shilling jar; but my stuff is as good as theirs any day,
+and better, because it's pure. Look!" She took a lid off a little
+white pot with a mauve label and held it to Esther.
+
+"Isn't that a glorious perfume?" she demanded. She sniffed it herself
+with relish. "And it's all my invention, and I'm as proud of it as a
+cat would be of nine tails. When I've got things a little more
+ship-shape, Micky's going to put it on the market for me. It wants a
+man behind all these sort of things you know. I can do all the donkey
+work, but I've got no head for business. I never know the difference
+between a loss and a profit. It was partly over this that I quarrelled
+with my people--they said it was low-down to make face cream and sell
+it--they're awful snobs! So I just cleared off and changed my surname
+and came here. I'm quite happy, and if I haven't got as much money as
+I had, I don't mind--I've got my liberty, and that's worth every
+thing."
+
+"I think you're just wonderful," Esther said. She picked up a lid from
+one of the little pots and looked at the mauve and white label.
+
+"June Mason's natural beautifier...."
+
+She looked at the glowing face opposite to her.
+
+"Do you use it for your own skin?" she asked shyly.
+
+Miss Mason chuckled; she pushed the tray to one side along the floor.
+
+"I don't mind telling you that I've never used cream to my skin at
+all," she said. "But people think I do, and so there you are! Have
+some more tea?"
+
+She refilled Esther's cup and lit another cigarette. "So that's what I
+am," she said. "And now go on, and tell me about yourself. You said
+you were at Eldred's!"
+
+"Yes, I was there for two years. I rather liked it! I love pretty
+things, and I was in the workroom. They paid me quite well, too,
+though it was hard work, and then--well, then I left----" her voice
+changed subtly.
+
+"Why?"
+
+The query was only interested, and not at all impertinent.
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"Well--well--I thought I was going to be married. He--well, he asked
+me to leave to marry him, and so I did...."
+
+"But you're not married?"
+
+"No----" Esther was looking away into the fire. "No, I'm not married,"
+she said in a stifled voice. "He--my fiancé--has had to go away on
+business--abroad, and I don't know when I shall see him again."
+
+Her voice sounded sad and dispirited.
+
+"You poor little thing!" said June Mason. She leaned over and laid her
+hand on Esther's. "Never mind! The time will soon pass, and then he'll
+come back and you'll live happily ever after----"
+
+Esther smiled.
+
+"I know. I keep on telling myself it's foolish to worry. I felt quite
+happy this morning. I had a letter from him, and somehow when I read
+it things didn't seem half so bad; but----"
+
+"And you'll have another to-morrow, I expect." Miss Mason insisted.
+"And another the next day, and one every day while he's away. There!
+That's better," she added cheerily as Esther laughed.
+
+"I don't like to see you look so sad. I'm going to cheer you up. I
+shan't allow you to be miserable. And anyway," she added, with a
+sudden softening, "you've got some one who loves you, and that's worth
+everything else in the world."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. Her eyes shone and she thought of the letter which
+was even then lying against her heart. Somehow she had never realised
+how much he really cared for her till to-day.
+
+"And what are you going to do till he comes home?" Miss Mason asked
+interestedly. "If you had something to do you'd find the time pass
+ever so much more quickly."
+
+"It's a question of having to do something rather than how to pass the
+time," Esther said. "I haven't any money except what I can make. My
+aunt left me a little when she died, but it was only a very little,
+and I spent most of it at first while I was looking for work. So I'm
+going back to Eldred's--if they will have me, and I think they will."
+
+Miss Mason said "Humph!"
+
+"I think you're too good for a petticoat shop," she said bluntly.
+"You're wasted there! Nobody sees you, and you're so pretty----"
+
+"Oh, what nonsense!" Esther exclaimed. She laughed in sheer amusement.
+To her it seemed absurd for this girl to call her pretty; she
+considered June Mason such a personality--so attractive!
+
+She really did make a picturesque figure as she sat there with her
+mauve cushions all around her. Her yellow blouse and dark hair and
+wonderful rose-leaf skin reminded one of some brilliant portrait
+painted by a master-hand.
+
+Esther would have been surprised could she have known the thought in
+June's mind at that moment.
+
+"She's just sweet! I don't know when I've seen a face I admire more.
+Micky would adore her! She's just the sort of woman he always raves
+about. I must ask him to tea to meet her one day."
+
+"There are heaps of other berths going besides Eldred's, you know,"
+she said earnestly. "However, you must do as you like, of course." She
+threw away another unfinished cigarette. "Do you think we are going to
+be friends?" she asked.
+
+"I am sure we are," Esther said. She really did think so; she had
+never met any one in the least like June Mason before. She began to
+feel glad that she had come to this house. It was much more expensive
+than the Brixton Road, certainly, but it was well worth it, even if
+only because she had met this quaint little woman.
+
+It was nearly seven o'clock before she thought of going back to her
+own room, and then it was only the chiming of a clock on the shelf
+that roused her.
+
+"Nearly seven!" She started up in dismay. "I had no idea it was so
+late. I am sorry for having stayed so long."
+
+"There's nothing to be sorry for," June declared. "You may go shares
+with this room if you like. I'm out so much, it isn't used half the
+time. Think it over, will you?"
+
+Esther flushed nervously.
+
+"It's awfully kind of you; I should love to, but I couldn't afford it.
+I'm really paying more money now than I ought to. I want to save,
+too----"
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"For the wedding! Lucky girl! I hope you'll ask me to come and see you
+married--and I hope he's very nice," she added.
+
+"He is," said Esther eagerly. "And he's very handsome," she added
+shyly.
+
+But Miss Mason was not impressed.
+
+"I don't care a fig if a man is handsome or not," she said bluntly.
+"If he's just manly and straightforward and kind, that's all I expect
+him to be. Now look here--we have dinner at half-past seven in this
+establishment. It's only supper really, but we all put on our best
+blouses--if we've got any--and call it dinner. I'll call for you on
+the way down and we'll go in together. I'll tell Mrs. Elders you are
+going to share my table, if you like; it's deadly dull sitting
+alone."
+
+"I should like to sit with you very much," Esther said eagerly. "But I
+really haven't got a 'best' blouse." She glanced down at the plain
+white silk shirt she wore; it had been washed many times, and had lost
+its first freshness.
+
+"Come down as you are, then," Miss Mason urged, "and I will too! I
+hate changing. This yellow rag is good enough for the old tabbies we
+get here."
+
+Esther went half-way down the stairs and came back.
+
+"Charlie--I've forgotten Charlie."
+
+"Charlie can stay where he is till bedtime," June declared. "You can
+come up and fetch him then. Hurry, or you'll be late."
+
+Esther went down to her room, feeling more light-hearted than she had
+done for a long time.
+
+As she unpacked her boxes and tidied her hair she could hear June
+Mason moving about upstairs, singing cheerily.
+
+"I'm going to like her--I'm going to like her awfully," she told
+herself. She hurried to be ready in time, but the rather unmelodious
+dinner-bell had clanged through the house twice before June came to
+the door.
+
+"You've unpacked, then?" she said. She looked round the small room
+approvingly. "I can see you're one of the tidy ones," she said. "I'm
+not; I wish I were. However, we can't all be the same. Are you
+ready?"
+
+She took Esther's arm and they went downstairs together.
+
+"Every one knows you're coming," June said as they neared the
+dining-room. "Every one always knows everything that goes on here.
+Don't take any notice if they stare a lot; they must stare at
+something, poor darlings. I'll tell you who they all are and all about
+them."
+
+The dining-room was a long, narrow sort of room that looked as if it
+once had been two rooms recently thrown into one; the floor was
+covered with slippery green linoleum, and there was a long table
+running almost the length of the room, with a few smaller ones on
+either side.
+
+A grey-haired woman with pebble glasses stood at the head of the long
+table; Esther recognised her as the proprietress, Mrs. Elders.
+
+She said good-evening to Esther and stared frigidly at June, as if she
+did not like to see the two girls together. She did not approve of the
+little face cream lady, though she was careful never to say so, as
+June was one of her best paying propositions.
+
+Esther was glad when they reached their own table; glad, too, that she
+was more or less out of the way of curious glances.
+
+The dinner was plain, but infinitely superior to the fare she had had
+to put up with in the Brixton Road.
+
+"Do you have all your meals here?" she asked June presently.
+
+"No--only breakfast and supper--and not always supper. I go out with
+friends sometimes. Every one hasn't given me up just because my family
+have. But the food is quite good here. They're rather too fond of rice
+and stewed apples; but it might be worse. Turn round presently and
+look at the man behind you with the grey hair. Isn't he handsome? We
+call him the colonel, though I don't believe he's a colonel at all.
+He's a dear, but he always complains about everything. I know he gives
+notice regularly on Saturday morning and takes it back again on
+Saturday night. Mrs. Elders would think he wasn't well if he missed
+giving her notice."
+
+She laughed, and turning in her chair spoke to a young man who was
+sitting alone at one of the smaller tables behind her.
+
+"Is your cough better?" she asked. "I'm going to give you some special
+stuff to-night for it. No, it isn't at all nasty." She turned back to
+Esther. "May I introduce Mr. Harley--he's the most interesting person
+in the whole house. He writes stories and things, Mr. Harley, this is
+Miss Shepstone--a great friend of mine."
+
+Harley bowed. He was pale, delicate-looking young man with fine dark
+eyes.
+
+"You never told me that you knew Miss Shepstone," he said to June.
+
+"I didn't know her till this afternoon," she answered promptly; "but I
+make friends quickly, as you know."
+
+"You'll like Harley," she told Esther presently in an undertone. "He's
+very clever, but so delicate, poor boy! He ought to live in the
+country instead of in London. He's the sort of person I should love to
+help if I were rich."
+
+"It must be wonderful to be rich," Esther said. There was a little
+flush in her cheeks; she was really enjoying herself. "It's the dream
+of my life to have enough money to be able to do anything I like," she
+added earnestly. "Just for a month! If I could be really rich just for
+one month I wouldn't mind going back to being poor again."
+
+Miss Mason said "Rubbish!" briskly. "Money can't buy happiness, my
+dear, and don't you forget it. My people think it can, and lots of
+other people think the same. It only shows what fools they are. It was
+the money my people couldn't get over when I declined to marry Micky
+Mellowes...." She made a little wry face. "I remember my mother coming
+into my room one night in her dressing-gown--poor soul!--when she
+heard I'd told Micky there was nothing doing, and saying tragically:
+'June, you must be mad--stark, staring mad! Why, the man's as rich as
+Croesus!'"
+
+"Rich!" Esther was conscious of an odd little sinking at her heart.
+"Is Mr. Mellowes rich, then?" she asked constrainedly.
+
+Miss Mason was helping herself to a pat of butter. She held it poised
+for a moment on the end of her knife while she answered--
+
+"Rich? I should think he is! He's one of the richest men in London."
+
+"One of the richest men in London!--but he----" Esther had been going
+to add "But he told me that he was poor;" she only just checked the
+words in time.
+
+June nodded.
+
+"He's the despair of all the match-making mammas," she said lightly.
+"Over thirty, he is, and still a bachelor! I'm not sure if he isn't on
+the verge of being caught now, but you never can tell! With a little
+luck he may escape--she isn't good enough for him, anyway. Have you
+finished? I'm dying for a cigarette, and we aren't allowed to smoke
+here. Come up to my room and I'll make you some coffee; the stuff they
+give us here isn't fit to drink."
+
+She pushed back her chair and rose, and Esther followed.
+
+She kept her eyes down as she walked the length of the room; the
+colour rose in her cheeks as she realised how every one was staring at
+her. The colonel, whom June had declared was not a colonel at all,
+rose and held the door open for them to pass out.
+
+June chuckled as they went upstairs.
+
+"You've made an impression, my dear! It isn't often he does that for
+any one." She slipped an arm through Esther's. "Why are you frowning
+so? Have I said anything to annoy you?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Of course not. I was only thinking.... Do you--do your friends ever
+come here to see you?"
+
+She was thinking of Micky Mellowes, and wondering if he ever came to
+the boarding-house, and if so, why he had not told her that he knew
+somebody living here. After all, if he had deceived her in one
+instance he would do so in many others--she felt a curious sense of
+hurt pride; why had he gone out of his way to tell her he was a poor
+man, when all the time----?
+
+"To tell you the truth," June said frankly, "none of my friends know
+where I am living. Call it false pride if you like, but there you are.
+I have all my letters, except business ones, sent to my club--I belong
+to an unpretentious club--I'll take you there some day--and not even
+Micky knows that I live here. You see, when I flew in the face of
+providence, otherwise my noble family, they stopped my allowance, so
+as I'm entirely self-supporting, I had to be careful and live
+inexpensively, so I came here. And I'm very comfortable. If I want to
+meet any of my friends we meet out somewhere. I think it's better; it
+leaves me quite free...."
+
+They were back in her room again now, and Charlie had looked up with
+one eye from his mauve cushion, and purred, by way of a greeting.
+
+June lit a cigarette and rushed about in pursuit of the coffee-pot.
+All her movements were quick. She seemed to breathe life and energy.
+
+Esther walked over to the fireplace, and found herself looking at
+Micky's photograph.
+
+After all, he was just like all the other men she had ever known;
+apparently none of them could be simple and sincere; she supposed it
+had been his way of condescending to her, to pretend that he was poor
+and in similar circumstances to herself; perhaps he had guessed that
+she would never have allowed him to pay for her supper or tea, or have
+talked to her as he had done, if she had known him to be a rich man.
+
+She need never see him again, that was one thing; her heart hardened
+as she met the frankness of his pictured eyes; he was not as honest as
+he looked.
+
+She had mistaken condescension for kindness. She bit her lip with
+mortification as she recalled the confidence she had made to him only
+that afternoon. He was probably laughing at it now, and no doubt would
+repeat all she had said to his friends as a good joke.
+
+She went to her own room as soon as she had had the coffee. She made
+the excuse that she was tired, but when she went upstairs she sat down
+on the side of the bed and made no effort to undress. A sort of shadow
+seemed to have fallen on her spirits. She felt mortified that Micky
+should so deliberately have lied to her; her cheeks burned as she
+thought of the despair she had been in last night when she met him.
+She hoped she would never see him again.
+
+She looked round the little room with angry eyes. If only Fate had set
+her feet in sunnier paths. She looked at the plain furniture and cheap
+carpet; the wallpaper was hideous; there was a frightful oleograph of
+two Early Victorian women with crinolines and ringlet curls hanging
+over the mantlepiece. They both looked smug and self-satisfied. There
+was an enlarged photograph of a bald-headed man wearing a Masonic
+apron on another wall. He was fat and had his right hand plastered
+carefully along a chair-back to bring into prominence a large signet
+ring. Esther looked at him and shivered. She felt utterly alone and
+cut off from the world. She longed for Raymond Ashton with all her
+soul. She hated Micky Mellowes because his kindly condescension had
+made her feel her position more acutely now she knew him to be what he
+was.
+
+In spite of the new friend she had made in June Mason she felt lonely
+and unwanted; she began to cry like a child, as she sat there on the
+side of the iron bedstead; the tears ran down her cheeks and she made
+no effort to wipe them away.
+
+She wanted to be happy so badly, and it seemed as if she never was to
+be happy. The elation that had come to her when she read Micky's
+letter that morning had faded miserably; after all, what was a letter
+when it was a real, living personality she wanted, and not mere
+words?
+
+Downstairs she could hear June Mason moving about and singing; she at
+least was happy with her little mauve pots and her cheery optimism.
+
+Esther cried all the time she undressed; she crept into bed sobbing
+miserably, like a child who sleeps at a boarding-school for the first
+time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Micky passed three days before he made any attempt to see Esther
+Shepstone again; days that seemed like a month at least, and during
+which he lost his appetite and forgot to smoke.
+
+That she did not particularly care if she saw him again or not, he was
+miserably sure. She had no thoughts for any one but Ashton. He felt as
+if he could not settle to anything. On the third morning Marie Deland
+rang him up. He had told her many times that her voice on the
+telephone cheered him, but to-day it made him frown.
+
+He tried to answer her cheery "That you, Micky?" as cheerily, but he
+knew it was a failure.
+
+"What's the matter?" she asked quickly. "Aren't you well? Or are you
+cross?"
+
+There was a hint of laughter in her voice. She had never known Micky
+cross; he was always the cheeriest of mortals.
+
+Micky grabbed at the excuse she offered him.
+
+"I've got a brute of a headache," he said.
+
+"Poor old boy!" The pretty, sympathetic voice irritated him. "Come out
+for a walk; it will do you good."
+
+"Thanks--thanks awfully, but I don't think it would. I'm a perfect
+bear--you'd hate me. Some other time."
+
+There was a little pause. Micky could have kicked himself as he
+remembered on what terms they had parted. It was not her fault that a
+miracle had happened since then to metamorphose the whole world. He
+supposed uncomfortably that she was just the same as she had been when
+he last saw her. He knew she must be wondering why he had stayed away
+so long. He tried to soften his words.
+
+"I'll look in to-night, if I may. Sorry to be such a bear."
+
+She answered rather dispiritedly that it was all right, that she was
+sorry he felt ill. It was a relief when she rang off. He took his hat
+and went off to call on Esther.
+
+He felt that he could settle to nothing till he had seen her again;
+there was a curious jealousy in his heart about Ashton; he would have
+given anything he possessed to be able to disillusion her, but knew it
+was impossible without hopelessly compromising himself.
+
+It was a bitter disappointment to find that she was out when he
+reached the boarding-house; his face fell absurdly when he turned and
+walked away.
+
+He wondered if she really was out, or only out to him.
+
+After a moment he laughed at himself. A few days ago he had not known
+there was such a person as Esther Shepstone in the world, and yet now
+here he was, consumed with jealousy because she was not in when he
+called.
+
+He took a taxicab back to the West End; he walked about for half an
+hour staring aimlessly into shop windows, then went back to his rooms.
+He could not understand his extraordinary restlessness; he had only
+once before felt anything like it in all his life, and that had been
+the first time he ever backed a horse, and was waiting a wire from the
+course to say if the brute had won.
+
+He recalled the fever of impatience that had consumed him then, and
+laughed; after all, it had been nothing compared with this.
+
+Driver came into the room.
+
+"If you please, sir, Miss Mason has been on the 'phone. She said would
+I ask you to meet her for tea."
+
+Micky did not look enthusiastic; he liked June awfully, but to-day
+every one and everything seemed a bore.
+
+"Tea! Where?" he asked vaguely.
+
+"Miss Mason said that you would know, sir; the same place as usual."
+
+"Oh, all right!"
+
+Micky looked at the clock and sighed. After all, June was always
+amusing; he went off almost cheerfully to the unpretentious club of
+which she had spoken to Esther. He had to wait in the lobby while a
+boy in buttons fetched June to him. She came downstairs looking very
+much at home, and smoking the inevitable cigarette. It was one of June
+Mason's charms that she always managed to look at home wherever she
+was.
+
+She had taken off her coat, but she wore a green hat with a gold
+ornament that suited her to perfection, set on her dark head at rakish
+angle.
+
+"I began to think you were not coming," she said.
+
+She gave him her left hand, and Micky squeezed it in friendly fashion.
+They went upstairs together to a small tea-room, which was just now
+deserted save for two waitresses who were giggling together over a
+newspaper.
+
+June walked over to a table in the window, and Micky followed.
+
+He had been here with her scores of times before, and the two
+waitresses smiled at one another knowingly; they were quite sure that
+this was romance.
+
+Micky was sitting with an elbow on the table, absently smoothing the
+back of his head; he was wishing it was Esther sitting opposite to
+him; he looked up with a little start when June spoke to him.
+
+"What's up, Micky? I've never seen you looking so depressed."
+
+He roused himself with an effort.
+
+"Oh, nothing, nothing! It's the beastly weather, I expect."
+
+She looked at him quizzically with her queer eyes.
+
+"I shouldn't have thought the weather would depress you," she said.
+"However, if you say it does----"
+
+He shook himself together.
+
+"I'm not depressed any longer," he declared. "Well, and how are you?
+And how is the swindle?" It was Micky's pet joke to call June's
+invention the "swindle," though in his heart he was almost as proud of
+it as she was.
+
+She laughed.
+
+"It's very well, thank you; but that isn't what I want to talk to you
+about to-day. Micky, would you like to come to tea with me one
+afternoon?"
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Tea! Haven't I come to tea with you to-day?"
+
+"Silly! I don't mean here; I mean where I live. It's a boarding-house.
+I dare say you'll hate it, but it's really quite a nice place, and
+beggars can't be choosers, anyway. I've got a very comfortable
+sitting-room and most of my own furniture, and I can give you a good
+cup of tea, or anything else, if you prefer it."
+
+"I shall be delighted," Micky looked puzzled. "But isn't this rather a
+breaking of rules? It's not so very long ago that you made me swear
+never to try and find out where you lived. I thought it was all to be
+a deadly secret."
+
+"So it was, but I've decided to admit you. I know you're safe, and,
+Micky, wouldn't you like to meet the dearest, prettiest, most
+attractive little girl...."
+
+Micky moved his chair back in mock alarm.
+
+"June! You're not turning match-maker! If you are, I give you fair
+warning that our friendship will have to end once and for ever. I'll
+put up with a lot from you, but not this--not...."
+
+"Don't be an idiot!" said June calmly. "There isn't the slightest
+fear! And anyway----" she added, with a half sigh, "she's engaged, so
+it wouldn't be any good. But I want you to help her.... Oh, I know I'm
+always bringing you foundlings to help and look after, but you've got
+such a big heart--and such a big banking account," she added
+audaciously.
+
+"Well, go on----" he said resignedly. "Who is the foundling this time,
+and what am I to do?"
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"She's a darling," June said warmly. "I've only known her for four
+days--she lives in the same house. I took a fancy to her from the
+first moment I saw her. No, it was before that--it was when I first
+heard her name...."
+
+Micky raised his brows.
+
+"What a creature of impulse! My dear, you'll burn your fingers badly
+some day."
+
+"And when I do," said Miss Mason sharply, "I shan't come crying to you
+for sympathy; however ... Well, she's poor! she's one of those
+horribly poor, frightfully proud people whom it's impossible to help.
+I've tried all ways! I asked her to go shares with my sitting-room,
+and she said she couldn't afford it; she'll hardly let me give her a
+cup of tea or coffee for fear I should think she is sponging on me.
+She seems most frightfully alone in the world. She says she engaged to
+a man, but he's abroad, and I'm sure he's not nice, anyway. He's only
+written to her once since I've known her, at all events, and this
+morning when there wasn't a letter, I know she went back to her room
+and cried. I knocked at the door, but she wouldn't let me in."
+
+She paused, and looked at Micky for sympathy.
+
+He half smiled; he knew how enthusiastic June always was about
+everything.
+
+"Well, and what do you want me to do for this damsel in distress?" he
+asked gently.
+
+"I want you to get her a berth somewhere," he was told promptly. "No,
+it's no use saying you can't! My dear man, you must know scores of
+people who'd take her in. She thought she was fixed up all right, but
+now it appears that the people she was with before haven't got a
+vacancy for her, and so that's knocked on the head. She told me that
+she's have to just take the first thing that came along. I don't
+believe she's hardly got a shilling to her name. I offered to take her
+into partnership with me. I said we'd go travelling together for my
+beauty cream, but she wouldn't hear of it.... She's so proud!"--and
+here a sound of tears crept into June Mason's voice. "I ask you,
+Micky, what can be done with any one like that?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"If she'll take anything that comes along, she ought to get a job
+pretty soon," he said laconically. "I'll speak to a man I know--can
+she write a decent hand and all that sort of thing?"
+
+"Of course she can! But I want a good berth, mind you! I've never been
+so fond of anybody as I am of her. She's awfully worried about this
+horrid man she's engaged to. She doesn't say much about him, but this
+morning she said that there didn't seem to be anything to live for,
+and her eyes looked so sad...."
+
+Micky smiled at her serious face.
+
+"You'd make an eloquent appeal in a court of law," he said. He took a
+pencil from his pocket and an envelope. "Give me her name and address,
+and I'll see what I can do. I don't promise anything, mind you, but
+I'll do what I can...."
+
+"You're a dear," said June warmly. "I know you were the one to come
+to. I'm quite sure when you've seen Esther you'll ... why, what's the
+matter, Micky?"
+
+Micky had looked up sharply. His face had paled a little.
+
+"What name did you say?" he asked. He never knew how he managed to
+control his voice. His heart seemed to be thumping in his throat.
+"What name did you say?" he asked again, with an effort. "I did not
+catch it----"
+
+"It's Esther," said June, "Esther Shepstone."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Micky's pencil jerked suddenly, sending an aimless scrawl across the
+paper; for an instant he stared at his companion with blank eyes.
+Fortunately June Mason was too intent on the relighting of her
+cigarette to have any attention to spare for him; she went on talking
+as she puffed.
+
+"Yes...."--puff--"that's her name...." Another puff. "Isn't it a
+change from your eternal Violets and Dorothys?"... Puff, puff. "Oh,
+bother!" She threw the cigarette into an empty grate behind her and
+prepared to give Micky her undivided attention once more. "Well, what
+do you think about it? You haven't written her name down. Esther
+Shepstone, I said.... Write it down," she commanded.
+
+Micky obeyed at once. He was beginning to recover himself a little.
+
+"I shall be able to help her all right," he said quickly. "Only, of
+course, you won't let her know I'm mixed up in it at all; she'd hate
+it if she knew, she...."
+
+"How do you know she would?" June demanded with suspicion.
+
+Micky met her eyes squarely.
+
+"Well, you said she was proud or something, didn't you? And anyway I
+don't want to pose as a blessed philanthropist; I'm not one either,
+but I'll see what I can do for--for this new friend of yours. You say
+she's poor?"
+
+"Horribly poor, I'm afraid," said June with a sigh. "Micky, it's
+rather pathetic--somebody sent her some money--not very much, but
+still, it was money she evidently didn't expect. I've got a sort of
+idea that it was from this man she's supposed to be engaged to----"
+
+"Why do you say 'supposed'--she is engaged to him, isn't she?"
+
+June shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"She says so, and she wears a ring, but I've a sort of instinctive
+feeling that there's something funny behind it. Anyway, I know she's
+not happy; but don't interrupt. About this money--well, it was partly
+my fault! I persuaded her to go and buy herself some clothes--she had
+such a few things, poor child! And I even went with her and she bought
+a frock and a new coat...."
+
+"Yes," said Micky eagerly; he was glad she had bought a new coat; he
+remembered how thin hers had been on that memorable night, and how she
+had shivered in the cold night air.
+
+"She was as pleased as a child with a new toy," Miss Mason went on.
+"She brought them all up to my room to show me when they came home,
+and we both tried them on ... and you've no idea how sweet she
+looked," she added with enthusiasm. "Of course, I suppose this is
+boring you horribly," she said deprecatingly.
+
+"No," said Micky honestly. "It's not boring me at all, I promise
+you."
+
+"Well, anyway, she got the clothes, and now the place where she was
+before say they can't take her back--it's Eldred's, the petticoat
+shop. I don't suppose you know it, but----"
+
+"I know it very well," said Micky.
+
+"Oh, do you?" She laughed. "Well, they either won't or can't take her
+back, and now she feels that she ought not to have spent the money on
+the new frock and coat, and this morning she told me that she was
+afraid she would have to leave Elphinstone Road, as it was more than
+she could afford." June's eyes flashed. "Micky, what can one do with
+people who are poor and proud? It's a most difficult combination to
+fight. I blundered in and offended her by offering to lend her some
+money, and, of course, she wouldn't hear of it, and there you are!"
+
+She sighed, and leaned back in her chair despondently.
+
+"Have a cake," said Micky absently; he pushed the plate across to her.
+"The ones with the white sugar are nice."
+
+Miss Mason ignored him.
+
+"If that's all the interest you take----" she said offendedly.
+
+Micky started.
+
+"My dear girl, I'm full of interest--chock full to the brim! But we
+came here for tea, so we may as well eat something while I try to
+think of a plan." He wrinkled his forehead. "Of course," he
+ejaculated, "that chap--what did you say his name was?"
+
+"What chap? Oh, the fiancé! I don't know; she hasn't even let me see
+his photograph yet; but she says he writes dreams of letters. I
+haven't seen them either, of course."
+
+"He may send her some more money. After all, you say it's only four
+days since she heard from him. That's not very long; men are always
+rotten letter writers."
+
+Miss Mason looked wise.
+
+"Four days is a long time when you're in love," she said. "If you were
+engaged to Esther Shepstone I'll bet you'd write to her every day.
+You're just the kind. Oh, I know what you're going to say--that you're
+cut out for a bachelor, and rubbish like that, but you wait and see,
+Micky--it's never too late."
+
+"I've never written a love-letter in my life," Micky declared
+indignantly. "And, anyway----"
+
+June leaned across the table and looked at him with accusing eyes.
+
+"Never? On your word of honour, Micky?"
+
+Micky laughed and coloured.
+
+"Well, perhaps--once!" he admitted. "But that's beside the point,
+isn't it?... I'll think things over and write to you."
+
+"Yes, but soon, Micky, soon! It's not a case where you can sit down
+with your feet on the mantelpiece and give yourself a week to turn
+things over in your mind. I want to know at once, to-morrow--to-night,
+if possible. I know what Esther is--she'll be gone before I can turn
+round, and I should hate her to go. I haven't got many friends, and I
+do feel that she and I are going to be real friends--great friends ...
+I don't know when I've taken such a fancy to anybody----"
+
+"You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that," said Micky. His
+eyes were shining. Then he realised that he had displayed rather
+unnecessary warmth and hastened to amend his words. "I always said
+that what you wanted was a real woman friend," he added more quietly.
+
+June was drawing on her gloves; she had very white hands and
+beautifully-kept finger-nails, and she was very proud of them.
+
+"Never mind me," she said briskly. "You bustle about and find a post
+for Esther, and I'll love you for ever. Are we ready?"
+
+She rose and gathered up her various belongings. Micky declared that
+she was always laden with small, oddly-shaped parcels.
+
+"Samples, my dear man, samples!" she said briskly when Micky asked if
+he might not be allowed to carry some. "And they're much too precious
+to risk you dropping any."
+
+"There's just one stipulation," Micky said as he followed her
+downstairs again. "You're not to tell Miss Shepstone anything about
+me--I'm going to be very strict on this subject. Will you promise?"
+
+"Bless your heart, yes--and if you come to tea one day----"
+
+"Oh, I don't think I'll come to tea," Micky said hastily. "I should
+only feel rotten--self-conscious and all the rest of it, even if I was
+quite sure she didn't know anything--not that there's anything to know
+yet," he added quickly. "I may not be able to help her."
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"Oh, you'll help her right enough," she said breezily. "I know you."
+
+She dismissed him when they reached the street. "No, I don't want you
+to come with me; I've got some business to see to and you'd only be a
+nuisance." She gave his hand a squeeze. "Good-bye, and thanks ever so
+much Micky. You'll write to me--or wire?"
+
+"As soon as there is anything to report."
+
+He raised his hat and turned away, and June dived across the road,
+perilously near to a motor-omnibus, clutching her samples jealously to
+her heart.
+
+"It'll be all right now," she told herself, with a sense of comfort.
+"Everything's always all right as soon as Micky gets hold of it."
+
+A soliloquy which made it seem all the more curious that she should
+have hesitated to trust herself to him for life. Perhaps, as she had
+told Esther, she cared too much for him to take the risk for them
+both. He had told her candidly that he did not care for her as a man
+should care for the woman he marries.
+
+"And he makes a ripping friend! Ripping!" she told herself as she
+scurried along to interview another beauty specialist about the
+"swindle," as Micky politely called it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Micky went straight home when he left June. What he had heard about
+Esther had disturbed him very much. He loathed to think that she was
+unhappy.
+
+The question was, how best to help her, and quickly. He was thankful
+she had made a friend of June. June was one of the best, the loyalest
+pal a man could ever have.
+
+But, as June had said, Esther was too proud to take help unless it was
+most tactfully offered. He racked his brains in vain. It was a
+sickening thought that, with all his wealth, he could give her
+nothing. Even the few paltry pounds she had unconsciously taken from
+him would have been indignantly rejected had she known who was the
+donor.
+
+With sudden impulse he sat down and wrote to her. After all, she had
+accepted his friendship; there was no reason on earth why he should
+not write and ask to be allowed to see her again. He wrote most
+carefully lest she should discover some likeness to the letter he had
+written to replace Ashton's.
+
+Might he take her out to dinner one night? Any night would suit him.
+And did she like theatres? He had a friend who sometimes gave him a
+couple of seats for a show. He would arrange for any night she liked
+to mention.
+
+He thought that was a neat stroke of diplomacy--of course, she would
+not think he could afford to buy seats, and anyway it was true that he
+had a friend who often gave him boxes and things--he would have to be
+careful that Phillips did not send along a box this time though.
+
+He ended up by hoping formally that she and Charlie were quite well
+and comfortably settled into their new home, and he signed himself:
+"Yours very sincerely, Micky Mellowes."
+
+When he had finished the letter, he realised that he had written it on
+his own heavily embossed writing paper, so he had to dig Driver up and
+borrow a cheap sheet of unstamped grey paper and write it all out
+again. Then he went out and posted it himself.
+
+As soon as it had gone he wished he had sent it by hand; it meant such
+a deuce of a time to wait for a reply; he calculated that he could not
+possibly hear before to-morrow night.
+
+But in this he was pleasantly disappointed, for his own letter reached
+the boarding-house in Elphinstone Road that night, and Esther's reply
+was waiting for him with the kidney and bacon in the morning.
+
+Micky's heart began to thump when he saw the letter beside his plate;
+he had never seen Esther's handwriting, but he knew by instinct that
+it was hers. He scanned the first lines eagerly, and his face fell.
+
+  "DEAR MR. MELLOWES,--Thank you for your letter. I am sorry, but I
+  cannot come out with you, either to dinner or to a theatre.--
+
+                                Yours very truly, ESTHER SHEPSTONE."
+
+Micky's face was pathetic in its disappointment. He read the few curt
+lines through again and again, vainly trying to find something more
+behind the unmistakable refusal, but there it was in all its bald
+decision.
+
+She did not want to go out with him any more; she did not care if she
+saw him again or not.
+
+Micky left his breakfast, he no longer had any appetite. He had never
+had such a snub in all his life--out of his disappointment anger was
+rising steadily; she had no right to snub him like that without a
+reason.
+
+Driver, coming into the room at that moment, saw the untouched
+breakfast and halted midway between door and table to stare at his
+master.
+
+Micky stood with his hands deep thrust into his pockets, glowering
+into the fire. Driver advanced a step.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir--but wasn't you well?" he asked stoically.
+
+Micky began to swear, then his mood changed and he laughed.
+
+"Yes, I'm all right----" He hesitated. "Driver, would you like to go
+to Paris?"
+
+Driver raised wooden eyes.
+
+"Anywhere you wish, sir," he answered, in his usual expressionless
+voice. "When were you thinking of starting, sir?"
+
+"I'm not thinking of starting at all," said Micky. "I want you to
+go--alone! You've been often enough now not to get lost. Do you think
+you can manage it?"
+
+"Yes, sir, if you think you can manage without me here."
+
+There was the faintest touch of amazement in the man's even voice; he
+knew how helpless Micky was, or pretended to be--knew how he hated
+being left to do for himself.
+
+But Micky only laughed.
+
+"Oh, I can manage all right. I shall probably go away somewhere myself
+for a few days. Besides, you won't be gone long----" He paused.
+
+"No, sir," said Driver.
+
+Micky was leaning against the mantelshelf; his eyes were all crinkled
+up into a laugh as if he had heard some excellent joke which he was
+about to repeat.
+
+"No, you won't be gone long," he said again. "A couple of days, I
+should think. You can put up at the hotel we stayed at last time;
+they'll look after you, and the manager speaks English."
+
+"Yes, sir----" Driver hesitated. "And--what were you wanting me to do
+when I get there, sir?" he asked, after a moment.
+
+Micky clung to his joke for an instant longer, then suddenly he let it
+go.
+
+"I want you to post a letter for me," he said.
+
+Driver was too well trained to show amazement at Micky's instructions,
+but just for a fractional second he forgot to answer with his usual
+"Yes, sir," and stood immovable. Then he recovered himself, and said
+it twice with hurried apology.
+
+"And am I to go at once, sir?"
+
+"To-morrow morning will do," Micky said. "You can go by the first boat
+train." He looked at the man anxiously. He had a sort of uncomfortable
+feeling that Driver must be thinking he was not quite right in the
+head. After a moment he dismissed him.
+
+Then Micky went over to his desk and rummaged amongst the many papers
+and letters there till he found a sheet of paper embossed with the
+name of an hotel in Paris. It had not been used, and Micky heaved a
+sigh of relief.
+
+He went to bed late that night. He forgot all about his promise to go
+round to the Delands. He spent the time writing letters and tearing
+them up again till the wastepaper basket was full; then he carried it
+over to the fireplace and burnt every scrap of paper it contained.
+
+There were two finished letters lying on his desk. One was sealed and
+addressed, but not stamped, and the other was written on a sheet of
+Driver's plain notepaper, which Micky folded and unfolded with a sort
+of nervous dissatisfaction.
+
+Its contents were not very long, but they had taken a good deal of
+composing.
+
+  "DEAR MISS SHEPSTONE,--I received your note in reply to my letter
+  and cannot help saying that I feel very hurt at your decided
+  refusal to allow me to take you out. I thought we were to be
+  friends? Have I been so unfortunate as to offend you? If so, I can
+  only assure you that it has been utterly unintentional. Won't you
+  let me see you, if only for a moment? I will meet you at any time
+  or place.--                          Yours sincerely, MICKEY
+  MELLOWES."
+
+
+He gave a dissatisfied growl as he finished reading it. Not a very
+eloquent epistle. There was so much more which he wanted to say, but
+did not dare to. He folded it again and thrust it into an envelope;
+then he addressed it and laid it beside that other on his desk,
+comparing the two handwritings with complacence.
+
+Not in the least alike! Nobody would ever suspect that they had been
+written by the same person.
+
+He rang for Driver and gave him the unstamped envelope. "This is what
+I want you to post in Paris. Mind you put enough stamps on. You'd
+better have it weighed."
+
+"Yes, sir." Driver looked at the other letter. "And--is that for the
+post too, sir?"
+
+Micky put his hand behind him with a guilty gesture.
+
+"No; I'll post that myself," he said, and he went out then and there
+into the cold night and did so.
+
+As it dropped into the letter-box Micky looked up at the stars and
+sighed.
+
+What the dickens could he have done to make her so distant? At any
+rate he would let her see that he was not to be so easily snubbed. If
+she didn't answer his letter he would go boldly round to Elphinstone
+Road, and stay there till he saw her.
+
+He was half way to bed before he remembered that he had promised to go
+to the Delands that evening. He stopped short with his necktie half
+undone and swore.
+
+What the deuce would they think of him?
+
+Well, he would have to plead that headache still, that was all, and if
+Marie chose to cut up rough.... Micky felt mean because he rather
+hoped that she would. He knew that he wanted their friendship to
+cease, but, man-like, he did not altogether like having to take the
+initiative. Marie was a nice little girl, and if it hadn't been for
+that relative of hers dying on New Year's Eve--well, he would probably
+have been engaged to her by this time.
+
+He went to bed feeling miserable.
+
+Driver had just left the house to catch the boat train the following
+morning when June Mason rang Micky up.
+
+"Any news for me?" she demanded. "I hate worrying you so soon, but
+Esther's given notice. She's told Mrs. Elders that she can't afford to
+stay on. I nearly shook her this morning. I asked her to let me help
+her for the time being. I even said that I would take five per cent.
+interest on the hateful money if she was so abominably proud, and she
+laughed! She cried the next minute and said I was much too kind to
+her, but she wouldn't listen. What have you done?"
+
+"Everything," said Micky promptly. "In a couple of days--"
+
+"My good man, that's much too long to wait."
+
+"It's the best I can do," said Micky rather shortly. "And you'll find
+it's a good best if you'll be patient."
+
+He heard the sigh she gave.
+
+"Honest Injun!" he said seriously.
+
+"Oh, very well. If you let me down, Micky----"
+
+"You won't be let down," Micky said.
+
+June went back to Elphinstone Road with a heavy heart.
+
+She was very thorough in her friendships, and it really seemed a
+terrible thing to her that Esther would not accept help.
+
+She felt so genuinely fond of the girl herself that she could not
+understand the feeling of affection and confidence not being
+reciprocated; she went up to her room and tucked herself into the big
+armchair amongst the mauve cushions and smoked innumerable cigarettes.
+Charlie was asleep by the fire; he found his way upstairs now without
+invitation; he was beginning to get quite respectable-looking; he had
+lost his wild, scared look, and even his purr had taken on a sleekier,
+smoother sound.
+
+June stared at him for some time, then suddenly she got up and went
+downstairs.
+
+She knocked at Esther's door, but there was no answer, and she went
+back to her own room dejectedly.
+
+If only Esther were not so proud they might have such good times
+together! If only Esther had a little money and could go shares with
+this room; but what was the good of wishing? She hurled one of the
+mauve cushions across the room, and after that she felt better.
+
+She went down to lunch because she hoped Esther would be there, but
+she was not. The long room was rather empty, and June ate her cold
+meat and pudding hurriedly and went back upstairs.
+
+It was getting dusk when she heard Esther come in; she waited eagerly,
+but the footsteps did not come on to her door. June threw another
+cushion across the room to keep the other company; it was her chief
+vent for anger or irritation.
+
+"Confounded pride," she said under her breath. She paced up and down
+for some minutes, then she caught Charlie up from his cushion and went
+downstairs to Esther's room with him in her arms.
+
+Her knock was answered immediately and Esther stood there in the
+doorway.
+
+June spoke without looking at her.
+
+"I've brought Charlie down--I thought if he stayed up in my room any
+longer you'd be wanting to pay me for his board and lodging."
+
+She thrust the cat into Esther's arms and turned away.
+
+She was feeling very sore; hers was such a generous nature that she
+could not understand why Esther could not see how glad she would have
+been to help her; she went back to her own room and slammed the door.
+
+A moment later she was sorry for what she had done; twice she went
+half way down the stairs to apologise, then came back again.
+
+"Do her good," she told herself snappishly. "I've no patience with
+such silly pride, and as for you, my boy," she stopped and shook her
+fist at Micky's photograph, "if you don't buck up and find her
+something...."
+
+The two days dragged away. June purposely avoided Esther; she never
+went into the dining-room to meals, and Esther never came upstairs to
+June's room; there was a kind of armed neutrality between them.
+
+Charlie, too, seemed to have been told to keep away, and June missed
+his lusty purr in the silent room.
+
+She shed a few tears into the mauve cushions; she thought Esther was
+wilfully misunderstanding her; she wrote to Micky on the second day
+with a great deal of emphasis.
+
+"Are you dead or asleep? Here am I, just living to hear from you, and
+you leave me without a word! Esther and I haven't spoken for two days,
+not that you care, of course. You don't believe in my friendships, I
+know, but it's a very serious thing for me. I'm more fond of that girl
+than I've ever been of anybody, and now she'll walk out of this house
+and my life, and it will be your fault...."
+
+She knew this was unfair to Micky, but she knew that Micky would
+understand--Micky always understood.
+
+But Micky frowned over the letter. Did she imagine he enjoyed sitting
+down here doing nothing? What pleasure did she suppose he was getting
+out of the whole thing?
+
+He threw the letter into the fire. Something ought to happen
+to-morrow, anyway. The last two days had seemed like months.
+
+To kill time he went round to the Delands. He felt a little nervous as
+he reached the house. It seemed an unconscionable time since he was
+last here. When the butler opened the door he felt an insane desire to
+say, "Good evening, Jessop! You're still here, then." Such a decade
+ago it seemed since Jessop had been wont to admit him without question
+and take his hat and coat.
+
+But Jessop did not smile to-night, and did not move back an inch when
+he saw who was the caller.
+
+Micky was nonplussed.
+
+"Er--anybody in?" he asked awkwardly.
+
+"No, sir; the mistress and the young ladies are all out, sir...."
+
+"Oh!" There was a little silence; then Micky turned on his heel.
+"Well, good-night!" he said jerkily.
+
+He walked away, not sure if he was relieved or disappointed. A few
+yards down the road he almost cannoned into a man he knew.
+
+"Hullo, Philips! Where are you off to?"
+
+Philips stopped.
+
+"Hullo, Micky! Not coming my way? I'm going to the Delands. What's up
+with you? Haven't seen you for a week or more."
+
+"I've been seedy," Micky said hurriedly. "And the Delands are out.
+I've just called there myself."
+
+"Eh?" Philips tried hard to see his face through the darkness. "Rot,"
+he said at last. "They've got a musical evening on--I had a special
+invite."
+
+Micky said nothing. This was a nasty blow; apparently the Delands were
+only "not at home" to him. Jove! he must have behaved caddishly. He
+walked on feeling very subdued. Had he quite lost his wits, he
+wondered, that for the sake of a girl who would have none of him he
+was willing to offend all his old friends? He tried to look at his
+behaviour from Marie Deland's point of view. Yes, it must look pretty
+rotten, he was forced to admit.
+
+He thought about it all the time he walked home. He asked himself
+honestly if this new game was worth the candle.
+
+Esther loved another man.
+
+Already she had shown him that she cared nothing for him or his
+friendship, and yet--yet---- Micky set his teeth. He had never wanted
+anything really badly in all his life before, but now he wanted this
+girl.
+
+"I'm not done yet, anyway," he told himself. "After all--let the best
+man win."
+
+He felt that he had decided a question of great importance as he went
+back to his rooms; it was a pleasant surprise to find Driver there;
+Micky beamed.
+
+"You've got back, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The man took Micky's hat and coat, and turned to go.
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Everything all right?" he asked, with a touch of anxiety.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You posted the letter?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and had it weighed...." There was a little pause.
+
+"Is that all?" Micky asked. "Nothing else happened?"
+
+The man raised his expressionless eyes.
+
+"I should have got in this morning, sir, but we had a rough crossing,
+and I was ill----"
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Poor old Driver!--anything else?"
+
+"Yes, sir--I met Mr. Ashton in Paris. He seemed very surprised to see
+me there without you, sir."
+
+Micky's face changed; he had not counted on this.
+
+"Good Lord!" he said. "You didn't tell him you----?"
+
+Driver raised his eyes.
+
+"I never tell anybody anything, sir," he said woodenly.
+
+Micky breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"Good man.... He was alone, of course?"
+
+"Alone at the hotel, but I saw him out driving twice with the same
+lady, sir."
+
+"You saw him out twice--driving with the same lady?" Micky echoed the
+man's words vaguely. "All right--you can go."
+
+"Thank you, sir." Driver departed, closing the door noiselessly.
+
+Ashton had soon found consolation, Micky thought savagely. He wondered
+what Esther would say if she could know. What was Driver thinking
+about it all? Driver was safe as the Bank of England; but, all the
+same, it was not altogether pleasant to feel that he had had to give
+himself away to his valet.
+
+He looked up at the clock. Past nine! So there would not be another
+post in to-night.
+
+Esther had not answered his note, and two whole days had elapsed.
+
+Micky began pacing the room. Why had she so suddenly thrown him over,
+he wondered miserably.
+
+He could not imagine what he had done to offend her.
+
+He hardly knew how the days had passed since New Year's Eve. He had
+not visited any of his old haunts or seen any of his friends. It
+almost seemed as if he had opened the book of a new life and forgotten
+about the old.
+
+She might have answered his letter. Dash it all! he wasn't just a
+bounder who had spoken to her for his own amusement. He kicked a
+hassock out of his way and went to bed.
+
+If he didn't hear in the morning, he would risk it and go round to see
+her. At the worst she could only have the door shut in his face....
+
+"And even then----" he told his reflection in the mirror fiercely, as
+he struggled with a stud. "Even then I'm not done--and I'll show her
+that I'm not...."
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+June Mason was mixing perfume the following morning when a little
+knock came at her door.
+
+She looked up from her work and listened; after a second she resumed
+her occupation briskly.
+
+"Come in," she said.
+
+She did not raise her eyes when the door opened, though she knew quite
+well who had entered the room, and for a second Esther Shepstone stood
+on the threshold hesitatingly, then she spoke.
+
+"May I come in?"
+
+June Mason looked up with an exaggerated start; she was a picturesque
+figure at that moment in a big white overall, and with a scarf of her
+favourite mauve tied over her dark head.
+
+She held a little phial in either hand, and there was a delicious
+faint smell of rose perfume in the room.
+
+"You!" she said. "Gracious! I thought you were dead and buried long
+enough ago. Oh yes, come in.... You don't mind me going on with my
+work, do you? I'm up to my eyes in it.... Sit down."
+
+But Esther stood where she was, the eagerness died out of her pretty
+face.
+
+"I won't stay if you're busy," she said. "I'll come another time,
+but----" she hesitated. Across the room the eyes of the two girls met,
+and June Mason promptly put down the two little phials.
+
+"Come in and apologise, and so will I," she said heartily. "There!"
+She reached up--Esther was taller than she--and gave the younger girl
+a sounding kiss. "There! I don't often kiss people, so you can
+consider yourself flattered." She dragged forward a chair and pushed
+Esther into it. "Now, what do you want, and where's that Charlie?
+You've no idea how I've missed him. No--you stay there, and I'll go
+and fetch him up."
+
+She darted off, and returned a moment later with Charlie in her arms.
+There were yards of mauve ribbon lying on the table and she cut off a
+length and tied it in a bow round his neck; then she kissed his head
+and dropped him on to his cushion. "There! Now, we're quite at home
+again," she said. "And now, fire away and tell me why you're here."
+
+She packed all the dishes and boxes on to a tray, put them out of
+sight behind a screen and came back to the fire.
+
+"Do you like this perfume? It's something new! I'm trying to blend it
+with white rose. Isn't it gorgeous?"
+
+"Beautiful!" said Esther. She consented to have her chin dabbed. "What
+are you making now?" she asked.
+
+Miss Mason chuckled.
+
+"Oh, I'm only experimising, as Micky calls it," she said lightly. "We
+don't want to talk shop. You've got some news; I can see by your face
+that you have."
+
+Esther laughed and flushed.
+
+"Oh, I have," she said tremulously. "Such wonderful news."
+
+"Humph!" said June drily. "From the young man, of course? Well, is he
+on his way home, and have you got to get a wedding dress in the next
+five minutes or something?"
+
+"Oh no, it isn't anything like that," said Esther. There was a shade
+of regret in her voice. "But he's in Paris--he says he's not staying
+there, but he had to pay a business call."
+
+June gave a rather unladylike sniff, but Esther was too engrossed to
+notice.
+
+"He seems to have been very lucky," she went on. "He hadn't got very
+much money when he went away, but he's got some appointment now; he
+does not say what and...."--she gave a little excited laugh--"he says
+that he's going to send me £3 a week for as long as he is away....
+Isn't it wonderfully good of him? I suppose I ought not to take it,
+but he says that if things had turned out as he hoped, we should have
+been married, and so ... you don't think it's wrong of me to take it,
+do you?" she asked anxiously.
+
+June rose to her feet. She looked chagrined; she had been so sure that
+this man was a rotter, that it was a bit of a set-back to hear this
+news.
+
+"You take it, my dear, and don't be a goose," she said promptly. "As
+he says, if you were his wife you'd take it, and as you're going to be
+married, it's quite the right thing if he's well off that he should
+help you! I hope you won't let your silly pride make you send it back;
+you'd only hurt his feelings."
+
+"I wouldn't do that for anything," Esther said quickly. "But it's such
+a lot of money."
+
+"Rubbish!" said June. "Why, Micky Mellowes wouldn't even stop to pick
+it up if he dropped it in the road."
+
+"We are not all millionaires like Mr. Mellowes," Esther said sharply.
+"And he ought to be ashamed of himself if he really wouldn't stop to
+pick it up."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Don't you take things so literally, my dear," she said. "I know you
+don't like Micky, though you've never seen him, but I'm going to ask
+him here to tea one day, if he'll come----"
+
+"I don't suppose he will," said Esther. "Elphinstone Road wouldn't be
+good enough for him, would it?"
+
+June frowned.
+
+"I don't like to hear you talk like that about Micky! It's not fair,
+when you don't know him. I tell you he's one of the best--and, anyway,
+as he's a friend of mine----"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I'm sorry--I'd no right to have said anything about him at all;
+please forgive me."
+
+"Oh, it's all right," June said laconically. "But he isn't a bit of a
+snob; he'd do anything in the world for anybody."
+
+Esther glanced up at his portrait on the shelf. She felt a trifle
+ashamed of what she had said; after all, Micky had been good to her in
+his own way, even if his own way had been patronising.
+
+"And so I shall stay on here," she said, after a moment. "And if you
+think you would still like me to share this room----"
+
+June pounced upon her.
+
+"You darling! It's too good to be true. Of course, I should love it!
+I'll go and tell old Mother Elders straight away; it will put her in a
+good temper for a month."
+
+"She's out," Esther said quickly. "I went to tell her myself as soon
+as I got my letter.... It only came this morning." She coloured
+sensitively beneath June's quizzical eyes.
+
+"And of course you've been devouring it ever since," June said. "Well,
+and very nice too! There's nothing to be ashamed of. I'll admit that I
+didn't think somehow that he could be a very nice sort of person, this
+young man of yours. No, I don't know why I thought so--just an idea of
+mine. I get hold of ideas like that. But I've changed my mind now; I'm
+sure he's a dear, or you'd never look so happy."
+
+"I should love you to see him," Esther said with enthusiasm. "I'm sure
+you would like him. I don't know his people, of course--I suppose if
+they thought he cared for me they'd be angry--but it doesn't really
+matter, and I know he doesn't care at all for his mother...."
+
+June looked up from stroking Charlie.
+
+"Now, I wish you hadn't said that," she said frankly. "No man can be
+really nice who doesn't love his own mother."
+
+Esther looked distressed.
+
+"But she's horrid!" she said eagerly. "He has told me how horrid she
+is to him--really she is--and as he's her only son----" She stopped.
+"After all," she went on, "there's no law to make you like a woman
+just because you happen to be her son, is there?"
+
+"It's unnatural not to," June answered shortly. "However, as neither
+of us know his mother, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. She
+may be a perfect old cat. Some women are."
+
+She wandered round the room to find a cigarette, and Esther sat
+looking into the fire.
+
+She could not remember her own mother. But somehow she felt sure that,
+had she been living, she would have adored her.
+
+She had never heard Raymond say anything nice of Mrs. Ashton--he had
+always spoken about her in a bitter, half sneering way.
+
+She looked across to June timidly.
+
+"Do you always judge people by what you call 'instinct'?" she asked.
+"When I first knew you you told me that you felt sure you would like
+me before ever you saw me, and----"
+
+"And I was right," June said triumphantly. "I nearly always am right
+when I get an instinct about anything. Micky says it's all rot!--there
+I am, talking about him again--it's a habit, so don't notice it! But
+even he has to admit how often I am right; I could give you dozens of
+instances."
+
+Esther did not pursue the subject; she was remembering how June had
+said that she had an "instinct" that Raymond was not nice.
+
+"I think you're the most original person I've ever met," she said with
+a little smile.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Eccentric, Micky says I am----" she answered, then broke off with a
+comical look of despair. "You really must excuse me for everlastingly
+dragging him in," she apologised. "As I said before, it's a habit--and
+there goes the dinner gong. Are we going to feed here to-day?"
+
+Esther rose from the chair.
+
+"I am," she said. "And I'm hungry, so I do hope there's something
+nice."
+
+They went down together.
+
+"Curry," said June, sniffing the air critically. "The colonel will be
+pleased; he's always telling us how they used to make curry in India,
+poor old chap! Though I don't think any of us really believe that he's
+ever been there."
+
+But the colonel was not there.
+
+"He's ill," so young Harley told the two girls as they sat down at
+their table. "I went up to see him this morning, and he really looks
+ill."
+
+"You don't look in exactly rude health yourself," said June in her
+blunt fashion. She noticed that Harley looked at Esther a great deal,
+and she made up her mind to tell him at the earliest opportunity that
+Esther was engaged. June scented romance everywhere.
+
+"They are the first violets I have seen this year," Esther was saying,
+looking at a little bunch the young man wore in his coat.
+
+He took them out eagerly and laid them down beside her plate.
+
+"Do have them, will you? I never wear flowers really, but a girl in
+the street begged me to buy them."
+
+Esther took them up eagerly.
+
+"They are my favourite flowers," she said. "And I haven't had any
+given to me for--oh, for ever so long."
+
+It gave her a little pang to remember that Ashton had always brought
+her violets in the first days of their acquaintance. It was one of the
+many little attentions which he had gradually dropped.
+
+"You're not to let Mr. Harley fall in love with you, mind," June said
+severely as they went upstairs after dinner. "He's much too nice to be
+made unhappy--even by you," she added affectionately.
+
+Esther stared.
+
+"Why, whatever do you mean?" she cried. "I never see him or speak to
+him, except at meal times."
+
+"I mean what I say," June insisted. "Didn't you see how he looked at
+you when you took his violets?"
+
+Esther flushed with vexation.
+
+"Why, what perfect nonsense!" she protested.
+
+But June only laughed.
+
+"Onlookers see most of the game," she declared. "Aren't you coming up
+to my room? Our room, I mean."
+
+"I've got to go out--I had an appointment at half-past two, but I'll
+love to come to tea with you," she added, seeing the disappointment in
+June's face.
+
+"Very well, then, four o'clock. But who is the appointment with? You
+won't need to find a berth now. You're a lady of leisure."
+
+"But I shall try all the same. I don't mean to be lazy just because
+he's so good to me. I shall save all I can. I went to an agency
+yesterday----"
+
+"They'll rob you," June protested. "They always do. I know what agents
+are," she added darkly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+But if she had hoped great things from her call that afternoon she was
+disappointed. The thin, aristocratic-looking person who owned the
+"Bureau," as it was called, looked at her with coldly critical eyes,
+and said that she had no vacancies likely to suit her.
+
+"But you told me to call," Esther protested.
+
+"Certainly; there might have been something," was all the answer she
+received. "Call again to-morrow, if you please."
+
+Esther went out dispiritedly. There were so many girls of her own
+class and age in the bare waiting-room; she felt quite sure that they
+would all get berths before she had a chance.
+
+She felt glad that she had June Mason to go back to. June was always
+sympathetic. She went straight upstairs to the sitting-room with the
+mauve cushions.
+
+June opened the door before she had time to knock.
+
+"I thought it was you. I heard your step. What's the matter? You
+sounded dispirited as you came upstairs."
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I believe you must have second sight, or whatever they call it. But
+you're right this time; I am rather down on my luck. They haven't
+anything at the agency to suit me. I----" She stopped, looking past
+June into the cosy room to where a man had just risen from a chair by
+the fire--a tall man--who looked across at her with eyes that were
+half-abashed, half-defiant. Micky Mellowes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+June introduced Micky and Esther with a sort of hurried
+self-consciousness. It was not by her invitation that Micky was here
+this afternoon, and the fact that she had asked him to help Esther
+embarrassed her.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes--Miss Shepstone; you've both heard of each other, so I
+can leave you to entertain one another while I get tea."
+
+And she bolted out of the room.
+
+Esther looked after her with angry eyes; she thought June might have
+stayed--she took a quick step forward to call her back, but Micky
+stopped her; he put a hand on the door above her head, shutting it
+fast.
+
+"I'm going to speak to you, whether you like it or not," he said.
+
+She faced him angrily; she was very flushed.
+
+"I don't know what you mean. You've no right to speak to me like that.
+If Miss Mason has asked you here to meet me----"
+
+"June didn't know I was coming. She has no more idea than the dead
+that we have ever met before. I haven't told her, and I don't suppose
+you have--or will," he added grimly. "However, as we are alone, will
+you tell me what I've done to offend you? It's not fair to take me for
+a friend and then fling me over as if I were an old glove.... If I've
+annoyed you, the least you can do is to tell me how and give me a
+chance to explain."
+
+Esther had walked back to the fire and Mellowes followed her. He knew
+that he had only got a few moments, and he meant to make the most of
+them.
+
+"You refuse to see me or to allow me to take you out," he went on
+urgently. "And you haven't even answered my last letter. If I have
+offended you----"
+
+"You haven't," said Esther, as he paused. "I'm not at all offended."
+
+"Then why, in the name of all that's holy----" he began again, in
+exasperation. She cut him short.
+
+"You didn't tell me the truth about yourself. You made out you were
+poor! You pretended to be some one quite different to what you are.
+You've a perfect right to, I suppose, if you wish, but I hate being
+deceived and treated like that. I suppose you think anything is good
+enough for me! Perhaps it is, but----"
+
+Micky brought his fist down with a bang on the back of the big
+armchair.
+
+"I give you my word of honour, Miss Shepstone, that what I said was
+only because it seemed the best way to make you trust me. I had
+absolutely no other reason for pretending to--to--be anything but what
+I am. I know you'd have gone off at a tangent if I'd said I was
+unfortunate enough to be rich, I know----"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You didn't even write to me from your real address--you just put a
+number." She broke into an angry little laugh. "I suppose you thought
+I shouldn't understand that a number can also be an expensive flat."
+
+Micky turned pale with anger.
+
+"You're deliberately trying to make out that I'm a bounder. It's not
+fair--I don't deserve it; and as to thinking anything good enough for
+you--I suppose you'd only take it as a fresh insult if I told you that
+there is nothing in the world I consider good enough for you.... I
+... oh, what's the good of arguing," he broke out with sudden rage.
+
+"It's no good at all, and there's nothing to argue about," Esther said
+stiffly. She had taken off her gloves and was flattening them out
+nervously. "You offered me your friendship, and now I decline it. I
+suppose I am free to do so?"
+
+"No," said Micky violently, "you're not ... I--I ..." He turned away
+sharply, realising with dismay how nearly he had blurted out the truth
+about Ashton. After a moment he spoke more quietly.
+
+"It is pure chance that brought me here. I have known June Mason for
+years; we are old friends. She has no idea that I have ever seen you
+before, but I will tell her this moment if you wish it----"
+
+She raised passionate eyes to his face.
+
+"I will never forgive you as long as I live if you dare to," she said
+stormily.
+
+Micky frowned till his brows nearly met above his kind eyes.
+
+"Whatever I say or offer to do is wrong, of course," he said savagely.
+"If I had not offered to tell her, you would probably have said that I
+was ashamed of knowing you ... oh, good Heavens! whatever have I said
+now?" he added as he saw the hot blood rush to her face.
+
+He went over to her and tried to take her hand. "Do forgive me; I beg
+of you to forgive me--I'm a clumsy idiot--but you don't know how hurt
+I've felt about being turned down in this way."
+
+"It's absurd to feel hurt--I haven't turned you down; I wish you
+wouldn't keep saying that I have. Why I--I hardly know you," she added
+with a little angry laugh.
+
+Micky turned away; he stood staring down into the fire; neither of
+them spoke again till June returned.
+
+She carried a tray of cakes and hot toast; she set it down with a
+thump on the round table by the fire.
+
+"I coaxed it out of Mrs. Elders," she explained breathlessly. "I
+generally keep some cake up here myself, but I haven't got a bit
+to-day. Esther, fetch the cloth, there's a dear; and, Micky, you put
+the kettle on--I have filled it."
+
+She bustled about, talking the whole time; if she noticed the
+constraint between the other two she said nothing till tea was ready,
+and she sat down amongst the mauve cushions with a breathless sigh.
+
+"Now we're going to be cosy. Well, and how have you two been getting
+on? Micky, I've told Esther so much about you, she's sick to death of
+the sound of your name."
+
+"I never said so," Esther protested quickly.
+
+"Have some cake," Micky said; he deposited a slice on June's plate and
+adroitly changed the subject. He was furiously angry; he had not
+believed that Esther had it in her to turn on him as she had done. But
+the more she snubbed him, the more determined he was not to be
+snubbed. As he sat there stirring his tea and listening to June's
+chatter he was watching Esther all the time.
+
+She had taken off her coat now. He wondered if it was the coat his
+money had bought her; it was not half good enough, anyway. He thought
+of the furs and expensive gloves which Marie Deland wore, and he
+longed to be able to give some to this little girl who sat there with
+such angry defiance in her eyes.
+
+He realised that this pride of hers was going to be the hardest
+barrier of all between them.
+
+She could not forgive him because he was a rich man and had pretended
+to be poor; she could not forget that he had paid for her dinner and a
+saucer of milk for the cat. He looked down to where Charlie sat
+blinking in the firelight, and a little smile crossed his face. He
+wondered if perhaps some day soon she would offer to repay him for
+that night--if she would insist on doing so, as she had insisted on
+paying her share of everything with June.
+
+"More tea?" June demanded across the table, and Micky said,
+"Oh--er--yes, thanks," hurriedly. As long as the meal was unfinished
+Esther would have to stay in the room, he thought; she could not very
+well leave before; but in this he was mistaken, for Esther put her cup
+down almost at once and looked at June.
+
+"Will you think me very rude if I run away?" she asked. "I've got to
+see Mrs. Elders and tell her I am staying on--I think she has been
+trying to let my room."
+
+June looked disappointed. "Oh, well, if you really must go," she said.
+"Come back when you've seen her."
+
+"Thank you," said Esther. She turned to Micky, who had risen. "I won't
+say good-bye, then," she said with an effort to speak lightly.
+
+He held open the door for her, and a moment later she had gone. As
+soon as he came back to his chair June rounded on him.
+
+"What have you said to annoy her?" She looked quite angry! "I wanted
+you to like each other. Really, Micky, you are the limit! She won't
+come back again, you see if she does."
+
+"No," said Micky. "I don't think she will." He laughed a rather
+chagrined laugh. "I haven't said anything as far as I know," he added.
+"It's what you've said, I fancy. You've fed her up with accounts of
+what a wonderful person I am."
+
+"So you are," said June.
+
+He frowned.
+
+"It's kind of you to think so, but I don't know anybody else who
+shares your opinion."
+
+"Well, I can't help the world being full of idiots, can I?" she
+demanded in exasperation. "And, Micky, why did you come here to-day?
+When I asked you before you said you didn't want to come; you've soon
+changed your mind."
+
+"I came to tell you about Miss Shepstone. You asked me to get her a
+berth...."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"My dear boy, you're too late! She doesn't want your help now, or mine
+either, for that matter," she added ruefully. "She's a lady of
+means--that wonderful man of hers who's tucked up in Paris having the
+time of his life is going to allow her three pounds a week."
+
+She paused and looked across at him expectantly.
+
+"Well, why don't you look surprised?" she asked.
+
+Micky swallowed hard.
+
+"I am surprised!" he said. "Too jolly surprised for anything. It's
+good news, eh? I suppose she was pleased...."
+
+"Of course she was! She's staying on now, and is going to share my
+room. She had a qualm just for a moment, as to whether she ought to
+take the money, but I soon put her mind at ease. 'Take all you can
+get, my dear,' I said. After all, I dare say if the man's giving her
+three pounds he could afford to give her about double that amount; men
+are not particularly generous from what I know of them--except you,
+Micky...."
+
+Micky got red.
+
+"But three pounds a week is enough to live on? Don't you think it is?"
+he asked, with a touch of anxiety in his voice.
+
+"It's enough to live here on," June admitted. "But it's not great
+wealth. Still, she's going to get a berth as well, so perhaps, after
+all, the one you've heard of will suit her. What is it?"
+
+Micky was stooping, patting Charlie's head.
+
+"It's in an office," he said, after a moment; his voice sounded a
+little uncertain. "I don't think it would really suit her, though--now
+I've seen her," he hastened to add. "It would be too hard work--late
+hours and all the rest of it, dontcherknow."
+
+June looked at his bent head shrewdly.
+
+"Humph!" she said. "Perhaps it's just as well this phantom lover of
+Esther's has turned up trumps, if that's all you'd got to offer her."
+
+"Phantom lover!" said Micky; his voice sounded as if he were annoyed.
+"Whom are you talking about?"
+
+"Esther's beloved," June said airily. "She won't tell me his name, so
+I call him the phantom lover, because I've got an eerie sort of
+feeling in my mind about him that he doesn't really exist. What do you
+think, Micky?"
+
+"My dear girl, how can I possibly know?"
+
+June produced some cigarettes.
+
+"If he were all that she'd like me to believe he is," she said
+shrewdly, "she'd tell me more about him. She certainly got a bit more
+confidential to-day, and said that he had a cat for a mother and a few
+things like that. She had another letter from him this morning; he's
+in Paris--on business, so he tells her." She laughed, turning her face
+for a moment against the mauve cushion. Suddenly she sat upright
+again, "Micky, I should hate that man if I knew him!"
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Another of your 'instinctive hates'?" he asked whimsically.
+
+She nodded.
+
+"I know you don't believe in them, but...."
+
+"Don't I?" said Micky thoughtfully. "I'm not so sure." He looked at
+his watch. "Well, I must be trotting. There's nothing else I can do
+for you, I suppose? No more waifs who want billets...?"
+
+"You're laughing at me."
+
+"I'm not--I never laugh at you." He laid his hand on her shoulder for
+a moment. "Don't bother to get up; you look so comfortable ...
+Good-bye----"
+
+"Good-bye--and, Micky, don't make up your mind not to like Esther just
+because of this afternoon."
+
+"My dear, I never thought of such a thing," he protested lamely.
+
+June snuggled more cosily into the cushions.
+
+"Ah, but I know what you are," she said, for once hopelessly on the
+wrong track.
+
+Micky laughed to himself as he went down the stairs; he wondered if he
+was getting clever, or if June was not so quick to see a thing as he
+had believed, that she had not noticed the constraint between himself
+and Esther.
+
+He looked about him eagerly as he went out, hoping to catch a
+glimpse of Esther, but the house seemed deserted, quite different from
+what he had pictured it to be. He had always thought that a London
+boarding-house must be noisy and crowded and perpetually smelling of
+soap and cabbage water; he was relieved to find that this was
+fairly comfortable and quiet.
+
+He picked up a taxicab at the corner of the road and was driven back
+to his flat. He felt very depressed. Everybody seemed to have
+interests in life except himself. He wished he had got married years
+ago and settled down. He thought of Marie Deland with remorseful
+affection. Here was another woman who must be thinking him a positive
+outsider. How in the world did a man put an end to a flirtation that
+was growing rapidly into something else without hurting a woman's
+feelings, he wondered.
+
+Ashton had accomplished it quite successfully several times. Micky
+sighed, and let himself into his flat.
+
+There were several letters lying on the table; he flicked them through
+disinterestedly; then he stopped--the last one was from Ashton.
+
+Micky stood for quite a minute staring down at the handwriting, which
+he had been at such pains to copy. Then he ripped open the envelope.
+
+Ashton wrote from Paris:--
+
+  "DEAR MICKEY,--Just a line to send you my address, as promised.
+  Hope things are going well with you. I am staying on here for the
+  present, as I have run up against Maisie Clare--you remember her,
+  Tubby Clare's little widow? My son, she's got pots of money, and
+  at the present moment things are looking promising! The mater
+  would be pleased if I could manage to pull it off. By the way, I
+  dare say Driver told you I met him the other day--he was very
+  mysterious and hadn't a word to say! Surely he wasn't joy-riding
+  over here by himself? Remember me to every one.--Yours, R. F.
+  ASHTON."
+
+And not one word about Esther! Not a single mention of the girl who
+was thinking of him night and day, and only living to see him again.
+
+Micky crushed the letter and tossed it into the fire. That settled it,
+he told himself; he no longer had the slightest compunction in cutting
+Ashton out; the fellow was not worth a moment's consideration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Esther trudged to and fro from the agency where the stiff and stately
+lady presided so many times during the next few days that she began to
+hate the sight of the tall building and the dark stairs covered with
+worn linoleum.
+
+Every day the waiting-room seemed crowded with girls, many of whom
+were a great deal more shabby and hopeless looking than she was, and
+they all sat patiently on the wooden chairs and eyed one another with
+a sort of jealous suspicion till their turn came to pass within the
+magic portal which guarded the stiff and stately lady from the vulgar
+gaze.
+
+"I told you an agency wouldn't be any good," June Mason said when
+Esther came home after another fruitless journey. "They take your
+money and forget you till you turn up to remind them that you're still
+in existence. Give it up, my dear, and come into partnership with me.
+I should love to take you round to all the big stores and tell them
+that you owe your milk and rose complexion to my famous cream." She
+burst out laughing. "Can't you imagine it! Esther, you and I ought to
+tour the country in a caravan or something. Call ourselves the new
+Sequah." She rolled over in the big chair and hid her face in the
+cushions.
+
+Esther laughed; she felt quite at home now in June's room. There were
+a few of her own possessions lying about, and she had bought Charlie a
+new cushion of his own. It gave her a sense of independence to know
+that she was paying her share of everything.
+
+"I shall get something if I wait long enough," Esther said presently.
+"Do you know, I rather think I should like to be a companion, after
+all. I told Mr.----" She stopped; she had been about to add that she
+had once told Micky how she would hate it.
+
+"It might not be so bad," June admitted; "but you want some one with
+pots of money and a good temper."
+
+She looked at Esther consideringly.
+
+"There wouldn't have to be any eligible sons either," she said
+bluntly. "You're much too pretty----"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"What nonsense!"
+
+June dragged Esther to her feet and made her look in the glass.
+
+"Now dare to call it nonsense--look at yourself," she commanded.
+
+But Esther only looked at June.
+
+"Next to you," she began, but June cut her short.
+
+"If you're going to try blatant flattery," she said.
+
+They both laughed at that.
+
+Some one tapped at the door; Lydia, the smiling housemaid, appeared;
+she looked at the two girls with a sort of parental expression; she
+was very fond of them both, and never minded how late or how hard she
+worked to do little extra jobs for either of them. It was her greatest
+pride to stay in when her "evening out" came and help June label the
+little mauve pots; she recommended the famous cream to all her
+friends; she was as proud of it as if it were her own invention.
+
+She carried a note on a tray now, which she handed to Esther.
+
+"I found it on the hall table, Miss," she said. "It must have been
+left by messenger."
+
+She waited a moment to make up the fire and tidy the hearth; she was
+always glad of an excuse to stay in the room; she was never tired of
+telling her friends what a pretty room it was--she loved the mauve
+cushions and the many photographs.
+
+She went away with a reluctant backward look. June yawned.
+
+"Another love-letter?" she asked chaffingly. She looked across at
+Esther, and was surprised to see the embarrassment in the girl's
+face.
+
+"It's from Mr. Harley," she said, in distress. "Oh, I'm sure I've
+never let him think I----" She handed the letter to June. "He wants me
+to go to a theatre with him," she added in confusion.
+
+"Well, I should go," said June promptly. "You don't get much fun, and
+the man knows you're engaged, and if he likes to chance it----"
+
+"But how does he know I'm engaged? I've never told him."
+
+"I did," June said calmly. "I saw the way the wind was blowing and
+told him to save complications." She made a little grimace at Esther.
+"And after this note are you still going to declare that he isn't more
+than ordinarily interested? Esther, you're the most unsuspecting
+baby---- Say you'll go, of course. There's no harm in it."
+
+"I certainly shall not go," Esther said; "I don't want to, for one
+thing, and, for another, it would not be fair----"
+
+"You mean to Mr. Harley?" June asked.
+
+"Yes, and to----"
+
+"To the phantom lover! Oh, I see!" said June drily.
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"I don't know what you mean," she said with a touch of dignity.
+
+"Oh yes, you do," June declared. "Don't look so angry! What am I to
+call him, pray? You haven't told me his name." She waited, but Esther
+did not speak. "Of course, if you'd rather not," she added, rather
+stiffly.
+
+Esther got up and came over to sit on the arm of her chair.
+
+"It isn't that I don't want you to know, but--well, I promised him not
+to tell any one; you see, his people would be furious if they knew.
+After all, I suppose I'm not anybody, and----"
+
+June pushed her away.
+
+"Oh, you make me tired!" she said crossly. "Why will you insist on
+belittling yourself? Who on earth is this wonderful man that he sets
+himself up for such a model of superiority? He can't be anybody if
+he's ashamed of you. You don't like Micky, I know, but, with all his
+money and position, if he loved you he'd be only too proud to shout it
+from the housetops, and not care a hang what the world thought.
+There's no rotten pride about Micky--if he loved a beggar girl he'd be
+proud of it.... No, don't say any more, it makes me boil!"
+
+She lit another cigarette and puffed at it furiously.
+
+"Do you--do you think I should go with Mr. Harley, then?" Esther asked
+presently. Her pretty face was flushed and troubled.
+
+"No, I don't," said June emphatically. "I think you ought to please
+yourself. I don't want to advise you, but it does seem to me that
+you're throwing away any chance of real happiness for a--for a, what
+do they call it?--something beginning with a 'c'...."
+
+"Chimera," said Esther. She sat with downcast eyes for a moment, then
+suddenly she began to cry. Perhaps in her heart she felt in some
+mysterious way that June was right, that this girl, with her odd
+instinct, had put her hand right on the heart of things, and that her
+happiness did not really lie with Raymond Ashton.
+
+And yet she loved him. Night and day he was never out of her thoughts.
+She slept with his letters under her pillow. Since he went away he had
+done much to blot out all that had gone before. And yet sometimes the
+memory of that past unhappiness, of its disagreements and quarrels and
+petty unkindnesses would raise its ugly head and look at her with a
+sort of leer as if daring her to forget entirely.
+
+June was all remorse in a moment.
+
+"I'm a pig!" she said disgustedly. "I ought to be kicked. Why do you
+let me talk so much? It's awful cheek of me to dare to criticise you.
+I'll never do it again. He may be an angel for all I know. Esther, if
+you don't stop crying I shall cry too, and then there'll be a nice
+sort of noise."
+
+Esther dried her eyes and laughed shakily.
+
+"I'm silly; I don't know why I cried. There's nothing to cry for," she
+protested.
+
+"That's why women always cry," said June hardily.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Esther climbed the stairs of the agency again the following morning.
+There was a little feeling of despondency in her heart. She had slept
+badly, and she had not been able to forget what June had said about
+Ashton.
+
+Esther was influenced by June's "instincts," as she chose to call
+them; she knew it was foolish, but the fact remained all the same.
+
+When she opened the waiting-room door she felt half inclined to turn
+and go away again. She would only meet with the same answer: "Nothing
+that will suit you to-day, Miss Shepstone."
+
+But for a wonder the room was almost empty, and the tall and stately
+one was standing at the communicating door.
+
+When she saw Esther she came forward.
+
+"I was hoping you would call, Miss Shepstone. Will you come into my
+room?"
+
+Esther's heart leapt. She obeyed eagerly.
+
+A lady was sitting at the table looking rather bored and irritated.
+
+She was grey-haired and handsome, and most beautifully dressed. She
+turned slightly when Esther entered, and stared at her through her
+lorgnette, then she looked at the stiff and stately one.
+
+"Is this--er--the young lady?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, madam--this is Miss Shepstone." The stately one introduced
+Esther with a wave of her hand. "This lady, Miss Shepstone, is looking
+for a companion. Some one who can work well--and read aloud." She
+looked at Esther sharply. "Can you read aloud?" she asked.
+
+Esther stammered out that she supposed she could, but ...
+
+"That is a minor detail," the lady with the lorgnette interrupted.
+"Miss Shepstone, I am not wanting a companion in the ordinary sense of
+the word. That is to say, I do not want you to be constantly with me.
+You will have your own bedroom and sitting-room--and I shall only want
+you at certain hours of the day. You will write letters for me and
+make yourself generally useful." She paused, she searched the girl's
+eager face through her glasses.
+
+"How old are you?" she asked.
+
+"Twenty-four," said Esther.
+
+"Humph! And what have you done up till now?"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I was in the workroom at Eldred's. The manager has promised to give
+me a reference, but----"
+
+"Eldred's!" the sharp gaze wavered a little. "And why did you leave
+there, may I ask?"
+
+"I left to get married, but----"
+
+"But you are not married, of course."
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor going to be?"
+
+"Not for the present, but----"
+
+She was cut short again.
+
+"I don't want to get used to you and to get you used to my ways and
+then for you to leave me," she was told. "And I don't want a young man
+constantly dangling round the house." Her voice was sharp, but not
+unkind, and there was a smile in the keen eyes.
+
+"No," said Esther. "I quite understand."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Well," said the owner of the lorgnette then, "what do you think about
+it? Do you think you would like to come? Do you think you would like
+me?"
+
+Esther smiled, there was something in this blunt questioning that
+reminded her of June Mason.
+
+"Yes," she said. "I think I should, but----"
+
+"I hate that word," she was told promptly. "I don't want any 'buts' in
+the question. You either wish to come or you do not. I will give you
+fifty pounds a year, and your keep, of course. It's too much for an
+inexperienced girl like you, but I think I shall rather like you.
+Well, what do you say?"
+
+Esther did not know what to say. The offer was tempting enough, but
+she thought of June Mason and the room with the mauve cushions where
+she was settling down so happily, and her heart sank.
+
+"I should like to think it over," she said, stammering. "I have a
+friend I should like to talk it over with if you don't mind. If you
+will give me just a day or two...."
+
+"Take a week by all means. I am going away myself for a few days, and
+I shan't want you till I come back. Write and tell me what you decide
+to do. Here is my card...." She took one from a heavy silver case and
+laid it on the table. She looked at Esther quizzically, then suddenly
+she held out her hand.
+
+"Good-bye, Miss Shepstone. I hope I shall see you again," and the next
+moment she had gone.
+
+The stiff and stately owner of the agency was smiling, well pleased.
+
+"You are most fortunate, Miss Shepstone," she said. "You have secured
+one of the best posts I have on my books. If you take my advice you
+will not hesitate. Make up your mind at once."
+
+Esther did not answer. She took up the card from the table, then she
+drew in her breath with a hard sound, for the name printed there was
+Mrs. Raymond Ashton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Esther never knew how she got out into the street. She walked along
+like some one in a dream; her cheeks were burning hot.
+
+Mrs. Raymond Ashton! Raymond's mother! The woman of whom he had spoken
+so often and so bitterly. The woman who had raised such a fierce
+objection to her marriage with Raymond.
+
+There was not much resemblance between mother and son; they were both
+handsome, but there was a sort of humour in Mrs. Ashton's face which
+Raymond's lacked. Esther tried vainly to find some likeness between
+them.
+
+She realised how different this woman was to what she had pictured
+her, remembered that spontaneously offered hand. Had Mrs. Ashton known
+who she was? Oh, surely not, or she would never have appeared so
+anxious to engage her.
+
+How angry Raymond would be. Angry that the woman he loved was to go to
+his mother as a paid companion. Esther could not help smiling. For her
+own sake she would not mind it. At least she would be with his mother
+and in his home; but, of course, the thing was impossible--such a
+situation would not be tolerable. She would have to write and refuse.
+
+"Good afternoon!" said a voice, and, turning hurriedly, Esther found
+Micky Mellowes beside her.
+
+He looked as if he were not quite sure of his reception; but to-day
+Esther had other thoughts to occupy her which were more interesting
+than he was--and the smile she gave him was almost friendly.
+
+"Good afternoon! Isn't it cold?"
+
+"Very.... Where are you hurrying off to?"
+
+He tried to speak casually, but his heart was beating uncomfortably.
+
+"I'm just going back home," Esther said. "I've been to an agency
+looking for a berth."
+
+"A berth!" A frown came between his eyes. "What sort of a berth?" he
+asked quickly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Well, I'm think of taking your advice--and going as companion to an
+old lady--not that she's very old," she added doubtfully, with sudden
+memory of Raymond's mother.
+
+"You mean that you have decided?"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Well, I have the refusal of it." She looked at him with defiant eyes.
+"I am only just hesitating--I want to talk to Miss Mason about it--she
+is much more worldly wise than I am."
+
+"June is a very sensible woman," he said. "I am glad you like her." He
+hesitated. "And the--er--post?" he asked with an effort. "Will it be
+in town?"
+
+"Oh yes."
+
+She was obviously not going to tell him any more, but Micky
+persevered.
+
+"I wonder if it is likely to be any one I know. I have quite an
+extensive acquaintance in London."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. "But I don't suppose you will know these people,
+anyway," she added with an unconscious touch of loftiness in her
+voice. "The name is Ashton--Mrs. Raymond Ashton."
+
+There was the barest possible silence before Micky answered, a silence
+during which the blank dismay and anger that crossed his face would
+have been amusing had it not also had something of pathos in it.
+
+"Ashton?" he said. "Oh, yes, I know Raymond Ashton very well." He was
+watching her with jealous eyes, and she turned her head sharply and
+looked up at him.
+
+Just for a moment a traitorous eagerness crossed her face; he could
+almost see the quick question on her lips, then she laughed.
+
+"Really! How funny! But, of course, as you say, you must know a great
+many people."
+
+"I have known the Ashtons for years. You will like Mrs. Ashton."
+
+There was a sort of quiet insinuation in the words, and Esther bit her
+lip.
+
+"And--the son?" she asked. "I think you said you knew the son."
+
+"Yes, I know him--he is in Paris, I believe."
+
+Micky was conscious of a queer tightening about his throat; it was a
+tremendous effort to force himself to speak lightly.
+
+"And shall I like him as well, do you think?" Esther asked deliberately.
+
+Micky did not answer.
+
+"Do you like him?" she persisted.
+
+Micky's restraint broke its bonds; if he had died for it he could not
+have checked the words that rushed to his lips.
+
+"I detest the fellow!" he said. "He's a beastly outsider!"
+
+He dared not look at her. He held his breath, waiting for the storm to
+break, but if he had lost his self-control she kept hers admirably.
+
+"Really," she said. Her voice was a little breathless, but quite calm.
+"What does a man mean when he calls another man--such a name?"
+
+Her face was quite colourless, even to the lips, and her hands were
+clenched in the shabbiness of the cheap little muff she carried.
+
+He blunderingly tried to make amends.
+
+"I ought not to have said that, just because he's not the sort of man
+I care about," he said stammeringly. "He's quite all right--it all
+depends from what point of view you regard him. I hope you will forget
+that I said that, Miss Shepstone. It--it was unpardonable."
+
+"It's a matter of complete indifference to me what you say about--Mr.
+Ashton," she told him.
+
+She stopped. They had been walking along together.
+
+"Which way are you going?" she asked.
+
+Micky flushed up to his eyes; he knew this was a dismissal.
+
+"I was coming along to see June," he said. "I hoped you would allow me
+to walk along with you--if I am not intruding."
+
+Esther forced a smile, but her lips felt stiff.
+
+"Oh, but I am not going back," she said. Her voice sounded as if it
+were cut in ice. "So I won't detain you. Good-bye."
+
+She turned and left him, walking quickly away again in the direction
+from which she had just come.
+
+Her eyes were smarting with tears that had to be restrained.
+
+"How dare he--oh, how dare he?" she asked herself passionately. "What
+does he know about Raymond?"
+
+She could not trust herself to go back home. She walked about in the
+cold till she was tired out. She wanted to be sure that Micky would
+have left Elphinstone Road before she got there. She wondered if June
+knew the Ashtons too. She probably did, as Micky Mellowes knew them.
+They were both of Raymond's own world, these two. It was only she, who
+loved him best, who was outside the magic circle of his friends.
+
+It was nearly supper time when she got in. She paused for a moment in
+the hall and looked anxiously at the rows of coats and hats hanging
+there. She thought she would know Micky's if she saw them there. She
+forgot that he might have taken them up to June's room. She turned
+away with a little sigh.
+
+At the foot of the stairs she met young Harley. He coloured
+sensitively when he saw her and stood aside for her to pass.
+
+Esther flushed too. She wondered what he thought of her note refusing
+the theatre. With sudden impulse she spoke--
+
+"I hope you are not angry with me, Mr. Harley, but--but perhaps you do
+not know that I am engaged to be married, and so ... so I don't think
+I should accept invitations from any one else, though--though it was
+kind of you to ask me," she added.
+
+"I should have been delighted if you could have come," he said. "But,
+of course, if your fiancé would not care about it----" He broke off as
+if there was nothing more to be said.
+
+Esther wondered if Raymond really would mind; at first he had been
+very jealous, and could not bear her to speak to another man, but
+latterly--she hated it, because she could not forget that once he had
+told her she could marry a man with money if she only played her cards
+carefully--the man who had said that seemed a different personality
+altogether from the man whose letters she had only lived for during
+the last fortnight.
+
+Was she mean and unforgiving that she continually found herself
+remembering the quarrels and scenes they had had? She wanted so
+earnestly to forget them; she went up to June's room with dragging
+steps.
+
+The door of the room opened before she reached the landing, and June
+came out.
+
+"I knew it was you," she said. "Poor soul! how tired you sound.
+Another day of miserable failure, I suppose. Never mind, come and sit
+down in the warm, and you'll soon forget it."
+
+Esther laughed rather shamefacedly.
+
+"It's been a day of success, strange to relate," she said. "But I'm
+tired, dead tired--I must have walked miles." She suddenly remembered
+Micky; she looked round with--a quick suspicion. "Have you been alone
+all the afternoon?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, quite alone," June laughed. "Who did you expect to find here,
+pray?" she demanded.
+
+"Nobody--I only wondered if you had had any visitors."
+
+"I might have known it wasn't the truth that he was coming here," she
+told herself vexedly.
+
+"Well, and what about the success?" June asked; she was sitting on the
+hearthrug stroking Charlie. "You don't mean to say that the old dear
+at the agency really had something to offer you this time?"
+
+Esther nodded.
+
+"Yes, and she's desperately anxious for me to take it, too. It's quite
+a good offer, but it means leaving here and living in; and I don't
+believe I want to leave here," she added ruefully.
+
+June looked dismayed.
+
+"I shan't let you go," she said promptly. "Just as we are settling
+down so cosily." She put her white hands over her ears. "No, I don't
+want to hear another thing about it, if that's it," she said. "I
+shan't listen--write and refuse it--write and refuse it at once."
+
+Esther laughed; she pulled June's hands down and held them firmly.
+
+"Tell me," she said. "Do you know any people named Ashton?"
+
+She was longing to find out if June did know them; it seemed such a
+lifetime since she had seen Raymond or spoken to him, she was hungry
+to hear him spoken of, even if only by this woman who probably had
+merely known him as an ordinary acquaintance.
+
+"Ashton!" June wrinkled up her nose. "I know some Ashtons who live in
+Brayanstone Square," she said at last. "A mother and son. A very
+handsome woman she is, with white hair, she has a sort of grande dame
+look about her--the sort of woman you can imagine in a powdered wig
+and a crinoline, curtsying to the queen." She scrambled up, and,
+snatching a paper fan from the shelf, swept Esther a graceful curtsy
+to illustrate her meaning.
+
+But Esther was too much in earnest to be amused.
+
+"It must be the same Mrs. Ashton," she said eagerly. "This is her
+card--she gave it to me to-day--Mrs. Raymond Ashton."
+
+June glanced at the card and nodded briskly.
+
+"Yes, it's the same. I don't know her frightfully well; she's rather
+reserved, too; but I admire her immensely--well, go on."
+
+"She wants me to go to her as a sort of companion--she has offered me
+fifty pounds a year."
+
+June whistled.
+
+"Not bad, is it? But you'll refuse, of course?"
+
+"I asked her to let me think it over; I said I should like to talk it
+over with you first."
+
+June clasped her hands round her knees and stared into the fire
+thoughtfully.
+
+"She's a widow, isn't she?" Esther said hesitatingly. "At least--she
+didn't say anything about a husband."
+
+"Yes, she's a widow right enough," June said. "And delighted to be, I
+should think," she added bluntly. "I never knew the departed spouse,
+but from all accounts he was a perfect terror."
+
+Esther said nothing. Raymond had always spoken of his father as being
+a "rare old sport."
+
+After a moment--
+
+"There's a son, too," June said. "A kind of Adonis to look at,
+beautiful eyes and all that sort of thing."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. She tried hard to keep the eagerness from her
+voice. "Do you--do you know the son too?" she asked nervously.
+
+June gave a queer little laugh.
+
+"Oh yes, I know him. That is to say, I say 'How d'ye do' to him when I
+have the misfortune to meet him, but----"
+
+Esther's hands were clasped in her lap.
+
+"Why--why--misfortune?" she asked.
+
+June Mason shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Oh, I don't know--it's hard to explain--he's never done me any harm,
+but there are some people one hates by instinct, and Raymond Ashton is
+one of the people I hate." She smoothed a crease in the skirt of her
+frock. "He's such a--such an awful outsider," she added, unconsciously
+choosing the word Micky Mellowes had used a few hours before.
+
+Esther sat very still. Twice she tried to speak, but no words would
+come. She knew that it was unfair to June to sit there and allow her
+to go on talking about Raymond, but something in her heart seemed to
+have set a seal on her lips.
+
+"He's that insufferable kind of creature who thinks himself
+irresistible," June went on. "Micky has often told me the way he brags
+about his so-called 'conquests.' Conquests, indeed! What are they but
+a few poor ignorant girls hoodwinked by his handsome face and smooth
+tongue? Dozens of girls he's had, my dear, literally dozens! Only the
+other day some one told me that Mrs. Ashton had to threaten to cut him
+off with a shilling if he didn't give up some little person he was
+supposed to be going to marry! I don't know how true it is, mind you,
+but that's the sort of man he is--I've no time for him at all," she
+finished vigorously.
+
+She turned to look at Esther, and gave a little exclamation of alarm.
+"How pale you are! Don't you feel well?"
+
+"I'm quite all right--I'm just tired--I don't think I'll go down to
+supper to-night. I'll just stay here and be quiet. I wanted to hear
+what you had to say about my future employer."
+
+"Future fiddlesticks!" June retorted. "You're not going to her, my
+dear; I shan't let you. If Raymond came home while you were there,
+you'd never have any peace."
+
+Esther was lying back now with closed eyes. Over and over again in her
+mind she was saying to herself--
+
+"I don't believe it--I don't believe a word of it; it's all cruel
+lies--first Mr. Mellowes and now June. They both hate him, that's what
+it is; but I don't believe a word of what they say." June was bustling
+about the room fetching cushions and a light rug which she had laid
+over Esther.
+
+"You have a little sleep, and you'll feel heaps better," she said.
+
+She went away, shutting the door quietly; and Esther hid her face in
+her hands.
+
+She hardly knew why she was crying, she only knew that she was utterly
+miserable.
+
+She took Ashton's last letter from her dress and read it through
+again--how could any one, reading it, doubt that he loved her? How
+could any one, knowing his careful thought for her, believe that he
+was the detestable personality June and Micky had described?
+
+She kissed the signature passionately. Nobody in all the world counted
+but this one man.
+
+She got up and went over to June's desk, which both girls used; she
+felt that she must write to him and tell him how much she wanted him.
+
+When she had finished writing she looked to the head of the paper on
+which she had written for the address, and then she saw a postscript
+scribbled in a corner which she had not noticed before.
+
+  "Don't write to me here--I shall have left this hotel by the time
+  you get my letter. I will write again as soon as possible."
+
+It was like a door with iron bars being closed in her face; she could
+not write after all! She could have no relief for all her longing and
+unhappiness; she must just wait and wait, eating her very soul out,
+till he wrote again.
+
+She tore up what she had written and threw it into the fire.
+
+"The phantom lover"--June's half playful, half mocking words came back
+to her with foreboding. Was he indeed only a phantom lover? Just a
+creation of her own brain and desire? She tried to thrust the thought
+from her; she was tired and fanciful; in the morning she would be all
+right; it was not fair to him, it was not fair to herself to be so
+doubting. She went back to June's couch and curled up amongst the
+mauve pillows; life was so hard, so disappointing; it gave so little
+of all that one desired; the tears fell again, presently she cried
+herself to sleep.
+
+June came back on tiptoe; she stole across the room and looked at
+Esther, then she went back to the hearthrug to keep Charlie company.
+
+The fire had died down and she replenished it as quietly as she could,
+putting a knob on at a time with her fingers.
+
+As she leaned over to poke them softly together she caught sight of a
+scrap of paper lying in the grate. It looked like part of a torn
+letter, and without thinking June picked it up--the one word "dearest"
+stared up at her in Esther's writing.
+
+June looked at it for a long moment, then she turned her head and
+glanced at Esther, still sleeping.
+
+June frowned; she hunched her shoulders impatiently.
+
+"More phantom lover, I suppose," she told herself crossly; she threw
+the little scrap of paper into the fire and watched it burn with a
+sort of vixenish delight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+"I've decided to accept Mrs. Ashton's offer," said Esther suddenly.
+
+It was the following afternoon, and she had been helping June paste
+labels on to the little mauve pots. She looked up as she spoke, with
+the paste brush still in her hand and her fingers all sticky.
+
+"Did you hear what I said?" she demanded guiltily.
+
+"Yes, I heard," June said rather tartly. "And I think you're a mean
+pig. However, go on! Have your own way! Don't mind me."
+
+"It isn't that at all," Esther declared. "But I must do something--I've
+been idle quite long enough. I shall be sorry to leave you, but I shall
+still pay for my half of the room."
+
+"Thank you--thank you very much," said June drily. Esther flushed in
+distress.
+
+"Don't be so unkind! It's not that I want to leave you. I've been
+happier here with you than anywhere else, but I must work, I can't
+live on nothing...."
+
+"You could live on three pounds a week if you wished to. What do you
+suppose the phantom lover will say if he knows that his money hasn't
+helped you, and that you're going to make a drudge of yourself?"
+
+"I shan't be a drudge--I----"
+
+June broke in impatiently.
+
+"Oh, very well--I don't want to argue, but I think it's mean of you.
+If you really liked me you'd stay...."
+
+"I shall come to see you whenever I get any time off."
+
+"Yes, once a week for two hours, I suppose--and when I shall probably
+be out."
+
+"I shall write first and let you know when I'm coming."
+
+June took no notice; she screwed the lid on to a perfume bottle and
+wiped her fingers on the white overall.
+
+"You needn't put any more labels on," she said shortly. "I can do the
+rest myself."
+
+She took the tray away from Esther and carried it into her bedroom;
+when she came back there was a suspicion of tears in her eyes. Esther
+looked distressed. She felt that she was behaving meanly, and yet she
+meant to go to Mrs. Ashton's.
+
+"Micky Mellowes is coming directly," June said tartly. "If you don't
+want to see him you'd better go. I know you hate him...."
+
+Esther turned scarlet. She took off the apron she had borrowed from
+June and turned to the door.
+
+Before she reached it June followed.
+
+"I'm a pig. I apologise humbly! Please stay. Why don't you box my ears
+when I speak to you like this?" She dragged Esther back to the fire.
+"I'm wild because you've made up your mind to leave me. Our friendship
+doesn't mean anything to you.... There's Micky--he'll want to know why
+I've been crying. Amuse him for five minutes, there's an angel, and
+I'll come back."
+
+She was gone in a flash.
+
+A smiling Lydia showed Micky into the room. Lydia liked Micky; he was
+always courteous, and he had been generous with his tips on each
+occasion that he had visited the house.
+
+Micky looked a little embarrassed when he saw Esther. He glanced
+quickly round the room. "June ... I----"
+
+"She's coming in a moment," Esther explained. "Won't you sit down?"
+
+Micky sat on the arm of the big chair; he was cold; he leaned forward,
+rubbing his hands vigorously. Esther watched him critically.
+
+She had told June that she did not consider him in the least
+good-looking, but now the thought crossed her mind that this had not
+been quite a fair thing.
+
+He was tall and well made, and he had brown hair that grew well about
+his temples, and waved slightly where it parted.
+
+His nose was nothing particular and slightly crooked, and his eyes
+were nondescript in colour, but kind ... so kind! Esther remembered it
+was the first thing she had noticed about him the night they met.
+
+He looked up.
+
+"Well," he said, "have you found another berth yet?"
+
+"I'm going to Mrs. Ashton's," Esther said.
+
+She was amazed at the sudden change in his face; a look of furious
+anger flashed into his eyes; he rose to his feet.
+
+"You're not serious?" he said quietly.
+
+Esther laughed; she felt painfully nervous without knowing why.
+
+"Serious? Indeed I am!" she answered. "Mr. Mellowes, what are you
+doing?..."
+
+Micky had caught her hands. Jealousy was driving him with whips of
+fire--jealousy of this phantom lover, whom he himself had created.
+
+"You're not to go," he said hoarsely. "I--I--I can't bear to think of
+you having to work for your living. There's no need--it's all
+nonsense. You'd hate being at the Ashtons.... Esther----"
+
+She wrenched herself free; she was white to the lips.
+
+"You must be mad!" she said. "How dare you speak like this? What is it
+to you what I do? How dare you try to interfere? What business is it
+of yours?"
+
+Micky laughed shakily; he had recovered himself a little now.
+
+"It's everything to me," he said rather hoarsely. "You must know that
+it is. Esther, will you marry me?"
+
+If only premeditated proposals were made, there would be few marriages
+in the world. Ten minutes ago, when Micky Mellowes walked into the
+room, he had no intention of asking Esther to marry him, but now it
+seemed as if he had come for that express purpose as he stood there,
+grimly obstinate.
+
+There was a moment of silence; then Esther drew herself up.
+
+"I think you must be mad," she said. "I've only seen you once or twice
+in my life. I have told you that I am already engaged."
+
+"I know, but it makes no difference," said Micky. "I ask you to marry
+me--will you marry me?"
+
+She drew back from him.
+
+"You must be mad."
+
+Micky laughed. "You've said that two or three times already, but I
+assure you that I'm quite sane. I loved you the first moment I ever
+saw you, but, of course, you won't believe it. However, that doesn't
+matter--you haven't answered my question. Will you marry me?"
+
+"You know I am engaged--how dare you?..." She backed away from him
+till she was close to the door. Micky laughed savagely.
+
+"You needn't be afraid--I'm not going to hurt you--I'm not going to
+move from this hearthrug, but I should like you to answer my question.
+Once again, will you marry me?"
+
+"No----"
+
+He forgot his promise and took a step towards her.
+
+"I can make you happier than any other man possibly could. I've never
+cared for a woman in my life till I met you...."
+
+"I wouldn't marry you if you were the only man in the world--I--I
+don't even like you...." Her voice shook with anger now. "My answer is
+no--no--no! I shall never change my mind if I live to be a hundred
+..." she added vehemently. The words seemed forced from her by
+something in his eyes.
+
+"You will," said Micky calmly, though he felt anything but calm.
+"Women always do; but if you don't feel like changing it just at this
+moment, will you please tell June I am here? I came to see her, and
+I'm tired of waiting...." He turned away and went back to his seat on
+the arm of the big chair as if nothing had happened, but his hand
+shook when he tried to light a cigarette.
+
+When June came back he was absently turning the pages of a magazine;
+she looked at him for a moment, then began to laugh.
+
+"Micky! What in the world has happened to you lately? Do you always
+read a paper upside down?"
+
+Micky started, looked down at the magazine, and said a bad word; then
+he laughed too, and flinging the magazine across the room got to his
+feet, stretching his long arms.
+
+"Where's Esther?" June demanded. "I asked her to stay and amuse you
+till I came back...."
+
+"She did her best," said Micky drily. "But I am afraid I bored her."
+
+June looked annoyed.
+
+"I do think you two might try and like one another, if only for my
+sake," she said. "It's so perfectly obvious that you hate one another,
+and I cannot see why for the life of me."
+
+"One of your instinctive hates, perhaps," Micky submitted, with a
+touch of irony. He went back to the chair.
+
+"Miss Shepstone tells me she has found a berth," he said, after a
+moment. June nodded.
+
+"Yes. Did she tell you with whom?"
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Ashton."
+
+Something in the tone of his voice made June look up quickly.
+
+"Well?" she said.
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Nothing--I dared to suggest that perhaps she would not like the
+place, and she flew at me."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"That's just like Esther; she asks for your advice, and then----"
+
+"She didn't ask for mine," Micky cut in. "I very kindly volunteered
+the information."
+
+"Oh!" June was on her knees now toasting buns.
+
+"They're stale," she informed Micky candidly. "But you won't know it
+when they're toasted."
+
+Micky watched in silence. He was wondering if June had heard anything
+of his conversation with Esther; they had both spoken rather loudly.
+He was also wondering whether he should tell June the whole story.
+
+"You must make allowances for her," June said briskly, as he was still
+hesitating. "I know she's worried about this man. I discovered another
+thing this morning, Micky"--she turned with a sudden jerk to look at
+him, and the bun fell off the fork into the fire.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Well, what have you discovered now?" he inquired.
+
+"Why, that she can't write to him--he doesn't give her an address--or,
+if he does, he takes good care to move on before she has time to
+answer his letters. It looks to me, Micky, as if that young man is
+shirking his responsibilities. If you ask my candid opinion, Esther
+won't ever see him again."
+
+Micky said "Rot!" rather uncomfortably. "If the fellow is
+travelling--moving about...."
+
+"He could give her an address and have the letters sent on, couldn't
+he?" June demanded.
+
+Micky rubbed his chin.
+
+"What's she want to write to him for?" he asked presently.
+
+June swung round, and a second bun almost shared the fate of the
+first, but she grabbed it back in time.
+
+"What does she want to write to him for?" she echoed with scorn. "My
+poor child, what does any one want to write to any one for? She's in
+love with the man, and when you're in love you simply have to write it
+down--at least, that's what I understand from people with wide
+experience. Esther's bursting to write and tell the phantom lover how
+much she loves him and what a wonderful man he is; as a matter of fact
+she does write to him, and tears the letters up again, and that's no
+satisfaction. I wish to goodness he'd get run over and done with," she
+added exasperatedly.
+
+"I don't suppose she wishes it," said Micky.
+
+"That's because she doesn't know what's good for her; he was probably
+the first man who had ever paid her any attention, and from what she
+says he's a bit of a swell, and I suppose she was flattered...."
+
+"Rot!" said Micky violently; it made him boil to hear June say things
+like this. Ashton superior to Esther? It was like the man's confounded
+impudence to even think such a thing.
+
+"Not such rot," June said wisely. "And that's what all the trouble is
+about, or my name's not what it is. He has a stuck-up old cat of a
+mother who won't condescend to know Esther.... What did you say?"
+
+"Nothing," said Micky. He got up and began strolling about the room
+with his hands in his pockets, and June finished toasting her buns and
+made the tea.
+
+"I'll just go up and tell Esther," she said. She went out of the room
+and upstairs.
+
+"Tea," she announced cheerfully, knocking at Esther's door; she turned
+the handle and went in. Esther was standing by the window looking out
+into the neglected garden at the back of the house; she turned.
+
+"I'm not really hungry, and if you'd like to have Mr. Mellowes to
+yourself----" she began.
+
+June stared at her.
+
+"My dear," she said then drily, "if I'd wanted to have Mr. Mellowes to
+myself I should have married him long ago; so don't pretend you're not
+dying for one of the stale but toasted buns."
+
+She linked her arm in Esther's, and they went downstairs together.
+Esther did not want to come, but it seemed easier to give way than to
+make excuses. She took the chair which Micky brought forward; she felt
+a little nervous and ill at ease. Once, when their eyes met, she found
+herself colouring sensitively.
+
+Micky let her alone in a marked fashion and talked to June. He had
+found the man he had been looking for for months, he declared, a good
+business man, honest----
+
+"Really honest, Micky?" June asked, laughing.
+
+"Really honest," Micky maintained. "Do you think I'd put you on to him
+else? I've told him all about you. I went out to lunch with him
+yesterday and we talked face creams and vanities till my head reeled.
+He's full of ideas, bursting with fresh notions for advertising. He
+didn't say so in actual words, but he thinks you'll be a little gold
+mine if you'll put yourself in his hands."
+
+June's eyes sparkled; she jumped up from her chair, put her arms
+around Micky's neck, and gave him a sounding kiss.
+
+"You're a dear," she said, "and I just love you!"
+
+Esther glanced up quickly. June need not have done that, she thought
+with a touch of irritation, but Micky only laughed.
+
+"Come here and you shall have that back with compound interest," he
+said, but June shook her head.
+
+"That's enough for to-day, and Esther's looking shocked to death."
+
+"I'm not--I never thought about it," Esther protested indignantly.
+June laughed.
+
+"Well, you looked angry anyway," she declared. "Didn't she, Micky?"
+
+"I'm afraid I didn't notice," he answered coolly, but he had, and for
+a moment his pulses had leapt at sight of the anger in Esther's eyes;
+she could not surely hate him as much as she pretended if it annoyed
+her that June should kiss him.
+
+But she was indifferent enough now at all events; she was leaning
+back listlessly, her eyes fixed on the flames, her face sad and
+thoughtful.
+
+She was thinking about Ashton, Micky told himself savagely, wishing he
+were here, no doubt--Ashton, who even at that moment was probably
+running round Paris with Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+June was packing the tea things on to the tray and humming a snatch of
+song. Esther rose.
+
+"Let me do that--you cleared away yesterday."
+
+She took the tray.
+
+June asked Micky for a cigarette.
+
+"I've got heaps somewhere," she said vaguely. "But I never know where
+they are." She looked over to Esther. "Don't bother to put the cups
+away now," she said. "Come back and be cosy."
+
+She was rather surprised that Esther obeyed; she had quite expected
+her to go off and not return.
+
+Fond as she was of Esther, she could not quite make her out; she was
+full of surprises. It was getting dusk, and the room was full of
+shadows.
+
+"Shall I light up?" Micky asked. "Or do we like the firelight?"
+
+"We like the firelight," June said promptly; she nestled down amongst
+her mauve cushions.
+
+Micky was sitting straddle-ways across a chair between the two girls,
+and Esther had drawn back a little so that her face was in shadow.
+Micky glanced at her once, but could only see the glint of firelight
+on her hair and her hands clasped listlessly in the lap of her frock.
+He glanced at them; she still wore Ashton's ring, with its three
+inferior stones; he wondered how long the farce was going to be kept
+up and what would happen to bring it to an end.
+
+"If some one doesn't talk," June said drowsily, "I shall go to
+sleep."
+
+There was a quiet peacefulness in the cosy little room. Micky crossed
+his arms on the chair back and leaned his chin on them, staring into
+the fire, and Esther, from her place in the shadows, looked at him
+unobserved.
+
+Not in the least good-looking, she told herself again, and yet in
+common fairness she had to admit to herself that there was something
+about Micky Mellowes that was undeniably attractive.
+
+She liked the obstinacy of his chin--she liked the way his hair grew,
+and the shape of his hands--strong, manly hands they were, in spite of
+the fact that they had probably never done a day's useful work in
+their lives. Of course he was too well dressed. To begin with, there
+was no need to wear grey spats over his shoes, or to have his trousers
+so immaculately creased. She forgot that she had liked Ashton to
+indulge in both these weaknesses.
+
+Micky was whistling a snatch of a love-song under his breath. Esther
+did not know what it was; she had never heard the melody before, but
+something in the softly sentimental notes brought the tears to her
+eyes; before she was aware of it they were tumbling down fast.
+
+June sprang suddenly to her feet.
+
+"Why are we all mooning like this? Micky, give me a match." She almost
+snatched the box from him and lit the gas; the yellow flare flooded
+the room. Micky, glancing at Esther, saw the tears on her cheeks and
+the way she averted her head.
+
+He scowled and rose to his feet, standing so that his tall figure
+shielded her.
+
+"Well, I must be getting along," he said. He pulled out his watch and
+looked at it, but he never noticed what the time was.
+
+He was thinking of Esther and the tears he had surprised.
+
+"And when are you going to introduce me to this man who is to make my
+fortune?" June demanded crisply. She was standing on a footstool,
+trying to see herself in a glass above the mantelshelf.
+
+"Esther, you might have told me what a sight I look! My hair is all
+over the place."
+
+"I thought it looked nice," Esther said hurriedly. She knew Micky had
+seen her tears, and was silently hating him for it.
+
+Micky answered hesitatingly, "I'll let you know--I'll fix it up and
+let you know. There's no hurry, is there? I don't want him to think we
+are too keen."
+
+"But I am keen," June insisted. "Wouldn't you be keen if some one had
+told you you would be a gold mine, properly handled?" she laughed.
+"Oh, I forgot! money is no object to you. Well, bide your own time, my
+dear, but don't let it be too long.... Must you really go?"
+
+"I'm afraid so; and, June----"
+
+"Um!" said June, intent on another cigarette.
+
+Micky fidgeted. He looked down at the carpet.
+
+"If you don't hear anything of me for a few days you'll know I'm out
+of London...." He looked at Esther, but she was kneeling down by the
+fire stroking Charlie.
+
+"Out of London!" June said in surprise. "Where are you going?"
+
+Micky cleared his throat.
+
+"I thought of running over to Paris for a day or two," he said.
+
+"Paris!" They were both looking at him now. Micky was painfully aware
+of the eagerness in Esther's face.
+
+"Yes; I haven't been since September. Anything I can do for you while
+I'm there?"
+
+June raised her brows comically.
+
+"Not for me, but perhaps Esther ... Esther has a great friend over
+there, haven't you, my child?"
+
+Esther turned crimson from chin to brow.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes is not at all likely to meet any friend of mine," she
+said stiffly.
+
+Micky felt horribly sorry for her.
+
+"Don't be too sure, Miss Shepstone," he said lightly. "It's a small
+world, you know, and it's the most unexpected things that happen."
+
+But Esther seemed not to have heard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Micky went to Paris. "No, I shan't want you, Driver," he told his man
+awkwardly. "I'm only going for a day or two. I--er--I shan't want
+you," he said again lamely.
+
+He looked at the man guiltily, but Driver was as impassive as ever.
+"Very good, sir," he said. He could not understand what had happened
+to Micky; as a rule, he refused even to take his own railway ticket or
+speak to a porter. This new independence worried him.
+
+But Micky went off cheerfully enough. He rang June up at her club the
+morning he started and told her he was really going. He heard her
+cheery laugh across the telephone. "Micky, you're not up to any
+mischief?"
+
+"As if I should be!" he answered with dignity.
+
+"I wouldn't trust you," she said promptly. "However, have a good time,
+and if you see the phantom lover, you might push him into the Seine
+for me."
+
+"I'll remember," Micky said grimly. He hesitated. "Everything all
+right?" he asked.
+
+She echoed his words, not understanding. "Everything all right? Do you
+mean the swindle? Oh, yes, it's going fine, thank you. I had another
+order from those American export people this morning."
+
+"Good.... And--Miss Shepstone gone?"
+
+"No, she's going on Saturday. Sickening, isn't it?"
+
+"I don't think she'll stay long," Micky said soothingly. "It won't do
+her any harm to see how she likes it. Well, good-bye."
+
+He stood for a moment after he had hung up the receiver, staring at
+it. He wished he had not arranged to go to Paris. Supposing Ashton
+took it into his head to come back while he was away? Supposing he
+went home and found Esther there?
+
+He tried to believe that it was not at all likely, but at the last
+moment, as he got into the train and received his ticket from the
+solemn Driver, Micky said--
+
+"You know where to find me if anything happens--if anything should be
+the matter?"
+
+"Yes, sir." Driver raised wooden eyes to his master's face. "Was you
+expecting anything to happen, sir?" he asked stolidly.
+
+Micky got red. "No, you fool!"
+
+"Very good, sir," Driver retorted unmoved.
+
+And so Micky went to Paris. It was dark when he got there, and he
+drove at once to a small and unpretentious hotel in a narrow side
+street, where he had never been before, but of which he had heard from
+Philips.
+
+After all, it was only for a few nights. He did not want to stay in
+Paris long--Paris always bored him, but he made a little grimace as
+he looked up at the windows of the hotel. It certainly was a
+rotten-looking little show, he thought as he followed the concierge
+into the hall. This, too, was small and unpretentious, with a
+polished floor and wicker chairs scattered about. There was a kind of
+winter garden leading from the lounge, where a few neglected palms
+and ferns were struggling for an existence, and the whole place was
+silent, almost deserted.
+
+Micky was too late for dinner, but a smiling host, with a short dark
+beard, assured him that he could have a most excellent supper in less
+time than he would enumerate of what that supper would consist. Micky
+said he didn't care what it was. He followed his suit-case up the
+wide, shallow stairs to a quaint little room with a low ceiling and
+polished floor.
+
+He was beginning to feel more at home after all; one could be quiet
+here and not be eternally running up against people whom one knew; he
+felt more cheerful when he went down to his supper.
+
+He asked the waiter if there were many people staying there. His tone
+of voice sounded as if he sincerely hoped there were not, and the
+waiter tactfully submitted that the place was almost empty.
+
+Micky proceeded with his supper.
+
+It was nearly ten o'clock, but he went out into the lounge when he had
+finished and sat down at a table in one of the most secluded corners.
+
+There were pen and ink and a supply of hotel note paper, which Micky
+looked at with great satisfaction, before he took up a pen, carefully
+examined the nib, squared his elbows and began to write.
+
+  "My darling----"
+
+Micky wrote the words hurriedly and covered them over with a sheet of
+blotting paper as if they made him feel guilty.
+
+  "I thought I should have been leaving Paris before now, but have
+  been delayed. I shall be staying here till the end of the week and
+  am writing this so that you can let me have a letter before I
+  leave. I hope you have received both my other letters safely, and
+  are quite well and as happy as possible, seeing that we cannot be
+  together----"
+
+He sat back for a moment and looked at this frowningly, then he wrote
+on hurriedly.
+
+  "I want you to miss me, you see--I want you to feel as I do, that
+  there is only one thing to look forward to and that is when we
+  shall be together again. Dearest, it seems now that I have never
+  really told you how well I love you. Some day, if all that I wish
+  for comes true, I will tell you the many things you would not let
+  me say when we were last together...."
+
+Micky's pen flew easily enough. For the moment he had forgotten why
+and for whom he was writing, and thought only of Esther as she had
+looked when he last saw her with the tears wet on her cheeks.
+
+  "Write to me as soon as you get this, so that I may have a letter
+  to take with me when I leave. I shall watch for every post and
+  count the minutes till it comes. I have arranged with my bankers
+  to send the money to you every week. Dearest, if this is not
+  enough, please let me know, and I will send some more...."
+
+Micky scratched out the last five words, finally rewriting the whole
+page to add
+
+  "... Let me know and we must see what can be done. I cannot bear
+  to think that you are wanting anything which it is in my power to
+  give you. Tell me all about yourself; if you are well and
+  happy--and how often you think of me. I shall write again soon,
+  perhaps to-morrow ... and till then, and for ever, I am always
+  yours, Micky ...."
+
+He added his own signature without noticing it, then realised what he
+had done and rewrote the last page in a panic.
+
+Supposing he had sent it!--it made him hot all over to think what
+would have happened. He would have to be more careful, he told himself
+severely. He carefully directed the letter and went out to post it,
+then he went to bed in the little room with the low ceiling and lay
+awake half the night.
+
+Now the letter had gone he wished he had never sent it; after all, it
+was cheating Esther. It was not fair to make her write to him; he felt
+that he had behaved like a cur ... he tossed and turned from side to
+side. Perhaps she would not write! He almost hoped she would not. When
+at last he dozed off it was almost daybreak; when he woke it was
+eleven o'clock and the sunshine was pouring into his room.
+
+He had a bit of a headache and felt wretched; he drank four cups of
+strong coffee and went out.
+
+He avoided the popular thoroughfares; he sauntered about till lunch
+time and then went back to the hotel. Apparently the waiter had spoken
+the truth when he said the place was almost empty, for only two of the
+twenty tables were occupied beside his own.
+
+Micky felt bored; he made up his mind to tell Philips what he thought
+of his recommendation when he got back to London. He slept all the
+afternoon, then dressed and went off to dinner at the hotel where he
+and Driver stayed when they were last in Paris. Here at least was a
+welcome; most of the waiters recognised him; the attention was
+excellent, and he got a decent dinner. The hotel was full, but though
+Micky looked suspiciously at every one who came in, he recognised
+nobody.
+
+He wondered how long he had got to stay in Paris. Esther could not get
+his letter and send a reply that would arrive in less than three days;
+he calculated that he could not get back to London before Sunday
+morning.
+
+And Esther was going to Mrs. Ashton's on Saturday.
+
+He had just finished his dinner when the swing doors opened and a man
+came into the room with a lady in evening dress.
+
+Micky looked at them, and his heart began to race--for the man was
+Raymond Ashton, and the woman, Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+Ashton saw Micky at once, and his face fell into almost comical lines
+of dismay, but he pulled himself together at once and spoke to the
+woman beside him.
+
+Micky knew Mrs. Clare slightly; he rose and went towards them.
+
+"I heard you were in Paris," he said. He shook hands with Mrs. Clare;
+she was rather a pretty little woman, small and plump, with round,
+meaningless eyes and a friendly smile.
+
+"We're going to the opera," Ashton said. "Mrs. Clare is not staying
+here, but she very kindly consented to come and dine with me. Are you
+staying here, Micky? When did you come over?"
+
+"Last night; and I'm not staying here. Just dropped in for some
+grub."
+
+"You'd better dine with us," Ashton said, but he did not sound very
+enthusiastic.
+
+Micky laughed. "Thanks, but I have dined. I was just leaving when you
+came in." He thought of Esther, and his face hardened. This was the
+man of whom she was thinking all day and every day; this man who was
+so obviously going to try and marry Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+He stood talking to them for a few moments, then excused himself.
+
+"You haven't told me where you are staying," Ashton said.
+
+"No--and I'm going away to-morrow anyway.... When are you coming back
+to town?"
+
+Ashton looked quickly at his companion. "Oh, not yet awhile," he
+said.
+
+"I see." Micky met his eyes steadily. "By the way, I got your letter,"
+he said after a moment. "You didn't ask about that letter you gave me.
+I posted it----"
+
+Raymond turned crimson. "The letter--oh yes, thanks--thanks, very
+much. You didn't take it then?"
+
+"No, I posted it." Micky's voice was flinty.
+
+"Er--thanks awfully!" Ashton said again. He twisted his moustache
+nervously. "I'll see you some other time," he said with a rush. "I'll
+drop you a line."
+
+"Right oh!" said Micky laconically.
+
+"I hope I shall see you again too, Mr. Mellowes," Mrs. Clare said. She
+thought she was saying the right thing. She thought these two men were
+friends, and she was sufficiently in love with Raymond to wish to be
+liked by his friends.
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. Clare," Micky said stolidly. "But I am going back to
+London to-morrow; I am afraid I shall have very little time, though I
+should be delighted, of course----"
+
+He felt rather sorry for this woman. After all, she was harmless and
+good natured, she deserved a better fate than to be snapped up by a
+good-looking fortune-hunter.
+
+He was getting into his coat in the lounge when Ashton came after him.
+He looked worried and abashed; he asked a hurried question.
+
+"Everything's all right, eh, Micky?--Lallie, I mean--I thought from
+the way you looked just now--she--she's all right--eh?"
+
+"My dear chap--how should I know? She never answered my letter, though
+I sent the money, as you wished. I thought you would have heard."
+
+"I told you I didn't mean to write--I said that I wanted the whole
+affair cut out," Ashton said irritably.
+
+Micky made no response.
+
+"She sure to be all right, anyway," Ashton said after a moment. "If
+she hadn't I should have heard--eh?"
+
+Micky looked at him coolly.
+
+"You rather sound as if you were expecting to hear she'd done
+something foolish--jumped off Waterloo Bridge or something----" he
+said drily.
+
+Ashton laughed. "Well, you never know," he said heartlessly. "Women
+are such queer creatures--and Lallie was so excitable; she said more
+than once that she'd do away with herself--it's all rot, of course,
+but ... what did you say?"
+
+"Nothing," said Micky curtly. "Good-night." He turned on his heel and
+went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Micky stayed in Paris four days; the four longest days of his life.
+
+He wandered about killing time and wishing everything and every one at
+the bottom of the sea.
+
+It seemed impossible that he had ever managed to have a good time over
+here--the noise and bustle of the streets got on his nerves; the
+things that had always amused him before bored him and left him cold;
+he thought of London with a deadly sort of home-sickness.
+
+Esther did not mean to write to him, he was sure, and in some ways he
+hoped she would not; he realised that he was playing a mean trick on
+her, cheating her out of fond words and a love-letter to which he had
+not the smallest claim.
+
+He tried to salve his conscience by making up his mind to leave on the
+Monday morning whatever happened; if there was no letter by that time
+there would never be one. Esther would have gone to Mrs. Ashton's. It
+was surprising how much he hated the thought of her being with
+Raymond's mother. During the interminable hours when he walked about
+Paris trying to kill time he thought out all manner of possibilities
+that might result from this unforeseen contingency. Mrs. Ashton might
+get fond of Esther--and if she got fond of Esther, well--who knew what
+might happen in the future in spite of Tubby Clare's little widow? He
+had not run across Ashton again, and he sincerely hoped that he would
+not.
+
+When Monday morning came he packed his portmanteau before he left his
+room--there would be no letter for him, so he might as well clear out
+and go home without making a further fool of himself. There was not
+the least hope in his heart when he went to the bureau and asked for
+letters; the reply came as it had done each morning: "Nothing for
+monsieur...."
+
+Micky turned away. He was half way to the dining-room before it
+suddenly dawned upon him that they did not know he was expecting
+letters in the name of Ashton--that he had forgotten to tell them. He
+went back hurriedly to the bureau.
+
+"Any letters for Ashton?--I am expecting one for a friend of mine of
+that name...."
+
+He waited breathlessly while the girl sorted through the pigeon-holes
+on the wall; he felt as if he could hardly breathe when she came back
+with a grey envelope in her hand.
+
+"Mais oui...." she said smilingly. "I did not know it was for
+monsieur...."
+
+Mickey almost snatched it from her; he had not even glanced at the
+writing, but he knew it must be from Esther. He sat down at the
+breakfast table with his thoughts in a whirl; he was sure that the
+waiter must know how excited he felt. He ordered coffee and rolls
+before he opened the envelope; he laid it down on the cloth beside him
+and stared at it very much as a sentimental girl might stare at her
+first love-letter, hesitating to open it, wishing to prolong the
+ultimate delight.
+
+Finally he cut it open carefully and drew out the contents. His pulses
+were racing, he did not know if shame or delight were the greatest
+emotion in his heart; he glanced at the first two words and the blood
+rushed to his face.
+
+It seemed almost sacrilege to read what she had written to the man she
+loved--he pushed the paper back into its envelope--he did not look at
+it again till he had finished his pretence of a meal, then he took it
+out with him into the rather dingy winter garden and sat down in the
+quietest corner he could find.
+
+There he faced the greatest moment of his life; as to whether he
+should go on with this thing or wipe it out of his life once and for
+all.
+
+Ashton had done with Esther; he was as sure of that as he was sure
+that Ashton meant to marry Mrs. Clare. This being so, was it wrong of
+him to try and give Esther some happiness in place of what she had
+lost? She had refused to marry him--she had said that she could never
+care for him; could he hope to make her change her mind? In his heart
+he was sure that he could; he wanted her so badly that it seemed to
+him as if the very force of his desire must compel some return from
+her.
+
+He sat staring down the dismal garden with moody eyes. He knew it was
+a big risk; he thought of her as he had first seen her and as he had
+last seen her. He had never once really thought that she looked
+happy--she had never quite lost the shadow in her eyes or the droop to
+her lips which he had at first noticed, and he wanted her to be happy.
+He wanted her happiness far more than he wanted his own.
+
+He took the letter from his pocket and looked at the address on the
+envelope. "Raymond Ashton, Esq...."
+
+He hated the sight of that name--some day Esther would hate it too,
+when she knew how he had deceived her.
+
+It was a great risk--but ...
+
+"I'll chance it," said Mickey under his breath, and drew out the
+letter again.
+
+  "MY DARLING BOY,--You can never know how glad and happy I was to
+  get your letter to-night and to know that I can really write to
+  you at last. I have been so miserable during these weeks in spite
+  of all your goodness--and you have been good. It makes me feel
+  mean and ungrateful now when I remember how horrid I often was to
+  you before you went away. When you come back I will make it all up
+  to you, and show you how nice I really can be, because I do love
+  you--I have never loved any one but you. Thank you so much for the
+  money you have sent me--I was very much down on my luck when it
+  came. They haven't a vacancy for me just now at Eldred's, or else
+  they did not want me back, and I am going to try and find another
+  berth. I am living in a new boarding-house, as you will see; it's
+  ever so much nicer than the Brixton Road, and I shall be able to
+  stay on now you are so generously sending me money. I have made a
+  nice friend here, too, a girl named June Mason--she tells me that
+  she knows your mother, and you, too!--I did not let her know how
+  well I knew you, dear, as I thought perhaps you would rather I
+  said nothing about it. She has a man friend who sometimes comes to
+  see her--a Mr. Mellowes--she thinks the world of him, but I think
+  he is detestable...."
+
+Mickey caught his breath hard. After a moment he went on reading:
+
+  "June tells me he is very rich, and quite a 'somebody,' but I
+  cannot see anything out of the ordinary about him, and he isn't a
+  bit good looking. He knows you, too--but he does not say much
+  about you. Dearest, it seems such a long time since I saw you--and
+  I cannot help wondering if you really miss me and want me as much
+  as I want you.... Sometimes I would give just anything to lay my
+  head on your shoulder and say how much I love you. I'm very
+  lonely, really; though June is so kind she isn't any one of my
+  very own, is she? And now I wonder if you will be very angry with
+  me if I ask you something? I don't think I should have dared to,
+  only your last letters have been so dear and kind. Raymond, why
+  can't I come out to you and be with you? We could get married, and
+  we should be ever so happy even if we have to be poor--at least, I
+  know I could, and from your letters, somehow I think it sounds as
+  if you, too, have realised that there isn't much happiness away
+  from me. I have had the offer of a good post--I won't tell you
+  what it is, as I want it to be a surprise to you if I do take it.
+  But if you would like me to come, I will just leave everything and
+  come to you. Couldn't you send me a wire when you get this letter?
+  I shall be longing and waiting to hear from you. I am a little bit
+  afraid in my heart, really, now I have written this, but your last
+  letter is lying beside me, and I keep peeping at it and reading
+  what you say there, and somehow I feel that it's going to be all
+  right.--
+
+                         With all my love for ever and ever, LALLIE.
+
+Mickey sat there staring down at her signature a long time after he
+had reached the end.
+
+Then he moved slowly as if it cost him an effort. He was rather pale
+now, and there was a hard line round his mouth. So that was how she
+thought of him! Somehow he had not imagined how much it would hurt to
+read the fond words and to know all the time that they were written to
+another man. And to a man so unworthy! He thought of Ashton as he had
+seen him three nights ago with Mrs. Clare; of his callous questioning
+about Esther; of his almost brutal remarks, and it made his blood
+boil.
+
+He could picture her so well--waiting for a wire that would never
+come.
+
+He hated Ashton at that moment. His brows almost met above his eyes in
+a scowl as he went up to the bureau and asked for his bill. The
+smiling French girl sobered a little meeting his gaze; for once she
+did not dare to smile or dimple; she gave him his account silently.
+
+"Ah, but they are funny, these English;" she told her father
+afterwards. "To-day he had no smile, the tall monsieur--not even one
+little smile!"
+
+She watched Micky across the lounge with interested eyes as he sat
+down at one of the tables and proceeded to write a letter. It took him
+a long time, and twice she saw that he tore up what he had written and
+flung it into the wastepaper basket, but at last he had finished, and
+getting up, stalked away.
+
+Celeste ventured out then--there was nobody about, and tiptoeing
+across the lounge, took the torn papers from the paper-basket. They
+were torn across and across, but on one or two slips the writing was
+visible, and she carried them back with her to the shelter of the
+bureau.
+
+She spread them out on the desk before her, carefully piecing them
+together. She knew English quite well, and she soon made out one
+sentence:--
+
+"It is not that I do not love you--I have never loved you better than
+at this moment--but...."
+
+Celeste was sentimental. She gave a big sigh of sympathy for the big
+Englishman. "No wonder he has no smile!" she told herself. "_C'est si
+triste!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+It was raining and miserable when Micky arrived in London. The roads
+were wet and slippery, and every taxi and omnibus splashed pedestrians
+with mud.
+
+Micky shivered as he stood waiting while a porter lugged his traps
+down from the rack. He had felt depressed in Paris, but now London
+seemed a thousand times worse. The sight of Driver waiting on the
+platform annoyed him. He answered the man's stolid greeting
+snappishly. He had wanted to come home, and yet now he was here he
+wished himself a thousand miles away. He leaned back in a corner of
+the taxi and shut his eyes.
+
+The last four days had got on his nerves; Esther's letter in his
+pocket was like an eternal reproach.
+
+Why had he come back at all? She did not want him--nobody wanted him
+in the whole forsaken world. The silence of his flat seemed a thing to
+be dreaded in his present mood. Driver's inscrutable face would, he
+felt, drive him mad. With sudden impulse he leaned forward and called
+to the chauffeur, "Stop--I've changed my mind--drive me back to the
+Savoy...."
+
+There would be life there, at any rate--life and people and
+music--something to make a man forget the depression that sat like a
+ton weight on his shoulders.
+
+He felt utterly at a loose end; he stalked moodily into the lounge.
+There were many people there, girls in pretty dinner frocks, with
+their attendant cavaliers. Micky glanced at none of them, till
+suddenly a girl who had been sitting on a couch listening rather
+listlessly to the conversation of a youth beside her, rose to her feet
+when she saw Micky, the hot colour flying to her cheeks.
+
+For a moment she hesitated, waiting for him to look at her, to
+speak--but Micky had stalked by without turning his eyes, and after
+the barest second she followed and touched his arm.
+
+"Micky...." she said breathlessly, and again "Micky," with an odd
+little catch in her voice.
+
+Micky turned as if he had been shot, then stopped dead, colouring up
+to the roots of his hair, for the girl was Marie Deland.
+
+She smiled tremulously, reading the distress in his eyes.
+
+"I thought I was never going to see you any more," she said. She tried
+hard to speak casually, but her voice quivered a little. "Where have
+you been hiding all this time, Micky?"
+
+Micky stammered out that he really didn't know--that he'd only just
+come back from Paris--that he did call to see her one night, but that
+they told him she wasn't in. She broke in there impetuously--
+
+"I know; I'm so sorry. It wasn't my fault. I was there all the time.
+Mother----" She stopped, biting her lip, but there was no need to
+explain further. Micky could well imagine that it was by Mrs. Deland's
+orders that the butler had said "Not at home."
+
+His heart was full of remorse as he looked down at Marie. Such a
+little while ago he had thought of her as his wife. He had fully meant
+to marry her.
+
+He broke out again agitatedly--
+
+"I know you must think I'm an awful sweep. I--I--oh, I can't explain."
+He glanced past her to where the rather vapid-looking youth to whom
+she had been speaking sat tugging at an incipient moustache.
+
+"What are you doing here?" he asked again. "Who are you with?"
+
+She told him that she was with her married sister and some friends.
+
+"We're going to have dinner here," she said. She was longing to ask
+Micky to dine with them, but was obviously afraid to do so.
+
+After a moment--
+
+"I suppose I ought to be going," she said. "Violet will wonder where I
+am, Micky." She looked up at him with abashed eyes. "I--I suppose--you
+wouldn't--will you come out to tea with me to-morrow?"
+
+Micky's face reflected the flush in her own; he looked away in
+miserable embarrassment. He knew that she felt the same towards him as
+she had done before that memorable New Year's Eve, and he knew that
+whatever happened now he could never feel the same to her any more.
+
+He answered that he would be pleased, very pleased. Where should he
+meet her--or should he call for her?
+
+"I'll meet you," she said quickly. "You know where we always used to
+go--I'll be there at four, Micky."
+
+She put out her hand and Micky was forced to take it; he felt how her
+fingers shook in his, and he cursed himself for a brute as he turned
+away and left her.
+
+In a way he was glad they had met. Any other woman would have given
+him the snubbing which he knew he so richly deserved. Deep down in his
+heart he wished that she had done so; anything would have been easier
+to meet than this trembling overture of friendship. He knew that the
+little abashed expression in Marie's dark eyes could only mean one
+thing, that he had cut her to the soul and that she still cared for
+him.
+
+He left the Savoy without having any dinner; he went back to his
+rooms, where the imperturbable Driver was brushing and refolding his
+master's clothes. It had almost broken Driver's heart to see the way
+in which Micky had packed his things; he raised eyes of wooden
+reproach as Micky entered the room.
+
+There was a pile of letters on the table. Micky flicked them through
+carelessly; nothing of interest--a few bills and a good many
+invitations; nothing from Esther--not even a note from June.
+
+He sat down by the fire and proceeded to cut the many envelopes open.
+He kept thinking of Marie and wondering if it would be kinder not to
+meet her to-morrow, after all; if he could possibly write her a note
+that would tactfully explain the situation.
+
+He just glanced at each of the notes as he opened them, and let them
+drop to the carpet at his feet. They could be answered later; there
+was nothing of importance, nothing he ... his attention was
+arrested:--
+
+  "DEAR MR. MELLOWES,--I wonder if it will be asking too much of you
+  to come round and see me one afternoon for half an hour?--
+
+                                     Yours sincerely, LAURA ASHTON."
+
+Micky glanced quickly at the address at the top of the paper--it was
+from Raymond's mother.
+
+What in the world could she want with him, he wondered blankly. He
+looked across at Driver.
+
+"This note--the one that came by hand--when did it come?" he asked.
+
+Driver replied that it had been there for two days. He waited a
+moment, then went on brushing Micky's coat.
+
+Micky felt rather disturbed.
+
+Raymond's mother! What in the wide world could she want with him?
+Supposing it were anything to do with Esther ...
+
+He wrote a note in reply at once and said he would call the following
+afternoon; he could just look in early for half an hour and go on
+afterwards to meet Marie; it was strange how he dreaded both these
+appointments.
+
+He felt ridiculously nervous when he reached Mrs. Ashton's house. For
+the first time it occurred to him that possibly Esther would be here
+too.
+
+He was kept waiting some minutes in the drawing room--minutes during
+which he wandered restlessly about staring at the pictures and the
+photographs.
+
+There were many portraits of Raymond--Raymond at all stages of his
+chequered career, smiling and handsome. Micky turned his back on them
+with a feeling of disgust.
+
+The door opened behind him, and, turning sharply, he found himself
+face to face with Mrs. Ashton.
+
+She came forward with outstretched hand.
+
+"This is kind of you, Mr. Mellowes. I did not know you had been away
+till I got your note this morning. I was wondering why I had had no
+reply to mine."
+
+Micky blurted out that he had been in Paris--that he only came back
+yesterday evening.
+
+Mrs. Ashton's face changed a little.
+
+"Paris! Have you been with that son of mine?" she asked sharply.
+
+Micky coloured. "I met him--quite by chance, though. We were not
+together more than a few minutes."
+
+She smiled rather ironically.
+
+"Have you got tired of him at last, then?" she asked. She moved over
+to the fire. She looked back at Micky quizzically. "I have often
+wondered how you put up with his friendship so long, Mr. Mellowes,"
+she added rather sadly.
+
+Micky felt embarrassed. He had always liked Mrs. Ashton. He stammered
+out that he and Raymond had always been very good friends.
+
+She drew her chair a little closer to the fire.
+
+"Very well--then, perhaps, you will be kind enough to answer a
+question I am going to ask you. Mr. Mellowes, what was the name of
+that girl at Eldred's whom Raymond was always about with before
+Christmas?"
+
+The question was so unexpected that Micky was utterly taken aback.
+Before he was aware of it he had told a lie.
+
+"I don't know--at least, he always spoke of her as 'Lallie.' I never
+once saw him with her, Mrs. Ashton--he never introduced me to her."
+
+She looked rather incredulous.
+
+"And yet you were such friends," she said.
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"Our tastes were not always identical," he said rather stiffly. "I am
+not very interested in women, and he----"
+
+"And he is," she finished for him. "There is no need to tell me
+that--I know my son. So you cannot tell me the name of this girl? I
+had hoped that you would be able to do so."
+
+Micky met her eyes unflinchingly.
+
+"I dare say I could find out," he said. "If she is still at
+Eldred's."
+
+"She is not there." Mrs. Ashton looked up at Micky with an anxious
+line between her handsome eyes. "Mr. Mellowes, I have always prided
+myself on my sense of justice, and somehow lately I have got an
+uncomfortable feeling that when I forbade Raymond to have anything
+more to do with that girl it would have been better if I had advised
+her to have nothing more to do with him. He is my son, and perhaps it
+seems strange for me to speak about him like that, but you cannot have
+been friends with him all these months without finding him out, so I
+need not apologise. Raymond is just his father over again...." She
+paused, and a painful little smile curved her lips.
+
+She looked at Micky rather pathetically. "There is no need for me to
+say any more, is there?" she asked.
+
+Micky did not answer. He had heard many stories about Raymond's
+father, all more or less unsavoury, and he knew that from all accounts
+Mrs. Ashton had been greatly to be pitied during his lifetime.
+
+"So if you can't help me in this," she went on presently, "I am afraid
+I have brought you here for nothing. I want to find out who this girl
+is, and see her for myself." She paused, but Micky's face was
+inscrutable.
+
+In his heart he was convinced that she did not believe him, but he had
+no intention of telling her Esther's name; he longed to know if Esther
+were in the house, but, of course, it was impossible to ask.
+
+It almost seemed as if Mrs. Ashton could read his thoughts, for she
+said suddenly--
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Mellowes, that I am going to have a companion?"
+
+Micky echoed her last word vacantly.
+
+"Companion?--I--er...."
+
+"Yes, a girl," Mrs. Ashton went on; "I have always envied people with
+daughters; a daughter is so much more to a mother than a son; but as I
+was not fortunate enough to have one of my own I am going to try
+having a companion. Raymond will be annoyed, I dare say--he has always
+pooh-poohed the idea when I have mentioned it to him, but now----" she
+shrugged her shoulders and sighed impatiently. "Well, he can no longer
+object, I think, seeing that he is to be married himself...."
+
+Micky made a little quick movement, almost knocking over a vase of
+flowers standing at his elbow; he recovered himself with an effort.
+
+"Married?" he said. "Why, I thought...." he broke off. "He did not say
+anything about it to me when I met him in Paris," he said lamely.
+
+"No?" Her handsome eyes searched his agitated face critically. "Well,
+he is to be married all the same," she said. "I heard from him only
+this morning. He is engaged to Tom Clare's widow--Tubby Clare, I
+believe he was always called."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+When Micky left Mrs. Ashton he raced off to meet Marie.
+
+She was looking quite her prettiest, in dark furs with a bunch of
+violets in the breast of her coat, but Micky would not have noticed if
+she had been shabby, his thoughts were elsewhere. He did not even see
+that she wore the bracelet he had given her for a Christmas present,
+or remember that he had once told her violets were his favourite
+flowers.
+
+He apologised breathlessly for being late.
+
+"I had an appointment," he explained. "Raymond's mother; she wrote and
+asked me to call this afternoon." He hesitated, then added, "Did you
+know that Raymond is going to be married? Oh, but, of course, you
+cannot know, as Mrs. Ashton only knew this morning."
+
+Marie's dark eyes opened; like most women, she loved to hear of an
+engagement or marriage.
+
+"Really?" she said. "At last!--not to--surely not to that little girl
+at Eldred's?"
+
+Micky flushed angrily. Did every one know about Esther? he asked
+himself savagely. He answered shortly that it was to Mrs. Clare, Tubby
+Clare's little widow.
+
+Marie looked amazed.
+
+"But we all thought----" she said, then stopped, remembering that
+Micky and Raymond had been great friends. "I hope he'll be happy," she
+said lamely.
+
+Micky laughed shortly.
+
+"I don't," he said. "He doesn't deserve to be."
+
+She made no comment.
+
+There was an excited flush in her cheeks, and a nervous note in her
+voice when she spoke; it was like old times to be here with him again,
+until she met his eyes across the little table, and then it seemed as
+if she were looking into the face of a stranger, a man who was like
+Micky--enough like him to hurt, and yet not Micky at all.
+
+She aroused herself to amuse him. Micky had always told her she
+cheered him up in the old days, but this afternoon he answered her in
+monosyllables, and she saw with bitter mortification how often he
+looked at the clock. At last she was driven to remark on it.
+
+"Micky, are you in a hurry to get away?"
+
+She asked the question lightly, but there was a strained note in her
+voice.
+
+Micky did not look at her.
+
+"No--no, not at all," he said hurriedly. "But I suppose we ought to be
+moving soon...." There was a little pause. "It's been nice seeing you
+again," he added with an effort.
+
+She sat staring down at her plate. Her pretty colour had faded; she
+was very pale, and she bit her lip hard to hide its trembling.
+
+Suddenly she looked up at him.
+
+"Micky--may I ask you a question?..."
+
+"A hundred if you like."
+
+She picked up a teaspoon and twisted it nervously. Micky watched her
+with apprehension; he knew what was coming, and his heart sank.
+
+If only she would be content to leave things as they were; if only she
+would accept the friendship he was willing to give and close the book
+of the past for ever.
+
+He did not understand that it was because she cared for him so much
+that at the risk of losing her self-respect and pride she must ask him
+for the truth, must know ...
+
+He heard her catch her breath, then suddenly she spoke:
+
+"Micky ... why was it? What have I done?"
+
+There was a quiver in her voice that set him on edge; he could not
+stand the sound of unhappiness in any woman's voice, and he had once
+thought he loved Marie....
+
+He answered without looking at her, realising that it was kinder to
+tell the truth out and have done with it.
+
+"I meant to have written to you--I hope some day you will try and
+forgive me, but ... but...." He could not go on for the life of him,
+but he had said enough, and he knew that she understood.
+
+"You mean ... you mean that there is some one else?" she asked with
+stiff lips.
+
+"Yes." He looked at her white, stricken face, and felt himself a
+brute.
+
+It seemed an eternity before she could steady her voice enough to
+speak.
+
+"Is it--is it some one I know?"
+
+"No, dear," said Micky very gently. "It isn't any one you have ever
+seen----"
+
+She picked up her big muff suddenly and held it so that her face was
+hidden; the little word of endearment that had escaped Micky's lips
+had almost broken her down. This was the end of all she had ever hoped
+for, and for the moment she could not choke the anguish in her heart.
+
+The following silence seemed unending; then she looked round for her
+gloves, and put them on, buttoning them with shaking fingers.
+
+"I am ready if you are," she said. She did not look at him, but it
+felt like dying to walk beside him out of the shop and into the cold
+air and know that perhaps this was the last time they would ever be
+alone, he and she. Once her steps faltered a little, and Micky put out
+his hand to steady her, but she drew away from him.
+
+"Please don't," she said in a whisper.
+
+There was a taxi waiting at the roadside, and Micky called to the man.
+There was a slight cold drizzle of rain falling as he held open the
+door. He would have followed but she stopped him. "I should like to go
+alone, if you don't mind."
+
+He looked up, and for a moment he saw her face in the light of the
+taxi lamp; such a white, quivering face it was.
+
+"Marie!..." said Micky in a choked voice, but she waved him away.
+
+He stood there on the kerb till the taxi had whirled out of sight, and
+once again he asked himself desperately if it were all worth while, if
+he were not throwing away the real thing for a chimera.
+
+There was probably a no more unhappy man in London at that moment than
+Micky Mellowes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Esther had spent a week indoors with a cold, and it was the longest
+she could ever remember. June was kindness itself, and fussed and
+petted and made much of her, but the days dragged.
+
+There was only one thing to live for--the post! And though the rat-tat
+rang through the house three or four times a day, there was never
+anything for Esther.
+
+Her own letter to Paris remained unanswered. The telegram for which
+she longed never came.
+
+June watched her with a mixture of sympathy and impatience.
+
+What was the good of putting all one's eggs in the same basket? she
+asked herself crossly. What was the good of falling in love if nothing
+better than unhappiness ever came of it? She began to hate the phantom
+lover, as she called him, with increased hatred.
+
+"I don't think you're strong enough to go yet, you know," she said to
+Esther one afternoon when they were sitting together in the firelight.
+"Write and tell Mrs. Ashton you can't come for another week, or that
+you can't go at all. I do wish you would."
+
+Esther shook her head.
+
+"I promised to go, and I must do something. I shall be all right by
+Monday. Mrs. Ashton has waited long enough as it is."
+
+She looked pale and ill, June thought angrily, and put it all down to
+"that man."
+
+"Has Mr. Mellowes come back from Paris yet?" Esther asked suddenly.
+June was faintly amazed; Esther never spoke of Micky. She answered
+rather dubiously that she did not know.
+
+"I expect he's having such a good time that he'll stay for weeks," she
+added. "I wish he would come back, I want him to get on with my
+business...."
+
+"Mr. Mellowes...." announced Lydia at the door.
+
+June scrambled to her feet with a scream of delight.
+
+"Micky! you villain! we were just talking about you. When did you come
+back? Why haven't you been before? What have you been doing?"
+
+She dragged him over to the fire; she fussed over him and told him he
+was just in time for tea.
+
+"Esther's been indoors a week with a cold," she explained. "No, don't
+you get up, Esther. Micky won't mind...." She pushed Esther back
+amongst the sofa pillows. "Poor darling! She's really been quite ill,"
+she declared.
+
+Micky said formally that he was sorry that she was not well, but that
+the weather was enough to kill anybody; he added that he had been in
+town since Sunday, but ...
+
+"Four days, and you've not been to see me!" said June. "What a shame,
+to neglect us so!"
+
+"I've been busy," Micky defended himself; "I expected to hear you had
+gone to Mrs. Ashton's," he said to Esther.
+
+She raised her eyes.
+
+"No--I am going on Monday."
+
+"Oh," said Micky blankly.
+
+June had opened the door and was calling over the balusters to Lydia
+for hot water.
+
+"And bring lots of it," she said. "We're thirsty...." She came back
+into the room. "The postman's just come," she said with a nod and a
+smile to Esther. "Lydia will bring our letters up if there are any."
+She turned again to Micky. "Well, truant! And what have you been
+doing? Having a good time?"
+
+"No, I have not," Micky said decidedly. "Paris is not what it used to
+be, or I am not!" He laughed. "How's the swindle?"
+
+June began to answer, but stopped as Lydia came into the room. She
+brought a jug of hot water. June danced up to her.
+
+"No letters? I thought I heard the postman."
+
+"One for Miss Shepstone," Lydia said smilingly.
+
+Micky looked across at Esther--her whole face was transformed as she
+turned eagerly with outstretched hand.
+
+There was a moment of silence, then she gave a little sigh of utter
+contentment. June sniffed inelegantly--Micky looked hard into the
+fire; his heart was thumping; that letter ought to have been delivered
+yesterday, he knew; it was cursed bad luck that it should arrive while
+he was here.
+
+There was a little silence in the room while Esther opened it. She
+seemed to have forgotten that she was not alone. Her pale cheeks were
+flushed and her whole face tremulous.
+
+June was bustling about, making a great clatter with the teacups.
+Micky got up and began to prowl round the room; his nerves felt jumpy.
+Because he knew so well who had written that letter he was sure every
+one else must know it too. Presently June nudged him as she passed.
+When he looked at her she made a little grimace.
+
+"Isn't it awful?" she said in a stage whisper.
+
+Micky smiled stiffly.
+
+"Can't I help get the tea?" he asked. "Toast some buns or something?"
+
+"There aren't any to toast," she told him. "Sit down and make yourself
+at home. Esther!"--she raised her voice elaborately--"are you going to
+have any tea, my child?"
+
+Esther had come to the end of her letter; she folded it hurriedly and
+put it away; she cast a quick look at Micky, but he did not see it.
+June was chattering away.
+
+"So Esther is going on Monday," she informed Micky, "and I shall be
+left once more to my lonesome. I'm not at all sure that I shall stay
+on myself," she added. "It's been so jolly having some one to share
+this room with me that I'm not looking forward to my own eternal
+company."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"I may not go after all," Esther said suddenly. There was a note of
+nervousness in her voice. She coloured, meeting June's amazed eyes.
+
+June screamed.
+
+"Not go! Well, I never!" She sat down in a heap on the hearthrug
+staring at Esther. "I never knew such a girl," she complained. "Micky,
+I appeal to you...."
+
+But Micky was not going to be appealed to; he was stolidly stirring
+his tea.
+
+"I suppose I can change my mind if I like?" Esther said.
+
+"Oh, it isn't you who have changed your mind," June cut in ironically.
+"It's something that phantom lover of yours has said in his letter.
+Own up, now."
+
+"Well, and if it is?" Esther demurred. "I suppose he has a right to
+say what he likes, hasn't he?" But she was laughing as she spoke; she
+felt wonderfully happy and light-hearted. "I believe you're jealous,"
+she declared.
+
+"Jealous, indeed!" said June indignantly. Then suddenly she sighed.
+"Well, perhaps I am; who knows? What does he say? or mayn't we ask?"
+
+Micky had stopped stirring his tea; there was a sort of intentness
+about his big figure.
+
+Esther looked at him, and suddenly she stiffened.
+
+"Never mind what he says," she answered defensively.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Oh, all right--sorry if I was inquisitive." She deliberately turned
+and began talking to Micky; Esther was left to herself, but she did
+not mind, she had enough now to think about. The longed-for letter had
+come at last.
+
+She woke from her reverie with a start when Micky rose and said he
+must be going.
+
+"And don't you be so long before you come and see me again," June said
+in her downright way. "And don't go without that sample, Micky--it
+will go in your pocket quite easily." She darted off to her room to
+fetch it, and Micky moved a step nearer to Esther.
+
+"You have had good news?" he said.
+
+She looked up startled.
+
+Micky's eyes flamed.
+
+"That being so, of course, it is useless for me to ask if you have
+changed your mind yet?" he said again.
+
+Esther gave a stifled cry.
+
+"Are you trying to insult me?" she asked under her breath.
+
+He half smiled.
+
+"I am, if it's an insult to ask you to marry me."
+
+There was no time for more. June came back then with her hands full of
+samples, which she proceeded to stuff into Micky's pocket.
+
+He submitted laughingly.
+
+"Supposing I get run over!" he said resignedly. "People will think
+I've been robbing a beauty shop."
+
+"It will be a fine advertisement for me, anyway," June declared.
+"Can't you see all the halfpenny papers coming out with great
+headlines? Tragic Death of a Young Millionaire! Pockets Stuffed with
+June Mason's Skin Food!" She laughed merrily. "That would be worth
+something, eh, Micky?"
+
+"Heartless woman!" he answered. He turned to Esther. "Good-bye, Miss
+Shepstone."
+
+Esther was glad that he did not offer to shake hands with her; she was
+glad that June went to see him off. As soon as the door had closed on
+them she took her letter out again; she pressed the paper to her
+lips.
+
+It was worth waiting for, worth the heartache and disappointment; she
+closed her eyes for a moment and thought of Raymond Ashton. How she
+must have misjudged him in the past. It did not seem true now that
+they had ever quarrelled, or parted in anger; that she had ever been
+so unhappy that she did not want to live....
+
+June came running up the stairs; she was singing cheerily; Esther
+smiled as she listened ... it must be wonderful to be always as happy
+and light-hearted as June.
+
+"Well, dreamer?" said June. She shut the door with a little slam and
+came over to where her friend sat. "A penny for your thoughts."
+
+She looked at Esther's flushed face in the firelight.
+
+"And so everything is all right after all, eh?" she asked.
+
+Esther nodded.
+
+"And I'm not really going to Mrs. Ashton's after all," she said with a
+sort of shamefaced delight. "Only I didn't want to say so in front of
+Mr. Mellowes.... Oh, aren't you glad?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"My dear, of course I am!" said June heartily. "But for the life of me
+I can't understand how it is that this man of yours has got such an
+influence over you. He's only got to hold up his little finger and
+you're on your knees. I'm beginning to think he must be a kind of
+wonder after all."
+
+Esther did not answer for a moment.
+
+"No," she said. "He isn't at all wonderful, really, except to me,
+and--and I love him, you see," she added shyly. "I suppose every man
+is wonderful to the woman who loves him."
+
+"Until she's his wife," said June tartly. "And then she thinks he's
+all sorts of an idiot, and tells him so."
+
+But Esther was too happy to take her seriously.
+
+"You've never been in love," she said, "or you wouldn't talk like
+that."
+
+"And I never wish to be in love, thank you," said June. "If you and
+Micky are samples of objects who are in love...." She made a little
+grimace, screwing up her nose in disgust.
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"Micky!" she said, surprised into using his Christian name. "Is he in
+love? How do you know he is?"
+
+"I'm not a bat, and I haven't known Micky years for nothing. He hasn't
+been himself for a long time. I've seen it, though I haven't said a
+word. He's in love right enough, there can't be any other explanation,
+seeing that he's too rich to ever be in debt, and they are the only
+two things that ever make a man miserable," she added.
+
+Esther wondered if June was trying to sound her.
+
+"I don't know who the wretched female is," June went on, puckering her
+brows. "I've tried to guess, but it's no good. There was a Miss Deland
+he used to go about with at one time, but I know that's all off."
+
+"Was he engaged to her?"
+
+"No--not really! But her people wanted it, and Micky didn't mind; he'd
+have drifted into it sure enough if something very tremendous hadn't
+happened to make him change his mind. I know Micky--he'd have slipped
+into matrimony as easily as he gets into a taxi, unless some one had
+turned him away from it." She glanced down at the letter in Esther's
+lap. "Tell me what he says," she coaxed. "Take pity on a poor creature
+who hasn't a phantom lover of her own, or a real one either," she
+added laughing.
+
+Esther hesitated.
+
+"I'm never quite sure whether you're laughing at me or not," she said
+nervously. "I know you don't mean to, but----"
+
+June laid her hand on Esther's lap.
+
+"I laugh at every one and everything," she said. "But it's only my
+way, and doesn't mean anything. Perhaps I'm a bit jealous--because you
+love this phantom lover so much better than you love me," she added.
+
+Esther drew the letter from its envelope.
+
+"I'll read you just a few little bits," she said shyly. The blood
+surged into her pretty face.
+
+June leaned back in a corner and closed her eyes. She held a cigarette
+between her lips and puffed at it lazily. There was a little silence;
+then Esther said suddenly--
+
+"I can't. It makes me feel too self-conscious. But he just says that
+he doesn't want me to go into any berth just yet. He says that he may
+be home very soon now...."
+
+"Oh!" said June chagrined. "And then, of course, you'll be married and
+live happily ever after...."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. "I hope so."
+
+June opened her eyes.
+
+Charlie, curled up on his cushion, started to purr lazily. Presently
+June flopped down on her knees beside him and began stroking his
+head.
+
+"You'll let me have Charlie when you're married, won't you?" she said
+suddenly. "I am sure the phantom lover won't want him."
+
+Esther did not answer; she hated herself for remembering that Raymond
+had once said he loathed cats.
+
+"I told you how Micky went into a pond after a drowning kitten, didn't
+I?" June asked reminiscently. "I should have loved him for that alone,
+if for nothing else...."
+
+Esther made no comment. She moved a little, and the letter slipped
+from her lap to the floor.
+
+June picked it up.
+
+"Or is it sacrilege to touch it?" she asked teasingly. She laid it on
+Esther's lap.
+
+"Well, I couldn't help seeing the writing," she said, after a
+moment. "And, do you know, it's awfully like Micky's! If I hadn't
+known it wasn't his I should have declared it was," she said rather
+disconnectedly.
+
+Esther grabbed the letter up.
+
+"Well, it isn't his, anyway," she said sharply.
+
+June laughed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Esther wrote to Mrs. Ashton that same night and told her she must
+regretfully decline the offered position; she gave no reason, but she
+permitted herself a little sigh of regret when the letter was
+dispatched.
+
+She would like to have gone; she would like to have seen Raymond's
+home and to have got to know his mother, but it was his wish that she
+should not go.
+
+She tried to believe that she was happy in the knowledge of his love,
+but in her heart she knew that she was restless and dissatisfied.
+
+"If I had something to do I should be ever so much happier," she told
+June again and again, and June quite agreed.
+
+"It must be awful, killing time," she said. "When I think of the life
+I used to lead at home before I started trying to improve people's
+complexions, I wonder I didn't go mad. Nothing but silly tea-parties
+and scandal.... Ugh! But all the same Micky and I agreed that you
+wouldn't like being at Mrs. Ashton's."
+
+"Micky!" said Esther scornfully. "As if I care what he thinks...."
+
+June looked mildly amazed.
+
+"Oh, all right," she said smoothly. "I suppose I may mention his name
+sometimes, mayn't I?" She began to laugh. "Do you know that for once
+in my life I've been totally wrong with regard to you two? I was so
+sure you'd more than like each other--I even thought it quite possible
+that Micky might fall in love with you--you're so exactly suited to
+him."
+
+"I'm glad you think so," said Esther drily. "I'm sorry I can't oblige
+you by agreeing."
+
+June said "Humph!" She yawned. "All the same," she added after a
+moment, "I'm convinced that things would have been different if it
+hadn't been for that phantom lover of yours; you're so crazy about
+him." There was a touch of exasperation in her voice.
+
+Esther flushed angrily.
+
+"It's absurd of you to talk like this," she said. "Mr. Mellowes is the
+last man on earth I should ever have looked at, even supposing
+Raymond...." She had spoken the name before she was aware of it; in
+her momentary flash of temper the secret she had so carefully guarded
+escaped her.
+
+It was too late to attempt to cover what she had said; she knew by the
+sudden expression of June's face that she had heard.
+
+There was a poignant silence, then June sat up with a little jerk.
+
+"Of course, that's let the cat out of the bag," she said curtly. "And
+you let me run him down! How mean, how unutterably mean of you,
+Esther!... I can't think now why I never guessed! Raymond Ashton!"
+
+Esther had flushed scarlet.
+
+"I never said that was his name," she tried to defend herself. "It's
+purely your imagination. And even supposing it is, do you think I mind
+what you say about him, or Mr. Mellowes either? Neither of you know
+him as I do, or you would never say such cruel, wicked things." She
+stopped with a sob in her voice.
+
+"Then it is Raymond Ashton?" June said gently. She got up and came
+over to where Esther was sitting. "Oh, I am sorry I said anything
+about him!" she cried impulsively. "You ought to have stopped me. How
+on earth was I to know?"
+
+"I don't care what you said; it's all untrue," Esther protested
+stormily. "Nothing you could ever say about him would influence me or
+make me feel any differently."
+
+June got up for a cigarette; when she was nonplussed she invariably
+had to smoke; she took several agitated puffs before she looked at her
+friend again.
+
+"Well, anything I said was in absolute innocence, you know that," she
+said in distress. "I'd no more idea than the dead that you and he....
+So that's why he doesn't want you to go to his mother?"
+
+"He doesn't know; I never told him it was to Mrs. Ashton's--I just
+said I had had an offer of a berth. I suppose you are trying to make
+out now that he----"
+
+"Heaven bless the child!" June cried. "I'm not trying to make out
+anything! I'm struck all of a heap like! as Lydia says. So he's the
+phantom lover, is he?... Well--I can't find any words to suit the
+case."
+
+"He's not a phantom lover," Esther protested. "He's a real lover, a
+very real lover."
+
+June stopped and took her hand.
+
+"I'm not going to let you quarrel with me over him, no matter how
+badly you want to," she said. "No man is worth two friends having a
+row over. I'm quite prepared to take him to my arms and love him if
+you do.... Oh, Esther, don't look like that!"
+
+There were tears in Esther's eyes, and her lips were trembling.
+"You're making fun of me," she protested. "It's unkind of you."
+
+June turned away; she wondered if perhaps, after all, she and every
+one else had thoroughly misunderstood Raymond, and if this girl's warm
+championing of him was deserved.
+
+"He's not nearly good enough for her," she was telling herself
+indignantly. "She'll never really be happy with him."
+
+"I hope you won't tell Mr. Mellowes, or any one else," Esther was
+saying defiantly. "I don't want my affairs talked over by every one."
+
+"I shall not tell any one," June said quietly.
+
+She stood looking down into the fire, and her face was troubled.
+
+Presently she walked to Esther, and, stooping, kissed her.
+
+"I'm awfully glad I know," she said. "It makes our friendship seem so
+much more real."
+
+Esther smiled faintly.
+
+But June was ill at ease. She felt instinctively that things were not
+all right.
+
+"It isn't the man himself," she told herself obstinately. "It's some
+foolish, mistaken ideal of him that she has created."
+
+She wondered what he really was doing in Paris. Micky would know--he
+and Micky had been such great friends. There would be no harm in
+speaking of him to Micky, at least that would not be betraying any
+secret or confidence.
+
+She rang Micky up the following morning. She made the excuse that she
+wanted to see him on business. She took him to lunch at her club.
+
+"You don't look well," was her greeting. "What's the matter, Micky?"
+
+Micky frowned. If there was one thing he hated it was for any one to
+remark on his appearance. He answered brusquely that he had never been
+better in his life.
+
+"By the way, I was going to write when you rang up," he said. "I've
+got some tickets for a first night to-morrow. Would you care to come
+along and--and bring Miss Shepstone?"
+
+June beamed. She liked going out with Micky.
+
+"I should love it," she said with enthusiasm. "I can't answer for
+Esther, though."
+
+"Try to persuade her," he urged carelessly. "I don't suppose she's
+been about much; it would do her good."
+
+"She told me she loves theatres," June admitted; "but the trouble will
+probably be that she hasn't got a dress."
+
+"A dress?" Micky echoed vaguely. "Can't you lend her one of yours?"
+
+June laughed.
+
+"My dear boy, she's much taller than me and slimmer. ... However,
+I'll see what can be done. Where shall we meet you?"
+
+"I'll call for you at seven. We'll have some grub first."
+
+"Good! And if Esther won't come?"
+
+"Oh, well, if she won't, you come along, of course; but try and
+persuade her."
+
+"She's refused Mrs. Ashton's offer, you know," June said presently.
+She kept her eyes lowered; she felt self-conscious and guilty.
+
+"Has she?" Micky did not sound particularly interested.
+
+"Yes; the phantom lover objected, or something, and I think it's just
+as well."
+
+"She said something about it when I had tea with you the other day."
+
+June nodded.
+
+"So she did. I dare say that wretched Raymond would have tried to make
+love to her if she had gone," she added deliberately.
+
+"He's away just now," Micky said quickly. "I ran across him when I was
+over in Paris last week."
+
+June looked up quickly.
+
+"Did you? What's he doing there?"
+
+"Nothing particular; he often goes over, you know."
+
+"I can't stand that man," June said, after a moment.
+
+"No?" Micky's voice was casual.
+
+"I never could see why you were so thick with him," she went on.
+
+Micky laughed lazily.
+
+"Perhaps because I haven't your gift of second sight, my dear," he
+said.
+
+"I shouldn't have thought it would need second sight to see what he
+is," June declared.
+
+She looked across at Micky and was surprised by the hard expression of
+his face. "I hate men who flirt," she added. "Micky, do you know that
+I've got a kind of feeling about Esther's phantom lover that he
+doesn't really exist?"
+
+Micky sat up with sudden attention.
+
+"What do you mean?" he asked.
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I mean that he isn't really a tangible man," she explained
+haltingly.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Oh yes, he is," he said.
+
+June caught her breath.
+
+"You don't mean--oh, do you mean that you know him?" she asked
+excitedly.
+
+Micky met her eyes with a faintly ironical smile in his own.
+
+"Yes, I know him," he answered hardily. "And so do you. My dear, I may
+be very green, but your careful questioning wouldn't deceive a
+mouse."
+
+"Micky!" said June indignantly. She flushed all over her face, and her
+queer eyes blazed angrily. She really felt that she had a done a
+dreadful thing in having allowed him to guess.
+
+"You needn't look so upset," Micky said. "You've not told me anything;
+I knew it long before you did."
+
+"When? How--oh, Micky, do tell me!"
+
+"There's nothing to tell. Ashton often spoke about her to me. I knew
+she was at Eldred's, and--well that's all," he added lamely.
+
+"All!" said June disappointedly. "But surely you know more than that!
+What do you think of him? Do you think he really cares for her? Oh,
+Micky, do you think he's good enough for her?"
+
+Micky looked away.
+
+"I don't know that it matters very much what I think," he said drily.
+"She--she loves him apparently, and that's all that counts, I
+imagine."
+
+"Yes, she loves him right enough," June admitted gloomily. "It was
+quite an accident that she told me his name, of course, and she made
+me promise not to tell any one, particularly you. I suppose because
+she knows that you and he were friends."
+
+"Possibly, if she does know. I rather doubt if Ashton said much to her
+about me, though. He used to keep things to himself a good deal." He
+picked up the menu. "Aren't you going to have anything more to eat? I
+thought you were hungry."
+
+"I'm not now; I'm too excited. Micky, when you saw him in Paris,
+didn't he say anything, ask you anything? Oh, it all seems so
+extraordinary!"
+
+"My dear girl, what could he ask me?" Micky objected gently. "I never
+discuss--Miss Shepstone with him, and he is not in the least likely to
+tell me his private affairs, and I'm sure I don't want to know them."
+
+June was silent for a moment.
+
+"Esther is laying up trouble for herself," she said then. "Don't you
+think she is?"
+
+"I haven't thought about it," Micky maintained stolidly. "And if you
+take my advice, you won't either. It never does to meddle with other
+people's affairs."
+
+"But she's my friend," June objected hotly. "And do you mean to say
+that I have got to stand by and see her ruin her life?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"She's not married yet," he said laconically. "Have some tipsy cake,
+will you?"
+
+"No--I don't want any more."
+
+"Well, I do. Waitress...."
+
+It was a deliberate attempt to change the conversation, and June knew
+it; she sat back in her chair frowning.
+
+She supposed Micky would not talk about Ashton because he was his
+friend; men were so absurdly loyal to one another.
+
+"If you loved Esther as much as I do," she said suddenly, "you
+wouldn't stand by and say nothing while she goes and marries that
+man."
+
+Micky was prodding the tipsy cake with a fork.
+
+"She hasn't married him yet," he said stoically. "And if she's
+happy----"
+
+"She isn't, my good man! at least only in theory!" June declared.
+"It's not Raymond Ashton she really cares for, but some wonderful
+person she thinks he is. She is looking at him through rose-coloured
+glasses."
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"That's what most women do, isn't it?" he asked. "My dear girl, don't
+get so upset; I thought you wanted to bring me out to talk business."
+
+"This is business, my business at least, even if you're not
+interested. No wonder you didn't want her to go to Mrs. Ashton's!"
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"Well--I thought it would be better not, certainly."
+
+June regarded him severely.
+
+"You're a deep soul," she said. "I never even guessed that you knew
+anything."
+
+"Why should you? And I don't know anything. Can't we talk about
+something else?" he asked plaintively.
+
+It was getting on his nerves, this constant conversation about
+Esther.
+
+"So you'll come along to-morrow, eh?" he asked presently. "It's a long
+time since we went for a little jaunt together."
+
+"I shall love it." But June answered absently; her thoughts were still
+with Esther.
+
+Silence fell. Micky had finished his tipsy cake and was leaning back
+in his chair, a cigarette hanging dejectedly between his lips. He had
+lit it, but it had gone out, and though matches stood beside him he
+made no effort to light it again.
+
+June watched him across the table. He didn't look a bit well, she
+thought. What was the matter with him?
+
+"You know, Micky," she said impulsively, "I had quite made up my mind
+that you and Esther were to fall in love with one another. It would
+have been ideal, wouldn't it?" she asked wickedly.
+
+A little spasm crossed Micky's face, but it was gone so quickly June
+could never be quite sure if she had not imagined it.
+
+"Ideal," he said quietly. "Shall we go?"
+
+"I'll let you know about to-morrow," June said, as they parted. "I
+shall have to wear the same old purple frock I wore when you took me
+out last time; you won't mind?"
+
+"Not a bit, as long as you come; and ... let me know about Miss
+Shepstone. If she won't come I'll give the ticket away."
+
+"I'll let you know," said June vaguely.
+
+She walked home deep in thought. So Micky had known all along? She was
+not quite sure that she was pleased with him for keeping the fact from
+her. They had been such pals, he and she; surely he might have trusted
+her and told her!
+
+"I suppose I'm not to be trusted with a secret, though," she thought
+with a comical sigh. "Look how easily I gave Esther's away!"
+
+Tea was ready when she got in, and Esther and Charlie sat curled up
+together in the firelight.
+
+"I've got an invitation for us both to-morrow night," June said, even
+as she opened the door.
+
+Esther looked up eagerly; she had had rather a dull day of it.
+
+"A theatre," said June. "It's from Micky. I tell you at once, so you
+shan't throw cold water on it. He's got some seats for a first night,
+and asks us both to go. What do you say?"
+
+"I haven't a dress," said Esther promptly.
+
+"I told him you'd say that," June answered calmly, "and he said it
+didn't matter--or something to that effect. Micky never notices what
+you wear," she went on airily. "I'm going to wear an old purple rag
+that I've had for about forty years."
+
+Esther laughed. "I dare say I can buy one in time," she said; she did
+not intend Micky to think she could not afford a frock. "I think I
+should rather like to go," she added shyly.
+
+"Good!" June hid the amazement she felt. "Well, Micky's going to call
+for us and take us out to dinner first. It'll be a scrumptious
+dinner--Micky always does the thing in style!"
+
+"It's kind of him to ask me," Esther said.
+
+"Why?" June demanded. "Oh, you mean because you don't like one
+another? But that wouldn't trouble Micky; he'd take you out if he
+hated the sight of you, he's so kind-hearted."
+
+"Thank you for a doubtful compliment," said Esther.
+
+She was making plans rapidly in her mind. Micky had never seen her
+well dressed.
+
+"I had another cheque from Raymond this morning," she said flushing.
+"So it will come in useful. I can get a ready-made frock--I shan't
+look so bad."
+
+"You'll look an angel whatever you wear," said June affectionately. "I
+know a little woman just off the Brompton Road who'll fix you up,"
+June said eagerly. "She's got the tiniest shop, but it's cram full of
+the sweetest things. She's awfully nice, too."
+
+"I can't afford much," Esther said dubiously.
+
+"She won't charge you much," June declared. "She's a friend of mine.
+She has my creams on her counter. It's a fine advertisement, you see.
+She gets lots of actresses and smart people in, and they ask what it
+is, and try a jar and send for more, and, there you are!"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"If she's too expensive----" she protested.
+
+But she ended by paying much more than she had originally intended.
+There was such a gem of a frock--black velvet and a white transparent
+bodice.
+
+"You look a duck!" June declared. "Doesn't she, Fifine?"
+
+But the mirror told Esther how charming she really looked without any
+further words.
+
+"I really ought not to have spent so much," she said as they went
+home. "But it is rather nice, isn't it?"
+
+"Micky will be absolutely bowled over," June declared. "I shall have
+to take a back seat all the evening."
+
+And Micky apparently was "bowled over," judging by the look that crept
+into his eyes when he arrived and found Esther alone in the
+sitting-room.
+
+June was late, as usual; she called out to him from her room that she
+wouldn't be half a minute.
+
+"There's no hurry," Micky answered quickly. He went over to where
+Esther stood, a little flushed and shy in her new frock.
+
+"It's very kind of you to come," he said rather agitatedly. She looked
+up.
+
+"It's very kind of you to ask me," she answered. She felt much more at
+her ease with him now. She knew that she was looking particularly
+pretty. "And it isn't the first time we have had dinner together, is
+it?" she asked.
+
+He answered eagerly that he was glad she remembered; he had almost
+thought she must have forgotten.
+
+"No, I shall never forget that, though it seems so long ago since that
+night. I was unhappy then, but now...."
+
+"But now?" he asked as she paused.
+
+"Now everything has come right," she told him. "You said you were sure
+it would, if you remember."
+
+His face changed a little.
+
+"I am glad I was such a good prophet," he said.
+
+June came bustling in; she was flushed and breathless, and laden with
+flowers, fan, and gloves, all of which she dropped to the sofa.
+
+"I'm quite ready. Esther, where's my cloak? Do find it, there's an
+angel. Oh, and my slippers--I've got everything else...."
+
+But it was at least another ten minutes before they were in the taxi
+and racing away through the night.
+
+"I've booked a table at Marnio's," Micky said. "I hope you like
+Marnio's, June?"
+
+"I like anything to-night," she told him. "I'm going to enjoy myself
+thoroughly, whatever happens."
+
+Micky glanced at Esther.
+
+"And you, Miss Shepstone?" he asked rather nervously.
+
+"Esther's too excited to speak," June answered for her. "Oh, are we
+here already?"
+
+She led the way into the lounge of the big restaurant; Micky was well
+known here apparently.
+
+"Every one in London knows Micky," June whispered to Esther with a
+sort of pride. "Look at the attention he gets!"
+
+Esther glanced at him; probably anybody with Micky's money could get
+the same attention, she thought.
+
+There were a good many people in the lounge; Esther looked at them
+interestedly. Some of the women were beautifully dressed, but the
+black and white frock held its own bravely.
+
+"You look nicer than any of them," June told her. "I
+knew--hullo!--Micky's found a friend." She looked across to where he
+was standing, and Esther followed her gaze.
+
+Micky was talking to two ladies--one of them was young and rather
+pretty, and the other--Esther's face flushed suddenly, and she bit her
+lip hard, for the other was Mrs. Ashton, Raymond's mother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Esther unconsciously put out her hand and grasped June's arm; she
+would have given anything had it been possible to run away. She saw
+Mrs. Ashton turn and look towards where they were standing, and in
+another moment she had crossed the lounge and was shaking hands with
+June.
+
+"I was just inviting Mr. Mellowes to come and dine with us," she said.
+"But he tells me he already has an engagement." Her eyes smiled at
+June. "I suppose you are the engagement?" she submitted.
+
+June laughed.
+
+A string band was playing a ragtime tune when they entered the
+restaurant. To Esther's unaccustomed eyes the room with its flowers
+and many lights was the most wonderful place she had ever seen. She
+kept close to Micky as he threaded his way through the small tables
+till he found their own, rather at the end of the room and away from
+the noisy band.
+
+He put Esther into a comfortable chair and himself took her cloak.
+
+"You don't mind being left while I go back for June?" he asked
+hurriedly; "she seems to have got lost."
+
+Esther looked after him as he went quickly back down the length of the
+room. She liked him in evening dress. If only it had been Raymond
+instead!--she stifled a little sigh; she meant to enjoy herself this
+evening; she was not going to allow one single despondent thought.
+
+June and Micky rejoined her almost at once.
+
+"I thought some one had eloped with you," June said laughingly. "Where
+did you get to? Micky, how hot this room is--I'm just stifling!"
+
+She threw off her wrap and snatched up a paper fan from the table.
+Micky sat down between the two girls.
+
+"Miss Shepstone didn't want to see Mrs. Ashton, I rather fancy," he
+said coolly. He looked at Esther with a slight smile in his eyes. "I
+believe she was afraid Mrs. Ashton would demand a reason for having
+had her kind offer so cavalierly refused," he went on banteringly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Yes, I believe I was," she admitted. "I'm an awful coward over
+explaining things to people."
+
+"So am I," said Micky drily. He was wondering how he was ever going to
+explain the most difficult occurrence of his whole life, and if, when
+he had done so, it would ever be believed.
+
+He looked at Esther a great deal during dinner; he had never seen her
+so animated; her eyes were sparkling, and her cheeks were flushed; she
+talked a great deal, and was particularly friendly to him; he was
+quite sorry when it was time to go on to the theatre.
+
+As they left the restaurant he noticed that she kept close to him
+again, and that she looked anxiously round for Mrs. Ashton.
+
+"It's all right," he said. "She's upstairs in the gallery."
+
+She smiled. She thought he was very quick to understand her. Raymond
+had never seemed to understand things without an explanation. She
+wished he had been rather more like Micky in some ways; she
+wished--she looked up at Micky guiltily; how could she compare the two
+men?--the one whom she loved, and the other whom she did not even
+like!
+
+They were late, and the curtain had risen when they were shown into
+their seats. The theatre was dark, and Esther could hardly see her
+way. She put out her hand with a smothered laugh and felt for Micky's.
+"I can't see," she said.
+
+His fingers closed about hers; such a little hand it felt. He wondered
+why she was being so kind to him to-night. He did not realise that she
+was enjoying herself so much that she felt on good terms with the
+whole world.
+
+Esther sat between him and June, and Micky hardly looked at the stage
+at all. His eyes turned again and again to her rapt face and the
+eagerness of her eyes.
+
+She had been to theatres lots of times, so she told him in a whisper,
+but never in the stalls before. She asked him if he didn't like some
+of the frocks worn by the people close by.
+
+Micky's eyes flashed.
+
+"Not so well as yours," he said.
+
+She drew away from him a little, and he wished he had not said it. In
+that one moment he felt that he had broken down all the friendliness
+she had shown him that evening. She did not speak again for some
+time.
+
+In the interval June leaned over to him.
+
+"Are you bored, Micky? You look bored to death."
+
+Micky stifled a sigh.
+
+"No," he said rather wearily.
+
+His eyes wandered round the crowded house. There were several people
+in the stalls whom he knew. He noticed that people were looking at
+Esther, and he felt a little thrill of pride.
+
+They were wondering who she was, of course. He wished with all his
+heart that he could stand up in his seat and announce to an interested
+world that she was the woman he intended to marry.
+
+When the light went down again Esther leaned a little closer to him.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes----" she said.
+
+"Yes." Micky bent his head towards her eagerly. He could hear her
+agitated breathing, hear too the little quiver in her voice when she
+spoke.
+
+"Did you see who was in that box on the right?--the lower box.... I
+thought it was Mrs. Ashton."
+
+Micky answered casually that very likely it was.
+
+"Odd, eh," he said, "that we should dine at the same place and have
+tickets for the same show?"
+
+Esther said "Yes--yes" twice in nervous hurry.
+
+There was something strained and unnatural about her, and though Micky
+could not see her face clearly he knew that something had happened to
+distress her.
+
+"What is it?" he asked anxiously. "Is anything the matter?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"No.... No."
+
+She sat very still till the curtain fell again, but Micky had the
+feeling that she was not paying the least attention to what was going
+on on the stage, and he knew that her eyes turned again and again to
+the stage box. What was she afraid of, he asked himself in perplexity,
+even if Mrs. Ashton did see her and recognize her, surely--then in a
+flash he knew ... the light had been turned up suddenly, and in that
+moment he saw the figure of a man move quickly from the front of the
+box to the screen of the curtains.
+
+Micky gripped the arms of his seat; for the moment he could not move.
+
+It was Raymond--he knew it as certainly as if he had been told.
+
+No doubt he had seen Esther, whilst she ... poor child! Had she seen
+him too?
+
+He looked down at her; she was sitting up stiffly, her hands clasped
+in the lap of the new frock of which she had been so innocently proud;
+her face was as white as the soft tulle of her sleeves, and her eyes
+were fixed on the box with its velvet curtains where Mrs. Ashton sat
+laughing and chatting with a girl in a pink frock.
+
+They both turned from time to time to some one who stood behind them
+in the shadow; once the curtains moved a little and a man's hand and
+arm showed distinctly.
+
+Micky could bear it no longer; he touched Esther's clasped hands.
+
+"Are you ill?--would you like me to take you out?"
+
+But she shook her head.
+
+"No, no ... please leave me alone."
+
+June had discovered a friend in a seat a row or two ahead with whom
+she was trying to carry on a conversation; she had no eyes for Micky
+or Esther. Micky gave a sigh of relief when the lights were lowered
+again; he could feel all that Esther was suffering, he could put
+himself in her place so thoroughly.
+
+If he went round to the box and made sure if it were Ashton, perhaps
+that would be the best way; he could manage to give him the tip then
+to keep out of the way. He half rose in his seat, but Esther moved at
+once, laying her fingers on his arm.
+
+"Oh, don't go--don't leave me here," she said tremulously.
+
+It was not the man himself she wanted, but his presence somehow gave
+her a feeling of confidence; if, indeed, it was Raymond up there in
+the box. She tried to argue herself out of the fancy; he would have
+let her know if he had come to London--surely she would have been the
+first to whom he would have come; she was mad to ever think the man up
+there in the background could be Raymond.
+
+But the conviction was there in her mind.
+
+"It is he--I know it's he," something in her heart was saying over and
+over again obstinately.
+
+The rest of the play seemed endless; she rose with a quick breath of
+thankfulness when it was over.
+
+"You are in a hurry," June said. "Haven't you enjoyed it?"
+
+"Yes, oh yes, but it's hot--I want to get out."
+
+Micky was deliberately being as slow as he could--he blocked the way
+out obstinately; the stalls were almost empty when at last they left
+them.
+
+June touched his arm.
+
+"Micky--is--Esther ill? Look how white she is."
+
+Esther was some little way ahead of them; she seemed to be trying to
+get out as quickly as possible.
+
+"It's too hot for her, poor darling!" June said. "Micky----"
+
+Micky laughed savagely.
+
+"It's not that," he said, "but Ashton was up in that box with his
+mother, and she saw him."
+
+"Micky----" He silenced her with a frown. He followed Esther as
+quickly as he could, but she was outside in the cold night air before
+he overtook her. There was a crowd here too--rows of cars and
+carriages outside, and women in thin evening frocks and furs shivering
+in the cold wind.
+
+Micky drew Esther's hand through his arm.
+
+"We shall find our cab this way, I think," he said evenly.
+
+He had seen Mrs. Ashton only a few yards away, and he dreaded every
+moment that Esther would see her, and see, too, who was with her.
+
+A sudden block in the crowd momentarily hindered them, and in that
+second a man's light laugh rang out above the noise and chatter of
+voices.
+
+Micky felt the girl beside him give a convulsive start. She tried to
+drag her fingers from his, but he held them fast.
+
+The crowd was moving again now; a second, and Raymond and his mother
+were lost to sight.
+
+Micky had slipped an arm round Esther; he was white to the lips. He
+knew now how near he had been to discovery and the wreck of all his
+hopes. He tried to pretend that he did not understand the cause of her
+agitation. He looked down at her.
+
+"Better now you're in the air?" he asked. "It was hot in the theatre.
+I--Esther----"
+
+She had swung heavily against him, and looking down in sudden alarm,
+Micky saw that she had fainted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+Looking back to that night at the theatre it always seemed to June
+Mason that she had been most extraordinarily blind in not seeing
+before that it was Esther for whom Micky Mellowes cared.
+
+One glance at his face as he lifted the girl in his arms told her more
+than any words would have done; there was a sort of indescribable rage
+and pain in his eyes as he looked down at the white face lying against
+his shoulder.
+
+People gathered about them, curious and sympathetic. June heard some
+one say that it had been so "deuced hot in the theatre, no wonder
+people fainted," but she knew all the time that it was nothing to do
+with the heat; she stooped mechanically and picked up Esther's gloves
+which had fallen from her nerveless hand before she followed Micky
+back into the foyer, where he laid Esther down on one of the long
+velvet lounges.
+
+Afterwards she realised that the sudden discovery that Micky loved her
+friend had been something of a shock to her, that she had even been
+faintly jealous; she did not want to marry him herself, and yet they
+had been such good friends, it gave her an odd little pain to think
+that there was somebody else whom he placed a long way ahead of her in
+his heart.
+
+Most of the people had gone, one or two of the theatre attendants
+lingered; it seemed a long time before Esther opened her eyes. She lay
+for a moment, looking vaguely about her, then her eyes came back to
+Micky, who was bending over her, his face scarcely less white than her
+own.
+
+She made an effort to lift herself from his arm; then quite suddenly
+she burst into tears.
+
+The little sound of sobbing broke the spell that seemed, to have held
+June; she went down on her knees beside her, both arms round the
+slender, shaking figure.
+
+Micky had risen to his feet. June glanced up at him.
+
+"Go and find the taxi and leave her to me," she said sharply. The look
+of suffering in his face hurt her. Micky went out into the cold night
+bareheaded. He hardly knew what he was doing. He stood for some
+minutes on the path forgetting why he had come out at all, before some
+one, jostling against him, brought him back to a sense of time and
+place.
+
+He went down the road to look for a taxi. When he came back Esther was
+sitting up, wrapped in her cloak. She was not crying now, but she
+looked like a child who wants to cry but is determined not to.
+
+June was standing beside her.
+
+"We're quite ready," she said. She kept an arm about Esther, and Micky
+followed them silently.
+
+He saw them into the cab, but did not follow. June asked a sharp
+question: "Aren't you coming?"
+
+"No--at least, not if you can manage without me." His voice sounded
+unnerved; he looked away from June to where Esther was huddled into a
+corner beside her, and suddenly, as if urged by an impulse he could
+not control, he leaned forward, groped for her hand in the darkness,
+and, bending, kissed it passionately.
+
+A moment later he had stepped back and shut the door.
+
+He stood looking after the cab till it vanished round a corner, then
+he went back to the theatre for his hat and coat, and set off again
+down the road.
+
+He was not conscious of any real emotion; but he walked swiftly as a
+man does who has a set purpose, and he did not stop till he found
+himself outside the Ashtons' house.
+
+It was not far off midnight, but lights burned in many of the windows,
+and after a swift glance at the face of the house he went up the steps
+and rang the bell.
+
+It was some moments before the door was opened by a mildly amazed-looking
+servant; Micky asked for Mr. Ashton.
+
+"My name is Mellowes," he said, as she obviously hesitated. "If you
+tell him my name he will see me. I know he is in, I saw him at the
+Comedy Theatre to-night."
+
+He stepped past the girl into the hall, and after a slightly scared
+glance at him she shut the door and departed upstairs.
+
+A moment later Micky heard Ashton's voice.
+
+"You old night-bird! What an ungodly hour to call on any one! I was
+just going to bed; come in."
+
+He spoke easily, but there was a slightly anxious look in his eyes; he
+led the way into the library.
+
+The fire was nearly out there and the room felt chilly; he shivered,
+and, stooping, tried to rake the cinders into a blaze.
+
+Micky watched him silently; after a moment Ashton turned.
+
+"Lord, man! what's the matter? You look as cheerful as Doomsday."
+
+Micky was standing stiffly against the table.
+
+"I saw you in the theatre to-night," he began without preamble. "I was
+with Miss Shepstone, and she saw you, too--at least she believes it
+was you, and I am going to tell her that she was mistaken. How soon
+can you get out of town and back to Paris?"
+
+Ashton stared; the colour had rushed to his face; after a moment his
+eyes fell.
+
+"I don't know what the devil you're driving at," he said irritably. "I
+suppose I can come to London without asking you first, can't I? And,
+as for Lallie"--he grinned nervously--"well, you know as well as I do
+that that's all been off for weeks."
+
+Micky stood immovable.
+
+"You haven't answered my question," he said flintily. "How soon can
+you get out of London?"
+
+Ashton swore under his breath.
+
+"I'm dashed if I know what you're driving at," he said sulkily. "If
+you like to take Lallie to theatres, that's your business; she's a
+nice little girl, I admit, but----"
+
+Micky took a step forward.
+
+"If you want to make me forget that this is your mother's house,
+you're going the right way to do it," he said between his teeth. "And
+I don't want any of your bluff. Miss Shepstone thinks she saw you at
+the Comedy to-night; she'll probably write to you or try to see you in
+the morning, and you've got to be out of London by then--do you
+hear?"
+
+Ashton laughed; he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Must?" he said nastily. "How long have you been Lallie's champion?...
+Oh, all right, all right," he broke off hurriedly, as he saw the ugly
+light in Micky's eyes. "But it's a bit thick, you know," he resumed
+injuredly. "I've done with her; you know that. You sent my letter on
+to her yourself. It's absurd if I can't come back home for a few days
+in case she should see me and get upset. I'm sorry if she's still fond
+of me, but, dash it all----"
+
+"You haven't answered my question," said Micky again.
+
+He was controlling himself with a mighty effort, but the veins stood
+out like cords on his forehead and his hands were clenched.
+
+The two men looked at one another, and it was Ashton's eyes that
+fell.
+
+"If you're going to bullyrag me...." he began blusteringly, "I may as
+well tell you that I'm not going back to Paris till I please,
+and----"
+
+"Very well," said Micky. He turned on his heel.
+
+Raymond watched him cross the room anxiously. When he reached the door
+he called to him--
+
+"Micky! What the devil are you going to do?"
+
+And Micky answered without turning--
+
+"I'm going to tell Mrs. Clare the way you've treated Miss Shepstone,
+and if she's half the decent sort I think she is she'll throw you
+overboard as you've thrown scores of others...."
+
+Ashton followed and clutched his arm. "Come back; don't be such a
+firebrand! I'll go--I'll clear out by the first train to-morrow....
+I'm sorry if Esther was upset, but...."
+
+Micky cut him short. "The first train leaves Victoria at 9.40; I'll be
+there to see you off."
+
+Ashton scowled. "It's a nice way to treat a friend," he grumbled. "If
+there's really anything up with Lallie ..."
+
+Micky stood like a statue.
+
+"It's decent of you to take her out," Ashton went on uneasily. "I'm
+much obliged to you, I'm sure. She's never had much of a time. If I'd
+had any money...."
+
+Micky broke out then. "Oh, hold your infernal tongue," he said
+furiously.
+
+He walked out of the room, shutting the door hard behind him. He
+passed the astonished maid in the hall and let himself out into the
+night. The blood was pounding in his veins, he felt in actual need of
+physical violence; he did not know how he had managed to keep his
+hands off Raymond. He walked on at a furious pace; presently he
+laughed with a sort of self-pity.
+
+What was the good of what he had done after all? At best he had only
+succeeded in staving off the inevitable for a little while; Esther
+would have to know sooner or later.
+
+Such wasted love it was! All for a man who was not worth one thought,
+or even a tear!
+
+When he got back to his rooms he told Driver to call him early, as he
+was going to see somebody off by train. He was at Victoria long before
+Ashton; the greeting between the two men was constrained.
+
+"I was going back to-day, anyway," Ashton said jauntily. "I'm going to
+be married the day after to-morrow----" He looked at Micky with
+triumphant eyes. "To Mrs. Clare," he added.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Micky got back to his rooms, Driver met him; Driver with a
+spark of unwonted animation in his dull eyes, and who closed the
+sitting-room door mysteriously behind him as he came forward.
+
+"If you please, sir--there is a lady to see you."
+
+"A lady!" said Micky blankly; then he laughed. "Rubbish! You're
+dreaming, man."
+
+"No sir," said Driver stolidly.
+
+Micky stared at him for a moment, then he passed him, and threw open
+the door of the sitting-room.
+
+It was Esther who rose from a chair by the fire as he entered.
+
+For an instant Micky was unable to believe his own eyes, then he shut
+the door and took a step forward.
+
+"You!" he said. "I never thought...."
+
+She broke in agitatedly.
+
+"Oh, I know; I suppose I shouldn't have come; I don't know what June
+would say if she knew; but--but there wasn't anybody else I could come
+to, and you said ... you said...." She flushed up nervously. "Oh, you
+did say you would be a friend to me, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Micky.
+
+He might have reminded her that she had declined his friendship; he
+might have reminded her of all the not very kind things which she had
+said to him, but it was such happiness to see her here in his room
+that he was in no mood to be critical.
+
+"Do sit down ... there's no hurry, is there?" He wanted to put her at
+her ease; he did not like to see the nervous agitation in her face;
+but she shook her head.
+
+"I'm not going to stay, only ... only I...." Her voice changed
+suddenly. "Oh, Mr. Mellowes, will you tell me how I can get to
+Paris?"
+
+"Paris!" Micky echoed the word helplessly. "Paris!" he said again. For
+the moment he stared at her with blank eyes.
+
+She rushed on impetuously.
+
+"I have a friend there--some one I ... some one I ... oh, it's the man
+I'm engaged to, and I want to see him--I must see him! I've got the
+money to get there. I hope you don't think I was going to ask you to
+lend me that...." she added in distress.
+
+"Miss Shepstone ... I--I...." Micky was horribly upset. "I never
+thought anything of the sort. And--and even if you were going to ask
+me, you know quite well that anything I have, anything...."
+
+She stopped him hurriedly.
+
+"Oh, I know, it's very kind of you." Her blue eyes sought his face
+with a sort of abasement. "I don't think I've ever really realised how
+kind you've been to me," she said. "But ... but I've been so worried
+and unhappy ... I--I do hope you'll forgive me if I was rude or
+unkind."
+
+Micky did not answer; so it had come at last, the explanations which
+he had always dreaded; he racked his brains in vain to think of a way
+out of it--to make out the best story he could.
+
+She seemed to realise his perturbation, she came a step nearer to
+him.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes," she said earnestly, "will you tell me something?"
+
+"Yes," said Micky inaudibly, but he did not look at her.
+
+She looked up at him, trying to see his face before she asked her
+question.
+
+"Do you--do you know who the man is that I am going to marry?"
+
+In the silence that followed her timid question, Micky felt that he
+lived through years. Should he tell her the truth, or should he not?
+Ashton was out of London by this time; in another forty-eight hours he
+would be married to another woman; he raised his head with a sort of
+desperation. "No," he said.
+
+He tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that at least it was
+substantially the truth; she was not going to marry Ashton--she never
+could marry him now.
+
+He heard the sigh of relief she gave.
+
+"I'm glad," she said. "Somehow, lately, I have thought that you did
+know. Mr. Mellowes ... last night ... I thought I saw him in the
+theatre last night. I know now that I was mistaken." She paused a
+moment and looked past him to the window and the cold grey street
+outside. "I couldn't have seen him," she said again, as if to convince
+herself rather than him. "Because he is in Paris--I found out this
+morning that he is still in Paris."
+
+"Yes," said Micky. His voice sounded choked. "And so--so you want to
+go out there to him, is that it?"
+
+Her face brightened.
+
+"Yes. I should have told June only--only she isn't very sympathetic.
+You see"--she smiled faintly--"she hates my 'phantom lover,' as she
+calls him, and so--so I know she would only do her best to keep me
+from going to him; but you----"
+
+"I am afraid," said Micky quietly, "that I shall try and do the same
+thing."
+
+He turned and looked at her squarely.
+
+"You've never been to Paris," he said, "and probably you can't speak a
+word of French. You've probably never travelled any distance alone.
+Miss Shepstone, it's impossible for you to go. I am only advising you
+for your own good. Why not write to--to--your fiancé and ask him to
+make arrangements for you?"
+
+He broke off helplessly. The poor little letter in which she had
+already done so lay in his pocket at that moment.
+
+It turned him sick to think of the tissue of lies and deceit his own
+actions were forcing upon him.
+
+"I--I have asked him," she said almost in a whisper, "but he said he
+couldn't have me--then! But that's quite a long time ago," she added
+hopefully. "And I thought if he saw me--if I got there and surprised
+him----"
+
+Micky turned away. He could imagine so well what would happen if
+indeed she found Ashton. He walked over to the window and stood
+looking into the street with unseeing eyes.
+
+"Have a little patience," he said presently. "Take my advice and stay
+here. If he--if he can, he will send for you, I am sure." She looked
+up quickly, a spark of anger in her eyes.
+
+"You sound as if you think that will never be," she said sharply.
+
+Micky met her gaze unflinchingly.
+
+"I don't think anything of the sort. I know--I know if I were in his
+place, whoever he is--I should be counting the moments till I could
+... could have you with me." He smothered the momentary seriousness of
+his words with a little laugh. "And now, after that pretty compliment,
+aren't you going to reward me by taking my most excellent advice?"
+
+The ghost of a smile crossed her face.
+
+"I wanted you to say something so different," she told him wistfully.
+
+"I know--but I'm not going to. Any one would advise you as I have. It
+isn't ... it isn't that I'm prejudiced, or anything like that. I would
+give a great deal to see you happy. I hope you believe me."
+
+She sat twisting her hands together nervously. After a moment she
+looked up at him.
+
+"Thank you," she said.
+
+She rose and began to pull on her gloves.
+
+"I hope you don't think it's very dreadful of me to have come," she
+said deprecatingly. "But ... but this morning, somehow, I felt I must
+have someone to talk to--some one to advise me...."
+
+"I am honoured that you came," said Micky gravely. Her eyes fell
+before his.
+
+"And--and you won't tell June?" she appealed.
+
+He smiled rather sadly.
+
+"I am not likely ever to tell any one," he said.
+
+"No, I know. Mr. Mellowes"--she held out her hand to him suddenly,
+her fair face flushing--"I should like to take back something I
+said to you one day. Perhaps you don't remember, but I do, and
+lately--especially since last night, when you were so kind--I've
+felt that I wasn't just to you; and so ... if you will forgive me,
+I should like to be friends with you after all."
+
+She was crimson by the time she had finished, but Micky took her hand
+without answering, held it for a moment, then let it go.
+
+"I suppose I mustn't offer you anything?" he said with forced
+lightness. "No coffee--or tea? It's cold out this morning. If you
+would care for anything, my man would bring it at once."
+
+She laughed and shook her head.
+
+"I don't want anything, thank you." She looked round at Micky's
+luxuriously furnished room. "Isn't it beautiful?" she asked him.
+
+He smiled. "Do you like it? I am glad."
+
+"I think it's lovely." She looked up at him. "I seem to have been
+climbing a ladder lately," she said. "Since I left that awful place in
+the Brixton Road--where I am now is heaps better than that was, but
+this----"
+
+Micky was silent. It trembled on his lips to say that everything he
+had in the world was hers if only she would take it, but he knew the
+utter futility of it. Money and possessions counted very little with
+her. She would not have minded the house in the Brixton Road at all
+with the man she loved.
+
+He went downstairs with her.
+
+"So we're really friends now?" he said when he bade her good-bye. "And
+you'll promise to let me advise you again when you're not quite sure
+what you ought to do?" There was a note of anxiety in his voice.
+
+She flushed nervously.
+
+"It's kind of you to be interested." It seemed strange to her that
+after all that had happened they should have so easily got back to
+their old footing of friendliness. But Micky was not at all happy.
+When she had gone he stood for a long time at the window staring
+moodily out.
+
+When Driver brought lunch, he found Micky poring over a Bradshaw; he
+spoke to the man with elaborate carelessness.
+
+"You'll have to take another trip to Paris--to-morrow will do."
+
+"Yes sir." Driver smoothed a crease in the cloth. "To post another
+letter, sir?" he asked expressionlessly.
+
+Micky looked up sharply, but Driver met his eyes innocently.
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"No; it isn't a letter this time," he said. "It's to buy a fur coat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+"The phantom lover," said June Mason lugubriously, "is certainly
+turning up trumps."
+
+It was a week later, and she was giving Micky tea.
+
+Esther was out. She knew now that it was to see Esther he came. She
+was quite reconciled to the fact, and had got over her first pang of
+jealousy, but Esther's indifference to him enraged her.
+
+"Can't the girl see what she's throwing away?" she asked herself
+furiously. "What on earth is she made of that she can't see what's
+waiting for her to take? If Micky had adored me as he adores her ...
+well--my name wouldn't have been June Mason to-day."
+
+But she kept such thoughts to herself and treated Micky very much the
+same as usual, though unconsciously there was a slight restraint in
+her manner, especially when Esther was present.
+
+"I'm beginning to think that I've misjudged our Raymond," she went on
+laughingly. "Perhaps some one has converted him. Anyway, he's treating
+Esther handsomely. First the money, and last week the fur coat...."
+Micky looked up with sudden interest.
+
+"Oh, it's come, then, has it!" he said eagerly.
+
+"Come! It's been here two days. How did you know?" she asked with
+sudden suspicion.
+
+"I heard you talking about it. Wasn't it you? No? Then it must have
+been Miss Shepstone."
+
+"I dare say," said June easily. "I never saw any one so delighted with
+a thing as she was with that coat. And it is a beauty, Micky. I only
+hope it's paid for," she added practically.
+
+"Why shouldn't it be paid for?" Micky said.
+
+She made a little grimace.
+
+"Because Raymond Ashton never paid for things if he could help it; and
+you know he didn't," she told him. "However, as he seems to be a
+reformed character, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Suddenly
+she began to laugh. "And that isn't all," she said again. "This
+morning a collar arrived for that blessed cat----" She indicated
+Charlie sleeping peacefully on the rug. "A silver collar, too my boy,
+with Esther's name on it...."
+
+Micky stooped to examine the collar; his face was red when, after a
+moment, he looked up again.
+
+"Esther declares she never told him we'd got a cat," June told him
+doubtfully. "But, of course, she must have done so or else the man's
+got second sight."
+
+Micky was drinking his tea; he choked suddenly.
+
+A feeling of panic closed upon him. Never told him she'd got a cat!
+of course she hadn't! What a fool he had been to make such a
+blunder--what an utter blockhead.
+
+"I expect she did tell him," he managed to say.
+
+"Yes, that's what I think." June lit a cigarette and passed the
+lighted match over to Micky.
+
+"Anyway, Esther goes about the place singing all day," she added
+drily. "There's no doubt at all that she's up in the seventh heaven of
+happiness. Reams of letters the man writes her. Perhaps, as the novels
+tell us, love is a wonderful thing----" She looked at Micky with a
+comical expression in her queer eyes. "I should say it must be if it's
+reformed that man," she added cynically.
+
+Micky said nothing. He had been very uncomfortable about things during
+the last few days. As far as he could find out, Ashton had not yet
+been married. Supposing it had all been bluff when he said he was
+going to be married--supposing he turned up again in London?
+
+Micky stayed as long as he could in case Esther came in; it was only
+when he began to feel sure that June knew why he was dragging his
+visit to such a length that he said he ought to be going.
+
+"There's no hurry," she said kindly. "Why not wait till Esther comes
+in?"
+
+Micky shook his head; he said he couldn't spare the time, but in his
+heart he knew quite well that he intended to wait.
+
+"I suppose she--er--she never talks any more about taking a job now,
+eh?" he asked after a moment.
+
+"No, I don't think so; that man's word is law to her, you know. I
+believe if he said 'Come out here and marry me at once,' she'd fly off
+by the next train. As a matter of fact, I'm expecting something of the
+sort almost daily."
+
+"I don't think she'll do that," Micky said. He stood back to the fire,
+with his hands in his pockets, staring up at the ceiling.
+
+"No!" June watched him quizzically. "Do you know, Micky," she said at
+last, "that I consider you've altered a lot lately?"
+
+He swung round at once, and scrutinised himself in the glass over the
+mantelshelf.
+
+"For the worse, or the better?" he asked anxiously. "I know I never
+was exactly an Adonis."
+
+She laughed merrily.
+
+"I don't mean your face, stupid, but yourself. You're quieter, you
+don't go about so much; in fact"--she challenged him deliberately--"I
+believe you're in love."
+
+"So I am," said Micky stolidly.
+
+She pretended not to take him seriously.
+
+"It's no joking matter--I mean what I say."
+
+"So do I," said Micky. He laughed. He came over to where she was
+sitting, and stood behind her chair so that she could not see his
+face. "I've tried to make up my mind to tell you lots of times," he
+said. "But I thought perhaps you'd have guessed before now...." He
+stopped and moved away restlessly.
+
+June sat very still; presently--
+
+"It's Esther," she said quietly.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Poor old Micky!..."
+
+"You needn't be sorry for me; I walked into it with my eyes wide open.
+I knew she was engaged--I knew it all the time."
+
+"And Esther ... does she know? Have you told her?"
+
+"Yes.... She took it as an insult. Perhaps it was; I don't know. You
+see, I knew she was engaged to that other fellow."
+
+"An outsider! who isn't worth a thought," June cried indignantly.
+"Micky, however could she have refused you?"
+
+He laughed. He looked down at her with a comical expression in his
+eyes.
+
+"She's not the first woman who's done that," he reminded her.
+
+She sat up with sudden haste.
+
+"That wasn't anything, but this...."
+
+"This," said Micky, "isn't anything either, except on my side. You
+always told me that some day I shouldn't be able to have what I
+wanted. You were right."
+
+"I should like to slap her!" said June viciously.
+
+He laughed outright.
+
+"If you did I should slap you, my dear." He went back to his chair by
+the fire. "It's only between ourselves, June," he said.
+
+"Of course ... and, Micky--do you think she will marry Ashton?"
+
+Micky did not answer for a moment.
+
+"No," he said at last. "I don't think so."
+
+June stared at him.
+
+"Then--then do you mean----" But he would not tell her anything.
+
+"You've heard quite enough for one day," he said teasingly. "Don't
+worry your head about me. I don't know why I told you--somehow I
+thought you'd guessed."
+
+June threw her cigarette into the fire.
+
+"I did. I'll be honest--I did guess," she broke off. "Here is Esther,"
+she added.
+
+She got up and opened the door.
+
+"The lady with the fur coat," she announced drily. "Pray come in,
+madame!"
+
+"June," said Esther protestingly.
+
+She seemed to guess who was there. She looked past her friend at once
+to Micky.
+
+She coloured faintly as he rose to greet her.
+
+He had not seen her in the fur coat before. The dark fur suited her
+fairness admirably; the heavy folds hung gracefully about her slim
+figure; her face rose like a flower from the big, upstanding collar.
+
+"And where have you been all the afternoon?" June demanded. "We waited
+tea for you till nearly five."
+
+Esther made a little grimace. "I've had my tea out--with Mr. Harley."
+
+"Harley?" said Micky sharply.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"He's one of the tribe who live here," she explained. "He's a great
+admirer of Esther's. And he's quite a nice boy too, isn't he?" she
+appealed to her friend.
+
+"Very nice," Esther agreed. "I met him quite by chance, and so we went
+and had some tea."
+
+Micky was frowning; it was odd that he felt more jealous of this man
+whom he had never seen than he had ever done of Ashton. He hated to
+feel that Esther had gone out with him wearing her new coat.
+
+He stood by silently while the two girls chattered together; he felt
+very much out of it and unwanted.
+
+"I'm glad everybody likes my coat," Esther said. She had taken it off
+and was holding it at arm's length, admiring its beauty.
+
+"It was a lovely present, wasn't it?" She appealed to Micky.
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+She laid her cheek to the big, soft collar.
+
+"It's something I have wanted all my life," she told him.
+
+Micky put out his hand and took it from her. He hated to see her
+standing there looking so happy because she believed it had come from
+Ashton; he threw it down on the couch.
+
+"I shall have to be going," he said abruptly. He shook hands with
+June, but he walked out of the room without speaking to Esther.
+
+"I don't want any dinner," he told Driver when he got in. "I'm going
+to bed."
+
+Driver opened his mouth to say something and closed it again; he
+brought the evening papers and his master's slippers and turned to
+leave the room. At the door he stopped and looked back.
+
+"Have you seen the evening paper, sir?" he asked deprecatingly.
+
+"No," said Micky. Something in the man's voice arrested his attention;
+he turned in his chair. "Why?" he asked curtly.
+
+Driver came back a step.
+
+"There's a notice of Mr. Ashton's marriage in it, that's all, sir," he
+said woodenly. "I thought that you'd be interested."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+So it had come at last. Micky sat staring down at the small paragraph
+which briefly announced the marriage of Tubby Clare's wealthy widow to
+Mr. Raymond Ashton.
+
+The ceremony, so the paper declared, which had taken place quietly in
+Paris would be a complete surprise to everybody. Mrs. Clare, as all
+the world knew, inherited something like £90,000 under the will of her
+late husband.
+
+Micky whistled softly. Raymond had done well for himself. He would
+be able to live in luxury for the rest of his life; to discharge all
+his debts, if his wife chose to allow him to do so; all but one
+debt--the greatest of them all, and one which he could never hope to
+liquidate--a woman's broken heart.
+
+Esther--what would she say if she knew? And supposing she knew
+now----! It was quite likely that a copy of this same paper had fallen
+into her hands. The thought turned Micky cold; he looked up hurriedly
+at the clock--not yet eight! On what pretext could he go back to
+Elphinstone Road?
+
+He threw the paper down and rose to his feet. His gloves! He would
+make them the excuse--he could go back for his gloves. He taxied down
+the whole way; he sent his name up to June and waited in the hall.
+After a moment she came flying down the stairs.
+
+"Micky! Is anything the matter? What in the world...."
+
+He explained in stammering haste.
+
+"Have you seen the evening paper? No, well, take care not to let Miss
+Shepstone see it. I had to come back and tell you. Ashton--the damned
+outsider...." He ground his teeth.
+
+"Not dead!" said June with a gasp.
+
+"No--he was married yesterday in Paris."
+
+June sat down on the bottom stair; she felt as if all the strength had
+gone out of her.
+
+"It can't be true," she said at last. "Why, she had a letter from him
+only yesterday. Are you sure? It must be another Ashton."
+
+"It isn't--I knew it was coming. He's married Tubby Clare's widow--for
+her money, of course. If Esther knows...."
+
+"It will break her heart," said June.
+
+There were footsteps on the landing above; Micky glanced up
+hurriedly.
+
+"Can't we go somewhere and talk? Everybody will hear if we stay here.
+Where is Miss Shepstone?"
+
+"She's in my room; she's writing to him at this minute----" She broke
+off, drawing in her breath hard. "Oh, Micky, are you quite, quite
+sure? I can't believe it." She stared at him for a moment, then she
+laughed incredulously. "Why, it's only three days ago he sent her that
+fur coat--and the collar for Charlie. Oh, I'm sure it's a mistake!"
+
+"It's not a mistake," said Micky fiercely; he looked away from her.
+"Confound it, isn't there a room where we can go and talk?" he broke
+out again.
+
+She got up from the stairs and led the way across the hall.
+
+"There's the drawing-room. Nobody uses it now because it's so cold."
+She opened the door and peeped in. "There's nobody there."
+
+Micky followed her, shutting the door behind him. The room was chilly
+and uninviting, with a lofty ceiling and a hideous wallpaper. There
+was a gas stove at the far end of the room, turned very low, and
+hissing softly as if in protest.
+
+June knelt down and turned the tap on to its fullest extent.
+
+"The thing is," Micky said hurriedly, "what are we going to do?
+If she stays in London, she's bound to hear about it. All the
+papers will be full of it to-morrow. They'll probably publish his
+confounded portrait. Can't you get her out of London? We've got
+to do something."
+
+June did not look at him. The odd little twinge of jealousy tore her
+heart again. Even though she did not love Micky, she quite realised
+what she was losing. After all it must be a very beautiful thing to be
+cared for as Micky cared for Esther.
+
+She raised her eyes with a little ghost of a smile.
+
+"I'll do anything I can, Micky. If you've got anything to suggest----"
+
+"I thought out crowds of plans coming along in the cab, but they're
+all rotten," Micky admitted dolefully. "I thought you'd be able to
+help me. Can't you be called off to a relative in the country or
+something, and ask Miss Shepstone to go with you?"
+
+June started up.
+
+"Of course I can. I've got an aunt down at Enmore. She's always asking
+me to go and see her. I'll send her a wire. It's too late to-night,
+but in the morning...."
+
+Micky felt in his pocket for a pencil.
+
+"Give me the address and I'll send it first thing." He paused.
+"Supposing Miss Shepstone won't go, though?"
+
+"Oh, she'll go," said June quickly. "I'll tell her it means business
+for me. I'll do the pathetic. I wonder what time there's a train."
+
+"I'll look up all the trains, and arrange everything. Does Miss
+Shepstone know I'm here now?"
+
+"No----"
+
+"Very well, tell her one of your business agents called, and that
+you've got to go off early to-morrow. You can write me a note and post
+it to-night, asking me to see you off. It's quite a usual thing for
+you to do, you know----"
+
+June smiled rather sadly.
+
+"Poor old Micky!" she said.
+
+Micky frowned.
+
+"Don't talk rubbish," he said rather shortly. "I'd do the same for any
+one."
+
+June knew it would be useless to contradict.
+
+"If you can keep her out of town for a week it may all have blown
+over," he went on. "I'll run down and see you if I may----"
+
+"You know you may; but, Micky--don't you think all this is rather
+mistaken kindness? She'll have to know sooner or later; why not tell
+her at once? When the letters stop coming she'll begin to worry, and
+then----"
+
+Micky shook his head obstinately.
+
+"I've my own reasons; be a pal and help me, June."
+
+"Very well, old boy."
+
+She gave him her hand.
+
+"I think you're making a mistake, but I suppose you know your own
+business best. At any rate, I've warned you."
+
+"You're a dear," said Micky gratefully.
+
+June went to the front door with him; in spite of her promise she was
+not feeling happy. Esther would have to know. She went slowly back up
+the stairs.
+
+"It's a mistake," she told herself again, with a sense of foreboding.
+"Micky's making a mistake."
+
+But she determined to act up to her part. She ran up the last flight
+of stairs with a great noise and show of excitement. She burst into
+their sitting-room breathless.
+
+"Such news, Esther! Are you game for a dash down into the wilds of
+nowhere? I've got to go off on business. One of my agents has just
+been here. He's made a mess of things, as usual, and I've got to go
+down and put things right. Oh, it's quite country! I don't know if you
+like the country. I adore it myself. A place called Enmore. I've got
+an antediluvian aunt who lives there, and we'll go and foist ourselves
+on her. She's always asking me to go and see her, so she'll be
+delighted. Well, what do you say?"
+
+"You haven't given me a chance to say anything," Esther protested
+laughing. "You're like a whirlwind, sweeping every one off their feet.
+Where is Enmore to start with? And how can I go? Your aunt doesn't
+know me."
+
+"She'll love you because I do," said June promptly. "Now don't spoil
+everything. The greatest fun of it all is rushing off at a moment's
+notice. I shall send Micky a note to-night and tell him to look up
+trains for us and come and see us off. Micky's always to be relied on.
+If I look trains up myself I always go by the wrong ones and never get
+there." She was sitting down to her desk as she spoke; she looked
+across at Esther, pen in hand. "Well?" she queried.
+
+Esther looked down at Charlie sprawling in the firelight.
+
+"What's going to become of Charlie?" she asked.
+
+"Lydia will look after him," June said promptly. "She adores cats.
+That's one excuse surmounted. Any more?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should like to come, but----"
+
+"Then that's settled. We'll stay a week if we're not bored to death.
+It's a desolate spot--just a handful of houses and a haystack and a
+few things like that, but if you like the country we ought to have a
+good time. I wish I'd got a car...."
+
+"Isn't it rather a funny place to go to for business?" Esther asked
+innocently.
+
+"Not in the least," June declared. "All the ingredients for my skin
+food came from the country--herbs and attar of flowers and all the
+rest of it. Besides"--she swallowed hard before uttering the biggest
+fib of all--"my agent lives down there, you see."
+
+"Oh!" said Esther. She was rather pleased at the idea of a change.
+
+"I suppose we can have letters sent on?" she asked after a moment.
+
+June's scratching pen stopped for a moment; then flew on again faster
+than before.
+
+"Oh, of course!" she said airily.
+
+Her kind heart gave a little throb of pity as she realised that there
+would never be any letters to send on--not any, at least, of which
+Esther was thinking.
+
+The phantom lover had gone for ever.
+
+She looked round at the girl pityingly. She looked so happy and
+unconscious sitting there in the firelight, and all the time if she
+knew what had just happened over in Paris her heart would surely
+break.
+
+"Beast!" said June under her breath.
+
+Esther turned.
+
+"What did you say?" she asked.
+
+"I was only talking to the pen," June answered irascibly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Micky turned up at Paddington the following morning laden with papers
+and chocolates.
+
+"Any one would think we were going to the other side of the world,"
+June told him. "Do you know, my good man, that it's only a couple of
+hours' run to Enmore?"
+
+"Is it?" said Micky guilelessly. "Well, any way, I'm sure you won't be
+able to get De Bry's chocolates down there, so they'll come in
+useful." He looked at Esther. She was wearing the fur coat and a bunch
+of violets.
+
+"I think it's awfully exciting," she said, meeting his eyes. "We never
+thought about going till quite late last night, did we, June?"
+
+"Things done in a hurry are almost the most enjoyable," June answered
+sententiously. "I'm quite bucked at the idea of living the simple life
+for a few days."
+
+"Pity you haven't got a car down there," Micky said. "There ought to
+be some fine runs round about."
+
+"So there are," said June promptly. Her queer eyes twinkled as she
+looked at him. "Micky, would you like to be a perfect dear and come
+down in yours, and take us out? You can stay at the local inn and play
+the heavy swell----"
+
+Micky flushed eagerly.
+
+"That's a ripping idea," he said. He turned to Esther: "I'll come like
+a shot if I shan't be in the way," he added.
+
+Esther smiled; she was surprised to find that the idea was not at all
+distasteful to her.
+
+"Oh yes; do come!" she said.
+
+June had got into the carriage, and was busy arranging her various
+possessions.
+
+"You'll be left behind, Esther," she said warningly.
+
+Esther turned at once.
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Mellowes."
+
+Micky took her hand in a hard grip.
+
+"Good-bye--but only till to-morrow...."
+
+He stood back as the train started; the last glimpse the two girls had
+of him was his radiantly smiling face.
+
+"Do you know," said June, settling herself in a corner, "I believe I'm
+half in love with that man, after all. Isn't he just a dear?"
+
+"He's awfully kind," Esther agreed.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the train drew into the little station at Enmore June looked at
+Esther with a sort of apprehension.
+
+"It's a most awful one-eyed hole, you know," she said. "I do hope you
+won't be bored to death. It won't be so bad if Micky keeps his promise
+and comes down, but if he doesn't...."
+
+"Don't you think he will?" Esther asked quickly.
+
+"Oh, I dare say he will. I hope he will, I'm sure; somebody has got to
+amuse you while I go and see to my business."
+
+"I can amuse myself."
+
+June sniffed.
+
+"Can you? Well, it's more than I could when I used to stay down here.
+There's only a church and a village inn and a handful of cottages. My
+aunt has by far the most distinguished-looking house in the village,
+and I dare say you won't think much of that."
+
+They were on the platform now, and June eyed their two suit-cases
+ruefully.
+
+"We shall have to carry them," she said. "No porters or taxicabs here,
+my dear. Come along."
+
+She grabbed her own, and Esther followed her out into the road.
+
+It was cold but sunny, and the fresh air of the country was something
+quite different from the chilly, damp atmosphere they had left behind
+in London.
+
+Esther drew a deep breath.
+
+"It's lovely," she said. "Do you know"--she looked ahead of her down
+the winding road with a little frown--"I've got the sort of feeling
+that something is going to happen to me here."
+
+"Goodness!" said June. "Don't you start having instincts too! It's bad
+enough for me to have them. What can happen to you, pray, unless you
+get melancholia or something?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+It was only a little way into the village; as soon as they came in
+sight of it June pointed excitedly to a red gabled house just visible
+through the trees.
+
+"That's where my aunt lives. She's an old maid, you know, and
+incidentally she thinks I'm a most heaven-born genius. She's nearly
+sixty, but I'll bet anything you like she uses June Mason's Skin
+Beautifier."
+
+She paused to open the iron gate of the little garden, but before
+there was time to ring the bell the door opened and a little lady with
+grey hair and a wonderful complexion very much like June's stood there
+with outstretched hands.
+
+"My dears! I never was so delighted! June--after all these months you
+really have come to see me."
+
+She kissed June heartily and turned to Esther. June introduced them.
+
+"My friend, Esther Shepstone--my aunt, Miss Dearling. I don't know
+what you think of us for arriving on top of our wire like this," she
+said, laughing. "But I like to do things in a hurry--so here we are,
+and we're just starving."
+
+They followed Miss Dearling into a quaint little square room, where
+the table was laid for lunch. June talked away all the time.
+
+"There's another member of the party coming down to-morrow," she said.
+"No; a man this time--Micky Mellowes! You remember him? Yes; I thought
+you would." She flushed a little. "He's going to bring his car down
+and take us all out for rides; so we're in for a good time."
+
+"I remember Mr. Mellowes quite well," Miss Dearling said. When she was
+alone with Esther for a moment she whispered to her--
+
+"We all hoped June meant to marry him, you know, my dear. Perhaps she
+has changed her mind, as she is allowing him to come down. Such a very
+charming man--have you seen him?--and so rich."
+
+"Yes, I've seen him," Esther said. "He is nice--very!"
+
+"It would be the dream of my life fulfilled if I could see June
+married to him," the old lady went on. "June wants a firm hand. She is
+wonderfully high-spirited and clever, you know, but I always feel that
+she would be so much happier with some one to look after her, and he
+is just the man to take care of a woman."
+
+"Yes," said Esther.
+
+She felt Miss Dearling glance at her hands.
+
+"Are you--are you engaged to be married?" she asked, after a moment.
+"Please forgive my curiosity, but I am always so interested in young
+people's love-affairs...."
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"Yes, I am engaged," she said. "But he is away just now--abroad. I
+hope we shall be married as soon as he comes home again."
+
+Miss Dearling said that she hoped so, too; later, when she got a
+moment alone with June she asked interestedly about the man to whom
+Esther was engaged.
+
+"I do hope he is nice," she said anxiously. "Such a very charming
+girl! such a sweet-looking girl! Is he nice, my dear?"
+
+June crossed the room and shut the door; then she turned round with a
+little grimace.
+
+"He's a pig!" she said.
+
+Miss Dearling screamed.
+
+"Oh, my dear!"
+
+"He is," June maintained stoutly. "She doesn't think so, of course,
+but he is, all the same." She broke off as Esther came back.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+Esther woke in the morning with a pleasurable sense of something going
+to happen. She lay still for a moment looking round her at the heavy,
+old fashioned furniture and flowered chintz curtains.
+
+Miss Dearling's house was essentially Early Victorian, from its wool
+mats and stuffed birds in the sitting-room to the high four-posted
+bedsteads and faded Brussels carpets.
+
+But there was something very old-world and charming about it too, in
+spite of rather ugly furniture, and Esther was just admiring the
+dressing-table, with its petticoat of spotted muslin and pink ribbons,
+when the door opened and June thrust her head round.
+
+"Can I come in?" She did not wait for an answer, but came in, her long
+mauve silk kimono making a little rustling sound as she walked.
+
+"I'm really dressed," she explained, sitting down on Esther's bed.
+"All but my frock, at least, and as the post has just come, and a
+letter from Micky, I thought I'd come and tell you that he'll be down
+to-day--after lunch, and he wants us to meet him. I can't go, as I've
+got a business appointment at three, so you must. He's going to drive
+up to the station and wait there for one of us to come and show him
+where we live."
+
+There was a little silence. Esther flushed beneath the elder girl's
+shrewd gaze.
+
+"I should have thought he could have found out where we live," she
+said rather awkwardly. "And it's such a little way----"
+
+June rose with a great show of dignity.
+
+"Oh, very well, if you don't want to be obliging, but I do think you
+might...."
+
+"Silly--of course I will." Esther caught her hand. "I'll go; the
+station at three o'clock, and then what am I to do? Bring him here, or
+what?"
+
+"Do what you like, my child--I shan't be in till five. Don't let him
+be bored, that's all, or he'll go back to town--the one thing Micky
+cannot stand is being bored."
+
+Esther made a little grimace.
+
+She felt nervous when at five minutes to three exactly she walked down
+the winding road to the station.
+
+June ought to have come herself, she argued; it was a most silly thing
+to send her--she hoped he would not come at all; but all the time she
+was listening for the sound of a car or a motor-horn. The sleepy-eyed
+factotum of the station walked up and stared at her curiously. After a
+few turns he ventured to ask if she wanted to go by train.
+
+"No, I'm waiting for a gentleman--I--oh, here he is."
+
+"'Twas her young gentleman for sure," the sleepy-eyed one told his
+colleague afterwards. "She blushed up like a rose when she saw him."
+
+Micky noticed that blush, too, as he turned the car with a fine sweep
+and came to a standstill.
+
+Esther greeted him with a torrent of explanation.
+
+"June couldn't come, so she made me--she had to go out on business.
+She would make me come!"
+
+"It's very kind," Micky said. "I'm later than I expected--the roads
+are bad down in this part of the world. Well, and how do you like
+Enmore?"
+
+"It's very quiet, but I like it for a change, and June's aunt is ever
+so kind."
+
+"Yes, a dear old lady; I know her well. Did you tell her I was
+coming?"
+
+"June did...."
+
+His eyes swept her face anxiously. No trace of tears or sadness
+to-day, at all events.
+
+"Are we supposed to go straight home?" he asked after a moment.
+"Because, if not, what do you say to a run round first?"
+
+Esther's eyes sparkled.
+
+"I should love it!" She got in beside him, and the car started away.
+
+"I only brought the two-seater," Micky explained audaciously. "I hate
+a crowd. This will take three at a pinch, but it's much more
+comfortable for two."
+
+"It's lovely!" Esther agreed.
+
+She leaned back luxuriously.
+
+"It must be splendid to be able to have a car like this of your very
+own," she said suddenly.
+
+Micky laughed rather ruefully.
+
+"There are other things I would far rather have," he said.
+
+"Are there?" She looked up at him innocently. "What things?" she
+asked.
+
+Micky's hands tightened over the wheel.
+
+"Am I really to answer that question?" he asked.
+
+"No," said Esther hurriedly.
+
+She could not think why she had been so stupid as to say such a thing.
+She felt very vexed.
+
+They went some way in silence. Esther glanced at the man beside her
+timidly.
+
+Would he end up by some day marrying June? she wondered. Lucky June,
+if he did--lucky ... she checked the thought with a little sense of
+shame. Only a few days ago she had declared that she disliked him.
+Perhaps it was the car that made her feel so suddenly envious of the
+woman who would one day be this man's wife.
+
+Micky glanced down at her.
+
+"Are you cold?" he asked.
+
+"I am a little"--she smiled up at him--"in spite of my new coat," she
+said. "I think we had better go home."
+
+June came to the door to meet them.
+
+"I got home earlier than I thought," she told Esther. "Well, Micky?"
+
+"Are there any letters?" Esther asked. She felt a swift feeling of
+envy as she looked at these two, so openly and unfeignedly glad to see
+one another. "I suppose it's expecting too much though," she added
+with a sigh.
+
+June did not answer, and Esther went on and up the stairs.
+
+"There is one for her," June said in an undertone to Micky as soon as
+she had gone. "And one from Paris, too--from that man! Micky, are you
+sure it isn't all a mistake about him being married?"
+
+"Sure," said Micky stolidly.
+
+"Then shall I--what shall I do about that letter--it was sent on from
+London. Ought I to let her have it?"
+
+Micky was taking off his coat, his back was turned.
+
+"Oh, let her have it," he said casually. "It may be the last she'll
+ever get."
+
+He turned swiftly. "Let me look at it."
+
+June took it from her dress and handed it to him.
+
+He glanced at the writing and gave it back to her.
+
+"Oh yes, I should let her have it," he said again.
+
+But June still hesitated.
+
+"Micky--supposing it's to tell her about--you know ... about this
+marriage?"
+
+There was a moment's silence.
+
+"Oh, it would hardly be that," Micky said positively. "At least--well,
+if it is, we must chance it." But his voice did not sound as if he
+were at all anxious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+June raked up another appointment for the following day. "I'm behaving
+like an angel to you," she told Micky. "Yesterday I tramped about the
+fields till I was worn out so that I should be out of the way and
+Esther could meet you. Oh, she didn't want to go at all," she hastened
+to add as she saw the look of pleasure that filled his eyes. "I had to
+make her go."
+
+"Yes, I quite believe that," Micky said.
+
+He was standing beside the car at Miss Dearling's gate, and Esther was
+upstairs putting on her hat. She had protested twenty times that she
+did not really want to go; she had begged June to take her place; she
+had implored Micky to take June instead; but they had both refused.
+
+"I'm not keen on motoring when it's cold," June declared. "Besides,
+I've got my business to see to, and I don't want Micky. You go,
+Esther, and amuse the poor soul!--just to please me."
+
+Esther said "Very well," and tried to look as if she were not anxious
+at all, but she was really looking forward to another drive.
+
+"Didn't you really want to come?" Micky asked as they drove away.
+
+Esther laughed. "Of course I did; I wanted to come so badly I had to
+pretend that I didn't just for decency's sake."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Did you have good news from Paris yesterday?" he asked deliberately.
+
+He felt as if he must speak of Ashton to in some way check the wave of
+joy that had filled his heart at her words; it was not to be with him
+that she had wished to come, but for the drive and the comfort of the
+car.
+
+He saw how her face clouded at his question.
+
+"Yes, thank you," she said, but her voice did not sound very
+enthusiastic. Presently: "Mr. Mellowes," she said suddenly, "do you
+know that I have always been sorry that I did not go to Paris that day
+when I wanted to?--I wish I had now."
+
+"Why now?" Micky asked.
+
+She gave a little troubled laugh.
+
+"I don't know. I really can't explain." She did not understand herself
+what she really meant, but last night when she had read Raymond's
+letter, it had suddenly come over her with a sickening feeling of
+dismay that in some indefinite way he was really getting to be what
+June had always called him--a phantom lover! It seemed so long since
+she had seen him. After all, what were letters and words? But she
+could not explain this to Micky.
+
+"I think I know what you mean," he said after a moment. "You are
+getting tired of this separation. Is that it? Letters are all very
+well, but they are not enough...."
+
+She looked up at him in surprise.
+
+"Why, that is just what I do mean? How did you know?"
+
+He laughed rather ruefully.
+
+"Perhaps I've felt like it myself," he said.
+
+"Have you?" There was a little note of wonderment in her voice.
+
+"I said 'perhaps,'" he reminded her.
+
+She changed the subject; she drew his attention to the country through
+which they were passing. It was bare and wind-swept, but there was a
+sort of rugged picturesqueness about it that appealed to Esther.
+
+"I believe I should like to live in the country, after all," she said
+suddenly. "You seem to be able to really breathe down here; it's not
+shut in like London is."
+
+"Dear old London," Micky said. "We all run it down, but we're all glad
+to get back there when we've been away for more than a few days." He
+leaned forward, wrapping the rug more closely round her. "Where do you
+think you will live when you are married?" he asked.
+
+The hot colour flooded her face; she looked up at him in a scared sort
+of way.
+
+"What a question! How do I know? I've never even thought about it."
+
+"Haven't you?" said Micky. "I have, crowds of times. I've worked it
+all out to a nicety. I shall have a house in London and a place in the
+country as well, so that if my wife doesn't like town we can divide
+our time and stay six months at each."
+
+"We are not all rich like you are, you know," Esther said drily. "I
+dare say when I get married--if I ever do--I shall just have a little
+flat somewhere and stay there for the rest of my life, and be very
+happy too," she added with a sort of defiance.
+
+"Yes," said Micky after a moment. "I think I could be very happy in a
+flat, too, for the rest of my life--with the right woman." He looked
+down at her, smiling thoughtfully "The only trouble is, that I shall
+probably have to marry the wrong one."
+
+"If you do, it will be your own fault, I should think," said Esther,
+laughing. She could not quite understand this man. Had he ever really
+loved her, or had it all just been a pretence?
+
+"No," said Micky promptly. "I think it will be your fault."
+
+Esther raised her eyes slowly. Micky was smiling.
+
+"Yes, I mean it," he said seriously. "The first time I ever saw you I
+thought to myself, 'Here she is! That right woman I've been waiting
+for all my life'--but, of course, you didn't think I was the right
+man, and so that ended it," he added philosophically.
+
+Esther did not like to hear him speak so lightly. She would have been
+surprised if she could have known the desperate unhappiness in his
+heart, the bitterness that drove him to speak so flippantly of all
+that he held best and dearest.
+
+She made no attempt to answer him, and presently he said again with
+change of voice--
+
+"Are you hungry, I wonder? Because I am! And I've got a firm
+conviction that we're coming to a wayside inn. Do you see the chimneys
+through the trees?..."
+
+He slowed the car a little.
+
+"There's another car outside--what do you say? Shall we risk it?"
+
+"It would be rather nice," Esther admitted. She was feeling cold; she
+was rather glad when the car stopped and Micky gave her his hand.
+
+"They've got a fire anyway," he said cheerily. "I saw it through the
+window, and we'll ask for some coffee."
+
+He led the way into the parlour. Two men wrapped in heavy coats stood
+by the fire; they moved to make way for Esther. After a moment they
+went out of the room, and she saw them in the road bending over the
+car next to Micky's.
+
+"We can have coffee and buns," Micky said, coming back after a moment.
+"I don't know what they'll be like, but----"
+
+"I shall enjoy them anyway," she told him. "I really am hungry."
+
+He pulled off his gloves and dragged a chair up to the fire for her.
+
+"This is fine," he said. "Have you ever thought what a novelty a
+honeymoon would be touring through villages like this? I should like
+to just start away and go on driving for miles and miles, just staying
+anywhere and getting meals anyhow."
+
+Esther laughed. "I should have thought it was just the sort of thing
+you would hate," she said.
+
+"That's where you're mistaken," he told her. "I live in town and in
+the way I do because people expect it of me, and I'm too lazy to
+bother to change. It's not a bit the life I should choose if I had my
+way. I hate dressing for dinner, and wading through six or seven
+courses, and being bored stiff half the time by some dressed-up woman
+beside me...."
+
+He looked at her with a comical expression.
+
+Esther leaned her chin in her hand and raised serious eyes to his
+face.
+
+"Well, how would you really like to live, then?" she asked.
+
+Micky sat down on the edge of the table and stuck his long legs out
+before him. He kept his eyes fixed on his boots as he answered--
+
+"Well, I should like a place in the country, as I said, and a
+garden--a ripping garden, with lots of roses and grass--walks like you
+see in old-fashioned pictures, and a high box hedge--that's one of the
+things I simply must have! Have you ever smelt a box hedge after a hot
+sun has been on it? No? well, you ought to; it's fine!"
+
+He paused reflectively.
+
+"I should like to look after the roses myself, I think," he went on
+presently. "I dare say I should make a mess of it, but I should like
+to have a try, anyway. And I should like to keep lots of animals,
+horses and dogs and chickens. Do you know"--he half turned to
+her--"I've always had a fancy for great Danes--you can't keep 'em in
+town, only in the country. Some people I once stayed with down in
+Lincoln had a couple--ripping dogs they were--almost as big as ponies,
+and they used to let the kids play with them and pull them about. Old
+Lancing had a boy, you know--a ripping little kid of five--a real
+sport he was, too--Uncle Micky he used to call me." Micky chuckled
+reminiscently. "It must be jolly fine to have a youngster of your own
+like that," he added.
+
+This was a new Micky, indeed! Esther watched him with fascinated eyes.
+She had not known that he was fond of children; she had taken it for
+granted that men hardly ever were. She supposed drearily that she had
+got that idea from Raymond. He had always said he would not stand
+"kids." It was odd that, though Micky had used the same word, it had
+sounded somehow quite different when he said it.
+
+Micky raised his eyes suddenly. "What are you thinking about?" he
+asked.
+
+She shook her head; her lip quivered a little.
+
+Micky half rose to go to her, when the two men who owned the second
+car came back into the room again. Micky turned on his heel.
+
+"I suppose we ought to be getting on," he said constrainedly. "I'll go
+and start up; you stay here."
+
+He went out, leaving Esther by the fire.
+
+Her thoughts were a little confused. What had he been going to say,
+she wondered. It seemed hardly possible that she had really had that
+little glimpse of the other Micky whom she had never seen before; the
+Micky who was not at all a man about town, but just an ordinary person
+who thought it must be fine to have a home in the country and lots of
+roses and a little son of his own.
+
+The two men behind her were talking together; one of them was laughing
+a good deal in a sneering way.
+
+"She must be a fool, you know," he said drily. "I'm surprised at any
+woman being caught like that. It was only her money he was after, of
+course."
+
+"I've never seen her myself," the other said disinterestedly--he
+sounded rather bored--"and I only know him slightly. You met them in
+Paris, you say?"
+
+"Yes--last week." There was the sound of a match being struck and a
+little pause while he puffed at a cigarette.
+
+Esther turned in her chair; it was odd how the mention of Paris always
+seemed to grip her heart. She looked at the two men, but they were
+both strangers to her.
+
+"Perhaps he won't really marry her," the elder one said yawning.
+"There's many a slip you know, and from what I know of Raymond
+Ashton----" He shrugged his shoulders eloquently.
+
+The girl by the fire sat very still. She was staring at the two men
+with piteous grey eyes; she felt as if all the blood in her body had
+ebbed to her heart, where it was hammering enough to kill her.
+
+Like some one in a dream she heard the laugh the other man gave----
+
+"Not marry her! My dear boy, he must! It's his last chance, and he
+knows it! He's up to his neck in debt and borrowed money. As a matter
+of fact, I shouldn't be at all surprised if Tubby Clare's little widow
+hasn't already changed her name for Raymond Ashton's."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Outside in the road Micky suddenly started up the engine of his car.
+The dull throb, throb, came faintly to Esther as she sat there as
+motionless as if she had been carved in stone.
+
+The little vibrant noise sounded like the beating of some one's heart,
+she thought dully; she found herself listening to it subconsciously.
+
+The two men behind her had moved out to the doorway; she could still
+hear them talking and laughing together. Something within her urged
+her to get up and follow them to tell them that she had heard what
+they said, to tell them that it was all a lie--a shameful lie. But she
+could not move.
+
+She told herself that if she kept quite still for a few moments she
+would wake and find that she had just dreamed it all. She stared hard
+into the glowing fire, trying to believe that it was all part of her
+dream, that it was not real warmth which she felt on her face at all,
+that those leaping flames were only pictures of her imagination, that
+even if she thrust her hand into them they would not burn her, but
+would just melt away into the silence around like phantoms.
+
+The phantom lover! June's half-mocking words beat dully against her
+brain. June had always hated Raymond; she would be glad if this thing
+were true.
+
+She suddenly realised that she was shivering in every limb. With an
+effort she dragged her chair closer to the fire. She put out her hands
+to the flames....
+
+"Good heavens! what are you doing?" said Micky's voice at her
+shoulder. She had not heard him come into the room; it was only when
+he bent and caught her hand back from the flames that she realised
+what she had been going to do. She looked up at him with a sick
+smile.
+
+"I thought it wouldn't burn," she said stupidly.
+
+A flash of alarm crept into his eyes; she looked so white.
+
+He kept her hand in his holding it firmly.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked gently.
+
+There was something so kind in his voice that for a moment she felt as
+if she would have given her soul to have been able to lean her head
+against his shoulder and sob out the truth; all she had just heard and
+all the miserable hope and fear that had tortured her for the past few
+weeks.
+
+"What is it?" Micky said again anxiously.
+
+She dragged her hand free of his; she remembered that he, too, had
+hated Raymond, that he, too, would be glad when he knew of this
+nightmare that had suddenly swooped down upon her.
+
+She rose to her feet, holding fast to the chair-back to steady
+herself.
+
+"There isn't anything the matter; but I should like to go home--I'm
+tired, that's all; I'm only tired."
+
+She moved away to the door. The cold air beating on her face gave her
+a grip of herself again. She stood for a moment looking down the
+deserted street, her hands clenched.
+
+It was only for a little while, just until they got back to Enmore,
+that she had got to keep up appearances, and then--then....
+
+A sudden wave of tragedy swept through her soul; oh, it could not be
+true! It was some other man of whom they had been speaking, some other
+Raymond!
+
+She heard Micky laughing with the landlady as he paid for the coffee
+and buns, and she felt that she hated him for not guessing how she
+suffered. She walked down to where the little car stood waiting. If
+only he would be quick and take her back; she could do nothing till
+she got back to Enmore, and each moment was so precious.
+
+It seemed an eternity until Micky joined her. He avoided looking at
+her, though he bent and wrapped the rug carefully over her knees
+before he took his seat.
+
+The other car with its two occupants had vanished down the road some
+minutes since; only a small cloud of grey dust on the horizon showed
+which way they had gone.
+
+Micky drove back faster than he had come. Once or twice he looked down
+at Esther with an anxious pucker between his eyes.
+
+What had happened in those few minutes to make this sudden change? he
+wondered.
+
+She had been happy and smiling enough this morning; now all that he
+could see of her face, half hidden in the big upstand collar of the
+coat he had given her, were two piteous blue eyes staring steadily
+ahead of her down the road.
+
+They had gone some miles almost silently when he felt that he could
+bear it no longer. He stopped the car almost savagely and turned in
+his seat.
+
+"What's the matter? What have I done now?" he asked roughly. "You
+weren't like this when we came out. If I've done anything to annoy
+you...."
+
+She forced herself to laugh. It would be the last straw if she broke
+down now.
+
+"How absurd!" she said in a high-pitched voice. "Nothing is the
+matter. I'm tired, that's all; I shall be glad to get home."
+
+He was not satisfied.
+
+"You're not telling me the truth," he said. His mind searched
+anxiously back to the short time they had stayed in the inn. What
+could have happened? They had seen nobody there except the two men
+with the racing car.
+
+"Those two fellows who came in--they didn't annoy you, or anything
+like that, when I was out of the room?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Of course not; they never spoke to me."
+
+"If you won't tell me what I've done, how can I hope to put things
+right?" he said.
+
+It was always like this, he told himself savagely; one little step
+onward and a dozen back. He did not speak again till they got home.
+
+Esther got out of the car without waiting for him, and went on into
+the house.
+
+After a moment Micky followed.
+
+Esther was in the hall; she turned to him impatiently.
+
+"Every one is out," she said. "Miss Dearling and June are both out."
+
+There was a sort of strain in her voice which Micky could not
+understand. She looked as if she had had some bad shock, and yet what
+could have happened? He had not left her for more than a few minutes.
+
+"Very well, I won't wait," he said formally. He spoke curtly; he felt
+sore enough; he raised his hat stiffly and turned away.
+
+He looked back once at the little house. He thought perhaps Esther
+might be standing at the door in case he should turn, but the door was
+shut, and it was impossible for him to guess that upstairs in the room
+over the porch Esther had shut and locked the door and was pacing up
+and down the room, her hands pressed hard against her eyes,
+sobbing--great tearless sobs that seemed to rend her very heart.
+
+"It's not true--it's not true," she said over and over again under her
+breath. "It's not true--it's not true...."
+
+The striking of a church clock in the village seemed to rouse her.
+June would be back soon, and Miss Dearling.
+
+She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief; they felt hot and burning.
+She looked at herself anxiously in the little mirror--such a white
+face; she turned away impatiently.
+
+Twelve o'clock; there was a train up to town at half-past, she knew.
+The confusion in her brain seemed to have passed all at once; she felt
+quite calm and clear.
+
+She would go to Paris--she would see Raymond, and hear from his own
+lips what a lie it was. She ought to have gone before. She had been a
+fool to listen to Micky; of course he would not wish her to go.
+
+She put a few things into a bag. She took the last letter she had
+had from Raymond, and kissed it before thrusting it back into her
+dress; she scribbled a pencil note to June and fastened it to the
+pincushion.
+
+With the little suit-case in her hand she went downstairs and out into
+the street.
+
+There was nobody about, and she almost ran to the station. The porter
+who had witnessed her meeting yesterday with Micky stared at her
+wonderingly.
+
+The London train was due now, he told her. She'd have to hurry.... She
+was gone before he finished his slow speech.
+
+She found an empty carriage and got in, sitting as far away from the
+door as possible in case any one should come along the platform and
+recognize her. It was only when the train started away that she leaned
+back and closed her eyes.
+
+"I am going to Paris; I can't live without him any longer. Please
+don't worry." Over and over she found herself repeating these words in
+her brain. She wondered where she had heard them and what they really
+meant.
+
+"I am going to Paris; I can't live without him any longer."
+
+They were true anyway. She was going to Paris because she felt she
+could no longer live without Raymond.
+
+She opened her eyes with a little gasp; they were her own words. She
+remembered that she had written them in the note she had left on the
+pincushion for June.
+
+Poor June! She would be angry. And Micky.... A little throb touched
+her heart. She had not been very kind to Micky. She hoped he would
+soon forget her. Her eyes closed again.
+
+How long did it take to get to Paris? She had not the least idea. She
+had not got much money with her; she tried to remember how much, but
+somehow her brain refused to act; she took out her purse and tipped
+its contents into her lap. She started to count it, but after a moment
+she gave it up with a helpless feeling and put it all back again.
+
+"Tubby Clare's little widow...." Who was Tubby Clare? she wondered.
+She laughed foolishly. What a name!
+
+But he had left his widow a great deal of money, and money was
+everything nowadays. Nobody could be happy without money; Raymond had
+told her that months ago; a man with money has the whole world at his
+feet, so he had said.
+
+She thought of Micky--he was one of the richest men in London, and yet
+he was not happy. She had never thought that he looked happy; she
+wondered if it was really because he loved her.
+
+She wished she could stop thinking. She was so tired, she wanted to
+sleep; but the wheel of thought went on and on in her brain.
+
+The miles seemed to crawl by. Soon the fields and open country were
+left behind; the houses were closer together; presently they crowded
+one another, almost jostling each other out of the way, it seemed.
+
+What an ugly place London was. She sat up with a little shiver.
+Strange how cold she felt, and yet her head was burning hot.
+
+Would this journey never end? Surely they had been travelling for days
+and days already.
+
+The train stopped with a jerk.
+
+"Paddington ... all change--all change...."
+
+Esther stumbled to her feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Micky had just reached the unpretentious inn in the village where he
+had taken a room, when he was hailed from across the road by June; a
+very cheerful looking June, in a business-like coat and skirt of rough
+tweed, and carrying a walking-stick, which she proceeded to wave at
+him vigorously.
+
+"Back so soon!" She came across to where he stood by the car, and
+looked at his despondent face. "Not another row?" she demanded
+tersely.
+
+Micky frowned.
+
+"No--merely a sort of frigid silence this time," he said savagely,
+then he laughed. "It's no use, June, I may as well throw up the
+sponge. I seem to put my foot in it whatever I do."
+
+June drew a pattern in the mud at her feet.
+
+"Well, what have you done?" she asked. "Esther was all right this
+morning, and quite pleased to be going with you. I certainly never
+expected to see either of you till this afternoon. Where did you go?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, some little one-eyed place. We stopped at an inn and had some
+coffee, and that seemed to finish it."
+
+"What, the coffee?" asked June with a twinkle.
+
+Micky turned away.
+
+"If you're going to make a joke of everything----" he said with
+dignity.
+
+She laid her hand on his arm.
+
+"I'm sorry, old boy. But you do explain things so badly, you know. You
+had coffee at the inn, yes--and then----"
+
+"I went outside to start up the engine, and when I came back she
+seemed to have utterly changed. She even looked different and she
+hardly spoke all the way home."
+
+"It must be your imagination."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"No, it isn't; and when we got home she went indoors without even
+saying good-bye--confound her!" he added in savage parenthesis.
+
+"Oh, Micky!" said June reproachfully.
+
+He coloured.
+
+"I didn't mean that, but I'm so fed-up with everything----" He leaned
+his elbow on the side of the car and looked away from her down the
+road. "I think I'll get back to town this afternoon," he said after a
+moment. "I was a fool to come at all."
+
+June looked at him silently.
+
+"Well, what are you thinking?" he asked.
+
+She roused herself and answered briskly.
+
+"I think you want your lunch, that's what I think, and I'm going to
+take you back with me to have some. Aunt Mary is expecting you----"
+Her queer eyes twinkled. "Micky, she's quite made up her mind that
+you've come down here after me."
+
+Micky laughed ruefully.
+
+"It would be a dashed sight better for me if I had," he said.
+
+He moved to the door of the car.
+
+"Jump in, and I'll drive you back. I'm not sure that I shall stay to
+lunch, though----" he added darkly.
+
+"Oh yes, you will," June said. "And when you see Esther you'll find
+that it was just imagination on your part--why, only coming down in
+the train the other morning she agreed with me that you were a perfect
+darling--she did, on my word of honour!"
+
+When they reached the house Micky meekly followed June into the hall.
+
+"The table's laid," she informed him. "I'll just go and take off my
+hat and find Esther and Aunt Mary. Go in, Micky."
+
+Micky took off his hat and coat and obeyed.
+
+He looked several sizes too large for the little dining-room as he
+walked over to the fire and stood with his back to it; he looked round
+the room appreciatively.
+
+This was a real home, he thought with sudden wistfulness in spite of
+its small rooms and general atmosphere of a bygone decade; a man could
+be very happy here with a woman he cared for.
+
+"Micky--Micky----" called June urgently. She came clattering down the
+stairs anyhow--she burst into the room, she thrust a scrap of paper
+into his hand.
+
+"She's gone--she's gone! Oh, what fools we've been! I told you what it
+would be. I knew she'd find out sooner or later. Oh, why didn't you
+let me tell her?--I begged you to let me. It's not my fault. I warned
+you what it would be--oh dear! oh dear!" and June fell into a sobbing
+heap on the uncomfortable horsehair couch behind her.
+
+Micky stood clutching the paper and staring at her; it was some
+minutes before he could find his voice, then he went over to where she
+lay, put his hand on her shoulder, and shook her almost roughly.
+
+"What are you talking about, June? For heaven's sake sit up and behave
+like a rational woman. Who's gone? What do you mean?"
+
+She raised her tear-stained face.
+
+"Read it! read it! Oh, Micky, you have been a fool!" she said
+furiously. "It's all your fault. I knew what would happen----"
+
+"Oh, for heaven's sake shut up," said Micky.
+
+He had unfolded the paper, and there was a moment's tragic silence as
+he read the three lines Esther had scribbled.
+
+"I have gone to Paris; I can't live without him any longer. Please
+don't worry about me...."
+
+Twice his lips moved, but no words would come, then he broke out in a
+strangled voice--
+
+"It's a joke--of course it is. She's done it to frighten us. Why, I--I
+only left her here half-an-hour ago--it can't be more. It's a
+joke--of--of course it is ... June...."
+
+"A queer sort of joke," said June sobbing. "Poor darling! and a nice
+sort of reception she'll get when she reaches Paris with that cad
+there...."
+
+"She'll never find him; she doesn't know where he is," Micky said
+hoarsely. There was a stunned look in his eyes--he took a step towards
+the door and came back again as if he did not know what to do.
+
+June was drying her eyes and shedding more tears and drying them
+again; she looked at Micky angrily.
+
+"Of course she'll find him," she said tartly. "She knows his address;
+the brute's written to her dozens of times, and she's written to him
+as well...." Her eyes searched his face with a sort of contempt.
+
+"Well, what are you going to do now you've made such a glorious hash
+of everything?" she demanded.
+
+Micky passed a hand across his eyes.
+
+"I don't know. I'm trying to think. She can't have been gone long. She
+may still be in the village." He dragged out his watch. "There may not
+have been a train up to London--"
+
+"Yes, there was; the twelve-twenty----" The eyes of both of them
+turned to the clock, and Micky gave a smothered groan.
+
+"She must have gone by that. I must follow her, of course."
+
+June bounced up.
+
+"I'll come with you; I'll put on my hat again----" She made a dive for
+the door, but Micky caught her arm and stopped her.
+
+"You can't; I can't take you with me. Be sensible, June--I'll find her
+and bring her back----"
+
+She looked up at him stormily.
+
+"She's my friend, and it's all your fault she's got into this mess. I
+told you not to interfere, and you wouldn't listen----"
+
+It was a woman all over to rave at him now, but Micky took it
+patiently.
+
+"Very well, it's my fault, and as it's my fault it's up to me to try
+and put things right. Don't waste time arguing--if I'm to catch her
+before she leaves England...."
+
+June burst into fresh tears and sobs.
+
+"You won't be able to; she'll get over there and have to bear it all
+alone.... Oh, Micky, I almost hate you when I think what we've
+done...."
+
+Micky went out of the room; he went down to the road and mechanically
+started up the car; he was getting into his seat when June followed
+and called to him--
+
+"You haven't got your coat or cap, Micky."
+
+He came back; he hoisted himself into his coat, and turned away again;
+June caught his hand.
+
+"I didn't mean to be a beast, Micky----"
+
+He gave her fingers a squeeze.
+
+"I know; it's all right; but don't keep me, there's a dear."
+
+But she still clung to him.
+
+"You'll bring her back safely, Micky--promise."
+
+Micky turned away without answering.
+
+"... I can't live without him any longer...."
+
+In spite of everything, that was how she still felt about the brute.
+
+When he got to the station he found there was no train to town for a
+couple of hours; he asked a sleepy porter an agitated question.
+
+"Did you see a young lady go by the twelve-twenty--one of the young
+ladies staying with Miss Dearling. Oh, for heaven's sake hurry up and
+answer, man!"
+
+The man scratched an unshaven chin with irritating consideration.
+
+"Yes, I seen her," he said at last. "She came in running--caught the
+train to London--she...."
+
+But Micky had gone; he would have to drive to town, he decided. If
+Esther had got to know the truth, better hear it from him than from
+that brute.
+
+He drove off at breakneck speed. It seemed miles and miles to London;
+no matter how much of the winding road he covered, it unfolded again
+before his eyes, and mercilessly again.
+
+He went straight to Charing Cross; he left the car in the yard and
+dashed in to inquire about trains; he searched a time-table; 12.59--3
+o'clock--4.5 ... he looked up at the clock--three minutes past four
+now. Micky dashed across the big hall to a gate where a signboard said
+"Dover Express"; he had no ticket; he pushed by the protesting
+inspector; the guard was waving his flag; some one grabbed at Micky
+and missed as he flung himself breathless and panting into the last
+coach of the moving train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+Micky sat for a few moments breathless and exhausted before he pulled
+himself together, and taking off his hat wiped his hot forehead.
+
+The train was gathering speed; he let down the window with a run and
+looked out; the station was out of sight altogether; they were
+crossing the bridge under which the silent Thames flowed sluggishly.
+
+A breath of cold air touched his hot face and he shivered suddenly and
+drew the window up once more.
+
+Something had driven his thoughts back to his first meeting with
+Esther, to the cold silence of the night, and the hard desperation of
+her voice as she said--
+
+"I didn't mean to go home any more--I shouldn't have ever gone home
+again if I hadn't met you...."
+
+If she got to Paris before he saw her she would feel like this again.
+Micky groaned.
+
+Fortunately he had the carriage to himself, but it was a third-class
+compartment, and not a corridor carriage. He cursed his luck here; if
+there had been a corridor he could have gone the length of the train
+and seen if Esther were on it. As it was, he would have to wait till
+they reached Dover, and even then perhaps he would never find her.
+
+He tried to calm himself with the conviction that everything would be
+all right, but in his heart he was despairing; if he found Esther and
+brought her back she would hate him for the rest of his life.
+
+What had happened to make her rush off like this? He could not
+imagine. She had seemed so happy only that morning. What could account
+for the tragedy that seemed to breathe in every word of that little
+note she had left for June?
+
+He took it from his pocket and read it again. It gave no hint of what
+had prompted this sudden flight. He wrote out a couple of telegrams to
+dispatch from Dover--one for June, and another for Driver.
+
+He wished he had got Driver with him. There was a sort of security in
+the man's stolidness.
+
+He realised that he was without luggage, and that he had not much
+money. Supposing he had to go on to Paris, what the dickens was he
+going to do?
+
+When the train ran into Dover he got to his feet with a sigh of
+relief. Quickly as he was out of the train a great many passengers had
+left it before him. He started at a run down the platform. He stared
+at every woman he met, hoping it would be Esther. The crowd was
+getting thick; he had to push his way unceremoniously past people;
+porters with luggage trucks jostled him; he began to lose his
+temper--he was just answering with great heat a man who had cynically
+asked "who he was shoving," when some one touched his arm.
+
+"Micky...."
+
+For a moment Micky's heart beat up in his throat; he turned quickly
+and found himself looking down into the brown eyes of Marie Deland.
+
+If she had hoped for anything better, it must have been a shock to her
+to see the bitter disappointment in Micky's face. He stammered out
+that he had not expected to see her, that he was in a deuce of a
+hurry; he hoped she would forgive him, but--
+
+"Micky, by all that's wonderful!" said another voice, and there was
+Marie's father, the good-natured old man who had pretended to agree
+with his wife when she raved against Micky for the cavalier way in
+which he had treated his daughter, but who in his heart had indulged
+in a quiet chuckle, thinking that Micky had been rather clever to
+escape from the toils at the eleventh hour.
+
+He shook hands with Micky heartily enough; he, at any rate, had no
+grudge against him. He asked Micky a hundred questions.
+
+"Are you going over, my boy? Come with us. I've got a reserved
+carriage on the Paris express. Delighted to see you. Marie and I are
+just off for a little holiday by ourselves."
+
+He touched his daughter's arm. "Ask him to join us, my dear."
+
+Micky did his best to answer civilly; he was in the deuce of a hurry,
+he said again; he had got to meet a friend but had missed her in the
+crowd.
+
+"I came off in the deuce of a hurry," he said. He was chafing bitterly
+at this enforced delay; each moment was so precious.
+
+Marie touched her father's arm.
+
+"We are only keeping Mr. Mellowes, Daddy...." Something in her voice
+made Micky's eyes smart. It was hard luck that for the second time he
+was forced to humiliate her. He stammered out incoherently that he
+hoped they would forgive him, but he was in such a deuce of a
+hurry.... He went off abruptly.
+
+Everybody was off the train now, and many people were already on the
+boat. Micky remembered that he had no ticket; he entered into a hot
+argument with an official, who listened to him skeptically, and took
+as long as possible to make out the ticket; even when Micky had paid
+he still looked suspicious.
+
+The gangway was still down; Micky went on board and stood as close to
+it as he could, scanning the face of each passer.
+
+Esther was not amongst them.
+
+"Stand away there--stand away...."
+
+Micky was pushed aside, and a couple of brawny seamen hauled the
+gangway on to the harbour. The gap of green water was widening slowly
+between the pier and the ship's side. Micky felt as if he were being
+exiled. Supposing she was not on the boat?
+
+He turned away and searched the crowded deck. The boat was full, and
+most of the people were women, but there was nobody who looked in the
+very least like Esther.
+
+She would be wearing the fur coat, he was sure--the coat he had given
+her!
+
+One or two people stared at him curiously. Once he came across Marie
+and her father on the leeward side of the boat. For decency's sake he
+had to stop. He made an inane remark on the weather and said he
+thought they were going to have a smooth crossing.
+
+Marie's brown eyes lifted to his.
+
+"You haven't met your friend?" she said quietly.
+
+Micky had a horrible conviction that she had not believed that he had
+any one to meet. He coloured in confusion as he answered--
+
+"No--no. I'm sorry to say I haven't."
+
+She moved away leaving him with her father. The old man slipped a hand
+through Micky's arm.
+
+"Don't notice her, my boy; women are queer cattle--and I expect she's
+a little sore with you still."
+
+Micky wished it was possible to jump overboard. He found the old man's
+friendliness more insufferable than the look of reproach in Marie's
+eyes. As soon as he could he got away; he went down the companion-way
+and wandered round despondently.
+
+If Esther were on the boat she must have seen him and was deliberately
+keeping out of his way; he glanced in at the open door of the ladies'
+cabin as he passed.
+
+Several pessimistic souls who had already made up their minds to be
+ill, although the sea was like a mill-pond, had arranged themselves on
+the couches, with pillows under their heads; as Micky passed the cabin
+some one slammed the door smartly in his face.
+
+He went upon deck again and stood looking out to sea, with the wind
+stinging his face.
+
+It was getting dark rapidly; the lights of Dover twinkled through the
+greyness. Micky stood and watched till they could no longer be seen.
+He was chilled to the bone in spite of his warm coat; he turned the
+collar up round his throat and thrust his hands deeply into his
+pockets.
+
+His fingers came in contact with the telegrams he had written in the
+train and forgotten to send. He swore under his breath.
+
+He kept out of the Delands' way when they reached Calais; he was first
+off the boat; he stood in the darkness trembling with excitement.
+
+There were all sorts of people pouring past him--men, women, and
+children. They all seemed happy and eager--a couple of Frenchmen
+standing near him chattered incessantly; Micky moistened his dry lips;
+there was a little nerve throbbing in his temple.
+
+Supposing he never saw her again! His hands clenched deep in his
+pockets ... supposing he never met the half-shy glance of her grey
+eyes--supposing he never heard her voice any more--or her laugh....
+
+The sweat broke out on his forehead. For a moment he closed his eyes
+with a sick feeling of hopelessness, and when he opened them again he
+saw Esther standing there not half a dozen paces from him.
+
+The glare from a huge arc lamp shone full on her slim figure and
+golden hair.
+
+She was looking round her in a scared, apprehensive way as if not
+knowing where to go.
+
+A wave of such utter relief swept through Micky's very soul that for a
+moment it almost turned him faint.
+
+She was quite alone, but as Micky watched her he saw a French porter
+in a blue blouse go up to her and start chattering away, pointing to
+the small suit-case she carried and gesticulating violently. Esther
+shook her head--Micky remembered that she knew no French--but the man
+persisted, and she shook her head again in a frightened sort of way.
+
+Micky covered the distance between them in a couple of strides.
+
+"Esther...." he said, in a queer, choked sort of voice.
+
+She turned with a stifled scream, and a most unwilling relief swept
+her face.
+
+"Oh, Micky!" she said breathlessly. She put out her hand as if to grip
+his arm, then drew it away, moving back.
+
+"How did you come here ... oh, how dare you follow me...?" she said
+passionately.
+
+Micky took her arm very gently.
+
+"We found your note," he said. "I had to come ... June said...." Then
+suddenly his calmness broke "Oh, thank God I found you--thank God!" he
+said hoarsely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+Esther seemed arrested by the emotion in Micky's voice.
+
+She stood looking up at him with wide eyes and parted lips, then
+suddenly she broke out again--
+
+"I don't know what you mean. I'll never forgive June if she sent you
+after me. I'm going to Paris. I'm not a child to be followed and
+looked after like this.... Let me go."
+
+Micky released her arm at once. When he spoke his voice was quiet and
+rather stern.
+
+"Please don't make a scene. I have followed you for your own sake. I
+know I can't stop you from going to Paris. I'm not going to try. All I
+do ask you is that you will let me speak to you. If what I have to say
+is useless, I give you my word of honour that I will leave you here
+and let you go on to Paris alone."
+
+She looked at him with stormy eyes.
+
+"I don't believe it--it isn't the first time you've lied to me...."
+she broke off breathlessly. Micky turned pale, but he answered evenly
+enough--
+
+"You're quite justified in saying that; I'm not going to try and deny
+it. But we can't stand here all night--people are beginning to stare
+at us...."
+
+"I don't care----" but she dropped her voice a little, and when Micky
+made a slight movement forward she followed.
+
+It was cold on the quay--there was a fresh wind blowing, and Esther
+shivered.
+
+"There's a restaurant place here," Micky said. "I want a meal if you
+don't; I haven't had anything since breakfast."
+
+He found a table and ordered a meal, but he knew he should not be able
+to eat a thing.
+
+"I don't want anything to eat," Esther said. She sat sideways in her
+chair away from the table; there was a pitiable look of strain in her
+face; she still gripped her suit-case tightly. When Micky asked her to
+be allowed to put it down for her she turned on him almost fiercely.
+
+"Leave me alone--oh, leave me alone!"
+
+The French garcon eyed them both interestedly. Any one far less keen
+of perception than he was could have seen that there was tragedy of
+some kind between this pretty, frail-looking girl and the tall man in
+the big coat.
+
+"You said you were hungry, but you're not eating anything," Esther
+broke out irritably. "How much longer are you going to make me sit
+here? I want to catch a train to Paris to-night."
+
+"There are no trains, except slow ones," Micky told her; "the express
+has gone half an hour ago. I can find you rooms in a hotel close by
+for the night...." His eyes met hers across the table, and he broke
+out, "Esther, for God's sake let me explain things to you. You've all
+your life before you; to-morrow, if you wish it, I'll go away and
+never see you again. But I can't let you go now without telling you
+the truth. I ought to have told you before--it was for your own sake I
+tried to keep it back...."
+
+Her grey eyes searched his face disbelievingly.
+
+"If you've anything to say against Mr. Ashton," she said, "I refuse to
+listen. I shouldn't believe anything you say, for one thing. Why, you
+don't even know his name--unless June has told you," she added
+breathlessly.
+
+"June has told me nothing, but I know, all the same. I knew the first
+night I ever met you--when I left you and went back to my rooms, he
+was there waiting for me...."
+
+She half turned, leaning across the table, and her eyes were like
+fire.
+
+"He was there--who was there?" she asked shrilly.
+
+"Ashton--Raymond Ashton," Micky answered.
+
+There was a tragic silence, then Esther rose to her feet; she stood
+looking dazedly round her in a helpless sort of way.
+
+Micky called for the bill--without waiting for his change he followed
+Esther out into the darkness. She offered no resistance when he drew
+her hand through his arm. He did not know what on earth to do with
+her; if he took her to an hotel it would mean leaving her, and she
+would probably go away in the night. They went back to the station,
+and Micky found a waiting-room with a roaring fire; he dragged one of
+the uncomfortable wooden benches close to it and made Esther sit down;
+he closed the door and came back to her.
+
+There was so much he wanted to say, and for the life of him he did not
+know how to begin. She sat there so silently; she seemed to have
+forgotten his presence altogether.
+
+Micky looked at her, and suddenly he broke out--
+
+"Esther, speak to me--say something--for heaven's sake----"
+
+She moved in a curiously heavy sort of way, as if it were an effort;
+she raised her eyes to his agitated face.
+
+"This morning--was it only this morning?--it seems so long ago." She
+stopped for a moment, then went on again slowly. "When we were at that
+inn in the village--those men with the car--I heard them talking...."
+She stopped again.
+
+"Yes," said Micky.
+
+She frowned as if his monosyllable had interrupted her train of
+thought. She went on presently--
+
+"They were talking about Paris--and Raymond." And now she raised her
+eyes. "If you say that it was true what I heard them say, I will kill
+you," she said with sudden passion. "It's a lie--just a lie to hurt
+me, to hurt me more than I've been hurt already." She stopped,
+panting. "It's a lie--say it's a lie," she drove the words at him.
+
+Micky sat down beside her.
+
+"If they said that Ashton had been married in Paris to Mrs. Clare it
+was the truth," he said.
+
+He marvelled at the steadiness of his voice. He felt sick with shame
+at the part he was having to play. He went on incoherently--
+
+"I knew it before you ever went to Enmore--it was in the London
+papers. I was afraid you would see it. I persuaded June to get you
+down into the country. I suppose I was a fool. I ought to have known
+it was only putting things off."
+
+He looked at her and quickly away again.
+
+"Forget him, Esther, for God's sake. He never cared for you; he isn't
+worth a thought."
+
+She rose to her feet, pushing the hair back from her face as if she
+were distraught.
+
+"How dare you say such things to me?" she said in an odd, choked
+voice. "You always hated him--you and June. Do you think I'm going to
+believe you? Do you think I could believe you for a moment when I have
+his letters--when he has shown me in so many ways how he cares?... I
+don't care what you say--I don't care if the whole world were to tell
+me it was true--I'll never believe it till he tells me himself...."
+Her breath came gaspingly; she looked at Micky's white face with
+passionate hatred in her eyes.
+
+"How do I know it isn't all a made-up story?" she asked him hoarsely.
+
+She hardly knew what she was saying; she leaned her arms on the
+mantelshelf and hid her face in them.
+
+Micky let her alone; he got up and began pacing up and down the room.
+
+He deserved everything she had said; it was all his fault that she had
+got this to bear. With the best intentions in the world he had proved
+himself a blundering fool.
+
+Esther raised her head; she had not shed a tear, but her face was
+white and desolate.
+
+She walked past him to the door.
+
+"I'm going on to Paris to-night," she said. "Nothing you can say will
+stop me--nothing."
+
+"Very well, then I will come with you."
+
+She did not answer; she fumbled helplessly with the door handle. Micky
+came forward to open it for her, and their hands touched. A little
+flame of red rushed to his face; he put his shoulders to the door.
+
+"You can't go like this," he said stammering. "How can I let you go
+like this? Whatever I've done, I haven't deserved that you should
+think as badly of me as you do. It was because I cared for you so
+much--I tried to save you pain ... perhaps it isn't any excuse, but
+it's the truth.... I'd give my very soul if I could undo what's gone,
+if I could save you from this."
+
+She was not looking at him, but the cold contempt in her face stung
+him.
+
+"You may despise me," he broke out again jaggedly. "But it's the truth
+I've told you.... Ashton never cared for you; that night at my
+rooms...." He stopped, he did not want to tell her, but somehow there
+was a compelling force within him that drove the words to his lips.
+
+"He told me he'd had to break with you--that he was going away from
+London because of you. He said he must marry a woman with money--it's
+the truth, if I never speak again. He never cared for you, Esther--he
+was never fit to kiss the ground you walk on. He wanted to be rid of
+you--he----"
+
+Micky stopped; Esther had given a little strangled cry, half-sob,
+half-moan, like some animal in mortal pain; for the moment she saw the
+world red; hardly knowing what she did, she lifted her hand and struck
+Micky across his white face.
+
+"Oh, you liar--you liar," she said. The words were a hoarse whisper,
+her voice was almost gone.
+
+She fell away from him, shaking in every limb; she dropped into a
+chair hiding her face.
+
+Micky stood like a man turned to stone. She had not hurt him
+physically, though there was a red flush where she had struck him, but
+he felt as if the blow had fallen on his aching heart and his love for
+her.
+
+It seemed a long time before either of them moved or spoke, then
+Esther dragged herself to her feet.
+
+"Please let me pass," she said in a whisper, and Micky stood aside
+without a word.
+
+He followed her out and inquired for a train; there was a slow one at
+ten-fifty they told him. He put Esther into a carriage and got a rug
+for her and a cushion. He knew she had had nothing to eat, and he
+ordered a basket to be made up at the refreshment-room. When he came
+back she was sitting in a corner with her eyes closed. She had taken
+off her hat, and her golden hair was tumbled about her face. She took
+no notice when he put the rug over her; she did not even open her eyes
+when the train started.
+
+Micky sat down in the opposite corner. He felt more tired than he had
+ever done in all his life, and yet he knew that he could not sleep;
+his brain seemed as if it would never rest again. He sat with face
+averted from the girl in the corner, looking out into the darkness.
+
+It seemed strange to realise that he had made this same journey dozens
+of times before. He felt that it was all strange and distasteful to
+him. The chattering voices of the French porters and the whistle of
+the engines sounded new and quaint as if he had never heard them
+before. It seemed an eternity before the train started slowly away.
+
+He leaned back and closed his eyes; his head was splitting, and he was
+cold and hungry.
+
+He must have dozed for a few minutes, for he was roused by a little
+choking sound of sobbing. He opened his eyes--he was awake at once--he
+looked across at Esther. She was lying huddled up, with her face
+turned against the dirty cushions of the carriage, sobbing her heart
+out.
+
+Micky looked at her in miserable indecision. Then he got up
+impulsively, and sat down opposite to where Esther was huddled.
+
+He stretched out his hand and took hers.
+
+"Don't cry--don't; I can't bear it," he said hoarsely. He raised her
+hand to his lips. She had taken off her gloves and her fingers felt
+like ice. He chafed them gently between his own. She still wore the
+cheap little ring which Ashton had given her months ago.
+
+She let her hand lie passively in his. Perhaps she was too miserable
+to remember that it was Micky, and only realised that there was
+something kind and comforting in his touch. Presently her sobs
+quieted. She wiped the tears from her face and brushed back her
+disordered hair.
+
+Micky got up and took down the supper basket he had managed to get at
+the station. There was a small thermos of hot coffee. He poured some
+out and made her drink it. If he had expected her to refuse he was
+agreeably disappointed. She obeyed apathetically; she even ate some
+sandwiches.
+
+Micky was ravenous himself, but he would not touch a thing till she
+had finished.
+
+"You'd be much more comfortable if you put your feet up on the seat
+and tried to sleep," he said presently. "You can have my coat as well
+as the rug. Your hands are like ice."
+
+He took off his coat as he spoke and laid it over her.
+
+"I'm afraid we've got a long journey yet," he said ruefully. "If you
+could get some sleep."
+
+She turned her head away and closed her eyes.
+
+She looked very young and appealing in the depressing light of the
+carriage.
+
+Micky sat looking at her in silence. She cared so little for him that
+she had even forgotten her anger against him; nothing he could do or
+say really mattered to her, she was not sufficiently interested in him
+to even trouble to hate him for long.
+
+He wondered what June was thinking, and Miss Dearling! He wished from
+the depths of his soul that he had remembered to send those wires.
+There was his car, too--he had left that in the yard at Charing
+Cross--what the dickens would become of it?--not that it mattered
+much, he was too miserable to be seriously concerned about anything.
+
+Some minutes passed, but Esther did not move. Micky spoke her name
+once softly--
+
+"Esther...." But she did not answer; he leaned over and touched her
+hand, but she did not stir; in spite of what she had said she was
+asleep.
+
+Micky gave a sigh of relief. He drew his coat and the rug more closely
+around her; he was very cold himself, but that did not trouble him; he
+finished the contents of the supper basket before he went back to his
+own corner.
+
+The train rumbled on through the night; it dragged into many little
+stations and stopped jerkily, but Esther did not wake.
+
+Once when she moved and the rug slipped, Micky rose and quietly
+replaced it. He was very tired himself, but his brain would not allow
+him to sleep; he felt as if he were living through years during these
+long hours.
+
+He sat looking at Esther with wistful eyes. Why was it that people
+never fell in love with the right people? he asked himself vaguely. He
+could have made her so happy.
+
+He closed his eyes for a moment, then dragged them open again. He must
+not go to sleep, whatever happened. He sat up stiffly.
+
+Presently he lifted a corner of the blind. The sky looked a little
+lighter, as if dawn were not far away. He looked at his watch. Nearly
+two!
+
+A sudden impulse came to him to wake Esther and make her listen now to
+what he had to say. The time was getting short, and there was so much
+to tell her and explain.
+
+He rose and bent over her, but she did not move, and he went back
+again to his corner.
+
+He let the window down a little way, hoping the cold night air would
+help to keep him awake. The minutes seemed to drag, though in reality
+only a quarter of an hour had passed when Esther woke with a little
+smothered cry.
+
+Micky was on his feet in an instant.
+
+"It's all right--there's nothing to be afraid of--you've been
+asleep."
+
+She rubbed her eyes childishly with her knuckles; she stared at him
+for a moment unrecognisingly, then, as memory returned, she shrank
+back into her corner.
+
+Micky picked up the rug and coat that had slithered to the floor; he
+waited a few moments till he saw that she was quite awake before he
+spoke, then he said gently--
+
+"I hope you feel better. We shall soon be in now. Are you warm
+enough?"
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+"We shall be into Paris very soon," he said again; "and there is a
+great deal I want to say to you first. Will you listen to me if I try
+to explain?"
+
+She met his eyes unflinchingly.
+
+"There is only one man who can possibly explain anything to me," she
+said then, "and he is not you."
+
+Micky lost his temper; he was cold and tired and hungry, and at that
+moment she seemed the most unreasonable of mortals.
+
+"I shall not allow you to see Ashton, if you mean Ashton," he said
+roughly. "The man isn't fit for you to think about. He's married, you
+know that ... Esther, for your own sake----"
+
+She had turned her face away and was looking out into the darkness;
+she seemed not to be listening.
+
+Micky went on urgently.
+
+"I blame myself. I always meant to tell you before things had gone as
+far as this. I shall never forgive myself for not having done so. I've
+behaved like a cad, but my only excuse is that I loved you; I wanted
+to spare you unnecessary pain----" He was no longer stammering and
+self-conscious, his voice was firm and steady. "I suppose I was a fool
+to imagine that I could ever make you care for me; I suppose it was
+conceit that led me to think I could ever cut out this ... this
+phantom lover of yours----" He laughed mirthlessly.
+
+"Esther, let me take you back home; it's no use seeing Ashton--it only
+means humiliation and pain for you."
+
+Her lips moved, but no words came.
+
+"Let me take you home to June," he went on. "She will tell you that
+what I say is only the truth. She knows him--she...."
+
+She spoke then.
+
+"She always hated him; it isn't likely she would wish me to marry
+him." She bit her lip. "Oh, it's no use saying any more," she broke
+out wildly after a moment. "I'm going to see him--I can't bear it if I
+don't see him--just once! I've got to hear the truth----"
+
+"I've told you the truth," he repeated doggedly. "It's no interest to
+me to try and prevent you from seeing him. I know I've done for
+whatever chance I had with you. Oh, for heaven's sake believe that
+it's only for your sake I want to take you back!"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+In her heart she found it impossible to believe him; she thought
+of the letters she had received from Raymond, the money--the
+presents--why even this coat she wore had come from him; she felt
+that she could laugh at this man opposite to her. A little smile
+curved her lips; a contemptuous smile it seemed to Micky.
+
+For the first time the injustice of it all seemed to strike him; for
+him who had done his best she had nothing but dislike and contempt,
+but for the man who had left her with a brutal letter of farewell, who
+had thrown her over because she had no money, she had endless faith
+and trust, and love!
+
+He broke out in his agitation.
+
+"I've tried to spare you--I've done my best, but you won't let me ...
+I've kept back the truth, but now you'll have to hear it if nothing
+else will keep you from him. He's never given you a thought since he
+left London--he imagines that you've forgotten him. It was he you saw
+at the Comedy Theatre that night when June and I were with you. He
+didn't even trouble to let you know that he was in London--that's how
+he cares for you--this man you refuse to believe one word against
+..." His eyes flamed as they met hers.
+
+She was staring at him now; her face was white and incredulous.
+
+"If you--if you think I'm going to believe that----" she began, in a
+high, unnatural voice. She stopped; she seemed to realise all at once
+that he was speaking the truth. She leaned towards him. Her breath
+came in broken gasps.
+
+"Those letters!" she said shrilly. "Whose letters? They were from
+him--they were from him--weren't they from him?" she asked hoarsely.
+
+"No," said Micky doggedly.
+
+Better to hurt her now, he told himself, than to let her go on to
+worse pain and humiliation.
+
+There was a tragic silence; then she asked again, in a whisper--
+
+"Then who--who wrote them?"
+
+A wave of crimson flooded Micky's white face. He dropped his head in
+his hands as if he could not bear to meet her eyes.
+
+"I did," he said brokenly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+A long moment of silence followed Micky's broken confession. He dared
+not look at Esther, though she was staring at him, staring hard, with
+a curious sort of wonderment in her grey eyes. Then all at once she
+began to laugh, a laugh which held no real mirth, only incredulity.
+
+Micky raised his head sharply.
+
+For a second they stared at one another; then Micky said hoarsely--
+
+"You don't believe me"; and then again, more slowly: "You mean that
+you--don't believe--me?"
+
+He half rose to his feet.
+
+"Esther, I implore you."
+
+She moved back from him.
+
+"It was clever of you--to think of such an excuse," she said
+unevenly.
+
+"It's the truth; I swear it if I never speak again. I know now that I
+must have been out of my mind to attempt such a thing, but it has only
+seemed impossible since you showed me how little you thought of me. I
+wrote those letters--every one of them. I----"
+
+In the excitement of the moment neither of them had noticed that the
+train had reached its destination and was slowly stopping.
+
+A voluble porter had already wrenched open the door and was imploring
+monsieur to accept his services; it was impossible to say any more to
+Esther.
+
+Micky followed her out on to the platform; he felt that the last shred
+of his patience and tenderness had been killed.
+
+She did not believe him--whatever he said she would never believe him;
+it was useless to waste his breath; he might as well give up and let
+her go her own way; perhaps a sharp lesson would teach her better and
+more quickly than all his love had been able to do.
+
+He was dispirited and hungry, and hunger alone makes a man angry. He
+looked at the girl for whose sake he had raced all these miles of
+wild-goose chase, and a boorish longing to hurt her, to let her suffer
+rose in his heart.
+
+Let her go to Ashton and see for herself the sort of man he was.
+
+He spoke with savage impulse.
+
+"I won't bother you with my unwelcome company any longer. You will be
+able to get breakfast in the restaurant, and you will find that most
+people here understand English.... Good-bye----"
+
+Esther gave a little gasp--
+
+"You're not going to leave me?"
+
+The hardness of his eyes did not soften.
+
+"You are not trying to tell me that you wish me to stay, surely?" he
+submitted drily.
+
+She raised her head.
+
+"Certainly not; after all, it's your own fault you came."
+
+He did not answer, perhaps he could not trust himself; he raised his
+hat and turned away unseeingly, and Esther clutched her suit-case
+tightly and walked away with her head in the air, trying to look as if
+she knew every inch of the Gare St. Lazare and had been there
+thousands of times before.
+
+But her heart was beating up in her throat, and she would have given a
+great deal, had it been compatible with dignity, to rush after him and
+beg him to stay.
+
+She wandered out of the station, not knowing where to go, Raymond
+seemed to have faded into the background; she only thought of him
+subconsciously; it was the figure of Micky Mellowes that worried
+her--she could not forget him.
+
+Supposing he had really written those letters? "But he didn't," she
+told herself in an agony. "I know he didn't."
+
+She took one of the letters from her suit-case and stared at the
+handwriting--Raymond's writing. The whole thing was too preposterous.
+
+She did not know what she meant to do, or where she meant to go; it no
+longer seemed that she had come here for any specific purpose.
+
+The early morning greyness and chilliness had faded; the sun had risen
+and cleared away the mists.
+
+She found herself in some gardens where an elderly man was feeding
+sparrows; she sat down on a bench and watched him.
+
+It seemed years ago that she went down to Enmore with June--since she
+sat in the little inn with Micky and heard those two men talking.
+
+The hot blood beat into her cheeks as she remembered something that
+for the moment she had forgotten--that Raymond Ashton was married!
+
+The man gave the sparrows his last crumbs and went away. The little
+brown birds came hopping to Esther's feet, looking up at her with
+bright, eager eyes, as if expecting her to supply a further meal.
+
+The sun faded and went in, and a few drops of rain came pattering
+down. She rose and began to walk on slowly. The light suit-case seemed
+to have grown heavy since yesterday.
+
+At the back of her mind was the frightened knowledge that she was
+alone in Paris; that she had nobody to turn to now that Micky had
+deserted her; but as yet it was only in the background. Raymond was
+somewhere, perhaps quite close; but she no longer felt that she wanted
+to go to him.
+
+Further on she found another bench sheltered under some trees and sat
+down again; she opened the suit-case and took out a bundle of Micky's
+letters ... Micky's! No, Raymond's.... Oh, whose letters were they?
+
+She opened the one that had been written from the hotel in Paris. Its
+fond words seemed to take on a new meaning....
+
+"Some day, if all that I wish for comes true, I will tell you the many
+things you would not let me say when we were last together...."
+
+The one sentence caught her eye. She wondered that she had never
+before thought how unlike Raymond this was. Why was it she had not
+realised before that Raymond could never have written this?
+
+Somewhere in the distance a church clock chimed; Esther found herself
+mechanically counting the bells--nine, ten, eleven! All those hours
+since Micky had left her at the station.
+
+She was cold and hungry, but it did not seem to matter; she felt there
+was a great, unanswered question in her mind which she must settle.
+
+She rose and walked on again; she turned out of the gardens and found
+herself in a street of shops. People looked at her curiously.
+
+Hardly knowing that she did so, she stopped and looked in at a
+jeweller's window; there were trays of precious stones. She felt her
+own ring beneath the glove--she had worn it so long now, she wondered
+how she would feel when she had to take it off. Of course, she could
+not go on wearing it if Raymond was really married.
+
+Micky had once gone into a pond on a bitter night to save a kitten
+from drowning; she wondered what made her remember that.
+
+The man who could save a drowning kitten would never hurt a woman so
+that she could hardly think or feel; June had claimed for Micky that
+he was the best man in the world.
+
+"But I don't believe in him--I don't believe anything he says," Esther
+told herself feverishly; she moved on again away from the trays of
+flashing diamonds.
+
+Two girls passing her were chattering in French--Esther looked after
+them vaguely.
+
+This was really Paris--this rather noisy, confusing place; the Paris
+she had longed to see.
+
+A man passing stared at her, half stopped, went on again, then turned,
+paused irresolutely, and finally came back.
+
+He walked quickly till he drew abreast with her, and there was a
+curious eagerness in his face as he stooped a little to look down at
+hers; then he gave an exclamation of sheer amazement.
+
+"Lallie! Good heavens! What in the world are you doing here?"
+
+It was Raymond Ashton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+And so the dream had come true after all, and she and Raymond were
+together in Paris.
+
+As she looked up into his handsome face it seemed to Esther that all
+the past hours of grief were as if they had never really existed; he
+was smiling down at her in the same old way; the very tone of his
+voice awoke forgotten memories in her heart; she felt as if a gnawing
+pain which had allowed her no rest had suddenly been lulled to sleep.
+
+"I thought it must be you," Raymond was saying nervously. "And yet I
+could not be sure. Somehow I never thought of you and Paris as being
+in any way compatible, and yet----" He broke off; it had been on the
+tip of his tongue to say that she had never looked sweeter or more
+desirable.
+
+His overwhelming conceit suddenly woke the wish in his heart to know
+if she still cared, or if she had forgotten him, and a little flush
+crossed his face and his eyes grew tender as they met the tragedy of
+hers; he looked hastily round.
+
+"We can't talk here. Will you come to a café? There is so much I
+should like to say to you. When did you come over? What are you doing
+here?"
+
+They were walking slowly along, the man's head bent ardently towards
+her.
+
+He had once told Micky that this girl was the only woman he had ever
+loved, and perhaps it was right--as he accounted love.
+
+He took her to a café--one where there would be nobody likely to
+recognise him; he ordered coffee and biscuits.
+
+"Now we can talk undisturbed," he said; he moved his chair closer to
+Esther's--he laid his hand on hers.
+
+She did not move or try to evade his touch; she just looked down at
+his hand for a moment and then up at the handsome face which had for
+so long meant all the world to her.
+
+"I never thought we should meet again here of all places," he said in
+his soft voice. "How long ago does it seem to you since we said
+good-bye?"
+
+She could not answer, but the thought floated through her mind that
+they never had said good-bye, that he had just walked out of her life
+and stayed away until this moment, when fate had thrown them
+together.
+
+"If you knew how often I have thought about you," he said.
+
+"Did you get my letter, Lallie? The one I wrote on New Year's Eve--and
+the money? I sent you some money."
+
+A swift flush dyed her cheeks; she raised her eyes.
+
+That had been his letter then, after all--Micky had lied to her; she
+caught her breath on a little gasp.
+
+"Yes," she said faintly. "Yes--yes, I got it--thank you."
+
+"I've often thought since that I might have written you a kinder
+letter," he said after a moment. "But everything had gone wrong
+then--the mater cut up rough--and I was up to my eyes in debt. It was
+the best thing for both of us to put an end to it, don't you think it
+was? You used to say that you wouldn't mind being poor, but in the end
+you'd have hated it as much as I should." He paused as if expecting
+her to speak, but she was plucking at the blue-and-white fringe of the
+tablecloth with nervous fingers.
+
+What did he mean--that he might have written her a kinder letter--when
+she always remembered it as one of the dearest she had ever received?
+
+He went on again--
+
+"It hurt me more than you'll ever know." There was a sort of
+self-satisfaction in his voice. "It took me a long time to forget you,
+Lallie, and then, just as I was beginning, I saw you at the
+theatre--in the stalls ... with Mellowes." His brows met above his
+handsome eyes. "Mellowes wasn't long picking you up," he added
+jealously.
+
+Her lip quivered, but she did not raise her eyes.
+
+"You saw me, too, didn't you?" he persisted. "I know you did, because
+Mellowes came round afterwards and cursed me to all eternity." He
+laughed. "I should have made a point of seeing you the next day if it
+hadn't been for his confounded interference," he went on. "He told me
+to get out of London and leave you alone." He bent towards her a
+little. "What is Mellowes to you?" he asked her deliberately.
+
+She raised her eyes now, and somehow it seemed as if, in the last few
+moments, the man she had known and loved had changed into a
+stranger--some one whom she had never seen before, whom she hoped
+never to see again.
+
+She forced her lips to smile; she felt at that moment she would die
+rather than let him see how she was suffering, or guess how she had
+suffered in the past.
+
+"He's been kind to me," she said voicelessly. "That's all."
+
+Raymond made a little, inarticulate sound.
+
+"He's got me to thank for ever getting to know you," he said. "I gave
+him your address and asked him to take you out a bit if he fancied
+it.... I asked him to be kind to you."
+
+The hands in her lap twitched convulsively.
+
+"If I'd had one tenth of his beastly money," Raymond said then
+savagely, "we shouldn't be sitting here now as if we were strangers--as
+if ... Lallie--do you remember the good time we used to have----"
+
+"I remember everything." He bent closer.
+
+"I never cared for any woman in all my life but you. It's cursed hard
+luck." He sighed. "You know I'm married?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"Oh yes!" The words came stiffly.
+
+His eyes searched her white face jealously.
+
+"You don't seem to care. I've often wondered if you knew--and if you
+minded!" He sat staring before him, and there was a little smile in
+his eyes. "We do things in style now, I can tell you," he said with
+sudden change of voice. "She's as rich as you please, and she likes to
+spend her money." Another silence.
+
+"I hope you'll be happy," Esther said faintly.
+
+Afterwards she wondered what made her say it, seeing that she did not
+care in the very least if he were happy or not; why should she care?
+This man was a stranger to her.
+
+He laughed ruefully.
+
+"Oh, I suppose we shall," he said. "She's not a bad sort, and she lets
+me alone...." He roused himself suddenly and bent closer to her.
+"Lallie--you'll let me see you again. There's no reason why we can't
+be--friends--just because I'm married----" He tried to take her hand,
+but now she repulsed him, though very gently.
+
+"You're not going to be a little prude?" he said in a whisper. "I can
+give you the time of your life if you'll let me. I've plenty of money
+now----"
+
+"Your wife's money," said Esther with stiff lips.
+
+He looked annoyed.
+
+"If you like to put it that way--but she doesn't mind--she's too fond
+of me to mind how much I spend ... Lallie----" She hated to hear that
+name, because once she had loved it.
+
+She closed her eyes for a moment with a little sick shudder.
+
+"Are you faint?" he asked anxiously. "I suppose it is warm in here.
+Take your coat off! Jove! that's a fine coat----" He ran an
+appreciative hand down the soft fur sleeve; a sudden suspicion
+crept into his eyes. "Who gave you that?" he asked sharply. "Not
+Mellowes----?"
+
+"No--at least...." She could not go on. Micky had given it to her, she
+knew, but she would have bitten her tongue through rather than have
+told this man.
+
+It had been Micky all the time--Micky....
+
+She thrust the thought of him from her; she did not want to think of
+him now. There would be plenty of time later on; plenty of time when
+she had shaken off the last rag of the past.
+
+"It cost a pretty penny, whoever bought it," he said sulkily. "What
+else has he given you? If you can take presents from him you can't
+refuse to let me see you sometimes, and after all--you did love me
+once.... Esther, do you remember the way you cried that last day?"
+
+"Yes," she said mechanically, "I remember; I remember everything."
+
+"You loved me well enough then," he reminded her moodily. "You didn't
+behave like an iceberg then, Lallie, and I'm not really changed; I'm
+the same man I was--I care for you just as much----"
+
+"You're married!" she said.
+
+She felt as if she had so much time mapped out before her during which
+she must put up with this man's society; as if each moment were
+another inch torn in the rags of disillusionment which had got to be
+destroyed thoroughly before she could ever hope to gather up the
+broken threads of her life again.
+
+He laughed at her reminder.
+
+"I'm not the only married man who sometimes forgets that he is no
+longer a bachelor," he said detestably.
+
+He laid an arm familiarly along the back of her chair. He touched her
+chin with his fingers.
+
+She moved back, the hot blood rushing riotously over her face. She was
+white no longer; she looked like a marble Galatea suddenly brought to
+life.
+
+Raymond Ashton laughed, well pleased. He was confident that he had not
+lost his power over her. For the moment his appalling vanity blinded
+him to the fact that it was not love in her eyes, but scorn.
+
+"What are you thinking, Lallie?" he asked her.
+
+She sat very straight and stiff in her chair.
+
+"I am thinking," she said, "how impossible it seems that I can ever
+have thought that I cared for you." Her voice was low but very clear,
+and he heard each word distinctly. "I am thinking that you are the
+most contemptible thing I have ever met in my life--I am thinking how
+sorry I am for the woman who is your wife."
+
+She pushed back her chair and rose.
+
+"Would you like to hear any more of my thoughts?" she asked.
+
+Ashton had risen too; there was a look of bewildered amazement in his
+face; he tried to laugh. Even now he thought she was joking.
+
+"Lallie--" he said hoarsely. He half held his hand to her. "Lallie--"
+he said again--but the cold contempt of her face struck the appeal
+from her lips.
+
+He drew himself up with a poor attempt at dignity.
+
+"So virtue is to be the order of the day, is it?" he said sneeringly.
+"Very well----" His eyes flamed as they rested on her face. "It
+makes one wonder why you are here--in Paris--alone!" he said
+insultingly--"If you are alone."
+
+There was a little point of silence. For a moment Esther scanned his
+handsome face as if she were trying to remember what it was she had
+ever loved in him--his eyes!--but they were so cruel and insolent--his
+lips ... she shuddered, realising that in all her life she could
+never undo the memory of his kisses--then she pulled herself together
+with a great effort and turned away.
+
+He followed. His amazement had gone now--he was merely furiously
+angry--his face was crimson--he caught her arm in a grip that hurt.
+
+"My God, you're not going like this," he said furiously. "It's only a
+few weeks ago that you were crying round my neck and begging me not to
+throw you over. Oh, that hurts, does it?" he said as she winced. "I
+dare say you'd like all that wiped out and forgotten. But I've got a
+few letters to remember you by--a few letters that would hardly make
+pleasant reading for the next man who is fool enough to waste his time
+on you--and I promise you I'll send them along if it's Mellowes or any
+other man----"
+
+She raised triumphant eyes to his face.
+
+"He wouldn't read them," she said passionately. "Send them if you
+like; but he wouldn't read them----" She was not conscious of the
+admission in her words--she only knew that the knowledge that Micky
+was there somewhere in the background gave her the strength to defy
+Ashton.
+
+She saw the sudden fury that filled his eyes.
+
+"Then--then you admit that it's Mellowes," he stammered. "That it's he
+who has taken my place--who has cut me out----" His voice changed to a
+sort of threat.
+
+"I might have know what he meant to do. I might have guessed. Wait
+till I see him--wait till I get back to London."
+
+Esther smiled--a little smile of security and confidence.
+
+"There is no need to wait," she said quietly. "Mr. Mellowes is here in
+Paris with me, if you wish to see him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+Ashton echoed Esther's words hoarsely.
+
+"Here! With you! in Paris!... Micky----"
+
+A wave of bitterest jealousy surged through him. He fell back a step,
+struck dumb by the force of his emotions, and Esther fled away from
+him down the street.
+
+She seemed to have awakened all at once to her true position. She was
+alone, with only a few shillings in her pocket and in a strange city.
+
+She was tired to death. She felt as if her limbs would give way
+beneath her. The driver of a fiacre looked at her and drew his horse
+to the kerb.
+
+Esther nodded; she threw her suit-case on to the seat and clambered in
+after it.
+
+But where to go? The old blinding fear of her loneliness rushed back.
+Where could she go?
+
+Then she suddenly remembered the hotel from which Micky had written to
+her. She would go there. It would be somewhere at least to sleep and
+rest.
+
+It was only a little drive to the hotel; she wished it had been
+longer.
+
+A commissionaire came forward, and said something in French. She
+looked up at him, but his face seemed all indistinct and unreal. She
+tried to answer, but her own voice sounded as if it were miles away.
+
+They were in the small, rather dreary lounge. Esther passed a hand
+across her eyes. She must conquer this absurd weakness. She forced
+herself to remember that she was alone, but she felt as if she had no
+will-power left.
+
+A door in front of her opened suddenly, and a man came into the
+lounge.
+
+When he saw Esther he stopped. The hot colour rushed to his face. He
+seemed to be waiting for some sign from her. For a moment their eyes
+met; then, hardly knowing what she did, Esther held out her hand.
+
+"Oh, please," she said faintly, "oh, please tell me--what I am to
+do?"
+
+But for the next few minutes she was past remembering anything, though
+she never really lost consciousness. She only knew that everything was
+all right now Micky was here--and the sheer relief the knowledge
+brought with it for the time threw her into a sort of apathy.
+
+Some one took off her hat and the big fur coat that had grown so
+heavy; some one had bathed her face and unlaced her shoes, and now
+Micky stood there looking down at her with eyes that hurt, though they
+smiled.
+
+"I've told them to bring lunch in here," he went on. "You'll like it
+better than the public room--and I haven't had mine yet."
+
+Esther looked up at him.
+
+"And can we--can we go back to London to-day?" she asked.
+
+"We can go any time you like," he said.
+
+He felt he had aged years during that morning. No sooner had Esther
+got out of his sight at the station than he was beside himself with
+remorse for having allowed her to go; he had spent the whole morning
+wandering about looking for her. He had been to this hotel a dozen
+times; he had only just come in again when she followed.
+
+The relief of having her safely in his charge once more was almost
+more than he could bear. He walked over to the door, then stopped and
+looked back at her.
+
+"You won't ... you won't run away from me again, will you?" he asked.
+For the first time there was real emotion in his voice.
+
+Esther had been sitting looking into the fire; she raised her head
+now.
+
+"Don't go," she said tremulously. "Please don't go. I want to speak to
+you."
+
+He flushed crimson, he tried to make some excuse.
+
+"Another time.... You're tired. I'll come back presently. You ought to
+get some rest if we're to go back to-night."
+
+"No," she said. "It must be now."
+
+He shut the door, but he kept as far away from her as possible,
+standing over by the window that looked into the dreary winter
+garden.
+
+There was something implacable about his tall figure.
+
+"Oh, won't you come here?" she said.
+
+He obeyed at once. He rested an elbow on the mantelshelf and kept his
+eyes fixed on the fire.
+
+There as a little silence, then Esther said, almost in a whisper:
+
+"I want to beg your pardon. I hope you will--will try and forgive
+me."
+
+Micky did not move.
+
+She struggled on:
+
+"I've seen ... Mr. Ashton." Somehow she could not bring herself to
+speak of him by his Christian name.
+
+"And I know--I know--that I've been--been a fool."
+
+Her voice broke. She gripped the arms of the chair hard to keep
+herself from breaking down.
+
+Micky forced himself to speak.
+
+"I'm glad you've seen him--as you wished it," he said jerkily. "But as
+hoping I will forgive you, there's nothing to forgive--it's all the
+other way on. I behaved like--like a cad--it's for you to forgive
+me."
+
+He smiled faintly.
+
+"And now we've both said the right thing I'll go and see about that
+train," he said.
+
+But again she stopped him.
+
+"I don't want you to go--I want to talk to you. I want ... oh, I don't
+know what I do want!" she finished, with a sob.
+
+"You're tired out," Micky said calmly, though he looked anything but
+calm, "and I'm going to bully you and insist that you rest. I'll come
+back presently...."
+
+He went away quickly, as if he were afraid of being kept against his
+will but outside the door he stood still for a moment with his hand
+over his eyes before he pulled himself together and went on.
+
+Esther listened to his departing steps with a sinking at her heart.
+
+What had she hoped for? She hardly knew, but she felt as if she had
+made an overture of friendship that had been kindly but decidedly
+refused.
+
+Her cheeks burned. It was not what she had expected.
+
+It seemed an eternity till Micky came back again.
+
+"There's a train in half an hour," he told her. "We can get back to
+town very comfortably. I've wired to June to meet us. She probably
+came up from Enmore yesterday."
+
+June! Esther had almost forgotten June.
+
+"You ought to be getting ready if we are to catch that train," Micky
+said. "Would you rather stay till to-morrow? I'm afraid the journey
+will tire you dreadfully."
+
+She rose hurriedly.
+
+"No, no--oh no, I'd much rather go!"
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+Micky had reserved a carriage.
+
+"I think I will go in a smoker," he said. He put some magazines
+and a box of chocolates on the seat; he avoided looking at her.
+"It's a corridor train so I'll come and see that you are all right
+occasionally--if I may."
+
+She did not answer; she felt a little chill of disappointment. He had
+not asked a single question about Raymond, and now he was suggesting
+that they travel the long journey separately.
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"Will you be all right?" he asked awkwardly.
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+He went away, and presently the train started. Esther looked out of
+the window and watched the city as it was rapidly left behind.
+
+"I never want to see it again," was the thought in her heart. "I wish
+I never had seen it."
+
+She felt like a naughty child who has run away from home and is being
+ignominiously brought back.
+
+Last night seemed like some fevered dream; Raymond Ashton some man of
+whom she had read in a book or seen in a play.
+
+A phantom lover!--he had not even been that, and once she had wished
+to die because she had got to be separated from him.
+
+Her eyes fell on her hand--she still wore his ring.
+
+With sudden passion she dragged it from her finger; she let the window
+down with a run and flung the ring far out into the grey evening. It
+was the end of a dream; the final uprooting of an illusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+Esther slept through the long journey fitfully--she was mentally and
+physically exhausted. She was only thoroughly aroused by people out in
+the corridor moving about collecting bags and baggage.
+
+She opened her eyes with a confused feeling--the train was slackening
+speed, and Micky stood in the doorway.
+
+"We are nearly in," he said.
+
+The train was almost at a standstill.
+
+"Calais! Calais!"
+
+Esther rose to her feet--her limbs were trembling, and her head ached
+dully.
+
+Micky took her suit-case from the rack.
+
+"You'd better fasten your coat," he said casually. "It will be cold on
+the boat."
+
+She looked at him half fearfully. Was this the same man who had
+followed her from Enmore with such passionate haste and eagerness? He
+was perfectly undisturbed now at all events, he seemed even to avoid
+looking at her.
+
+When they got on board he found her a chair on the leeside of the
+boat.
+
+"Are you a good sailor?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know. I've never been any distance until yesterday."
+
+"You'd better stay here; it's preferable to that stuffy cabin."
+
+But he left her alone almost the whole time, though she knew that he
+walked up and down close to where she sat. She could see the glow of
+his cigar through the darkness and hear the slow sound of his steps.
+
+She tried to think things over quietly as she sat there, but
+everything seemed so unreal, and most of all the fact that Micky had
+once professed to love her.
+
+In the train he left her to herself till they reached London. He was
+sure she "did not want to be bothered," he said, and he was going to
+smoke.
+
+Esther felt a little pang of disappointment. It seemed a long time
+till the train steamed fussily into Charing Cross; and the old weary
+feeling of loneliness had settled again upon her heart by the time
+Micky came to the door of the carriage.
+
+"June is sure to be somewhere about," he said laconically. "Will you
+stay here while I see if I can find her?"
+
+She took a hurried step forward.
+
+"No, I'll come with you."
+
+She felt afraid of June's kindly quizzical eyes; June who knew why she
+had run away to Paris, and what had been awaiting her there.
+
+She touched Micky's arm--the eyes she raised to his face were
+troubled.
+
+"When shall I see you again?" she asked falteringly.
+
+He half smiled.
+
+"Why do you want to see me again?" he questioned gravely. "You can
+have no use for me--after this!"
+
+Esther flushed painfully. Through the crowd she saw June pushing
+towards them. This was the last moment she would have with Micky, she
+knew, and in a flash something seemed to tell her what this man had
+meant to her during the last two terrible days.
+
+"Oh," she said tremblingly, "if you only would let me thank you."
+
+Micky laughed harshly--
+
+"I hate thanks," he said.
+
+June was upon them; she seized Esther and kissed her rapturously.
+
+"You darling! You'll never know how glad I am to see you. I've been
+here for hours. Aren't you dead tired? Micky, she looks worn out."
+
+"Does she?" said Micky.
+
+He was dead beat himself; he looked round vacantly.
+
+"I wired Driver--I thought he'd be here...."
+
+"Here, sir," said a voice at his elbow, and there was Driver, stolid
+and impenetrable as ever.
+
+Micky was unfeignedly glad to see the little man; for almost the
+first time in his life he realised that sometimes dullness and
+short-sightedness are a blessing in disguise. Apparently to
+Driver there was nothing odd in this mad rush over to Paris; his
+expressionless eyes saw the untidiness of his master' toilet without
+changing.
+
+"I've brought the car, sir," he said.
+
+"Good man; get me a taxi, then. You must take the car down to your
+rooms," Micky said to June. "No, don't argue; I insist----"
+
+He put the two girls into the car; he did not look at Esther, though
+he squeezed June's hand when he said good-bye.
+
+"Let me know if you get back all right; I shall see you soon."
+
+He raised his hat, stood aside, and the car started forward.
+
+June looked at Esther with a sort of shyness. It seemed as if years
+must have passed since they were down at Enmore.
+
+The car had rolled out of the station and into the heart of London
+before either of them spoke; then Esther said, stiltedly:
+
+"It was kind of you to come."
+
+June flushed.
+
+"It wasn't kind at all," she said bluntly. "You're my friends, or, at
+least, you were, and, as for Micky--well, I love him."
+
+There was a sort of defiance in her voice. She had seen the tired,
+strained look in Micky's face, and she was nearer being angry with
+Esther than she had ever been, but she turned and took her hand.
+
+"Somehow I never thought I should see you again," she said, with real
+emotion. "I haven't slept a wink since you went away."
+
+"You're much too good to me," Esther said. "Everyone is much too good
+to me."
+
+"I think Micky is, certainly," June agreed exasperatedly. "The man's a
+perfect fool to run about like he does after a woman who doesn't care
+two hoots about him.... There! now I oughtn't to have said that.
+Esther, if you're crying...."
+
+Esther had covered her face with her hands.
+
+"I'm not crying," she said in a stifled voice. "But I'm so ashamed. I
+don't know what you must think of me--it's so--so humiliating."
+
+"It's nothing of the kind," June declared. "The only mistake you've
+made is to put your money on the wrong man, if you'll excuse the
+expression. Raymond Ashton was always an outsider.... There! I won't
+say another word. You've come home, and that's all that matters."
+
+It was only when they were safely up in the room with the mauve
+cushions that she flung her hat down on the sofa and drew a long
+breath.
+
+"Well, I never thought we should be here together again," she said
+tragically. "It seemed like the end of everything when I found your
+note on the pincushion. I don't know what I should have done if it
+hadn't been for Micky."
+
+"I don't know what I should have done either," Esther said. She met
+June's eyes and flushed crimson. "I've been horrid about him, I know,"
+she added bravely. "And now I'm sorry."
+
+June said "Humph." She sat for a moment staring at the floor, then she
+got up and searched for the inevitable cigarettes.
+
+"You ought to go to bed," she said in her most matter-of-fact tone.
+"Where did you sleep last night?"
+
+"Nowhere--at least--we were in the train all night. I did sleep a
+little, but...."
+
+June took her by the shoulders.
+
+"Off you go to bed, and don't argue. I've had a fire put in your room,
+and Charlie is there with a new bow on. I'll come and tuck you up when
+you're ready, and...."
+
+But Esther refused to move.
+
+"I couldn't sleep if I went to bed. I want to tell you about--about
+what's happened...." She paused breathlessly, but June was not going
+to help her.
+
+"I don't want to hear anything," she said flatly. She looked at Esther
+and saw the tears in the younger girl's eyes. She put an arm round
+her, drawing her down to the sofa.
+
+"Tell me all about it, then," she said. "I'm just--just longing to
+know."
+
+"But there isn't much to tell, except----" Esther held out her left
+hand. "I'm not engaged any more," she said with a faint attempt to
+laugh. "He--Mr. Ashton--is married...."
+
+"I know--Micky told me before we went to Enmore. I hope he's married a
+vixen who'll lead him an awful dance. It would serve her right to let
+her know the sort of man he is--to let her know the sort of letters
+he's been writing to you--to show him up properly."
+
+Esther hid her face in the mauve cushions.
+
+"Oh, but he has never written to me," she said chokingly. "I've never
+had a letter from him since he went away, and that was on New Year's
+Eve. It's all been a mistake--a sham ... he never cared for me--he
+never really wanted me...."
+
+June threw away the cigarette and tried to raise Esther.
+
+"What are you talking about? He did write to you--you told me yourself
+that he wrote beautiful letters--he sent you that money--Esther! what
+do you mean?"
+
+Esther looked up; for a moment June caught a glimpse of misty, shamed
+eyes.
+
+"They weren't from him: those letters--the money never came from him,"
+she said in a stifled voice.
+
+"What! My good child, have you gone out of your mind?"
+
+June was a hundred miles from guessing the truth. "If he didn't write
+them, then who in the world did?" she demanded crisply. "And if he
+didn't send the money, who in the wide world...."
+
+She caught her breath on a sudden illuminating thought.
+
+"Esther ... not--not--Micky!"
+
+"Yes." It was the smallest whisper, and it was followed by a tragic
+silence; then June got up and began walking aimlessly about the room;
+she felt as if she had been robbed of all breath.
+
+Twice she turned and looked at Esther's huddled figure, then she went
+back, laid a hand on her arm and said in an odd, gentle voice that was
+strangely unlike her own brisk tones:
+
+"And do you mean to say that you don't just think him the finest man
+in all the world?"
+
+Esther sat up with sudden passion.
+
+"I didn't think of him at all--it was like having a knife turned in my
+heart when I knew," she said wildly. "Oh, you can't understand if
+you've never cared for anybody what it feels like to know that you've
+been made a fool of. When he told me I felt that I hated him--there
+didn't seem anything fine or good in what he had done; I only knew
+that I'd been played with, made fun of...." She stopped, sobbing
+desperately, but for once June attempted no consolation. She was
+looking at Micky's portrait on the shelf, and there was a wonderful
+tenderness in her queer eyes.
+
+"Who told you?" she asked then. "Who told you that it was Micky?"
+
+"He did--he only told me when he knew why I was going to Paris--he
+told me in the train. It's been from Mr. Mellowes all along--the money
+I've had every week--my clothes--this coat ... he's been paying for my
+food, and for me to live here...." She raised her eyes to June's face.
+"Did you know?" she asked shakily. "He said you didn't, but
+somehow...."
+
+June rounded on her angrily.
+
+"If Micky said that I didn't, that ought to be good enough," she said
+curtly. "And of course, I didn't know--if I had, I should have told
+him that he was a fool to waste his time and money on a girl who
+thought nothing of him," she added flatly. Her voice changed all at
+once. "Oh, isn't he just splendid!" she said emotionally. "I don't
+understand it in the very least, why he has done it, or how he managed
+it, or anything, but I think it's the finest thing in all the
+world----" Esther turned away.
+
+"I knew him before we met here--he wanted to tell you, but I asked him
+not to----" She stopped and dragged on again.
+
+"I met him on New Year's Eve--I was so miserable--there seemed nothing
+to live for, and he was kind and so ... so ... I told him a little of
+what was wrong, and I suppose he guessed the rest."
+
+"And when he went to Paris that time it was all for your sake, and it
+was for your sake he kept coming here--oh!"--June rose to her feet
+with a gesture of intolerance--"if you don't just adore the ground he
+walks on," she said, "you ought to, and that's all I've got to say."
+
+Esther made no answer; she was looking into the fire with eyes that as
+yet saw only the ruins of a dream that had been so beautiful, the
+rapidly receding shadow of the man whom she had once made a giant
+figure in her life.
+
+"I never want to care for any one again," she said presently in a hard
+voice. "You told me once that people were happier if they didn't love,
+and I think you were right."
+
+"I was an idiot to ever say such a thing," June cried in a rage. "And
+you're a bigger idiot if you pretend to think I was right. There's
+nothing better in the whole world than being loved----" Her face
+flushed like a rose. "If Micky had cared for me even a quarter as well
+as he does for you I would have married him, and that's the truth,"
+she declared. "It was only because I knew he hadn't anything except
+friendship to offer me that I knew it wasn't fair...." She tried to
+cover the seriousness of her words with a laugh. She lit another
+cigarette. "And now, having got rid of my heroics, let's talk sense,"
+she added more calmly. "But you ought to go to bed. You look worn out.
+You'll be a wreck in the morning."
+
+"I don't want to go to bed. I have such a lot to tell you. I shall
+have to leave here, of course; I haven't got any money. I must try and
+find a post. I thought of asking Eldred's to take me back; there might
+be a vacancy now...." But her voice sounded weary and hopeless.
+
+June swooped down on her.
+
+"You poor tired baby, come along to bed and don't worry any more.
+You've got me whatever happens, and if the worst comes to the worst
+there's always June Mason's wonderful skin food for both of us to live
+on."
+
+They went upstairs together.
+
+"There's nothing like sunshine to put you on good terms with
+yourself," she said philosophically. "Whenever I'm in the dumps or
+feel that I'm looking particularly plain, I put on my best hat and go
+out in the sunshine, and I assure you I'm a good-looking woman when I
+come home again."
+
+"You're always better than good-looking," Esther told her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+June tucked Esther up in bed and replenished the fire. She turned out
+the gas, leaving the room fire-lit.
+
+"June," Esther said timidly. "What did your aunt think? What did she
+say--when--when----"
+
+"She said we must go back and finish our visit another time--she took
+a great fancy to you."
+
+"You're saying that to please me."
+
+"I'm not! honest Injun!" June heard the tears in Esther's voice; she
+bent and kissed her gently.
+
+"Now, not another word! I refuse to answer another question! Pleasant
+dreams--or better still, no dreams at all." She went away, and shut
+her door behind her.
+
+Esther lay awake for a long time watching the firelight on the walls
+and ceiling, and thinking of what had happened.
+
+It seemed impossible that she had even really seen and spoken to
+Raymond Ashton; impossible that instead of loving him desperately, she
+could only shudder at the memory of him.
+
+The tears forced their way to her eyes, and scorched her cheeks. But
+for Micky, where might she not have been now?--and he had refused to
+even let her thank him. Her heart was filled with a new humility. At
+best her words would be so poor--like beggars in the palace of his
+generosity.
+
+But she would see him again soon--she comforted herself with the
+assurance. In spite of his changed manner and apparent indifference,
+she was sure she would see him again. Micky--as June had said of
+him--never failed!
+
+It was her last thought as she fell asleep, that she would surely see
+him the next day.
+
+But Micky did not come!
+
+Esther rested till lunch time, after which June insisted on a walk.
+
+"The sun's shining, and it's wicked to stay indoors," she declared;
+she marched Esther about for half an hour.
+
+Esther had been so sure that Micky would come. She glanced up at the
+clock, and then at Micky's photograph--but to-day he seemed to be
+looking past her into the room to where June was bustling about, and
+she gave a little sigh.
+
+The evening dragged away.
+
+"What are you thinking about?" June asked once abruptly. "You look so
+sad, don't look sad, my dear! there's lots of happy days to come
+yet--happier days than you've ever had."
+
+Esther was only half listening. It was too late for Micky to come now
+was the thought in her mind. Supposing he never came again?
+
+She cried herself to sleep that night. When she woke it was late in
+the morning, and June had had her breakfast and gone out.
+
+She came in while Esther was dressing. She looked very pleased and
+alert.
+
+"Business, my child!" she said enthusiastically. "Such a duck of an
+American! and Micky's introduction! Mr. George P. Rochester!--isn't it
+a lovely name? He's going to establish me firmly in little old New
+York, as he calls it, and make my fortune. I'm going out to lunch with
+him at one o'clock, and you're coming too!--Oh, yes you _are_!" as
+Esther shook her head. "I've told him all about you already." Esther
+laughed.
+
+"You must have got on very fast," she said. "And anyway I'm not going
+to play odd-man-out."
+
+June made a little grimace.
+
+"I telephoned Micky and asked him to come and make a fourth," she
+admitted.
+
+Esther flushed. She looked up eagerly:
+
+"And--and is he coming?"
+
+June shook her head.
+
+"No, he isn't," she said with overdone indifference. "He said he'd got
+an engagement already, but between you and me and the doorpost," she
+added darkly, "I don't believe it! I think he just didn't _want_ to
+come."
+
+"Oh," said Esther faintly. "I expect he has a good many engagements,"
+she added after a moment.
+
+June said "Humph!" She recalled the curt manner of Micky's refusal,
+and wondered if there had been a more serious rupture between himself
+and Esther than she was ever likely to hear about.
+
+"So we shall have to make up our minds to enjoy ourselves without his
+distinguished company," she said airly. "I dare say we shall be able
+to manage quite nicely. Esther, aren't you going to wear your fur
+coat?"
+
+"My fur coat!" said Esther rather unsteadily. "It's not mine."
+
+She was taking from the wardrobe the shabby jacket she had worn the
+first night she met Micky; it looked more shabby and unsmart than
+ever, but she was going to wear it whatever happened.
+
+She was smarting with humiliation. She had offered Micky her little
+olive branch when they parted two days ago at Charing Cross, and this
+is how he had accepted it!
+
+"If he's trying to pay me out, I suppose it's only what I deserve,"
+she thought miserably, and yet it did not seem like Micky to
+deliberately try or wish to hurt or humiliate any one.
+
+She did her best to push the shadow aside. She tried to laugh and talk
+with June as they went off to meet Mr. George P. Rochester.
+
+He was a big, bluff man, with a hand-clasp like the grip of a bear,
+and a twang that could be cut with a knife.
+
+They lunched at a restaurant which she had never even heard of, though
+June seemed quite at home. There were several people at other tables,
+whom June knew, and Esther felt very out of it all, and unhappy.
+
+It was a good thing she had refused to marry Micky, she thought with a
+sort of anger. She knew none of his friends and nothing of the life to
+which he had always been accustomed. She did not realise that it was
+the knowledge of her shabby coat that was affecting her spirits more
+keenly than anything.
+
+June's clothes were not new, but they had an unmistakable "cut" about
+them, and Rochester was exceedingly well dressed.
+
+He talked to June a great deal. Once or twice he tried to draw Esther
+into the conversation, but, seeing that she wished to be let alone, he
+soon gave up the attempt.
+
+He was certainly a most friendly person--one would have thought that
+he and June had known one another for years. Before lunch was ended he
+had invited himself to tea for the following afternoon.
+
+"That's Yankee push if you like!" June said when he had gone. "Give me
+a Yankee every time to make things go!" She looked at Esther
+excitedly. "Do you know," she said, "I've a great mind to try and
+persuade that man to come into partnership with me."
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should say he'd suggest it himself if you give him another day or
+two," she said drily. She wandered listlessly round the room.
+
+"I shall have to leave here at the end of the week," she said
+suddenly. "It's impossible to go on living here, and letting you pay
+my rent and my food bill. I owe you more than I can ever repay
+already."
+
+"If you talk like that I'll--I'll kill you!" said June in a rage. "You
+don't understand what friendship means. Micky had tried to teach you,
+and so have I, and all you do is to throw it back in our faces.... O
+Esther, don't!..."
+
+Esther had turned away and covered her face with her hands.
+
+"I know you think I'm ungrateful and horrid," she said brokenly. "But
+how would you like to be in my position? I haven't a shilling of my
+own in the world--the things I've been wearing since I came here are
+paid for by ... by ... oh, you know! I hate to look at that fur coat
+and my new frock. You talk to me about being proud and obstinate;
+well, I can't help it, you must go on thinking it, that's all; I'd
+rather die than take anything more from any one. I kept myself before,
+and I will again...."
+
+"I didn't mean to hurt you--I'm a perfect beast," June declared in
+remorse. "But it does seem such a shame."
+
+Esther raised a flushed face.
+
+"We can't all have money and be independent," she said hardily. "But I
+think you might try and understand how I feel about it."
+
+"I only know that I'm dying to help you, and you won't let me," June
+said grumpily. "Lord! where is my cigarette case? I shall swear or do
+something worse if I can't smoke."
+
+She went out of the room, and Esther heard her go clattering up the
+stairs. There were tears in her eyes now, but she brushed them angrily
+away; after all, what was there to cry for! It was only that she had
+got to go back to where she had left off that New Year's Eve when she
+first met Micky; everything was just as it had been then, save that
+she was the poorer now by the loss of a dream.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+
+June's friendship with Mr. George P. Rochester grew apace.
+
+"Micky's introductions are _always_ a success," she told Esther. "And
+Micky likes him too--awfully! Mr. Rochester is round at Micky's rooms
+nearly every night. They're _ever_ such pals!"
+
+"Are they?" said Esther. The mention of Micky's name always seemed to
+make her heart quiver. She wondered if June knew why he never came to
+the house now, and what she thought about it all.
+
+In her own mind she was sure that Micky had cast her off, and the
+knowledge left her with a sense of desolation.
+
+She never spoke of him unless June did so first, and she tried never
+to think of him. But Micky was a personality not to be lightly
+dismissed from memory, and he haunted her thoughts waking and
+sleeping.
+
+"If I could only get some work," she told herself, "it would be
+better. It's so dreadful having nothing to do."
+
+She had applied to Eldred's unsuccessfully--she had climbed the narrow
+stairs of the agency a dozen times only to be met with rebuff.
+
+"You refused an excellent post I offered to you," she was told icily.
+"I am not likely to be able to find you such another."
+
+June coaxed her into helping with the "swindle."
+
+"If you don't I'll have to pay some one else to do it," she declared.
+"And oh, Esther, _don't_ be so proud!"
+
+So Esther gave in. She filled the little mauve pots with the profound
+skin food and fastened on lids and labels till her head swam.
+
+Sometimes Mr. George P. Rochester came to help--at least he called it
+"help"--but he did very little actual work, as he was always too busy
+looking at June and talking to her.
+
+"Has he suggested the partnership yet?" Esther asked one night.
+
+June flushed rosily.
+
+"Don't be absurd," she answered, and something in her voice woke a
+little note of fear in Esther's heart.
+
+Was she to lose June too? Was there to be nothing left to her in all
+the world? Her hands shook as she went on mechanically filling the row
+of little mauve pots.
+
+"Esther," said June suddenly, "how long is it since you saw Micky?"
+
+There was a little pause, then Esther said constrainedly. "I've never
+seen him since--since we came back from Paris."
+
+She waited a moment.
+
+"Why?" she asked with an effort.
+
+June kept her eyes bent on her work.
+
+"Because I haven't seen him myself for nearly a week," she said
+slowly. "And I hear--I hear that he's running round with that Deland
+girl again."
+
+She did not dare to look up as she spoke, and she went on quickly, "Of
+course it may only be gossip--but George--Mr. Rochester----" she
+hurriedly corrected herself, "tells me that Micky took him to their
+house to dinner last night."
+
+Silence. June filled pots at random, wildly, then Esther spoke.
+
+"I've done eight dozen," she said. "Do you think that is enough to go
+on with?"
+
+June raised her eyes guiltily, then suddenly she pushed the laden tray
+from her and ran round to Esther.
+
+"Oh," she said impulsively, "if only--only you could have made
+yourself care for him."
+
+She put her arms round the younger girl's unresponsive figure.
+
+"I want you to be happy too, so badly," she went on earnestly. "I
+didn't mean to tell you yet, but I must somehow. George--Mr.
+Rochester----" she broke off, laughing and crying together.
+
+"The man's a perfect disgrace," she protested, "I told him so, too!
+I've only known him three weeks, and--and----" she raised tear-drowned
+eyes to Esther's face. "What can you do when a man that size kisses
+you?" she demanded.
+
+Esther had to laugh.
+
+"Why, do what you did," she said. "Kiss him in return."
+
+June wiped her eyes and laughed, and shed more tears.
+
+"I never meant to marry any one," she said angrily. "But the dreadful
+creature seems to want me so desperately badly. I'm really utterly
+miserable, only----"
+
+"O June!" said Esther.
+
+"So I am! At least!"--June looked up and suddenly laughed. "I'm not,"
+she said. "I'm a wicked liar! but oh, such a gloriously happy, wicked
+liar!"
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+"And it's all entirely due to me," Micky said when June rang him up
+the following morning to tell him the news.
+
+"I introduced you! What do I get out of it all I should like to
+know?"
+
+His voice was playful, but June took him seriously.
+
+"O Micky! if you could only be as happy as I am," she said eagerly.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"If wishes were horses, my dear----" he said sententiously. "But don't
+worry about me, I'm all right."
+
+"Then, will you come to dinner to-night? No, _not_ at the boarding
+house! We'll go to the Savoy--just to celebrate! We four!"
+
+"We _four!_" said Micky sharply.
+
+"Yes--I shall bring Esther, of course."
+
+There was the smallest possible pause, then Micky said:
+
+"I'm sorry, but I've another engagement. I promised the Delands to go
+with them to the Hoopers' dance."
+
+June said "_Hang_ the Delands," and rang off in a huff.
+
+Micky hung up the receiver and turned away. He was sorry to disappoint
+June, and yet he had no smallest intention of meeting Esther. If she
+had wanted him she would have sent a note or a message--but she did
+not want him! More than once she had said that she hated him--it was
+time to learn that she meant what she said. Micky's pride had got the
+upper hand at last, and he would rather have died now than make the
+smallest overture to the girl at whose feet he had once been willing
+to grovel.
+
+Driver came to the door:
+
+"A parcel, sir. Shall I bring it in?"
+
+Micky answered absently:
+
+"All right."
+
+Driver went out of the room. After a moment he came back with a square
+box which he set down on the table.
+
+"Shall I open it, sir?" he asked, as Micky did not speak.
+
+Micky started.
+
+"Yes; oh, yes--open it. What the dickens is it? I haven't ordered
+anything."
+
+Driver said that he did not know--that it had been left by a
+messenger. He untied the knotted string with neat precision, and
+rolled it into a ball before he removed the paper.
+
+Micky walked up to the table and lifted the lid with faint curiosity.
+
+"A fur coat," he said blankly. "A fur----" He stopped. For a moment he
+stood staring down into the box, then he let the lid fall over it
+again.
+
+"All right--you can go," he said.
+
+Driver walked to the door stoically, and Micky went back to the fire.
+
+So she would not even keep the fur coat! She cared so little for him
+that she must needs send back his paltry gifts. What a fool he was to
+care--what a fool!
+
+Driver, coming back for a moment, stopped petrified in the doorway.
+Micky was standing by the mantelpiece with his face buried in his
+arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+
+It was late that night when Micky turned up at the Delands'. He had
+taken extravagant pains with his toilet, lingering over it as long as
+possible. Ever since the arrival of that parcel from Esther, he had
+been trying to make up his mind to take the irrevocable step, and ask
+Marie Deland to be his wife. He was miserably sure that she would
+accept him, miserably sure that he was already forgiven for the past.
+
+He kept on persuading himself that it was the one and only thing left
+to him to do. He tried to believe that once the affair was settled, he
+would find some sort of happiness. After all, what did it matter whom
+he married if it could not be Esther?
+
+He looked pale but determined when he walked into the Delands'
+drawing-room and found Marie there alone. She turned to greet him with
+a little eager movement that was somehow comforting.
+
+Here, at any rate, was some one who really cared for him and was glad
+to see him. He took the hand she held out and, bending, kissed it.
+
+She caught her breath on a little sound that was almost a sob, but she
+checked it instantly and tried to laugh.
+
+"This is almost like old times," she said.
+
+"Quite like old times," Micky answered recklessly. "We've just turned
+the pages back again and gone on where we left off, that's all."
+
+He looked at her and tried to forget everything else. She was pretty
+and dainty enough to satisfy the most exciting man, and she loved him!
+To a man who is disappointed and unhappy there is great consolation in
+the knowledge that to one person at least he counts before anything
+else in the world.
+
+She looked up at him, and impulsively he took a step towards her;
+another moment and Micky would have sealed his fate, had not Mrs.
+Deland pushed open the door and walked into the room.
+
+It had not been any effort for her to forgive Micky for his cavalier
+treatment of her daughter. For the last week she had been busy telling
+every one that Marie and Micky had made up their quarrel--"entirely
+Marie's fault it was, you know," and so on.
+
+"You are going to give me half your dances at least," Micky said, when
+they reached the Hoopers'. He took the card from Marie's hand and
+filled in his own initials recklessly against the numbers.
+
+She laughed tremulously; she was too happy to think of anything but
+the present; she had got Micky again, and that was all she cared
+about.
+
+"Good-evening!" said a voice at her side, and, turning, she found
+Raymond Ashton at her elbow.
+
+Marie did not care particularly for Ashton. She greeted him rather
+coldly.
+
+"So you're back in town," she said. "And your wife?"
+
+"Not here to-night," he answered. "She has a bad cold, so I persuaded
+her to stay at home. May I have a dance?"
+
+She gave him her card reluctantly. She would have liked to have
+refused, but she thought Micky would be annoyed; she did not know that
+he and this man were friends no longer.
+
+She saw him glance at Micky's many initials on her card, saw the half
+ironical smile he gave as he looked at her.
+
+"Mellowes is back, then?" he said.
+
+"Yes--he came with us to-night."
+
+"Really! I thought----" he paused eloquently.
+
+Marie flushed, she knew quite well what he meant; that he must have
+known how Micky had once deserted her.
+
+"I understood that Mellowes was in Paris."
+
+Ashton went on calmly.
+
+"At least I was told so by an ... acquaintance of mine--who was
+staying there with him."
+
+Marie's eyes dilated.
+
+"Father and I crossed by the same boat as he did," she said with an
+effort. "He was alone then----"
+
+Ashton laughed detestably. "Ah, but not afterwards," he said--then
+checked himself. "But I forgot. I must not tell tales out of school,
+only as every one seems to have learned of his _penchant_ for the
+little lady from Eldred's"--he laughed lightly.
+
+Marie stood staring down the long ballroom. The colour slowly
+faded from her cheeks, leaving her as white as her frock. She looked
+at Ashton, intent on a crease in his glove, and she broke out
+stammering:
+
+"How dare you say such a thing! I don't believe you--in Paris--Micky----"
+
+He raised his brows with assumed surprise.
+
+"I'm sorry--perhaps I should not have spoken--but I thought every one
+knew----"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders. "Of course it may be a mistake, but I
+happen to know the lady in question slightly--through Mellowes--and it
+was she who told me.... I am sorry if my carelessness has pained
+you--excuse me, I am engaged for this dance."
+
+He bowed and left her standing there, white and dazed.
+
+"I don't believe it! I don't," she told herself despairingly, and yet
+in her heart something told her that, for once at least, Ashton had
+spoken the truth.
+
+"Our dance, I think," said Micky beside her.
+
+She laid her hand on his arm mechanically; they went the round of the
+room once, then Micky, glancing down, saw how white she was and how
+her head drooped towards his shoulder.
+
+He tightened his arm a little--he swept her skilfully out of the crowd
+and into a small anteroom; he put her into a chair and bent over her
+in concern.
+
+"You are not well--what can I do? Can I get you anything?"
+
+For a moment she did not speak, then all at once she rose to her feet;
+she clutched Micky by both arms; he could feel how her hands shook;
+there was heartbroken tragedy in her brown eyes as she looked into his
+face. For once she had forgotten her pride and the indifference into
+which she had been drilled for twenty years; she was no longer Marie
+Deland, a sought-after and courted beauty; she was just an unhappy,
+jealous woman.
+
+"It isn't true, Micky, is it?" she entreated him; her voice was only a
+broken whisper. "Tell me--oh, please, please, tell me. You don't care
+for her, do you?--it isn't true, is it?"
+
+She forgot that he did not know of what she was speaking; it seemed as
+if everybody in the world must know of this tragedy that had desolated
+her life.
+
+"I can't bear it any longer--it's no use.... I've borne all I can....
+O Micky ... Micky."
+
+He forced her hands from his arms; he put her back into the chair and
+sat beside her; he hated to see the white despair of her face.
+
+"You're ill--upset.... It's all right--everything is all right. You're
+not to worry any more.... Everything is all right."
+
+At that moment he would have given his soul could he have truthfully
+said that he wanted her for his wife. He cursed himself for a cur and
+a coward, but somehow he could not force the words to his lips.
+
+She lay back against the cushions, hiding her face.
+
+There was a tragic moment of silence. Out in the ballroom a noisy
+one-step was in boisterous progress; there was a great deal of
+laughter and chattering; the little anteroom seemed as if it must be
+in another world.
+
+Micky got up. He walked across the room and shut the door. There was a
+hard look about his mouth. For an instant he stood staring down at the
+floor irresolutely, then he came back to Marie. He bent over her, but
+he did not touch her.
+
+He spoke her name gently.
+
+"Marie."
+
+She did not raise her head.
+
+"I want to speak to you," he said huskily.
+
+She looked up then. Her face was flashed and quivering, and the brown
+eyes that for a moment met his own were full of an unutterable grief
+and shame.
+
+"Oh," she said in a broken whisper. "If you'd just go away--and leave
+me to myself."
+
+Micky did not answer. The impossibility of ever going back now struck
+him to the soul. This was the end, the very end--he had burned his
+boats and bidden good-bye to the woman he loved for ever.
+
+Then all his natural chivalry rose in his heart. Hitherto it had been
+only of himself that he had thought, but now ... his eyes softened as
+they rested on the girl's bowed head; he stooped and took her hand,
+held it fast in his steady grip.
+
+"Will you marry me?" he said very gently.
+
+And, oh, the long time before she answered! It seemed to Micky that he
+lived through years as he stood there with the rattling tune of the
+one-step in his ears and Marie's tragic figure before his eyes. Was
+she never going to speak?
+
+Then she sat up very stiff and straight--there were tears scorching
+her flushed cheeks, and her eyes seemed to burn.
+
+"Will I--will I--marry you?" she echoed, as if not understanding.
+
+Her voice rose a little.
+
+"Then it isn't true ... it can't be true--what he said?"
+
+"What did he say? Who are you talking about? What do you mean?"
+
+She began to sob; quiet, tearless sobs that seemed to bring no relief
+with them.
+
+"Raymond Ashton--he told me--here! just now--that you...." She
+stopped, catching her breath at the change in Micky's face; it no
+longer looked tender--his eyes were fierce.
+
+"Ashton! What has he said?" His voice was roughly insistent.
+
+"He told me that you--you were in Paris--a week or two ago--with a
+girl from Eldred's."
+
+"It's a lie!" The words escaped Micky before he could check them; his
+first thought was to defend Esther. "It's an infernal lie!" he said
+again violently.
+
+It turned him cold to think of all that the brute must have implied.
+
+The tears were frozen on Marie's cheeks--her hands were clasped
+together in her lap.
+
+When at last she found her voice it was strained and cracked.
+
+"... that she told him you were there with her...." Her brown eyes
+searched his face as if they were trying to read his very soul. "If
+it's a lie," she said shrilly, "it's she who is lying--she told
+Raymond Ashton that she was there with you."
+
+"She told him...."
+
+For a moment Micky stood like a man turned to stone. Was this the
+truth?--that Esther had told Ashton....
+
+He looked again at Marie.
+
+"When did Ashton tell you this?"
+
+"To-night--not a moment ago--he is here."
+
+"Here!" Then to how many more people had he told the same distorted
+story?
+
+The blood beat into Micky's face; it seemed to hammer maddeningly
+against his temples. Nothing counted but the fact that Esther's name
+was being bandied about on the lips of the creature. To stop him--to
+stop his lying tongue was the one thought in Micky's mind; he saw the
+whole world red as he tore open the door of the silent room and strode
+out into the corridor.
+
+The noisy ragtime had ceased, but a storm of deafening applause and
+cries of "Encore!" filled the ballroom.
+
+An elderly man cannoned into Micky, and stopped short with a laughing
+apology.
+
+"Hullo, Mellowes--not dancing--what the deuce is the matter?" he asked
+with sudden change of voice.
+
+Micky passed a shaking hand across his mouth--
+
+"Nothing ... where's Ashton--have you seen Ashton?"
+
+"I've just left him; he isn't dancing either. Can't think what's
+happened to you youngsters to-day. When I was your age...." He broke
+off, realising that Micky was not listening. "Ashton's in the
+smoking-room," he said uneasily.
+
+Micky went on; his hands were clenched, his teeth set.
+
+The smoking-room door was half ajar; he could see that there were
+several men there. There was a clink of glasses and the sound of
+voices talking in a rather subdued way.
+
+Micky paused. He knew that if Ashton were there it would mean a scene,
+and a scene in any one else's house.... The thought snapped at the
+sound of his own name.
+
+"Mellowes! Well, you do surprise me." There was a chuckle. "Always
+thought he was one of the good boys.... It just shows that you never
+know a man till you find him out. Rather an error of judgment to
+choose Paris, eh? Who did you say she was?"
+
+"A girl from Eldred's--pretty little thing. I knew her before he did.
+As a matter of fact, it was only when I cooled off...."
+
+That was Ashton's voice; Micky could not see him, but he could picture
+vividly the eloquent shrug, the meaning smile with which he finished
+his incomplete sentence.
+
+The hot blood died down, leaving him cool and alert. He pushed the
+door wide and walked into the room.
+
+The group of men by the fireplace scattered; some one coughed
+deprecatingly; some one else seized upon a siphon and began filling an
+already full glass recklessly.
+
+Nobody spoke.
+
+Micky kicked the door to behind him, shutting it with a slam.
+
+His eyes went straight to Ashton--a pale Ashton, trying to smile
+unconcernedly and brazen the situation out.
+
+"I'll give you two minutes in which to apologise," Micky said in a
+voice of steel. "Two minutes in which to retract the damned lies
+you've just been saying in this room--or--or I'll thrash you within an
+inch of your life."
+
+In the silence following one could have heard a pin drop. Every one
+looked at Ashton. Micky took out his watch.
+
+It seemed an eternity before Ashton spoke.
+
+"If you've been listening----" he began blustering.
+
+He moistened his dry lips.
+
+"What I said is the truth," he broke out spluttering. "You were in
+Paris with...." But the name was never spoken--Micky's clenched fist
+shot out and struck him right in the mouth.
+
+In a moment the room was in an uproar; half a dozen men rushed at
+Micky and pinned his arms.
+
+"Mellowes--for God's sake--if Hooper comes in...."
+
+Ashton had staggered back against the wall; his mouth was cut and
+bleeding; he was swearing horribly.
+
+Micky was crimson in the face; the veins stood out like cords on his
+forehead; he was straining every nerve to free himself from his
+captors.
+
+"Apologise!" he gasped. "Apologise, you dammed cad!"
+
+Ashton laughed savagely.
+
+"Apologise! What for? It's the truth, and you know it. Apologise! I'll
+repeat it.... I say that you were in Paris three weeks ago with Esther
+Shepstone, one of the girls from Eldred's...."
+
+Micky suddenly stopped struggling, but his breath came in deep gasps
+as he spoke. He looked round at the faces of the other men.
+
+"I know most of you--here," he said in a laboured voice. "And most of
+you know me--and you know that I'm not a damned liar like Ashton; and
+I know that you'll believe me--believe me--when I tell you that the
+lady who was with me in--in Paris--three weeks ago--is my wife ...
+we've been married some time--and it is solely by her wish that it has
+been kept a secret."
+
+If Micky had dropped a bomb in the room it could hardly have created
+more consternation. The incredulity on the faces of the men around him
+would have been amusing to an onlooker, but to Micky the whole thing
+was tragedy.
+
+He had brought Esther to this with his blundering quixotism; he was
+nearly beside himself with remorse.
+
+If he had been free he would have half killed Ashton. His hands ached
+to get at him; to take him by his lying throat and choke the breath
+from his body.
+
+He looked at the men around him with passionate eyes.
+
+"I've never given any of you cause to doubt my word yet," he said
+hoarsely. "And I'm sure you'll agree with me that this man should be
+made to retract what he said and apologise."
+
+"Certainly--he ought to apologise. It's disgraceful--infernally
+disgraceful," said a man who had been listening to Ashton's story
+eagerly enough a moment ago.
+
+"What do you say, gentlemen?"
+
+There was a chorus of assent. The men who had been holding Micky's
+arms let him go.
+
+Ashton backed a step away.
+
+His face was livid, his eyes furious, but he knew that there was no
+other course open to him; nobody in the room had any sympathy with him
+now.
+
+"I apologise," he said savagely. "I didn't know that--the--lady--Mellowes
+had married--the lady."
+
+His tone added that even now he did not believe it; he edged away to
+the door and disappeared.
+
+Micky dropped into a chair; he looked thoroughly done up. Some one
+pushed a glass of whisky across to him. There was an uncomfortable
+silence. Perhaps they were all feeling guilty; perhaps they all
+remembered with what relish they had listened to this spicy bit of
+scandal.
+
+"Never could stand Ashton," some one said presently, in gruff
+abasement. "Worm--the man is!--perfect outsider!"
+
+There were several grunts of assent; the sympathy was decidedly with
+Micky.
+
+After a moment he rose to his feet.
+
+"I suppose an apology is due from me too," he said; he spoke with
+difficulty. "But I think any of you--in the same circumstances----"
+
+He waited a moment.
+
+"Quite right--certainly.... Should have done the same myself."
+
+Micky smiled faintly.
+
+"And I am sure you won't let this go any further--for--for my wife's
+sake," he added.
+
+They pressed round him, shaking him by the hand and reassuring him.
+Micky took it for what it was worth. He knew that those of them who
+were married men would go straight home and tell their wives of the
+scene at Hoopers', and he knew how speedily the story would spread.
+
+He got away as soon as he could and left the house.
+
+He never gave Marie another thought, till he found himself out in the
+street and walking away through the fresh spring night.
+
+He took off his hat and let the air blow on his hot forehead; his hand
+still trembled with excitement.
+
+He tried to think, but his thoughts would not come clearly. When he
+got back to his rooms he asked Driver for a stiff brandy. The man
+looked at his master diffidently, and asked if anything were the
+matter.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Why? Do I look as if there is?" He glanced at himself in the mirror.
+His face was very white.
+
+"No, there's nothing the matter. I'm tired, that's all."
+
+Driver turned to the door, but Micky called him back.
+
+"You've been with me a good many years, Driver," he said.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And you've been a faithful servant."
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+The man's stolidness did not change a fraction.
+
+Micky took a gulp at the brandy.
+
+"If you were to hear that I'm married, you wouldn't be surprised,
+would you?" he asked with a rush.
+
+Driver stood immovable.
+
+"Not in the least, sir."
+
+"You would even say that you knew that I've been married some weeks,
+wouldn't you?"
+
+"I should, sir."
+
+"Good--you may go."
+
+"Thank you, sir, and good-night."
+
+"Good-night," said Micky.
+
+And now, what was to be done now?
+
+When he left this room three hours ago it had been with the
+determination to put the past behind him for ever, and what had he
+done? Only walked more deeply into his quixotism and seriously
+compromised the woman he loved.
+
+He had said that she was his wife. It gave him a little thrill to
+remember that a dozen of his acquaintances had heard him say it, and
+were probably even now spreading the story of his marriage far and
+wide.
+
+He paced up and down the room. He had failed all round; even love and
+desperate desire had not been able to help him.
+
+He thought suddenly of June; June who, with all her bluntness, had a
+great heart and a deep understanding.
+
+She would not want explanations; she would know why he had done it,
+and sympathise.
+
+But June was obviously not the one concerned. It was not to June that
+he must confess.
+
+The clock in his room struck twelve; too late to do anything to-night.
+The memory of Marie returned--Marie as she had looked when he found
+her in the drawing-room that night; as she had looked when he had left
+her in the little anteroom at the Hoopers' and gone out with murder in
+his heart to find Ashton.
+
+He stopped dead in his pacing.
+
+"Oh, you cad--you cad!" he said with a groan.
+
+Life was an intolerable, purposeless thing. He sat down at his desk
+and leaned his head in his hands. His whole life seemed to spell
+failure. With sudden impulse he seized a pen and began to write.
+
+For the first few moments he hardly knew what he wrote. It was only
+when he reached the end of the first page that he seemed to realise
+with a start what he had done. He looked back at the written lines
+with something of a shock. There was no beginning to the letter, no
+date or address; it simply started off as if the pen had been guided
+by some influence outside himself, some desperate need.
+
+  "I don't know what you will think when you get this letter. I am
+  writing it because to-night I think I am half mad. I love you so
+  much; there seems nothing in the whole world that counts any more
+  now that I am beginning to understand that I can never have you.
+  Esther, I ask you on my knees to listen to what I have to say. I
+  have tried to keep away from you, to forget you; I've tried to put
+  you out of my heart and persuade myself that I do not care--but
+  it's no use. I love you; I know you care something for me, but I
+  shall love you always. To-night I have done an unpardonable thing
+  for your sake. I explain things so badly. I can only hope that you
+  will understand and try to make some excuse for me. Some one knows
+  we were together in Paris--I need not tell you who. To-night, at a
+  house where I was, he had told several people that you and I had
+  been to Paris together...."
+
+Micky had gone on writing rapidly--he seemed to have lost himself in a
+sea of eloquence; his heart was pleading with the woman he loved
+through the poor medium of a sheet of unaddressed paper.
+
+  "It nearly drove me mad to hear you spoken of by him. There was a
+  scene, and I knocked him down ... you will hate me for this, but I
+  would have killed him if they had let me. I told them afterwards
+  that you were my wife--try and understand how I have suffered all
+  these weeks--I told them that we had been married some time, and
+  that it had been kept secret by your own wish. It's only now, when
+  I am more alone and can think clearly, that I see what I have
+  done. You don't care for me, and I have compromised you even more
+  than that man did by his lying insinuations. Tell me what I am to
+  do--anything, anything in the world. My whole life is yours to do
+  with as you will. Be my wife, dear, be my wife...."
+
+For a moment the pen faltered, but Micky went on again with an
+effort.
+
+  "I will stay in London twenty-four hours for your answer, and
+  then, if I don't hear...."
+
+The pen faltered again, and this time finally stopped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+
+"The question is," said June critically, looking out of the window to
+the street where a fine drizzle of rain was falling, "does one, or
+does one not, wear one's best hat to go out and meet the one and only
+man one has ever loved?" She turned round and looked at Esther with a
+little nod. "That's grammar, though you may not think it, my dear,"
+she said.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should say one does wear one's best hat," she said decidedly.
+"Especially seeing what a very charming hat it is."
+
+She leaned her elbows on the table and looked at June admiringly. "How
+long is it since you saw the great and only?" she asked.
+
+June did some rapid counting on her white fingers.
+
+"Nineteen hours exactly," she said. "But it seems like ninety! I
+nearly died with joy when his note came at breakfast time----" She
+looked at Esther wistfully. "You don't know how lovely it is to have
+some one of your very own," she said with unwonted sentimentality.
+
+Esther averted her eyes.
+
+"I envy you," she said quietly. "But you'll be late if you stand
+rhapsodising here--be off!"
+
+June bent and kissed her.
+
+"I shan't be long--he's only asked me for lunch...."
+
+Esther smiled.
+
+"I have known lunches that lasted till tea-time," she said. "When
+there has been a great deal to talk about."
+
+June went downstairs singing. During the last few days she had, as she
+would have expressed it, begun to discover herself all over again.
+Certainly the world had utterly changed, and was more like a fairy
+city than a place where it rained a great deal and where buses and
+taxicabs splashed pedestrians with mud.
+
+Lydia met her at the foot of the stairs; she smiled at sight of the
+new hat.
+
+"I was just coming up, Miss June," she said. "There's a letter for
+Miss Shepstone."
+
+June held out her hand.
+
+"I'll take it, and save you the trouble----" She became conscious all
+at once of the girl's admiring eyes, and blushed.
+
+"Do you like my hat, Lydia?" She turned round for inspection.
+
+Lydia admired enthusiastically, as she admired everything of June's,
+and forgetful of everything but the moment, June thrust the letter for
+Esther into her coat pocket and went out blissfully into the rain to
+meet George Rochester.
+
+George was ardent; he went into rhapsodies over the hat; he forgot to
+eat his most excellent lunch, and hardly took his eyes off June.
+
+"It's all so much waste of time this being engaged," he said with
+pretended annoyance. "Why don't we do the trick and get married? What
+are we waiting for? I'll take you to the States for a wedding trip."
+
+June laughed, and protested blushingly that it was much too soon.
+
+"I haven't thought about it," she declared, not quite truthfully.
+"There's tons of things to see to first. What about my business and
+Esther?"
+
+"Leave the one to look after the other," he said promptly.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I couldn't--I should hate to leave Esther alone; if only she could be
+married too?"
+
+"Well--find her a husband. What about Mellowes?" he suggested
+jokingly.
+
+June's face sobered.
+
+"Oh--Micky!" she said. She was not sure if she was justified in
+telling Rochester that Micky had once cared for Esther. "I thought he
+was practically engaged to Marie Deland," she said doubtfully.
+
+Rochester gave an exclamation.
+
+"That reminds me," he said. "There seems to have been a bit of a row
+at the Hoopers' dance last night.... I wasn't there--but I heard some
+fellows at the club talking it over just now. Do you know a man named
+Ashton?"
+
+June sniffed inelegantly.
+
+"Do I not!"
+
+"Well, if you don't like him, you'll be pleased to hear that Micky
+knocked him into the middle of next week," Rochester said calmly.
+
+June's eyes gleamed.
+
+"Never! Well, I'm delighted to hear it! What was it about?"
+
+Rochester shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, they were gossiping about some woman, as far as I could make
+out--a woman Micky had been rather friendly with, from what I
+gathered--they didn't mention her name, but----" he hesitated. "They
+spoke of her as a girl from ... I've forgotten the name, but I think
+it was a petticoat shop----"
+
+"Eldred's?" said June sharply.
+
+"Yes, that was it! What do you know about it?"
+
+"Nothing--go on! What were they saying?"
+
+"That she'd been to Paris with Mellowes, and Mellowes overheard it,
+and there was a bit of a fight, and Mellowes said that the girl was
+his wife...."
+
+June gasped.
+
+"_What_!"
+
+Rochester looked rather uncomfortable.
+
+"It's only club talk," he said deprecatingly. "Dare say it's all
+lies."
+
+June pushed back her chair; her brain was in a whirl; she stared at
+Rochester with dazed eyes.
+
+"Of course you're mad, quite mad," she said calmly.
+
+"Or I am! which is it?... My dear man, the girl Micky went to Paris
+with was Esther! _my_ Esther Shepstone! and here you are trying to
+tell me that she and Micky are _married_!" She burst into hysterical
+laughter.
+
+"I'm not trying to tell you," he protested injuredly. "It's only
+what I heard; and any way, if Mellowes went to Paris with Miss
+Shepstone----"
+
+He broke off before the anger in June's eyes.
+
+"If you speak about Esther in that tone of voice again, I shall hate
+you for ever," she said furiously. "If you must know the truth, I'll
+tell it to you, and another time just don't judge people till you've
+heard both sides of the question," and she promptly proceeded to tell
+him the whole story of her meeting with Esther, and all that had
+happened since.
+
+Rochester listened quietly, but when she had finished, he said--
+
+"Micky ought to have finished that skunk last night. If he cares for
+Miss Shepstone...."
+
+"Oh but I don't think he does now," June struck in sadly. "He hasn't
+been near her since they came back from Paris, and every one says that
+Marie Deland----" she broke off.
+
+"And when Miss Shepstone gets to hear what happened last night?"
+Rochester asked drily.
+
+"Oh, but she won't--she doesn't know anybody who would tell her except
+you or me," June said positively. "And of course she must _never_
+know. She never liked Micky, though _why_!..." She shrugged her
+shoulders. "Have you seen him to-day?" she asked.
+
+"No--I'm going to this evening."
+
+"But you won't let him know what I've told you? promise me!"
+
+"Is it likely that I should? Men don't gossip."
+
+"Oh, don't they?" June answered tartly. "I wouldn't trust one of them,
+not even you," she added with a melting smile.
+
+In spite of her promise to Esther, it was past tea-time when she got
+back home; she threw her hat and coat down anywhere and poked up the
+fire.
+
+"Haven't you had tea? What have you been doing all day?" she demanded
+crisply. "You _haven't_ had tea!--Good gracious, I'll make some at
+once; I had some with George, but I'm quite ready for some more. My
+word! what a difference a man can make in one's life," she said,
+suddenly grave. "And to think that I ever talked piffle about not
+wanting to get married."
+
+She bustled round the room singing blithely; she was brimful of
+happiness. "You needn't be surprised to hear that I'm going to be
+married quite soon," she said with elaborate carelessness. "Lord!
+won't people have forty fits? Except for Micky, my crowd don't know
+I'm engaged yet. I'm going to take George home to see them on Sunday.
+I've discovered that he's fourth cousin, about ninety times removed,
+to a baronet, so, perhaps, that will put them all in a good temper
+with him. My people do love titles! Give them a lord, or something,
+and it doesn't matter what else he is, or isn't.... You're not
+listening, Esther."
+
+"I am. I heard every word you said."
+
+Esther was sitting by the fire with Charlie curled up in her lap; her
+face looked very sad and thoughtful. So she was to lose June quite
+soon!--her lips trembled; what was there left for her in all the
+world? It almost seemed as if time had stood still for a moment, and
+then suddenly rushed her back again with breathless speed, to leave
+her bereft of hope and happiness, as she had been before she met
+Micky.
+
+Charlie had been her only friend then. Was he all that was to remain
+to her now?
+
+June watched her across the room.
+
+"What are you thinking about?" she asked suddenly; but Esther only
+shook her head.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+For two days Micky Mellowes never left his rooms, and hardly ate a
+thing, and for once in his life Driver permitted a spark of anxiety to
+creep into his dull eyes. He was sure that his master was ill; he
+tried tempting dishes and alluring cocktails, but Micky refused them
+all.
+
+"My good man, I'm not an invalid," he protested irritably.
+
+He hated it, because he knew his agitation was apparent; he tried to
+settle to read, but whenever a bell rang through the house he started
+up with racing pulses.
+
+She must have got his letter, he knew. If there was any hope for him
+at all she would write at once or send for him. His nerves began to
+wear to rags.
+
+Sometimes his hopes soared to the skies, to drop to zero again. Once
+in a fit of despondency he told Driver to pack his bag, as they would
+be leaving early in the morning.
+
+"Yes, sir--where shall we be going, sir?" Driver asked stoically.
+
+Micky swore.
+
+"You do ask such damned silly questions," he complained irritably.
+
+An hour later, when he found Driver packing, he called him a fool, and
+told him to unpack at once.
+
+And so the days dragged away.
+
+"Any more posts to-night?" Micky asked jerkily, on the second day.
+
+Driver eyed the clock.
+
+"There should be one at nine, sir."
+
+But nine came, and half-past, and no post.
+
+"Is it too late for the post now, Driver?" Micky asked feverishly,
+when it was nearly ten.
+
+"The post went by, sir," was the answer. "I was down at the door and
+saw the postman pass."
+
+Micky went back to his chair. It was all he could expect, he told
+himself--there had been no answer to his letter: there never would be
+an answer now.
+
+When Driver came into the room again, Micky said without looking up--
+
+"Pack that bag again, there's a good fellow, will you?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Driver imperturbably.
+
+He hesitated, then asked--
+
+"And--er--where did you say we should be going, sir?"
+
+"I didn't say," said Micky. "And I don't care--on the Continent--anywhere
+you like--look up some hotels...."
+
+One place was as good as another, he argued, as he sat and watched
+Driver pack. Wherever he went he was going to be infernally miserable,
+so what did it matter?
+
+When Driver stoically inquired how long he expected to be away, Micky
+answered violently that he was never coming back if he could help it;
+he said he hated London--he said he was sick to death of his flat and
+wanted a change.
+
+"I shan't come back till the autumn anyway," he declared recklessly.
+
+"Very good, sir," was the stolid reply. Driver knew his master; he
+could remember another occasion when Micky had left London in a rage
+never to return, and ten days had seen him back again.
+
+Certainly this was rather a different case from that other; this time
+there was a woman behind it. Driver knew this perfectly well, though
+beyond the posting of letters and the buying of the fur coat he had
+had no firsthand evidence.
+
+But he kept his thoughts to himself and packed shirts and socks and
+coats by the score, as if to keep up the belief that they were really
+going for months, instead of the day which were the limit he
+prescribed in his own mind.
+
+When Rochester called later on in the evening, Micky was almost rude
+to him. The American looked so unfeignedly happy that it got on
+Micky's nerves; but George P. Rochester was difficult to snub; he
+looked on at the packing with childlike amazement.
+
+"It's a sudden idea of yours, this flitting!" he submitted mildly.
+Micky did not answer.
+
+"Hope you'll be back in time for my wedding, Sonnie," Rochester said
+again.
+
+Micky flushed crimson; there was something rather pathetic about him
+at that moment.
+
+"Oh, I'll be back all right," he said shortly.
+
+Rochester laughed.
+
+"You won't have to stay away long then," he said significantly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+
+Esther woke from a troubled sleep that night, to find June standing
+beside her. Pale moonlight shone into the room from half-drawn blinds,
+filling it with an eerie light, as Esther started up trembling and
+frightened.
+
+"What is it? is anything the matter? Oh, I thought you were a ghost!"
+She clutched at June with both hands. "Oh, is anything the matter?"
+she asked again.
+
+June laughed nervously; she found matches and lit a candle, then she
+came back to Esther and thrust something into her hands.
+
+"You'll never forgive me," she said. "But I've had it in my coat
+pocket for two days...." She pushed her dark hair back from her
+forehead tragically. "Lydia gave it to me for you the day I went out
+in my best hat to meet George, and I was such a selfish, conceited pig
+that he put everything else out of my head, and I forgot all about it
+till just now, when I was lying awake thinking ... and then ... oh,
+Esther, it's from Micky!"
+
+Esther looked down at the crumpled envelope--
+
+"From--Micky?..." she said. She was only half awake; she made a very
+fair picture there with her long hair tumbling about her shoulders,
+and her face a little flushed and startled.
+
+June turned to the door.
+
+"I'll go away--you don't want me.... I'll go----" but Esther caught
+her hand.
+
+"No--no.... Wait! please wait!"
+
+"Very well--but I'm half frozen...." June looked plaintively at
+Esther, but Esther had forgotten her, and she dragged the quilt from
+the bed, and wrapped it round her small figure till she looked like a
+mummy.
+
+There was a long silence, then Esther raised her eyes to June's
+anxious face.
+
+Her own was quite colourless, and her grey eyes looked dazed.
+
+"Will you--will you--read it?" she said faintly. "Please--I want you
+to--I ... somehow I feel as if I'm dreaming."
+
+But June at any rate was wide awake. It only took her two minutes to
+read Micky's passionate appeal; the next she was laughing and crying
+together, and hugging Esther boisterously.
+
+"Oh, isn't he the most wonderful man? Don't you love him? Don't you
+just adore him? Oh, if you're going to break his heart after all this,
+I'll _never_ forgive you!... Why, my George isn't in it with Micky,
+poor darling!"--she shook Esther in her excitement--"What are you made
+of, that you can't see what a king he is? I don't believe there's any
+blood in your veins at all," she declared indignantly. "You haven't
+got a heart.... Oh, Esther darling! I didn't mean it--I--oh, I'm such
+an idiot!..."
+
+And the two girls clasped each other and cried together.
+
+"And now if this ridiculous midnight scene is ended," June said
+presently, sniffing her tears away, "let's talk sense. I'll go and see
+Micky in the morning and explain everything. He knows what I am--he
+won't be at all surprised--oh, I'm so glad--so more than glad.... Oh,
+Esther, _why_ do you hide your face?"
+
+"Because I'm so ashamed," Esther said in a stifled voice. "I'm not
+worth loving--I've ... oh, you don't _know_ how I've treated him!"
+
+June was silent for a minute, then she said gently--
+
+"But Micky will forget all that--Micky never remembered a mean thing
+against anybody in his life." She forced Esther to look at her. "Tell
+me one thing, and then I'll go and leave you in peace," she coaxed.
+"Do you--do you ... _you_ know?"
+
+But in this instance, at least, a verbal answer was not necessary.
+
+June kissed her rapturously.
+
+"Oh, you darling," she said. She blew out the candle, and sped down to
+her own room again like a ghost in the moonlight.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Was there anything else you was wanting, sir?" Driver inquired
+stolidly. He stood on the platform looking in at the first-class
+compartment where Micky sat alone in durance vile, waiting for the
+train to start.
+
+He frowned, and pulled his soft hat further down over his eyes as he
+answered--
+
+"No, nothing.... I'll see you at Dover."
+
+There were many people on the platform; in the next carriage a pretty
+girl was seeing a man off--looking up at him as he stood on the
+footboard with eyes that told their story eloquently.
+
+Micky looked at her enviously. He would have given his right hand if
+there had been some one there to see him off with just that expression
+in her eyes--the right some one, of course. He turned away from the
+window with an uncomfortable lump in his throat.
+
+He had nothing in the world but his confounded money, and a lot of
+good that was to him! It could not buy happiness.
+
+The guard came down the platform--
+
+"Take your seats--take your seats...."
+
+A girl and a man pushed past him. The girl was staring eagerly in at
+all the windows as she passed. When she saw Micky she gave a little
+cry of relief.
+
+"Here he is--Micky! Micky!"
+
+Micky started to his feet.
+
+"June!" he said. For a moment he thought something must have
+happened--something was wrong--Esther!... her name was trembling on
+his lips, but June rushed on impetuously before he had time to speak
+it.
+
+"We thought we'd come and see you off--George told me you were going,
+and I guessed you'd be on this train.... I'm so glad we found
+you--it's rotten seeing oneself off, isn't it?..."
+
+Rochester came up laughing and red in the face; he took off his hat
+and mopped his hot forehead.
+
+"I can't keep pace with her, she's like a whirlwind," he said
+whimsically. "She raced me off here before I could say a word."
+
+"It's kind of you to come," Micky said.
+
+He was pleased to see them; he felt decidedly less ill-tempered than
+he had done a moment ago. He looked down at June's radiant face, and a
+little doubt went through his heart.
+
+He was in that dangerous state through which so many men have to pass
+when the woman they love will have none of them. If Marie Deland had
+happened to turn up then, he would have asked for forgiveness and have
+married her offhand and regretted it the next day; and now, as he
+looked at June, he wondered if he had been a fool not to properly
+appreciate her. He felt a vague twinge of jealousy, realising that the
+days were gone for ever when he had been the most wonderful man in all
+the world to her.
+
+He had never loved her save in a brotherly way, and he did not love
+her now, but at heart men are all dogs in the manger, and it was some
+such feeling that filled Micky's heart as he leaned out of the window
+and looked at this girl.
+
+"I hope you'll have a good time," she said cheerily. "Have you got
+anything to read?"
+
+"I shan't want anything--I'm not in a reading mood."
+
+Micky was longing to ask about Esther, but pride prevented him.
+
+The guard was blowing his whistle; doors were slamming; June gripped
+Micky's hand.
+
+"Be a good boy, and have a good time," she said. There was a furious
+excitement in her eyes.
+
+He made a grimace.
+
+"I'm not expecting to have a good time," he answered.
+
+The train was slowly moving; June ran a few steps to keep up with it.
+Micky blurted out his question at last--
+
+"Miss Shepstone ... Esther ... is she all right, June?"
+
+June smiled.
+
+"Oh, she's first rate," she said airily. "She's gone away for a
+holiday.... Good-bye." She fell back laughing and waving her hand.
+
+Micky kept his head out of the window till a cloud of smoke from the
+engine blown backwards shut out all sight of her, then he drew in,
+dragging the window up with a slam.
+
+Gone away for a holiday, had she?--well--it was nothing to him. He
+turned round to go back to his seat in the corner then stopping dead,
+staring as if he had seen a ghost; for Esther was sitting there just
+behind him, looking up at him with scared eyes.
+
+For a moment Micky did not move; he was like a man turned to stone.
+Then the blood rushed to his face in a crimson tide; he broke out into
+stammering speech--
+
+"You ... you ... what ... what ... I thought...." He swayed forward a
+little and caught her hands. "You are real--I thought ... I thought I
+was just imagining it all; I thought.... Oh, wait a moment...." He sat
+down and leaned his head in his hands.
+
+He felt sure that he must be mad or dreaming--the world had turned
+upside down and pitched his thoughts into chaos; he was sure that when
+next he looked Esther would no longer be there--he dreaded having to
+raise his eyes.
+
+Esther stretched a timid hand to him; her voice shook as she said--
+
+"Oh, I thought ... I thought perhaps you'd be glad to see me--just ...
+just a little--glad...."
+
+"Glad!" Micky echoed the word with almost a shout. He got up and went
+over to her; he looked down at her with an agony of doubt and fear in
+his eyes.
+
+"Why have you come?" he asked hoarsely. "If this is only a joke--if
+it's any nonsense of June's ... by God, it's the cruellest joke you
+could have played on me.... I--I...."
+
+Esther covered her face with her hands.
+
+"If that's all you've got to say to me," she began tremblingly.
+
+"Esther...."
+
+He drew her hands down; he forced her to look at him; for a long
+moment his eyes searched her face disbelievingly, not daring to
+hope....
+
+Her cheeks flamed, but she met his eyes bravely.
+
+Micky drew a long breath; he passed a hand across his eyes as if to
+waken himself.
+
+Then all at once he seemed to realise that this was in very truth the
+woman he wanted sitting beside him; that she was here and for his
+sake; that he was alone and unhappy no longer; and that after all the
+weeks of hunger and restlessness he had got his heart's desire.
+
+He looked down at her tremulous face with eyes of passionate
+tenderness.
+
+"Is this my wife?" he asked hoarsely, and Esther answered--
+
+"If you still want me."
+
+"Want you!" Micky caught her to him. "Haven't I always wanted
+you?..."
+
+Fortunately the train was not very full, and the corridor immediately
+outside their carriage was deserted, or somebody might have had a very
+interesting demonstration of how to kiss a woman who had refused for
+months to be kissed.
+
+Micky was like a boy in his happiness. He looked years younger than
+the gloomy man who had dismissed Driver ten minutes since. He could
+not take his eyes from Esther--he could not believe in his own
+happiness even while he was engulfed in it. His arm was round her,
+regardless of chance wanderers in the corridor--he held her hand to
+his lips and kissed it passionately.
+
+"What have you done with ... that other ring you used to wear?" he
+asked jealously.
+
+She turned her face away.
+
+"I threw it out of the window when we came back from Paris," she told
+him.
+
+"I'll give you another. I'm going to give you everything you want
+now."
+
+"You've been too good to me already," she said. "I can never repay
+you."
+
+"You've given me yourself. There is nothing else in the world that I
+want."
+
+He laughed happily.
+
+He bent his head towards her.
+
+"Esther ... when did you ... when did you first ... think that you
+liked me ... just a little?"
+
+Her head dropped; he could not see her face.
+
+"I don't know," she said in a whisper.
+
+"In Paris," he urged, "or before? Tell me."
+
+"I think it was in Paris--after ... after I saw ... Raymond! You were
+so kind ... so different."
+
+He laughed ruefully.
+
+"I was nearer hating you then than ever in my life."
+
+He saw the colour creep into her face. "You've told me ever so many
+times that you hated me," he went on quickly, "but you never told me
+that you ... loved me, Esther!"
+
+He waited, but she did not look at him.
+
+Then suddenly she took his hand in both of hers; she bent her head and
+kissed it with a sort of passionate gratitude that brought a mist to
+Micky's eyes. He seemed to see her all at once as he had first seen
+her that New Year's Eve; alone, unhappy--with nobody to care what she
+did, or what became of her.
+
+"You're so much, much too good for me," she said brokenly. "You've
+done everything for me, and I've done nothing for you--I haven't
+even been ... nice! I can't tell you what I feel about it all--I only
+know that--just lately--you've--you've made everything seem so
+different--since you wrote me that letter--it makes me feel in my
+heart that it's always really been you--always you, and never ...
+never any one else."
+
+"Darling," said Micky huskily. "And perhaps--some day--do you ... do
+you ... think ... you could ever care for me more than ... than you
+cared for ... that other fellow, confound him!" he added fiercely.
+
+She looked up at him and smiled.
+
+"I think," she said slowly, "that I only ... only really began to care
+for--him--when he went away--and when those letters began to come; and
+so you see--it was always you, because it was you who wrote them."
+
+"It was a rotten thing to do, but I wanted to help you."
+
+"You did help me ... and--Micky...."
+
+"Darling...."
+
+"My fur coat ... can I--will you give it back to me?"
+
+"I'll give you everything in the world if you'll say you love me...."
+
+"I do--I...."
+
+"Say it then," he urged gently.
+
+For a moment she did not answer; she was still a little afraid of him;
+she still felt something of pride and constraint between them; though
+she knew it was for her to sweep away the last barrier.
+
+She looked up at him, the sensitive colour rushing to her face.
+
+"I love you," she said softly. "Oh, Micky, some one will see----"
+
+But Micky only laughed.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+The train was running on to Dover Harbour before Micky realised it; he
+looked at Esther with pretended dismay in his happy eyes.
+
+"And pray, what am I to do with you, madame? Do you realise that I'm
+going to Paris?"
+
+"I know----" She laughed. "I'm going there too--of course, if you'd
+like to travel in a different train to me...."
+
+She was a very different Esther from the pale, frightened-looking girl
+who had said good-bye to June at Victoria. Her eyes were dancing now,
+and her face was radiant. Micky regarded her with proud satisfaction.
+
+"You look years younger and prettier already," he said. "And that's
+after only an hour or two of my wonderful society; so what you'll look
+like when we've been married for years and years...."
+
+He stopped, and a sudden emotion filled his face.
+
+"What shall we do, love of mine?" he asked tenderly, "Shall we go on,
+or shall we go back?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I don't mind--either way, I'm afraid you'll have to pay for me," she
+told him saucily. "June rushed me off so, I forgot my purse--Mr.
+Rochester got me a ticket, but...."
+
+"We'll go on," said Micky hurriedly. The train was almost at a
+standstill. "You said you hated Paris--but you won't hate it with me.
+We'll get married as soon as we get there--I'll take you everywhere."
+
+Her eyes fell.
+
+"I haven't any nice clothes--I only brought a small case; I never
+thought you ... you...." She stopped, stammering.
+
+"Paris is full of clothes," he told her. "We'll stay just long enough
+to buy what you want, and then we'll go south. Esther, you've never
+seen the south of France in springtime, have you? I'll take you there
+for our honeymoon."
+
+She drew back a little.
+
+"But, Micky--there's June--what will she say--what will she think?"
+
+"She'll think that you've behaved sensibly--at last!" he answered
+audaciously. "June knew she wouldn't see either of us again for some
+time when we left her at Victoria--June is a most discerning woman."
+
+"She's a dear," said Esther warmly. "I owe all my happiness to her."
+
+Micky pretended to look offended.
+
+"I was under the delusion that you owed it to me," he said with
+dignity.
+
+"To you!" Her face changed wonderfully; she bent her head and kissed
+the sleeve of his coat.
+
+"I can't talk about what I owe you--it's just--everything!"
+
+Micky drew himself up a dignified inch.
+
+"I'm beginning to think I'm a very wonderful man, do you know?" he
+said, addressing some imaginary person.
+
+Driver appeared at the door. He hesitated for just the faintest
+possible moment when he saw Esther, but his face was as stolid as
+ever.
+
+Micky rose to the occasion, though he turned rather red.
+
+"Driver," he said, "let me introduce you to my wife----"
+
+Driver touched a respectful forelock; if he felt surprise he did not
+show it.
+
+He took Esther's suit-case down from the rack.
+
+"Was you--was you wanting to send a wire, sir?" he asked stolidly.
+
+Micky looked at the girl beside him.
+
+"Send June one from Paris," she said. "I don't know what she'll
+say----"
+
+But June might have been expecting the wire, judging from the calm way
+in which she received it; she showed it to Rochester as if it were
+nothing out of the way; she looked over his shoulder as he read it.
+
+  "Married in Paris this morning. Love from Mr. and Mrs. Micky."
+
+She laughed and met Rochester's eyes; there seemed to be an inquiry in
+his. June hesitated a moment, then she nodded.
+
+And forty-eight hours later Micky and Esther read her reply just as
+they were leaving for the flower-fields of France--
+
+  "Married in London this morning--June and George."
+
+"Some people have no originality," Micky complained in pretended
+disgust.
+
+"But if they're half as happy as _we_ are," Esther said shyly.
+
+Micky looked scornfully sceptical.
+
+"Oh well! if you're going to expect the impossible...." he submitted.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+_"The Books You Like to Read at the Price You Like to Pay_"
+
+There Are Two Sides to Everything--
+
+--including the wrapper which covers every Grosset & Dunlap book. When
+you feel in the mood for a good romance, refer to the carefully
+selected list of modern fiction comprising most of the successes by
+prominent writers of the day which is printed on the back of every
+Grosset & Dunlap book wrapper.
+
+You will find more than five hundred titles to choose from--books for
+every mood and every taste and every pocket-book.
+
+_Don't forget the other side, but in case the wrapper is lost, write
+to the publishers for a complete catalog_.
+
+_There is a Grosset & Dunlap Book for every mood and for every taste_
+
+
+
+
+B. M. BOWER'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+CASEY RYAN
+
+CHIP OF THE FLYING U
+
+COW-COUNTRY
+
+FLYING U RANCH
+
+FLYING U'S LAST STAND, THE
+
+GOOD INDIAN
+
+GRINGOS, THE
+
+HAPPY FAMILY, THE
+
+HER PRAIRIE KNIGHT
+
+HERITAGE OF THE SIOUX, THE
+
+LONG SHADOW, THE
+
+LONESOME TRAIL, THE
+
+LOOKOUT MAN, THE
+
+LURE OF THE DIM TRAILS, THE
+
+PHANTOM HERD, THE
+
+QUIRT, THE
+
+RANGE DWELLERS, THE
+
+RIM O' THE WORLD
+
+SKYRIDER
+
+STARR OF THE DESERT
+
+THUNDER BIRD, THE
+
+TRAIL OF THE WHITE MULE, THE
+
+UPHILL CLIMB, THE
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+ZANE GREY'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+TO THE LAST MAN
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER
+
+THE MAN OF THE FOREST
+
+THE DESERT OF WHEAT
+
+THE U. P. TRAIL
+
+WILDFIRE
+
+THE BORDER LEGION
+
+THE RAINBOW TRAIL
+
+THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT
+
+RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
+
+THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS
+
+THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN
+
+THE LONE STAR RANGER
+
+DESERT GOLD
+
+BETTY ZANE
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS
+
+The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore,
+with Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.
+
+ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE
+
+THE YOUNG LION HUNTER
+
+THE YOUNG FORESTER
+
+THE YOUNG PITCHER
+
+THE SHORT STOP
+
+THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+ETHEL M. DELL'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+THE LAMP IN THE DESERT
+
+The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and tells of the
+lamp of love that continues to shine through all sorts of tribulations
+to final happiness.
+
+GREATHEART
+
+The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals a noble soul.
+
+THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE
+
+A hero who worked to win even when there was only "a hundredth
+chance."
+
+THE SWINDLER
+
+The story of a "bad man's" soul revealed by a woman's faith.
+
+THE TIDAL WAVE
+
+Tales of love and of women who learned to know the true from the
+false.
+
+THE SAFETY CURTAIN
+
+A very vivid love story of India. The volume also contains four other
+long stories of equal interest.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+"STORM COUNTRY" BOOKS BY
+
+GRACE MILLER WHITE
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+JUDY OF ROGUES' HARBOR
+
+Judy's untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things, her faith in
+life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess. Her faith and sincerity
+catch at your heart strings. This book has all of the mystery and
+tense action of the other Storm Country books.
+
+TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY
+
+It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary Pickford made
+her reputation as a motion picture actress. How love acts upon a
+temperament such as hers--a temperament that makes a woman an angel or
+an outcast, according to the character of the man she loves--is the
+theme of the story.
+
+THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY
+
+The sequel to "Tess of the Storm Country," with the same wild
+background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters--tempestuous,
+passionate, brooding. Tess learns the "secret" of her birth and finds
+happiness and love through her boundless faith in life.
+
+FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING
+
+A haunting story with its scene laid near the country familiar to
+readers of "Tess of the Storm Country."
+
+ROSE O' PARADISE
+
+"Jinny" Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate
+yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe Grandoken, a
+crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her romance is full of power
+and glory and tenderness.
+
+_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE NOVELS OF
+
+MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+DANGEROUS DAYS.
+
+A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and
+stirring appeal.
+
+THE AMAZING INTERLUDE.
+
+Illustrations by The Kinneys.
+
+The story of a great love which cannot be pictured--an interlude--amazing,
+romantic.
+
+LOVE STORIES.
+
+This book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love
+affairs--sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.
+
+"K." Illustrated.
+
+K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where
+beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse. The
+joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and
+sympathetic appreciation.
+
+THE MAN IN LOWER TEN.
+
+Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.
+
+An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death of the
+"Man in Lower Ten."
+
+WHEN A MAN MARRIES.
+
+Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.
+
+A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that his
+aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the family
+income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the young man met
+the situation is entertainingly told.
+
+THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph.
+
+The occupants of "Sunnyside" find the dead body of Arnold Armstrong on
+the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank failure is
+announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of absorbing
+interest.
+
+THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.)
+
+Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly
+realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young ambitious
+doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together with
+world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their love and
+slender means.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+RUBY M. AYRE'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+RICHARD CHATTERTON
+
+A fascinating story in which love and jealousy play strange tricks
+with women's souls.
+
+A BACHELOR HUSBAND
+
+Can a woman love two men at the same time?
+
+In its solving of this particular variety of triangle "A Bachelor
+Husband" will particularly interest, and strangely enough, without one
+shock to the most conventional minded.
+
+THE SCAR
+
+With fine comprehension and insight the author shows a terrific
+contrast between the woman whose love was of the flesh and one whose
+love was of the spirit.
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF BARRY WICKLOW
+
+Here is a man and woman who, marrying for love, yet try to build their
+wedded life upon a gospel of hate for each other and yet win back to a
+greater love for each other in the end.
+
+THE UPHILL ROAD
+
+The heroine of this story was a consort of thieves. The man was fine,
+clean, fresh from the West. It is a story of strength and passion.
+
+WINDS OF THE WORLD
+
+Jill, a poor little typist, marries the great Henry Sturgess and
+inherits millions, but not happiness. Then at last--but we must leave
+that to Ruby M. Ayres to tell you as only she can.
+
+THE SECOND HONEYMOON
+
+In this story the author has produced a book which no one who has
+loved or hopes to love can afford to miss. The story fairly leaps from
+climax to climax.
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+Have you not often heard of someone being in love with love rather
+than the person they believed the object of their affections? That was
+Esther! But she passes through the crisis into a deep and profound
+love.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+JACKSON GREGORY'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+THE EVERLASTING WHISPER
+
+The story of a strong man's struggle against savage nature and
+humanity, and of a beautiful girl's regeneration from a spoiled child
+of wealth into a courageous strong-willed woman.
+
+DESERT VALLEY
+
+A college professor sets out with his daughter to find gold. They meet
+a rancher who loses his heart, and become involved in a feud. An
+intensely exciting story.
+
+MAN TO MAN
+
+Encircled with enemies, distrusted, Steve defends his rights. How he
+won his game and the girl he loved is the story filled with breathless
+situations.
+
+THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN
+
+Dr. Virginia Page is forced to go with the sheriff on a night journey
+into the strongholds of a lawless band. Thrills and excitement sweep
+the reader along to the end.
+
+JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCH
+
+Judith Sanford part owner of a cattle ranch realizes she is being
+robbed by her foreman. How, with the help of Bud Lee, she checkmates
+Trevor's scheme makes fascinating reading.
+
+THE SHORT CUT
+
+Wayne is suspected of killing his brother after a violent quarrel.
+Financial complications, villains, a horse-race and beautiful Wanda,
+all go to make up a thrilling romance.
+
+THE JOYOUS TROUBLE MAKER
+
+A reporter sets up housekeeping close to Beatrice's Ranch much to her
+chagrin. There is "another man" who complicates matters, but all turns
+out as it should in this tale of romance and adventure.
+
+SIX FEET FOUR
+
+Beatrice Waverly is robbed of $5,000 and suspicion fastens upon Buck
+Thornton, but she soon realizes he is not guilty. Intensely exciting,
+here is a real story of the Great Far West.
+
+WOLF BREED
+
+No Luck Drennan had grown hard through loss of faith in men he had
+trusted. A woman hater and sharp of tongue, he finds a match in Ygerne
+whose clever fencing wins the admiration and love of the "Lone Wolf."
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom Lover, by Ruby M. Ayres
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM LOVER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 30286-8.txt or 30286-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Phantom Lover, by Ruby M. Ayres.</title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom Lover, by Ruby M. Ayres
+
+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: The Phantom Lover
+
+Author: Ruby M. Ayres
+
+Release Date: October 19, 2009 [EBook #30286]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM LOVER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<table style='margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; border: black 2px solid;' summary="">
+  <tr><td>
+  <table style='width:22em; margin: 3px 3px; border: black 1px solid;' summary="">
+
+<tr><td>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.8em;margin-top:20px;'>THE</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:2.0em;margin-bottom:40px;'>PHANTOM LOVER</p>
+<p class='tp' >BY</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.2em;margin-bottom:40px;'>RUBY M. AYRES</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;'>AUTHOR OF</p>
+<p class='tp' >A BACHELOR HUSBAND,<br />THE SCAR, ETC.</p>
+</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>
+<div style='margin:60px auto; text-align:center;'>
+<img alt='emblem' src='images/f0001-img.png' />
+</div>
+</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>
+<p class='tp' >NEW YORK</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.2em;letter-spacing:0.2em;'>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</p>
+<p class='tp' style='margin-bottom:20px;'>PUBLISHERS</p>
+</td></tr>
+
+  </table>
+  </td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-top:5px;'>Made in the United States of America</p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;'><span class='smcap'>Copyright, 1921, by</span></p>
+<p class='tp' style='margin-bottom:40px;'>W. J. WATT &amp; COMPANY</p>
+<p class='tp' ><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:10px;'>DEDICATED<br />TO MY FRIEND</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.2em;font-style:italic;'>Janet Moore</p>
+<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-top:10px;'>THE REAL &lsquo;JUNE MASON&rsquo;<br />IN THIS STORY</p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1' name='page_1'></a>1</span></div>
+<h1>THE PHANTOM LOVER</h1>
+<div class='chsp' style='padding-top:0'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_I' id='CHAPTER_I'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Somewhere out in the night a woman was crying,
+crying desolately. The sad, rather monotonous
+sound broke the silence of the street and floated
+through the open window of a room where Micky Mellowes
+was wondering how the deuce he should get
+through the long evening lying before him.</p>
+<p>Micky was in a bad temper. It was not often that he
+was in a bad temper, but he had begun the day by waking
+with a headache, which was still with him, and which
+accounted for the wide open window and the breath of
+icy air which was filling the room and fluttering the
+curtains; and half an hour ago some people with whom
+he had been going to dine had rung up and told him that
+the party was off owing to the sudden death of a relative,
+thereby leaving the evening long and empty on his
+hands.</p>
+<p>It was New Year&rsquo;s Eve, too, which made matters a
+thundering sight worse.</p>
+<p>He wondered if Marie Deland was feeling as sick
+about it as he was. Micky was in the middle of an interesting
+flirtation with Marie, which bade fair to develop
+into something deeper with careful engineering on
+the part of her family, for Micky was a catch, and
+though so far he had proved himself singularly adroit
+in avoiding mothers with marriageable daughters, the
+Delands were beginning to pat each other on the back
+and to look pleased.</p>
+<p>When the sound of crying reached him he had been
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span>
+feeling so thoroughly fed-up with life that it had seemed
+impossible for anything ever to interest him again; but
+now he climbed out of his chair with a faint show of
+energy and strolled over to the window.</p>
+<p>It was a cold, clear night, with myriads of stars in
+the dark sky that seemed to shed a faintly luminous
+light to earth, bright enough at all events for Micky
+to distinguish the figure of a girl walking slowly along
+the pathway below.</p>
+<p>She was walking so slowly and dispiritedly that a sort
+of vague curiosity stirred in Micky&rsquo;s heart; here, at least,
+was some one even more fed-up with life than he himself,
+and with a sudden impulse he turned from the window,
+and, snatching up a hat and coat which he had
+thrown down when he came in an hour earlier, made
+for the stairs.</p>
+<p>He was half-way down when an apologetic cough at
+his elbow arrested him; he stopped and turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you please, sir, Mr. Ashton has just sent round
+to ask if you could make it convenient to be in at ten
+o&rsquo;clock this evening, as he wants to see you particularly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked surprised; Ashton had been very particularly
+engaged for that evening, he knew. Evidently
+something had happened to upset his plans as well.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ten o&rsquo;clock? All right; I dare say I shall be in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went on down the stairs.</p>
+<p>Out on the path he paused and looked up and down
+the street.</p>
+<p>The impulse that had sent him out had died away;
+it was beastly cold, and much more comfortable by the
+fire. He hesitated, and in that moment he saw the figure
+of the girl again.</p>
+<p>She had stopped now in the light of a street lamp,
+and seemed to be looking at something she carried in
+her arms&ndash;&ndash;a child! Surely not a child!</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s curiosity was aroused. He buttoned the collar
+of his coat more closely round his chin and went on.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span></div>
+<p>The girl had moved too, almost as if she felt instinctively
+that she was being followed, and as Micky drew
+abreast with her she shrank a little to one side as if
+afraid.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; asked Micky bluntly.</p>
+<p>They were some few yards from the lamp now. But,
+as she turned to look up at him with startled eyes, its
+yellow light fell on her face; and Micky saw with amazement
+that she was quite young and exceedingly pretty,
+in spite of the distress in her eyes, and the tears that
+were still wet on her cheeks.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; he asked again, more gently, and
+waited for the pathetically shaken denial which he felt
+sure would come.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing&ndash;&ndash;nothing at all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing!&rdquo; There was a note of exasperation in his
+voice. &ldquo;You were crying&ndash;&ndash;I heard you, and people don&rsquo;t
+walk about the streets at this time of night and cry if
+there&rsquo;s nothing the matter. If that&rsquo;s a baby you&rsquo;ve got
+with you, you ought to know better than to&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He
+broke off. She was laughing, a weak, uncertain little
+laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A baby!&rdquo; she said tremulously. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t a baby; it&rsquo;s
+a cat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A cat!&rdquo; Micky&rsquo;s voice was full of disgust. He looked
+down at her from his superior height with sudden suspicion.
+If this was just a hoax?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what&rsquo;s the matter anyway?&rdquo; he asked again.</p>
+<p>She looked away from him without answering.</p>
+<p>Micky began to feel a bit of a fool; he wished he had
+not yielded to the impulse to follow her. After all, it
+was no business of his if a stranger chose to walk about
+his road and weep; he looked at her impatiently.</p>
+<p>Her hair beneath its not very smart hat shone golden
+in the lamplight, and the little oval of cheek and rounded
+chin which was all he could see of her averted face
+somehow touched a forgotten chord in his heart and
+made him think of his boyhood and the girl-mother
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span>
+who had not lived long enough to be more than a memory....</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m interfering or trying to annoy you,&rdquo;
+he said again. &ldquo;But if there is anything I can do to
+help you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t anything.... I ought to have
+known better than to let you hear that I was crying
+... there&rsquo;s nothing the matter, I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Then quite
+suddenly she broke down again into bitter sobbing. &ldquo;Oh,
+I&rsquo;m so miserable&ndash;&ndash;so utterly miserable&ndash;&ndash;I wish I were
+dead!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was appalled; he had heard women say that
+sort of thing before, and had said it himself scores of
+times, but never with that note of tragedy which he heard
+in this girl&rsquo;s voice.</p>
+<p>Ten minutes ago he had considered himself the most
+miserable of mortals because he had been let down over
+a dinner; he was ashamed of his temper now as he stood
+there in the starlight and listened to this girl&rsquo;s sobbing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Look here,&rdquo; he said after a moment, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ll never feel
+any better if you stay out here in the cold. I don&rsquo;t
+suppose you&rsquo;ve had a respectable meal for hours either&ndash;&ndash;I
+know what women are. Where do you live? You&rsquo;ll
+soon feel better when you get beside a fire and have
+something to eat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going home any more,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She spoke quite quietly, but with a sort of despair
+which there was no mistaking.</p>
+<p>Micky was a rapid thinker. He had clean forgotten
+his headache. This was adventure with a capital letter.
+There was still something of romance in the world which
+his jaded palate had not yet tasted.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;re tired,&rdquo; he said gently, &ldquo;and probably
+fed-up. So am I. I was just wondering what in the
+world to do with myself when I heard you crying. It
+made me feel a sort of kinship with you&ndash;&ndash;it did, upon
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span>
+my word. If I&rsquo;d been a woman I dare say I should have
+been howling like anything. Will you come along with
+me and let me give you some supper? I&rsquo;m hungry
+too....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shrank back from him with a little gesture of
+fear.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no&ndash;&ndash;please let me go!...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She tried to pass him, but Micky barred the way.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t walk about the streets all night,&rdquo; he said
+determinedly. &ldquo;The cat will hate it anyway, even if you
+don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo; There was a hint of laughter in his voice,
+though he had never felt more serious in all his life.
+&ldquo;And if you don&rsquo;t want me to take pity on you, you
+might at least take pity on me ... please don&rsquo;t think
+I&rsquo;m a bounder trying to annoy you or anything like that
+... perhaps I want a friend just as badly as you
+do....&rdquo; He stopped, aghast at his own temerity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you do,&rdquo; she said tremulously, &ldquo;I am more sorry
+for you than I can say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad you said that,&rdquo; Micky answered, &ldquo;because
+now you&rsquo;ll come along and have that supper with me.
+There&rsquo;s a little caf&eacute; quite near here that I know. If we
+are both miserable, we can at least be miserable together.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Something told him that this girl was at the end of her
+tether; that she was desperate, and his first casual curiosity
+concerning her deepened in the most surprising
+fashion.</p>
+<p>He felt in some inexplicable way that a curtain had
+been lifted from a phase of life hitherto hidden from
+him; as if he were standing on the threshold of a new
+world, where women only weep for something real and
+tragic, not just butterfly tears of petulance like the women
+of his own class.</p>
+<p>The girl was silent for a moment; then suddenly she
+laughed, a hard little laugh of recklessness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I suppose I may as well.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span></div>
+<p>Micky was infinitely relieved; somehow he had not
+really thought that she would allow him to accompany
+her.</p>
+<p>They walked along for a few steps in silence. Once
+or twice the cat, tucked under the girl&rsquo;s arm, gave a faint
+mieow of protest, and Micky smiled to himself in the
+darkness.</p>
+<p>It was the cat that seemed to give such a real touch
+of pathos to the whole adventure, he thought, and wondered
+why. He looked down at her deprecatingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me carry it,&rdquo; he suggested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Carry it?&rdquo; she echoed. &ldquo;What do you mean?&ndash;&ndash;Oh,
+the cat; no, thank you. He wouldn&rsquo;t like it: he hates
+strangers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Micky. He felt chagrined. &ldquo;Is it a great
+pet?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; She hunched her queer burden more closely
+under her arm. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t really mine,&rdquo; she explained.
+&ldquo;But they were so unkind to it in the house that I had
+to bring it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was dying to ask questions, but somehow it
+hardly seemed a propitious moment. He did not speak
+again till they reached the little caf&eacute;.</p>
+<p>It was a quiet little downstairs place, and just now was
+almost deserted.</p>
+<p>Micky chose a corner table which was partially
+screened from the rest of the room. As he stood up to
+take off his coat he looked at the girl interestedly.</p>
+<p>She was better than pretty, he decided with a little
+pleasurable thrill; he could not remember when he had
+seen a face that appealed to him so strongly in spite of
+its pathos and the tear stains round her eyes.</p>
+<p>And such sweet eyes they were!&ndash;&ndash;really grey with dark
+lashes and daintily pencilled brows. She looked up suddenly,
+meeting his earnest regard.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she said. There was a touch of defiance in
+her voice; the colour had risen in her white cheeks.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; said Micky with a friendly smile.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></div>
+<p>He sat down opposite to her; he was thanking his lucky
+stars that the Delands&rsquo; message had reached him before
+he changed into evening clothes; somehow as he looked at
+this girl he felt slightly ashamed of his own lazy, luxurious
+life and the banking account which, like the cruse of
+oil, never failed. That this girl had no surplus of this
+world&rsquo;s goods he was certain, though she was neatly
+dressed and was unmistakably a lady. Her gloves were
+worn and had been carefully mended, and her coat looked
+far too thin for such a cold night.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what are we going to have?&rdquo; he asked. It was
+surprising how cheerful he felt. &ldquo;And what about that
+wonderful cat of yours? By the way, hasn&rsquo;t it got a
+name?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She smiled faintly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I call him Charlie,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Charlie!&rdquo; Micky&rsquo;s eyes twinkled. &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s original,
+anyway,&rdquo; he said with a chuckle. &ldquo;And Charlie must
+have some milk, I suppose. I say, he&rsquo;s a bit thin, isn&rsquo;t
+he?&rdquo; he asked dubiously.</p>
+<p>She had taken off the shawl which had been wrapped
+about it, and the poor animal sat on her lap blinking in
+the light, a forlorn enough specimen, with a long tail and
+fierce eyes.</p>
+<p>The girl stroked its head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been half starved,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d be thin if
+you hadn&rsquo;t had any more to eat than he&rsquo;s had.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I should,&rdquo; said Micky humbly. He thought
+guiltily of the waste which he knew went on in his own
+establishment; it was odd that it had never struck him
+before that there must be many people in the world, not
+to mention cats, who would be glad enough of the waste
+from his table.</p>
+<p>He picked up the menu to hide his discomfort. When
+the waiter came he ordered the best dinner the restaurant
+served. He was conscious that the girl was watching
+him anxiously. When the waiter had gone, she said, &ldquo;I
+can&rsquo;t afford to have a dinner like that.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span></div>
+<p>Micky flushed crimson.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you were dining with me,&rdquo; he stammered.
+&ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I hope you will&ndash;&ndash;I shall be only too honoured....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her grey eyes met his anxiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never done a thing like this before,&rdquo; she said in
+distress. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you are thinking of me
+... but ... well, I suppose I was just desperate....&rdquo;
+She broke off biting her lip, then she
+rushed on again. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t suppose you&rsquo;ll ever see me
+any more, so it doesn&rsquo;t really matter much, but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope to see you again, many times,&rdquo; said Micky,
+with an earnestness that surprised himself.</p>
+<p>She looked away, and her face hardened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose men are all the same,&rdquo; she said, after a
+moment. &ldquo;However....&rdquo; she shrugged her shoulders
+with a sort of recklessness that made Micky frown. She
+leaned back in her chair with sudden weariness. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+very kind of you,&rdquo; she said disinterestedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not kind at all,&rdquo; he hastened to assure her. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+much more pleased to be with you than you are to be with
+me. If it hadn&rsquo;t been for you I should have spent this
+evening alone&ndash;&ndash;New Year&rsquo;s Eve, too,&rdquo; he added, with a
+sort of chagrin and a sudden memory of Marie Deland.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s Eve!&rdquo; she echoed. She closed her eyes
+for a moment, and Micky had an uncomfortable sort of
+feeling that she was looking back on the year that was
+dying and could see nothing pleasant in the whole of the
+twelve months. Presently she opened them again with a
+little sigh. &ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t want another year like the
+last one,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t have,&rdquo; he told her promptly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a
+sort of feeling that there are lots of good things coming
+along for you. The luck has to change some time or
+other, and if you&rsquo;ve had a rotten time in the past you
+won&rsquo;t have it in the future.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in luck,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you? I do,&rdquo; Micky declared. He hated the
+despondency in her face; he felt a strong desire to see
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span>
+her smiling and happy. He rattled on, talking any nonsense
+that came into his head.</p>
+<p>The waiter came down the room and set the dishes
+on the table. He gave a sort of supercilious sniff when
+Micky asked for a saucer of milk for the cat. He looked
+at Charlie with scorn&ndash;&ndash;Charlie, curled up on the girl&rsquo;s
+lap now and purring lustily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course, you know, we really ought to have a bottle
+of wine,&rdquo; Micky said dubiously. &ldquo;Just something cheap,
+as it&rsquo;s New Year&rsquo;s Eve.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He would like to have given her champagne, but dared
+not suggest it. He was quite sure that if she knew he
+was a rich man she would fly off at a tangent. He ordered
+an inexpensive bottle of red wine and filled her
+glass.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, here&rsquo;s luck to the New Year,&rdquo; he said sententiously.
+&ldquo;And to our delightfully unexpected meeting,&rdquo;
+he added.</p>
+<p>She flushed up to her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you always as kind to people as you have been to
+me?&rdquo; she asked tensely.</p>
+<p>Micky blushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I say!&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t call this being
+kind, do you? I assure you it&rsquo;s just pure selfishness. I
+should have spent my evening alone if we hadn&rsquo;t met&ndash;&ndash;and
+I hate being alone; I bore myself stiff in five minutes.
+I&rsquo;m just&ndash;&ndash;honoured that you should have allowed
+me to eat my supper with you. If you knew how beastly
+fed-up I was feeling ... the world seemed a positively
+loathsome place.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed; she leaned her elbows on the table and
+her chin in her hands, looking at him with thoughtful
+eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you poor?&rdquo; she asked with disarming frankness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor as a church mouse,&rdquo; said Micky promptly. &ldquo;At
+least&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he hastened to amend his words&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m one of
+those unfortunate beggars who spend money as fast as
+they get it. I&rsquo;ve never saved a halfpenny in my life.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span></div>
+<p>This at least was the truth.</p>
+<p>She nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Neither have I&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve never had one to save....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The despondency was back again in her voice; Micky
+broke in hastily&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Before we go any further I think we ought to know
+one another&rsquo;s names.&rdquo; He fumbled in a pocket for a
+card, but changed his mind quickly, remembering that
+his cards bore the address of the expensive flat which he
+honoured with his presence. &ldquo;My name is Mellowes,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got several Christian names as well, but people
+call me Micky....&rdquo; He waited, looking at her
+expectantly. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you tell me yours?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She was staring down at her plate. He could see the
+dark fringe of lashes against her cheeks. Suddenly she
+looked up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you want to know my name? We shall
+never meet again, I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky leaned a little forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said quietly, &ldquo;it will be the greatest
+disappointment I have ever had.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him with a sort of fear.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean that,&rdquo; she said, with a catch in her
+voice. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t really mean that ... you&rsquo;re just
+one of those men who say things like that to every woman
+you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She broke off, struck by the chagrin in Micky&rsquo;s
+face. &ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;I oughtn&rsquo;t to have said that,&rdquo; she went on
+hurriedly. &ldquo;I beg your pardon ... I ought not to
+have said it, and I will tell you my name if you really
+want to know. My name is Esther&ndash;&ndash;Esther Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you!&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;And now we&rsquo;re going to
+drink to good resolutions for the New Year ...
+have you made one yet?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the use? Besides ... I don&rsquo;t want to
+make any.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then, I&rsquo;ll make one for you.&rdquo; He refilled
+her glass and handed it to her. &ldquo;Now say after me: &lsquo;I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
+resolve that during the coming year I will be good friends
+with Micky Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rsquo; Oh, I say, don&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;please
+don&rsquo;t....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had dropped her face in her hands again, and
+Micky had a miserable conviction that she was crying.</p>
+<p>But he was wrong, for presently she looked up again,
+and her eyes were dry, though a little hard and bright.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in a man&rsquo;s friendship for a woman,&rdquo;
+she said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll say it, if you like,&rdquo; and she took the
+glass from his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And to-morrow,&rdquo; said Micky presently, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to
+take you out to tea or something&ndash;&ndash;if I may,&rdquo; he added
+hurriedly.</p>
+<p>He waited, but she did not speak. &ldquo;May I?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She was twisting the stem of her wineglass nervously;
+after a moment she began to speak jerkily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When I came out to-night I didn&rsquo;t mean to go back
+any more,&rdquo; she said. Her voice was low and full of a
+weary bitterness. &ldquo;I was so unhappy I didn&rsquo;t want to live.&rdquo;
+She caught her breath. &ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for
+you&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she was looking at him now with shame in her
+eyes. &ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for you I shouldn&rsquo;t have gone
+back&ndash;&ndash;ever&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;But now....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But now,&rdquo; said Micky as she paused, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re going
+back, and we&rsquo;re going to start the new year&ndash;&ndash;friends,
+you and I! Is that a bargain?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Outside Micky hailed a taxicab.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re much too tired to walk,&rdquo; he said when she
+protested. &ldquo;And it will be a new experience for Charlie,&rdquo;
+he added with a twinkle.</p>
+<p>He put her into the cab, and stood for a moment at
+the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And the address?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She hesitated, looking away from him; then suddenly
+she told him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Brixton Road&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s a very horrid boarding-house,&rdquo;
+she added with a half-sigh.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Boarding-houses are all horrid,&rdquo; said Micky cheerily.
+&ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll come down myself to-morrow and see how
+bad it really is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He tried to see her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shall you be in if I come in the afternoon?&rdquo; he
+asked anxiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;About four, then,&rdquo; said Micky. He groped for her
+hand, found it, and pressed it. &ldquo;Good-night,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And the next moment Micky was alone in the starlight.</p>
+<p>He stood looking after the taxi with a queer sense
+of unreality. Had he just dreamt it all, and was there
+really no such girl as Esther Shepstone? No Charlie?
+He shook himself together with a laugh. Of course it
+was real, all of it! He walked on soberly through the
+cold night.</p>
+<p>To-morrow he would go to the very horrid boarding-house
+in the Brixton Road and see her again.</p>
+<p>Esther! He liked her name; there was something
+quaint and old-world about it. It seemed impossible that
+they had only met a few hours ago.</p>
+<p>His headache had quite vanished. He was whistling
+a snatch of song when he let himself into the house
+and went upstairs.</p>
+<p>He opened the door of his sitting-room, and then
+stopped dead on the threshold. The lights were burning
+fully, and a man was ensconced in his favourite armchair
+by the fire&ndash;&ndash;Ashton. Lord! he had forgotten all
+about Ashton.</p>
+<p>Micky looked guiltily at the clock&ndash;&ndash;nearly eleven!&ndash;&ndash;he
+began a half-apology.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Awfully sorry, old man&ndash;&ndash;I was kept.... Been
+waiting long?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I got here at ten.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton climbed out of the chair and looked at Micky
+with a sort of shamefacedness.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t take your coat off,&rdquo; he said suddenly. &ldquo;I want
+you to come out again&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Out! Now! Look at the time, man!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s only eleven.... I&rsquo;m catching the
+midnight to Dover....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dover! What in the world....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton turned round and looked down at the fire with
+a sort of embarrassment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the mater,&rdquo; he said jerkily. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s found out&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked puzzled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Found out! What on earth....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton made an impatient gesture. He was a good-looking
+man, with dark eyes that could look all manner
+of things without in the least meaning them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;About that girl at Eldred&rsquo;s,&rdquo; he said in a strangled
+voice. &ldquo;You know! I told you about her. Lord, man,
+don&rsquo;t look so confoundedly ignorant! I told you about
+her,&rdquo; he broke off. &ldquo;Well, some one&rsquo;s told the mater,
+and this morning....&rdquo; he shrugged his shoulders.
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s been old Harry to pay! She told me if I didn&rsquo;t
+give her up she&rsquo;d cut me out of her will. She would,
+too!&rdquo; he added, in savage parenthesis.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well! and what did you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton looked round.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hang it all! what could I say? Told her I would, of
+course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a sharp silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you liked the girl,&rdquo; said Micky bluntly.</p>
+<p>The other man winced.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I did&ndash;&ndash;so I do.... It&rsquo;s a rotten shame. If
+you&rsquo;d ever seen her ... you never have, have you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Neither has the mater.... Women are all the
+same; because the girl has to work for her living they
+think she isn&rsquo;t fit for me to marry.... It&rsquo;s all a lot
+of rot.... However&ndash;&ndash;beggars can&rsquo;t be choosers&ndash;&ndash;and
+so I&rsquo;m off to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span></div>
+<p>Micky looked at him keenly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean that you&rsquo;re going without a word to the
+girl?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What can I do?&ndash;&ndash;I went and saw her this morning&ndash;&ndash;we
+had a rotten scene. I meant to tell her it was all
+up, but somehow I couldn&rsquo;t; I&rsquo;m too dashed fond of her,
+and that&rsquo;s the truth. I can&rsquo;t bear to see her cry&ndash;&ndash;it
+makes me feel such a cur....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited a moment, but Micky made no comment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So the only thing is to clear out,&rdquo; Ashton went on
+jerkily. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t afford to quarrel with the mater, you
+know that.... Perhaps some day....&rdquo; He
+stopped. &ldquo;After all, she can&rsquo;t live for ever,&rdquo; he added
+brutally.</p>
+<p>Micky said nothing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I&rsquo;m off to-night,&rdquo; Ashton went on with an effort.
+&ldquo;I wanted to see you&ndash;&ndash;I knew I could trust you....&rdquo;
+He fumbled in a pocket. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a letter here....
+I&rsquo;ve written&ndash;&ndash;I couldn&rsquo;t see her again. I know I&rsquo;m a
+coward, but ... well, there it is!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He threw the letter down on the table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you go and see her, old chap, and give her
+that?&rdquo; he asked with an effort. &ldquo;Tell her I&ndash;&ndash;oh, tell
+her what you like,&rdquo; he went on fiercely. &ldquo;Tell her that
+if I could afford it....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stopped again, and this time the silence was unbroken
+for some minutes.</p>
+<p>Then he roused himself and picked up his coat. &ldquo;Well,
+I must be getting along. I left my baggage at the station.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked at Micky. &ldquo;I suppose you think I&rsquo;m an infernal
+sweep, eh?&rdquo; he asked curtly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>He had always expected that Ashton&rsquo;s romance would
+end like this, and he felt vaguely sorry for the girl,
+though he had never seen her. She must have expected
+it, too, he thought. She must have known Ashton&rsquo;s position
+all along. He followed his friend out of the room.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t told me her address,&rdquo; he said suddenly.</p>
+<p>He decided that it would be better to send the letter&ndash;&ndash;he
+did not want to see her. He hated a scene as much
+as Ashton did.</p>
+<p>Ashton was at the top of the stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s on the letter. What have you done with it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was an irritable note in his voice. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t leave
+it lying there for that man of yours to see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky went back into the room. The letter lay on
+the table where Ashton had thrown it down.</p>
+<p>He picked it up, glancing casually at the written address
+as he did so. Then suddenly his tall figure stiffened,
+and a curiously blank look filled his eyes, for the
+name scribbled there in Ashton&rsquo;s writing was&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Esther Shepstone,&rdquo; and, below it, the number
+of the very horrid boarding-house in the Brixton Road.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_II' id='CHAPTER_II'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky stood staring at the envelope in his hand.
+He felt as if something had happened to paralyse
+all power of action.</p>
+<p>Esther Shepstone and Ashton&rsquo;s girl from Eldred&rsquo;s were
+one and the same; that was all he could grasp, and it
+sounded absurd and impossible.</p>
+<p>He had heard so much of this girl&ndash;&ndash;Ashton had talked
+about her times without number&ndash;&ndash;Lallie he had called
+her; now he came to think of it, Micky could not remember
+having ever heard her spoken of by any other name;
+and Lallie and Esther Shepstone were one and the same.</p>
+<p>Was this, then, why she had cried, because of Ashton...?</p>
+<p>Ashton called to him impatiently from the stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What the deuce are you doing? I shall miss my
+train.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky roused himself with a start, and, dropping the
+letter into his pocket, went slowly out of the room; he
+felt as if he could not have hurried had his life depended
+upon it; there was an absurdly cold sort of feeling round
+his heart.</p>
+<p>It was ridiculous, of course; it was nothing to him
+if the girl with whom he had dined an hour ago loved
+Ashton; he had never seen her before. That sounded
+an absurd truth, too; it seemed impossible that until this
+evening he and she had never met.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For heaven&rsquo;s sake, hurry up, man,&rdquo; said Ashton again
+sharply.</p>
+<p>He was at the bottom of the stairs; the face he turned
+over his shoulder to Micky looked pale and harassed.</p>
+<p>Micky quickened his steps and joined his friend in the
+porch below; they stood together out on the path waiting
+for a taxicab.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span></div>
+<p>Micky glanced at Ashton with a curious sense of unreality;
+he felt as if he had never seen him before; it
+seemed impossible that this Ashton could know Esther&ndash;&ndash;and
+Charlie!</p>
+<p>A taxicab drew up to the kerb; Ashton banged open
+the door and got in. Micky followed, and they drove
+some way in silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take thundering good care I don&rsquo;t stay away
+long,&rdquo; Ashton said suddenly, with a sort of growl. &ldquo;And
+if the mater thinks it will make me forget Lallie&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought her name was Esther,&rdquo; said Micky quietly.
+He was looking out of the window into the starry night.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So it is&ndash;&ndash;but I always call her Lallie.&rdquo; He looked
+at his friend with a sort of vague suspicion. &ldquo;How do
+you know what her name is?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I saw it on the letter you gave me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton grunted.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think it would be better if you posted it to her
+yourself and have done with it,&rdquo; Micky said with an
+effort. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a rotten hand at this sort of thing. It can&rsquo;t
+do any good if I go and see her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You said you would go&ndash;&ndash;you might be a sport and
+stick to your word,&rdquo; Ashton protested. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d do the
+same for you any day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky rather doubted it, but did not like to say so.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you knew how sick I am about the whole business,&rdquo;
+Ashton went on jerkily. &ldquo;You may not believe
+me, but I tell you, Micky, that I&rsquo;d marry that girl to-morrow
+if only&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If only&ndash;&ndash;what?&rdquo; Micky asked as he paused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you know! What the dickens can I do without
+a bob to my name except what the mater chooses to
+dole out? I tell you,&rdquo; he went on with a sort of snarl,
+&ldquo;it&rsquo;ll be very different when I get the money. Gad! if
+only I&rsquo;d got it now!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Money isn&rsquo;t everything,&rdquo; said Micky sententiously.
+&ldquo;And if you like the girl, why not marry her and face
+it out?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span></div>
+<p>Ashton gave a savage little laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all very fine for you to say that money isn&rsquo;t
+everything&ndash;&ndash;that&rsquo;s only because you&rsquo;ve got it, and are
+never likely to be without it. You don&rsquo;t know what it
+feels like to be up to your eyes in debt and not knowing
+where to turn for a fiver. Bah! what&rsquo;s the good of
+talking?&rdquo; He let down the window with a run, turning
+his face to the keen night air.</p>
+<p>They were nearing their destination, and there was
+still something he wanted to say to Micky which so far,
+he had been afraid to put into words.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I suppose I shan&rsquo;t be seeing you again for a
+bit,&rdquo; he said, with rather a forced laugh. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been
+a good pal to me, Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky said &ldquo;Rot!&rdquo; rather shortly; he frowned in the
+darkness; Ashton got on his nerves; he rather wished
+he had not come to see him off.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but you have&ndash;&ndash;whether you like me to say so
+or not,&rdquo; the other man went on obstinately. &ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;and
+there&rsquo;s one last thing I&rsquo;m going to ask you before I
+go....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited, but Micky did not speak.</p>
+<p>The taxi was turning into the station yard now, moving
+slowly because of the congested traffic.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you could give Lallie some money,&rdquo; Ashton went
+on with a rush. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d send her some, but I&rsquo;ve only just
+got enough to get out of the way with. I&rsquo;ll pay you
+back as soon as the mater condescends to send me another
+cheque....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s face felt hot.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hasn&rsquo;t she&ndash;&ndash;hasn&rsquo;t she got any, then?&rdquo; he asked with
+an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;at least I promised her some when I saw her
+this morning. She&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;s left Eldred&rsquo;s. You see&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he
+drew a hard breath&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;you see, I hoped we&rsquo;d be able to
+get married, and so&ndash;&ndash;well, there was no sense in her staying
+on there. She was worked to death, poor kid.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He glanced at Micky, but could not see his face.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You understand, don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he said, encouraged by
+his silence. &ldquo;She owes them a bit at the boarding-house
+where she is living. I promised to wipe it off for her,
+but the mater cutting up rough altered everything, and
+so ... if you could give her a little&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see to it,&rdquo; said Micky. He opened the door of
+the taxi and got out before it was at a standstill. He
+took off his hat and let the cold air play on his hot
+forehead. He could hardly trust himself to speak.</p>
+<p>He was thankful when Ashton went off to see to his
+luggage. He walked into the station and found himself
+aimlessly staring at a notice board. He could not remember
+when he had felt so furiously angry.</p>
+<p>Had Ashton changed? he was asking himself in bewilderment.
+Or was it merely that he had never seen
+the man he really was until to-night?</p>
+<p>He tried to remember what Ashton had told him about
+Esther Shepstone in the past. That she had been at
+Eldred&rsquo;s he knew, and that Eldred&rsquo;s was a place where
+women bought silk petticoats and things he also knew.
+He had heard Marie Deland and her friends talking
+about it lots of times. Marie had once invited him to
+accompany her there when they had been out together,
+but he had refused and had waited outside for her. Now
+he came to think of it, that was about all Ashton had
+ever told him of Esther Shepstone.</p>
+<p>He knew that Ashton had been seen about with her a
+great deal; knew that he had had to stand a lot of harmless
+chaff in consequence; he himself had joked about
+Ashton&rsquo;s &ldquo;latest&rdquo; as they had all called her: it seemed a
+memory to be ashamed of, when he thought of the way
+he had heard her sobbing in the street that night, of the
+distress in her eyes, of the hopeless way in which she
+had spoken.</p>
+<p>Ashton rejoined him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Buck up! The train&rsquo;s in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They went along the platform, followed by a porter
+with Ashton&rsquo;s baggage. Micky looked at it resentfully;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span>
+Ashton was evidently prepared to enjoy himself; this was
+no rush after mere solitude and forgetfulness.</p>
+<p>He stood stiffly at the carriage door while Ashton
+stowed his smaller traps on the rack. Presently he came
+to the window.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll do the best you can, won&rsquo;t you, old man?&rdquo;
+There was a real anxiety in his eyes, but Micky was not
+looking at him; he answered stiffly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ll do what I can.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll soon get another job,&rdquo; Ashton went on, with
+forced confidence. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry she left Eldred&rsquo;s, now it&rsquo;s
+come to this, but how was I to know?&rdquo; he appealed to
+Micky, but he might as well have appealed to a brick
+wall for all response he got.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when I come back&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said again. &ldquo;Tell
+her that when I come back many things may be all right
+again ... tell her that, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell her,&rdquo; said Micky stolidly.</p>
+<p>The guard was blowing his whistle now, doors were
+being shut.</p>
+<p>Micky roused himself and looked at his friend.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;are you going to write to her?&rdquo; he
+asked constrainedly.</p>
+<p>Ashton coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s better not&ndash;&ndash;far better let the thing drop till
+I come back. I&rsquo;ve explained it all in my letter&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;ll understand.
+It&rsquo;s no use writing&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t you think it&rsquo;s better
+not&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky hunched his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s your affair,&rdquo; he said laconically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, well, I shan&rsquo;t write&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll send you my address
+as soon as I know where I&rsquo;m staying, and you can let
+me know what she said and how she takes it....
+Oh, confound it!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A porter had come along and slammed the door; the
+train was slowly moving; Micky was vaguely glad that
+there had been no time in which to shake hands. A
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span>
+moment, and he was walking away alone down the platform.</p>
+<p>His hands were deep thrust in the pockets of his coat;
+he took no notice of anything; he walked on and out
+of the station.</p>
+<p>Well, this had been an eventful New Year&rsquo;s Eve with a
+vengeance; he glanced up at the clock in the dome behind
+him&ndash;&ndash;only a quarter to twelve now, and yet so much
+had been crowded into the past four hours. Since the
+moment when the Delands rang up to cancel his engagement
+to dine he seemed to have stepped out of the
+old world into a new. He wondered what Esther Shepstone
+was doing in the very horrid boarding-house of
+which she had told him&ndash;&ndash;if she was thinking of Ashton.</p>
+<p>What a cad the man was, what a cad!&ndash;&ndash;he was amazed
+that he had not discovered it before&ndash;&ndash;to clear off and
+leave a girl like this, without a word of farewell except
+the letter. He wondered if he meant to deliver it and
+admit that he knew Ashton, or if he meant just to stick
+a stamp on and post it to her.</p>
+<p>He realised that there was nothing very much to be
+proud of in an admission that he knew Ashton, and yet
+they had been friends for years.</p>
+<p>It was striking twelve when he got home; he stood for
+a moment on the doorstep, looking up at the starry sky.</p>
+<p>Several clocks were chiming midnight in the distance;
+he listened with a queer sense of fatalism.</p>
+<p>This was the strangest New Year&rsquo;s Eve he had ever
+spent in his life. At this hour last year he had been
+dancing the old year out, and to-night, had things gone
+as he had thought, he would have been somewhere with
+Marie Deland&ndash;&ndash;he might even have proposed to her by
+this time. He smiled faintly, remembering that the intention
+had really been somewhere in the background
+of his mind; but that, too, had faded out now to give
+place to other, more important, factors.</p>
+<p>Nine, ten, eleven, twelve! He counted the strokes
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span>
+mechanically; there was a breathless pause, then the clash
+of bells.</p>
+<p>Some irrepressibles in a block of flats near by raised a
+cheer; the front door of a house opposite was open, and
+Micky caught a glimpse of a crowded hall and black-coated
+men and girls in pretty frocks.</p>
+<p>He felt strangely removed from all the noise and laughter;
+after a moment he turned and went up to his room.</p>
+<p>The fire had been carefully made up and his slippers
+and dressing-gown put to warm. Micky looked at them
+with a sort of disgust; it was sickening for a healthy
+grown man to be so pampered; he kicked the slippers
+into a corner and tossed the dressing-gown on to the
+couch.</p>
+<p>He wondered what sort of a room Esther Shepstone
+had in the very horrid boarding-house&ndash;&ndash;what odd corner
+the thin black cat curled into to sleep.</p>
+<p>He took Ashton&rsquo;s letter from his pocket and stuck it
+up against the clock on the mantelshelf.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Esther Shepstone....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was fate, that&rsquo;s what it was! He wondered if she
+would ever have lived to get that letter had fate not
+thrown her across his path that night.</p>
+<p>She had been desperate&ndash;&ndash;at the end of her tether, and
+all for the sake of that cad Ashton.</p>
+<p>He turned his back on the letter and lit a cigarette, but
+he let it go out almost at once, and turned back again
+to stare once more at the name scrawled on the envelope.</p>
+<p>What had Ashton written to her? It worried him because
+he did not know. Ashton had had other love-affairs&ndash;&ndash;not
+quite such serious ones, perhaps, but still serious
+enough&ndash;&ndash;and Micky knew that when he had wearied
+of them he had set about getting free of them by the
+shortest route, caring little if it were also a brutal one.
+He thought of the despair he had seen in Esther&rsquo;s face
+that evening; he dreaded that there might be something
+in Ashton&rsquo;s farewell letter that would plunge her back
+more deeply into her misery.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span></div>
+<p>Out in the night the bells were still ringing joyously.</p>
+<p>It was New Year&rsquo;s morning, and perhaps, if he sent
+that letter ... He stood quite still for a moment,
+staring at it; then suddenly he threw his cigarette into
+the fire and snatched the letter down from the shelf.</p>
+<p>He tore it open impulsively and drew out the enclosure.
+He unfolded it and began to read. The silence of
+the room was unbroken save for the little crisp sound
+as Micky turned the paper; then the letter fluttered to
+the rug at his feet and lay there, half-curled up, as if it
+were ashamed of the words it bore and wished to hide
+them.</p>
+<p>Micky raised his eyes and looked at his reflection in
+the glass above the mantelshelf. The pallor of his face
+surprised him, and the look of passionate anger in his
+eyes.</p>
+<p>He was a man of the world. He was no better and
+no worse than many of the men whom he knew and
+called his friends, but this letter, in its brutal callousness,
+seemed to shame his very manhood.</p>
+<p>He had liked Ashton, had been his constant companion
+for months, but he had never suspected him of being
+capable of this.</p>
+<p>He supposed he ought to be ashamed of having opened
+the letter, but he was not ashamed; he was glad that he
+had been able to spare the girl this last and hardest
+blow of all&ndash;&ndash;the knowledge that the man whom she loved
+and trusted was unworthy.</p>
+<p>Presently he picked the letter up from the rug. He
+picked it up with the tips of his fingers, as if it were
+something repulsive to him, and threw it down on the
+table.</p>
+<p>The first few words stared up at him as it lay there.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Lallie</span>,&ndash;&ndash;By the time you get this letter I shall be out of
+England, and I hope you won&rsquo;t make things worse for me than
+they already are by trying to find out where I have gone or by
+writing to my people and making a scene. The worst of these
+little flirtations is that they always have to end, as this must, and
+you must have known it.&rdquo;...</p>
+</blockquote>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span></div>
+<p>Micky drew in his breath hard; not an hour ago in
+this very room Ashton had made out how cut-up he was
+at the turn his affairs had taken, and yet all the time he
+had written this letter.</p>
+<p>He flicked over a page and read on:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;... I shall never forget you and the good times we&rsquo;ve had
+together. I should try and get back at Eldred&rsquo;s, if I were you.
+It&rsquo;s a good thing we didn&rsquo;t get married as matters have turned
+out, or the fat would have been in the fire with a vengeance. As
+it is, I shall have all my work cut out to put the mater in a good
+temper again. I am sending you some money by Mickey Mellowes;
+he&rsquo;s a friend of mine and as rich as Cr&oelig;sus, and as
+selfish as the devil. If he offers to take you out, let him, by all
+means. It wouldn&rsquo;t be a bad thing if he took a fancy to you; he
+doesn&rsquo;t care a hang for any one but himself. If only I&rsquo;d got half
+his money ... but what&rsquo;s the use of talking about it? Anyway,
+this is good-bye; I shan&rsquo;t write again. Be a sensible girl,
+and try to see things from my point of view. It would only have
+meant ruin for both of us if I&rsquo;d stuck to you. Good-bye; I send
+you my love for the last time.</p>
+<p class='ralign'><span class='smcap'>Raymond Ashton</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>And this from the man whom she loved; the man who
+had pretended to love her!</p>
+<p>Micky dragged forward a chair with his foot and sat
+down straddlewise. He leaned an elbow on the chair-back
+and ran his fingers through his hair with a sort of
+bewilderment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as rich as Cr&oelig;sus and as selfish as the devil....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And this from Ashton, his friend&ndash;&ndash;the man whom he
+had helped out of scrapes scores of times; the man to
+whom he had lent money without the least hope of its
+ever being returned; Micky felt as if he had a blow in
+the face.</p>
+<p>His thoughts were in a whirl; the whole world needed
+readjusting. Was he selfish? he asked himself in perplexity&ndash;&ndash;if
+so, it was quite unconsciously, and anyway
+Ashton was the last person who should have made the
+accusation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am sending you some money by a friend of
+mine....&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span></div>
+<p>There was no hint that the money was first to be borrowed;
+he had evidently been sure of his prey; Micky
+swore under his breath.</p>
+<p>Of course, Ashton had not dreamed of the letter being
+opened, had not dreamed of anything but that his carefully-made
+plans would be minutely carried out and nothing
+more said.</p>
+<p>Micky sat for a long time, lost in thought; the hands
+of the clock crawled round to one and the chime struck;
+he looked up then, glancing at the clock vaguely.</p>
+<p>If he had not met Esther Shepstone there might have
+been no Esther in the world at all now; if he allowed
+that letter to reach its destination he would be plunging
+her back again into the abyss of despair from which he
+had dragged her only that evening. She loved Ashton; of
+that Micky was sure. Very well then, she should at least
+have some part of her ideal left to her.</p>
+<p>He went over to his desk and took up paper and pen;
+he spread Ashton&rsquo;s letter out before him and studied the
+writing carefully.</p>
+<p>Ordinary sort of writing, rather unformed and sprawly,
+but after a trial run Micky managed a very presentable
+copy of it.</p>
+<p>He sat back in his chair and eyed his handiwork with
+pride; he had missed his vocation, he told himself with a
+chuckle; he ought to have been a forger.</p>
+<p>Then he dipped the pen in the ink again and squared
+his elbows. He had never written a love-letter in his life,
+but he knew positively that he was about to write one
+now.</p>
+<p>He thought of Esther and the wistfulness of her grey
+eyes; she was the girl whom a man could love. He coloured
+a little as the thought involuntarily crossed his
+mind; she was a girl whom&ndash;&ndash;he began to write rapidly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My darling little girl&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was naturally rather eloquent with his pen,
+though he had never before tried it in this especial direction.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;This is the most difficult letter I have ever had to
+write in all my life; first, because I love you so much;
+and, secondly, because I am afraid it is going to hurt you
+nearly as much as it hurts me. Dear, as it will be some
+time before I see you again, and because I cannot explain
+everything to you, I am going to ask you to trust
+me till we meet again. I am leaving England to-night....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky paused and ran his fingers through his hair
+agitatedly before he struggled on once more: &ldquo;I shall
+be thinking of you every minute till we meet again, and
+of the happy times we have had together. I will write
+to you whenever I can....&rdquo; The pen paused, and
+Micky groaned, recalling that Ashton had said he should
+not write at all.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll have to do, anyway,&rdquo; he muttered, and again the
+pen flew: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not much of a hand at writing letters,
+as you know, but you must try and read between the
+lines, and guess at all I would say were we together
+... All I will say to you when we meet again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>That last sentence was rather neat, Micky thought with
+pride, then a wave of compunction swept through his
+heart as he remembered the tragedy behind it all, and he
+finished the page soberly enough: &ldquo;Ever yours, Raymond
+Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Damn him!&rdquo; said Micky under his breath, as he blotted
+the signature; then he took two ten-pound notes from
+a drawer in his desk, and, enclosing them in the envelope,
+sealed and stamped it.</p>
+<p>It was half-past one, but Micky climbed into his coat
+again. He locked Ashton&rsquo;s letter into his desk, and, taking
+the one he had written, went quietly down to the
+street.</p>
+<p>The world was sleeping and deserted, and Micky&rsquo;s footsteps
+echoed hollowly along the pavement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a fool, you know!&rdquo; he told himself, with a
+sort of humour. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re a bally fool, my boy! It won&rsquo;t
+end here, you see if it does.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But he went on to the pillar-box at the street corner.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span></div>
+<p>When he reached it he stood for a moment with the
+letter in his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a fool,&rdquo; he told himself again hardily. &ldquo;Micky,
+my boy, you&rsquo;re a bally idiot, interfering with what doesn&rsquo;t
+concern you&ndash;&ndash;with what doesn&rsquo;t concern you in the very
+least.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked up at the stars and thought of Esther Shepstone,
+of her eyes and her wavering smile, and the soft
+note in her voice as she had asked him&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you always as kind to every one as you have
+been to me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>No concern of his! It was every concern of his; he
+knew that he was only living for the hours to pass before
+he saw her again. No concern of his! when the greatest
+miracle of all the world had come to pass during those
+last hours of the old year, inasmuch that Micky Mellowes,
+heartwhole and a bachelor for thirty odd years,
+had been bowled over by a girl without a shilling to her
+name&ndash;&ndash;a girl who loved another man, but a girl to whom
+Micky had without wishing it, without knowing it, dedicated
+the rest of his life!</p>
+<p>He was her champion for the future, some one to
+stand between her and the callousness of the man of
+whom even now she was probably thinking.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No concern of mine!&rdquo; said Micky to himself with fine
+scorn. &ldquo;Why, of course it is! Every concern of mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He squared his shoulders and dropped the envelope
+into the pillar-box.</p>
+<p>And so Micky Mellowes posted his first love-letter.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_III' id='CHAPTER_III'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+</div>
+<p>In spite of the events of the night Micky Mellowes
+slept soundly. It was half-past nine when he woke,
+to find his man Driver moving noiselessly about the
+room.</p>
+<p>When he saw that Micky was awake he approached
+the bed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-morning, sir, and a happy New Year.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver had an expressionless voice; he announced tea
+or tragedy in exactly the same tone.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eh?&rdquo; said Micky vacantly; the words opened the door
+of memory, and he sat up with a start. It was New
+Year&rsquo;s Day, and last night ... ye gods! what had
+not happened last night? Micky tingled to the tips of
+his fingers as he remembered the letter he had written
+and posted; he had expected to feel rotten about it in
+the light of day; it was an agreeable surprise to find
+that he did not feel anything of the kind.</p>
+<p>When he went in to breakfast there was a pile of letters
+waiting for him; he looked them through carelessly&ndash;&ndash;there
+was one from Marie Deland, which he opened
+with a vague feeling of nervousness.</p>
+<p>Marie was a nice little girl; he really was quite fond
+of her, and yet ... surely the days of miracles had
+not yet passed away, seeing that in a few short hours
+his feeling for her had changed from something warmer
+to more brotherly affection.</p>
+<p>It made him feel uncomfortable to read what she had
+written; it was really only quite an ordinary letter of
+regret that she had not seen him last night, but Micky
+imagined he could read more between the lines.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;... I quite hoped you would drop in, if only
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span>
+for a few moments,&rdquo; so she wrote. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been so dull.
+I am writing this alone in the library.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky knew that library well; he and she had spent a
+good deal of time there together talking sweet nothings;
+he wondered if he would have been an engaged man by
+this time if that relative of the Delands had not so conveniently
+died, and if Esther had not chosen his particular
+street in which to weep.</p>
+<p>He screwed the letter up and tossed it into the fire;
+he would answer it some time, or call; there was no immediate
+hurry. When he had finished his breakfast he
+went to his locked desk and took out Ashton&rsquo;s letter&ndash;&ndash;somehow
+until he actually saw it again he could not quite
+believe that the events of last night had not all been a
+dream; but the letter was real enough, at all events with
+its callous beginning to &ldquo;Dear Lallie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The morning seemed to drag; twice people rang him
+up on the &rsquo;phone and asked him to lunch, but Micky
+was not in the mood for lunch; he felt a suppressed sort
+of excitement, as if something of great import were
+about to happen.</p>
+<p>Driver looked at him woodenly once or twice; his face
+was as expressionless as his voice, but his dull eyes saw
+everything, and behind them his keen brain wondered
+what had happened to make Micky so restless.</p>
+<p>Towards one o&rsquo;clock he ventured a gentle reminder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have an engagement for half-past three, sir&ndash;&ndash;Miss
+Langdon&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was yawning over the paper then; he looked up
+with an absurdly blank face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I say!&ndash;&ndash;well, I can&rsquo;t go, anyway. What was it
+for? I&rsquo;m going out&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve got an important appointment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver never showed surprise at anything if he felt it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was a musical &lsquo;At &rsquo;Ome,&rsquo; sir,&rdquo; he answered stolidly.
+&ldquo;Shall I ring up and say that you won&rsquo;t be able to come?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, ring up,&rdquo; said Micky. He coloured self-consciously
+beneath the man&rsquo;s stoic eyes and hurriedly buried
+his head again in the newspaper.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span></div>
+<p>At three o&rsquo;clock he changed his clothes for an immaculate
+morning-coat and grey trousers; then, remembering
+what Esther had said about the very horrid boarding-house,
+he changed them again for the oldest tweed suit
+in his possession, and a pair of brown boots that had
+seen their best days and long since been condemned by
+Driver.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How in the world do I get to Brixton?&rdquo; Micky asked
+the man when he was ready. &ldquo;I know I could take a
+taxicab, but I don&rsquo;t want to. What other ways are
+there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver told him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the train, sir, or a tram.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky jumped at the tramcar. He was sure that people
+who lived in Brixton must all use tramcars.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How long would a tramcar take?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>Driver considered. Finally he said that he thought it
+might be the best part of an hour.</p>
+<p>Micky glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter
+past three. He took up his hat hurriedly and went out
+into the street.</p>
+<p>A taxicab would have to do for to-day anyway. He
+could dismiss it at the corner of the road and walk the
+last few yards. A moment later he was being whirled
+through the streets.</p>
+<p>He sat leaning back in the corner with his feet up on
+the seat opposite, feeling decidedly nervous.</p>
+<p>Supposing he did not see Esther&ndash;&ndash;supposing she were
+not there? Supposing she had purposely given him the
+wrong address? Supposing ... oh, supposing a
+thousand and one things! Micky was full of apprehension
+when at last the taxicab stopped at the corner of
+the Brixton Road and the driver came to the door to
+ask what number.</p>
+<p>Micky scrambled out.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ll walk the rest of the way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He paid the man liberally, and set out along the
+crowded pathway. There were so many people about
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
+that he thought it must be a market day or something.
+A word with a policeman elicited the information that he
+was at quite the wrong end of the street for the number
+he wanted. Micky was rather glad. He felt that he
+needed time in which to collect his thoughts, and yet
+when at last he reached his destination he felt as nervous
+as a kitten and strongly inclined to go back. But he
+went on and up the bare strip of garden which led to
+the front door of the house. It wasn&rsquo;t such a bad-looking
+house, he thought. Not nearly as bad as he had expected
+from the girl&rsquo;s description. In fact, once upon a time it
+must have been rather a palatial residence, but all the
+windows now were boxed up with cheap, starchy-looking
+curtains, and there was a sort of third-rate atmosphere
+about the basement and the cheap knocker on the front
+door.</p>
+<p>Micky looked for a bell, but there wasn&rsquo;t one, so he
+knocked.</p>
+<p>It seemed a long time before anybody came. When
+at last they did he heard them coming for a long time
+before the door was opened, heard slipshod steps on shiny
+linoleum, and a husky sort of breathless cough.</p>
+<p>The owner of the cough was young and scared-looking,
+in shoes several sizes too large for her, and a skirt several
+inches too short. When Micky asked for Miss Shepstone
+she stared without answering for a moment, then she
+turned and slopped back the way she had come, leaving
+the door on the chain.</p>
+<p>Micky chuckled to himself; she evidently did not like
+the look of him.</p>
+<p>He waited patiently; then he heard another step along
+the shiny linoleumed floor of the hall&ndash;&ndash;a very different
+step this time&ndash;&ndash;and, turning eagerly, he saw Esther herself
+in the doorway.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really think you would come,&rdquo; she said breathlessly.</p>
+<p>For a moment Micky could not find his tongue. If
+he had thought this girl pretty last night with the tears
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span>
+in her eyes he thought her a thousand times prettier now.
+She looked as if some magician hand had wiped the distress
+from her face and convinced her that the sun still
+shone.</p>
+<p>She wore the same clothes she had worn last night, but
+even they seemed somehow to have changed. There was
+a bunch of violets pinned in her jacket. Micky wondered
+if it were the violets that were responsible for the
+alteration.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When I make an appointment I always keep it,&rdquo; he
+said.</p>
+<p>He had almost added &ldquo;with any one like you,&rdquo; but
+thought better of it. &ldquo;And are you going to let me take
+you out to tea?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She hesitated; she glanced back into the dingy hall
+behind her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am leaving here to-day,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;My box has
+gone already. If you will wait a moment ... I
+would ask you in, but you&rsquo;d hate it so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll wait outside,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>He went down into the street. For the moment he
+had quite forgotten all about Ashton and the letter which
+must by this time be in Esther&rsquo;s possession.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And what about Charlie?&rdquo; he asked whimsically when
+she joined him.</p>
+<p>She smiled, shaking her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I sent him on&ndash;&ndash;in a basket. Nobody wants him here&ndash;&ndash;he
+only gets badgered about all day long; so I&rsquo;m taking
+him with me. Do you think I ought not to?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think Charlie is a most fortunate cat,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>She did not take him seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think he will be happier with me anyway,&rdquo; she said
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to quite a nice boarding-house now. I went
+out this morning and found it.&rdquo; She looked up at him
+with a smile. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think even you would mind coming
+to tea there,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you were going to say mind coming there
+to live,&rdquo; Micky told her audaciously. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been looking
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span>
+about for fresh diggings; I&rsquo;m tired of mine.&rdquo; He stopped
+and glanced behind him. &ldquo;Can we get a tramcar here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not tired,&rdquo; she said quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I must admit that I am,&rdquo; Micky answered. He
+hated walking at the best of times, and he did not like
+to suggest another taxicab. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s go on top.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They climbed up and found a front seat; there was a
+working man next to them smoking shag in a clay pipe;
+he looked at Micky and Esther doubtfully, then asked&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Does your good lady mind smoke, mister?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind at all,&rdquo; she said, laughing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You got home all right last night, then?&rdquo; Micky said
+presently. &ldquo;After you had gone I wished I had seen you
+safely in....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of you, but I was quite all right.&rdquo; There
+was a note of constraint in her voice. &ldquo;I should like to
+thank you for what you did for me last night,&rdquo; she said
+hesitatingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for you....&rdquo; She stopped.</p>
+<p>Micky did not know what to say.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Anyway, it&rsquo;s all right now, eh?&rdquo; he asked presently,
+with awkward cheerfulness. &ldquo;I thought it would be;
+when things look so black that they can&rsquo;t possibly look
+any blacker, they always begin to mend. I&rsquo;ve found that
+out before; I don&rsquo;t know if you have.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I found it out this morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked down at her. She was sitting with her
+hands clasped together in her lap; there was a little flush
+in her cheeks, and her lips were curved into a faint
+smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It seems so wonderful too,&rdquo; she went on softly, &ldquo;that
+it should have happened on New Year&rsquo;s Day&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Fares, all fares, please,&rdquo; said the conductor beside
+them. Micky dived into a pocket and found a shilling.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Two, please,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>He had paid for and shared taxicabs with Marie Deland
+times without number, but it had never given him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
+quite the same pleasurable little thrill as he experienced
+at this moment.</p>
+<p>There was something so pleasantly familiar about this
+tramcar ride, the fact of sharing the same uncomfortable
+seat with Esther Shepstone.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Penny ones?&rdquo; the conductor asked.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at the girl.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where shall we get off?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Penny ones will do,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Micky took the tickets and pocketed his change.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if there are any decent teashops round
+here,&rdquo; he said dubiously. &ldquo;If you would rather go up to
+the West End....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But finally they found a confectioner&rsquo;s quite close to
+where the penny fare ended.</p>
+<p>Micky looked round critically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is this all right?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been here
+before.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have, often,&rdquo; she said. She was drawing off her
+gloves.</p>
+<p>Micky glanced hurriedly at her hands; she was wearing
+a ring. Hardly knowing that he did so, he leaned across
+and touched it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is that an engagement ring?&rdquo; he asked. His voice
+sounded a little breathless.</p>
+<p>She looked up at him, drawing her hand away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you ask me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He drew back; he shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I beg your pardon. I suppose I have no right to
+ask.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He ordered tea. He talked rather forced platitudes
+for the rest of the time. He was just going to call for
+the bill, when Esther Shepstone said suddenly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes, I should like to tell you something.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; Micky did not look at her. Somehow he could
+not trust himself.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t in the least know why I want to tell you,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
+she said again nervously. &ldquo;But&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ve been so kind to
+me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; said Micky gently, as she paused. &ldquo;Yes, what
+is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was twisting her teaspoon, and she kept her eyes
+lowered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Last night, when I met you&ndash;&ndash;I was very unhappy ...
+There didn&rsquo;t seem anything to live for in the world....
+I don&rsquo;t know if you&rsquo;ve ever felt like that, or if you have
+ever cared for any one&ndash;&ndash;really cared, I mean&ndash;&ndash;but if
+you have....&rdquo; She stopped again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think I understand,&rdquo; Micky said, with an effort.
+&ldquo;You mean that there&rsquo;s some one, some man....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She raised her grey eyes to his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s what I mean.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Some man you care for&ndash;&ndash;care for very much,&rdquo; Micky
+went on slowly. &ldquo;Perhaps some one you have quarreled
+with&ndash;&ndash;who hadn&rsquo;t been quite as ... kind as he
+might have been&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The soft colour flooded her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you guess&ndash;&ndash;last night?&rdquo; she asked shyly.</p>
+<p>Micky smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did I? I am not sure, perhaps.&rdquo; He drew a long
+breath that was half a sigh. &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; he queried.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why I am telling you this&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she said
+again, with a sort of distress. &ldquo;It cannot interest you,
+but, somehow, I think I should like you to know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It interests me very much&ndash;&ndash;I am honoured that you
+should tell me.&rdquo; Micky looked again at the ring she
+wore; quite a cheap little ring, with a couple of inferior
+diamonds. &ldquo;You mean that you are engaged to be married?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; at least&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; The words were only a whisper.</p>
+<p>Micky sat very still.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I suppose you will have me for a friend all the
+same, won&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he asked with an effort.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span></div>
+<p>She looked at him in faint amazement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought if I told you that perhaps you&rsquo;d rather
+not....&rdquo; She stopped in confusion.</p>
+<p>Micky leaned a little closer over the table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You said last night that you didn&rsquo;t believe in a man&rsquo;s
+friendship for a woman,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Well, I am going to
+make you believe in it. I&rsquo;m going to be your friend.
+The fact that you are engaged makes no difference to
+me, if it doesn&rsquo;t to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him earnestly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you mean that,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m very glad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you. I suppose I mustn&rsquo;t ask who the&ndash;&ndash;the
+lucky man is?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you. And he&rsquo;s away now&ndash;&ndash;out of England.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her voice changed a little, her eyes looked past Micky
+as if for the moment she had forgotten him.</p>
+<p>Micky watched her jealously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And so whatever was wrong last night is all right
+to-day, is that it?&rdquo; he asked with an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes ... somehow I never thought it would be,
+but this morning&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This morning?&rdquo; he echoed as she stopped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I had a letter this morning,&rdquo; she told him, and her
+voice had softened so wonderfully that Micky caught his
+breath. &ldquo;Oh, I wonder if you have ever been as unhappy
+as I was last night, and then had a letter, a wonderful
+letter like I had this morning? There was something
+in it that seemed to put everything right straight away;
+something that I&rsquo;ve always wanted before and never had.
+I can&rsquo;t explain it any better than that, but perhaps you
+understand. I&rsquo;m just telling you because I feel so happy
+I must tell somebody, and because I didn&rsquo;t want you to
+misjudge him as I did yesterday. I thought he didn&rsquo;t
+really care, and I wanted to die, but to-day, when his letter
+came&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She broke off into a little happy laugh.</p>
+<p>Micky had rammed his clenched hands into his pockets;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span>
+the blood was hammering in his temples; his brain
+felt in a whirl; somehow in all his wildest imaginings
+he had never dreamed of this.</p>
+<p>It was his letter that had brought that new look of
+happiness to her eyes! His letter which perhaps even
+then lay against her heart; the first love-letter he had
+ever written to any woman, and she believed it to have
+been written by Raymond Ashton!</p>
+<p>He did not realise how long he sat there without speaking
+till Esther spoke to him again. There was a little
+anxious note in her voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid I&rsquo;ve bored you horribly with all this. I
+know it&rsquo;s no interest to you, but I felt that I must tell
+somebody.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky roused himself with an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s of great interest to me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And you
+mustn&rsquo;t ever say a thing like that again. We&rsquo;re going to
+be friends, and real friends are always interested in
+everything that concerns the other. I&rsquo;m more glad than
+I can say that you&rsquo;re happy. I only hope it&rsquo;s going to
+last for ever.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Perhaps there was a dubious note in his voice, for an
+anxious gleam crept into the girl&rsquo;s eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You sound as if you don&rsquo;t think that it will,&rdquo; she said
+quickly.</p>
+<p>Micky made a hurried disclaimer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do think so, of course I do! You deserve all the
+happiness you can get, and whoever the man is, if he
+doesn&rsquo;t make you happy&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stopped, with frowning memory of Ashton and
+their parting only last night.</p>
+<p>He hoped in his heart that they would never meet
+again; if they did, he realised that there would be quite
+a few nasty things he would feel called upon to say to
+him.</p>
+<p>The waitress brought the bill at that moment and put
+an end to further conversation, for which he was thankful.
+He realised that he was getting rather out of his
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span>
+depth. He breathed more freely when they were safely
+out in the street.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And where is the new boarding-house?&rdquo; he asked
+presently. He wanted to change the subject; every moment
+he was afraid that he would say something to give
+himself away. He supposed he had behaved like an impetuous
+fool. He ought never to have posted that letter&ndash;&ndash;ought
+never to have opened Ashton&rsquo;s; and yet&ndash;&ndash;if he
+had not done so.... He looked down at the girl
+beside him, and wondered grimly how she would have
+felt if he had allowed that callous farewell to reach her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite close to where we are now,&rdquo; she told him.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s rather more expensive than the last one, but it&rsquo;s
+well worth the extra money, and&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she glanced up at
+him smilingly&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m better off to-day than I was yesterday,&rdquo;
+she explained. &ldquo;And when I go back to work
+again&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going back, then?&rdquo; he asked quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I am. I must do something, and they will
+take me back at Eldred&rsquo;s, I know&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eldred&rsquo;s!&rdquo; Micky frowned. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the petticoat
+shop, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; how did you know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the place lots of times. A girl I know buys
+all her&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He stopped. &ldquo;Do you want to go back
+there?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not particularly, but it&rsquo;s easier than looking for a
+fresh place, and I know they will take me. I&rsquo;m in the
+workroom, and it&rsquo;s not really such a hard life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did some rapid thinking; it was surprising how
+easily his brain had taken to hard work during the last
+twenty-four hours.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you get a job as a companion to a nice old
+lady or somebody?&rdquo; he suggested vaguely.</p>
+<p>She laughed again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t sound a bit attractive,&rdquo; she said frankly.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span>
+&ldquo;I think you need an awful lot of patience. It&rsquo;s very
+kind of you to be interested, but I think I shall go back
+to Eldred&rsquo;s, for a time, at least.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not like the idea at all, but he let the subject
+drop.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going back to the Brixton Road?&rdquo; he asked
+after a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no; I paid them before I left this afternoon, so
+I shall go straight to the new place.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to walk there with you, if I may,&rdquo; said
+Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course you may.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when shall I see you again?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re
+not going to vanish for days, are you? I&rsquo;ve got no end
+of time to kill, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But I haven&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she reminded him. &ldquo;At least, I shan&rsquo;t
+have when I start work. But I should like to see you
+again,&rdquo; she added kindly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Micky with faint sarcasm.</p>
+<p>He felt vaguely disappointed with the whole afternoon.
+She was holding him so decidedly at arm&rsquo;s length.
+He supposed it was that infernal fellow Ashton that
+stood between them. There was a sort of irony, too, in
+the fact that he himself had by his own action established
+him more firmly than ever in this girl&rsquo;s affections.</p>
+<p>And the fellow was not worth a thought! That was
+the rotten part of it. As he looked at her he felt strongly
+tempted to blurt out the truth; to tell her that it was he
+who wrote that letter&ndash;&ndash;to undeceive her once and for all.</p>
+<p>But the thing was manifestly impossible. She would
+probably think it an abominable thing to have opened
+Ashton&rsquo;s letter; she would probably be furious if he let
+her know that the money she had received had come from
+him. Whichever way he turned he seemed to be in a
+corner.</p>
+<p>They had reached the new boarding-house now, and
+Micky was relieved to see that it was a decided improvement
+on the one in the Brixton Road.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span></div>
+<p>The windows were not boxed up, and the steps and
+the bell were clean. It was on the sunny side of the
+road, too, and had an air of cheerfulness about it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s much better than the other one, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; Esther
+asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Streets better,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t mind
+living here myself....&rdquo; He waited, but she made
+no comment, and he felt rather snubbed.</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you like the place where you are living now?&rdquo;
+she asked after a moment. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t they make you comfortable
+there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s comfortable enough,&rdquo; said Micky. He wondered
+if he looked as guilty as he felt. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t believe
+in sticking on anywhere too long. A change is
+good for every one. I shall be shifting out some day
+soon, I expect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall see you again soon,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And if there is
+anything I can do for you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, but there isn&rsquo;t.&rdquo; She spoke quite kindly,
+but Micky had the uncomfortable sort of feeling that
+her thoughts were elsewhere. He waited a moment,
+then held out his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, good-bye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye, and thank you for my tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She nodded and smiled and turned away from him.</p>
+<p>There was nothing else for Micky to do but to go;
+he raised his hat and walked off disconsolately.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_IV' id='CHAPTER_IV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>When Esther went upstairs to her room in No.
+11 Elphinstone Road, she found the door standing
+open, and she could hear some one talking
+inside.</p>
+<p>She stood still for a moment in amazement; she
+thought perhaps she had made a mistake and come to the
+wrong room, but a glance reassured her; the number of
+her room was 23, and this one was 23; she pushed the
+door wider and went in.</p>
+<p>Her boxes were there, standing one upon the other, so
+as to make more space in the small room, and on the
+rather shabby rug by the fireplace a woman was kneeling
+with her back to the door.</p>
+<p>She did not hear Esther enter, and for a moment the
+girl stood staring at her in blank amazement. She could
+not see her face, but she could see that the woman was
+small and slightly built, with a wealth of jet black hair
+coiled in becoming carelessness with a couple of yellow
+pins to fasten it.</p>
+<p>She wore a yellow blouse, which Esther would have
+thought hideous on any one else, but somehow against
+that dark coil of hair it looked decidedly picturesque.</p>
+<p>Esther moved a little, deliberately knocking against a
+chair to attract attention, and the girl on the hearthrug
+looked round with a startled exclamation; then scrambled
+to her feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I heard there was a cat,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;Lydia told
+me that he was shut up here alone, so I just had to come
+in and see him. I hope you don&rsquo;t mind. I brought him
+some milk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a moment Esther was too taken aback to answer.
+She looked from the little woman in the yellow blouse to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span>
+Charlie, sprawled on the rug and purring lustily, and then
+back again to the little woman.</p>
+<p>She was very attractive looking, that was Esther&rsquo;s
+first thought, and her next that she had never seen any
+one with such a beautiful complexion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re Miss Shepstone, aren&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; her visitor queried
+in the friendliest of tones. &ldquo;You see, I know quite a
+lot about you already. Lydia told me&ndash;&ndash;Lydia&rsquo;s the housemaid&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ll
+like her; she&rsquo;s a really nice girl. My name
+is June Mason&ndash;&ndash;I live here, too, and I hope we will
+be great friends.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was something so breezily disarming about her
+that Esther held out her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re very kind. I hardly know what to say....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t say anything,&rdquo; Miss Mason answered airily.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to like you; I knew I should somehow when
+I first heard your name. I believe in that sort of thing&ndash;&ndash;I
+don&rsquo;t know if you do, but as soon as Lydia told me
+who it was that had taken this room I knew I should
+like you. I think your name is sweet&ndash;&ndash;Esther! So
+quaint and old-world. Have you had your tea?&ndash;&ndash;yes, oh,
+what a shame! I&rsquo;ve got some ready for you in my
+room. Oh, I hope you don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s awful cheek,&rdquo; she
+broke out with a sort of embarrassment. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a
+sitting-room here as well as a bedroom, and I always
+make my own tea, it&rsquo;s better than you can get downstairs.
+I&rsquo;ve got a fire there too, and if you&rsquo;re ever cold
+I hope you&rsquo;ll come and sit with me. I&rsquo;m out a good
+deal but you can always use my room when I&rsquo;m not
+there, if you care to. Take off your hat and come and
+see it now, or are you too tired? I don&rsquo;t want to worry
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a bit tired,&rdquo; Esther said, laughing; she felt a
+little bewildered by this sudden offer of friendship, but
+June Mason interested her, and after a moment she took
+off her hat obediently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll bring the cat too,&rdquo; Miss Mason said; she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span>
+swooped down with a quick movement and caught the
+cat up in her arms. &ldquo;I love cats,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s
+his name?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Charlie,&rdquo; said Esther shyly. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very thin, but they
+weren&rsquo;t kind to him where he belonged before....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a shame! I simply loathe people who are not
+kind to animals. Never mind, he&rsquo;ll soon get all right.
+Now come along&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll help you unpack your boxes presently.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She led the way downstairs, and Esther followed.</p>
+<p>She had been feeling a little scared of this new boarding-house.
+She felt grateful for this girl&rsquo;s unaffected overture.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mine&rsquo;s the best room in the house,&rdquo; Miss Mason informed
+her. She pushed open the door of a room immediately
+below Esther&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Sit down and make yourself
+at home. I&rsquo;ll get the tea in half a minute. I know you&rsquo;ll
+have another cup. I shall, anyway. Do you smoke?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well I do. I hope you&rsquo;re not shocked. I find it&rsquo;s so
+soothing when you&rsquo;ve got nerves; and I&rsquo;m a frightfully
+nervy person. I am hardly ever still; I&rsquo;m always on
+the go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther could well believe it. She looked on with a
+slightly dazed feeling while June Mason lit a cigarette
+and bustled about the room.</p>
+<p>It was a very comfortable room, with plenty of easy-chairs
+and lots of cushions all in the same pale shade of
+mauve.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think there would be any rooms as comfortable
+as this in the house,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;I suppose you
+pay a great deal for it, though.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know about that. Most of the furniture is
+mine and all the cushions. Do you like my cushions?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She put down the teapot, which she had been about to
+fill, and caught up one of the cushions, plumping its softness
+together with her white hands.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Mauve is my lucky colour,&rdquo; she rattled on. &ldquo;Everything
+I do in mauve turns out well. But perhaps you
+don&rsquo;t believe in a superstition like that?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was rather bewildered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure. I never thought about it,&rdquo; she said
+hesitatingly. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a very pretty colour.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason dropped the cushion to the floor, and
+stooping picked Charlie up and deposited him on it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t he look sweet?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;And a black
+cat is lucky too, you know, so that&rsquo;s a comfort.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She went back to the teapot, made the tea, and poured
+out a cup for Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is that chair comfy?&ndash;&ndash;yes, lean back! What are you
+looking at? Oh, my photographs! Yes. I have got a
+lot, haven&rsquo;t I? Lydia dusts them for me! Lydia&rsquo;s a
+treasure! You&rsquo;ll love her. When I get married she&rsquo;s
+going to leave here and come with me&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked interested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going to be married?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Am I? No, I&rsquo;m not. I&rsquo;m too fond of my independence.
+Not that I don&rsquo;t like men. I do like them, and
+I&rsquo;ve got some awfully good pals amongst them, too.
+Look!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She turned with one of her rapid movements, caught
+up a photograph from the shelf and handed it to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There! that&rsquo;s one of the nicest men I ever met in my
+life,&rdquo; she said enthusiastically. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think he&rsquo;s got
+a ripping face?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther took the portrait laughingly&ndash;&ndash;she thought June
+Mason one of the most amusing people she had ever
+met&ndash;&ndash;then she caught her breath on a little smothered
+exclamation as she found herself looking straight into
+the pictured eyes of Micky Mellowes.</p>
+<p>June Mason was too occupied with a fresh cigarette
+to notice the blank look that filled Esther&rsquo;s eyes.</p>
+<p>She sat there in the big chair, staring at Micky&rsquo;s portrait
+with a sense of foreboding. Surely it was something
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+bigger than just chance that had introduced him
+into her life for the second time.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the best,&rdquo; June Mason went on. She
+dragged forward another chair and plumped down into
+it comfortably.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you admire him?&rdquo; She opened her eyes wide,
+looking across at Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, oh yes! I think he&rsquo;s quite nice,&rdquo; Esther said
+stiltedly. &ldquo;But not a bit good-looking, do you think?&rdquo;
+she asked, with a sort of hesitation.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason took the portrait from her and held it
+at arm&rsquo;s length.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Um!&rdquo; she said critically. &ldquo;Perhaps he isn&rsquo;t, but I
+like him so much, you see, that I&rsquo;m not a fair judge.
+He&rsquo;s been a good friend to me, at all events.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She got up, replaced the frame on the shelf, and
+plumped back once more amongst her mauve cushions.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My people wanted me to marry him at one time,&rdquo;
+she went on airily. &ldquo;I might have done so only I liked
+him too well. He didn&rsquo;t care for me, except as a friend,
+and it seemed a shame to spoil it, so I put my foot down.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean that you refused him?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was interested; she was remembering how
+Micky had told her that he had never really cared for
+any woman in all his life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He never asked me, my dear,&rdquo; Miss Mason answered
+candidly. &ldquo;I let him see that it wouldn&rsquo;t be any good if
+he did, and I know he was frightfully relieved. We were
+never so nearly in love with one another as we were
+when we both knew that we didn&rsquo;t mean to get married.&rdquo;
+She chuckled reminiscently. &ldquo;It finished me with my
+people, though,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;so I cleared out and came
+here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;Micky?&rdquo; Esther asked. &ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I mean Mr. Mellowes....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason looked faintly surprised.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How did you know his name?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Did I
+tell you? I suppose I did. Oh, he&rsquo;s all right; he&rsquo;s the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span>
+kind of man who always will be all right. He&rsquo;s got another
+girl on the tapis now. I don&rsquo;t know if it will come
+to anything, though. Anyway, she&rsquo;s not good enough for
+him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You seem very fond of him,&rdquo; Esther said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am. He&rsquo;s a dear! I should love to see him happily
+married to a girl with a heart of gold like his own.
+I think I know him better than most people, and his
+little corner of the world would be amazed if they knew
+the amount of good Micky manages to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had flushed up with her own enthusiasm. Her
+curious eyes (Esther could not decide if they were grey,
+blue, or green, or a mixture of all three) were very
+bright and expressive.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard lots of rotten things said about him,&rdquo; she
+went on, &ldquo;and I know that none of them are really deserved&ndash;&ndash;at
+least most of them are not. He isn&rsquo;t a saint&ndash;&ndash;but
+what man is, I should like to know? But Micky&rsquo;s the
+sort who would give his life for a friend or any one little
+and weak. Do you know&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she flung away the half-smoked
+cigarette and leaned forward with her elbows
+on her knees&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;last winter, down in the country, I saw
+Micky go into a dirty pond in evening dress to rescue
+a drowning cat. What do you think of that?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A&ndash;&ndash;a&ndash;&ndash;cat!&rdquo; said Esther faintly. She looked at Charlie,
+and remembered how Micky had paid for milk for
+him the night of their strange meeting.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A miserable drowning cat!&rdquo; Miss Mason went on
+with tragic emphasis. &ldquo;He heard it mewing from the
+road, and he went in after it without stopping to think.
+Now, I call a man a hero who will do a thing like that
+when he is on his way to a dance he is very keen about,
+don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. Her heart warmed towards Mellowes.
+Kind as he had been to her, she had not been
+quite sure of him; it made her feel happier to hear him
+so warmly championed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll be sick to death of my chatter,&rdquo; June Mason
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span>
+broke out with sudden change of voice. She helped herself
+to a third cigarette. &ldquo;I hope you don&rsquo;t mind smoke,&rdquo;
+she apologised. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m always at it; I think I smoke dozens
+a day&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Or throw them away half smoked,&rdquo; Esther thought
+amusedly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind at all,&rdquo; she answered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t told me a thing about yourself,&rdquo; Miss
+Mason reminded her reproachfully. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s not fair
+that I should do all the talking. I know your name,
+and that&rsquo;s about all. Have you got any people? Where
+do you come from?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t much to tell you. I haven&rsquo;t any people. I
+was born in India, and my mother died there. I don&rsquo;t
+know anything about my father. I was sent home to an
+aunt, and she looked after me till about three years ago,
+when she died. I came to London then, and they took
+me on at Eldred&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;do you know Eldred&rsquo;s?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do I not?&rdquo; said Miss Mason fervently. &ldquo;Scrumptious
+things they make; but what prices! I can&rsquo;t afford
+them very often, but I go in there a good deal. I know
+the manager, and he&rsquo;s going to do some business for me&ndash;&ndash;at
+least I hope he is. If I can get my stuff into his
+place it will be a splendid thing. All London shops
+there, you know; all London with any money, that is!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked mystified.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your stuff!&rdquo; she echoed. &ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June Mason laughed merrily. She had a very infectious
+laugh and a trick of covering her face with her
+hands while she was laughing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I forgot that you didn&rsquo;t know!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I seem
+to know you so well, I can&rsquo;t remember that we never
+saw one another before to-day. My dear, I make face
+cream. Wait a moment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She sprang up and disappeared behind a mauve curtain
+into an adjoining room. Esther heard her moving
+about, opening and shutting boxes and singing a snatch
+of song all the time. Presently she came back with a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span>
+tray crowded with little pots and phials of all sizes and
+descriptions. She plumped down on her knees beside
+Esther&rsquo;s chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There you are!&rdquo; she said lightly, though there was
+an odd dash of pride in her voice. &ldquo;Face cream, night
+and day cream, eyelash tonic, and all the rest of it! Of
+course, I&rsquo;m only just starting&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m not like those people
+who advertise in all the papers and charge about a guinea
+for a shilling jar; but my stuff is as good as theirs any
+day, and better, because it&rsquo;s pure. Look!&rdquo; She took a
+lid off a little white pot with a mauve label and held it
+to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t that a glorious perfume?&rdquo; she demanded. She
+sniffed it herself with relish. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s all my invention,
+and I&rsquo;m as proud of it as a cat would be of nine
+tails. When I&rsquo;ve got things a little more ship-shape,
+Micky&rsquo;s going to put it on the market for me. It wants
+a man behind all these sort of things you know. I can
+do all the donkey work, but I&rsquo;ve got no head for business.
+I never know the difference between a loss and a profit.
+It was partly over this that I quarrelled with my people&ndash;&ndash;they
+said it was low-down to make face cream and sell
+it&ndash;&ndash;they&rsquo;re awful snobs! So I just cleared off and
+changed my surname and came here. I&rsquo;m quite happy,
+and if I haven&rsquo;t got as much money as I had, I don&rsquo;t
+mind&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve got my liberty, and that&rsquo;s worth every thing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re just wonderful,&rdquo; Esther said. She
+picked up a lid from one of the little pots and looked at
+the mauve and white label.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June Mason&rsquo;s natural beautifier....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at the glowing face opposite to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you use it for your own skin?&rdquo; she asked shyly.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason chuckled; she pushed the tray to one side
+along the floor.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind telling you that I&rsquo;ve never used cream
+to my skin at all,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But people think I do, and
+so there you are! Have some more tea?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She refilled Esther&rsquo;s cup and lit another cigarette. &ldquo;So
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span>
+that&rsquo;s what I am,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And now go on, and tell
+me about yourself. You said you were at Eldred&rsquo;s!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I was there for two years. I rather liked it!
+I love pretty things, and I was in the workroom. They
+paid me quite well, too, though it was hard work, and
+then&ndash;&ndash;well, then I left&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; her voice changed subtly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The query was only interested, and not at all impertinent.</p>
+<p>Esther flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well&ndash;&ndash;well&ndash;&ndash;I thought I was going to be married.
+He&ndash;&ndash;well, he asked me to leave to marry him, and so
+I did....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you&rsquo;re not married?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Esther was looking away into the fire. &ldquo;No,
+I&rsquo;m not married,&rdquo; she said in a stifled voice. &ldquo;He&ndash;&ndash;my
+fianc&eacute;&ndash;&ndash;has had to go away on business&ndash;&ndash;abroad, and I
+don&rsquo;t know when I shall see him again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her voice sounded sad and dispirited.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You poor little thing!&rdquo; said June Mason. She leaned
+over and laid her hand on Esther&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Never mind! The
+time will soon pass, and then he&rsquo;ll come back and you&rsquo;ll
+live happily ever after&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know. I keep on telling myself it&rsquo;s foolish to worry.
+I felt quite happy this morning. I had a letter from
+him, and somehow when I read it things didn&rsquo;t seem half
+so bad; but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And you&rsquo;ll have another to-morrow, I expect.&rdquo; Miss
+Mason insisted. &ldquo;And another the next day, and one
+every day while he&rsquo;s away. There! That&rsquo;s better,&rdquo; she
+added cheerily as Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to see you look so sad. I&rsquo;m going to
+cheer you up. I shan&rsquo;t allow you to be miserable. And
+anyway,&rdquo; she added, with a sudden softening, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve got
+some one who loves you, and that&rsquo;s worth everything else
+in the world.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. Her eyes shone and she thought
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span>
+of the letter which was even then lying against her heart.
+Somehow she had never realised how much he really
+cared for her till to-day.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And what are you going to do till he comes home?&rdquo;
+Miss Mason asked interestedly. &ldquo;If you had something
+to do you&rsquo;d find the time pass ever so much more
+quickly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a question of having to do something rather than
+how to pass the time,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t any money
+except what I can make. My aunt left me a little when
+she died, but it was only a very little, and I spent most
+of it at first while I was looking for work. So I&rsquo;m going
+back to Eldred&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;if they will have me, and I think they
+will.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason said &ldquo;Humph!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re too good for a petticoat shop,&rdquo; she
+said bluntly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re wasted there! Nobody sees you, and
+you&rsquo;re so pretty&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, what nonsense!&rdquo; Esther exclaimed. She laughed
+in sheer amusement. To her it seemed absurd for this
+girl to call her pretty; she considered June Mason such
+a personality&ndash;&ndash;so attractive!</p>
+<p>She really did make a picturesque figure as she sat
+there with her mauve cushions all around her. Her
+yellow blouse and dark hair and wonderful rose-leaf
+skin reminded one of some brilliant portrait painted by
+a master-hand.</p>
+<p>Esther would have been surprised could she have
+known the thought in June&rsquo;s mind at that moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s just sweet! I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve seen a face
+I admire more. Micky would adore her! She&rsquo;s just the
+sort of woman he always raves about. I must ask him to
+tea to meet her one day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There are heaps of other berths going besides Eldred&rsquo;s,
+you know,&rdquo; she said earnestly. &ldquo;However, you
+must do as you like, of course.&rdquo; She threw away another
+unfinished cigarette. &ldquo;Do you think we are going to be
+friends?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I am sure we are,&rdquo; Esther said. She really did think
+so; she had never met any one in the least like June
+Mason before. She began to feel glad that she had come
+to this house. It was much more expensive than the
+Brixton Road, certainly, but it was well worth it, even if
+only because she had met this quaint little woman.</p>
+<p>It was nearly seven o&rsquo;clock before she thought of going
+back to her own room, and then it was only the chiming
+of a clock on the shelf that roused her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nearly seven!&rdquo; She started up in dismay. &ldquo;I had
+no idea it was so late. I am sorry for having stayed so
+long.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing to be sorry for,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;You
+may go shares with this room if you like. I&rsquo;m out so
+much, it isn&rsquo;t used half the time. Think it over, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed nervously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s awfully kind of you; I should love to, but I
+couldn&rsquo;t afford it. I&rsquo;m really paying more money now
+than I ought to. I want to save, too&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For the wedding! Lucky girl! I hope you&rsquo;ll ask me
+to come and see you married&ndash;&ndash;and I hope he&rsquo;s very nice,&rdquo;
+she added.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He is,&rdquo; said Esther eagerly. &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s very handsome,&rdquo;
+she added shyly.</p>
+<p>But Miss Mason was not impressed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care a fig if a man is handsome or not,&rdquo; she
+said bluntly. &ldquo;If he&rsquo;s just manly and straightforward and
+kind, that&rsquo;s all I expect him to be. Now look here&ndash;&ndash;we
+have dinner at half-past seven in this establishment. It&rsquo;s
+only supper really, but we all put on our best blouses&ndash;&ndash;if
+we&rsquo;ve got any&ndash;&ndash;and call it dinner. I&rsquo;ll call for you on the
+way down and we&rsquo;ll go in together. I&rsquo;ll tell Mrs. Elders
+you are going to share my table, if you like; it&rsquo;s deadly
+dull sitting alone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to sit with you very much,&rdquo; Esther said
+eagerly. &ldquo;But I really haven&rsquo;t got a &lsquo;best&rsquo; blouse.&rdquo; She
+glanced down at the plain white silk shirt she wore; it
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span>
+had been washed many times, and had lost its first freshness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come down as you are, then,&rdquo; Miss Mason urged,
+&ldquo;and I will too! I hate changing. This yellow rag is good
+enough for the old tabbies we get here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther went half-way down the stairs and came back.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Charlie&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve forgotten Charlie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Charlie can stay where he is till bedtime,&rdquo; June declared.
+&ldquo;You can come up and fetch him then. Hurry,
+or you&rsquo;ll be late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther went down to her room, feeling more light-hearted
+than she had done for a long time.</p>
+<p>As she unpacked her boxes and tidied her hair she
+could hear June Mason moving about upstairs, singing
+cheerily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to like her&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m going to like her awfully,&rdquo;
+she told herself. She hurried to be ready in time, but the
+rather unmelodious dinner-bell had clanged through the
+house twice before June came to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve unpacked, then?&rdquo; she said. She looked round
+the small room approvingly. &ldquo;I can see you&rsquo;re one of the
+tidy ones,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not; I wish I were. However,
+we can&rsquo;t all be the same. Are you ready?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took Esther&rsquo;s arm and they went downstairs together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Every one knows you&rsquo;re coming,&rdquo; June said as they
+neared the dining-room. &ldquo;Every one always knows everything
+that goes on here. Don&rsquo;t take any notice if they
+stare a lot; they must stare at something, poor darlings.
+I&rsquo;ll tell you who they all are and all about them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The dining-room was a long, narrow sort of room that
+looked as if it once had been two rooms recently thrown
+into one; the floor was covered with slippery green linoleum,
+and there was a long table running almost the
+length of the room, with a few smaller ones on either
+side.</p>
+<p>A grey-haired woman with pebble glasses stood at the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span>
+head of the long table; Esther recognised her as the
+proprietress, Mrs. Elders.</p>
+<p>She said good-evening to Esther and stared frigidly at
+June, as if she did not like to see the two girls together.
+She did not approve of the little face cream lady, though
+she was careful never to say so, as June was one of her
+best paying propositions.</p>
+<p>Esther was glad when they reached their own table;
+glad, too, that she was more or less out of the way of
+curious glances.</p>
+<p>The dinner was plain, but infinitely superior to the fare
+she had had to put up with in the Brixton Road.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you have all your meals here?&rdquo; she asked June
+presently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;only breakfast and supper&ndash;&ndash;and not always supper.
+I go out with friends sometimes. Every one hasn&rsquo;t
+given me up just because my family have. But the food
+is quite good here. They&rsquo;re rather too fond of rice and
+stewed apples; but it might be worse. Turn round presently
+and look at the man behind you with the grey hair.
+Isn&rsquo;t he handsome? We call him the colonel, though I
+don&rsquo;t believe he&rsquo;s a colonel at all. He&rsquo;s a dear, but he
+always complains about everything. I know he gives notice
+regularly on Saturday morning and takes it back
+again on Saturday night. Mrs. Elders would think he
+wasn&rsquo;t well if he missed giving her notice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed, and turning in her chair spoke to a young
+man who was sitting alone at one of the smaller tables
+behind her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is your cough better?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to give
+you some special stuff to-night for it. No, it isn&rsquo;t at all
+nasty.&rdquo; She turned back to Esther. &ldquo;May I introduce
+Mr. Harley&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;s the most interesting person in the
+whole house. He writes stories and things, Mr. Harley,
+this is Miss Shepstone&ndash;&ndash;a great friend of mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Harley bowed. He was pale, delicate-looking young
+man with fine dark eyes.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You never told me that you knew Miss Shepstone,&rdquo; he
+said to June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know her till this afternoon,&rdquo; she answered
+promptly; &ldquo;but I make friends quickly, as you know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll like Harley,&rdquo; she told Esther presently in an
+undertone. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very clever, but so delicate, poor boy!
+He ought to live in the country instead of in London.
+He&rsquo;s the sort of person I should love to help if I were
+rich.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be wonderful to be rich,&rdquo; Esther said. There
+was a little flush in her cheeks; she was really enjoying
+herself. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the dream of my life to have enough money
+to be able to do anything I like,&rdquo; she added earnestly.
+&ldquo;Just for a month! If I could be really rich just for one
+month I wouldn&rsquo;t mind going back to being poor again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason said &ldquo;Rubbish!&rdquo; briskly. &ldquo;Money can&rsquo;t
+buy happiness, my dear, and don&rsquo;t you forget it. My
+people think it can, and lots of other people think the
+same. It only shows what fools they are. It was the
+money my people couldn&rsquo;t get over when I declined to
+marry Micky Mellowes....&rdquo; She made a little wry
+face. &ldquo;I remember my mother coming into my room one
+night in her dressing-gown&ndash;&ndash;poor soul!&ndash;&ndash;when she heard
+I&rsquo;d told Micky there was nothing doing, and saying tragically:
+&lsquo;June, you must be mad&ndash;&ndash;stark, staring mad! Why,
+the man&rsquo;s as rich as Cr&oelig;sus!&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rich!&rdquo; Esther was conscious of an odd little sinking
+at her heart. &ldquo;Is Mr. Mellowes rich, then?&rdquo; she asked
+constrainedly.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason was helping herself to a pat of butter.
+She held it poised for a moment on the end of her knife
+while she answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rich? I should think he is! He&rsquo;s one of the richest
+men in London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One of the richest men in London!&ndash;&ndash;but he&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Esther
+had been going to add &ldquo;But he told me that he was
+poor;&rdquo; she only just checked the words in time.</p>
+<p>June nodded.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the despair of all the match-making mammas,&rdquo;
+she said lightly. &ldquo;Over thirty, he is, and still a bachelor!
+I&rsquo;m not sure if he isn&rsquo;t on the verge of being caught
+now, but you never can tell! With a little luck he may
+escape&ndash;&ndash;she isn&rsquo;t good enough for him, anyway. Have
+you finished? I&rsquo;m dying for a cigarette, and we aren&rsquo;t
+allowed to smoke here. Come up to my room and I&rsquo;ll
+make you some coffee; the stuff they give us here isn&rsquo;t
+fit to drink.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She pushed back her chair and rose, and Esther followed.</p>
+<p>She kept her eyes down as she walked the length of
+the room; the colour rose in her cheeks as she realised
+how every one was staring at her. The colonel, whom
+June had declared was not a colonel at all, rose and held
+the door open for them to pass out.</p>
+<p>June chuckled as they went upstairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve made an impression, my dear! It isn&rsquo;t often
+he does that for any one.&rdquo; She slipped an arm through
+Esther&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Why are you frowning so? Have I said anything
+to annoy you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course not. I was only thinking.... Do
+you&ndash;&ndash;do your friends ever come here to see you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was thinking of Micky Mellowes, and wondering
+if he ever came to the boarding-house, and if so, why he
+had not told her that he knew somebody living here.
+After all, if he had deceived her in one instance he would
+do so in many others&ndash;&ndash;she felt a curious sense of hurt
+pride; why had he gone out of his way to tell her he was
+a poor man, when all the time&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To tell you the truth,&rdquo; June said frankly, &ldquo;none of my
+friends know where I am living. Call it false pride if
+you like, but there you are. I have all my letters, except
+business ones, sent to my club&ndash;&ndash;I belong to an unpretentious
+club&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll take you there some day&ndash;&ndash;and not even
+Micky knows that I live here. You see, when I flew
+in the face of providence, otherwise my noble family,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
+they stopped my allowance, so as I&rsquo;m entirely self-supporting,
+I had to be careful and live inexpensively, so I
+came here. And I&rsquo;m very comfortable. If I want to
+meet any of my friends we meet out somewhere. I think
+it&rsquo;s better; it leaves me quite free....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were back in her room again now, and Charlie
+had looked up with one eye from his mauve cushion, and
+purred, by way of a greeting.</p>
+<p>June lit a cigarette and rushed about in pursuit of
+the coffee-pot. All her movements were quick. She
+seemed to breathe life and energy.</p>
+<p>Esther walked over to the fireplace, and found herself
+looking at Micky&rsquo;s photograph.</p>
+<p>After all, he was just like all the other men she had
+ever known; apparently none of them could be simple
+and sincere; she supposed it had been his way of condescending
+to her, to pretend that he was poor and in
+similar circumstances to herself; perhaps he had guessed
+that she would never have allowed him to pay for her
+supper or tea, or have talked to her as he had done, if she
+had known him to be a rich man.</p>
+<p>She need never see him again, that was one thing; her
+heart hardened as she met the frankness of his pictured
+eyes; he was not as honest as he looked.</p>
+<p>She had mistaken condescension for kindness. She
+bit her lip with mortification as she recalled the confidence
+she had made to him only that afternoon. He was probably
+laughing at it now, and no doubt would repeat all
+she had said to his friends as a good joke.</p>
+<p>She went to her own room as soon as she had had the
+coffee. She made the excuse that she was tired, but
+when she went upstairs she sat down on the side of the
+bed and made no effort to undress. A sort of shadow
+seemed to have fallen on her spirits. She felt mortified
+that Micky should so deliberately have lied to her; her
+cheeks burned as she thought of the despair she had
+been in last night when she met him. She hoped she
+would never see him again.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span></div>
+<p>She looked round the little room with angry eyes. If
+only Fate had set her feet in sunnier paths. She looked
+at the plain furniture and cheap carpet; the wallpaper
+was hideous; there was a frightful oleograph of two
+Early Victorian women with crinolines and ringlet curls
+hanging over the mantlepiece. They both looked smug
+and self-satisfied. There was an enlarged photograph of
+a bald-headed man wearing a Masonic apron on another
+wall. He was fat and had his right hand plastered carefully
+along a chair-back to bring into prominence a large
+signet ring. Esther looked at him and shivered. She felt
+utterly alone and cut off from the world. She longed for
+Raymond Ashton with all her soul. She hated Micky
+Mellowes because his kindly condescension had made her
+feel her position more acutely now she knew him to be
+what he was.</p>
+<p>In spite of the new friend she had made in June Mason
+she felt lonely and unwanted; she began to cry like a
+child, as she sat there on the side of the iron bedstead;
+the tears ran down her cheeks and she made no effort to
+wipe them away.</p>
+<p>She wanted to be happy so badly, and it seemed as if
+she never was to be happy. The elation that had come to
+her when she read Micky&rsquo;s letter that morning had faded
+miserably; after all, what was a letter when it was a real,
+living personality she wanted, and not mere words?</p>
+<p>Downstairs she could hear June Mason moving about
+and singing; she at least was happy with her little mauve
+pots and her cheery optimism.</p>
+<p>Esther cried all the time she undressed; she crept into
+bed sobbing miserably, like a child who sleeps at a boarding-school
+for the first time.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_V' id='CHAPTER_V'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky passed three days before he made any attempt
+to see Esther Shepstone again; days that
+seemed like a month at least, and during which
+he lost his appetite and forgot to smoke.</p>
+<p>That she did not particularly care if she saw him again
+or not, he was miserably sure. She had no thoughts for
+any one but Ashton. He felt as if he could not settle
+to anything. On the third morning Marie Deland rang
+him up. He had told her many times that her voice on
+the telephone cheered him, but to-day it made him frown.</p>
+<p>He tried to answer her cheery &ldquo;That you, Micky?&rdquo; as
+cheerily, but he knew it was a failure.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; she asked quickly. &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you
+well? Or are you cross?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a hint of laughter in her voice. She had
+never known Micky cross; he was always the cheeriest of
+mortals.</p>
+<p>Micky grabbed at the excuse she offered him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a brute of a headache,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor old boy!&rdquo; The pretty, sympathetic voice irritated
+him. &ldquo;Come out for a walk; it will do you good.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thanks&ndash;&ndash;thanks awfully, but I don&rsquo;t think it would.
+I&rsquo;m a perfect bear&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;d hate me. Some other time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little pause. Micky could have kicked
+himself as he remembered on what terms they had parted.
+It was not her fault that a miracle had happened since
+then to metamorphose the whole world. He supposed uncomfortably
+that she was just the same as she had been
+when he last saw her. He knew she must be wondering
+why he had stayed away so long. He tried to soften his
+words.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll look in to-night, if I may. Sorry to be such a
+bear.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span></div>
+<p>She answered rather dispiritedly that it was all right,
+that she was sorry he felt ill. It was a relief when she
+rang off. He took his hat and went off to call on Esther.</p>
+<p>He felt that he could settle to nothing till he had seen
+her again; there was a curious jealousy in his heart about
+Ashton; he would have given anything he possessed to be
+able to disillusion her, but knew it was impossible without
+hopelessly compromising himself.</p>
+<p>It was a bitter disappointment to find that she was out
+when he reached the boarding-house; his face fell absurdly
+when he turned and walked away.</p>
+<p>He wondered if she really was out, or only out to
+him.</p>
+<p>After a moment he laughed at himself. A few days
+ago he had not known there was such a person as Esther
+Shepstone in the world, and yet now here he was, consumed
+with jealousy because she was not in when he
+called.</p>
+<p>He took a taxicab back to the West End; he walked
+about for half an hour staring aimlessly into shop windows,
+then went back to his rooms. He could not understand
+his extraordinary restlessness; he had only once
+before felt anything like it in all his life, and that had
+been the first time he ever backed a horse, and was waiting
+a wire from the course to say if the brute had won.</p>
+<p>He recalled the fever of impatience that had consumed
+him then, and laughed; after all, it had been nothing
+compared with this.</p>
+<p>Driver came into the room.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you please, sir, Miss Mason has been on the &rsquo;phone.
+She said would I ask you to meet her for tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not look enthusiastic; he liked June awfully,
+but to-day every one and everything seemed a bore.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tea! Where?&rdquo; he asked vaguely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Mason said that you would know, sir; the same
+place as usual.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, all right!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked at the clock and sighed. After all, June
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+was always amusing; he went off almost cheerfully to the
+unpretentious club of which she had spoken to Esther.
+He had to wait in the lobby while a boy in buttons fetched
+June to him. She came downstairs looking very much
+at home, and smoking the inevitable cigarette. It was
+one of June Mason&rsquo;s charms that she always managed to
+look at home wherever she was.</p>
+<p>She had taken off her coat, but she wore a green hat
+with a gold ornament that suited her to perfection, set
+on her dark head at rakish angle.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I began to think you were not coming,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She gave him her left hand, and Micky squeezed it in
+friendly fashion. They went upstairs together to a small
+tea-room, which was just now deserted save for two
+waitresses who were giggling together over a newspaper.</p>
+<p>June walked over to a table in the window, and Micky
+followed.</p>
+<p>He had been here with her scores of times before, and
+the two waitresses smiled at one another knowingly; they
+were quite sure that this was romance.</p>
+<p>Micky was sitting with an elbow on the table, absently
+smoothing the back of his head; he was wishing it was
+Esther sitting opposite to him; he looked up with a little
+start when June spoke to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up, Micky? I&rsquo;ve never seen you looking so
+depressed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He roused himself with an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, nothing, nothing! It&rsquo;s the beastly weather, I
+expect.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him quizzically with her queer eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t have thought the weather would depress
+you,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;However, if you say it does&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shook himself together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not depressed any longer,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;Well,
+and how are you? And how is the swindle?&rdquo; It was
+Micky&rsquo;s pet joke to call June&rsquo;s invention the &ldquo;swindle,&rdquo;
+though in his heart he was almost as proud of it as she
+was.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span></div>
+<p>She laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very well, thank you; but that isn&rsquo;t what I want
+to talk to you about to-day. Micky, would you like to
+come to tea with me one afternoon?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tea! Haven&rsquo;t I come to tea with you to-day?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Silly! I don&rsquo;t mean here; I mean where I live. It&rsquo;s
+a boarding-house. I dare say you&rsquo;ll hate it, but it&rsquo;s really
+quite a nice place, and beggars can&rsquo;t be choosers, anyway.
+I&rsquo;ve got a very comfortable sitting-room and most
+of my own furniture, and I can give you a good cup of
+tea, or anything else, if you prefer it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall be delighted,&rdquo; Micky looked puzzled. &ldquo;But isn&rsquo;t
+this rather a breaking of rules? It&rsquo;s not so very long
+ago that you made me swear never to try and find out
+where you lived. I thought it was all to be a deadly
+secret.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So it was, but I&rsquo;ve decided to admit you. I know
+you&rsquo;re safe, and, Micky, wouldn&rsquo;t you like to meet the
+dearest, prettiest, most attractive little girl....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky moved his chair back in mock alarm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June! You&rsquo;re not turning match-maker! If you are,
+I give you fair warning that our friendship will have
+to end once and for ever. I&rsquo;ll put up with a lot from you,
+but not this&ndash;&ndash;not....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be an idiot!&rdquo; said June calmly. &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t
+the slightest fear! And anyway&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she added, with a
+half sigh, &ldquo;she&rsquo;s engaged, so it wouldn&rsquo;t be any good. But
+I want you to help her.... Oh, I know I&rsquo;m always
+bringing you foundlings to help and look after, but you&rsquo;ve
+got such a big heart&ndash;&ndash;and such a big banking account,&rdquo;
+she added audaciously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, go on&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said resignedly. &ldquo;Who is the
+foundling this time, and what am I to do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a darling,&rdquo; June said warmly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve only
+known her for four days&ndash;&ndash;she lives in the same house. I
+took a fancy to her from the first moment I saw her.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span>
+No, it was before that&ndash;&ndash;it was when I first heard her
+name....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky raised his brows.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a creature of impulse! My dear, you&rsquo;ll burn
+your fingers badly some day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when I do,&rdquo; said Miss Mason sharply, &ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t
+come crying to you for sympathy; however ... Well,
+she&rsquo;s poor! she&rsquo;s one of those horribly poor, frightfully
+proud people whom it&rsquo;s impossible to help. I&rsquo;ve tried all
+ways! I asked her to go shares with my sitting-room,
+and she said she couldn&rsquo;t afford it; she&rsquo;ll hardly let me
+give her a cup of tea or coffee for fear I should think
+she is sponging on me. She seems most frightfully alone
+in the world. She says she engaged to a man, but he&rsquo;s
+abroad, and I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s not nice, anyway. He&rsquo;s only
+written to her once since I&rsquo;ve known her, at all events,
+and this morning when there wasn&rsquo;t a letter, I know she
+went back to her room and cried. I knocked at the
+door, but she wouldn&rsquo;t let me in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She paused, and looked at Micky for sympathy.</p>
+<p>He half smiled; he knew how enthusiastic June always
+was about everything.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, and what do you want me to do for this damsel
+in distress?&rdquo; he asked gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to get her a berth somewhere,&rdquo; he was
+told promptly. &ldquo;No, it&rsquo;s no use saying you can&rsquo;t! My
+dear man, you must know scores of people who&rsquo;d take her
+in. She thought she was fixed up all right, but now it
+appears that the people she was with before haven&rsquo;t got
+a vacancy for her, and so that&rsquo;s knocked on the head.
+She told me that she&rsquo;s have to just take the first thing that
+came along. I don&rsquo;t believe she&rsquo;s hardly got a shilling to
+her name. I offered to take her into partnership with
+me. I said we&rsquo;d go travelling together for my beauty
+cream, but she wouldn&rsquo;t hear of it.... She&rsquo;s so
+proud!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;and here a sound of tears crept into June Mason&rsquo;s
+voice. &ldquo;I ask you, Micky, what can be done with
+any one like that?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span></div>
+<p>Micky shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If she&rsquo;ll take anything that comes along, she ought to
+get a job pretty soon,&rdquo; he said laconically. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll speak to
+a man I know&ndash;&ndash;can she write a decent hand and all that
+sort of thing?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course she can! But I want a good berth, mind
+you! I&rsquo;ve never been so fond of anybody as I am of her.
+She&rsquo;s awfully worried about this horrid man she&rsquo;s engaged
+to. She doesn&rsquo;t say much about him, but this morning
+she said that there didn&rsquo;t seem to be anything to live
+for, and her eyes looked so sad....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled at her serious face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d make an eloquent appeal in a court of law,&rdquo; he
+said. He took a pencil from his pocket and an envelope.
+&ldquo;Give me her name and address, and I&rsquo;ll see what I can
+do. I don&rsquo;t promise anything, mind you, but I&rsquo;ll do what
+I can....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; said June warmly. &ldquo;I know you were
+the one to come to. I&rsquo;m quite sure when you&rsquo;ve seen
+Esther you&rsquo;ll ... why, what&rsquo;s the matter, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky had looked up sharply. His face had paled a
+little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What name did you say?&rdquo; he asked. He never knew
+how he managed to control his voice. His heart seemed
+to be thumping in his throat. &ldquo;What name did you say?&rdquo;
+he asked again, with an effort. &ldquo;I did not catch it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Esther,&rdquo; said June, &ldquo;Esther Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VI' id='CHAPTER_VI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s pencil jerked suddenly, sending an aimless
+scrawl across the paper; for an instant he
+stared at his companion with blank eyes. Fortunately
+June Mason was too intent on the relighting of her
+cigarette to have any attention to spare for him; she went
+on talking as she puffed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes....&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;puff&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;that&rsquo;s her name....&rdquo; Another
+puff. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it a change from your eternal Violets
+and Dorothys?&rdquo;... Puff, puff. &ldquo;Oh, bother!&rdquo; She
+threw the cigarette into an empty grate behind her and
+prepared to give Micky her undivided attention once
+more. &ldquo;Well, what do you think about it? You haven&rsquo;t
+written her name down. Esther Shepstone, I said....
+Write it down,&rdquo; she commanded.</p>
+<p>Micky obeyed at once. He was beginning to recover
+himself a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall be able to help her all right,&rdquo; he said quickly.
+&ldquo;Only, of course, you won&rsquo;t let her know I&rsquo;m mixed up in
+it at all; she&rsquo;d hate it if she knew, she....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How do you know she would?&rdquo; June demanded with
+suspicion.</p>
+<p>Micky met her eyes squarely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, you said she was proud or something, didn&rsquo;t
+you? And anyway I don&rsquo;t want to pose as a blessed philanthropist;
+I&rsquo;m not one either, but I&rsquo;ll see what I can do
+for&ndash;&ndash;for this new friend of yours. You say she&rsquo;s poor?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Horribly poor, I&rsquo;m afraid,&rdquo; said June with a sigh.
+&ldquo;Micky, it&rsquo;s rather pathetic&ndash;&ndash;somebody sent her some
+money&ndash;&ndash;not very much, but still, it was money she evidently
+didn&rsquo;t expect. I&rsquo;ve got a sort of idea that it was
+from this man she&rsquo;s supposed to be engaged to&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you say &lsquo;supposed&rsquo;&ndash;&ndash;she is engaged to him,
+isn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She says so, and she wears a ring, but I&rsquo;ve a sort of
+instinctive feeling that there&rsquo;s something funny behind it.
+Anyway, I know she&rsquo;s not happy; but don&rsquo;t interrupt.
+About this money&ndash;&ndash;well, it was partly my fault! I persuaded
+her to go and buy herself some clothes&ndash;&ndash;she had
+such a few things, poor child! And I even went with her
+and she bought a frock and a new coat....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky eagerly; he was glad she had bought
+a new coat; he remembered how thin hers had been on
+that memorable night, and how she had shivered in the
+cold night air.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She was as pleased as a child with a new toy,&rdquo; Miss
+Mason went on. &ldquo;She brought them all up to my room
+to show me when they came home, and we both tried
+them on ... and you&rsquo;ve no idea how sweet she
+looked,&rdquo; she added with enthusiasm. &ldquo;Of course, I suppose
+this is boring you horribly,&rdquo; she said deprecatingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky honestly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not boring me at all,
+I promise you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, anyway, she got the clothes, and now the place
+where she was before say they can&rsquo;t take her back&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s
+Eldred&rsquo;s, the petticoat shop. I don&rsquo;t suppose you know
+it, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know it very well,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, do you?&rdquo; She laughed. &ldquo;Well, they either won&rsquo;t
+or can&rsquo;t take her back, and now she feels that she ought
+not to have spent the money on the new frock and coat,
+and this morning she told me that she was afraid she
+would have to leave Elphinstone Road, as it was more
+than she could afford.&rdquo; June&rsquo;s eyes flashed. &ldquo;Micky,
+what can one do with people who are poor and proud?
+It&rsquo;s a most difficult combination to fight. I blundered in
+and offended her by offering to lend her some money,
+and, of course, she wouldn&rsquo;t hear of it, and there you
+are!&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span></div>
+<p>She sighed, and leaned back in her chair despondently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have a cake,&rdquo; said Micky absently; he pushed the
+plate across to her. &ldquo;The ones with the white sugar are
+nice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason ignored him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s all the interest you take&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she said offendedly.</p>
+<p>Micky started.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear girl, I&rsquo;m full of interest&ndash;&ndash;chock full to the
+brim! But we came here for tea, so we may as well eat
+something while I try to think of a plan.&rdquo; He wrinkled
+his forehead. &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; he ejaculated, &ldquo;that chap&ndash;&ndash;what
+did you say his name was?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What chap? Oh, the fianc&eacute;! I don&rsquo;t know; she
+hasn&rsquo;t even let me see his photograph yet; but she says
+he writes dreams of letters. I haven&rsquo;t seen them either,
+of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He may send her some more money. After all, you
+say it&rsquo;s only four days since she heard from him. That&rsquo;s
+not very long; men are always rotten letter writers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason looked wise.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Four days is a long time when you&rsquo;re in love,&rdquo; she
+said. &ldquo;If you were engaged to Esther Shepstone I&rsquo;ll bet
+you&rsquo;d write to her every day. You&rsquo;re just the kind. Oh,
+I know what you&rsquo;re going to say&ndash;&ndash;that you&rsquo;re cut out
+for a bachelor, and rubbish like that, but you wait and
+see, Micky&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s never too late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never written a love-letter in my life,&rdquo; Micky declared
+indignantly. &ldquo;And, anyway&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June leaned across the table and looked at him with
+accusing eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never? On your word of honour, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed and coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, perhaps&ndash;&ndash;once!&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s beside
+the point, isn&rsquo;t it?... I&rsquo;ll think things over and
+write to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, but soon, Micky, soon! It&rsquo;s not a case where
+you can sit down with your feet on the mantelpiece and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
+give yourself a week to turn things over in your mind.
+I want to know at once, to-morrow&ndash;&ndash;to-night, if possible.
+I know what Esther is&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;ll be gone before I can turn
+round, and I should hate her to go. I haven&rsquo;t got many
+friends, and I do feel that she and I are going to be real
+friends&ndash;&ndash;great friends ... I don&rsquo;t know when I&rsquo;ve
+taken such a fancy to anybody&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know how glad I am to hear you say
+that,&rdquo; said Micky. His eyes were shining. Then he
+realised that he had displayed rather unnecessary warmth
+and hastened to amend his words. &ldquo;I always said that
+what you wanted was a real woman friend,&rdquo; he added
+more quietly.</p>
+<p>June was drawing on her gloves; she had very white
+hands and beautifully-kept finger-nails, and she was very
+proud of them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never mind me,&rdquo; she said briskly. &ldquo;You bustle about
+and find a post for Esther, and I&rsquo;ll love you for ever.
+Are we ready?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She rose and gathered up her various belongings.
+Micky declared that she was always laden with small,
+oddly-shaped parcels.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Samples, my dear man, samples!&rdquo; she said briskly
+when Micky asked if he might not be allowed to carry
+some. &ldquo;And they&rsquo;re much too precious to risk you dropping
+any.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s just one stipulation,&rdquo; Micky said as he followed
+her downstairs again. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not to tell Miss
+Shepstone anything about me&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m going to be very strict
+on this subject. Will you promise?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Bless your heart, yes&ndash;&ndash;and if you come to tea one
+day&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll come to tea,&rdquo; Micky said hastily.
+&ldquo;I should only feel rotten&ndash;&ndash;self-conscious and all the rest
+of it, even if I was quite sure she didn&rsquo;t know anything&ndash;&ndash;not
+that there&rsquo;s anything to know yet,&rdquo; he added quickly.
+&ldquo;I may not be able to help her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Mason laughed.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;ll help her right enough,&rdquo; she said breezily.
+&ldquo;I know you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She dismissed him when they reached the street. &ldquo;No,
+I don&rsquo;t want you to come with me; I&rsquo;ve got some business
+to see to and you&rsquo;d only be a nuisance.&rdquo; She gave his
+hand a squeeze. &ldquo;Good-bye, and thanks ever so much
+Micky. You&rsquo;ll write to me&ndash;&ndash;or wire?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;As soon as there is anything to report.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He raised his hat and turned away, and June dived
+across the road, perilously near to a motor-omnibus,
+clutching her samples jealously to her heart.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be all right now,&rdquo; she told herself, with a sense
+of comfort. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s always all right as soon as
+Micky gets hold of it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A soliloquy which made it seem all the more curious
+that she should have hesitated to trust herself to him for
+life. Perhaps, as she had told Esther, she cared too much
+for him to take the risk for them both. He had told her
+candidly that he did not care for her as a man should
+care for the woman he marries.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And he makes a ripping friend! Ripping!&rdquo; she told
+herself as she scurried along to interview another beauty
+specialist about the &ldquo;swindle,&rdquo; as Micky politely called it.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VII' id='CHAPTER_VII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky went straight home when he left June.
+What he had heard about Esther had disturbed
+him very much. He loathed to think that she
+was unhappy.</p>
+<p>The question was, how best to help her, and quickly.
+He was thankful she had made a friend of June. June
+was one of the best, the loyalest pal a man could ever
+have.</p>
+<p>But, as June had said, Esther was too proud to take
+help unless it was most tactfully offered. He racked his
+brains in vain. It was a sickening thought that, with all
+his wealth, he could give her nothing. Even the few
+paltry pounds she had unconsciously taken from him
+would have been indignantly rejected had she known who
+was the donor.</p>
+<p>With sudden impulse he sat down and wrote to her.
+After all, she had accepted his friendship; there was no
+reason on earth why he should not write and ask to be
+allowed to see her again. He wrote most carefully lest
+she should discover some likeness to the letter he had
+written to replace Ashton&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>Might he take her out to dinner one night? Any night
+would suit him. And did she like theatres? He had a
+friend who sometimes gave him a couple of seats for a
+show. He would arrange for any night she liked to
+mention.</p>
+<p>He thought that was a neat stroke of diplomacy&ndash;&ndash;of
+course, she would not think he could afford to buy seats,
+and anyway it was true that he had a friend who often
+gave him boxes and things&ndash;&ndash;he would have to be careful
+that Phillips did not send along a box this time though.</p>
+<p>He ended up by hoping formally that she and Charlie
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span>
+were quite well and comfortably settled into their new
+home, and he signed himself: &ldquo;Yours very sincerely,
+Micky Mellowes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When he had finished the letter, he realised that he had
+written it on his own heavily embossed writing paper, so
+he had to dig Driver up and borrow a cheap sheet of unstamped
+grey paper and write it all out again. Then he went out and
+posted it himself.</p>
+<p>As soon as it had gone he wished he had sent it by
+hand; it meant such a deuce of a time to wait for a reply;
+he calculated that he could not possibly hear before to-morrow
+night.</p>
+<p>But in this he was pleasantly disappointed, for his own
+letter reached the boarding-house in Elphinstone Road
+that night, and Esther&rsquo;s reply was waiting for him with
+the kidney and bacon in the morning.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s heart began to thump when he saw the letter
+beside his plate; he had never seen Esther&rsquo;s handwriting,
+but he knew by instinct that it was hers. He scanned the
+first lines eagerly, and his face fell.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Mr. Mellowes</span>,&ndash;&ndash;Thank you for your letter. I am sorry,
+but I cannot come out with you, either to dinner or to a theatre.&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p class='ralign'>Yours very truly, <span class='smcap'>Esther Shepstone</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s face was pathetic in its disappointment. He
+read the few curt lines through again and again, vainly
+trying to find something more behind the unmistakable
+refusal, but there it was in all its bald decision.</p>
+<p>She did not want to go out with him any more; she
+did not care if she saw him again or not.</p>
+<p>Micky left his breakfast, he no longer had any appetite.
+He had never had such a snub in all his life&ndash;&ndash;out
+of his disappointment anger was rising steadily; she had
+no right to snub him like that without a reason.</p>
+<p>Driver, coming into the room at that moment, saw the
+untouched breakfast and halted midway between door
+and table to stare at his master.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span></div>
+<p>Micky stood with his hands deep thrust into his pockets,
+glowering into the fire. Driver advanced a step.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Beg pardon, sir&ndash;&ndash;but wasn&rsquo;t you well?&rdquo; he asked stoically.</p>
+<p>Micky began to swear, then his mood changed and he
+laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;m all right&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He hesitated. &ldquo;Driver, would
+you like to go to Paris?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver raised wooden eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Anywhere you wish, sir,&rdquo; he answered, in his usual
+expressionless voice. &ldquo;When were you thinking of starting,
+sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not thinking of starting at all,&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;I
+want you to go&ndash;&ndash;alone! You&rsquo;ve been often enough now
+not to get lost. Do you think you can manage it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, if you think you can manage without me
+here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was the faintest touch of amazement in the man&rsquo;s
+even voice; he knew how helpless Micky was, or pretended
+to be&ndash;&ndash;knew how he hated being left to do for
+himself.</p>
+<p>But Micky only laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I can manage all right. I shall probably go away
+somewhere myself for a few days. Besides, you won&rsquo;t
+be gone long&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He paused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir,&rdquo; said Driver.</p>
+<p>Micky was leaning against the mantelshelf; his eyes
+were all crinkled up into a laugh as if he had heard some
+excellent joke which he was about to repeat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, you won&rsquo;t be gone long,&rdquo; he said again. &ldquo;A
+couple of days, I should think. You can put up at the
+hotel we stayed at last time; they&rsquo;ll look after you, and
+the manager speaks English.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Driver hesitated. &ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;what were
+you wanting me to do when I get there, sir?&rdquo; he asked,
+after a moment.</p>
+<p>Micky clung to his joke for an instant longer, then
+suddenly he let it go.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to post a letter for me,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>Driver was too well trained to show amazement at
+Micky&rsquo;s instructions, but just for a fractional second he
+forgot to answer with his usual &ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; and stood immovable.
+Then he recovered himself, and said it twice
+with hurried apology.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And am I to go at once, sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To-morrow morning will do,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;You can
+go by the first boat train.&rdquo; He looked at the man anxiously.
+He had a sort of uncomfortable feeling that
+Driver must be thinking he was not quite right in the
+head. After a moment he dismissed him.</p>
+<p>Then Micky went over to his desk and rummaged
+amongst the many papers and letters there till he found
+a sheet of paper embossed with the name of an hotel in
+Paris. It had not been used, and Micky heaved a sigh
+of relief.</p>
+<p>He went to bed late that night. He forgot all about
+his promise to go round to the Delands. He spent the
+time writing letters and tearing them up again till the
+wastepaper basket was full; then he carried it over to
+the fireplace and burnt every scrap of paper it contained.</p>
+<p>There were two finished letters lying on his desk. One
+was sealed and addressed, but not stamped, and the other
+was written on a sheet of Driver&rsquo;s plain notepaper, which
+Micky folded and unfolded with a sort of nervous dissatisfaction.</p>
+<p>Its contents were not very long, but they had taken a
+good deal of composing.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Miss Shepstone</span>,&ndash;&ndash;I received your note in reply to my
+letter and cannot help saying that I feel very hurt at your decided
+refusal to allow me to take you out. I thought we were to
+be friends? Have I been so unfortunate as to offend you? If
+so, I can only assure you that it has been utterly unintentional.
+Won&rsquo;t you let me see you, if only for a moment? I will meet you
+at any time or place.&ndash;&ndash;
+                         Yours sincerely, MICKEY MELLOWES.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>He gave a dissatisfied growl as he finished reading it.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span>
+Not a very eloquent epistle. There was so much more
+which he wanted to say, but did not dare to. He folded
+it again and thrust it into an envelope; then he addressed
+it and laid it beside that other on his desk, comparing the
+two handwritings with complacence.</p>
+<p>Not in the least alike! Nobody would ever suspect that
+they had been written by the same person.</p>
+<p>He rang for Driver and gave him the unstamped envelope.
+&ldquo;This is what I want you to post in Paris. Mind
+you put enough stamps on. You&rsquo;d better have it weighed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo; Driver looked at the other letter. &ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;is
+that for the post too, sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky put his hand behind him with a guilty gesture.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; I&rsquo;ll post that myself,&rdquo; he said, and he went out
+then and there into the cold night and did so.</p>
+<p>As it dropped into the letter-box Micky looked up at
+the stars and sighed.</p>
+<p>What the dickens could he have done to make her so
+distant? At any rate he would let her see that he was not
+to be so easily snubbed. If she didn&rsquo;t answer his letter he
+would go boldly round to Elphinstone Road, and stay
+there till he saw her.</p>
+<p>He was half way to bed before he remembered that he
+had promised to go to the Delands that evening. He
+stopped short with his necktie half undone and swore.</p>
+<p>What the deuce would they think of him?</p>
+<p>Well, he would have to plead that headache still, that
+was all, and if Marie chose to cut up rough....
+Micky felt mean because he rather hoped that she would.
+He knew that he wanted their friendship to cease, but,
+man-like, he did not altogether like having to take the
+initiative. Marie was a nice little girl, and if it hadn&rsquo;t
+been for that relative of hers dying on New Year&rsquo;s Eve&ndash;&ndash;well,
+he would probably have been engaged to her by
+this time.</p>
+<p>He went to bed feeling miserable.</p>
+<p>Driver had just left the house to catch the boat train
+the following morning when June Mason rang Micky up.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Any news for me?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;I hate worrying
+you so soon, but Esther&rsquo;s given notice. She&rsquo;s told Mrs.
+Elders that she can&rsquo;t afford to stay on. I nearly shook
+her this morning. I asked her to let me help her for the
+time being. I even said that I would take five per cent.
+interest on the hateful money if she was so abominably
+proud, and she laughed! She cried the next minute and
+said I was much too kind to her, but she wouldn&rsquo;t listen.
+What have you done?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Everything,&rdquo; said Micky promptly. &ldquo;In a couple of
+days&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My good man, that&rsquo;s much too long to wait.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the best I can do,&rdquo; said Micky rather shortly.
+&ldquo;And you&rsquo;ll find it&rsquo;s a good best if you&rsquo;ll be patient.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He heard the sigh she gave.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Honest Injun!&rdquo; he said seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, very well. If you let me down, Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t be let down,&rdquo; Micky said.</p>
+<p>June went back to Elphinstone Road with a heavy
+heart.</p>
+<p>She was very thorough in her friendships, and it really
+seemed a terrible thing to her that Esther would not
+accept help.</p>
+<p>She felt so genuinely fond of the girl herself that she
+could not understand the feeling of affection and confidence
+not being reciprocated; she went up to her room
+and tucked herself into the big armchair amongst the
+mauve cushions and smoked innumerable cigarettes. Charlie
+was asleep by the fire; he found his way upstairs now
+without invitation; he was beginning to get quite respectable-looking;
+he had lost his wild, scared look, and even
+his purr had taken on a sleekier, smoother sound.</p>
+<p>June stared at him for some time, then suddenly she
+got up and went downstairs.</p>
+<p>She knocked at Esther&rsquo;s door, but there was no answer,
+and she went back to her own room dejectedly.</p>
+<p>If only Esther were not so proud they might have such
+good times together! If only Esther had a little money
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span>
+and could go shares with this room; but what was the
+good of wishing? She hurled one of the mauve cushions
+across the room, and after that she felt better.</p>
+<p>She went down to lunch because she hoped Esther
+would be there, but she was not. The long room was
+rather empty, and June ate her cold meat and pudding
+hurriedly and went back upstairs.</p>
+<p>It was getting dusk when she heard Esther come in;
+she waited eagerly, but the footsteps did not come on to
+her door. June threw another cushion across the room
+to keep the other company; it was her chief vent for
+anger or irritation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Confounded pride,&rdquo; she said under her breath. She
+paced up and down for some minutes, then she caught
+Charlie up from his cushion and went downstairs to Esther&rsquo;s
+room with him in her arms.</p>
+<p>Her knock was answered immediately and Esther stood
+there in the doorway.</p>
+<p>June spoke without looking at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve brought Charlie down&ndash;&ndash;I thought if he stayed up
+in my room any longer you&rsquo;d be wanting to pay me for
+his board and lodging.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She thrust the cat into Esther&rsquo;s arms and turned away.</p>
+<p>She was feeling very sore; hers was such a generous
+nature that she could not understand why Esther could
+not see how glad she would have been to help her; she
+went back to her own room and slammed the door.</p>
+<p>A moment later she was sorry for what she had done;
+twice she went half way down the stairs to apologise,
+then came back again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do her good,&rdquo; she told herself snappishly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve no
+patience with such silly pride, and as for you, my boy,&rdquo;
+she stopped and shook her fist at Micky&rsquo;s photograph,
+&ldquo;if you don&rsquo;t buck up and find her something....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The two days dragged away. June purposely avoided
+Esther; she never went into the dining-room to meals,
+and Esther never came upstairs to June&rsquo;s room; there
+was a kind of armed neutrality between them.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span></div>
+<p>Charlie, too, seemed to have been told to keep away,
+and June missed his lusty purr in the silent room.</p>
+<p>She shed a few tears into the mauve cushions; she
+thought Esther was wilfully misunderstanding her; she
+wrote to Micky on the second day with a great deal of
+emphasis.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you dead or asleep? Here am I, just living to
+hear from you, and you leave me without a word! Esther
+and I haven&rsquo;t spoken for two days, not that you care, of
+course. You don&rsquo;t believe in my friendships, I know, but
+it&rsquo;s a very serious thing for me. I&rsquo;m more fond of that
+girl than I&rsquo;ve ever been of anybody, and now she&rsquo;ll walk
+out of this house and my life, and it will be your
+fault....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She knew this was unfair to Micky, but she knew that
+Micky would understand&ndash;&ndash;Micky always understood.</p>
+<p>But Micky frowned over the letter. Did she imagine
+he enjoyed sitting down here doing nothing? What pleasure
+did she suppose he was getting out of the whole
+thing?</p>
+<p>He threw the letter into the fire. Something ought to
+happen to-morrow, anyway. The last two days had
+seemed like months.</p>
+<p>To kill time he went round to the Delands. He felt a
+little nervous as he reached the house. It seemed an unconscionable
+time since he was last here. When the butler
+opened the door he felt an insane desire to say, &ldquo;Good
+evening, Jessop! You&rsquo;re still here, then.&rdquo; Such a decade
+ago it seemed since Jessop had been wont to admit him
+without question and take his hat and coat.</p>
+<p>But Jessop did not smile to-night, and did not move
+back an inch when he saw who was the caller.</p>
+<p>Micky was nonplussed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Er&ndash;&ndash;anybody in?&rdquo; he asked awkwardly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir; the mistress and the young ladies are all out,
+sir....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; There was a little silence; then Micky turned
+on his heel. &ldquo;Well, good-night!&rdquo; he said jerkily.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span></div>
+<p>He walked away, not sure if he was relieved or disappointed.
+A few yards down the road he almost cannoned
+into a man he knew.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hullo, Philips! Where are you off to?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Philips stopped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hullo, Micky! Not coming my way? I&rsquo;m going to
+the Delands. What&rsquo;s up with you? Haven&rsquo;t seen you for
+a week or more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been seedy,&rdquo; Micky said hurriedly. &ldquo;And the
+Delands are out. I&rsquo;ve just called there myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eh?&rdquo; Philips tried hard to see his face through the
+darkness. &ldquo;Rot,&rdquo; he said at last. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got a musical
+evening on&ndash;&ndash;I had a special invite.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky said nothing. This was a nasty blow; apparently
+the Delands were only &ldquo;not at home&rdquo; to him. Jove!
+he must have behaved caddishly. He walked on feeling
+very subdued. Had he quite lost his wits, he wondered,
+that for the sake of a girl who would have none of him
+he was willing to offend all his old friends? He tried
+to look at his behaviour from Marie Deland&rsquo;s point of
+view. Yes, it must look pretty rotten, he was forced
+to admit.</p>
+<p>He thought about it all the time he walked home. He
+asked himself honestly if this new game was worth the
+candle.</p>
+<p>Esther loved another man.</p>
+<p>Already she had shown him that she cared nothing for
+him or his friendship, and yet&ndash;&ndash;yet&ndash;&ndash;&ndash; Micky set his
+teeth. He had never wanted anything really badly in
+all his life before, but now he wanted this girl.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not done yet, anyway,&rdquo; he told himself. &ldquo;After
+all&ndash;&ndash;let the best man win.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He felt that he had decided a question of great importance
+as he went back to his rooms; it was a pleasant
+surprise to find Driver there; Micky beamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got back, then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man took Micky&rsquo;s hat and coat, and turned to go.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span></div>
+<p>Micky stared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Everything all right?&rdquo; he asked, with a touch of anxiety.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You posted the letter?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, and had it weighed....&rdquo; There was a
+little pause.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is that all?&rdquo; Micky asked. &ldquo;Nothing else happened?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man raised his expressionless eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should have got in this morning, sir, but we had a
+rough crossing, and I was ill&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor old Driver!&ndash;&ndash;anything else?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir&ndash;&ndash;I met Mr. Ashton in Paris. He seemed very
+surprised to see me there without you, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s face changed; he had not counted on this.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good Lord!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t tell him you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver raised his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never tell anybody anything, sir,&rdquo; he said woodenly.</p>
+<p>Micky breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good man.... He was alone, of course?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Alone at the hotel, but I saw him out driving twice
+with the same lady, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You saw him out twice&ndash;&ndash;driving with the same lady?&rdquo;
+Micky echoed the man&rsquo;s words vaguely. &ldquo;All right&ndash;&ndash;you
+can go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir.&rdquo; Driver departed, closing the door
+noiselessly.</p>
+<p>Ashton had soon found consolation, Micky thought
+savagely. He wondered what Esther would say if she
+could know. What was Driver thinking about it all?
+Driver was safe as the Bank of England; but, all the
+same, it was not altogether pleasant to feel that he had
+had to give himself away to his valet.</p>
+<p>He looked up at the clock. Past nine! So there
+would not be another post in to-night.</p>
+<p>Esther had not answered his note, and two whole days
+had elapsed.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span></div>
+<p>Micky began pacing the room. Why had she so suddenly
+thrown him over, he wondered miserably.</p>
+<p>He could not imagine what he had done to offend her.</p>
+<p>He hardly knew how the days had passed since New
+Year&rsquo;s Eve. He had not visited any of his old haunts or
+seen any of his friends. It almost seemed as if he had
+opened the book of a new life and forgotten about the old.</p>
+<p>She might have answered his letter. Dash it all! he
+wasn&rsquo;t just a bounder who had spoken to her for his
+own amusement. He kicked a hassock out of his way
+and went to bed.</p>
+<p>If he didn&rsquo;t hear in the morning, he would risk it and
+go round to see her. At the worst she could only have
+the door shut in his face....</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And even then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he told his reflection in the mirror
+fiercely, as he struggled with a stud. &ldquo;Even then I&rsquo;m
+not done&ndash;&ndash;and I&rsquo;ll show her that I&rsquo;m not....&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>June Mason was mixing perfume the following morning
+when a little knock came at her door.</p>
+<p>She looked up from her work and listened; after a
+second she resumed her occupation briskly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come in,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She did not raise her eyes when the door opened,
+though she knew quite well who had entered the room,
+and for a second Esther Shepstone stood on the threshold
+hesitatingly, then she spoke.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;May I come in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June Mason looked up with an exaggerated start; she
+was a picturesque figure at that moment in a big white
+overall, and with a scarf of her favourite mauve tied
+over her dark head.</p>
+<p>She held a little phial in either hand, and there was
+a delicious faint smell of rose perfume in the room.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Gracious! I thought you were dead
+and buried long enough ago. Oh yes, come in....
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+You don&rsquo;t mind me going on with my work, do you?
+I&rsquo;m up to my eyes in it.... Sit down.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Esther stood where she was, the eagerness died
+out of her pretty face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t stay if you&rsquo;re busy,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come
+another time, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she hesitated. Across the room
+the eyes of the two girls met, and June Mason promptly
+put down the two little phials.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come in and apologise, and so will I,&rdquo; she said heartily.
+&ldquo;There!&rdquo; She reached up&ndash;&ndash;Esther was taller than
+she&ndash;&ndash;and gave the younger girl a sounding kiss. &ldquo;There!
+I don&rsquo;t often kiss people, so you can consider yourself
+flattered.&rdquo; She dragged forward a chair and pushed
+Esther into it. &ldquo;Now, what do you want, and where&rsquo;s
+that Charlie? You&rsquo;ve no idea how I&rsquo;ve missed him.
+No&ndash;&ndash;you stay there, and I&rsquo;ll go and fetch him up.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She darted off, and returned a moment later with
+Charlie in her arms. There were yards of mauve ribbon
+lying on the table and she cut off a length and tied
+it in a bow round his neck; then she kissed his head
+and dropped him on to his cushion. &ldquo;There! Now, we&rsquo;re
+quite at home again,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And now, fire away and
+tell me why you&rsquo;re here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She packed all the dishes and boxes on to a tray, put
+them out of sight behind a screen and came back to the
+fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you like this perfume? It&rsquo;s something new! I&rsquo;m
+trying to blend it with white rose. Isn&rsquo;t it gorgeous?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Beautiful!&rdquo; said Esther. She consented to have her
+chin dabbed. &ldquo;What are you making now?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Miss Mason chuckled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m only experimising, as Micky calls it,&rdquo; she
+said lightly. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to talk shop. You&rsquo;ve got
+some news; I can see by your face that you have.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed and flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I have,&rdquo; she said tremulously. &ldquo;Such wonderful
+news.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; said June drily. &ldquo;From the young man, of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span>
+course? Well, is he on his way home, and have you got
+to get a wedding dress in the next five minutes or something?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, it isn&rsquo;t anything like that,&rdquo; said Esther. There
+was a shade of regret in her voice. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s in Paris&ndash;&ndash;he
+says he&rsquo;s not staying there, but he had to pay a business
+call.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June gave a rather unladylike sniff, but Esther was too
+engrossed to notice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He seems to have been very lucky,&rdquo; she went on.
+&ldquo;He hadn&rsquo;t got very much money when he went away,
+but he&rsquo;s got some appointment now; he does not say
+what and....&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she gave a little excited laugh&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;he
+says that he&rsquo;s going to send me &pound;3 a week for as long
+as he is away.... Isn&rsquo;t it wonderfully good of
+him? I suppose I ought not to take it, but he says that
+if things had turned out as he hoped, we should have
+been married, and so ... you don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s
+wrong of me to take it, do you?&rdquo; she asked anxiously.</p>
+<p>June rose to her feet. She looked chagrined; she had
+been so sure that this man was a rotter, that it was a
+bit of a set-back to hear this news.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You take it, my dear, and don&rsquo;t be a goose,&rdquo; she said
+promptly. &ldquo;As he says, if you were his wife you&rsquo;d take
+it, and as you&rsquo;re going to be married, it&rsquo;s quite the right
+thing if he&rsquo;s well off that he should help you! I hope
+you won&rsquo;t let your silly pride make you send it back;
+you&rsquo;d only hurt his feelings.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t do that for anything,&rdquo; Esther said quickly.
+&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s such a lot of money.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rubbish!&rdquo; said June. &ldquo;Why, Micky Mellowes
+wouldn&rsquo;t even stop to pick it up if he dropped it in the
+road.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are not all millionaires like Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; Esther
+said sharply. &ldquo;And he ought to be ashamed of himself
+if he really wouldn&rsquo;t stop to pick it up.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you take things so literally, my dear,&rdquo; she said.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span>
+&ldquo;I know you don&rsquo;t like Micky, though you&rsquo;ve never seen
+him, but I&rsquo;m going to ask him here to tea one day, if he&rsquo;ll
+come&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t suppose he will,&rdquo; said Esther. &ldquo;Elphinstone
+Road wouldn&rsquo;t be good enough for him, would it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June frowned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to hear you talk like that about Micky!
+It&rsquo;s not fair, when you don&rsquo;t know him. I tell you he&rsquo;s
+one of the best&ndash;&ndash;and, anyway, as he&rsquo;s a friend of
+mine&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;d no right to have said anything about
+him at all; please forgive me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; June said laconically. &ldquo;But he isn&rsquo;t
+a bit of a snob; he&rsquo;d do anything in the world for anybody.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther glanced up at his portrait on the shelf. She felt
+a trifle ashamed of what she had said; after all, Micky
+had been good to her in his own way, even if his own
+way had been patronising.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And so I shall stay on here,&rdquo; she said, after a moment.
+&ldquo;And if you think you would still like me to share
+this room&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June pounced upon her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You darling! It&rsquo;s too good to be true. Of course, I
+should love it! I&rsquo;ll go and tell old Mother Elders straight
+away; it will put her in a good temper for a month.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s out,&rdquo; Esther said quickly. &ldquo;I went to tell her
+myself as soon as I got my letter.... It only came
+this morning.&rdquo; She coloured sensitively beneath June&rsquo;s
+quizzical eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And of course you&rsquo;ve been devouring it ever since,&rdquo;
+June said. &ldquo;Well, and very nice too! There&rsquo;s nothing
+to be ashamed of. I&rsquo;ll admit that I didn&rsquo;t think somehow
+that he could be a very nice sort of person, this young
+man of yours. No, I don&rsquo;t know why I thought so&ndash;&ndash;just
+an idea of mine. I get hold of ideas like that. But
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span>
+I&rsquo;ve changed my mind now; I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s a dear, or
+you&rsquo;d never look so happy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should love you to see him,&rdquo; Esther said with enthusiasm.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure you would like him. I don&rsquo;t know
+his people, of course&ndash;&ndash;I suppose if they thought he cared
+for me they&rsquo;d be angry&ndash;&ndash;but it doesn&rsquo;t really matter, and
+I know he doesn&rsquo;t care at all for his mother....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked up from stroking Charlie.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, I wish you hadn&rsquo;t said that,&rdquo; she said frankly.
+&ldquo;No man can be really nice who doesn&rsquo;t love his own
+mother.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked distressed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But she&rsquo;s horrid!&rdquo; she said eagerly. &ldquo;He has told me
+how horrid she is to him&ndash;&ndash;really she is&ndash;&ndash;and as he&rsquo;s her
+only son&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She stopped. &ldquo;After all,&rdquo; she went on,
+&ldquo;there&rsquo;s no law to make you like a woman just because
+you happen to be her son, is there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unnatural not to,&rdquo; June answered shortly. &ldquo;However,
+as neither of us know his mother, we&rsquo;ll give him
+the benefit of the doubt. She may be a perfect old cat.
+Some women are.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She wandered round the room to find a cigarette, and
+Esther sat looking into the fire.</p>
+<p>She could not remember her own mother. But somehow
+she felt sure that, had she been living, she would
+have adored her.</p>
+<p>She had never heard Raymond say anything nice of
+Mrs. Ashton&ndash;&ndash;he had always spoken about her in a bitter,
+half sneering way.</p>
+<p>She looked across to June timidly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you always judge people by what you call &lsquo;instinct&rsquo;?&rdquo;
+she asked. &ldquo;When I first knew you you told
+me that you felt sure you would like me before ever you
+saw me, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I was right,&rdquo; June said triumphantly. &ldquo;I nearly
+always am right when I get an instinct about anything.
+Micky says it&rsquo;s all rot!&ndash;&ndash;there I am, talking about him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+again&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s a habit, so don&rsquo;t notice it! But even he has
+to admit how often I am right; I could give you dozens
+of instances.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not pursue the subject; she was remembering
+how June had said that she had an &ldquo;instinct&rdquo; that
+Raymond was not nice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re the most original person I&rsquo;ve ever met,&rdquo;
+she said with a little smile.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eccentric, Micky says I am&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she answered, then
+broke off with a comical look of despair. &ldquo;You really
+must excuse me for everlastingly dragging him in,&rdquo; she
+apologised. &ldquo;As I said before, it&rsquo;s a habit&ndash;&ndash;and there
+goes the dinner gong. Are we going to feed here to-day?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther rose from the chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m hungry, so I do hope there&rsquo;s
+something nice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They went down together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Curry,&rdquo; said June, sniffing the air critically. &ldquo;The
+colonel will be pleased; he&rsquo;s always telling us how they
+used to make curry in India, poor old chap! Though
+I don&rsquo;t think any of us really believe that he&rsquo;s ever been
+there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But the colonel was not there.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s ill,&rdquo; so young Harley told the two girls as they
+sat down at their table. &ldquo;I went up to see him this morning,
+and he really looks ill.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t look in exactly rude health yourself,&rdquo; said
+June in her blunt fashion. She noticed that Harley
+looked at Esther a great deal, and she made up her mind
+to tell him at the earliest opportunity that Esther was
+engaged. June scented romance everywhere.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They are the first violets I have seen this year,&rdquo; Esther
+was saying, looking at a little bunch the young man
+wore in his coat.</p>
+<p>He took them out eagerly and laid them down beside
+her plate.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Do have them, will you? I never wear flowers really,
+but a girl in the street begged me to buy them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther took them up eagerly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They are my favourite flowers,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And I
+haven&rsquo;t had any given to me for&ndash;&ndash;oh, for ever so long.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It gave her a little pang to remember that Ashton had
+always brought her violets in the first days of their acquaintance.
+It was one of the many little attentions which
+he had gradually dropped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not to let Mr. Harley fall in love with you,
+mind,&rdquo; June said severely as they went upstairs after
+dinner. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s much too nice to be made unhappy&ndash;&ndash;even
+by you,&rdquo; she added affectionately.</p>
+<p>Esther stared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, whatever do you mean?&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;I never
+see him or speak to him, except at meal times.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I mean what I say,&rdquo; June insisted. &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t you see
+how he looked at you when you took his violets?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed with vexation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, what perfect nonsense!&rdquo; she protested.</p>
+<p>But June only laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Onlookers see most of the game,&rdquo; she declared.
+&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you coming up to my room? Our room, I
+mean.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to go out&ndash;&ndash;I had an appointment at half-past
+two, but I&rsquo;ll love to come to tea with you,&rdquo; she
+added, seeing the disappointment in June&rsquo;s face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then, four o&rsquo;clock. But who is the appointment
+with? You won&rsquo;t need to find a berth now.
+You&rsquo;re a lady of leisure.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But I shall try all the same. I don&rsquo;t mean to be
+lazy just because he&rsquo;s so good to me. I shall save all
+I can. I went to an agency yesterday&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll rob you,&rdquo; June protested. &ldquo;They always do.
+I know what agents are,&rdquo; she added darkly.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>But if she had hoped great things from her call that
+afternoon she was disappointed. The thin, aristocratic-looking
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span>
+person who owned the &ldquo;Bureau,&rdquo; as it was called,
+looked at her with coldly critical eyes, and said that she
+had no vacancies likely to suit her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you told me to call,&rdquo; Esther protested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly; there might have been something,&rdquo; was all
+the answer she received. &ldquo;Call again to-morrow, if you
+please.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther went out dispiritedly. There were so many
+girls of her own class and age in the bare waiting-room;
+she felt quite sure that they would all get berths before
+she had a chance.</p>
+<p>She felt glad that she had June Mason to go back to.
+June was always sympathetic. She went straight upstairs
+to the sitting-room with the mauve cushions.</p>
+<p>June opened the door before she had time to knock.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it was you. I heard your step. What&rsquo;s
+the matter? You sounded dispirited as you came upstairs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I believe you must have second sight, or whatever
+they call it. But you&rsquo;re right this time; I am rather down
+on my luck. They haven&rsquo;t anything at the agency to
+suit me. I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She stopped, looking past June into
+the cosy room to where a man had just risen from a
+chair by the fire&ndash;&ndash;a tall man&ndash;&ndash;who looked across at her
+with eyes that were half-abashed, half-defiant. Micky
+Mellowes.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_VIII' id='CHAPTER_VIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>June introduced Micky and Esther with a sort of
+hurried self-consciousness. It was not by her invitation
+that Micky was here this afternoon, and the
+fact that she had asked him to help Esther embarrassed
+her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;Miss Shepstone; you&rsquo;ve both heard of
+each other, so I can leave you to entertain one another
+while I get tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And she bolted out of the room.</p>
+<p>Esther looked after her with angry eyes; she thought
+June might have stayed&ndash;&ndash;she took a quick step forward
+to call her back, but Micky stopped her; he put a hand on
+the door above her head, shutting it fast.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to speak to you, whether you like it or not,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>She faced him angrily; she was very flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you mean. You&rsquo;ve no right to
+speak to me like that. If Miss Mason has asked you
+here to meet me&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June didn&rsquo;t know I was coming. She has no more
+idea than the dead that we have ever met before. I
+haven&rsquo;t told her, and I don&rsquo;t suppose you have&ndash;&ndash;or will,&rdquo;
+he added grimly. &ldquo;However, as we are alone, will you
+tell me what I&rsquo;ve done to offend you? It&rsquo;s not fair to
+take me for a friend and then fling me over as if I were
+an old glove.... If I&rsquo;ve annoyed you, the least you
+can do is to tell me how and give me a chance to explain.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had walked back to the fire and Mellowes followed
+her. He knew that he had only got a few moments,
+and he meant to make the most of them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You refuse to see me or to allow me to take you out,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
+he went on urgently. &ldquo;And you haven&rsquo;t even answered
+my last letter. If I have offended you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Esther, as he paused. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not at
+all offended.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then why, in the name of all that&rsquo;s holy&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he began
+again, in exasperation. She cut him short.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t tell me the truth about yourself. You made
+out you were poor! You pretended to be some one quite
+different to what you are. You&rsquo;ve a perfect right to, I
+suppose, if you wish, but I hate being deceived and
+treated like that. I suppose you think anything is good
+enough for me! Perhaps it is, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky brought his fist down with a bang on the back
+of the big armchair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I give you my word of honour, Miss Shepstone, that
+what I said was only because it seemed the best way to
+make you trust me. I had absolutely no other reason for
+pretending to&ndash;&ndash;to&ndash;&ndash;be anything but what I am. I know
+you&rsquo;d have gone off at a tangent if I&rsquo;d said I was unfortunate
+enough to be rich, I know&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t even write to me from your real address&ndash;&ndash;you
+just put a number.&rdquo; She broke into an angry little
+laugh. &ldquo;I suppose you thought I shouldn&rsquo;t understand
+that a number can also be an expensive flat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky turned pale with anger.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re deliberately trying to make out that I&rsquo;m a
+bounder. It&rsquo;s not fair&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t deserve it; and as to thinking
+anything good enough for you&ndash;&ndash;I suppose you&rsquo;d only
+take it as a fresh insult if I told you that there is nothing
+in the world I consider good enough for you.... I
+... oh, what&rsquo;s the good of arguing,&rdquo; he broke out
+with sudden rage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no good at all, and there&rsquo;s nothing to argue about,&rdquo;
+Esther said stiffly. She had taken off her gloves and was
+flattening them out nervously. &ldquo;You offered me your
+friendship, and now I decline it. I suppose I am free
+to do so?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky violently, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re not ... I&ndash;&ndash;I
+...&rdquo; He turned away sharply, realising with
+dismay how nearly he had blurted out the truth about
+Ashton. After a moment he spoke more quietly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is pure chance that brought me here. I have known
+June Mason for years; we are old friends. She has no
+idea that I have ever seen you before, but I will tell her
+this moment if you wish it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She raised passionate eyes to his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I will never forgive you as long as I live if you dare
+to,&rdquo; she said stormily.</p>
+<p>Micky frowned till his brows nearly met above his
+kind eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Whatever I say or offer to do is wrong, of course,&rdquo;
+he said savagely. &ldquo;If I had not offered to tell her, you
+would probably have said that I was ashamed of knowing
+you ... oh, good Heavens! whatever have I said
+now?&rdquo; he added as he saw the hot blood rush to her face.</p>
+<p>He went over to her and tried to take her hand. &ldquo;Do
+forgive me; I beg of you to forgive me&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m a clumsy
+idiot&ndash;&ndash;but you don&rsquo;t know how hurt I&rsquo;ve felt about being
+turned down in this way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s absurd to feel hurt&ndash;&ndash;I haven&rsquo;t turned you down;
+I wish you wouldn&rsquo;t keep saying that I have. Why I&ndash;&ndash;I
+hardly know you,&rdquo; she added with a little angry laugh.</p>
+<p>Micky turned away; he stood staring down into the
+fire; neither of them spoke again till June returned.</p>
+<p>She carried a tray of cakes and hot toast; she set it
+down with a thump on the round table by the fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I coaxed it out of Mrs. Elders,&rdquo; she explained breathlessly.
+&ldquo;I generally keep some cake up here myself, but
+I haven&rsquo;t got a bit to-day. Esther, fetch the cloth, there&rsquo;s
+a dear; and, Micky, you put the kettle on&ndash;&ndash;I have filled
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She bustled about, talking the whole time; if she noticed
+the constraint between the other two she said nothing
+till tea was ready, and she sat down amongst the
+mauve cushions with a breathless sigh.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re going to be cosy. Well, and how have
+you two been getting on? Micky, I&rsquo;ve told Esther so
+much about you, she&rsquo;s sick to death of the sound of your
+name.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never said so,&rdquo; Esther protested quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have some cake,&rdquo; Micky said; he deposited a slice on
+June&rsquo;s plate and adroitly changed the subject. He was
+furiously angry; he had not believed that Esther had it
+in her to turn on him as she had done. But the more she
+snubbed him, the more determined he was not to be
+snubbed. As he sat there stirring his tea and listening to
+June&rsquo;s chatter he was watching Esther all the time.</p>
+<p>She had taken off her coat now. He wondered if it was
+the coat his money had bought her; it was not half good
+enough, anyway. He thought of the furs and expensive
+gloves which Marie Deland wore, and he longed to be able
+to give some to this little girl who sat there with such
+angry defiance in her eyes.</p>
+<p>He realised that this pride of hers was going to be
+the hardest barrier of all between them.</p>
+<p>She could not forgive him because he was a rich man
+and had pretended to be poor; she could not forget that
+he had paid for her dinner and a saucer of milk for the
+cat. He looked down to where Charlie sat blinking in
+the firelight, and a little smile crossed his face. He wondered
+if perhaps some day soon she would offer to repay
+him for that night&ndash;&ndash;if she would insist on doing so, as
+she had insisted on paying her share of everything with
+June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;More tea?&rdquo; June demanded across the table, and
+Micky said, &ldquo;Oh&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;yes, thanks,&rdquo; hurriedly. As long as
+the meal was unfinished Esther would have to stay in the
+room, he thought; she could not very well leave before;
+but in this he was mistaken, for Esther put her cup down
+almost at once and looked at June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you think me very rude if I run away?&rdquo; she
+asked. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to see Mrs. Elders and tell her I am staying
+on&ndash;&ndash;I think she has been trying to let my room.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span></div>
+<p>June looked disappointed. &ldquo;Oh, well, if you really must
+go,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Come back when you&rsquo;ve seen her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said Esther. She turned to Micky, who
+had risen. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t say good-bye, then,&rdquo; she said with an
+effort to speak lightly.</p>
+<p>He held open the door for her, and a moment later
+she had gone. As soon as he came back to his chair June
+rounded on him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What have you said to annoy her?&rdquo; She looked quite
+angry! &ldquo;I wanted you to like each other. Really, Micky,
+you are the limit! She won&rsquo;t come back again, you see
+if she does.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think she will.&rdquo; He
+laughed a rather chagrined laugh. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t said anything
+as far as I know,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;ve
+said, I fancy. You&rsquo;ve fed her up with accounts of what
+a wonderful person I am.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So you are,&rdquo; said June.</p>
+<p>He frowned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of you to think so, but I don&rsquo;t know anybody
+else who shares your opinion.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I can&rsquo;t help the world being full of idiots, can
+I?&rdquo; she demanded in exasperation. &ldquo;And, Micky, why
+did you come here to-day? When I asked you before you
+said you didn&rsquo;t want to come; you&rsquo;ve soon changed your
+mind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I came to tell you about Miss Shepstone. You asked
+me to get her a berth....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear boy, you&rsquo;re too late! She doesn&rsquo;t want your
+help now, or mine either, for that matter,&rdquo; she added
+ruefully. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a lady of means&ndash;&ndash;that wonderful man
+of hers who&rsquo;s tucked up in Paris having the time of his
+life is going to allow her three pounds a week.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She paused and looked across at him expectantly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, why don&rsquo;t you look surprised?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Micky swallowed hard.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am surprised!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Too jolly surprised for
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span>
+anything. It&rsquo;s good news, eh? I suppose she was
+pleased....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course she was! She&rsquo;s staying on now, and is
+going to share my room. She had a qualm just for a
+moment, as to whether she ought to take the money, but
+I soon put her mind at ease. &lsquo;Take all you can get, my
+dear,&rsquo; I said. After all, I dare say if the man&rsquo;s giving
+her three pounds he could afford to give her about double
+that amount; men are not particularly generous from
+what I know of them&ndash;&ndash;except you, Micky....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky got red.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But three pounds a week is enough to live on? Don&rsquo;t
+you think it is?&rdquo; he asked, with a touch of anxiety in his
+voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s enough to live here on,&rdquo; June admitted. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s
+not great wealth. Still, she&rsquo;s going to get a berth as
+well, so perhaps, after all, the one you&rsquo;ve heard of will
+suit her. What is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was stooping, patting Charlie&rsquo;s head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s in an office,&rdquo; he said, after a moment; his voice
+sounded a little uncertain. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it would really
+suit her, though&ndash;&ndash;now I&rsquo;ve seen her,&rdquo; he hastened to add.
+&ldquo;It would be too hard work&ndash;&ndash;late hours and all the rest
+of it, dontcherknow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked at his bent head shrewdly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Perhaps it&rsquo;s just as well this
+phantom lover of Esther&rsquo;s has turned up trumps, if that&rsquo;s
+all you&rsquo;d got to offer her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Phantom lover!&rdquo; said Micky; his voice sounded as if
+he were annoyed. &ldquo;Whom are you talking about?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther&rsquo;s beloved,&rdquo; June said airily. &ldquo;She won&rsquo;t tell
+me his name, so I call him the phantom lover, because
+I&rsquo;ve got an eerie sort of feeling in my mind about him
+that he doesn&rsquo;t really exist. What do you think, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear girl, how can I possibly know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June produced some cigarettes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If he were all that she&rsquo;d like me to believe he is,&rdquo;
+she said shrewdly, &ldquo;she&rsquo;d tell me more about him. She
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span>
+certainly got a bit more confidential to-day, and said that
+he had a cat for a mother and a few things like that.
+She had another letter from him this morning; he&rsquo;s in
+Paris&ndash;&ndash;on business, so he tells her.&rdquo; She laughed, turning
+her face for a moment against the mauve cushion.
+Suddenly she sat upright again, &ldquo;Micky, I should hate
+that man if I knew him!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Another of your &lsquo;instinctive hates&rsquo;?&rdquo; he asked whimsically.</p>
+<p>She nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know you don&rsquo;t believe in them, but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t I?&rdquo; said Micky thoughtfully. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not so sure.&rdquo;
+He looked at his watch. &ldquo;Well, I must be trotting.
+There&rsquo;s nothing else I can do for you, I suppose? No
+more waifs who want billets...?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re laughing at me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not&ndash;&ndash;I never laugh at you.&rdquo; He laid his hand on
+her shoulder for a moment. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t bother to get up;
+you look so comfortable ... Good-bye&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye&ndash;&ndash;and, Micky, don&rsquo;t make up your mind not
+to like Esther just because of this afternoon.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear, I never thought of such a thing,&rdquo; he protested
+lamely.</p>
+<p>June snuggled more cosily into the cushions.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, but I know what you are,&rdquo; she said, for once
+hopelessly on the wrong track.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed to himself as he went down the stairs;
+he wondered if he was getting clever, or if June was not
+so quick to see a thing as he had believed, that she had
+not noticed the constraint between himself and Esther.</p>
+<p>He looked about him eagerly as he went out, hoping
+to catch a glimpse of Esther, but the house seemed deserted,
+quite different from what he had pictured it to be.
+He had always thought that a London boarding-house
+must be noisy and crowded and perpetually smelling of
+soap and cabbage water; he was relieved to find that this
+was fairly comfortable and quiet.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span></div>
+<p>He picked up a taxicab at the corner of the road and
+was driven back to his flat. He felt very depressed.
+Everybody seemed to have interests in life except himself.
+He wished he had got married years ago and settled
+down. He thought of Marie Deland with remorseful
+affection. Here was another woman who must be
+thinking him a positive outsider. How in the world did
+a man put an end to a flirtation that was growing rapidly
+into something else without hurting a woman&rsquo;s feelings,
+he wondered.</p>
+<p>Ashton had accomplished it quite successfully several
+times. Micky sighed, and let himself into his flat.</p>
+<p>There were several letters lying on the table; he flicked
+them through disinterestedly; then he stopped&ndash;&ndash;the last
+one was from Ashton.</p>
+<p>Micky stood for quite a minute staring down at the
+handwriting, which he had been at such pains to copy.
+Then he ripped open the envelope.</p>
+<p>Ashton wrote from Paris:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Mickey</span>,&ndash;&ndash;Just a line to send you my address, as promised.
+Hope things are going well with you. I am staying on
+here for the present, as I have run up against Maisie Clare&ndash;&ndash;you
+remember her, Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow? My son, she&rsquo;s got
+pots of money, and at the present moment things are looking
+promising! The mater would be pleased if I could manage to
+pull it off. By the way, I dare say Driver told you I met him
+the other day&ndash;&ndash;he was very mysterious and hadn&rsquo;t a word to say!
+Surely he wasn&rsquo;t joy-riding over here by himself? Remember
+me to every one.&ndash;&ndash;Yours, <span class='smcap'>R. F. Ashton</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>And not one word about Esther! Not a single mention
+of the girl who was thinking of him night and day,
+and only living to see him again.</p>
+<p>Micky crushed the letter and tossed it into the fire.
+That settled it, he told himself; he no longer had the
+slightest compunction in cutting Ashton out; the fellow
+was not worth a moment&rsquo;s consideration.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_IX' id='CHAPTER_IX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther trudged to and fro from the agency where
+the stiff and stately lady presided so many times
+during the next few days that she began to hate the
+sight of the tall building and the dark stairs covered with
+worn linoleum.</p>
+<p>Every day the waiting-room seemed crowded with
+girls, many of whom were a great deal more shabby and
+hopeless looking than she was, and they all sat patiently
+on the wooden chairs and eyed one another with a sort of
+jealous suspicion till their turn came to pass within the
+magic portal which guarded the stiff and stately lady
+from the vulgar gaze.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I told you an agency wouldn&rsquo;t be any good,&rdquo; June
+Mason said when Esther came home after another fruitless
+journey. &ldquo;They take your money and forget you
+till you turn up to remind them that you&rsquo;re still in existence.
+Give it up, my dear, and come into partnership
+with me. I should love to take you round to all the big
+stores and tell them that you owe your milk and rose
+complexion to my famous cream.&rdquo; She burst out laughing.
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you imagine it! Esther, you and I ought to
+tour the country in a caravan or something. Call ourselves
+the new Sequah.&rdquo; She rolled over in the big chair
+and hid her face in the cushions.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed; she felt quite at home now in June&rsquo;s
+room. There were a few of her own possessions lying
+about, and she had bought Charlie a new cushion of his
+own. It gave her a sense of independence to know that
+she was paying her share of everything.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall get something if I wait long enough,&rdquo; Esther
+said presently. &ldquo;Do you know, I rather think I should
+like to be a companion, after all. I told Mr.&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span>
+stopped; she had been about to add that she had once
+told Micky how she would hate it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It might not be so bad,&rdquo; June admitted; &ldquo;but you
+want some one with pots of money and a good temper.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at Esther consideringly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There wouldn&rsquo;t have to be any eligible sons either,&rdquo;
+she said bluntly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re much too pretty&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What nonsense!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June dragged Esther to her feet and made her look in
+the glass.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now dare to call it nonsense&ndash;&ndash;look at yourself,&rdquo; she
+commanded.</p>
+<p>But Esther only looked at June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Next to you,&rdquo; she began, but June cut her short.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to try blatant flattery,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>They both laughed at that.</p>
+<p>Some one tapped at the door; Lydia, the smiling housemaid,
+appeared; she looked at the two girls with a sort of
+parental expression; she was very fond of them both,
+and never minded how late or how hard she worked to
+do little extra jobs for either of them. It was her greatest
+pride to stay in when her &ldquo;evening out&rdquo; came and
+help June label the little mauve pots; she recommended
+the famous cream to all her friends; she was as proud
+of it as if it were her own invention.</p>
+<p>She carried a note on a tray now, which she handed
+to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I found it on the hall table, Miss,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It must
+have been left by messenger.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She waited a moment to make up the fire and tidy the
+hearth; she was always glad of an excuse to stay in the
+room; she was never tired of telling her friends what a
+pretty room it was&ndash;&ndash;she loved the mauve cushions and
+the many photographs.</p>
+<p>She went away with a reluctant backward look. June
+yawned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Another love-letter?&rdquo; she asked chaffingly. She looked
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
+across at Esther, and was surprised to see the embarrassment
+in the girl&rsquo;s face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s from Mr. Harley,&rdquo; she said, in distress. &ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m
+sure I&rsquo;ve never let him think I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She handed the
+letter to June. &ldquo;He wants me to go to a theatre with
+him,&rdquo; she added in confusion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I should go,&rdquo; said June promptly. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t
+get much fun, and the man knows you&rsquo;re engaged, and if
+he likes to chance it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But how does he know I&rsquo;m engaged? I&rsquo;ve never
+told him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I did,&rdquo; June said calmly. &ldquo;I saw the way the wind
+was blowing and told him to save complications.&rdquo; She
+made a little grimace at Esther. &ldquo;And after this note are
+you still going to declare that he isn&rsquo;t more than ordinarily
+interested? Esther, you&rsquo;re the most unsuspecting
+baby&ndash;&ndash;&ndash; Say you&rsquo;ll go, of course. There&rsquo;s no harm
+in it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I certainly shall not go,&rdquo; Esther said; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want
+to, for one thing, and, for another, it would not be
+fair&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean to Mr. Harley?&rdquo; June asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, and to&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To the phantom lover! Oh, I see!&rdquo; said June drily.</p>
+<p>Esther coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you mean,&rdquo; she said with a touch
+of dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, you do,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t look so angry!
+What am I to call him, pray? You haven&rsquo;t told me his
+name.&rdquo; She waited, but Esther did not speak. &ldquo;Of
+course, if you&rsquo;d rather not,&rdquo; she added, rather stiffly.</p>
+<p>Esther got up and came over to sit on the arm of her
+chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t that I don&rsquo;t want you to know, but&ndash;&ndash;well, I
+promised him not to tell any one; you see, his people
+would be furious if they knew. After all, I suppose I&rsquo;m
+not anybody, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June pushed her away.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you make me tired!&rdquo; she said crossly. &ldquo;Why will
+you insist on belittling yourself? Who on earth is this
+wonderful man that he sets himself up for such a model
+of superiority? He can&rsquo;t be anybody if he&rsquo;s ashamed of
+you. You don&rsquo;t like Micky, I know, but, with all his
+money and position, if he loved you he&rsquo;d be only too
+proud to shout it from the housetops, and not care a
+hang what the world thought. There&rsquo;s no rotten pride
+about Micky&ndash;&ndash;if he loved a beggar girl he&rsquo;d be proud of
+it.... No, don&rsquo;t say any more, it makes me boil!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She lit another cigarette and puffed at it furiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you&ndash;&ndash;do you think I should go with Mr. Harley,
+then?&rdquo; Esther asked presently. Her pretty face was
+flushed and troubled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said June emphatically. &ldquo;I think you
+ought to please yourself. I don&rsquo;t want to advise you,
+but it does seem to me that you&rsquo;re throwing away any
+chance of real happiness for a&ndash;&ndash;for a, what do they call
+it?&ndash;&ndash;something beginning with a &lsquo;c&rsquo;....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Chimera,&rdquo; said Esther. She sat with downcast eyes
+for a moment, then suddenly she began to cry. Perhaps
+in her heart she felt in some mysterious way that June
+was right, that this girl, with her odd instinct, had put
+her hand right on the heart of things, and that her happiness
+did not really lie with Raymond Ashton.</p>
+<p>And yet she loved him. Night and day he was never
+out of her thoughts. She slept with his letters under her
+pillow. Since he went away he had done much to blot
+out all that had gone before. And yet sometimes the
+memory of that past unhappiness, of its disagreements
+and quarrels and petty unkindnesses would raise its ugly
+head and look at her with a sort of leer as if daring her
+to forget entirely.</p>
+<p>June was all remorse in a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a pig!&rdquo; she said disgustedly. &ldquo;I ought to be
+kicked. Why do you let me talk so much? It&rsquo;s awful
+cheek of me to dare to criticise you. I&rsquo;ll never do it
+again. He may be an angel for all I know. Esther, if
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
+you don&rsquo;t stop crying I shall cry too, and then there&rsquo;ll be
+a nice sort of noise.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther dried her eyes and laughed shakily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m silly; I don&rsquo;t know why I cried. There&rsquo;s nothing
+to cry for,&rdquo; she protested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why women always cry,&rdquo; said June hardily.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_X' id='CHAPTER_X'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther climbed the stairs of the agency again the
+following morning. There was a little feeling of
+despondency in her heart. She had slept badly,
+and she had not been able to forget what June had said
+about Ashton.</p>
+<p>Esther was influenced by June&rsquo;s &ldquo;instincts,&rdquo; as she
+chose to call them; she knew it was foolish, but the fact
+remained all the same.</p>
+<p>When she opened the waiting-room door she felt half
+inclined to turn and go away again. She would only
+meet with the same answer: &ldquo;Nothing that will suit you
+to-day, Miss Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But for a wonder the room was almost empty, and the
+tall and stately one was standing at the communicating
+door.</p>
+<p>When she saw Esther she came forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was hoping you would call, Miss Shepstone. Will
+you come into my room?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther&rsquo;s heart leapt. She obeyed eagerly.</p>
+<p>A lady was sitting at the table looking rather bored and
+irritated.</p>
+<p>She was grey-haired and handsome, and most beautifully
+dressed. She turned slightly when Esther entered,
+and stared at her through her lorgnette, then she looked
+at the stiff and stately one.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is this&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;the young lady?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, madam&ndash;&ndash;this is Miss Shepstone.&rdquo; The stately
+one introduced Esther with a wave of her hand. &ldquo;This
+lady, Miss Shepstone, is looking for a companion. Some
+one who can work well&ndash;&ndash;and read aloud.&rdquo; She looked
+at Esther sharply. &ldquo;Can you read aloud?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span></div>
+<p>Esther stammered out that she supposed she could,
+but ...</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is a minor detail,&rdquo; the lady with the lorgnette
+interrupted. &ldquo;Miss Shepstone, I am not wanting a companion
+in the ordinary sense of the word. That is to
+say, I do not want you to be constantly with me. You
+will have your own bedroom and sitting-room&ndash;&ndash;and I
+shall only want you at certain hours of the day. You
+will write letters for me and make yourself generally
+useful.&rdquo; She paused, she searched the girl&rsquo;s eager face
+through her glasses.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How old are you?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Twenty-four,&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Humph! And what have you done up till now?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was in the workroom at Eldred&rsquo;s. The manager
+has promised to give me a reference, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eldred&rsquo;s!&rdquo; the sharp gaze wavered a little. &ldquo;And
+why did you leave there, may I ask?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I left to get married, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you are not married, of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nor going to be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not for the present, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was cut short again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get used to you and to get you used to
+my ways and then for you to leave me,&rdquo; she was told.
+&ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t want a young man constantly dangling
+round the house.&rdquo; Her voice was sharp, but not unkind,
+and there was a smile in the keen eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Esther. &ldquo;I quite understand.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the owner of the lorgnette then, &ldquo;what
+do you think about it? Do you think you would like to
+come? Do you think you would like me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled, there was something in this blunt questioning
+that reminded her of June Mason.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I think I should, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I hate that word,&rdquo; she was told promptly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t
+want any &lsquo;buts&rsquo; in the question. You either wish to come
+or you do not. I will give you fifty pounds a year, and
+your keep, of course. It&rsquo;s too much for an inexperienced
+girl like you, but I think I shall rather like you. Well,
+what do you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not know what to say. The offer was
+tempting enough, but she thought of June Mason and the
+room with the mauve cushions where she was settling
+down so happily, and her heart sank.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to think it over,&rdquo; she said, stammering.
+&ldquo;I have a friend I should like to talk it over with if you
+don&rsquo;t mind. If you will give me just a day or two....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take a week by all means. I am going away myself
+for a few days, and I shan&rsquo;t want you till I come back.
+Write and tell me what you decide to do. Here is my
+card....&rdquo; She took one from a heavy silver case
+and laid it on the table. She looked at Esther quizzically,
+then suddenly she held out her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye, Miss Shepstone. I hope I shall see you
+again,&rdquo; and the next moment she had gone.</p>
+<p>The stiff and stately owner of the agency was smiling,
+well pleased.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are most fortunate, Miss Shepstone,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;You have secured one of the best posts I have on my
+books. If you take my advice you will not hesitate.
+Make up your mind at once.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not answer. She took up the card from
+the table, then she drew in her breath with a hard sound,
+for the name printed there was Mrs. Raymond Ashton.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XI' id='CHAPTER_XI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther never knew how she got out into the street.
+She walked along like some one in a dream; her
+cheeks were burning hot.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Raymond Ashton! Raymond&rsquo;s mother! The
+woman of whom he had spoken so often and so bitterly.
+The woman who had raised such a fierce objection to
+her marriage with Raymond.</p>
+<p>There was not much resemblance between mother and
+son; they were both handsome, but there was a sort of
+humour in Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s face which Raymond&rsquo;s lacked.
+Esther tried vainly to find some likeness between them.</p>
+<p>She realised how different this woman was to what
+she had pictured her, remembered that spontaneously offered
+hand. Had Mrs. Ashton known who she was?
+Oh, surely not, or she would never have appeared so
+anxious to engage her.</p>
+<p>How angry Raymond would be. Angry that the woman
+he loved was to go to his mother as a paid companion.
+Esther could not help smiling. For her own sake
+she would not mind it. At least she would be with his
+mother and in his home; but, of course, the thing was
+impossible&ndash;&ndash;such a situation would not be tolerable. She
+would have to write and refuse.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good afternoon!&rdquo; said a voice, and, turning hurriedly,
+Esther found Micky Mellowes beside her.</p>
+<p>He looked as if he were not quite sure of his reception;
+but to-day Esther had other thoughts to occupy her
+which were more interesting than he was&ndash;&ndash;and the smile
+she gave him was almost friendly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good afternoon! Isn&rsquo;t it cold?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Very.... Where are you hurrying off to?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He tried to speak casually, but his heart was beating
+uncomfortably.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going back home,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been
+to an agency looking for a berth.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A berth!&rdquo; A frown came between his eyes. &ldquo;What
+sort of a berth?&rdquo; he asked quickly.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m think of taking your advice&ndash;&ndash;and going as
+companion to an old lady&ndash;&ndash;not that she&rsquo;s very old,&rdquo; she
+added doubtfully, with sudden memory of Raymond&rsquo;s
+mother.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean that you have decided?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She hesitated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I have the refusal of it.&rdquo; She looked at him
+with defiant eyes. &ldquo;I am only just hesitating&ndash;&ndash;I want
+to talk to Miss Mason about it&ndash;&ndash;she is much more worldly
+wise than I am.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June is a very sensible woman,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am glad
+you like her.&rdquo; He hesitated. &ldquo;And the&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;post?&rdquo; he
+asked with an effort. &ldquo;Will it be in town?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was obviously not going to tell him any more, but
+Micky persevered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wonder if it is likely to be any one I know. I have
+quite an extensive acquaintance in London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t suppose you will
+know these people, anyway,&rdquo; she added with an unconscious
+touch of loftiness in her voice. &ldquo;The name is
+Ashton&ndash;&ndash;Mrs. Raymond Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was the barest possible silence before Micky
+answered, a silence during which the blank dismay and
+anger that crossed his face would have been amusing had
+it not also had something of pathos in it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ashton?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Oh, yes, I know Raymond Ashton
+very well.&rdquo; He was watching her with jealous eyes,
+and she turned her head sharply and looked up at him.</p>
+<p>Just for a moment a traitorous eagerness crossed her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
+face; he could almost see the quick question on her lips,
+then she laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really! How funny! But, of course, as you say, you
+must know a great many people.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have known the Ashtons for years. You will like
+Mrs. Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a sort of quiet insinuation in the words, and
+Esther bit her lip.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;the son?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I think you said you
+knew the son.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I know him&ndash;&ndash;he is in Paris, I believe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was conscious of a queer tightening about his
+throat; it was a tremendous effort to force himself to
+speak lightly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And shall I like him as well, do you think?&rdquo; Esther
+asked deliberately.</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you like him?&rdquo; she persisted.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s restraint broke its bonds; if he had died for it
+he could not have checked the words that rushed to his
+lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I detest the fellow!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a beastly outsider!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He dared not look at her. He held his breath, waiting
+for the storm to break, but if he had lost his self-control
+she kept hers admirably.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really,&rdquo; she said. Her voice was a little breathless,
+but quite calm. &ldquo;What does a man mean when he calls
+another man&ndash;&ndash;such a name?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her face was quite colourless, even to the lips, and her
+hands were clenched in the shabbiness of the cheap little
+muff she carried.</p>
+<p>He blunderingly tried to make amends.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I ought not to have said that, just because he&rsquo;s not the
+sort of man I care about,&rdquo; he said stammeringly. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s
+quite all right&ndash;&ndash;it all depends from what point of view
+you regard him. I hope you will forget that I said that,
+Miss Shepstone. It&ndash;&ndash;it was unpardonable.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of complete indifference to me what you
+say about&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Ashton,&rdquo; she told him.</p>
+<p>She stopped. They had been walking along together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Which way are you going?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Micky flushed up to his eyes; he knew this was a dismissal.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was coming along to see June,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hoped
+you would allow me to walk along with you&ndash;&ndash;if I am not
+intruding.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther forced a smile, but her lips felt stiff.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but I am not going back,&rdquo; she said. Her voice
+sounded as if it were cut in ice. &ldquo;So I won&rsquo;t detain you.
+Good-bye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She turned and left him, walking quickly away again
+in the direction from which she had just come.</p>
+<p>Her eyes were smarting with tears that had to be restrained.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How dare he&ndash;&ndash;oh, how dare he?&rdquo; she asked herself
+passionately. &ldquo;What does he know about Raymond?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She could not trust herself to go back home. She
+walked about in the cold till she was tired out. She
+wanted to be sure that Micky would have left Elphinstone
+Road before she got there. She wondered if June
+knew the Ashtons too. She probably did, as Micky Mellowes
+knew them. They were both of Raymond&rsquo;s own
+world, these two. It was only she, who loved him best,
+who was outside the magic circle of his friends.</p>
+<p>It was nearly supper time when she got in. She paused
+for a moment in the hall and looked anxiously at the
+rows of coats and hats hanging there. She thought she
+would know Micky&rsquo;s if she saw them there. She forgot
+that he might have taken them up to June&rsquo;s room. She
+turned away with a little sigh.</p>
+<p>At the foot of the stairs she met young Harley. He
+coloured sensitively when he saw her and stood aside
+for her to pass.</p>
+<p>Esther flushed too. She wondered what he thought of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span>
+her note refusing the theatre. With sudden impulse she
+spoke&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you are not angry with me, Mr. Harley, but&ndash;&ndash;but
+perhaps you do not know that I am engaged to be
+married, and so ... so I don&rsquo;t think I should accept
+invitations from any one else, though&ndash;&ndash;though it was kind
+of you to ask me,&rdquo; she added.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should have been delighted if you could have come,&rdquo;
+he said. &ldquo;But, of course, if your fianc&eacute; would not care
+about it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He broke off as if there was nothing more
+to be said.</p>
+<p>Esther wondered if Raymond really would mind; at
+first he had been very jealous, and could not bear her
+to speak to another man, but latterly&ndash;&ndash;she hated it, because
+she could not forget that once he had told her she
+could marry a man with money if she only played her
+cards carefully&ndash;&ndash;the man who had said that seemed a
+different personality altogether from the man whose letters
+she had only lived for during the last fortnight.</p>
+<p>Was she mean and unforgiving that she continually
+found herself remembering the quarrels and scenes they
+had had? She wanted so earnestly to forget them; she
+went up to June&rsquo;s room with dragging steps.</p>
+<p>The door of the room opened before she reached the
+landing, and June came out.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I knew it was you,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Poor soul! how tired
+you sound. Another day of miserable failure, I suppose.
+Never mind, come and sit down in the warm, and you&rsquo;ll
+soon forget it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed rather shamefacedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a day of success, strange to relate,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m tired, dead tired&ndash;&ndash;I must have walked miles.&rdquo;
+She suddenly remembered Micky; she looked round with&ndash;&ndash;a
+quick suspicion. &ldquo;Have you been alone all the afternoon?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, quite alone,&rdquo; June laughed. &ldquo;Who did you expect
+to find here, pray?&rdquo; she demanded.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Nobody&ndash;&ndash;I only wondered if you had had any visitors.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I might have known it wasn&rsquo;t the truth that he was
+coming here,&rdquo; she told herself vexedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, and what about the success?&rdquo; June asked; she
+was sitting on the hearthrug stroking Charlie. &ldquo;You
+don&rsquo;t mean to say that the old dear at the agency really
+had something to offer you this time?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, and she&rsquo;s desperately anxious for me to take it,
+too. It&rsquo;s quite a good offer, but it means leaving here
+and living in; and I don&rsquo;t believe I want to leave here,&rdquo;
+she added ruefully.</p>
+<p>June looked dismayed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t let you go,&rdquo; she said promptly. &ldquo;Just as we
+are settling down so cosily.&rdquo; She put her white hands
+over her ears. &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t want to hear another thing
+about it, if that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t listen&ndash;&ndash;write
+and refuse it&ndash;&ndash;write and refuse it at once.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed; she pulled June&rsquo;s hands down and
+held them firmly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you know any people named
+Ashton?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was longing to find out if June did know them;
+it seemed such a lifetime since she had seen Raymond
+or spoken to him, she was hungry to hear him spoken
+of, even if only by this woman who probably had merely
+known him as an ordinary acquaintance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ashton!&rdquo; June wrinkled up her nose. &ldquo;I know some
+Ashtons who live in Brayanstone Square,&rdquo; she said at
+last. &ldquo;A mother and son. A very handsome woman
+she is, with white hair, she has a sort of grande dame
+look about her&ndash;&ndash;the sort of woman you can imagine in
+a powdered wig and a crinoline, curtsying to the queen.&rdquo;
+She scrambled up, and, snatching a paper fan from the
+shelf, swept Esther a graceful curtsy to illustrate her
+meaning.</p>
+<p>But Esther was too much in earnest to be amused.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be the same Mrs. Ashton,&rdquo; she said eagerly.
+&ldquo;This is her card&ndash;&ndash;she gave it to me to-day&ndash;&ndash;Mrs. Raymond
+Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June glanced at the card and nodded briskly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s the same. I don&rsquo;t know her frightfully well;
+she&rsquo;s rather reserved, too; but I admire her immensely&ndash;&ndash;well,
+go on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She wants me to go to her as a sort of companion&ndash;&ndash;she
+has offered me fifty pounds a year.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June whistled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not bad, is it? But you&rsquo;ll refuse, of course?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I asked her to let me think it over; I said I should
+like to talk it over with you first.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June clasped her hands round her knees and stared
+into the fire thoughtfully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a widow, isn&rsquo;t she?&rdquo; Esther said hesitatingly.
+&ldquo;At least&ndash;&ndash;she didn&rsquo;t say anything about a husband.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, she&rsquo;s a widow right enough,&rdquo; June said. &ldquo;And
+delighted to be, I should think,&rdquo; she added bluntly. &ldquo;I
+never knew the departed spouse, but from all accounts he
+was a perfect terror.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther said nothing. Raymond had always spoken of
+his father as being a &ldquo;rare old sport.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>After a moment&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a son, too,&rdquo; June said. &ldquo;A kind of Adonis to
+look at, beautiful eyes and all that sort of thing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. She tried hard to keep the eagerness
+from her voice. &ldquo;Do you&ndash;&ndash;do you know the son
+too?&rdquo; she asked nervously.</p>
+<p>June gave a queer little laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I know him. That is to say, I say &lsquo;How
+d&rsquo;ye do&rsquo; to him when I have the misfortune to meet him,
+but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther&rsquo;s hands were clasped in her lap.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why&ndash;&ndash;why&ndash;&ndash;misfortune?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>June Mason shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s hard to explain&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;s never
+done me any harm, but there are some people one hates
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span>
+by instinct, and Raymond Ashton is one of the people
+I hate.&rdquo; She smoothed a crease in the skirt of her frock.
+&ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a&ndash;&ndash;such an awful outsider,&rdquo; she added, unconsciously
+choosing the word Micky Mellowes had used
+a few hours before.</p>
+<p>Esther sat very still. Twice she tried to speak, but
+no words would come. She knew that it was unfair
+to June to sit there and allow her to go on talking about
+Raymond, but something in her heart seemed to have
+set a seal on her lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s that insufferable kind of creature who thinks
+himself irresistible,&rdquo; June went on. &ldquo;Micky has often
+told me the way he brags about his so-called &lsquo;conquests.&rsquo;
+Conquests, indeed! What are they but a few poor ignorant
+girls hoodwinked by his handsome face and
+smooth tongue? Dozens of girls he&rsquo;s had, my dear, literally
+dozens! Only the other day some one told me
+that Mrs. Ashton had to threaten to cut him off with a
+shilling if he didn&rsquo;t give up some little person he was
+supposed to be going to marry! I don&rsquo;t know how true
+it is, mind you, but that&rsquo;s the sort of man he is&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve no
+time for him at all,&rdquo; she finished vigorously.</p>
+<p>She turned to look at Esther, and gave a little exclamation
+of alarm. &ldquo;How pale you are! Don&rsquo;t you feel
+well?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite all right&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m just tired&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll
+go down to supper to-night. I&rsquo;ll just stay here and be
+quiet. I wanted to hear what you had to say about my
+future employer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Future fiddlesticks!&rdquo; June retorted. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going
+to her, my dear; I shan&rsquo;t let you. If Raymond came
+home while you were there, you&rsquo;d never have any peace.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was lying back now with closed eyes. Over and
+over again in her mind she was saying to herself&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe it&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t believe a word of it; it&rsquo;s all
+cruel lies&ndash;&ndash;first Mr. Mellowes and now June. They both
+hate him, that&rsquo;s what it is; but I don&rsquo;t believe a word
+of what they say.&rdquo; June was bustling about the room
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span>
+fetching cushions and a light rug which she had laid over
+Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have a little sleep, and you&rsquo;ll feel heaps better,&rdquo;
+she said.</p>
+<p>She went away, shutting the door quietly; and Esther
+hid her face in her hands.</p>
+<p>She hardly knew why she was crying, she only knew
+that she was utterly miserable.</p>
+<p>She took Ashton&rsquo;s last letter from her dress and read it
+through again&ndash;&ndash;how could any one, reading it, doubt that
+he loved her? How could any one, knowing his careful
+thought for her, believe that he was the detestable personality
+June and Micky had described?</p>
+<p>She kissed the signature passionately. Nobody in all
+the world counted but this one man.</p>
+<p>She got up and went over to June&rsquo;s desk, which both
+girls used; she felt that she must write to him and tell
+him how much she wanted him.</p>
+<p>When she had finished writing she looked to the head
+of the paper on which she had written for the address,
+and then she saw a postscript scribbled in a corner which
+she had not noticed before.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t write to me here&ndash;&ndash;I shall have left this hotel by the
+time you get my letter. I will write again as soon as possible.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>It was like a door with iron bars being closed in her
+face; she could not write after all! She could have no
+relief for all her longing and unhappiness; she must just
+wait and wait, eating her very soul out, till he wrote
+again.</p>
+<p>She tore up what she had written and threw it into the
+fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The phantom lover&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;June&rsquo;s half playful, half mocking
+words came back to her with foreboding. Was he indeed
+only a phantom lover? Just a creation of her own
+brain and desire? She tried to thrust the thought from
+her; she was tired and fanciful; in the morning she would
+be all right; it was not fair to him, it was not fair to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span>
+herself to be so doubting. She went back to June&rsquo;s
+couch and curled up amongst the mauve pillows; life was
+so hard, so disappointing; it gave so little of all that one
+desired; the tears fell again, presently she cried herself
+to sleep.</p>
+<p>June came back on tiptoe; she stole across the room
+and looked at Esther, then she went back to the hearthrug
+to keep Charlie company.</p>
+<p>The fire had died down and she replenished it as quietly
+as she could, putting a knob on at a time with her
+fingers.</p>
+<p>As she leaned over to poke them softly together she
+caught sight of a scrap of paper lying in the grate. It
+looked like part of a torn letter, and without thinking
+June picked it up&ndash;&ndash;the one word &ldquo;dearest&rdquo; stared up at
+her in Esther&rsquo;s writing.</p>
+<p>June looked at it for a long moment, then she turned
+her head and glanced at Esther, still sleeping.</p>
+<p>June frowned; she hunched her shoulders impatiently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;More phantom lover, I suppose,&rdquo; she told herself
+crossly; she threw the little scrap of paper into the fire
+and watched it burn with a sort of vixenish delight.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XII' id='CHAPTER_XII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve decided to accept Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s offer,&rdquo; said
+Esther suddenly.</p>
+<p>It was the following afternoon, and she had
+been helping June paste labels on to the little mauve pots.
+She looked up as she spoke, with the paste brush still in
+her hand and her fingers all sticky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you hear what I said?&rdquo; she demanded guiltily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I heard,&rdquo; June said rather tartly. &ldquo;And I think
+you&rsquo;re a mean pig. However, go on! Have your own
+way! Don&rsquo;t mind me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t that at all,&rdquo; Esther declared. &ldquo;But I must
+do something&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve been idle quite long enough. I shall
+be sorry to leave you, but I shall still pay for my half
+of the room.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you&ndash;&ndash;thank you very much,&rdquo; said June drily.
+Esther flushed in distress.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be so unkind! It&rsquo;s not that I want to leave
+you. I&rsquo;ve been happier here with you than anywhere
+else, but I must work, I can&rsquo;t live on nothing....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You could live on three pounds a week if you wished
+to. What do you suppose the phantom lover will say
+if he knows that his money hasn&rsquo;t helped you, and that
+you&rsquo;re going to make a drudge of yourself?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t be a drudge&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June broke in impatiently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, very well&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t want to argue, but I think
+it&rsquo;s mean of you. If you really liked me you&rsquo;d stay....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall come to see you whenever I get any time off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, once a week for two hours, I suppose&ndash;&ndash;and when
+I shall probably be out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall write first and let you know when I&rsquo;m coming.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span></div>
+<p>June took no notice; she screwed the lid on to a perfume
+bottle and wiped her fingers on the white overall.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t put any more labels on,&rdquo; she said shortly.
+&ldquo;I can do the rest myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took the tray away from Esther and carried it into
+her bedroom; when she came back there was a suspicion
+of tears in her eyes. Esther looked distressed. She felt
+that she was behaving meanly, and yet she meant to
+go to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky Mellowes is coming directly,&rdquo; June said tartly.
+&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t want to see him you&rsquo;d better go. I know
+you hate him....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther turned scarlet. She took off the apron she
+had borrowed from June and turned to the door.</p>
+<p>Before she reached it June followed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a pig. I apologise humbly! Please stay. Why
+don&rsquo;t you box my ears when I speak to you like this?&rdquo;
+She dragged Esther back to the fire. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m wild because
+you&rsquo;ve made up your mind to leave me. Our friendship
+doesn&rsquo;t mean anything to you.... There&rsquo;s Micky&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;ll
+want to know why I&rsquo;ve been crying. Amuse him
+for five minutes, there&rsquo;s an angel, and I&rsquo;ll come back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was gone in a flash.</p>
+<p>A smiling Lydia showed Micky into the room. Lydia
+liked Micky; he was always courteous, and he had been
+generous with his tips on each occasion that he had visited
+the house.</p>
+<p>Micky looked a little embarrassed when he saw Esther.
+He glanced quickly round the room. &ldquo;June ... I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s coming in a moment,&rdquo; Esther explained. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t
+you sit down?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky sat on the arm of the big chair; he was cold;
+he leaned forward, rubbing his hands vigorously. Esther
+watched him critically.</p>
+<p>She had told June that she did not consider him in
+the least good-looking, but now the thought crossed her
+mind that this had not been quite a fair thing.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span></div>
+<p>He was tall and well made, and he had brown hair
+that grew well about his temples, and waved slightly
+where it parted.</p>
+<p>His nose was nothing particular and slightly crooked,
+and his eyes were nondescript in colour, but kind ... so
+kind! Esther remembered it was the first thing she had
+noticed about him the night they met.</p>
+<p>He looked up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;have you found another berth yet?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Esther said.</p>
+<p>She was amazed at the sudden change in his face; a
+look of furious anger flashed into his eyes; he rose to
+his feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not serious?&rdquo; he said quietly.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed; she felt painfully nervous without
+knowing why.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Serious? Indeed I am!&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;Mr. Mellowes,
+what are you doing?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky had caught her hands. Jealousy was driving
+him with whips of fire&ndash;&ndash;jealousy of this phantom lover,
+whom he himself had created.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not to go,&rdquo; he said hoarsely. &ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;I can&rsquo;t
+bear to think of you having to work for your living.
+There&rsquo;s no need&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s all nonsense. You&rsquo;d hate being at
+the Ashtons.... Esther&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She wrenched herself free; she was white to the lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must be mad!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;How dare you speak
+like this? What is it to you what I do? How dare you
+try to interfere? What business is it of yours?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed shakily; he had recovered himself a little
+now.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s everything to me,&rdquo; he said rather hoarsely. &ldquo;You
+must know that it is. Esther, will you marry me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>If only premeditated proposals were made, there would
+be few marriages in the world. Ten minutes ago, when
+Micky Mellowes walked into the room, he had no intention
+of asking Esther to marry him, but now it seemed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+as if he had come for that express purpose as he stood
+there, grimly obstinate.</p>
+<p>There was a moment of silence; then Esther drew
+herself up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you must be mad,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve only seen
+you once or twice in my life. I have told you that I
+am already engaged.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know, but it makes no difference,&rdquo; said Micky.
+&ldquo;I ask you to marry me&ndash;&ndash;will you marry me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She drew back from him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must be mad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve said that two or three times
+already, but I assure you that I&rsquo;m quite sane. I loved
+you the first moment I ever saw you, but, of course, you
+won&rsquo;t believe it. However, that doesn&rsquo;t matter&ndash;&ndash;you
+haven&rsquo;t answered my question. Will you marry me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know I am engaged&ndash;&ndash;how dare you?...&rdquo;
+She backed away from him till she was close to the door.
+Micky laughed savagely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be afraid&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m not going to hurt you&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m
+not going to move from this hearthrug, but I should
+like you to answer my question. Once again, will you
+marry me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He forgot his promise and took a step towards her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can make you happier than any other man possibly
+could. I&rsquo;ve never cared for a woman in my life till I met
+you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t marry you if you were the only man in
+the world&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t even like you....&rdquo; Her voice
+shook with anger now. &ldquo;My answer is no&ndash;&ndash;no&ndash;&ndash;no! I
+shall never change my mind if I live to be a hundred
+...&rdquo; she added vehemently. The words seemed
+forced from her by something in his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You will,&rdquo; said Micky calmly, though he felt anything
+but calm. &ldquo;Women always do; but if you don&rsquo;t feel like
+changing it just at this moment, will you please tell June
+I am here? I came to see her, and I&rsquo;m tired of waiting....&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span>
+He turned away and went back to his seat on
+the arm of the big chair as if nothing had happened, but
+his hand shook when he tried to light a cigarette.</p>
+<p>When June came back he was absently turning the
+pages of a magazine; she looked at him for a moment,
+then began to laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky! What in the world has happened to you lately?
+Do you always read a paper upside down?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky started, looked down at the magazine, and said a
+bad word; then he laughed too, and flinging the magazine
+across the room got to his feet, stretching his long arms.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Esther?&rdquo; June demanded. &ldquo;I asked her to
+stay and amuse you till I came back....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She did her best,&rdquo; said Micky drily. &ldquo;But I am
+afraid I bored her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked annoyed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do think you two might try and like one another, if
+only for my sake,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so perfectly obvious
+that you hate one another, and I cannot see why for the
+life of me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One of your instinctive hates, perhaps,&rdquo; Micky submitted,
+with a touch of irony. He went back to the
+chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Shepstone tells me she has found a berth,&rdquo; he
+said, after a moment. June nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. Did she tell you with whom?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; Mrs. Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Something in the tone of his voice made June look up
+quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Micky shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing&ndash;&ndash;I dared to suggest that perhaps she would
+not like the place, and she flew at me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just like Esther; she asks for your advice, and
+then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t ask for mine,&rdquo; Micky cut in. &ldquo;I very kindly
+volunteered the information.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; June was on her knees now toasting buns.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re stale,&rdquo; she informed Micky candidly. &ldquo;But
+you won&rsquo;t know it when they&rsquo;re toasted.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky watched in silence. He was wondering if June
+had heard anything of his conversation with Esther; they
+had both spoken rather loudly. He was also wondering
+whether he should tell June the whole story.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must make allowances for her,&rdquo; June said briskly,
+as he was still hesitating. &ldquo;I know she&rsquo;s worried about
+this man. I discovered another thing this morning,
+Micky&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she turned with a sudden jerk to look at him,
+and the bun fell off the fork into the fire.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what have you discovered now?&rdquo; he inquired.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, that she can&rsquo;t write to him&ndash;&ndash;he doesn&rsquo;t give
+her an address&ndash;&ndash;or, if he does, he takes good care to
+move on before she has time to answer his letters. It
+looks to me, Micky, as if that young man is shirking
+his responsibilities. If you ask my candid opinion, Esther
+won&rsquo;t ever see him again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky said &ldquo;Rot!&rdquo; rather uncomfortably. &ldquo;If the fellow
+is travelling&ndash;&ndash;moving about....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He could give her an address and have the letters
+sent on, couldn&rsquo;t he?&rdquo; June demanded.</p>
+<p>Micky rubbed his chin.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s she want to write to him for?&rdquo; he asked presently.</p>
+<p>June swung round, and a second bun almost shared
+the fate of the first, but she grabbed it back in time.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What does she want to write to him for?&rdquo; she echoed
+with scorn. &ldquo;My poor child, what does any one want to
+write to any one for? She&rsquo;s in love with the man, and
+when you&rsquo;re in love you simply have to write it down&ndash;&ndash;at
+least, that&rsquo;s what I understand from people with wide
+experience. Esther&rsquo;s bursting to write and tell the phantom
+lover how much she loves him and what a wonderful
+man he is; as a matter of fact she does write to him,
+and tears the letters up again, and that&rsquo;s no satisfaction.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+I wish to goodness he&rsquo;d get run over and done with,&rdquo; she
+added exasperatedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t suppose she wishes it,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s because she doesn&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s good for her;
+he was probably the first man who had ever paid her any
+attention, and from what she says he&rsquo;s a bit of a swell,
+and I suppose she was flattered....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Rot!&rdquo; said Micky violently; it made him boil to hear
+June say things like this. Ashton superior to Esther? It
+was like the man&rsquo;s confounded impudence to even think
+such a thing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not such rot,&rdquo; June said wisely. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what all
+the trouble is about, or my name&rsquo;s not what it is. He
+has a stuck-up old cat of a mother who won&rsquo;t condescend
+to know Esther.... What did you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; said Micky. He got up and began strolling
+about the room with his hands in his pockets, and June
+finished toasting her buns and made the tea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just go up and tell Esther,&rdquo; she said. She went
+out of the room and upstairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tea,&rdquo; she announced cheerfully, knocking at Esther&rsquo;s
+door; she turned the handle and went in. Esther was
+standing by the window looking out into the neglected
+garden at the back of the house; she turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really hungry, and if you&rsquo;d like to have Mr.
+Mellowes to yourself&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she began.</p>
+<p>June stared at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; she said then drily, &ldquo;if I&rsquo;d wanted to have
+Mr. Mellowes to myself I should have married him long
+ago; so don&rsquo;t pretend you&rsquo;re not dying for one of the
+stale but toasted buns.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She linked her arm in Esther&rsquo;s, and they went downstairs
+together. Esther did not want to come, but it
+seemed easier to give way than to make excuses. She
+took the chair which Micky brought forward; she felt a
+little nervous and ill at ease. Once, when their eyes
+met, she found herself colouring sensitively.</p>
+<p>Micky let her alone in a marked fashion and talked to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span>
+June. He had found the man he had been looking for
+for months, he declared, a good business man, honest&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really honest, Micky?&rdquo; June asked, laughing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really honest,&rdquo; Micky maintained. &ldquo;Do you think I&rsquo;d
+put you on to him else? I&rsquo;ve told him all about you. I
+went out to lunch with him yesterday and we talked face
+creams and vanities till my head reeled. He&rsquo;s full of
+ideas, bursting with fresh notions for advertising. He
+didn&rsquo;t say so in actual words, but he thinks you&rsquo;ll be a
+little gold mine if you&rsquo;ll put yourself in his hands.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s eyes sparkled; she jumped up from her chair,
+put her arms around Micky&rsquo;s neck, and gave him a sounding
+kiss.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and I just love you!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther glanced up quickly. June need not have done
+that, she thought with a touch of irritation, but Micky
+only laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come here and you shall have that back with compound
+interest,&rdquo; he said, but June shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s enough for to-day, and Esther&rsquo;s looking
+shocked to death.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not&ndash;&ndash;I never thought about it,&rdquo; Esther protested
+indignantly. June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, you looked angry anyway,&rdquo; she declared.
+&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t she, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid I didn&rsquo;t notice,&rdquo; he answered coolly, but he
+had, and for a moment his pulses had leapt at sight of
+the anger in Esther&rsquo;s eyes; she could not surely hate
+him as much as she pretended if it annoyed her that
+June should kiss him.</p>
+<p>But she was indifferent enough now at all events; she
+was leaning back listlessly, her eyes fixed on the flames,
+her face sad and thoughtful.</p>
+<p>She was thinking about Ashton, Micky told himself
+savagely, wishing he were here, no doubt&ndash;&ndash;Ashton, who
+even at that moment was probably running round Paris
+with Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span></div>
+<p>June was packing the tea things on to the tray and
+humming a snatch of song. Esther rose.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me do that&ndash;&ndash;you cleared away yesterday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took the tray.</p>
+<p>June asked Micky for a cigarette.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got heaps somewhere,&rdquo; she said vaguely. &ldquo;But
+I never know where they are.&rdquo; She looked over to Esther.
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t bother to put the cups away now,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;Come back and be cosy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was rather surprised that Esther obeyed; she had
+quite expected her to go off and not return.</p>
+<p>Fond as she was of Esther, she could not quite make
+her out; she was full of surprises. It was getting dusk,
+and the room was full of shadows.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shall I light up?&rdquo; Micky asked. &ldquo;Or do we like the
+firelight?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We like the firelight,&rdquo; June said promptly; she nestled
+down amongst her mauve cushions.</p>
+<p>Micky was sitting straddle-ways across a chair between
+the two girls, and Esther had drawn back a little so that
+her face was in shadow. Micky glanced at her once, but
+could only see the glint of firelight on her hair and her
+hands clasped listlessly in the lap of her frock. He
+glanced at them; she still wore Ashton&rsquo;s ring, with its
+three inferior stones; he wondered how long the farce
+was going to be kept up and what would happen to bring
+it to an end.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If some one doesn&rsquo;t talk,&rdquo; June said drowsily, &ldquo;I
+shall go to sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a quiet peacefulness in the cosy little room.
+Micky crossed his arms on the chair back and leaned
+his chin on them, staring into the fire, and Esther, from
+her place in the shadows, looked at him unobserved.</p>
+<p>Not in the least good-looking, she told herself again,
+and yet in common fairness she had to admit to herself
+that there was something about Micky Mellowes that was
+undeniably attractive.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span></div>
+<p>She liked the obstinacy of his chin&ndash;&ndash;she liked the way
+his hair grew, and the shape of his hands&ndash;&ndash;strong, manly
+hands they were, in spite of the fact that they had probably
+never done a day&rsquo;s useful work in their lives. Of
+course he was too well dressed. To begin with, there
+was no need to wear grey spats over his shoes, or to have
+his trousers so immaculately creased. She forgot that
+she had liked Ashton to indulge in both these weaknesses.</p>
+<p>Micky was whistling a snatch of a love-song under his
+breath. Esther did not know what it was; she had never
+heard the melody before, but something in the softly
+sentimental notes brought the tears to her eyes; before
+she was aware of it they were tumbling down fast.</p>
+<p>June sprang suddenly to her feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why are we all mooning like this? Micky, give me
+a match.&rdquo; She almost snatched the box from him and
+lit the gas; the yellow flare flooded the room. Micky,
+glancing at Esther, saw the tears on her cheeks and the
+way she averted her head.</p>
+<p>He scowled and rose to his feet, standing so that his
+tall figure shielded her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I must be getting along,&rdquo; he said. He pulled
+out his watch and looked at it, but he never noticed what
+the time was.</p>
+<p>He was thinking of Esther and the tears he had surprised.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when are you going to introduce me to this man
+who is to make my fortune?&rdquo; June demanded crisply.
+She was standing on a footstool, trying to see herself in
+a glass above the mantelshelf.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther, you might have told me what a sight I look!
+My hair is all over the place.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it looked nice,&rdquo; Esther said hurriedly. She
+knew Micky had seen her tears, and was silently hating
+him for it.</p>
+<p>Micky answered hesitatingly, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll let you know&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll
+fix it up and let you know. There&rsquo;s no hurry, is there?
+I don&rsquo;t want him to think we are too keen.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;But I am keen,&rdquo; June insisted. &ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t you be
+keen if some one had told you you would be a gold mine,
+properly handled?&rdquo; she laughed. &ldquo;Oh, I forgot! money
+is no object to you. Well, bide your own time, my dear,
+but don&rsquo;t let it be too long.... Must you really
+go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid so; and, June&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Um!&rdquo; said June, intent on another cigarette.</p>
+<p>Micky fidgeted. He looked down at the carpet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t hear anything of me for a few days
+you&rsquo;ll know I&rsquo;m out of London....&rdquo; He looked at
+Esther, but she was kneeling down by the fire stroking
+Charlie.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Out of London!&rdquo; June said in surprise. &ldquo;Where are
+you going?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky cleared his throat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought of running over to Paris for a day or two,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paris!&rdquo; They were both looking at him now. Micky
+was painfully aware of the eagerness in Esther&rsquo;s face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; I haven&rsquo;t been since September. Anything I
+can do for you while I&rsquo;m there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June raised her brows comically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not for me, but perhaps Esther ... Esther has
+a great friend over there, haven&rsquo;t you, my child?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther turned crimson from chin to brow.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes is not at all likely to meet any friend
+of mine,&rdquo; she said stiffly.</p>
+<p>Micky felt horribly sorry for her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be too sure, Miss Shepstone,&rdquo; he said lightly.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a small world, you know, and it&rsquo;s the most unexpected
+things that happen.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Esther seemed not to have heard.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIII' id='CHAPTER_XIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky went to Paris. &ldquo;No, I shan&rsquo;t want you,
+Driver,&rdquo; he told his man awkwardly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m only
+going for a day or two. I&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;I shan&rsquo;t want
+you,&rdquo; he said again lamely.</p>
+<p>He looked at the man guiltily, but Driver was as impassive
+as ever. &ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; he said. He could
+not understand what had happened to Micky; as a rule,
+he refused even to take his own railway ticket or speak
+to a porter. This new independence worried him.</p>
+<p>But Micky went off cheerfully enough. He rang June
+up at her club the morning he started and told her he
+was really going. He heard her cheery laugh across the
+telephone. &ldquo;Micky, you&rsquo;re not up to any mischief?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;As if I should be!&rdquo; he answered with dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t trust you,&rdquo; she said promptly. &ldquo;However,
+have a good time, and if you see the phantom lover, you
+might push him into the Seine for me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll remember,&rdquo; Micky said grimly. He hesitated.
+&ldquo;Everything all right?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She echoed his words, not understanding. &ldquo;Everything
+all right? Do you mean the swindle? Oh, yes, it&rsquo;s going
+fine, thank you. I had another order from those American
+export people this morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good.... And&ndash;&ndash;Miss Shepstone gone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, she&rsquo;s going on Saturday. Sickening, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;ll stay long,&rdquo; Micky said soothingly.
+&ldquo;It won&rsquo;t do her any harm to see how she likes it. Well,
+good-bye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stood for a moment after he had hung up the receiver,
+staring at it. He wished he had not arranged
+to go to Paris. Supposing Ashton took it into his head
+to come back while he was away? Supposing he went
+home and found Esther there?</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span></div>
+<p>He tried to believe that it was not at all likely, but at
+the last moment, as he got into the train and received
+his ticket from the solemn Driver, Micky said&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know where to find me if anything happens&ndash;&ndash;if
+anything should be the matter?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo; Driver raised wooden eyes to his master&rsquo;s
+face. &ldquo;Was you expecting anything to happen, sir?&rdquo;
+he asked stolidly.</p>
+<p>Micky got red. &ldquo;No, you fool!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; Driver retorted unmoved.</p>
+<p>And so Micky went to Paris. It was dark when he
+got there, and he drove at once to a small and unpretentious
+hotel in a narrow side street, where he had never
+been before, but of which he had heard from Philips.</p>
+<p>After all, it was only for a few nights. He did not
+want to stay in Paris long&ndash;&ndash;Paris always bored him, but
+he made a little grimace as he looked up at the windows
+of the hotel. It certainly was a rotten-looking little
+show, he thought as he followed the concierge into the
+hall. This, too, was small and unpretentious, with a polished
+floor and wicker chairs scattered about. There
+was a kind of winter garden leading from the lounge,
+where a few neglected palms and ferns were struggling
+for an existence, and the whole place was silent, almost
+deserted.</p>
+<p>Micky was too late for dinner, but a smiling host,
+with a short dark beard, assured him that he could have
+a most excellent supper in less time than he would enumerate
+of what that supper would consist. Micky said
+he didn&rsquo;t care what it was. He followed his suit-case
+up the wide, shallow stairs to a quaint little room with
+a low ceiling and polished floor.</p>
+<p>He was beginning to feel more at home after all; one
+could be quiet here and not be eternally running up
+against people whom one knew; he felt more cheerful
+when he went down to his supper.</p>
+<p>He asked the waiter if there were many people staying
+there. His tone of voice sounded as if he sincerely hoped
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span>
+there were not, and the waiter tactfully submitted that
+the place was almost empty.</p>
+<p>Micky proceeded with his supper.</p>
+<p>It was nearly ten o&rsquo;clock, but he went out into the
+lounge when he had finished and sat down at a table in
+one of the most secluded corners.</p>
+<p>There were pen and ink and a supply of hotel note
+paper, which Micky looked at with great satisfaction,
+before he took up a pen, carefully examined the nib,
+squared his elbows and began to write.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;My darling&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky wrote the words hurriedly and covered them
+over with a sheet of blotting paper as if they made him
+feel guilty.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought I should have been leaving Paris before now, but
+have been delayed. I shall be staying here till the end of the
+week and am writing this so that you can let me have a letter
+before I leave. I hope you have received both my other letters
+safely, and are quite well and as happy as possible, seeing that
+we cannot be together&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>He sat back for a moment and looked at this frowningly,
+then he wrote on hurriedly.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to miss me, you see&ndash;&ndash;I want you to feel as I do,
+that there is only one thing to look forward to and that is when
+we shall be together again. Dearest, it seems now that I have
+never really told you how well I love you. Some day, if all
+that I wish for comes true, I will tell you the many things you
+would not let me say when we were last together....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s pen flew easily enough. For the moment he
+had forgotten why and for whom he was writing, and
+thought only of Esther as she had looked when he last
+saw her with the tears wet on her cheeks.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Write to me as soon as you get this, so that I may have
+a letter to take with me when I leave. I shall watch for every
+post and count the minutes till it comes. I have arranged with
+my bankers to send the money to you every week. Dearest, if
+this is not enough, please let me know, and I will send some
+more....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span></div>
+<p>Micky scratched out the last five words, finally rewriting
+the whole page to add</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;... Let me know and we must see what can be done.
+I cannot bear to think that you are wanting anything which it is
+in my power to give you. Tell me all about yourself; if you
+are well and happy&ndash;&ndash;and how often you think of me. I shall
+write again soon, perhaps to-morrow ... and till then, and
+for ever, I am always yours, Micky ....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>He added his own signature without noticing it, then
+realised what he had done and rewrote the last page in
+a panic.</p>
+<p>Supposing he had sent it!&ndash;&ndash;it made him hot all over
+to think what would have happened. He would have to
+be more careful, he told himself severely. He carefully
+directed the letter and went out to post it, then he went
+to bed in the little room with the low ceiling and lay
+awake half the night.</p>
+<p>Now the letter had gone he wished he had never sent
+it; after all, it was cheating Esther. It was not fair to
+make her write to him; he felt that he had behaved like
+a cur ... he tossed and turned from side to side.
+Perhaps she would not write! He almost hoped she
+would not. When at last he dozed off it was almost
+daybreak; when he woke it was eleven o&rsquo;clock and the
+sunshine was pouring into his room.</p>
+<p>He had a bit of a headache and felt wretched; he drank
+four cups of strong coffee and went out.</p>
+<p>He avoided the popular thoroughfares; he sauntered
+about till lunch time and then went back to the hotel.
+Apparently the waiter had spoken the truth when he said
+the place was almost empty, for only two of the twenty
+tables were occupied beside his own.</p>
+<p>Micky felt bored; he made up his mind to tell Philips
+what he thought of his recommendation when he got
+back to London. He slept all the afternoon, then dressed
+and went off to dinner at the hotel where he and Driver
+stayed when they were last in Paris. Here at least was
+a welcome; most of the waiters recognised him; the attention
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span>
+was excellent, and he got a decent dinner. The
+hotel was full, but though Micky looked suspiciously at
+every one who came in, he recognised nobody.</p>
+<p>He wondered how long he had got to stay in Paris.
+Esther could not get his letter and send a reply that
+would arrive in less than three days; he calculated that
+he could not get back to London before Sunday morning.</p>
+<p>And Esther was going to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s on Saturday.</p>
+<p>He had just finished his dinner when the swing doors
+opened and a man came into the room with a lady in
+evening dress.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at them, and his heart began to race&ndash;&ndash;for
+the man was Raymond Ashton, and the woman,
+Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow.</p>
+<p>Ashton saw Micky at once, and his face fell into almost
+comical lines of dismay, but he pulled himself together
+at once and spoke to the woman beside him.</p>
+<p>Micky knew Mrs. Clare slightly; he rose and went
+towards them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I heard you were in Paris,&rdquo; he said. He shook hands
+with Mrs. Clare; she was rather a pretty little woman,
+small and plump, with round, meaningless eyes and a
+friendly smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to the opera,&rdquo; Ashton said. &ldquo;Mrs. Clare
+is not staying here, but she very kindly consented to come
+and dine with me. Are you staying here, Micky? When
+did you come over?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Last night; and I&rsquo;m not staying here. Just dropped
+in for some grub.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better dine with us,&rdquo; Ashton said, but he did
+not sound very enthusiastic.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed. &ldquo;Thanks, but I have dined. I was
+just leaving when you came in.&rdquo; He thought of Esther,
+and his face hardened. This was the man of whom she
+was thinking all day and every day; this man who was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span>
+so obviously going to try and marry Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little
+widow.</p>
+<p>He stood talking to them for a few moments, then excused
+himself.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t told me where you are staying,&rdquo; Ashton
+said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;and I&rsquo;m going away to-morrow anyway....
+When are you coming back to town?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton looked quickly at his companion. &ldquo;Oh, not yet
+awhile,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I see.&rdquo; Micky met his eyes steadily. &ldquo;By the way,
+I got your letter,&rdquo; he said after a moment. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t
+ask about that letter you gave me. I posted it&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Raymond turned crimson. &ldquo;The letter&ndash;&ndash;oh yes, thanks&ndash;&ndash;thanks,
+very much. You didn&rsquo;t take it then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I posted it.&rdquo; Micky&rsquo;s voice was flinty.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Er&ndash;&ndash;thanks awfully!&rdquo; Ashton said again. He twisted
+his moustache nervously. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll see you some other time,&rdquo;
+he said with a rush. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll drop you a line.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Right oh!&rdquo; said Micky laconically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope I shall see you again too, Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; Mrs.
+Clare said. She thought she was saying the right thing.
+She thought these two men were friends, and she was
+sufficiently in love with Raymond to wish to be liked by
+his friends.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, Mrs. Clare,&rdquo; Micky said stolidly. &ldquo;But I
+am going back to London to-morrow; I am afraid I shall
+have very little time, though I should be delighted, of
+course&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He felt rather sorry for this woman. After all, she
+was harmless and good natured, she deserved a better
+fate than to be snapped up by a good-looking fortune-hunter.</p>
+<p>He was getting into his coat in the lounge when Ashton
+came after him. He looked worried and abashed; he
+asked a hurried question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s all right, eh, Micky?&ndash;&ndash;Lallie, I mean&ndash;&ndash;I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span>
+thought from the way you looked just now&ndash;&ndash;she&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;s
+all right&ndash;&ndash;eh?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear chap&ndash;&ndash;how should I know? She never answered
+my letter, though I sent the money, as you
+wished. I thought you would have heard.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I told you I didn&rsquo;t mean to write&ndash;&ndash;I said that I wanted
+the whole affair cut out,&rdquo; Ashton said irritably.</p>
+<p>Micky made no response.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She sure to be all right, anyway,&rdquo; Ashton said after a
+moment. &ldquo;If she hadn&rsquo;t I should have heard&ndash;&ndash;eh?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked at him coolly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You rather sound as if you were expecting to hear
+she&rsquo;d done something foolish&ndash;&ndash;jumped off Waterloo
+Bridge or something&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said drily.</p>
+<p>Ashton laughed. &ldquo;Well, you never know,&rdquo; he said
+heartlessly. &ldquo;Women are such queer creatures&ndash;&ndash;and
+Lallie was so excitable; she said more than once that
+she&rsquo;d do away with herself&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s all rot, of course, but
+... what did you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; said Micky curtly. &ldquo;Good-night.&rdquo; He
+turned on his heel and went out.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIV' id='CHAPTER_XIV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky stayed in Paris four days; the four longest
+days of his life.</p>
+<p>He wandered about killing time and wishing
+everything and every one at the bottom of the sea.</p>
+<p>It seemed impossible that he had ever managed to
+have a good time over here&ndash;&ndash;the noise and bustle of the
+streets got on his nerves; the things that had always
+amused him before bored him and left him cold; he
+thought of London with a deadly sort of home-sickness.</p>
+<p>Esther did not mean to write to him, he was sure, and
+in some ways he hoped she would not; he realised that
+he was playing a mean trick on her, cheating her out of
+fond words and a love-letter to which he had not the
+smallest claim.</p>
+<p>He tried to salve his conscience by making up his mind
+to leave on the Monday morning whatever happened; if
+there was no letter by that time there would never be
+one. Esther would have gone to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s. It was
+surprising how much he hated the thought of her being
+with Raymond&rsquo;s mother. During the interminable hours
+when he walked about Paris trying to kill time he thought
+out all manner of possibilities that might result from this
+unforeseen contingency. Mrs. Ashton might get fond of
+Esther&ndash;&ndash;and if she got fond of Esther, well&ndash;&ndash;who knew
+what might happen in the future in spite of Tubby
+Clare&rsquo;s little widow? He had not run across Ashton
+again, and he sincerely hoped that he would not.</p>
+<p>When Monday morning came he packed his portmanteau
+before he left his room&ndash;&ndash;there would be no letter
+for him, so he might as well clear out and go home without
+making a further fool of himself. There was not
+the least hope in his heart when he went to the bureau
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
+and asked for letters; the reply came as it had done each
+morning: &ldquo;Nothing for monsieur....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky turned away. He was half way to the dining-room
+before it suddenly dawned upon him that they did
+not know he was expecting letters in the name of Ashton&ndash;&ndash;that
+he had forgotten to tell them. He went back
+hurriedly to the bureau.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Any letters for Ashton?&ndash;&ndash;I am expecting one for a
+friend of mine of that name....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited breathlessly while the girl sorted through
+the pigeon-holes on the wall; he felt as if he could hardly
+breathe when she came back with a grey envelope in her
+hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mais oui....&rdquo; she said smilingly. &ldquo;I did not
+know it was for monsieur....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mickey almost snatched it from her; he had not even
+glanced at the writing, but he knew it must be from
+Esther. He sat down at the breakfast table with his
+thoughts in a whirl; he was sure that the waiter must
+know how excited he felt. He ordered coffee and rolls
+before he opened the envelope; he laid it down on the
+cloth beside him and stared at it very much as a sentimental
+girl might stare at her first love-letter, hesitating
+to open it, wishing to prolong the ultimate delight.</p>
+<p>Finally he cut it open carefully and drew out the contents.
+His pulses were racing, he did not know if shame
+or delight were the greatest emotion in his heart; he
+glanced at the first two words and the blood rushed to
+his face.</p>
+<p>It seemed almost sacrilege to read what she had written
+to the man she loved&ndash;&ndash;he pushed the paper back into
+its envelope&ndash;&ndash;he did not look at it again till he had
+finished his pretence of a meal, then he took it out with
+him into the rather dingy winter garden and sat down in
+the quietest corner he could find.</p>
+<p>There he faced the greatest moment of his life; as to
+whether he should go on with this thing or wipe it out
+of his life once and for all.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span></div>
+<p>Ashton had done with Esther; he was as sure of that
+as he was sure that Ashton meant to marry Mrs. Clare.
+This being so, was it wrong of him to try and give Esther
+some happiness in place of what she had lost? She had
+refused to marry him&ndash;&ndash;she had said that she could never
+care for him; could he hope to make her change her
+mind? In his heart he was sure that he could; he wanted
+her so badly that it seemed to him as if the very force
+of his desire must compel some return from her.</p>
+<p>He sat staring down the dismal garden with moody
+eyes. He knew it was a big risk; he thought of her as
+he had first seen her and as he had last seen her. He
+had never once really thought that she looked happy&ndash;&ndash;she
+had never quite lost the shadow in her eyes or the
+droop to her lips which he had at first noticed, and he
+wanted her to be happy. He wanted her happiness far
+more than he wanted his own.</p>
+<p>He took the letter from his pocket and looked at the
+address on the envelope. &ldquo;Raymond Ashton, Esq....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He hated the sight of that name&ndash;&ndash;some day Esther
+would hate it too, when she knew how he had deceived
+her.</p>
+<p>It was a great risk&ndash;&ndash;but ...</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll chance it,&rdquo; said Mickey under his breath, and
+drew out the letter again.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>My Darling Boy</span>,&ndash;&ndash;You can never know how glad and happy
+I was to get your letter to-night and to know that I can really
+write to you at last. I have been so miserable during these weeks
+in spite of all your goodness&ndash;&ndash;and you have been good. It makes
+me feel mean and ungrateful now when I remember how horrid
+I often was to you before you went away. When you come back
+I will make it all up to you, and show you how nice I really can
+be, because I do love you&ndash;&ndash;I have never loved any one but you.
+Thank you so much for the money you have sent me&ndash;&ndash;I was very
+much down on my luck when it came. They haven&rsquo;t a vacancy
+for me just now at Eldred&rsquo;s, or else they did not want me back,
+and I am going to try and find another berth. I am living in a
+new boarding-house, as you will see; it&rsquo;s ever so much nicer than
+the Brixton Road, and I shall be able to stay on now you are so
+generously sending me money. I have made a nice friend
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span>
+here, too, a girl named June Mason&ndash;&ndash;she tells me that she knows
+your mother, and you, too!&ndash;&ndash;I did not let her know how well I
+knew you, dear, as I thought perhaps you would rather I said
+nothing about it. She has a man friend who sometimes comes to
+see her&ndash;&ndash;a Mr. Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;she thinks the world of him, but I
+think he is detestable....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Mickey caught his breath hard. After a moment he
+went on reading:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;June tells me he is very rich, and quite a &lsquo;somebody,&rsquo; but I
+cannot see anything out of the ordinary about him, and he isn&rsquo;t a
+bit good looking. He knows you, too&ndash;&ndash;but he does not say much
+about you. Dearest, it seems such a long time since I saw you&ndash;&ndash;and
+I cannot help wondering if you really miss me and want me
+as much as I want you.... Sometimes I would give just
+anything to lay my head on your shoulder and say how much I
+love you. I&rsquo;m very lonely, really; though June is so kind she
+isn&rsquo;t any one of my very own, is she? And now I wonder if you
+will be very angry with me if I ask you something? I don&rsquo;t
+think I should have dared to, only your last letters have been so
+dear and kind. Raymond, why can&rsquo;t I come out to you and be
+with you? We could get married, and we should be ever so happy
+even if we have to be poor&ndash;&ndash;at least, I know I could, and from
+your letters, somehow I think it sounds as if you, too, have realised
+that there isn&rsquo;t much happiness away from me. I have had
+the offer of a good post&ndash;&ndash;I won&rsquo;t tell you what it is, as I want
+it to be a surprise to you if I do take it. But if you would like
+me to come, I will just leave everything and come to you. Couldn&rsquo;t
+you send me a wire when you get this letter? I shall be longing
+and waiting to hear from you. I am a little bit afraid in my
+heart, really, now I have written this, but your last letter is lying
+beside me, and I keep peeping at it and reading what you say
+there, and somehow I feel that it&rsquo;s going to be all right.&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p class='ralign'>With all my love for ever and ever, <span class='smcap'>Lallie</span>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Mickey sat there staring down at her signature a long
+time after he had reached the end.</p>
+<p>Then he moved slowly as if it cost him an effort. He
+was rather pale now, and there was a hard line round
+his mouth. So that was how she thought of him! Somehow
+he had not imagined how much it would hurt to
+read the fond words and to know all the time that they
+were written to another man. And to a man so unworthy!
+He thought of Ashton as he had seen him
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span>
+three nights ago with Mrs. Clare; of his callous questioning
+about Esther; of his almost brutal remarks, and
+it made his blood boil.</p>
+<p>He could picture her so well&ndash;&ndash;waiting for a wire that
+would never come.</p>
+<p>He hated Ashton at that moment. His brows almost
+met above his eyes in a scowl as he went up to the bureau
+and asked for his bill. The smiling French girl sobered
+a little meeting his gaze; for once she did not dare to
+smile or dimple; she gave him his account silently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, but they are funny, these English;&rdquo; she told her
+father afterwards. &ldquo;To-day he had no smile, the tall
+monsieur&ndash;&ndash;not even one little smile!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She watched Micky across the lounge with interested
+eyes as he sat down at one of the tables and proceeded to
+write a letter. It took him a long time, and twice she
+saw that he tore up what he had written and flung it
+into the wastepaper basket, but at last he had finished,
+and getting up, stalked away.</p>
+<p>Celeste ventured out then&ndash;&ndash;there was nobody about,
+and tiptoeing across the lounge, took the torn papers
+from the paper-basket. They were torn across and
+across, but on one or two slips the writing was visible,
+and she carried them back with her to the shelter of the
+bureau.</p>
+<p>She spread them out on the desk before her, carefully
+piecing them together. She knew English quite well,
+and she soon made out one sentence:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is not that I do not love you&ndash;&ndash;I have never loved
+you better than at this moment&ndash;&ndash;but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Celeste was sentimental. She gave a big sigh of
+sympathy for the big Englishman. &ldquo;No wonder he has
+no smile!&rdquo; she told herself. &ldquo;<i>C&rsquo;est si triste!</i>&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XV' id='CHAPTER_XV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>It was raining and miserable when Micky arrived in
+London. The roads were wet and slippery, and every
+taxi and omnibus splashed pedestrians with mud.</p>
+<p>Micky shivered as he stood waiting while a porter
+lugged his traps down from the rack. He had felt
+depressed in Paris, but now London seemed a thousand
+times worse. The sight of Driver waiting on the platform
+annoyed him. He answered the man&rsquo;s stolid greeting
+snappishly. He had wanted to come home, and yet
+now he was here he wished himself a thousand miles
+away. He leaned back in a corner of the taxi and shut
+his eyes.</p>
+<p>The last four days had got on his nerves; Esther&rsquo;s
+letter in his pocket was like an eternal reproach.</p>
+<p>Why had he come back at all? She did not want
+him&ndash;&ndash;nobody wanted him in the whole forsaken world.
+The silence of his flat seemed a thing to be dreaded in
+his present mood. Driver&rsquo;s inscrutable face would, he
+felt, drive him mad. With sudden impulse he leaned
+forward and called to the chauffeur, &ldquo;Stop&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve changed
+my mind&ndash;&ndash;drive me back to the Savoy....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There would be life there, at any rate&ndash;&ndash;life and people
+and music&ndash;&ndash;something to make a man forget the depression
+that sat like a ton weight on his shoulders.</p>
+<p>He felt utterly at a loose end; he stalked moodily into
+the lounge. There were many people there, girls in pretty
+dinner frocks, with their attendant cavaliers. Micky
+glanced at none of them, till suddenly a girl who had
+been sitting on a couch listening rather listlessly to the
+conversation of a youth beside her, rose to her feet when
+she saw Micky, the hot colour flying to her cheeks.</p>
+<p>For a moment she hesitated, waiting for him to look
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span>
+at her, to speak&ndash;&ndash;but Micky had stalked by without turning
+his eyes, and after the barest second she followed
+and touched his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky....&rdquo; she said breathlessly, and again
+&ldquo;Micky,&rdquo; with an odd little catch in her voice.</p>
+<p>Micky turned as if he had been shot, then stopped
+dead, colouring up to the roots of his hair, for the girl
+was Marie Deland.</p>
+<p>She smiled tremulously, reading the distress in his
+eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought I was never going to see you any more,&rdquo;
+she said. She tried hard to speak casually, but her voice
+quivered a little. &ldquo;Where have you been hiding all this
+time, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stammered out that he really didn&rsquo;t know&ndash;&ndash;that
+he&rsquo;d only just come back from Paris&ndash;&ndash;that he did
+call to see her one night, but that they told him she
+wasn&rsquo;t in. She broke in there impetuously&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know; I&rsquo;m so sorry. It wasn&rsquo;t my fault. I was
+there all the time. Mother&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She stopped, biting her
+lip, but there was no need to explain further. Micky
+could well imagine that it was by Mrs. Deland&rsquo;s orders
+that the butler had said &ldquo;Not at home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His heart was full of remorse as he looked down at
+Marie. Such a little while ago he had thought of her
+as his wife. He had fully meant to marry her.</p>
+<p>He broke out again agitatedly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know you must think I&rsquo;m an awful sweep. I&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;oh,
+I can&rsquo;t explain.&rdquo; He glanced past her to where the
+rather vapid-looking youth to whom she had been speaking
+sat tugging at an incipient moustache.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you doing here?&rdquo; he asked again. &ldquo;Who
+are you with?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She told him that she was with her married sister
+and some friends.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have dinner here,&rdquo; she said. She
+was longing to ask Micky to dine with them, but was
+obviously afraid to do so.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span></div>
+<p>After a moment&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I ought to be going,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Violet
+will wonder where I am, Micky.&rdquo; She looked up at him
+with abashed eyes. &ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I suppose&ndash;&ndash;you wouldn&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;will
+you come out to tea with me to-morrow?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s face reflected the flush in her own; he looked
+away in miserable embarrassment. He knew that she
+felt the same towards him as she had done before that
+memorable New Year&rsquo;s Eve, and he knew that whatever
+happened now he could never feel the same to her any
+more.</p>
+<p>He answered that he would be pleased, very pleased.
+Where should he meet her&ndash;&ndash;or should he call for her?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll meet you,&rdquo; she said quickly. &ldquo;You know where
+we always used to go&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll be there at four, Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She put out her hand and Micky was forced to take
+it; he felt how her fingers shook in his, and he cursed
+himself for a brute as he turned away and left her.</p>
+<p>In a way he was glad they had met. Any other
+woman would have given him the snubbing which he
+knew he so richly deserved. Deep down in his heart he
+wished that she had done so; anything would have been
+easier to meet than this trembling overture of friendship.
+He knew that the little abashed expression in Marie&rsquo;s
+dark eyes could only mean one thing, that he had cut
+her to the soul and that she still cared for him.</p>
+<p>He left the Savoy without having any dinner; he
+went back to his rooms, where the imperturbable Driver
+was brushing and refolding his master&rsquo;s clothes. It had
+almost broken Driver&rsquo;s heart to see the way in which
+Micky had packed his things; he raised eyes of wooden
+reproach as Micky entered the room.</p>
+<p>There was a pile of letters on the table. Micky flicked
+them through carelessly; nothing of interest&ndash;&ndash;a few bills
+and a good many invitations; nothing from Esther&ndash;&ndash;not
+even a note from June.</p>
+<p>He sat down by the fire and proceeded to cut the
+many envelopes open. He kept thinking of Marie and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span>
+wondering if it would be kinder not to meet her to-morrow,
+after all; if he could possibly write her a note that
+would tactfully explain the situation.</p>
+<p>He just glanced at each of the notes as he opened
+them, and let them drop to the carpet at his feet. They
+could be answered later; there was nothing of importance,
+nothing he ... his attention was arrested:&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;<span class='smcap'>Dear Mr. Mellowes</span>,&ndash;&ndash;I wonder if it will be asking too much
+of you to come round and see me one afternoon for half an
+hour?&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p class='ralign'>Yours sincerely, <span class='smcap'>Laura Ashton</span>.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky glanced quickly at the address at the top of
+the paper&ndash;&ndash;it was from Raymond&rsquo;s mother.</p>
+<p>What in the world could she want with him, he
+wondered blankly. He looked across at Driver.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This note&ndash;&ndash;the one that came by hand&ndash;&ndash;when did
+it come?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>Driver replied that it had been there for two days.
+He waited a moment, then went on brushing Micky&rsquo;s
+coat.</p>
+<p>Micky felt rather disturbed.</p>
+<p>Raymond&rsquo;s mother! What in the wide world could
+she want with him? Supposing it were anything to do
+with Esther ...</p>
+<p>He wrote a note in reply at once and said he would
+call the following afternoon; he could just look in early
+for half an hour and go on afterwards to meet Marie;
+it was strange how he dreaded both these appointments.</p>
+<p>He felt ridiculously nervous when he reached Mrs.
+Ashton&rsquo;s house. For the first time it occurred to him
+that possibly Esther would be here too.</p>
+<p>He was kept waiting some minutes in the drawing
+room&ndash;&ndash;minutes during which he wandered restlessly
+about staring at the pictures and the photographs.</p>
+<p>There were many portraits of Raymond&ndash;&ndash;Raymond
+at all stages of his chequered career, smiling and handsome.
+Micky turned his back on them with a feeling
+of disgust.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span></div>
+<p>The door opened behind him, and, turning sharply,
+he found himself face to face with Mrs. Ashton.</p>
+<p>She came forward with outstretched hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is kind of you, Mr. Mellowes. I did not know
+you had been away till I got your note this morning.
+I was wondering why I had had no reply to mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky blurted out that he had been in Paris&ndash;&ndash;that he
+only came back yesterday evening.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s face changed a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paris! Have you been with that son of mine?&rdquo;
+she asked sharply.</p>
+<p>Micky coloured. &ldquo;I met him&ndash;&ndash;quite by chance, though.
+We were not together more than a few minutes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She smiled rather ironically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you got tired of him at last, then?&rdquo; she asked.
+She moved over to the fire. She looked back at Micky
+quizzically. &ldquo;I have often wondered how you put up
+with his friendship so long, Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; she added
+rather sadly.</p>
+<p>Micky felt embarrassed. He had always liked Mrs.
+Ashton. He stammered out that he and Raymond had
+always been very good friends.</p>
+<p>She drew her chair a little closer to the fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well&ndash;&ndash;then, perhaps, you will be kind enough
+to answer a question I am going to ask you. Mr. Mellowes,
+what was the name of that girl at Eldred&rsquo;s whom
+Raymond was always about with before Christmas?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The question was so unexpected that Micky was utterly
+taken aback. Before he was aware of it he had told a
+lie.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&ndash;&ndash;at least, he always spoke of her as
+&lsquo;Lallie.&rsquo; I never once saw him with her, Mrs. Ashton&ndash;&ndash;he
+never introduced me to her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked rather incredulous.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And yet you were such friends,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Micky coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Our tastes were not always identical,&rdquo; he said rather
+stiffly. &ldquo;I am not very interested in women, and he&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;And he is,&rdquo; she finished for him. &ldquo;There is no need
+to tell me that&ndash;&ndash;I know my son. So you cannot tell
+me the name of this girl? I had hoped that you would
+be able to do so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky met her eyes unflinchingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I dare say I could find out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If she is
+still at Eldred&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She is not there.&rdquo; Mrs. Ashton looked up at Micky
+with an anxious line between her handsome eyes. &ldquo;Mr.
+Mellowes, I have always prided myself on my sense of
+justice, and somehow lately I have got an uncomfortable
+feeling that when I forbade Raymond to have anything
+more to do with that girl it would have been better if
+I had advised her to have nothing more to do with him.
+He is my son, and perhaps it seems strange for me to
+speak about him like that, but you cannot have been
+friends with him all these months without finding him
+out, so I need not apologise. Raymond is just his father
+over again....&rdquo; She paused, and a painful little
+smile curved her lips.</p>
+<p>She looked at Micky rather pathetically. &ldquo;There is no
+need for me to say any more, is there?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer. He had heard many stories
+about Raymond&rsquo;s father, all more or less unsavoury, and
+he knew that from all accounts Mrs. Ashton had been
+greatly to be pitied during his lifetime.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So if you can&rsquo;t help me in this,&rdquo; she went on
+presently, &ldquo;I am afraid I have brought you here for
+nothing. I want to find out who this girl is, and see
+her for myself.&rdquo; She paused, but Micky&rsquo;s face was
+inscrutable.</p>
+<p>In his heart he was convinced that she did not believe
+him, but he had no intention of telling her Esther&rsquo;s
+name; he longed to know if Esther were in the house,
+but, of course, it was impossible to ask.</p>
+<p>It almost seemed as if Mrs. Ashton could read his
+thoughts, for she said suddenly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know, Mr. Mellowes, that I am going to
+have a companion?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky echoed her last word vacantly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Companion?&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;er....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, a girl,&rdquo; Mrs. Ashton went on; &ldquo;I have always
+envied people with daughters; a daughter is so much
+more to a mother than a son; but as I was not fortunate
+enough to have one of my own I am going to try having
+a companion. Raymond will be annoyed, I dare say&ndash;&ndash;he
+has always pooh-poohed the idea when I have mentioned
+it to him, but now&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she shrugged her shoulders
+and sighed impatiently. &ldquo;Well, he can no longer
+object, I think, seeing that he is to be married himself....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky made a little quick movement, almost knocking
+over a vase of flowers standing at his elbow; he
+recovered himself with an effort.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Married?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Why, I thought....&rdquo; he
+broke off. &ldquo;He did not say anything about it to me
+when I met him in Paris,&rdquo; he said lamely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No?&rdquo; Her handsome eyes searched his agitated face
+critically. &ldquo;Well, he is to be married all the same,&rdquo;
+she said. &ldquo;I heard from him only this morning. He
+is engaged to Tom Clare&rsquo;s widow&ndash;&ndash;Tubby Clare, I
+believe he was always called.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XVI' id='CHAPTER_XVI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>When Micky left Mrs. Ashton he raced off to
+meet Marie.</p>
+<p>She was looking quite her prettiest, in dark
+furs with a bunch of violets in the breast of her coat,
+but Micky would not have noticed if she had been
+shabby, his thoughts were elsewhere. He did not even
+see that she wore the bracelet he had given her for a
+Christmas present, or remember that he had once told
+her violets were his favourite flowers.</p>
+<p>He apologised breathlessly for being late.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I had an appointment,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;Raymond&rsquo;s
+mother; she wrote and asked me to call this afternoon.&rdquo;
+He hesitated, then added, &ldquo;Did you know that Raymond
+is going to be married? Oh, but, of course, you cannot
+know, as Mrs. Ashton only knew this morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Marie&rsquo;s dark eyes opened; like most women, she
+loved to hear of an engagement or marriage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;At last!&ndash;&ndash;not to&ndash;&ndash;surely not to
+that little girl at Eldred&rsquo;s?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky flushed angrily. Did every one know about
+Esther? he asked himself savagely. He answered shortly
+that it was to Mrs. Clare, Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow.</p>
+<p>Marie looked amazed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But we all thought&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she said, then stopped,
+remembering that Micky and Raymond had been great
+friends. &ldquo;I hope he&rsquo;ll be happy,&rdquo; she said lamely.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed shortly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t deserve to be.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She made no comment.</p>
+<p>There was an excited flush in her cheeks, and a nervous
+note in her voice when she spoke; it was like old times
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span>
+to be here with him again, until she met his eyes across
+the little table, and then it seemed as if she were looking
+into the face of a stranger, a man who was like Micky&ndash;&ndash;enough
+like him to hurt, and yet not Micky at all.</p>
+<p>She aroused herself to amuse him. Micky had always
+told her she cheered him up in the old days, but this
+afternoon he answered her in monosyllables, and she
+saw with bitter mortification how often he looked at the
+clock. At last she was driven to remark on it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky, are you in a hurry to get away?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She asked the question lightly, but there was a strained
+note in her voice.</p>
+<p>Micky did not look at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;no, not at all,&rdquo; he said hurriedly. &ldquo;But I suppose
+we ought to be moving soon....&rdquo; There was
+a little pause. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been nice seeing you again,&rdquo; he
+added with an effort.</p>
+<p>She sat staring down at her plate. Her pretty colour
+had faded; she was very pale, and she bit her lip hard
+to hide its trembling.</p>
+<p>Suddenly she looked up at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;may I ask you a question?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A hundred if you like.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She picked up a teaspoon and twisted it nervously.
+Micky watched her with apprehension; he knew what
+was coming, and his heart sank.</p>
+<p>If only she would be content to leave things as they
+were; if only she would accept the friendship he was
+willing to give and close the book of the past for ever.</p>
+<p>He did not understand that it was because she cared
+for him so much that at the risk of losing her self-respect
+and pride she must ask him for the truth, must
+know ...</p>
+<p>He heard her catch her breath, then suddenly she
+spoke:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky ... why was it? What have I done?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a quiver in her voice that set him on edge;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span>
+he could not stand the sound of unhappiness in any
+woman&rsquo;s voice, and he had once thought he loved
+Marie....</p>
+<p>He answered without looking at her, realising that
+it was kinder to tell the truth out and have done with
+it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I meant to have written to you&ndash;&ndash;I hope some day
+you will try and forgive me, but ... but....&rdquo;
+He could not go on for the life of him, but he had said
+enough, and he knew that she understood.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You mean ... you mean that there is some one
+else?&rdquo; she asked with stiff lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; He looked at her white, stricken face, and
+felt himself a brute.</p>
+<p>It seemed an eternity before she could steady her
+voice enough to speak.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is it&ndash;&ndash;is it some one I know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, dear,&rdquo; said Micky very gently. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t any
+one you have ever seen&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She picked up her big muff suddenly and held it so
+that her face was hidden; the little word of endearment
+that had escaped Micky&rsquo;s lips had almost broken her
+down. This was the end of all she had ever hoped for,
+and for the moment she could not choke the anguish in
+her heart.</p>
+<p>The following silence seemed unending; then she
+looked round for her gloves, and put them on, buttoning
+them with shaking fingers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am ready if you are,&rdquo; she said. She did not look
+at him, but it felt like dying to walk beside him out
+of the shop and into the cold air and know that perhaps
+this was the last time they would ever be alone, he and
+she. Once her steps faltered a little, and Micky put
+out his hand to steady her, but she drew away from him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Please don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said in a whisper.</p>
+<p>There was a taxi waiting at the roadside, and Micky
+called to the man. There was a slight cold drizzle of
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span>
+rain falling as he held open the door. He would have
+followed but she stopped him. &ldquo;I should like to go
+alone, if you don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked up, and for a moment he saw her face in
+the light of the taxi lamp; such a white, quivering face
+it was.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Marie!...&rdquo; said Micky in a choked voice, but
+she waved him away.</p>
+<p>He stood there on the kerb till the taxi had whirled
+out of sight, and once again he asked himself desperately
+if it were all worth while, if he were not throwing away
+the real thing for a chimera.</p>
+<p>There was probably a no more unhappy man in London
+at that moment than Micky Mellowes.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XVII' id='CHAPTER_XVII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther had spent a week indoors with a cold,
+and it was the longest she could ever remember.
+June was kindness itself, and fussed and petted
+and made much of her, but the days dragged.</p>
+<p>There was only one thing to live for&ndash;&ndash;the post! And
+though the rat-tat rang through the house three or four
+times a day, there was never anything for Esther.</p>
+<p>Her own letter to Paris remained unanswered. The
+telegram for which she longed never came.</p>
+<p>June watched her with a mixture of sympathy and
+impatience.</p>
+<p>What was the good of putting all one&rsquo;s eggs in the
+same basket? she asked herself crossly. What was the
+good of falling in love if nothing better than unhappiness
+ever came of it? She began to hate the phantom
+lover, as she called him, with increased hatred.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;re strong enough to go yet, you
+know,&rdquo; she said to Esther one afternoon when they were
+sitting together in the firelight. &ldquo;Write and tell Mrs.
+Ashton you can&rsquo;t come for another week, or that you
+can&rsquo;t go at all. I do wish you would.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I promised to go, and I must do something. I shall
+be all right by Monday. Mrs. Ashton has waited long
+enough as it is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked pale and ill, June thought angrily, and
+put it all down to &ldquo;that man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Has Mr. Mellowes come back from Paris yet?&rdquo;
+Esther asked suddenly. June was faintly amazed; Esther
+never spoke of Micky. She answered rather dubiously
+that she did not know.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I expect he&rsquo;s having such a good time that he&rsquo;ll stay
+for weeks,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;I wish he would come back,
+I want him to get on with my business....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes....&rdquo; announced Lydia at the door.</p>
+<p>June scrambled to her feet with a scream of delight.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky! you villain! we were just talking about you.
+When did you come back? Why haven&rsquo;t you been before?
+What have you been doing?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She dragged him over to the fire; she fussed over him
+and told him he was just in time for tea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther&rsquo;s been indoors a week with a cold,&rdquo; she explained.
+&ldquo;No, don&rsquo;t you get up, Esther. Micky won&rsquo;t
+mind....&rdquo; She pushed Esther back amongst the
+sofa pillows. &ldquo;Poor darling! She&rsquo;s really been quite ill,&rdquo;
+she declared.</p>
+<p>Micky said formally that he was sorry that she was
+not well, but that the weather was enough to kill anybody;
+he added that he had been in town since Sunday,
+but ...</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Four days, and you&rsquo;ve not been to see me!&rdquo; said June.
+&ldquo;What a shame, to neglect us so!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been busy,&rdquo; Micky defended himself; &ldquo;I expected
+to hear you had gone to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s,&rdquo; he said to
+Esther.</p>
+<p>She raised her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;I am going on Monday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Micky blankly.</p>
+<p>June had opened the door and was calling over the
+balusters to Lydia for hot water.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And bring lots of it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re thirsty....&rdquo;
+She came back into the room. &ldquo;The postman&rsquo;s just
+come,&rdquo; she said with a nod and a smile to Esther. &ldquo;Lydia
+will bring our letters up if there are any.&rdquo; She turned
+again to Micky. &ldquo;Well, truant! And what have you
+been doing? Having a good time?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I have not,&rdquo; Micky said decidedly. &ldquo;Paris is
+not what it used to be, or I am not!&rdquo; He laughed.
+&ldquo;How&rsquo;s the swindle?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span></div>
+<p>June began to answer, but stopped as Lydia came into
+the room. She brought a jug of hot water. June danced
+up to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No letters? I thought I heard the postman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One for Miss Shepstone,&rdquo; Lydia said smilingly.</p>
+<p>Micky looked across at Esther&ndash;&ndash;her whole face was
+transformed as she turned eagerly with outstretched
+hand.</p>
+<p>There was a moment of silence, then she gave a little
+sigh of utter contentment. June sniffed inelegantly&ndash;&ndash;Micky
+looked hard into the fire; his heart was thumping;
+that letter ought to have been delivered yesterday, he
+knew; it was cursed bad luck that it should arrive while
+he was here.</p>
+<p>There was a little silence in the room while Esther
+opened it. She seemed to have forgotten that she was
+not alone. Her pale cheeks were flushed and her whole
+face tremulous.</p>
+<p>June was bustling about, making a great clatter with
+the teacups. Micky got up and began to prowl round
+the room; his nerves felt jumpy. Because he knew so
+well who had written that letter he was sure every one
+else must know it too. Presently June nudged him as she
+passed. When he looked at her she made a little grimace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it awful?&rdquo; she said in a stage whisper.</p>
+<p>Micky smiled stiffly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t I help get the tea?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Toast some
+buns or something?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t any to toast,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;Sit down
+and make yourself at home. Esther!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she raised her
+voice elaborately&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;are you going to have any tea, my
+child?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had come to the end of her letter; she folded
+it hurriedly and put it away; she cast a quick look at
+Micky, but he did not see it. June was chattering away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So Esther is going on Monday,&rdquo; she informed Micky,
+&ldquo;and I shall be left once more to my lonesome. I&rsquo;m
+not at all sure that I shall stay on myself,&rdquo; she added.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span>
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been so jolly having some one to share this room
+with me that I&rsquo;m not looking forward to my own eternal
+company.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I may not go after all,&rdquo; Esther said suddenly. There
+was a note of nervousness in her voice. She coloured,
+meeting June&rsquo;s amazed eyes.</p>
+<p>June screamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not go! Well, I never!&rdquo; She sat down in a heap
+on the hearthrug staring at Esther. &ldquo;I never knew such
+a girl,&rdquo; she complained. &ldquo;Micky, I appeal to you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Micky was not going to be appealed to; he was
+stolidly stirring his tea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I can change my mind if I like?&rdquo; Esther
+said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it isn&rsquo;t you who have changed your mind,&rdquo; June
+cut in ironically. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that phantom lover
+of yours has said in his letter. Own up, now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, and if it is?&rdquo; Esther demurred. &ldquo;I suppose
+he has a right to say what he likes, hasn&rsquo;t he?&rdquo; But
+she was laughing as she spoke; she felt wonderfully
+happy and light-hearted. &ldquo;I believe you&rsquo;re jealous,&rdquo; she
+declared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Jealous, indeed!&rdquo; said June indignantly. Then suddenly
+she sighed. &ldquo;Well, perhaps I am; who knows?
+What does he say? or mayn&rsquo;t we ask?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky had stopped stirring his tea; there was a sort
+of intentness about his big figure.</p>
+<p>Esther looked at him, and suddenly she stiffened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never mind what he says,&rdquo; she answered defensively.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, all right&ndash;&ndash;sorry if I was inquisitive.&rdquo; She deliberately
+turned and began talking to Micky; Esther was
+left to herself, but she did not mind, she had enough
+now to think about. The longed-for letter had come
+at last.</p>
+<p>She woke from her reverie with a start when Micky
+rose and said he must be going.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you be so long before you come and see
+me again,&rdquo; June said in her downright way. &ldquo;And don&rsquo;t
+go without that sample, Micky&ndash;&ndash;it will go in your pocket
+quite easily.&rdquo; She darted off to her room to fetch it,
+and Micky moved a step nearer to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have had good news?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>She looked up startled.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s eyes flamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That being so, of course, it is useless for me to ask
+if you have changed your mind yet?&rdquo; he said again.</p>
+<p>Esther gave a stifled cry.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you trying to insult me?&rdquo; she asked under her
+breath.</p>
+<p>He half smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am, if it&rsquo;s an insult to ask you to marry me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was no time for more. June came back then
+with her hands full of samples, which she proceeded to
+stuff into Micky&rsquo;s pocket.</p>
+<p>He submitted laughingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Supposing I get run over!&rdquo; he said resignedly.
+&ldquo;People will think I&rsquo;ve been robbing a beauty shop.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It will be a fine advertisement for me, anyway,&rdquo;
+June declared. &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you see all the halfpenny papers
+coming out with great headlines? Tragic Death of a
+Young Millionaire! Pockets Stuffed with June Mason&rsquo;s
+Skin Food!&rdquo; She laughed merrily. &ldquo;That would be
+worth something, eh, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Heartless woman!&rdquo; he answered. He turned to
+Esther. &ldquo;Good-bye, Miss Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was glad that he did not offer to shake hands
+with her; she was glad that June went to see him off.
+As soon as the door had closed on them she took her
+letter out again; she pressed the paper to her lips.</p>
+<p>It was worth waiting for, worth the heartache and
+disappointment; she closed her eyes for a moment and
+thought of Raymond Ashton. How she must have misjudged
+him in the past. It did not seem true now that
+they had ever quarrelled, or parted in anger; that she
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span>
+had ever been so unhappy that she did not want to
+live....</p>
+<p>June came running up the stairs; she was singing
+cheerily; Esther smiled as she listened ... it must be
+wonderful to be always as happy and light-hearted as
+June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, dreamer?&rdquo; said June. She shut the door with
+a little slam and came over to where her friend sat.
+&ldquo;A penny for your thoughts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at Esther&rsquo;s flushed face in the firelight.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And so everything is all right after all, eh?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p>Esther nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I&rsquo;m not really going to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s after all,&rdquo;
+she said with a sort of shamefaced delight. &ldquo;Only I
+didn&rsquo;t want to say so in front of Mr. Mellowes....
+Oh, aren&rsquo;t you glad?&rdquo; she asked anxiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear, of course I am!&rdquo; said June heartily. &ldquo;But
+for the life of me I can&rsquo;t understand how it is that this
+man of yours has got such an influence over you. He&rsquo;s
+only got to hold up his little finger and you&rsquo;re on your
+knees. I&rsquo;m beginning to think he must be a kind of
+wonder after all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not answer for a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He isn&rsquo;t at all wonderful, really,
+except to me, and&ndash;&ndash;and I love him, you see,&rdquo; she added
+shyly. &ldquo;I suppose every man is wonderful to the woman
+who loves him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Until she&rsquo;s his wife,&rdquo; said June tartly. &ldquo;And then
+she thinks he&rsquo;s all sorts of an idiot, and tells him so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Esther was too happy to take her seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve never been in love,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;or you wouldn&rsquo;t
+talk like that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I never wish to be in love, thank you,&rdquo; said
+June. &ldquo;If you and Micky are samples of objects who
+are in love....&rdquo; She made a little grimace, screwing
+up her nose in disgust.</p>
+<p>Esther coloured.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky!&rdquo; she said, surprised into using his Christian
+name. &ldquo;Is he in love? How do you know he is?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a bat, and I haven&rsquo;t known Micky years
+for nothing. He hasn&rsquo;t been himself for a long time.
+I&rsquo;ve seen it, though I haven&rsquo;t said a word. He&rsquo;s in love
+right enough, there can&rsquo;t be any other explanation, seeing
+that he&rsquo;s too rich to ever be in debt, and they are the
+only two things that ever make a man miserable,&rdquo; she
+added.</p>
+<p>Esther wondered if June was trying to sound her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who the wretched female is,&rdquo; June
+went on, puckering her brows. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to guess, but
+it&rsquo;s no good. There was a Miss Deland he used to go
+about with at one time, but I know that&rsquo;s all off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Was he engaged to her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;not really! But her people wanted it, and Micky
+didn&rsquo;t mind; he&rsquo;d have drifted into it sure enough if
+something very tremendous hadn&rsquo;t happened to make him
+change his mind. I know Micky&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;d have slipped into
+matrimony as easily as he gets into a taxi, unless some
+one had turned him away from it.&rdquo; She glanced down
+at the letter in Esther&rsquo;s lap. &ldquo;Tell me what he says,&rdquo;
+she coaxed. &ldquo;Take pity on a poor creature who hasn&rsquo;t
+a phantom lover of her own, or a real one either,&rdquo; she
+added laughing.</p>
+<p>Esther hesitated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m never quite sure whether you&rsquo;re laughing at me
+or not,&rdquo; she said nervously. &ldquo;I know you don&rsquo;t mean
+to, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laid her hand on Esther&rsquo;s lap.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I laugh at every one and everything,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But
+it&rsquo;s only my way, and doesn&rsquo;t mean anything. Perhaps
+I&rsquo;m a bit jealous&ndash;&ndash;because you love this phantom lover
+so much better than you love me,&rdquo; she added.</p>
+<p>Esther drew the letter from its envelope.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll read you just a few little bits,&rdquo; she said shyly.
+The blood surged into her pretty face.</p>
+<p>June leaned back in a corner and closed her eyes. She
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span>
+held a cigarette between her lips and puffed at it lazily.
+There was a little silence; then Esther said suddenly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t. It makes me feel too self-conscious. But
+he just says that he doesn&rsquo;t want me to go into any berth
+just yet. He says that he may be home very soon
+now....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said June chagrined. &ldquo;And then, of course,
+you&rsquo;ll be married and live happily ever after....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther. &ldquo;I hope so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June opened her eyes.</p>
+<p>Charlie, curled up on his cushion, started to purr lazily.
+Presently June flopped down on her knees beside him
+and began stroking his head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll let me have Charlie when you&rsquo;re married, won&rsquo;t
+you?&rdquo; she said suddenly. &ldquo;I am sure the phantom lover
+won&rsquo;t want him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther did not answer; she hated herself for remembering
+that Raymond had once said he loathed cats.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I told you how Micky went into a pond after a
+drowning kitten, didn&rsquo;t I?&rdquo; June asked reminiscently.
+&ldquo;I should have loved him for that alone, if for nothing
+else....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther made no comment. She moved a little, and
+the letter slipped from her lap to the floor.</p>
+<p>June picked it up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Or is it sacrilege to touch it?&rdquo; she asked teasingly.
+She laid it on Esther&rsquo;s lap.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I couldn&rsquo;t help seeing the writing,&rdquo; she said,
+after a moment. &ldquo;And, do you know, it&rsquo;s awfully like
+Micky&rsquo;s! If I hadn&rsquo;t known it wasn&rsquo;t his I should have
+declared it was,&rdquo; she said rather disconnectedly.</p>
+<p>Esther grabbed the letter up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, it isn&rsquo;t his, anyway,&rdquo; she said sharply.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XVIII' id='CHAPTER_XVIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther wrote to Mrs. Ashton that same night and
+told her she must regretfully decline the offered
+position; she gave no reason, but she permitted
+herself a little sigh of regret when the letter was dispatched.</p>
+<p>She would like to have gone; she would like to have
+seen Raymond&rsquo;s home and to have got to know his
+mother, but it was his wish that she should not go.</p>
+<p>She tried to believe that she was happy in the knowledge
+of his love, but in her heart she knew that she was
+restless and dissatisfied.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If I had something to do I should be ever so much
+happier,&rdquo; she told June again and again, and June quite
+agreed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be awful, killing time,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;When I
+think of the life I used to lead at home before I started
+trying to improve people&rsquo;s complexions, I wonder I didn&rsquo;t
+go mad. Nothing but silly tea-parties and scandal....
+Ugh! But all the same Micky and I agreed that you
+wouldn&rsquo;t like being at Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky!&rdquo; said Esther scornfully. &ldquo;As if I care what
+he thinks....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked mildly amazed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, all right,&rdquo; she said smoothly. &ldquo;I suppose I may
+mention his name sometimes, mayn&rsquo;t I?&rdquo; She began
+to laugh. &ldquo;Do you know that for once in my life I&rsquo;ve
+been totally wrong with regard to you two? I was so
+sure you&rsquo;d more than like each other&ndash;&ndash;I even thought it
+quite possible that Micky might fall in love with you&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;re
+so exactly suited to him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad you think so,&rdquo; said Esther drily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry
+I can&rsquo;t oblige you by agreeing.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span></div>
+<p>June said &ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; She yawned. &ldquo;All the same,&rdquo;
+she added after a moment, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m convinced that things
+would have been different if it hadn&rsquo;t been for that
+phantom lover of yours; you&rsquo;re so crazy about him.&rdquo;
+There was a touch of exasperation in her voice.</p>
+<p>Esther flushed angrily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s absurd of you to talk like this,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Mr.
+Mellowes is the last man on earth I should ever have
+looked at, even supposing Raymond....&rdquo; She had
+spoken the name before she was aware of it; in her
+momentary flash of temper the secret she had so carefully
+guarded escaped her.</p>
+<p>It was too late to attempt to cover what she had said;
+she knew by the sudden expression of June&rsquo;s face that
+she had heard.</p>
+<p>There was a poignant silence, then June sat up with
+a little jerk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course, that&rsquo;s let the cat out of the bag,&rdquo; she said
+curtly. &ldquo;And you let me run him down! How mean,
+how unutterably mean of you, Esther!... I can&rsquo;t
+think now why I never guessed! Raymond Ashton!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had flushed scarlet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never said that was his name,&rdquo; she tried to defend
+herself. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s purely your imagination. And even supposing
+it is, do you think I mind what you say about him,
+or Mr. Mellowes either? Neither of you know him as
+I do, or you would never say such cruel, wicked things.&rdquo;
+She stopped with a sob in her voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then it is Raymond Ashton?&rdquo; June said gently. She
+got up and came over to where Esther was sitting. &ldquo;Oh,
+I am sorry I said anything about him!&rdquo; she cried impulsively.
+&ldquo;You ought to have stopped me. How on
+earth was I to know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care what you said; it&rsquo;s all untrue,&rdquo; Esther
+protested stormily. &ldquo;Nothing you could ever say about
+him would influence me or make me feel any differently.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June got up for a cigarette; when she was nonplussed
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+she invariably had to smoke; she took several agitated
+puffs before she looked at her friend again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, anything I said was in absolute innocence, you
+know that,&rdquo; she said in distress. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d no more idea than
+the dead that you and he.... So that&rsquo;s why he
+doesn&rsquo;t want you to go to his mother?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t know; I never told him it was to Mrs.
+Ashton&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;I just said I had had an offer of a berth. I
+suppose you are trying to make out now that he&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Heaven bless the child!&rdquo; June cried. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying
+to make out anything! I&rsquo;m struck all of a heap like!
+as Lydia says. So he&rsquo;s the phantom lover, is he?...
+Well&ndash;&ndash;I can&rsquo;t find any words to suit the case.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a phantom lover,&rdquo; Esther protested. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s
+a real lover, a very real lover.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June stopped and took her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to let you quarrel with me over him, no
+matter how badly you want to,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;No man is
+worth two friends having a row over. I&rsquo;m quite prepared
+to take him to my arms and love him if you do....
+Oh, Esther, don&rsquo;t look like that!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There were tears in Esther&rsquo;s eyes, and her lips were
+trembling. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re making fun of me,&rdquo; she protested.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unkind of you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June turned away; she wondered if perhaps, after all,
+she and every one else had thoroughly misunderstood
+Raymond, and if this girl&rsquo;s warm championing of him
+was deserved.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not nearly good enough for her,&rdquo; she was telling
+herself indignantly. &ldquo;She&rsquo;ll never really be happy with
+him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you won&rsquo;t tell Mr. Mellowes, or any one else,&rdquo;
+Esther was saying defiantly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want my affairs
+talked over by every one.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall not tell any one,&rdquo; June said quietly.</p>
+<p>She stood looking down into the fire, and her face was
+troubled.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span></div>
+<p>Presently she walked to Esther, and, stooping, kissed
+her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m awfully glad I know,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It makes our
+friendship seem so much more real.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled faintly.</p>
+<p>But June was ill at ease. She felt instinctively that
+things were not all right.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t the man himself,&rdquo; she told herself obstinately.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s some foolish, mistaken ideal of him that she has
+created.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She wondered what he really was doing in Paris.
+Micky would know&ndash;&ndash;he and Micky had been such great
+friends. There would be no harm in speaking of him
+to Micky, at least that would not be betraying any secret
+or confidence.</p>
+<p>She rang Micky up the following morning. She made
+the excuse that she wanted to see him on business. She
+took him to lunch at her club.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t look well,&rdquo; was her greeting. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s
+the matter, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky frowned. If there was one thing he hated it
+was for any one to remark on his appearance. He
+answered brusquely that he had never been better in
+his life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By the way, I was going to write when you rang
+up,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got some tickets for a first night
+to-morrow. Would you care to come along and&ndash;&ndash;and
+bring Miss Shepstone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June beamed. She liked going out with Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should love it,&rdquo; she said with enthusiasm. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t
+answer for Esther, though.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Try to persuade her,&rdquo; he urged carelessly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t
+suppose she&rsquo;s been about much; it would do her good.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She told me she loves theatres,&rdquo; June admitted; &ldquo;but
+the trouble will probably be that she hasn&rsquo;t got a dress.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A dress?&rdquo; Micky echoed vaguely. &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you lend
+her one of yours?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span></div>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear boy, she&rsquo;s much taller than me and slimmer.
+... However, I&rsquo;ll see what can be done. Where shall
+we meet you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll call for you at seven. We&rsquo;ll have some grub first.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good! And if Esther won&rsquo;t come?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, well, if she won&rsquo;t, you come along, of course;
+but try and persuade her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s refused Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s offer, you know,&rdquo; June
+said presently. She kept her eyes lowered; she felt self-conscious
+and guilty.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Has she?&rdquo; Micky did not sound particularly interested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; the phantom lover objected, or something, and
+I think it&rsquo;s just as well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She said something about it when I had tea with you
+the other day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June nodded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So she did. I dare say that wretched Raymond would
+have tried to make love to her if she had gone,&rdquo; she
+added deliberately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s away just now,&rdquo; Micky said quickly. &ldquo;I ran
+across him when I was over in Paris last week.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked up quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you? What&rsquo;s he doing there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing particular; he often goes over, you know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stand that man,&rdquo; June said, after a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No?&rdquo; Micky&rsquo;s voice was casual.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never could see why you were so thick with him,&rdquo;
+she went on.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed lazily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps because I haven&rsquo;t your gift of second sight,
+my dear,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t have thought it would need second sight
+to see what he is,&rdquo; June declared.</p>
+<p>She looked across at Micky and was surprised by the
+hard expression of his face. &ldquo;I hate men who flirt,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span>
+she added. &ldquo;Micky, do you know that I&rsquo;ve got a kind
+of feeling about Esther&rsquo;s phantom lover that he doesn&rsquo;t
+really exist?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky sat up with sudden attention.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I mean that he isn&rsquo;t really a tangible man,&rdquo; she explained
+haltingly.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, he is,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>June caught her breath.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean&ndash;&ndash;oh, do you mean that you know
+him?&rdquo; she asked excitedly.</p>
+<p>Micky met her eyes with a faintly ironical smile in
+his own.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I know him,&rdquo; he answered hardily. &ldquo;And so
+do you. My dear, I may be very green, but your careful
+questioning wouldn&rsquo;t deceive a mouse.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky!&rdquo; said June indignantly. She flushed all over
+her face, and her queer eyes blazed angrily. She really
+felt that she had a done a dreadful thing in having
+allowed him to guess.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t look so upset,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve
+not told me anything; I knew it long before you did.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When? How&ndash;&ndash;oh, Micky, do tell me!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing to tell. Ashton often spoke about
+her to me. I knew she was at Eldred&rsquo;s, and&ndash;&ndash;well that&rsquo;s
+all,&rdquo; he added lamely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All!&rdquo; said June disappointedly. &ldquo;But surely you know
+more than that! What do you think of him? Do you
+think he really cares for her? Oh, Micky, do you think
+he&rsquo;s good enough for her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky looked away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know that it matters very much what I think,&rdquo;
+he said drily. &ldquo;She&ndash;&ndash;she loves him apparently, and that&rsquo;s
+all that counts, I imagine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, she loves him right enough,&rdquo; June admitted
+gloomily. &ldquo;It was quite an accident that she told me
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
+his name, of course, and she made me promise not to
+tell any one, particularly you. I suppose because she
+knows that you and he were friends.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Possibly, if she does know. I rather doubt if Ashton
+said much to her about me, though. He used to keep
+things to himself a good deal.&rdquo; He picked up the menu.
+&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going to have anything more to eat? I
+thought you were hungry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not now; I&rsquo;m too excited. Micky, when you saw
+him in Paris, didn&rsquo;t he say anything, ask you anything?
+Oh, it all seems so extraordinary!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear girl, what could he ask me?&rdquo; Micky objected
+gently. &ldquo;I never discuss&ndash;&ndash;Miss Shepstone with him, and
+he is not in the least likely to tell me his private affairs,
+and I&rsquo;m sure I don&rsquo;t want to know them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June was silent for a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther is laying up trouble for herself,&rdquo; she said then.
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think she is?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t thought about it,&rdquo; Micky maintained stolidly.
+&ldquo;And if you take my advice, you won&rsquo;t either. It never
+does to meddle with other people&rsquo;s affairs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But she&rsquo;s my friend,&rdquo; June objected hotly. &ldquo;And do
+you mean to say that I have got to stand by and see her
+ruin her life?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s not married yet,&rdquo; he said laconically. &ldquo;Have
+some tipsy cake, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t want any more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I do. Waitress....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was a deliberate attempt to change the conversation,
+and June knew it; she sat back in her chair frowning.</p>
+<p>She supposed Micky would not talk about Ashton because
+he was his friend; men were so absurdly loyal to
+one another.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you loved Esther as much as I do,&rdquo; she said suddenly,
+&ldquo;you wouldn&rsquo;t stand by and say nothing while she
+goes and marries that man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was prodding the tipsy cake with a fork.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;She hasn&rsquo;t married him yet,&rdquo; he said stoically. &ldquo;And
+if she&rsquo;s happy&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She isn&rsquo;t, my good man! at least only in theory!&rdquo;
+June declared. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not Raymond Ashton she really
+cares for, but some wonderful person she thinks he is.
+She is looking at him through rose-coloured glasses.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what most women do, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he asked.
+&ldquo;My dear girl, don&rsquo;t get so upset; I thought you wanted
+to bring me out to talk business.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is business, my business at least, even if you&rsquo;re
+not interested. No wonder you didn&rsquo;t want her to go
+to Mrs. Ashton&rsquo;s!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well&ndash;&ndash;I thought it would be better not, certainly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June regarded him severely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a deep soul,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I never even guessed
+that you knew anything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why should you? And I don&rsquo;t know anything. Can&rsquo;t
+we talk about something else?&rdquo; he asked plaintively.</p>
+<p>It was getting on his nerves, this constant conversation
+about Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So you&rsquo;ll come along to-morrow, eh?&rdquo; he asked
+presently. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long time since we went for a little
+jaunt together.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall love it.&rdquo; But June answered absently; her
+thoughts were still with Esther.</p>
+<p>Silence fell. Micky had finished his tipsy cake and
+was leaning back in his chair, a cigarette hanging dejectedly
+between his lips. He had lit it, but it had gone
+out, and though matches stood beside him he made no
+effort to light it again.</p>
+<p>June watched him across the table. He didn&rsquo;t look a
+bit well, she thought. What was the matter with him?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know, Micky,&rdquo; she said impulsively, &ldquo;I had quite
+made up my mind that you and Esther were to fall in
+love with one another. It would have been ideal, wouldn&rsquo;t
+it?&rdquo; she asked wickedly.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span></div>
+<p>A little spasm crossed Micky&rsquo;s face, but it was gone
+so quickly June could never be quite sure if she had not
+imagined it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ideal,&rdquo; he said quietly. &ldquo;Shall we go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll let you know about to-morrow,&rdquo; June said, as
+they parted. &ldquo;I shall have to wear the same old purple
+frock I wore when you took me out last time; you won&rsquo;t
+mind?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not a bit, as long as you come; and ... let me
+know about Miss Shepstone. If she won&rsquo;t come I&rsquo;ll give
+the ticket away.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll let you know,&rdquo; said June vaguely.</p>
+<p>She walked home deep in thought. So Micky had
+known all along? She was not quite sure that she was
+pleased with him for keeping the fact from her. They
+had been such pals, he and she; surely he might have
+trusted her and told her!</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I&rsquo;m not to be trusted with a secret, though,&rdquo;
+she thought with a comical sigh. &ldquo;Look how easily I
+gave Esther&rsquo;s away!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Tea was ready when she got in, and Esther and Charlie
+sat curled up together in the firelight.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got an invitation for us both to-morrow night,&rdquo;
+June said, even as she opened the door.</p>
+<p>Esther looked up eagerly; she had had rather a dull
+day of it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A theatre,&rdquo; said June. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s from Micky. I tell you
+at once, so you shan&rsquo;t throw cold water on it. He&rsquo;s got
+some seats for a first night, and asks us both to go. What
+do you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t a dress,&rdquo; said Esther promptly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I told him you&rsquo;d say that,&rdquo; June answered calmly,
+&ldquo;and he said it didn&rsquo;t matter&ndash;&ndash;or something to that effect.
+Micky never notices what you wear,&rdquo; she went on airily.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to wear an old purple rag that I&rsquo;ve had for
+about forty years.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed. &ldquo;I dare say I can buy one in time,&rdquo;
+she said; she did not intend Micky to think she could
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span>
+not afford a frock. &ldquo;I think I should rather like to go,&rdquo;
+she added shyly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good!&rdquo; June hid the amazement she felt. &ldquo;Well,
+Micky&rsquo;s going to call for us and take us out to dinner
+first. It&rsquo;ll be a scrumptious dinner&ndash;&ndash;Micky always does
+the thing in style!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of him to ask me,&rdquo; Esther said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; June demanded. &ldquo;Oh, you mean because you
+don&rsquo;t like one another? But that wouldn&rsquo;t trouble Micky;
+he&rsquo;d take you out if he hated the sight of you, he&rsquo;s so
+kind-hearted.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you for a doubtful compliment,&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>She was making plans rapidly in her mind. Micky
+had never seen her well dressed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I had another cheque from Raymond this morning,&rdquo;
+she said flushing. &ldquo;So it will come in useful. I can get
+a ready-made frock&ndash;&ndash;I shan&rsquo;t look so bad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll look an angel whatever you wear,&rdquo; said June
+affectionately. &ldquo;I know a little woman just off the Brompton
+Road who&rsquo;ll fix you up,&rdquo; June said eagerly. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s
+got the tiniest shop, but it&rsquo;s cram full of the sweetest
+things. She&rsquo;s awfully nice, too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t afford much,&rdquo; Esther said dubiously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She won&rsquo;t charge you much,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s
+a friend of mine. She has my creams on her counter.
+It&rsquo;s a fine advertisement, you see. She gets lots of
+actresses and smart people in, and they ask what it is,
+and try a jar and send for more, and, there you
+are!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If she&rsquo;s too expensive&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she protested.</p>
+<p>But she ended by paying much more than she had
+originally intended. There was such a gem of a frock&ndash;&ndash;black
+velvet and a white transparent bodice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You look a duck!&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t she,
+Fifine?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But the mirror told Esther how charming she really
+looked without any further words.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I really ought not to have spent so much,&rdquo; she said
+as they went home. &ldquo;But it is rather nice, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky will be absolutely bowled over,&rdquo; June declared.
+&ldquo;I shall have to take a back seat all the evening.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And Micky apparently was &ldquo;bowled over,&rdquo; judging by
+the look that crept into his eyes when he arrived and
+found Esther alone in the sitting-room.</p>
+<p>June was late, as usual; she called out to him from
+her room that she wouldn&rsquo;t be half a minute.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no hurry,&rdquo; Micky answered quickly. He went
+over to where Esther stood, a little flushed and shy in
+her new frock.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very kind of you to come,&rdquo; he said rather agitatedly.
+She looked up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very kind of you to ask me,&rdquo; she answered. She
+felt much more at her ease with him now. She knew
+that she was looking particularly pretty. &ldquo;And it isn&rsquo;t
+the first time we have had dinner together, is it?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p>He answered eagerly that he was glad she remembered;
+he had almost thought she must have forgotten.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I shall never forget that, though it seems so long
+ago since that night. I was unhappy then, but now....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But now?&rdquo; he asked as she paused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now everything has come right,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;You
+said you were sure it would, if you remember.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His face changed a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am glad I was such a good prophet,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>June came bustling in; she was flushed and breathless,
+and laden with flowers, fan, and gloves, all of which
+she dropped to the sofa.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite ready. Esther, where&rsquo;s my cloak? Do find
+it, there&rsquo;s an angel. Oh, and my slippers&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve got everything
+else....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But it was at least another ten minutes before they
+were in the taxi and racing away through the night.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve booked a table at Marnio&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;I hope
+you like Marnio&rsquo;s, June?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I like anything to-night,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going
+to enjoy myself thoroughly, whatever happens.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky glanced at Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And you, Miss Shepstone?&rdquo; he asked rather nervously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther&rsquo;s too excited to speak,&rdquo; June answered for her.
+&ldquo;Oh, are we here already?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She led the way into the lounge of the big restaurant;
+Micky was well known here apparently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Every one in London knows Micky,&rdquo; June whispered
+to Esther with a sort of pride. &ldquo;Look at the attention
+he gets!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther glanced at him; probably anybody with Micky&rsquo;s
+money could get the same attention, she thought.</p>
+<p>There were a good many people in the lounge; Esther
+looked at them interestedly. Some of the women were
+beautifully dressed, but the black and white frock held
+its own bravely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You look nicer than any of them,&rdquo; June told her.
+&ldquo;I knew&ndash;&ndash;hullo!&ndash;&ndash;Micky&rsquo;s found a friend.&rdquo; She looked
+across to where he was standing, and Esther followed
+her gaze.</p>
+<p>Micky was talking to two ladies&ndash;&ndash;one of them was
+young and rather pretty, and the other&ndash;&ndash;Esther&rsquo;s face
+flushed suddenly, and she bit her lip hard, for the other
+was Mrs. Ashton, Raymond&rsquo;s mother.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XIX' id='CHAPTER_XIX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther unconsciously put out her hand and
+grasped June&rsquo;s arm; she would have given anything
+had it been possible to run away. She saw Mrs.
+Ashton turn and look towards where they were standing,
+and in another moment she had crossed the lounge and
+was shaking hands with June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was just inviting Mr. Mellowes to come and dine
+with us,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But he tells me he already has an
+engagement.&rdquo; Her eyes smiled at June. &ldquo;I suppose you
+are the engagement?&rdquo; she submitted.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>A string band was playing a ragtime tune when they
+entered the restaurant. To Esther&rsquo;s unaccustomed eyes
+the room with its flowers and many lights was the most
+wonderful place she had ever seen. She kept close to
+Micky as he threaded his way through the small tables
+till he found their own, rather at the end of the room
+and away from the noisy band.</p>
+<p>He put Esther into a comfortable chair and himself
+took her cloak.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mind being left while I go back for June?&rdquo;
+he asked hurriedly; &ldquo;she seems to have got lost.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked after him as he went quickly back down
+the length of the room. She liked him in evening dress.
+If only it had been Raymond instead!&ndash;&ndash;she stifled a little
+sigh; she meant to enjoy herself this evening; she was
+not going to allow one single despondent thought.</p>
+<p>June and Micky rejoined her almost at once.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought some one had eloped with you,&rdquo; June said
+laughingly. &ldquo;Where did you get to? Micky, how hot
+this room is&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m just stifling!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She threw off her wrap and snatched up a paper fan
+from the table. Micky sat down between the two girls.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Shepstone didn&rsquo;t want to see Mrs. Ashton, I
+rather fancy,&rdquo; he said coolly. He looked at Esther with
+a slight smile in his eyes. &ldquo;I believe she was afraid Mrs.
+Ashton would demand a reason for having had her kind
+offer so cavalierly refused,&rdquo; he went on banteringly.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I believe I was,&rdquo; she admitted. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m an awful
+coward over explaining things to people.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So am I,&rdquo; said Micky drily. He was wondering
+how he was ever going to explain the most difficult occurrence
+of his whole life, and if, when he had done so, it
+would ever be believed.</p>
+<p>He looked at Esther a great deal during dinner; he
+had never seen her so animated; her eyes were sparkling,
+and her cheeks were flushed; she talked a great deal,
+and was particularly friendly to him; he was quite sorry
+when it was time to go on to the theatre.</p>
+<p>As they left the restaurant he noticed that she kept
+close to him again, and that she looked anxiously round
+for Mrs. Ashton.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s upstairs in the gallery.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She smiled. She thought he was very quick to understand
+her. Raymond had never seemed to understand
+things without an explanation. She wished he had been
+rather more like Micky in some ways; she wished&ndash;&ndash;she
+looked up at Micky guiltily; how could she compare the
+two men?&ndash;&ndash;the one whom she loved, and the other
+whom she did not even like!</p>
+<p>They were late, and the curtain had risen when they
+were shown into their seats. The theatre was dark, and
+Esther could hardly see her way. She put out her hand
+with a smothered laugh and felt for Micky&rsquo;s. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t
+see,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>His fingers closed about hers; such a little hand it
+felt. He wondered why she was being so kind to him
+to-night. He did not realise that she was enjoying
+herself so much that she felt on good terms with the
+whole world.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span></div>
+<p>Esther sat between him and June, and Micky hardly
+looked at the stage at all. His eyes turned again and
+again to her rapt face and the eagerness of her eyes.</p>
+<p>She had been to theatres lots of times, so she told him
+in a whisper, but never in the stalls before. She asked
+him if he didn&rsquo;t like some of the frocks worn by the
+people close by.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s eyes flashed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not so well as yours,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>She drew away from him a little, and he wished he
+had not said it. In that one moment he felt that he had
+broken down all the friendliness she had shown him that
+evening. She did not speak again for some time.</p>
+<p>In the interval June leaned over to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you bored, Micky? You look bored to death.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stifled a sigh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said rather wearily.</p>
+<p>His eyes wandered round the crowded house. There
+were several people in the stalls whom he knew. He
+noticed that people were looking at Esther, and he felt
+a little thrill of pride.</p>
+<p>They were wondering who she was, of course. He
+wished with all his heart that he could stand up in his
+seat and announce to an interested world that she was
+the woman he intended to marry.</p>
+<p>When the light went down again Esther leaned a little
+closer to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; Micky bent his head towards her eagerly. He
+could hear her agitated breathing, hear too the little
+quiver in her voice when she spoke.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you see who was in that box on the right?&ndash;&ndash;the
+lower box.... I thought it was Mrs. Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky answered casually that very likely it was.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Odd, eh,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that we should dine at the same
+place and have tickets for the same show?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther said &ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;yes&rdquo; twice in nervous hurry.</p>
+<p>There was something strained and unnatural about her,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span>
+and though Micky could not see her face clearly he knew
+that something had happened to distress her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; he asked anxiously. &ldquo;Is anything the
+matter?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.... No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She sat very still till the curtain fell again, but Micky
+had the feeling that she was not paying the least attention
+to what was going on on the stage, and he knew that her
+eyes turned again and again to the stage box. What
+was she afraid of, he asked himself in perplexity, even
+if Mrs. Ashton did see her and recognize her, surely&ndash;&ndash;then
+in a flash he knew ... the light had been turned
+up suddenly, and in that moment he saw the figure of
+a man move quickly from the front of the box to the
+screen of the curtains.</p>
+<p>Micky gripped the arms of his seat; for the moment
+he could not move.</p>
+<p>It was Raymond&ndash;&ndash;he knew it as certainly as if he had
+been told.</p>
+<p>No doubt he had seen Esther, whilst she ... poor
+child! Had she seen him too?</p>
+<p>He looked down at her; she was sitting up stiffly,
+her hands clasped in the lap of the new frock of which
+she had been so innocently proud; her face was as white
+as the soft tulle of her sleeves, and her eyes were fixed
+on the box with its velvet curtains where Mrs. Ashton
+sat laughing and chatting with a girl in a pink frock.</p>
+<p>They both turned from time to time to some one who
+stood behind them in the shadow; once the curtains
+moved a little and a man&rsquo;s hand and arm showed distinctly.</p>
+<p>Micky could bear it no longer; he touched Esther&rsquo;s
+clasped hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you ill?&ndash;&ndash;would you like me to take you out?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But she shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, no ... please leave me alone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June had discovered a friend in a seat a row or two
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+ahead with whom she was trying to carry on a conversation;
+she had no eyes for Micky or Esther. Micky gave a
+sigh of relief when the lights were lowered again; he
+could feel all that Esther was suffering, he could put
+himself in her place so thoroughly.</p>
+<p>If he went round to the box and made sure if it were
+Ashton, perhaps that would be the best way; he could
+manage to give him the tip then to keep out of the way.
+He half rose in his seat, but Esther moved at once, laying
+her fingers on his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t go&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t leave me here,&rdquo; she said tremulously.</p>
+<p>It was not the man himself she wanted, but his presence
+somehow gave her a feeling of confidence; if, indeed,
+it was Raymond up there in the box. She tried to argue
+herself out of the fancy; he would have let her know if
+he had come to London&ndash;&ndash;surely she would have been the
+first to whom he would have come; she was mad to ever
+think the man up there in the background could be Raymond.</p>
+<p>But the conviction was there in her mind.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is he&ndash;&ndash;I know it&rsquo;s he,&rdquo; something in her heart was
+saying over and over again obstinately.</p>
+<p>The rest of the play seemed endless; she rose with a
+quick breath of thankfulness when it was over.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are in a hurry,&rdquo; June said. &ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you enjoyed
+it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, oh yes, but it&rsquo;s hot&ndash;&ndash;I want to get out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was deliberately being as slow as he could&ndash;&ndash;he
+blocked the way out obstinately; the stalls were almost
+empty when at last they left them.</p>
+<p>June touched his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;is&ndash;&ndash;Esther ill? Look how white she is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was some little way ahead of them; she seemed
+to be trying to get out as quickly as possible.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too hot for her, poor darling!&rdquo; June said.
+&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed savagely.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but Ashton was up in that
+box with his mother, and she saw him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He silenced her with a frown. He followed
+Esther as quickly as he could, but she was outside
+in the cold night air before he overtook her. There
+was a crowd here too&ndash;&ndash;rows of cars and carriages outside,
+and women in thin evening frocks and furs shivering
+in the cold wind.</p>
+<p>Micky drew Esther&rsquo;s hand through his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We shall find our cab this way, I think,&rdquo; he said
+evenly.</p>
+<p>He had seen Mrs. Ashton only a few yards away, and
+he dreaded every moment that Esther would see her, and
+see, too, who was with her.</p>
+<p>A sudden block in the crowd momentarily hindered
+them, and in that second a man&rsquo;s light laugh rang out
+above the noise and chatter of voices.</p>
+<p>Micky felt the girl beside him give a convulsive start.
+She tried to drag her fingers from his, but he held them
+fast.</p>
+<p>The crowd was moving again now; a second, and
+Raymond and his mother were lost to sight.</p>
+<p>Micky had slipped an arm round Esther; he was white
+to the lips. He knew now how near he had been to
+discovery and the wreck of all his hopes. He tried to
+pretend that he did not understand the cause of her
+agitation. He looked down at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Better now you&rsquo;re in the air?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;It was hot
+in the theatre. I&ndash;&ndash;Esther&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had swung heavily against him, and looking down
+in sudden alarm, Micky saw that she had fainted.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XX' id='CHAPTER_XX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Looking back to that night at the theatre it always
+seemed to June Mason that she had been most
+extraordinarily blind in not seeing before that it
+was Esther for whom Micky Mellowes cared.</p>
+<p>One glance at his face as he lifted the girl in his arms
+told her more than any words would have done; there
+was a sort of indescribable rage and pain in his eyes as
+he looked down at the white face lying against his shoulder.</p>
+<p>People gathered about them, curious and sympathetic.
+June heard some one say that it had been so &ldquo;deuced
+hot in the theatre, no wonder people fainted,&rdquo; but she
+knew all the time that it was nothing to do with the
+heat; she stooped mechanically and picked up Esther&rsquo;s
+gloves which had fallen from her nerveless hand before
+she followed Micky back into the foyer, where he laid
+Esther down on one of the long velvet lounges.</p>
+<p>Afterwards she realised that the sudden discovery that
+Micky loved her friend had been something of a shock
+to her, that she had even been faintly jealous; she did not
+want to marry him herself, and yet they had been such
+good friends, it gave her an odd little pain to think that
+there was somebody else whom he placed a long way
+ahead of her in his heart.</p>
+<p>Most of the people had gone, one or two of the theatre
+attendants lingered; it seemed a long time before Esther
+opened her eyes. She lay for a moment, looking vaguely
+about her, then her eyes came back to Micky, who was
+bending over her, his face scarcely less white than her
+own.</p>
+<p>She made an effort to lift herself from his arm; then
+quite suddenly she burst into tears.</p>
+<p>The little sound of sobbing broke the spell that seemed,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span>
+to have held June; she went down on her knees beside
+her, both arms round the slender, shaking figure.</p>
+<p>Micky had risen to his feet. June glanced up at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Go and find the taxi and leave her to me,&rdquo; she said
+sharply. The look of suffering in his face hurt her.
+Micky went out into the cold night bareheaded. He
+hardly knew what he was doing. He stood for some
+minutes on the path forgetting why he had come out at
+all, before some one, jostling against him, brought him
+back to a sense of time and place.</p>
+<p>He went down the road to look for a taxi. When
+he came back Esther was sitting up, wrapped in her
+cloak. She was not crying now, but she looked like a
+child who wants to cry but is determined not to.</p>
+<p>June was standing beside her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re quite ready,&rdquo; she said. She kept an arm about
+Esther, and Micky followed them silently.</p>
+<p>He saw them into the cab, but did not follow. June
+asked a sharp question: &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you coming?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;at least, not if you can manage without me.&rdquo;
+His voice sounded unnerved; he looked away from June
+to where Esther was huddled into a corner beside her,
+and suddenly, as if urged by an impulse he could not
+control, he leaned forward, groped for her hand in the
+darkness, and, bending, kissed it passionately.</p>
+<p>A moment later he had stepped back and shut the door.</p>
+<p>He stood looking after the cab till it vanished round
+a corner, then he went back to the theatre for his hat
+and coat, and set off again down the road.</p>
+<p>He was not conscious of any real emotion; but he
+walked swiftly as a man does who has a set purpose, and
+he did not stop till he found himself outside the Ashtons&rsquo;
+house.</p>
+<p>It was not far off midnight, but lights burned in many
+of the windows, and after a swift glance at the face of
+the house he went up the steps and rang the bell.</p>
+<p>It was some moments before the door was opened by
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
+a mildly amazed-looking servant; Micky asked for Mr.
+Ashton.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My name is Mellowes,&rdquo; he said, as she obviously
+hesitated. &ldquo;If you tell him my name he will see me. I
+know he is in, I saw him at the Comedy Theatre
+to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stepped past the girl into the hall, and after a
+slightly scared glance at him she shut the door and
+departed upstairs.</p>
+<p>A moment later Micky heard Ashton&rsquo;s voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You old night-bird! What an ungodly hour to call
+on any one! I was just going to bed; come in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He spoke easily, but there was a slightly anxious look
+in his eyes; he led the way into the library.</p>
+<p>The fire was nearly out there and the room felt chilly;
+he shivered, and, stooping, tried to rake the cinders into
+a blaze.</p>
+<p>Micky watched him silently; after a moment Ashton
+turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lord, man! what&rsquo;s the matter? You look as cheerful
+as Doomsday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was standing stiffly against the table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I saw you in the theatre to-night,&rdquo; he began without
+preamble. &ldquo;I was with Miss Shepstone, and she saw you,
+too&ndash;&ndash;at least she believes it was you, and I am going to
+tell her that she was mistaken. How soon can you get
+out of town and back to Paris?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton stared; the colour had rushed to his face;
+after a moment his eyes fell.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the devil you&rsquo;re driving at,&rdquo; he
+said irritably. &ldquo;I suppose I can come to London without
+asking you first, can&rsquo;t I? And, as for Lallie&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he
+grinned nervously&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;well, you know as well as I do that
+that&rsquo;s all been off for weeks.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stood immovable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t answered my question,&rdquo; he said flintily.
+&ldquo;How soon can you get out of London?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span></div>
+<p>Ashton swore under his breath.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m dashed if I know what you&rsquo;re driving at,&rdquo; he said
+sulkily. &ldquo;If you like to take Lallie to theatres, that&rsquo;s
+your business; she&rsquo;s a nice little girl, I admit, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky took a step forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you want to make me forget that this is your
+mother&rsquo;s house, you&rsquo;re going the right way to do it,&rdquo; he
+said between his teeth. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t want any of your
+bluff. Miss Shepstone thinks she saw you at the Comedy
+to-night; she&rsquo;ll probably write to you or try to see you
+in the morning, and you&rsquo;ve got to be out of London by
+then&ndash;&ndash;do you hear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton laughed; he shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Must?&rdquo; he said nastily. &ldquo;How long have you been
+Lallie&rsquo;s champion?... Oh, all right, all right,&rdquo; he
+broke off hurriedly, as he saw the ugly light in Micky&rsquo;s
+eyes. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a bit thick, you know,&rdquo; he resumed injuredly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done with her; you know that. You sent
+my letter on to her yourself. It&rsquo;s absurd if I can&rsquo;t come
+back home for a few days in case she should see me
+and get upset. I&rsquo;m sorry if she&rsquo;s still fond of me, but,
+dash it all&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t answered my question,&rdquo; said Micky
+again.</p>
+<p>He was controlling himself with a mighty effort, but
+the veins stood out like cords on his forehead and his
+hands were clenched.</p>
+<p>The two men looked at one another, and it was Ashton&rsquo;s
+eyes that fell.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to bullyrag me....&rdquo; he began
+blusteringly, &ldquo;I may as well tell you that I&rsquo;m not going
+back to Paris till I please, and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Micky. He turned on his heel.</p>
+<p>Raymond watched him cross the room anxiously.
+When he reached the door he called to him&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky! What the devil are you going to do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And Micky answered without turning&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to tell Mrs. Clare the way you&rsquo;ve treated
+Miss Shepstone, and if she&rsquo;s half the decent sort I think
+she is she&rsquo;ll throw you overboard as you&rsquo;ve thrown
+scores of others....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton followed and clutched his arm. &ldquo;Come back;
+don&rsquo;t be such a firebrand! I&rsquo;ll go&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll clear out by the
+first train to-morrow.... I&rsquo;m sorry if Esther was
+upset, but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky cut him short. &ldquo;The first train leaves Victoria
+at 9.40; I&rsquo;ll be there to see you off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton scowled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a nice way to treat a friend,&rdquo;
+he grumbled. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s really anything up with Lallie
+...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stood like a statue.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s decent of you to take her out,&rdquo; Ashton went on
+uneasily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m much obliged to you, I&rsquo;m sure. She&rsquo;s
+never had much of a time. If I&rsquo;d had any money....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky broke out then. &ldquo;Oh, hold your infernal
+tongue,&rdquo; he said furiously.</p>
+<p>He walked out of the room, shutting the door hard
+behind him. He passed the astonished maid in the hall
+and let himself out into the night. The blood was pounding
+in his veins, he felt in actual need of physical
+violence; he did not know how he had managed to keep
+his hands off Raymond. He walked on at a furious pace;
+presently he laughed with a sort of self-pity.</p>
+<p>What was the good of what he had done after all?
+At best he had only succeeded in staving off the inevitable
+for a little while; Esther would have to know
+sooner or later.</p>
+<p>Such wasted love it was! All for a man who was not
+worth one thought, or even a tear!</p>
+<p>When he got back to his rooms he told Driver to call
+him early, as he was going to see somebody off by train.
+He was at Victoria long before Ashton; the greeting
+between the two men was constrained.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was going back to-day, anyway,&rdquo; Ashton said
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
+jauntily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to be married the day after to-morrow&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+He looked at Micky with triumphant eyes.
+&ldquo;To Mrs. Clare,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>When Micky got back to his rooms, Driver met him;
+Driver with a spark of unwonted animation in his dull
+eyes, and who closed the sitting-room door mysteriously
+behind him as he came forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you please, sir&ndash;&ndash;there is a lady to see you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A lady!&rdquo; said Micky blankly; then he laughed. &ldquo;Rubbish!
+You&rsquo;re dreaming, man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No sir,&rdquo; said Driver stolidly.</p>
+<p>Micky stared at him for a moment, then he passed him,
+and threw open the door of the sitting-room.</p>
+<p>It was Esther who rose from a chair by the fire as
+he entered.</p>
+<p>For an instant Micky was unable to believe his own
+eyes, then he shut the door and took a step forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I never thought....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She broke in agitatedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I know; I suppose I shouldn&rsquo;t have come; I
+don&rsquo;t know what June would say if she knew; but&ndash;&ndash;but
+there wasn&rsquo;t anybody else I could come to, and you
+said ... you said....&rdquo; She flushed up nervously.
+&ldquo;Oh, you did say you would be a friend to me,
+didn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>He might have reminded her that she had declined his
+friendship; he might have reminded her of all the not
+very kind things which she had said to him, but it was
+such happiness to see her here in his room that he was
+in no mood to be critical.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do sit down ... there&rsquo;s no hurry, is there?&rdquo;
+He wanted to put her at her ease; he did not like to
+see the nervous agitation in her face; but she shook her
+head.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to stay, only ... only I....&rdquo; Her
+voice changed suddenly. &ldquo;Oh, Mr. Mellowes, will
+you tell me how I can get to Paris?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paris!&rdquo; Micky echoed the word helplessly. &ldquo;Paris!&rdquo;
+he said again. For the moment he stared at her with
+blank eyes.</p>
+<p>She rushed on impetuously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have a friend there&ndash;&ndash;some one I ... some
+one I ... oh, it&rsquo;s the man I&rsquo;m engaged to, and I
+want to see him&ndash;&ndash;I must see him! I&rsquo;ve got the money
+to get there. I hope you don&rsquo;t think I was going to
+ask you to lend me that....&rdquo; she added in distress.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Shepstone ... I&ndash;&ndash;I....&rdquo; Micky was
+horribly upset. &ldquo;I never thought anything of the sort.
+And&ndash;&ndash;and even if you were going to ask me, you know
+quite well that anything I have, anything....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She stopped him hurriedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I know, it&rsquo;s very kind of you.&rdquo; Her blue eyes
+sought his face with a sort of abasement. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think
+I&rsquo;ve ever really realised how kind you&rsquo;ve been to me,&rdquo;
+she said. &ldquo;But ... but I&rsquo;ve been so worried and
+unhappy ... I&ndash;&ndash;I do hope you&rsquo;ll forgive me if I
+was rude or unkind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer; so it had come at last, the
+explanations which he had always dreaded; he racked
+his brains in vain to think of a way out of it&ndash;&ndash;to make
+out the best story he could.</p>
+<p>She seemed to realise his perturbation, she came a step
+nearer to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; she said earnestly, &ldquo;will you tell me
+something?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky inaudibly, but he did not look at
+her.</p>
+<p>She looked up at him, trying to see his face before
+she asked her question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you&ndash;&ndash;do you know who the man is that I am
+going to marry?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the silence that followed her timid question, Micky
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span>
+felt that he lived through years. Should he tell her the
+truth, or should he not? Ashton was out of London by
+this time; in another forty-eight hours he would be married
+to another woman; he raised his head with a sort of
+desperation. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>He tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that
+at least it was substantially the truth; she was not going
+to marry Ashton&ndash;&ndash;she never could marry him now.</p>
+<p>He heard the sigh of relief she gave.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Somehow, lately, I have thought
+that you did know. Mr. Mellowes ... last night ... I
+thought I saw him in the theatre last night.
+I know now that I was mistaken.&rdquo; She paused a moment
+and looked past him to the window and the cold grey
+street outside. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t have seen him,&rdquo; she said
+again, as if to convince herself rather than him. &ldquo;Because
+he is in Paris&ndash;&ndash;I found out this morning that he is still
+in Paris.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky. His voice sounded choked. &ldquo;And
+so&ndash;&ndash;so you want to go out there to him, is that it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her face brightened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes. I should have told June only&ndash;&ndash;only she isn&rsquo;t
+very sympathetic. You see&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she smiled faintly&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;she
+hates my &lsquo;phantom lover,&rsquo; as she calls him, and so&ndash;&ndash;so I
+know she would only do her best to keep me from going
+to him; but you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; said Micky quietly, &ldquo;that I shall try
+and do the same thing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He turned and looked at her squarely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve never been to Paris,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and probably
+you can&rsquo;t speak a word of French. You&rsquo;ve probably
+never travelled any distance alone. Miss Shepstone, it&rsquo;s
+impossible for you to go. I am only advising you for
+your own good. Why not write to&ndash;&ndash;to&ndash;&ndash;your fianc&eacute; and
+ask him to make arrangements for you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He broke off helplessly. The poor little letter in which
+she had already done so lay in his pocket at that moment.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span></div>
+<p>It turned him sick to think of the tissue of lies and deceit
+his own actions were forcing upon him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&ndash;&ndash;I have asked him,&rdquo; she said almost in a whisper,
+&ldquo;but he said he couldn&rsquo;t have me&ndash;&ndash;then! But that&rsquo;s
+quite a long time ago,&rdquo; she added hopefully. &ldquo;And I
+thought if he saw me&ndash;&ndash;if I got there and surprised
+him&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky turned away. He could imagine so well what
+would happen if indeed she found Ashton. He walked
+over to the window and stood looking into the street
+with unseeing eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have a little patience,&rdquo; he said presently. &ldquo;Take
+my advice and stay here. If he&ndash;&ndash;if he can, he will send
+for you, I am sure.&rdquo; She looked up quickly, a spark
+of anger in her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You sound as if you think that will never be,&rdquo; she
+said sharply.</p>
+<p>Micky met her gaze unflinchingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anything of the sort. I know&ndash;&ndash;I know
+if I were in his place, whoever he is&ndash;&ndash;I should be counting
+the moments till I could ... could have you
+with me.&rdquo; He smothered the momentary seriousness of
+his words with a little laugh. &ldquo;And now, after that
+pretty compliment, aren&rsquo;t you going to reward me by
+taking my most excellent advice?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The ghost of a smile crossed her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wanted you to say something so different,&rdquo; she told
+him wistfully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know&ndash;&ndash;but I&rsquo;m not going to. Any one would advise
+you as I have. It isn&rsquo;t ... it isn&rsquo;t that I&rsquo;m prejudiced,
+or anything like that. I would give a great deal
+to see you happy. I hope you believe me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She sat twisting her hands together nervously. After
+a moment she looked up at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She rose and began to pull on her gloves.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s very dreadful of me to
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span>
+have come,&rdquo; she said deprecatingly. &ldquo;But ... but
+this morning, somehow, I felt I must have someone to
+talk to&ndash;&ndash;some one to advise me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am honoured that you came,&rdquo; said Micky gravely.
+Her eyes fell before his.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;and you won&rsquo;t tell June?&rdquo; she appealed.</p>
+<p>He smiled rather sadly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am not likely ever to tell any one,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I know. Mr. Mellowes&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she held out her hand
+to him suddenly, her fair face flushing&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I should like
+to take back something I said to you one day. Perhaps
+you don&rsquo;t remember, but I do, and lately&ndash;&ndash;especially since
+last night, when you were so kind&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve felt that I wasn&rsquo;t
+just to you; and so ... if you will forgive me, I
+should like to be friends with you after all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was crimson by the time she had finished, but
+Micky took her hand without answering, held it for a
+moment, then let it go.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose I mustn&rsquo;t offer you anything?&rdquo; he said
+with forced lightness. &ldquo;No coffee&ndash;&ndash;or tea? It&rsquo;s cold
+out this morning. If you would care for anything, my
+man would bring it at once.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed and shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want anything, thank you.&rdquo; She looked round
+at Micky&rsquo;s luxuriously furnished room. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it beautiful?&rdquo;
+she asked him.</p>
+<p>He smiled. &ldquo;Do you like it? I am glad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s lovely.&rdquo; She looked up at him. &ldquo;I seem
+to have been climbing a ladder lately,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Since
+I left that awful place in the Brixton Road&ndash;&ndash;where I
+am now is heaps better than that was, but this&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was silent. It trembled on his lips to say that
+everything he had in the world was hers if only she
+would take it, but he knew the utter futility of it. Money
+and possessions counted very little with her. She would
+not have minded the house in the Brixton Road at all
+with the man she loved.</p>
+<p>He went downstairs with her.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;So we&rsquo;re really friends now?&rdquo; he said when he bade
+her good-bye. &ldquo;And you&rsquo;ll promise to let me advise you
+again when you&rsquo;re not quite sure what you ought to
+do?&rdquo; There was a note of anxiety in his voice.</p>
+<p>She flushed nervously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of you to be interested.&rdquo; It seemed strange
+to her that after all that had happened they should have
+so easily got back to their old footing of friendliness.
+But Micky was not at all happy. When she had gone
+he stood for a long time at the window staring moodily
+out.</p>
+<p>When Driver brought lunch, he found Micky poring
+over a Bradshaw; he spoke to the man with elaborate
+carelessness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll have to take another trip to Paris&ndash;&ndash;to-morrow
+will do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes sir.&rdquo; Driver smoothed a crease in the cloth. &ldquo;To
+post another letter, sir?&rdquo; he asked expressionlessly.</p>
+<p>Micky looked up sharply, but Driver met his eyes
+innocently.</p>
+<p>Micky coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; it isn&rsquo;t a letter this time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s to buy
+a fur coat.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXI' id='CHAPTER_XXI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>&ldquo;The phantom lover,&rdquo; said June Mason lugubriously,
+&ldquo;is certainly turning up trumps.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was a week later, and she was giving Micky
+tea.</p>
+<p>Esther was out. She knew now that it was to see
+Esther he came. She was quite reconciled to the fact,
+and had got over her first pang of jealousy, but Esther&rsquo;s
+indifference to him enraged her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t the girl see what she&rsquo;s throwing away?&rdquo; she
+asked herself furiously. &ldquo;What on earth is she made of
+that she can&rsquo;t see what&rsquo;s waiting for her to take? If
+Micky had adored me as he adores her ... well&ndash;&ndash;my
+name wouldn&rsquo;t have been June Mason to-day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But she kept such thoughts to herself and treated
+Micky very much the same as usual, though unconsciously
+there was a slight restraint in her manner, especially
+when Esther was present.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m beginning to think that I&rsquo;ve misjudged our Raymond,&rdquo;
+she went on laughingly. &ldquo;Perhaps some one has
+converted him. Anyway, he&rsquo;s treating Esther handsomely.
+First the money, and last week the fur coat....&rdquo;
+Micky looked up with sudden interest.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s come, then, has it!&rdquo; he said eagerly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come! It&rsquo;s been here two days. How did you
+know?&rdquo; she asked with sudden suspicion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I heard you talking about it. Wasn&rsquo;t it you? No?
+Then it must have been Miss Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I dare say,&rdquo; said June easily. &ldquo;I never saw any one
+so delighted with a thing as she was with that coat. And
+it is a beauty, Micky. I only hope it&rsquo;s paid for,&rdquo; she
+added practically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why shouldn&rsquo;t it be paid for?&rdquo; Micky said.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span></div>
+<p>She made a little grimace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because Raymond Ashton never paid for things if
+he could help it; and you know he didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she told him.
+&ldquo;However, as he seems to be a reformed character, we&rsquo;ll
+give him the benefit of the doubt.&rdquo; Suddenly she began
+to laugh. &ldquo;And that isn&rsquo;t all,&rdquo; she said again. &ldquo;This
+morning a collar arrived for that blessed cat&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She
+indicated Charlie sleeping peacefully on the rug. &ldquo;A
+silver collar, too my boy, with Esther&rsquo;s name on it....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stooped to examine the collar; his face was red
+when, after a moment, he looked up again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther declares she never told him we&rsquo;d got a cat,&rdquo;
+June told him doubtfully. &ldquo;But, of course, she must
+have done so or else the man&rsquo;s got second sight.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was drinking his tea; he choked suddenly.</p>
+<p>A feeling of panic closed upon him. Never told him
+she&rsquo;d got a cat! of course she hadn&rsquo;t! What a fool he
+had been to make such a blunder&ndash;&ndash;what an utter blockhead.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I expect she did tell him,&rdquo; he managed to say.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s what I think.&rdquo; June lit a cigarette and
+passed the lighted match over to Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Anyway, Esther goes about the place singing all day,&rdquo;
+she added drily. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt at all that she&rsquo;s up
+in the seventh heaven of happiness. Reams of letters
+the man writes her. Perhaps, as the novels tell us, love
+is a wonderful thing&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She looked at Micky with a
+comical expression in her queer eyes. &ldquo;I should say it
+must be if it&rsquo;s reformed that man,&rdquo; she added cynically.</p>
+<p>Micky said nothing. He had been very uncomfortable
+about things during the last few days. As far as he
+could find out, Ashton had not yet been married. Supposing
+it had all been bluff when he said he was going to
+be married&ndash;&ndash;supposing he turned up again in London?</p>
+<p>Micky stayed as long as he could in case Esther came
+in; it was only when he began to feel sure that June
+knew why he was dragging his visit to such a length that
+he said he ought to be going.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no hurry,&rdquo; she said kindly. &ldquo;Why not wait
+till Esther comes in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky shook his head; he said he couldn&rsquo;t spare the
+time, but in his heart he knew quite well that he intended
+to wait.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose she&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;she never talks any more about
+taking a job now, eh?&rdquo; he asked after a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think so; that man&rsquo;s word is law to her,
+you know. I believe if he said &lsquo;Come out here and marry
+me at once,&rsquo; she&rsquo;d fly off by the next train. As a matter
+of fact, I&rsquo;m expecting something of the sort almost daily.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;ll do that,&rdquo; Micky said. He stood
+back to the fire, with his hands in his pockets, staring up
+at the ceiling.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No!&rdquo; June watched him quizzically. &ldquo;Do you know,
+Micky,&rdquo; she said at last, &ldquo;that I consider you&rsquo;ve altered
+a lot lately?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He swung round at once, and scrutinised himself in
+the glass over the mantelshelf.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For the worse, or the better?&rdquo; he asked anxiously.
+&ldquo;I know I never was exactly an Adonis.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She laughed merrily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mean your face, stupid, but yourself. You&rsquo;re
+quieter, you don&rsquo;t go about so much; in fact&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she challenged
+him deliberately&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I believe you&rsquo;re in love.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I am,&rdquo; said Micky stolidly.</p>
+<p>She pretended not to take him seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no joking matter&ndash;&ndash;I mean what I say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So do I,&rdquo; said Micky. He laughed. He came over
+to where she was sitting, and stood behind her chair so
+that she could not see his face. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to make up
+my mind to tell you lots of times,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I
+thought perhaps you&rsquo;d have guessed before now....&rdquo;
+He stopped and moved away restlessly.</p>
+<p>June sat very still; presently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s Esther,&rdquo; she said quietly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor old Micky!...&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be sorry for me; I walked into it with
+my eyes wide open. I knew she was engaged&ndash;&ndash;I knew
+it all the time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And Esther ... does she know? Have you told
+her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.... She took it as an insult. Perhaps it
+was; I don&rsquo;t know. You see, I knew she was engaged
+to that other fellow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An outsider! who isn&rsquo;t worth a thought,&rdquo; June cried
+indignantly. &ldquo;Micky, however could she have refused
+you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He laughed. He looked down at her with a comical
+expression in his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s not the first woman who&rsquo;s done that,&rdquo; he reminded
+her.</p>
+<p>She sat up with sudden haste.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That wasn&rsquo;t anything, but this....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This,&rdquo; said Micky, &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t anything either, except on
+my side. You always told me that some day I shouldn&rsquo;t
+be able to have what I wanted. You were right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to slap her!&rdquo; said June viciously.</p>
+<p>He laughed outright.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you did I should slap you, my dear.&rdquo; He went
+back to his chair by the fire. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only between ourselves,
+June,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course ... and, Micky&ndash;&ndash;do you think she
+will marry Ashton?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer for a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said at last. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June stared at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then&ndash;&ndash;then do you mean&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; But he would not
+tell her anything.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve heard quite enough for one day,&rdquo; he said
+teasingly. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry your head about me. I don&rsquo;t
+know why I told you&ndash;&ndash;somehow I thought you&rsquo;d
+guessed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June threw her cigarette into the fire.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I did. I&rsquo;ll be honest&ndash;&ndash;I did guess,&rdquo; she broke off.
+&ldquo;Here is Esther,&rdquo; she added.</p>
+<p>She got up and opened the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The lady with the fur coat,&rdquo; she announced drily.
+&ldquo;Pray come in, madame!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June,&rdquo; said Esther protestingly.</p>
+<p>She seemed to guess who was there. She looked past
+her friend at once to Micky.</p>
+<p>She coloured faintly as he rose to greet her.</p>
+<p>He had not seen her in the fur coat before. The dark
+fur suited her fairness admirably; the heavy folds hung
+gracefully about her slim figure; her face rose like a
+flower from the big, upstanding collar.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And where have you been all the afternoon?&rdquo; June
+demanded. &ldquo;We waited tea for you till nearly five.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther made a little grimace. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had my tea out&ndash;&ndash;with
+Mr. Harley.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Harley?&rdquo; said Micky sharply.</p>
+<p>June laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the tribe who live here,&rdquo; she explained.
+&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great admirer of Esther&rsquo;s. And he&rsquo;s quite a
+nice boy too, isn&rsquo;t he?&rdquo; she appealed to her friend.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very nice,&rdquo; Esther agreed. &ldquo;I met him quite by
+chance, and so we went and had some tea.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was frowning; it was odd that he felt more
+jealous of this man whom he had never seen than he
+had ever done of Ashton. He hated to feel that Esther
+had gone out with him wearing her new coat.</p>
+<p>He stood by silently while the two girls chattered
+together; he felt very much out of it and unwanted.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad everybody likes my coat,&rdquo; Esther said. She
+had taken it off and was holding it at arm&rsquo;s length,
+admiring its beauty.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was a lovely present, wasn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; She appealed
+to Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>She laid her cheek to the big, soft collar.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something I have wanted all my life,&rdquo; she told
+him.</p>
+<p>Micky put out his hand and took it from her. He
+hated to see her standing there looking so happy because
+she believed it had come from Ashton; he threw it
+down on the couch.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall have to be going,&rdquo; he said abruptly. He shook
+hands with June, but he walked out of the room without
+speaking to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want any dinner,&rdquo; he told Driver when he
+got in. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver opened his mouth to say something and closed
+it again; he brought the evening papers and his master&rsquo;s
+slippers and turned to leave the room. At the door he
+stopped and looked back.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you seen the evening paper, sir?&rdquo; he asked
+deprecatingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky. Something in the man&rsquo;s voice arrested
+his attention; he turned in his chair. &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+he asked curtly.</p>
+<p>Driver came back a step.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a notice of Mr. Ashton&rsquo;s marriage in it, that&rsquo;s
+all, sir,&rdquo; he said woodenly. &ldquo;I thought that you&rsquo;d be
+interested.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXII' id='CHAPTER_XXII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>So it had come at last. Micky sat staring down at
+the small paragraph which briefly announced the
+marriage of Tubby Clare&rsquo;s wealthy widow to Mr.
+Raymond Ashton.</p>
+<p>The ceremony, so the paper declared, which had taken
+place quietly in Paris would be a complete surprise to
+everybody. Mrs. Clare, as all the world knew, inherited
+something like &pound;90,000 under the will of her late husband.</p>
+<p>Micky whistled softly. Raymond had done well for
+himself. He would be able to live in luxury for the
+rest of his life; to discharge all his debts, if his wife
+chose to allow him to do so; all but one debt&ndash;&ndash;the greatest
+of them all, and one which he could never hope to
+liquidate&ndash;&ndash;a woman&rsquo;s broken heart.</p>
+<p>Esther&ndash;&ndash;what would she say if she knew? And supposing
+she knew now&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;! It was quite likely that a copy
+of this same paper had fallen into her hands. The
+thought turned Micky cold; he looked up hurriedly at the
+clock&ndash;&ndash;not yet eight! On what pretext could he go back
+to Elphinstone Road?</p>
+<p>He threw the paper down and rose to his feet. His
+gloves! He would make them the excuse&ndash;&ndash;he could go
+back for his gloves. He taxied down the whole way;
+he sent his name up to June and waited in the hall.
+After a moment she came flying down the stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky! Is anything the matter? What in the
+world....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He explained in stammering haste.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you seen the evening paper? No, well, take
+care not to let Miss Shepstone see it. I had to come
+back and tell you. Ashton&ndash;&ndash;the damned outsider....&rdquo;
+He ground his teeth.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Not dead!&rdquo; said June with a gasp.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;he was married yesterday in Paris.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June sat down on the bottom stair; she felt as if all
+the strength had gone out of her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It can&rsquo;t be true,&rdquo; she said at last. &ldquo;Why, she had
+a letter from him only yesterday. Are you sure? It
+must be another Ashton.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;I knew it was coming. He&rsquo;s married Tubby
+Clare&rsquo;s widow&ndash;&ndash;for her money, of course. If Esther
+knows....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It will break her heart,&rdquo; said June.</p>
+<p>There were footsteps on the landing above; Micky
+glanced up hurriedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t we go somewhere and talk? Everybody will
+hear if we stay here. Where is Miss Shepstone?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s in my room; she&rsquo;s writing to him at this
+minute&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She broke off, drawing in her breath hard.
+&ldquo;Oh, Micky, are you quite, quite sure? I can&rsquo;t believe
+it.&rdquo; She stared at him for a moment, then she laughed
+incredulously. &ldquo;Why, it&rsquo;s only three days ago he sent
+her that fur coat&ndash;&ndash;and the collar for Charlie. Oh, I&rsquo;m
+sure it&rsquo;s a mistake!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a mistake,&rdquo; said Micky fiercely; he looked
+away from her. &ldquo;Confound it, isn&rsquo;t there a room where
+we can go and talk?&rdquo; he broke out again.</p>
+<p>She got up from the stairs and led the way across
+the hall.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the drawing-room. Nobody uses it now because
+it&rsquo;s so cold.&rdquo; She opened the door and peeped
+in. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nobody there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky followed her, shutting the door behind him.
+The room was chilly and uninviting, with a lofty ceiling
+and a hideous wallpaper. There was a gas stove at the
+far end of the room, turned very low, and hissing softly
+as if in protest.</p>
+<p>June knelt down and turned the tap on to its fullest
+extent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The thing is,&rdquo; Micky said hurriedly, &ldquo;what are we
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span>
+going to do? If she stays in London, she&rsquo;s bound to
+hear about it. All the papers will be full of it to-morrow.
+They&rsquo;ll probably publish his confounded portrait. Can&rsquo;t
+you get her out of London? We&rsquo;ve got to do something.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June did not look at him. The odd little twinge of
+jealousy tore her heart again. Even though she did not
+love Micky, she quite realised what she was losing. After
+all it must be a very beautiful thing to be cared for as
+Micky cared for Esther.</p>
+<p>She raised her eyes with a little ghost of a smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do anything I can, Micky. If you&rsquo;ve got anything
+to suggest&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought out crowds of plans coming along in the
+cab, but they&rsquo;re all rotten,&rdquo; Micky admitted dolefully.
+&ldquo;I thought you&rsquo;d be able to help me. Can&rsquo;t you be
+called off to a relative in the country or something, and
+ask Miss Shepstone to go with you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June started up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I can. I&rsquo;ve got an aunt down at Enmore.
+She&rsquo;s always asking me to go and see her. I&rsquo;ll send
+her a wire. It&rsquo;s too late to-night, but in the morning....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky felt in his pocket for a pencil.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Give me the address and I&rsquo;ll send it first thing.&rdquo; He
+paused. &ldquo;Supposing Miss Shepstone won&rsquo;t go, though?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, she&rsquo;ll go,&rdquo; said June quickly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell her it
+means business for me. I&rsquo;ll do the pathetic. I wonder
+what time there&rsquo;s a train.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll look up all the trains, and arrange everything.
+Does Miss Shepstone know I&rsquo;m here now?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, tell her one of your business agents called,
+and that you&rsquo;ve got to go off early to-morrow. You
+can write me a note and post it to-night, asking me to
+see you off. It&rsquo;s quite a usual thing for you to do, you
+know&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span></div>
+<p>June smiled rather sadly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Poor old Micky!&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Micky frowned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t talk rubbish,&rdquo; he said rather shortly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d
+do the same for any one.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June knew it would be useless to contradict.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you can keep her out of town for a week it may
+all have blown over,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll run down and
+see you if I may&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know you may; but, Micky&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t you think all
+this is rather mistaken kindness? She&rsquo;ll have to know
+sooner or later; why not tell her at once? When the
+letters stop coming she&rsquo;ll begin to worry, and then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky shook his head obstinately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve my own reasons; be a pal and help me, June.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, old boy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She gave him her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re making a mistake, but I suppose you
+know your own business best. At any rate, I&rsquo;ve warned
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re a dear,&rdquo; said Micky gratefully.</p>
+<p>June went to the front door with him; in spite of her
+promise she was not feeling happy. Esther would have
+to know. She went slowly back up the stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a mistake,&rdquo; she told herself again, with a sense
+of foreboding. &ldquo;Micky&rsquo;s making a mistake.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But she determined to act up to her part. She ran
+up the last flight of stairs with a great noise and show
+of excitement. She burst into their sitting-room breathless.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Such news, Esther! Are you game for a dash down
+into the wilds of nowhere? I&rsquo;ve got to go off on business.
+One of my agents has just been here. He&rsquo;s made
+a mess of things, as usual, and I&rsquo;ve got to go down and
+put things right. Oh, it&rsquo;s quite country! I don&rsquo;t know
+if you like the country. I adore it myself. A place
+called Enmore. I&rsquo;ve got an antediluvian aunt who lives
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span>
+there, and we&rsquo;ll go and foist ourselves on her. She&rsquo;s
+always asking me to go and see her, so she&rsquo;ll be delighted.
+Well, what do you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t given me a chance to say anything,&rdquo;
+Esther protested laughing. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re like a whirlwind,
+sweeping every one off their feet. Where is Enmore
+to start with? And how can I go? Your aunt doesn&rsquo;t
+know me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll love you because I do,&rdquo; said June promptly.
+&ldquo;Now don&rsquo;t spoil everything. The greatest fun of it
+all is rushing off at a moment&rsquo;s notice. I shall send
+Micky a note to-night and tell him to look up trains for
+us and come and see us off. Micky&rsquo;s always to be relied
+on. If I look trains up myself I always go by the wrong
+ones and never get there.&rdquo; She was sitting down to her
+desk as she spoke; she looked across at Esther, pen in
+hand. &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she queried.</p>
+<p>Esther looked down at Charlie sprawling in the firelight.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s going to become of Charlie?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lydia will look after him,&rdquo; June said promptly. &ldquo;She
+adores cats. That&rsquo;s one excuse surmounted. Any more?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to come, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then that&rsquo;s settled. We&rsquo;ll stay a week if we&rsquo;re not
+bored to death. It&rsquo;s a desolate spot&ndash;&ndash;just a handful of
+houses and a haystack and a few things like that, but
+if you like the country we ought to have a good time.
+I wish I&rsquo;d got a car....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it rather a funny place to go to for business?&rdquo;
+Esther asked innocently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not in the least,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;All the ingredients
+for my skin food came from the country&ndash;&ndash;herbs and
+attar of flowers and all the rest of it. Besides&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she
+swallowed hard before uttering the biggest fib of all&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;my
+agent lives down there, you see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Esther. She was rather pleased at the
+idea of a change.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose we can have letters sent on?&rdquo; she asked
+after a moment.</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s scratching pen stopped for a moment; then
+flew on again faster than before.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, of course!&rdquo; she said airily.</p>
+<p>Her kind heart gave a little throb of pity as she realised
+that there would never be any letters to send on&ndash;&ndash;not
+any, at least, of which Esther was thinking.</p>
+<p>The phantom lover had gone for ever.</p>
+<p>She looked round at the girl pityingly. She looked so
+happy and unconscious sitting there in the firelight, and
+all the time if she knew what had just happened over
+in Paris her heart would surely break.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Beast!&rdquo; said June under her breath.</p>
+<p>Esther turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What did you say?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was only talking to the pen,&rdquo; June answered irascibly.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXIII' id='CHAPTER_XXIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky turned up at Paddington the following
+morning laden with papers and chocolates.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Any one would think we were going to the
+other side of the world,&rdquo; June told him. &ldquo;Do you know,
+my good man, that it&rsquo;s only a couple of hours&rsquo; run to
+Enmore?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is it?&rdquo; said Micky guilelessly. &ldquo;Well, any way, I&rsquo;m
+sure you won&rsquo;t be able to get De Bry&rsquo;s chocolates down
+there, so they&rsquo;ll come in useful.&rdquo; He looked at Esther.
+She was wearing the fur coat and a bunch of violets.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s awfully exciting,&rdquo; she said, meeting his
+eyes. &ldquo;We never thought about going till quite late last
+night, did we, June?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Things done in a hurry are almost the most enjoyable,&rdquo;
+June answered sententiously. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite bucked
+at the idea of living the simple life for a few days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pity you haven&rsquo;t got a car down there,&rdquo; Micky said.
+&ldquo;There ought to be some fine runs round about.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So there are,&rdquo; said June promptly. Her queer eyes
+twinkled as she looked at him. &ldquo;Micky, would you like
+to be a perfect dear and come down in yours, and take
+us out? You can stay at the local inn and play the
+heavy swell&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky flushed eagerly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a ripping idea,&rdquo; he said. He turned to Esther:
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come like a shot if I shan&rsquo;t be in the way,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+<p>Esther smiled; she was surprised to find that the idea
+was not at all distasteful to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes; do come!&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>June had got into the carriage, and was busy arranging
+her various possessions.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll be left behind, Esther,&rdquo; she said warningly.</p>
+<p>Esther turned at once.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye, Mr. Mellowes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky took her hand in a hard grip.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye&ndash;&ndash;but only till to-morrow....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stood back as the train started; the last glimpse
+the two girls had of him was his radiantly smiling face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; said June, settling herself in a corner,
+&ldquo;I believe I&rsquo;m half in love with that man, after all. Isn&rsquo;t
+he just a dear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s awfully kind,&rdquo; Esther agreed.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>When the train drew into the little station at Enmore
+June looked at Esther with a sort of apprehension.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a most awful one-eyed hole, you know,&rdquo; she said.
+&ldquo;I do hope you won&rsquo;t be bored to death. It won&rsquo;t be
+so bad if Micky keeps his promise and comes down, but
+if he doesn&rsquo;t....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think he will?&rdquo; Esther asked quickly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I dare say he will. I hope he will, I&rsquo;m sure;
+somebody has got to amuse you while I go and see to
+my business.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can amuse myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June sniffed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can you? Well, it&rsquo;s more than I could when I used
+to stay down here. There&rsquo;s only a church and a village
+inn and a handful of cottages. My aunt has by far
+the most distinguished-looking house in the village, and
+I dare say you won&rsquo;t think much of that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were on the platform now, and June eyed their
+two suit-cases ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We shall have to carry them,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;No porters
+or taxicabs here, my dear. Come along.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She grabbed her own, and Esther followed her out
+into the road.</p>
+<p>It was cold but sunny, and the fresh air of the country
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span>
+was something quite different from the chilly, damp atmosphere
+they had left behind in London.</p>
+<p>Esther drew a deep breath.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s lovely,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you know&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she looked
+ahead of her down the winding road with a little frown&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve
+got the sort of feeling that something is going to
+happen to me here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Goodness!&rdquo; said June. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you start having instincts
+too! It&rsquo;s bad enough for me to have them. What
+can happen to you, pray, unless you get melancholia or
+something?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>It was only a little way into the village; as soon as
+they came in sight of it June pointed excitedly to a red
+gabled house just visible through the trees.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s where my aunt lives. She&rsquo;s an old maid, you
+know, and incidentally she thinks I&rsquo;m a most heaven-born
+genius. She&rsquo;s nearly sixty, but I&rsquo;ll bet anything you
+like she uses June Mason&rsquo;s Skin Beautifier.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She paused to open the iron gate of the little garden, but
+before there was time to ring the bell the door opened
+and a little lady with grey hair and a wonderful complexion
+very much like June&rsquo;s stood there with outstretched
+hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dears! I never was so delighted! June&ndash;&ndash;after
+all these months you really have come to see me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She kissed June heartily and turned to Esther. June
+introduced them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My friend, Esther Shepstone&ndash;&ndash;my aunt, Miss Dearling.
+I don&rsquo;t know what you think of us for arriving
+on top of our wire like this,&rdquo; she said, laughing. &ldquo;But
+I like to do things in a hurry&ndash;&ndash;so here we are, and we&rsquo;re
+just starving.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They followed Miss Dearling into a quaint little square
+room, where the table was laid for lunch. June talked
+away all the time.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s another member of the party coming down
+to-morrow,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;No; a man this time&ndash;&ndash;Micky
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span>
+Mellowes! You remember him? Yes; I thought you
+would.&rdquo; She flushed a little. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to bring his
+car down and take us all out for rides; so we&rsquo;re in for a
+good time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I remember Mr. Mellowes quite well,&rdquo; Miss Dearling
+said. When she was alone with Esther for a moment
+she whispered to her&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We all hoped June meant to marry him, you know,
+my dear. Perhaps she has changed her mind, as she
+is allowing him to come down. Such a very charming
+man&ndash;&ndash;have you seen him?&ndash;&ndash;and so rich.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ve seen him,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;He is nice&ndash;&ndash;very!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It would be the dream of my life fulfilled if I could
+see June married to him,&rdquo; the old lady went on. &ldquo;June
+wants a firm hand. She is wonderfully high-spirited
+and clever, you know, but I always feel that she would
+be so much happier with some one to look after her,
+and he is just the man to take care of a woman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>She felt Miss Dearling glance at her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you&ndash;&ndash;are you engaged to be married?&rdquo; she asked,
+after a moment. &ldquo;Please forgive my curiosity, but I am
+always so interested in young people&rsquo;s love-affairs....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I am engaged,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But he is away just
+now&ndash;&ndash;abroad. I hope we shall be married as soon as he
+comes home again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Miss Dearling said that she hoped so, too; later, when
+she got a moment alone with June she asked interestedly
+about the man to whom Esther was engaged.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do hope he is nice,&rdquo; she said anxiously. &ldquo;Such a
+very charming girl! such a sweet-looking girl! Is he
+nice, my dear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June crossed the room and shut the door; then she
+turned round with a little grimace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a pig!&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Miss Dearling screamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, my dear!&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;He is,&rdquo; June maintained stoutly. &ldquo;She doesn&rsquo;t think
+so, of course, but he is, all the same.&rdquo; She broke off
+as Esther came back.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>Esther woke in the morning with a pleasurable sense
+of something going to happen. She lay still for a moment
+looking round her at the heavy, old fashioned furniture
+and flowered chintz curtains.</p>
+<p>Miss Dearling&rsquo;s house was essentially Early Victorian,
+from its wool mats and stuffed birds in the sitting-room
+to the high four-posted bedsteads and faded Brussels
+carpets.</p>
+<p>But there was something very old-world and charming
+about it too, in spite of rather ugly furniture, and
+Esther was just admiring the dressing-table, with its
+petticoat of spotted muslin and pink ribbons, when the
+door opened and June thrust her head round.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can I come in?&rdquo; She did not wait for an answer,
+but came in, her long mauve silk kimono making a little
+rustling sound as she walked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really dressed,&rdquo; she explained, sitting down on
+Esther&rsquo;s bed. &ldquo;All but my frock, at least, and as the
+post has just come, and a letter from Micky, I thought
+I&rsquo;d come and tell you that he&rsquo;ll be down to-day&ndash;&ndash;after
+lunch, and he wants us to meet him. I can&rsquo;t go, as I&rsquo;ve
+got a business appointment at three, so you must. He&rsquo;s
+going to drive up to the station and wait there for one
+of us to come and show him where we live.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence. Esther flushed beneath the
+elder girl&rsquo;s shrewd gaze.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should have thought he could have found out where
+we live,&rdquo; she said rather awkwardly. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s such
+a little way&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June rose with a great show of dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, very well, if you don&rsquo;t want to be obliging, but
+I do think you might....&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Silly&ndash;&ndash;of course I will.&rdquo; Esther caught her hand.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go; the station at three o&rsquo;clock, and then what am
+I to do? Bring him here, or what?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do what you like, my child&ndash;&ndash;I shan&rsquo;t be in till five.
+Don&rsquo;t let him be bored, that&rsquo;s all, or he&rsquo;ll go back to
+town&ndash;&ndash;the one thing Micky cannot stand is being bored.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther made a little grimace.</p>
+<p>She felt nervous when at five minutes to three exactly
+she walked down the winding road to the station.</p>
+<p>June ought to have come herself, she argued; it was
+a most silly thing to send her&ndash;&ndash;she hoped he would not
+come at all; but all the time she was listening for the
+sound of a car or a motor-horn. The sleepy-eyed factotum
+of the station walked up and stared at her curiously.
+After a few turns he ventured to ask if she
+wanted to go by train.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m waiting for a gentleman&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;oh, here he is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Twas her young gentleman for sure,&rdquo; the sleepy-eyed
+one told his colleague afterwards. &ldquo;She blushed
+up like a rose when she saw him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky noticed that blush, too, as he turned the car
+with a fine sweep and came to a standstill.</p>
+<p>Esther greeted him with a torrent of explanation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June couldn&rsquo;t come, so she made me&ndash;&ndash;she had to go
+out on business. She would make me come!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very kind,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m later than I expected&ndash;&ndash;the
+roads are bad down in this part of the world.
+Well, and how do you like Enmore?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very quiet, but I like it for a change, and June&rsquo;s
+aunt is ever so kind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, a dear old lady; I know her well. Did you tell
+her I was coming?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June did....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His eyes swept her face anxiously. No trace of tears
+or sadness to-day, at all events.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are we supposed to go straight home?&rdquo; he asked
+after a moment. &ldquo;Because, if not, what do you say to
+a run round first?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span></div>
+<p>Esther&rsquo;s eyes sparkled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should love it!&rdquo; She got in beside him, and the car
+started away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I only brought the two-seater,&rdquo; Micky explained
+audaciously. &ldquo;I hate a crowd. This will take three at
+a pinch, but it&rsquo;s much more comfortable for two.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s lovely!&rdquo; Esther agreed.</p>
+<p>She leaned back luxuriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be splendid to be able to have a car like this
+of your very own,&rdquo; she said suddenly.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed rather ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There are other things I would far rather have,&rdquo; he
+said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are there?&rdquo; She looked up at him innocently. &ldquo;What
+things?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>Micky&rsquo;s hands tightened over the wheel.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Am I really to answer that question?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Esther hurriedly.</p>
+<p>She could not think why she had been so stupid as
+to say such a thing. She felt very vexed.</p>
+<p>They went some way in silence. Esther glanced at
+the man beside her timidly.</p>
+<p>Would he end up by some day marrying June? she
+wondered. Lucky June, if he did&ndash;&ndash;lucky ... she
+checked the thought with a little sense of shame. Only
+a few days ago she had declared that she disliked him.
+Perhaps it was the car that made her feel so suddenly
+envious of the woman who would one day be this man&rsquo;s
+wife.</p>
+<p>Micky glanced down at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you cold?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am a little&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she smiled up at him&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;in spite of my
+new coat,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I think we had better go home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June came to the door to meet them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I got home earlier than I thought,&rdquo; she told Esther.
+&ldquo;Well, Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are there any letters?&rdquo; Esther asked. She felt a
+swift feeling of envy as she looked at these two, so
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+openly and unfeignedly glad to see one another. &ldquo;I suppose
+it&rsquo;s expecting too much though,&rdquo; she added with a
+sigh.</p>
+<p>June did not answer, and Esther went on and up the
+stairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is one for her,&rdquo; June said in an undertone to
+Micky as soon as she had gone. &ldquo;And one from Paris,
+too&ndash;&ndash;from that man! Micky, are you sure it isn&rsquo;t all a
+mistake about him being married?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; said Micky stolidly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then shall I&ndash;&ndash;what shall I do about that letter&ndash;&ndash;it
+was sent on from London. Ought I to let her have it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was taking off his coat, his back was turned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, let her have it,&rdquo; he said casually. &ldquo;It may be
+the last she&rsquo;ll ever get.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He turned swiftly. &ldquo;Let me look at it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June took it from her dress and handed it to him.</p>
+<p>He glanced at the writing and gave it back to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I should let her have it,&rdquo; he said again.</p>
+<p>But June still hesitated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;supposing it&rsquo;s to tell her about&ndash;&ndash;you know
+... about this marriage?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a moment&rsquo;s silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it would hardly be that,&rdquo; Micky said positively.
+&ldquo;At least&ndash;&ndash;well, if it is, we must chance it.&rdquo; But his
+voice did not sound as if he were at all anxious.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXIV' id='CHAPTER_XXIV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>June raked up another appointment for the following
+day. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m behaving like an angel to you,&rdquo; she
+told Micky. &ldquo;Yesterday I tramped about the fields
+till I was worn out so that I should be out of the way
+and Esther could meet you. Oh, she didn&rsquo;t want to go
+at all,&rdquo; she hastened to add as she saw the look of pleasure
+that filled his eyes. &ldquo;I had to make her go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I quite believe that,&rdquo; Micky said.</p>
+<p>He was standing beside the car at Miss Dearling&rsquo;s
+gate, and Esther was upstairs putting on her hat. She
+had protested twenty times that she did not really want
+to go; she had begged June to take her place; she had
+implored Micky to take June instead; but they had both
+refused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not keen on motoring when it&rsquo;s cold,&rdquo; June declared.
+&ldquo;Besides, I&rsquo;ve got my business to see to, and
+I don&rsquo;t want Micky. You go, Esther, and amuse the
+poor soul!&ndash;&ndash;just to please me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther said &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; and tried to look as if she
+were not anxious at all, but she was really looking forward
+to another drive.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t you really want to come?&rdquo; Micky asked as
+they drove away.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed. &ldquo;Of course I did; I wanted to come
+so badly I had to pretend that I didn&rsquo;t just for decency&rsquo;s
+sake.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you have good news from Paris yesterday?&rdquo; he
+asked deliberately.</p>
+<p>He felt as if he must speak of Ashton to in some way
+check the wave of joy that had filled his heart at her
+words; it was not to be with him that she had wished
+to come, but for the drive and the comfort of the car.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span></div>
+<p>He saw how her face clouded at his question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, thank you,&rdquo; she said, but her voice did not sound
+very enthusiastic. Presently: &ldquo;Mr. Mellowes,&rdquo; she said
+suddenly, &ldquo;do you know that I have always been sorry
+that I did not go to Paris that day when I wanted to?&ndash;&ndash;I
+wish I had now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why now?&rdquo; Micky asked.</p>
+<p>She gave a little troubled laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I really can&rsquo;t explain.&rdquo; She did not
+understand herself what she really meant, but last night
+when she had read Raymond&rsquo;s letter, it had suddenly
+come over her with a sickening feeling of dismay that in
+some indefinite way he was really getting to be what
+June had always called him&ndash;&ndash;a phantom lover! It seemed
+so long since she had seen him. After all, what were
+letters and words? But she could not explain this to
+Micky.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think I know what you mean,&rdquo; he said after a
+moment. &ldquo;You are getting tired of this separation. Is
+that it? Letters are all very well, but they are not
+enough....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked up at him in surprise.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, that is just what I do mean? How did you
+know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He laughed rather ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps I&rsquo;ve felt like it myself,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you?&rdquo; There was a little note of wonderment
+in her voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I said &lsquo;perhaps,&rsquo;&rdquo; he reminded her.</p>
+<p>She changed the subject; she drew his attention to the
+country through which they were passing. It was bare
+and wind-swept, but there was a sort of rugged picturesqueness
+about it that appealed to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I believe I should like to live in the country, after
+all,&rdquo; she said suddenly. &ldquo;You seem to be able to really
+breathe down here; it&rsquo;s not shut in like London is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dear old London,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;We all run it down,
+but we&rsquo;re all glad to get back there when we&rsquo;ve been
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span>
+away for more than a few days.&rdquo; He leaned forward,
+wrapping the rug more closely round her. &ldquo;Where do
+you think you will live when you are married?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>The hot colour flooded her face; she looked up at him
+in a scared sort of way.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a question! How do I know? I&rsquo;ve never
+even thought about it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;I have, crowds of times.
+I&rsquo;ve worked it all out to a nicety. I shall have a house
+in London and a place in the country as well, so that
+if my wife doesn&rsquo;t like town we can divide our time
+and stay six months at each.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are not all rich like you are, you know,&rdquo; Esther
+said drily. &ldquo;I dare say when I get married&ndash;&ndash;if I ever
+do&ndash;&ndash;I shall just have a little flat somewhere and stay
+there for the rest of my life, and be very happy too,&rdquo;
+she added with a sort of defiance.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky after a moment. &ldquo;I think I could
+be very happy in a flat, too, for the rest of my life&ndash;&ndash;with
+the right woman.&rdquo; He looked down at her, smiling
+thoughtfully &ldquo;The only trouble is, that I shall probably
+have to marry the wrong one.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you do, it will be your own fault, I should think,&rdquo;
+said Esther, laughing. She could not quite understand
+this man. Had he ever really loved her, or had it all
+just been a pretence?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky promptly. &ldquo;I think it will be your
+fault.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther raised her eyes slowly. Micky was smiling.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I mean it,&rdquo; he said seriously. &ldquo;The first time
+I ever saw you I thought to myself, &lsquo;Here she is! That
+right woman I&rsquo;ve been waiting for all my life&rsquo;&ndash;&ndash;but, of
+course, you didn&rsquo;t think I was the right man, and so
+that ended it,&rdquo; he added philosophically.</p>
+<p>Esther did not like to hear him speak so lightly. She
+would have been surprised if she could have known the
+desperate unhappiness in his heart, the bitterness that
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span>
+drove him to speak so flippantly of all that he held best
+and dearest.</p>
+<p>She made no attempt to answer him, and presently
+he said again with change of voice&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you hungry, I wonder? Because I am! And
+I&rsquo;ve got a firm conviction that we&rsquo;re coming to a wayside
+inn. Do you see the chimneys through the
+trees?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He slowed the car a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s another car outside&ndash;&ndash;what do you say? Shall
+we risk it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It would be rather nice,&rdquo; Esther admitted. She was
+feeling cold; she was rather glad when the car stopped
+and Micky gave her his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got a fire anyway,&rdquo; he said cheerily. &ldquo;I
+saw it through the window, and we&rsquo;ll ask for some
+coffee.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He led the way into the parlour. Two men wrapped
+in heavy coats stood by the fire; they moved to make
+way for Esther. After a moment they went out of the
+room, and she saw them in the road bending over the
+car next to Micky&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We can have coffee and buns,&rdquo; Micky said, coming
+back after a moment. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;ll be
+like, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall enjoy them anyway,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;I really
+am hungry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He pulled off his gloves and dragged a chair up to
+the fire for her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is fine,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Have you ever thought what
+a novelty a honeymoon would be touring through villages
+like this? I should like to just start away and go on
+driving for miles and miles, just staying anywhere and
+getting meals anyhow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed. &ldquo;I should have thought it was just
+the sort of thing you would hate,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s where you&rsquo;re mistaken,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I live
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span>
+in town and in the way I do because people expect it
+of me, and I&rsquo;m too lazy to bother to change. It&rsquo;s not
+a bit the life I should choose if I had my way. I hate
+dressing for dinner, and wading through six or seven
+courses, and being bored stiff half the time by some
+dressed-up woman beside me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked at her with a comical expression.</p>
+<p>Esther leaned her chin in her hand and raised serious
+eyes to his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, how would you really like to live, then?&rdquo; she
+asked.</p>
+<p>Micky sat down on the edge of the table and stuck
+his long legs out before him. He kept his eyes fixed
+on his boots as he answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I should like a place in the country, as I said,
+and a garden&ndash;&ndash;a ripping garden, with lots of roses and
+grass&ndash;&ndash;walks like you see in old-fashioned pictures,
+and a high box hedge&ndash;&ndash;that&rsquo;s one of the things I simply
+must have! Have you ever smelt a box hedge after
+a hot sun has been on it? No? well, you ought to;
+it&rsquo;s fine!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He paused reflectively.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to look after the roses myself, I think,&rdquo;
+he went on presently. &ldquo;I dare say I should make a mess
+of it, but I should like to have a try, anyway. And I
+should like to keep lots of animals, horses and dogs and
+chickens. Do you know&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he half turned to her&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve
+always had a fancy for great Danes&ndash;&ndash;you can&rsquo;t keep
+&rsquo;em in town, only in the country. Some people I once
+stayed with down in Lincoln had a couple&ndash;&ndash;ripping dogs
+they were&ndash;&ndash;almost as big as ponies, and they used to let
+the kids play with them and pull them about. Old Lancing
+had a boy, you know&ndash;&ndash;a ripping little kid of five&ndash;&ndash;a
+real sport he was, too&ndash;&ndash;Uncle Micky he used to call me.&rdquo;
+Micky chuckled reminiscently. &ldquo;It must be jolly fine to
+have a youngster of your own like that,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+<p>This was a new Micky, indeed! Esther watched him
+with fascinated eyes. She had not known that he was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+fond of children; she had taken it for granted that men
+hardly ever were. She supposed drearily that she had
+got that idea from Raymond. He had always said he
+would not stand &ldquo;kids.&rdquo; It was odd that, though Micky
+had used the same word, it had sounded somehow quite
+different when he said it.</p>
+<p>Micky raised his eyes suddenly. &ldquo;What are you thinking
+about?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She shook her head; her lip quivered a little.</p>
+<p>Micky half rose to go to her, when the two men who
+owned the second car came back into the room again.
+Micky turned on his heel.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose we ought to be getting on,&rdquo; he said constrainedly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go and start up; you stay here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went out, leaving Esther by the fire.</p>
+<p>Her thoughts were a little confused. What had he
+been going to say, she wondered. It seemed hardly
+possible that she had really had that little glimpse of the
+other Micky whom she had never seen before; the Micky
+who was not at all a man about town, but just an ordinary
+person who thought it must be fine to have a
+home in the country and lots of roses and a little son
+of his own.</p>
+<p>The two men behind her were talking together; one
+of them was laughing a good deal in a sneering way.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She must be a fool, you know,&rdquo; he said drily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+surprised at any woman being caught like that. It was
+only her money he was after, of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen her myself,&rdquo; the other said disinterestedly&ndash;&ndash;he
+sounded rather bored&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;and I only know him
+slightly. You met them in Paris, you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;last week.&rdquo; There was the sound of a match
+being struck and a little pause while he puffed at a
+cigarette.</p>
+<p>Esther turned in her chair; it was odd how the mention
+of Paris always seemed to grip her heart. She
+looked at the two men, but they were both strangers
+to her.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps he won&rsquo;t really marry her,&rdquo; the elder one
+said yawning. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s many a slip you know, and
+from what I know of Raymond Ashton&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He
+shrugged his shoulders eloquently.</p>
+<p>The girl by the fire sat very still. She was staring
+at the two men with piteous grey eyes; she felt as if all
+the blood in her body had ebbed to her heart, where
+it was hammering enough to kill her.</p>
+<p>Like some one in a dream she heard the laugh the
+other man gave&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not marry her! My dear boy, he must! It&rsquo;s his
+last chance, and he knows it! He&rsquo;s up to his neck in
+debt and borrowed money. As a matter of fact, I
+shouldn&rsquo;t be at all surprised if Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow
+hasn&rsquo;t already changed her name for Raymond Ashton&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXV' id='CHAPTER_XXV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Outside in the road Micky suddenly started up
+the engine of his car. The dull throb, throb, came
+faintly to Esther as she sat there as motionless
+as if she had been carved in stone.</p>
+<p>The little vibrant noise sounded like the beating of
+some one&rsquo;s heart, she thought dully; she found herself
+listening to it subconsciously.</p>
+<p>The two men behind her had moved out to the doorway;
+she could still hear them talking and laughing together.
+Something within her urged her to get up and
+follow them to tell them that she had heard what they
+said, to tell them that it was all a lie&ndash;&ndash;a shameful lie.
+But she could not move.</p>
+<p>She told herself that if she kept quite still for a few
+moments she would wake and find that she had just
+dreamed it all. She stared hard into the glowing fire,
+trying to believe that it was all part of her dream, that
+it was not real warmth which she felt on her face at
+all, that those leaping flames were only pictures of her
+imagination, that even if she thrust her hand into them
+they would not burn her, but would just melt away
+into the silence around like phantoms.</p>
+<p>The phantom lover! June&rsquo;s half-mocking words beat
+dully against her brain. June had always hated Raymond;
+she would be glad if this thing were true.</p>
+<p>She suddenly realised that she was shivering in every
+limb. With an effort she dragged her chair closer to
+the fire. She put out her hands to the flames....</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good heavens! what are you doing?&rdquo; said Micky&rsquo;s
+voice at her shoulder. She had not heard him come into
+the room; it was only when he bent and caught her
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+hand back from the flames that she realised what she
+had been going to do. She looked up at him with a
+sick smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it wouldn&rsquo;t burn,&rdquo; she said stupidly.</p>
+<p>A flash of alarm crept into his eyes; she looked so
+white.</p>
+<p>He kept her hand in his holding it firmly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; he asked gently.</p>
+<p>There was something so kind in his voice that for a
+moment she felt as if she would have given her soul
+to have been able to lean her head against his shoulder
+and sob out the truth; all she had just heard and all
+the miserable hope and fear that had tortured her for
+the past few weeks.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; Micky said again anxiously.</p>
+<p>She dragged her hand free of his; she remembered
+that he, too, had hated Raymond, that he, too, would
+be glad when he knew of this nightmare that had suddenly
+swooped down upon her.</p>
+<p>She rose to her feet, holding fast to the chair-back
+to steady herself.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t anything the matter; but I should like
+to go home&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m tired, that&rsquo;s all; I&rsquo;m only tired.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She moved away to the door. The cold air beating on
+her face gave her a grip of herself again. She stood for
+a moment looking down the deserted street, her hands
+clenched.</p>
+<p>It was only for a little while, just until they got back
+to Enmore, that she had got to keep up appearances, and
+then&ndash;&ndash;then....</p>
+<p>A sudden wave of tragedy swept through her soul;
+oh, it could not be true! It was some other man of
+whom they had been speaking, some other Raymond!</p>
+<p>She heard Micky laughing with the landlady as he paid
+for the coffee and buns, and she felt that she hated him
+for not guessing how she suffered. She walked down
+to where the little car stood waiting. If only he would
+be quick and take her back; she could do nothing till
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span>
+she got back to Enmore, and each moment was so
+precious.</p>
+<p>It seemed an eternity until Micky joined her. He
+avoided looking at her, though he bent and wrapped the
+rug carefully over her knees before he took his seat.</p>
+<p>The other car with its two occupants had vanished
+down the road some minutes since; only a small cloud
+of grey dust on the horizon showed which way they
+had gone.</p>
+<p>Micky drove back faster than he had come. Once or
+twice he looked down at Esther with an anxious pucker
+between his eyes.</p>
+<p>What had happened in those few minutes to make this
+sudden change? he wondered.</p>
+<p>She had been happy and smiling enough this morning;
+now all that he could see of her face, half hidden
+in the big upstand collar of the coat he had given her,
+were two piteous blue eyes staring steadily ahead of
+her down the road.</p>
+<p>They had gone some miles almost silently when he
+felt that he could bear it no longer. He stopped the
+car almost savagely and turned in his seat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter? What have I done now?&rdquo; he
+asked roughly. &ldquo;You weren&rsquo;t like this when we came
+out. If I&rsquo;ve done anything to annoy you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She forced herself to laugh. It would be the last
+straw if she broke down now.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How absurd!&rdquo; she said in a high-pitched voice.
+&ldquo;Nothing is the matter. I&rsquo;m tired, that&rsquo;s all; I shall be
+glad to get home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was not satisfied.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not telling me the truth,&rdquo; he said. His mind
+searched anxiously back to the short time they had
+stayed in the inn. What could have happened? They
+had seen nobody there except the two men with the racing
+car.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Those two fellows who came in&ndash;&ndash;they didn&rsquo;t annoy
+you, or anything like that, when I was out of the room?&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span></div>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course not; they never spoke to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you won&rsquo;t tell me what I&rsquo;ve done, how can I hope
+to put things right?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>It was always like this, he told himself savagely; one
+little step onward and a dozen back. He did not speak
+again till they got home.</p>
+<p>Esther got out of the car without waiting for him,
+and went on into the house.</p>
+<p>After a moment Micky followed.</p>
+<p>Esther was in the hall; she turned to him impatiently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Every one is out,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Miss Dearling and
+June are both out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a sort of strain in her voice which Micky
+could not understand. She looked as if she had had
+some bad shock, and yet what could have happened?
+He had not left her for more than a few minutes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, I won&rsquo;t wait,&rdquo; he said formally. He spoke
+curtly; he felt sore enough; he raised his hat stiffly and
+turned away.</p>
+<p>He looked back once at the little house. He thought
+perhaps Esther might be standing at the door in case he
+should turn, but the door was shut, and it was impossible
+for him to guess that upstairs in the room over the
+porch Esther had shut and locked the door and was
+pacing up and down the room, her hands pressed hard
+against her eyes, sobbing&ndash;&ndash;great tearless sobs that seemed
+to rend her very heart.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not true&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s not true,&rdquo; she said over and over
+again under her breath. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not true&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s not
+true....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The striking of a church clock in the village seemed
+to rouse her. June would be back soon, and Miss Dearling.</p>
+<p>She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief; they felt
+hot and burning. She looked at herself anxiously in the
+little mirror&ndash;&ndash;such a white face; she turned away impatiently.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span></div>
+<p>Twelve o&rsquo;clock; there was a train up to town at half-past,
+she knew. The confusion in her brain seemed to
+have passed all at once; she felt quite calm and clear.</p>
+<p>She would go to Paris&ndash;&ndash;she would see Raymond, and
+hear from his own lips what a lie it was. She ought to
+have gone before. She had been a fool to listen to
+Micky; of course he would not wish her to go.</p>
+<p>She put a few things into a bag. She took the last
+letter she had had from Raymond, and kissed it before
+thrusting it back into her dress; she scribbled a pencil
+note to June and fastened it to the pincushion.</p>
+<p>With the little suit-case in her hand she went downstairs
+and out into the street.</p>
+<p>There was nobody about, and she almost ran to the
+station. The porter who had witnessed her meeting yesterday
+with Micky stared at her wonderingly.</p>
+<p>The London train was due now, he told her. She&rsquo;d
+have to hurry.... She was gone before he finished
+his slow speech.</p>
+<p>She found an empty carriage and got in, sitting as far
+away from the door as possible in case any one should
+come along the platform and recognize her. It was only
+when the train started away that she leaned back and
+closed her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am going to Paris; I can&rsquo;t live without him any
+longer. Please don&rsquo;t worry.&rdquo; Over and over she found
+herself repeating these words in her brain. She wondered
+where she had heard them and what they really
+meant.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am going to Paris; I can&rsquo;t live without him any
+longer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were true anyway. She was going to Paris because
+she felt she could no longer live without Raymond.</p>
+<p>She opened her eyes with a little gasp; they were her
+own words. She remembered that she had written them
+in the note she had left on the pincushion for June.</p>
+<p>Poor June! She would be angry. And Micky....
+A little throb touched her heart. She had not been very
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span>
+kind to Micky. She hoped he would soon forget her.
+Her eyes closed again.</p>
+<p>How long did it take to get to Paris? She had not
+the least idea. She had not got much money with her;
+she tried to remember how much, but somehow her
+brain refused to act; she took out her purse and tipped
+its contents into her lap. She started to count it, but
+after a moment she gave it up with a helpless feeling and
+put it all back again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tubby Clare&rsquo;s little widow....&rdquo; Who was Tubby
+Clare? she wondered. She laughed foolishly. What a
+name!</p>
+<p>But he had left his widow a great deal of money, and
+money was everything nowadays. Nobody could be
+happy without money; Raymond had told her that months
+ago; a man with money has the whole world at his feet,
+so he had said.</p>
+<p>She thought of Micky&ndash;&ndash;he was one of the richest men
+in London, and yet he was not happy. She had never
+thought that he looked happy; she wondered if it was
+really because he loved her.</p>
+<p>She wished she could stop thinking. She was so tired,
+she wanted to sleep; but the wheel of thought went on
+and on in her brain.</p>
+<p>The miles seemed to crawl by. Soon the fields and
+open country were left behind; the houses were closer
+together; presently they crowded one another, almost
+jostling each other out of the way, it seemed.</p>
+<p>What an ugly place London was. She sat up with a
+little shiver. Strange how cold she felt, and yet her head
+was burning hot.</p>
+<p>Would this journey never end? Surely they had been
+travelling for days and days already.</p>
+<p>The train stopped with a jerk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paddington ... all change&ndash;&ndash;all change....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther stumbled to her feet.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXVI' id='CHAPTER_XXVI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky had just reached the unpretentious inn in
+the village where he had taken a room, when he
+was hailed from across the road by June; a very
+cheerful looking June, in a business-like coat and skirt
+of rough tweed, and carrying a walking-stick, which she
+proceeded to wave at him vigorously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Back so soon!&rdquo; She came across to where he stood
+by the car, and looked at his despondent face. &ldquo;Not another
+row?&rdquo; she demanded tersely.</p>
+<p>Micky frowned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;merely a sort of frigid silence this time,&rdquo; he
+said savagely, then he laughed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s no use, June, I
+may as well throw up the sponge. I seem to put my
+foot in it whatever I do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June drew a pattern in the mud at her feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what have you done?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Esther was
+all right this morning, and quite pleased to be going with
+you. I certainly never expected to see either of you
+till this afternoon. Where did you go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, some little one-eyed place. We stopped at an inn
+and had some coffee, and that seemed to finish it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What, the coffee?&rdquo; asked June with a twinkle.</p>
+<p>Micky turned away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to make a joke of everything&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he
+said with dignity.</p>
+<p>She laid her hand on his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, old boy. But you do explain things so
+badly, you know. You had coffee at the inn, yes&ndash;&ndash;and
+then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I went outside to start up the engine, and when I
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+came back she seemed to have utterly changed. She even
+looked different and she hardly spoke all the way home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must be your imagination.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shook his head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, it isn&rsquo;t; and when we got home she went indoors
+without even saying good-bye&ndash;&ndash;confound her!&rdquo; he added
+in savage parenthesis.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, Micky!&rdquo; said June reproachfully.</p>
+<p>He coloured.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean that, but I&rsquo;m so fed-up with everything&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+He leaned his elbow on the side of the car
+and looked away from her down the road. &ldquo;I think
+I&rsquo;ll get back to town this afternoon,&rdquo; he said after a
+moment. &ldquo;I was a fool to come at all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June looked at him silently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what are you thinking?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>She roused herself and answered briskly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think you want your lunch, that&rsquo;s what I think,
+and I&rsquo;m going to take you back with me to have some.
+Aunt Mary is expecting you&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Her queer eyes
+twinkled. &ldquo;Micky, she&rsquo;s quite made up her mind that
+you&rsquo;ve come down here after me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It would be a dashed sight better for me if I had,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>He moved to the door of the car.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Jump in, and I&rsquo;ll drive you back. I&rsquo;m not sure that
+I shall stay to lunch, though&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he added darkly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, you will,&rdquo; June said. &ldquo;And when you see
+Esther you&rsquo;ll find that it was just imagination on your
+part&ndash;&ndash;why, only coming down in the train the other
+morning she agreed with me that you were a perfect
+darling&ndash;&ndash;she did, on my word of honour!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When they reached the house Micky meekly followed
+June into the hall.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The table&rsquo;s laid,&rdquo; she informed him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll just go
+and take off my hat and find Esther and Aunt Mary.
+Go in, Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span></div>
+<p>Micky took off his hat and coat and obeyed.</p>
+<p>He looked several sizes too large for the little dining-room
+as he walked over to the fire and stood with his
+back to it; he looked round the room appreciatively.</p>
+<p>This was a real home, he thought with sudden wistfulness
+in spite of its small rooms and general atmosphere
+of a bygone decade; a man could be very happy
+here with a woman he cared for.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&ndash;&ndash;Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; called June urgently. She came
+clattering down the stairs anyhow&ndash;&ndash;she burst into the
+room, she thrust a scrap of paper into his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s gone&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;s gone! Oh, what fools we&rsquo;ve been!
+I told you what it would be. I knew she&rsquo;d find out
+sooner or later. Oh, why didn&rsquo;t you let me tell her?&ndash;&ndash;I
+begged you to let me. It&rsquo;s not my fault. I warned you
+what it would be&ndash;&ndash;oh dear! oh dear!&rdquo; and June fell into
+a sobbing heap on the uncomfortable horsehair couch
+behind her.</p>
+<p>Micky stood clutching the paper and staring at her; it
+was some minutes before he could find his voice, then
+he went over to where she lay, put his hand on her
+shoulder, and shook her almost roughly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you talking about, June? For heaven&rsquo;s
+sake sit up and behave like a rational woman. Who&rsquo;s
+gone? What do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She raised her tear-stained face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Read it! read it! Oh, Micky, you have been a fool!&rdquo;
+she said furiously. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all your fault. I knew what
+would happen&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, for heaven&rsquo;s sake shut up,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>He had unfolded the paper, and there was a moment&rsquo;s
+tragic silence as he read the three lines Esther had scribbled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have gone to Paris; I can&rsquo;t live without him any
+longer. Please don&rsquo;t worry about me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Twice his lips moved, but no words would come, then
+he broke out in a strangled voice&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a joke&ndash;&ndash;of course it is. She&rsquo;s done it to frighten
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span>
+us. Why, I&ndash;&ndash;I only left her here half-an-hour ago&ndash;&ndash;it
+can&rsquo;t be more. It&rsquo;s a joke&ndash;&ndash;of&ndash;&ndash;of course it is ...
+June....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A queer sort of joke,&rdquo; said June sobbing. &ldquo;Poor
+darling! and a nice sort of reception she&rsquo;ll get when she
+reaches Paris with that cad there....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll never find him; she doesn&rsquo;t know where he
+is,&rdquo; Micky said hoarsely. There was a stunned look in
+his eyes&ndash;&ndash;he took a step towards the door and came back
+again as if he did not know what to do.</p>
+<p>June was drying her eyes and shedding more tears
+and drying them again; she looked at Micky angrily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course she&rsquo;ll find him,&rdquo; she said tartly. &ldquo;She
+knows his address; the brute&rsquo;s written to her dozens of
+times, and she&rsquo;s written to him as well....&rdquo; Her
+eyes searched his face with a sort of contempt.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what are you going to do now you&rsquo;ve made
+such a glorious hash of everything?&rdquo; she demanded.</p>
+<p>Micky passed a hand across his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I&rsquo;m trying to think. She can&rsquo;t have
+been gone long. She may still be in the village.&rdquo; He
+dragged out his watch. &ldquo;There may not have been a
+train up to London&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, there was; the twelve-twenty&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; The eyes
+of both of them turned to the clock, and Micky gave a
+smothered groan.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She must have gone by that. I must follow her,
+of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June bounced up.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll come with you; I&rsquo;ll put on my hat again&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+She made a dive for the door, but Micky caught her
+arm and stopped her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t; I can&rsquo;t take you with me. Be sensible,
+June&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll find her and bring her back&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked up at him stormily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s my friend, and it&rsquo;s all your fault she&rsquo;s got into
+this mess. I told you not to interfere, and you wouldn&rsquo;t
+listen&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span></div>
+<p>It was a woman all over to rave at him now, but
+Micky took it patiently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, it&rsquo;s my fault, and as it&rsquo;s my fault it&rsquo;s up
+to me to try and put things right. Don&rsquo;t waste time
+arguing&ndash;&ndash;if I&rsquo;m to catch her before she leaves
+England....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June burst into fresh tears and sobs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t be able to; she&rsquo;ll get over there and have
+to bear it all alone.... Oh, Micky, I almost hate
+you when I think what we&rsquo;ve done....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky went out of the room; he went down to the
+road and mechanically started up the car; he was getting
+into his seat when June followed and called to him&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t got your coat or cap, Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He came back; he hoisted himself into his coat, and
+turned away again; June caught his hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to be a beast, Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He gave her fingers a squeeze.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know; it&rsquo;s all right; but don&rsquo;t keep me, there&rsquo;s a
+dear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But she still clung to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll bring her back safely, Micky&ndash;&ndash;promise.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky turned away without answering.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;... I can&rsquo;t live without him any longer....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In spite of everything, that was how she still felt about
+the brute.</p>
+<p>When he got to the station he found there was no
+train to town for a couple of hours; he asked a sleepy
+porter an agitated question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you see a young lady go by the twelve-twenty&ndash;&ndash;one
+of the young ladies staying with Miss Dearling. Oh,
+for heaven&rsquo;s sake hurry up and answer, man!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man scratched an unshaven chin with irritating
+consideration.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I seen her,&rdquo; he said at last. &ldquo;She came in running&ndash;&ndash;caught
+the train to London&ndash;&ndash;she....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Micky had gone; he would have to drive to town,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span>
+he decided. If Esther had got to know the truth, better
+hear it from him than from that brute.</p>
+<p>He drove off at breakneck speed. It seemed miles and
+miles to London; no matter how much of the winding
+road he covered, it unfolded again before his eyes, and
+mercilessly again.</p>
+<p>He went straight to Charing Cross; he left the car in
+the yard and dashed in to inquire about trains; he
+searched a time-table; 12.59&ndash;&ndash;3 o&rsquo;clock&ndash;&ndash;4.5 ... he
+looked up at the clock&ndash;&ndash;three minutes past four now.
+Micky dashed across the big hall to a gate where a signboard
+said &ldquo;Dover Express&rdquo;; he had no ticket; he pushed
+by the protesting inspector; the guard was waving his
+flag; some one grabbed at Micky and missed as he flung
+himself breathless and panting into the last coach of
+the moving train.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXVII' id='CHAPTER_XXVII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Micky sat for a few moments breathless and exhausted
+before he pulled himself together, and
+taking off his hat wiped his hot forehead.</p>
+<p>The train was gathering speed; he let down the window
+with a run and looked out; the station was out of
+sight altogether; they were crossing the bridge under
+which the silent Thames flowed sluggishly.</p>
+<p>A breath of cold air touched his hot face and he
+shivered suddenly and drew the window up once more.</p>
+<p>Something had driven his thoughts back to his first
+meeting with Esther, to the cold silence of the night,
+and the hard desperation of her voice as she said&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to go home any more&ndash;&ndash;I shouldn&rsquo;t
+have ever gone home again if I hadn&rsquo;t met you....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>If she got to Paris before he saw her she would feel
+like this again. Micky groaned.</p>
+<p>Fortunately he had the carriage to himself, but it
+was a third-class compartment, and not a corridor carriage.
+He cursed his luck here; if there had been a
+corridor he could have gone the length of the train and
+seen if Esther were on it. As it was, he would have to
+wait till they reached Dover, and even then perhaps he
+would never find her.</p>
+<p>He tried to calm himself with the conviction that everything
+would be all right, but in his heart he was despairing;
+if he found Esther and brought her back she would
+hate him for the rest of his life.</p>
+<p>What had happened to make her rush off like this?
+He could not imagine. She had seemed so happy only
+that morning. What could account for the tragedy that
+seemed to breathe in every word of that little note she
+had left for June?</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span></div>
+<p>He took it from his pocket and read it again. It
+gave no hint of what had prompted this sudden flight.
+He wrote out a couple of telegrams to dispatch from
+Dover&ndash;&ndash;one for June, and another for Driver.</p>
+<p>He wished he had got Driver with him. There was
+a sort of security in the man&rsquo;s stolidness.</p>
+<p>He realised that he was without luggage, and that he
+had not much money. Supposing he had to go on to
+Paris, what the dickens was he going to do?</p>
+<p>When the train ran into Dover he got to his feet with
+a sigh of relief. Quickly as he was out of the train a
+great many passengers had left it before him. He started
+at a run down the platform. He stared at every woman
+he met, hoping it would be Esther. The crowd was
+getting thick; he had to push his way unceremoniously
+past people; porters with luggage trucks jostled him;
+he began to lose his temper&ndash;&ndash;he was just answering with
+great heat a man who had cynically asked &ldquo;who he was
+shoving,&rdquo; when some one touched his arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a moment Micky&rsquo;s heart beat up in his throat; he
+turned quickly and found himself looking down into the
+brown eyes of Marie Deland.</p>
+<p>If she had hoped for anything better, it must have
+been a shock to her to see the bitter disappointment in
+Micky&rsquo;s face. He stammered out that he had not expected
+to see her, that he was in a deuce of a hurry;
+he hoped she would forgive him, but&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky, by all that&rsquo;s wonderful!&rdquo; said another voice,
+and there was Marie&rsquo;s father, the good-natured old man
+who had pretended to agree with his wife when she raved
+against Micky for the cavalier way in which he had
+treated his daughter, but who in his heart had indulged
+in a quiet chuckle, thinking that Micky had been rather
+clever to escape from the toils at the eleventh hour.</p>
+<p>He shook hands with Micky heartily enough; he, at
+any rate, had no grudge against him. He asked Micky
+a hundred questions.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going over, my boy? Come with us. I&rsquo;ve
+got a reserved carriage on the Paris express. Delighted
+to see you. Marie and I are just off for a little holiday
+by ourselves.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He touched his daughter&rsquo;s arm. &ldquo;Ask him to join
+us, my dear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did his best to answer civilly; he was in the
+deuce of a hurry, he said again; he had got to meet
+a friend but had missed her in the crowd.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I came off in the deuce of a hurry,&rdquo; he said. He
+was chafing bitterly at this enforced delay; each moment
+was so precious.</p>
+<p>Marie touched her father&rsquo;s arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are only keeping Mr. Mellowes, Daddy....&rdquo;
+Something in her voice made Micky&rsquo;s eyes smart. It
+was hard luck that for the second time he was forced
+to humiliate her. He stammered out incoherently that
+he hoped they would forgive him, but he was in such
+a deuce of a hurry.... He went off abruptly.</p>
+<p>Everybody was off the train now, and many people
+were already on the boat. Micky remembered that he
+had no ticket; he entered into a hot argument with an
+official, who listened to him skeptically, and took as long
+as possible to make out the ticket; even when Micky had
+paid he still looked suspicious.</p>
+<p>The gangway was still down; Micky went on board
+and stood as close to it as he could, scanning the face
+of each passer.</p>
+<p>Esther was not amongst them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Stand away there&ndash;&ndash;stand away....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was pushed aside, and a couple of brawny seamen
+hauled the gangway on to the harbour. The gap
+of green water was widening slowly between the pier and
+the ship&rsquo;s side. Micky felt as if he were being exiled.
+Supposing she was not on the boat?</p>
+<p>He turned away and searched the crowded deck. The
+boat was full, and most of the people were women,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span>
+but there was nobody who looked in the very least like
+Esther.</p>
+<p>She would be wearing the fur coat, he was sure&ndash;&ndash;the
+coat he had given her!</p>
+<p>One or two people stared at him curiously. Once he
+came across Marie and her father on the leeward side
+of the boat. For decency&rsquo;s sake he had to stop. He
+made an inane remark on the weather and said he thought
+they were going to have a smooth crossing.</p>
+<p>Marie&rsquo;s brown eyes lifted to his.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t met your friend?&rdquo; she said quietly.</p>
+<p>Micky had a horrible conviction that she had not believed
+that he had any one to meet. He coloured in
+confusion as he answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;no. I&rsquo;m sorry to say I haven&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She moved away leaving him with her father. The
+old man slipped a hand through Micky&rsquo;s arm.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t notice her, my boy; women are queer cattle&ndash;&ndash;and
+I expect she&rsquo;s a little sore with you still.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky wished it was possible to jump overboard. He
+found the old man&rsquo;s friendliness more insufferable than
+the look of reproach in Marie&rsquo;s eyes. As soon as he
+could he got away; he went down the companion-way
+and wandered round despondently.</p>
+<p>If Esther were on the boat she must have seen him and
+was deliberately keeping out of his way; he glanced in
+at the open door of the ladies&rsquo; cabin as he passed.</p>
+<p>Several pessimistic souls who had already made up
+their minds to be ill, although the sea was like a mill-pond,
+had arranged themselves on the couches, with
+pillows under their heads; as Micky passed the cabin
+some one slammed the door smartly in his face.</p>
+<p>He went upon deck again and stood looking out to
+sea, with the wind stinging his face.</p>
+<p>It was getting dark rapidly; the lights of Dover twinkled
+through the greyness. Micky stood and watched till
+they could no longer be seen. He was chilled to the
+bone in spite of his warm coat; he turned the collar
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span>
+up round his throat and thrust his hands deeply into
+his pockets.</p>
+<p>His fingers came in contact with the telegrams he
+had written in the train and forgotten to send. He swore
+under his breath.</p>
+<p>He kept out of the Delands&rsquo; way when they reached
+Calais; he was first off the boat; he stood in the darkness
+trembling with excitement.</p>
+<p>There were all sorts of people pouring past him&ndash;&ndash;men,
+women, and children. They all seemed happy and eager&ndash;&ndash;a
+couple of Frenchmen standing near him chattered incessantly;
+Micky moistened his dry lips; there was a
+little nerve throbbing in his temple.</p>
+<p>Supposing he never saw her again! His hands clenched
+deep in his pockets ... supposing he never met the
+half-shy glance of her grey eyes&ndash;&ndash;supposing he never
+heard her voice any more&ndash;&ndash;or her laugh....</p>
+<p>The sweat broke out on his forehead. For a moment
+he closed his eyes with a sick feeling of hopelessness,
+and when he opened them again he saw Esther standing
+there not half a dozen paces from him.</p>
+<p>The glare from a huge arc lamp shone full on her
+slim figure and golden hair.</p>
+<p>She was looking round her in a scared, apprehensive
+way as if not knowing where to go.</p>
+<p>A wave of such utter relief swept through Micky&rsquo;s
+very soul that for a moment it almost turned him faint.</p>
+<p>She was quite alone, but as Micky watched her he
+saw a French porter in a blue blouse go up to her and
+start chattering away, pointing to the small suit-case she
+carried and gesticulating violently. Esther shook her
+head&ndash;&ndash;Micky remembered that she knew no French&ndash;&ndash;but
+the man persisted, and she shook her head again
+in a frightened sort of way.</p>
+<p>Micky covered the distance between them in a couple
+of strides.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther....&rdquo; he said, in a queer, choked sort of
+voice.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span></div>
+<p>She turned with a stifled scream, and a most unwilling
+relief swept her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, Micky!&rdquo; she said breathlessly. She put out her
+hand as if to grip his arm, then drew it away, moving
+back.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How did you come here ... oh, how dare you
+follow me...?&rdquo; she said passionately.</p>
+<p>Micky took her arm very gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We found your note,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had to come ...
+June said....&rdquo; Then suddenly his calmness broke
+&ldquo;Oh, thank God I found you&ndash;&ndash;thank God!&rdquo; he said
+hoarsely.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXVIII' id='CHAPTER_XXVIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther seemed arrested by the emotion in Micky&rsquo;s
+voice.</p>
+<p>She stood looking up at him with wide eyes and
+parted lips, then suddenly she broke out again&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you mean. I&rsquo;ll never forgive June
+if she sent you after me. I&rsquo;m going to Paris. I&rsquo;m not
+a child to be followed and looked after like this....
+Let me go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky released her arm at once. When he spoke his
+voice was quiet and rather stern.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Please don&rsquo;t make a scene. I have followed you
+for your own sake. I know I can&rsquo;t stop you from going
+to Paris. I&rsquo;m not going to try. All I do ask you is
+that you will let me speak to you. If what I have to
+say is useless, I give you my word of honour that I
+will leave you here and let you go on to Paris alone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him with stormy eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe it&ndash;&ndash;it isn&rsquo;t the first time you&rsquo;ve lied
+to me....&rdquo; she broke off breathlessly. Micky turned
+pale, but he answered evenly enough&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re quite justified in saying that; I&rsquo;m not going
+to try and deny it. But we can&rsquo;t stand here all night&ndash;&ndash;people
+are beginning to stare at us....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; but she dropped her voice a little,
+and when Micky made a slight movement forward she
+followed.</p>
+<p>It was cold on the quay&ndash;&ndash;there was a fresh wind blowing,
+and Esther shivered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a restaurant place here,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;I
+want a meal if you don&rsquo;t; I haven&rsquo;t had anything since
+breakfast.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span></div>
+<p>He found a table and ordered a meal, but he knew
+he should not be able to eat a thing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want anything to eat,&rdquo; Esther said. She sat
+sideways in her chair away from the table; there was a
+pitiable look of strain in her face; she still gripped her
+suit-case tightly. When Micky asked her to be allowed
+to put it down for her she turned on him almost fiercely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Leave me alone&ndash;&ndash;oh, leave me alone!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The French garcon eyed them both interestedly. Any
+one far less keen of perception than he was could have
+seen that there was tragedy of some kind between this
+pretty, frail-looking girl and the tall man in the big coat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You said you were hungry, but you&rsquo;re not eating anything,&rdquo;
+Esther broke out irritably. &ldquo;How much longer
+are you going to make me sit here? I want to catch a
+train to Paris to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There are no trains, except slow ones,&rdquo; Micky told
+her; &ldquo;the express has gone half an hour ago. I can
+find you rooms in a hotel close by for the night....&rdquo;
+His eyes met hers across the table, and he broke out,
+&ldquo;Esther, for God&rsquo;s sake let me explain things to you.
+You&rsquo;ve all your life before you; to-morrow, if you wish
+it, I&rsquo;ll go away and never see you again. But I can&rsquo;t
+let you go now without telling you the truth. I ought
+to have told you before&ndash;&ndash;it was for your own sake I
+tried to keep it back....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her grey eyes searched his face disbelievingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve anything to say against Mr. Ashton,&rdquo; she
+said, &ldquo;I refuse to listen. I shouldn&rsquo;t believe anything
+you say, for one thing. Why, you don&rsquo;t even know
+his name&ndash;&ndash;unless June has told you,&rdquo; she added breathlessly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June has told me nothing, but I know, all the same.
+I knew the first night I ever met you&ndash;&ndash;when I left you
+and went back to my rooms, he was there waiting for
+me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She half turned, leaning across the table, and her eyes
+were like fire.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;He was there&ndash;&ndash;who was there?&rdquo; she asked shrilly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ashton&ndash;&ndash;Raymond Ashton,&rdquo; Micky answered.</p>
+<p>There was a tragic silence, then Esther rose to her
+feet; she stood looking dazedly round her in a helpless
+sort of way.</p>
+<p>Micky called for the bill&ndash;&ndash;without waiting for his
+change he followed Esther out into the darkness. She
+offered no resistance when he drew her hand through
+his arm. He did not know what on earth to do with
+her; if he took her to an hotel it would mean leaving
+her, and she would probably go away in the night. They
+went back to the station, and Micky found a waiting-room
+with a roaring fire; he dragged one of the uncomfortable
+wooden benches close to it and made Esther sit
+down; he closed the door and came back to her.</p>
+<p>There was so much he wanted to say, and for the
+life of him he did not know how to begin. She sat
+there so silently; she seemed to have forgotten his presence
+altogether.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at her, and suddenly he broke out&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther, speak to me&ndash;&ndash;say something&ndash;&ndash;for heaven&rsquo;s
+sake&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She moved in a curiously heavy sort of way, as if
+it were an effort; she raised her eyes to his agitated
+face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This morning&ndash;&ndash;was it only this morning?&ndash;&ndash;it seems
+so long ago.&rdquo; She stopped for a moment, then went on
+again slowly. &ldquo;When we were at that inn in the village&ndash;&ndash;those
+men with the car&ndash;&ndash;I heard them talking....&rdquo;
+She stopped again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>She frowned as if his monosyllable had interrupted
+her train of thought. She went on presently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They were talking about Paris&ndash;&ndash;and Raymond.&rdquo; And
+now she raised her eyes. &ldquo;If you say that it was true
+what I heard them say, I will kill you,&rdquo; she said with
+sudden passion. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lie&ndash;&ndash;just a lie to hurt me, to
+hurt me more than I&rsquo;ve been hurt already.&rdquo; She stopped,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span>
+panting. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lie&ndash;&ndash;say it&rsquo;s a lie,&rdquo; she drove the words
+at him.</p>
+<p>Micky sat down beside her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If they said that Ashton had been married in Paris
+to Mrs. Clare it was the truth,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>He marvelled at the steadiness of his voice. He felt
+sick with shame at the part he was having to play. He
+went on incoherently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I knew it before you ever went to Enmore&ndash;&ndash;it was
+in the London papers. I was afraid you would see it.
+I persuaded June to get you down into the country. I
+suppose I was a fool. I ought to have known it was
+only putting things off.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked at her and quickly away again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Forget him, Esther, for God&rsquo;s sake. He never cared
+for you; he isn&rsquo;t worth a thought.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She rose to her feet, pushing the hair back from her
+face as if she were distraught.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How dare you say such things to me?&rdquo; she said in
+an odd, choked voice. &ldquo;You always hated him&ndash;&ndash;you
+and June. Do you think I&rsquo;m going to believe you? Do
+you think I could believe you for a moment when I have
+his letters&ndash;&ndash;when he has shown me in so many ways
+how he cares?... I don&rsquo;t care what you say&ndash;&ndash;I
+don&rsquo;t care if the whole world were to tell me it was
+true&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll never believe it till he tells me himself....&rdquo;
+Her breath came gaspingly; she looked at Micky&rsquo;s white
+face with passionate hatred in her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How do I know it isn&rsquo;t all a made-up story?&rdquo; she
+asked him hoarsely.</p>
+<p>She hardly knew what she was saying; she leaned
+her arms on the mantelshelf and hid her face in them.</p>
+<p>Micky let her alone; he got up and began pacing up
+and down the room.</p>
+<p>He deserved everything she had said; it was all his
+fault that she had got this to bear. With the best intentions
+in the world he had proved himself a blundering
+fool.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span></div>
+<p>Esther raised her head; she had not shed a tear, but
+her face was white and desolate.</p>
+<p>She walked past him to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going on to Paris to-night,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Nothing
+you can say will stop me&ndash;&ndash;nothing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well, then I will come with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not answer; she fumbled helplessly with the
+door handle. Micky came forward to open it for her,
+and their hands touched. A little flame of red rushed
+to his face; he put his shoulders to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t go like this,&rdquo; he said stammering. &ldquo;How
+can I let you go like this? Whatever I&rsquo;ve done, I haven&rsquo;t
+deserved that you should think as badly of me as you
+do. It was because I cared for you so much&ndash;&ndash;I tried
+to save you pain ... perhaps it isn&rsquo;t any excuse,
+but it&rsquo;s the truth.... I&rsquo;d give my very soul if I
+could undo what&rsquo;s gone, if I could save you from this.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was not looking at him, but the cold contempt
+in her face stung him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You may despise me,&rdquo; he broke out again jaggedly.
+&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s the truth I&rsquo;ve told you.... Ashton never
+cared for you; that night at my rooms....&rdquo; He
+stopped, he did not want to tell her, but somehow there
+was a compelling force within him that drove the words
+to his lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He told me he&rsquo;d had to break with you&ndash;&ndash;that he was
+going away from London because of you. He said he
+must marry a woman with money&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s the truth, if I
+never speak again. He never cared for you, Esther&ndash;&ndash;he
+was never fit to kiss the ground you walk on. He
+wanted to be rid of you&ndash;&ndash;he&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky stopped; Esther had given a little strangled
+cry, half-sob, half-moan, like some animal in mortal pain;
+for the moment she saw the world red; hardly knowing
+what she did, she lifted her hand and struck Micky
+across his white face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you liar&ndash;&ndash;you liar,&rdquo; she said. The words were
+a hoarse whisper, her voice was almost gone.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span></div>
+<p>She fell away from him, shaking in every limb; she
+dropped into a chair hiding her face.</p>
+<p>Micky stood like a man turned to stone. She had not
+hurt him physically, though there was a red flush where
+she had struck him, but he felt as if the blow had fallen
+on his aching heart and his love for her.</p>
+<p>It seemed a long time before either of them moved or
+spoke, then Esther dragged herself to her feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Please let me pass,&rdquo; she said in a whisper, and Micky
+stood aside without a word.</p>
+<p>He followed her out and inquired for a train; there
+was a slow one at ten-fifty they told him. He put Esther
+into a carriage and got a rug for her and a cushion. He
+knew she had had nothing to eat, and he ordered a basket
+to be made up at the refreshment-room. When he came
+back she was sitting in a corner with her eyes closed. She
+had taken off her hat, and her golden hair was tumbled
+about her face. She took no notice when he put the
+rug over her; she did not even open her eyes when the
+train started.</p>
+<p>Micky sat down in the opposite corner. He felt more
+tired than he had ever done in all his life, and yet he
+knew that he could not sleep; his brain seemed as if it
+would never rest again. He sat with face averted from
+the girl in the corner, looking out into the darkness.</p>
+<p>It seemed strange to realise that he had made this
+same journey dozens of times before. He felt that it
+was all strange and distasteful to him. The chattering
+voices of the French porters and the whistle of the engines
+sounded new and quaint as if he had never heard
+them before. It seemed an eternity before the train
+started slowly away.</p>
+<p>He leaned back and closed his eyes; his head was splitting,
+and he was cold and hungry.</p>
+<p>He must have dozed for a few minutes, for he was
+roused by a little choking sound of sobbing. He opened
+his eyes&ndash;&ndash;he was awake at once&ndash;&ndash;he looked across at
+Esther. She was lying huddled up, with her face turned
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span>
+against the dirty cushions of the carriage, sobbing her
+heart out.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at her in miserable indecision. Then
+he got up impulsively, and sat down opposite to where
+Esther was huddled.</p>
+<p>He stretched out his hand and took hers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t cry&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t; I can&rsquo;t bear it,&rdquo; he said hoarsely.
+He raised her hand to his lips. She had taken off her
+gloves and her fingers felt like ice. He chafed them
+gently between his own. She still wore the cheap little
+ring which Ashton had given her months ago.</p>
+<p>She let her hand lie passively in his. Perhaps she
+was too miserable to remember that it was Micky, and
+only realised that there was something kind and comforting
+in his touch. Presently her sobs quieted. She
+wiped the tears from her face and brushed back her
+disordered hair.</p>
+<p>Micky got up and took down the supper basket he
+had managed to get at the station. There was a small
+thermos of hot coffee. He poured some out and made
+her drink it. If he had expected her to refuse he was
+agreeably disappointed. She obeyed apathetically; she
+even ate some sandwiches.</p>
+<p>Micky was ravenous himself, but he would not touch
+a thing till she had finished.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d be much more comfortable if you put your
+feet up on the seat and tried to sleep,&rdquo; he said presently.
+&ldquo;You can have my coat as well as the rug. Your
+hands are like ice.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He took off his coat as he spoke and laid it over her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid we&rsquo;ve got a long journey yet,&rdquo; he said
+ruefully. &ldquo;If you could get some sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She turned her head away and closed her eyes.</p>
+<p>She looked very young and appealing in the depressing
+light of the carriage.</p>
+<p>Micky sat looking at her in silence. She cared so
+little for him that she had even forgotten her anger
+against him; nothing he could do or say really mattered
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span>
+to her, she was not sufficiently interested in him to even
+trouble to hate him for long.</p>
+<p>He wondered what June was thinking, and Miss Dearling!
+He wished from the depths of his soul that he
+had remembered to send those wires. There was his
+car, too&ndash;&ndash;he had left that in the yard at Charing Cross&ndash;&ndash;what
+the dickens would become of it?&ndash;&ndash;not that it mattered
+much, he was too miserable to be seriously concerned
+about anything.</p>
+<p>Some minutes passed, but Esther did not move. Micky
+spoke her name once softly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther....&rdquo; But she did not answer; he leaned
+over and touched her hand, but she did not stir; in spite
+of what she had said she was asleep.</p>
+<p>Micky gave a sigh of relief. He drew his coat and
+the rug more closely around her; he was very cold himself,
+but that did not trouble him; he finished the contents
+of the supper basket before he went back to his
+own corner.</p>
+<p>The train rumbled on through the night; it dragged
+into many little stations and stopped jerkily, but Esther
+did not wake.</p>
+<p>Once when she moved and the rug slipped, Micky
+rose and quietly replaced it. He was very tired himself,
+but his brain would not allow him to sleep; he felt as if he
+were living through years during these long hours.</p>
+<p>He sat looking at Esther with wistful eyes. Why
+was it that people never fell in love with the right people?
+he asked himself vaguely. He could have made her so
+happy.</p>
+<p>He closed his eyes for a moment, then dragged them
+open again. He must not go to sleep, whatever happened.
+He sat up stiffly.</p>
+<p>Presently he lifted a corner of the blind. The sky
+looked a little lighter, as if dawn were not far away.
+He looked at his watch. Nearly two!</p>
+<p>A sudden impulse came to him to wake Esther and
+make her listen now to what he had to say. The time
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span>
+was getting short, and there was so much to tell her and
+explain.</p>
+<p>He rose and bent over her, but she did not move, and
+he went back again to his corner.</p>
+<p>He let the window down a little way, hoping the cold
+night air would help to keep him awake. The minutes
+seemed to drag, though in reality only a quarter of an
+hour had passed when Esther woke with a little smothered
+cry.</p>
+<p>Micky was on his feet in an instant.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right&ndash;&ndash;there&rsquo;s nothing to be afraid of&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ve
+been asleep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She rubbed her eyes childishly with her knuckles; she
+stared at him for a moment unrecognisingly, then, as
+memory returned, she shrank back into her corner.</p>
+<p>Micky picked up the rug and coat that had slithered
+to the floor; he waited a few moments till he saw that
+she was quite awake before he spoke, then he said
+gently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you feel better. We shall soon be in now.
+Are you warm enough?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, thank you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We shall be into Paris very soon,&rdquo; he said again;
+&ldquo;and there is a great deal I want to say to you first.
+Will you listen to me if I try to explain?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She met his eyes unflinchingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is only one man who can possibly explain anything
+to me,&rdquo; she said then, &ldquo;and he is not you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky lost his temper; he was cold and tired and
+hungry, and at that moment she seemed the most unreasonable
+of mortals.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall not allow you to see Ashton, if you mean Ashton,&rdquo;
+he said roughly. &ldquo;The man isn&rsquo;t fit for you to
+think about. He&rsquo;s married, you know that ... Esther,
+for your own sake&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had turned her face away and was looking out
+into the darkness; she seemed not to be listening.</p>
+<p>Micky went on urgently.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I blame myself. I always meant to tell you before
+things had gone as far as this. I shall never forgive
+myself for not having done so. I&rsquo;ve behaved like a cad,
+but my only excuse is that I loved you; I wanted to
+spare you unnecessary pain&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He was no longer
+stammering and self-conscious, his voice was firm and
+steady. &ldquo;I suppose I was a fool to imagine that I could
+ever make you care for me; I suppose it was conceit
+that led me to think I could ever cut out this ... this
+phantom lover of yours&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He laughed mirthlessly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther, let me take you back home; it&rsquo;s no use seeing
+Ashton&ndash;&ndash;it only means humiliation and pain for you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her lips moved, but no words came.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me take you home to June,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;She
+will tell you that what I say is only the truth. She
+knows him&ndash;&ndash;she....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She spoke then.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She always hated him; it isn&rsquo;t likely she would wish
+me to marry him.&rdquo; She bit her lip. &ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s no use
+saying any more,&rdquo; she broke out wildly after a moment.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to see him&ndash;&ndash;I can&rsquo;t bear it if I don&rsquo;t see
+him&ndash;&ndash;just once! I&rsquo;ve got to hear the truth&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told you the truth,&rdquo; he repeated doggedly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+no interest to me to try and prevent you from seeing
+him. I know I&rsquo;ve done for whatever chance I had with
+you. Oh, for heaven&rsquo;s sake believe that it&rsquo;s only for
+your sake I want to take you back!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>In her heart she found it impossible to believe him;
+she thought of the letters she had received from Raymond,
+the money&ndash;&ndash;the presents&ndash;&ndash;why even this coat she
+wore had come from him; she felt that she could laugh
+at this man opposite to her. A little smile curved her
+lips; a contemptuous smile it seemed to Micky.</p>
+<p>For the first time the injustice of it all seemed to
+strike him; for him who had done his best she had nothing
+but dislike and contempt, but for the man who had
+left her with a brutal letter of farewell, who had thrown
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span>
+her over because she had no money, she had endless faith
+and trust, and love!</p>
+<p>He broke out in his agitation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried to spare you&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve done my best, but you
+won&rsquo;t let me ... I&rsquo;ve kept back the truth, but now
+you&rsquo;ll have to hear it if nothing else will keep you from
+him. He&rsquo;s never given you a thought since he left London&ndash;&ndash;he
+imagines that you&rsquo;ve forgotten him. It was
+he you saw at the Comedy Theatre that night when June
+and I were with you. He didn&rsquo;t even trouble to let you
+know that he was in London&ndash;&ndash;that&rsquo;s how he cares for
+you&ndash;&ndash;this man you refuse to believe one word against
+...&rdquo; His eyes flamed as they met hers.</p>
+<p>She was staring at him now; her face was white and
+incredulous.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&ndash;&ndash;if you think I&rsquo;m going to believe that&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+she began, in a high, unnatural voice. She stopped; she
+seemed to realise all at once that he was speaking the
+truth. She leaned towards him. Her breath came in
+broken gasps.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Those letters!&rdquo; she said shrilly. &ldquo;Whose letters?
+They were from him&ndash;&ndash;they were from him&ndash;&ndash;weren&rsquo;t
+they from him?&rdquo; she asked hoarsely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Micky doggedly.</p>
+<p>Better to hurt her now, he told himself, than to let
+her go on to worse pain and humiliation.</p>
+<p>There was a tragic silence; then she asked again, in
+a whisper&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then who&ndash;&ndash;who wrote them?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A wave of crimson flooded Micky&rsquo;s white face. He
+dropped his head in his hands as if he could not bear
+to meet her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I did,&rdquo; he said brokenly.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXIX' id='CHAPTER_XXIX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>A long moment of silence followed Micky&rsquo;s broken
+confession. He dared not look at Esther, though
+she was staring at him, staring hard, with a curious
+sort of wonderment in her grey eyes. Then all at once
+she began to laugh, a laugh which held no real mirth,
+only incredulity.</p>
+<p>Micky raised his head sharply.</p>
+<p>For a second they stared at one another; then Micky
+said hoarsely&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t believe me&rdquo;; and then again, more slowly:
+&ldquo;You mean that you&ndash;&ndash;don&rsquo;t believe&ndash;&ndash;me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He half rose to his feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther, I implore you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She moved back from him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was clever of you&ndash;&ndash;to think of such an excuse,&rdquo;
+she said unevenly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the truth; I swear it if I never speak again. I
+know now that I must have been out of my mind to attempt
+such a thing, but it has only seemed impossible
+since you showed me how little you thought of me. I
+wrote those letters&ndash;&ndash;every one of them. I&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the excitement of the moment neither of them had
+noticed that the train had reached its destination and
+was slowly stopping.</p>
+<p>A voluble porter had already wrenched open the door
+and was imploring monsieur to accept his services; it
+was impossible to say any more to Esther.</p>
+<p>Micky followed her out on to the platform; he felt
+that the last shred of his patience and tenderness had
+been killed.</p>
+<p>She did not believe him&ndash;&ndash;whatever he said she would
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span>
+never believe him; it was useless to waste his breath;
+he might as well give up and let her go her own way;
+perhaps a sharp lesson would teach her better and more
+quickly than all his love had been able to do.</p>
+<p>He was dispirited and hungry, and hunger alone makes
+a man angry. He looked at the girl for whose sake he
+had raced all these miles of wild-goose chase, and a
+boorish longing to hurt her, to let her suffer rose in
+his heart.</p>
+<p>Let her go to Ashton and see for herself the sort of
+man he was.</p>
+<p>He spoke with savage impulse.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t bother you with my unwelcome company any
+longer. You will be able to get breakfast in the restaurant,
+and you will find that most people here understand
+English.... Good-bye&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther gave a little gasp&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to leave me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The hardness of his eyes did not soften.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are not trying to tell me that you wish me to
+stay, surely?&rdquo; he submitted drily.</p>
+<p>She raised her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly not; after all, it&rsquo;s your own fault you came.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He did not answer, perhaps he could not trust himself;
+he raised his hat and turned away unseeingly, and
+Esther clutched her suit-case tightly and walked away
+with her head in the air, trying to look as if she knew
+every inch of the Gare St. Lazare and had been there
+thousands of times before.</p>
+<p>But her heart was beating up in her throat, and she
+would have given a great deal, had it been compatible
+with dignity, to rush after him and beg him to stay.</p>
+<p>She wandered out of the station, not knowing where
+to go, Raymond seemed to have faded into the background;
+she only thought of him subconsciously; it was
+the figure of Micky Mellowes that worried her&ndash;&ndash;she
+could not forget him.</p>
+<p>Supposing he had really written those letters? &ldquo;But
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span>
+he didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she told herself in an agony. &ldquo;I know he
+didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took one of the letters from her suit-case and
+stared at the handwriting&ndash;&ndash;Raymond&rsquo;s writing. The
+whole thing was too preposterous.</p>
+<p>She did not know what she meant to do, or where
+she meant to go; it no longer seemed that she had come
+here for any specific purpose.</p>
+<p>The early morning greyness and chilliness had faded;
+the sun had risen and cleared away the mists.</p>
+<p>She found herself in some gardens where an elderly
+man was feeding sparrows; she sat down on a bench
+and watched him.</p>
+<p>It seemed years ago that she went down to Enmore
+with June&ndash;&ndash;since she sat in the little inn with Micky and
+heard those two men talking.</p>
+<p>The hot blood beat into her cheeks as she remembered
+something that for the moment she had forgotten&ndash;&ndash;that
+Raymond Ashton was married!</p>
+<p>The man gave the sparrows his last crumbs and went
+away. The little brown birds came hopping to Esther&rsquo;s
+feet, looking up at her with bright, eager eyes, as if
+expecting her to supply a further meal.</p>
+<p>The sun faded and went in, and a few drops of rain
+came pattering down. She rose and began to walk on
+slowly. The light suit-case seemed to have grown heavy
+since yesterday.</p>
+<p>At the back of her mind was the frightened knowledge
+that she was alone in Paris; that she had nobody
+to turn to now that Micky had deserted her; but as
+yet it was only in the background. Raymond was somewhere,
+perhaps quite close; but she no longer felt that
+she wanted to go to him.</p>
+<p>Further on she found another bench sheltered under
+some trees and sat down again; she opened the suit-case
+and took out a bundle of Micky&rsquo;s letters ...
+Micky&rsquo;s! No, Raymond&rsquo;s.... Oh, whose letters
+were they?</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span></div>
+<p>She opened the one that had been written from the
+hotel in Paris. Its fond words seemed to take on a new
+meaning....</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Some day, if all that I wish for comes true, I will
+tell you the many things you would not let me say
+when we were last together....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The one sentence caught her eye. She wondered that
+she had never before thought how unlike Raymond this
+was. Why was it she had not realised before that Raymond
+could never have written this?</p>
+<p>Somewhere in the distance a church clock chimed;
+Esther found herself mechanically counting the bells&ndash;&ndash;nine,
+ten, eleven! All those hours since Micky had left
+her at the station.</p>
+<p>She was cold and hungry, but it did not seem to matter;
+she felt there was a great, unanswered question in
+her mind which she must settle.</p>
+<p>She rose and walked on again; she turned out of the
+gardens and found herself in a street of shops. People
+looked at her curiously.</p>
+<p>Hardly knowing that she did so, she stopped and
+looked in at a jeweller&rsquo;s window; there were trays of
+precious stones. She felt her own ring beneath the
+glove&ndash;&ndash;she had worn it so long now, she wondered how
+she would feel when she had to take it off. Of course,
+she could not go on wearing it if Raymond was really
+married.</p>
+<p>Micky had once gone into a pond on a bitter night to
+save a kitten from drowning; she wondered what made
+her remember that.</p>
+<p>The man who could save a drowning kitten would
+never hurt a woman so that she could hardly think or
+feel; June had claimed for Micky that he was the best
+man in the world.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t believe in him&ndash;&ndash;I don&rsquo;t believe anything
+he says,&rdquo; Esther told herself feverishly; she moved on
+again away from the trays of flashing diamonds.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span></div>
+<p>Two girls passing her were chattering in French&ndash;&ndash;Esther
+looked after them vaguely.</p>
+<p>This was really Paris&ndash;&ndash;this rather noisy, confusing
+place; the Paris she had longed to see.</p>
+<p>A man passing stared at her, half stopped, went on
+again, then turned, paused irresolutely, and finally came
+back.</p>
+<p>He walked quickly till he drew abreast with her, and
+there was a curious eagerness in his face as he stooped
+a little to look down at hers; then he gave an exclamation
+of sheer amazement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lallie! Good heavens! What in the world are you
+doing here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was Raymond Ashton.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXX' id='CHAPTER_XXX'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2>
+</div>
+<p>And so the dream had come true after all, and she
+and Raymond were together in Paris.</p>
+<p>As she looked up into his handsome face it
+seemed to Esther that all the past hours of grief were
+as if they had never really existed; he was smiling down
+at her in the same old way; the very tone of his voice
+awoke forgotten memories in her heart; she felt as if
+a gnawing pain which had allowed her no rest had suddenly
+been lulled to sleep.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought it must be you,&rdquo; Raymond was saying nervously.
+&ldquo;And yet I could not be sure. Somehow I
+never thought of you and Paris as being in any way
+compatible, and yet&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He broke off; it had been on
+the tip of his tongue to say that she had never looked
+sweeter or more desirable.</p>
+<p>His overwhelming conceit suddenly woke the wish
+in his heart to know if she still cared, or if she had
+forgotten him, and a little flush crossed his face and his
+eyes grew tender as they met the tragedy of hers; he
+looked hastily round.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t talk here. Will you come to a caf&eacute;? There
+is so much I should like to say to you. When did you
+come over? What are you doing here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were walking slowly along, the man&rsquo;s head bent
+ardently towards her.</p>
+<p>He had once told Micky that this girl was the only
+woman he had ever loved, and perhaps it was right&ndash;&ndash;as
+he accounted love.</p>
+<p>He took her to a caf&eacute;&ndash;&ndash;one where there would be
+nobody likely to recognise him; he ordered coffee and
+biscuits.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Now we can talk undisturbed,&rdquo; he said; he moved his
+chair closer to Esther&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;he laid his hand on hers.</p>
+<p>She did not move or try to evade his touch; she just
+looked down at his hand for a moment and then up at
+the handsome face which had for so long meant all the
+world to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never thought we should meet again here of all
+places,&rdquo; he said in his soft voice. &ldquo;How long ago does
+it seem to you since we said good-bye?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She could not answer, but the thought floated through
+her mind that they never had said good-bye, that he had
+just walked out of her life and stayed away until this
+moment, when fate had thrown them together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you knew how often I have thought about you,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you get my letter, Lallie? The one I wrote on
+New Year&rsquo;s Eve&ndash;&ndash;and the money? I sent you some
+money.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A swift flush dyed her cheeks; she raised her eyes.</p>
+<p>That had been his letter then, after all&ndash;&ndash;Micky had
+lied to her; she caught her breath on a little gasp.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said faintly. &ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;yes, I got it&ndash;&ndash;thank
+you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve often thought since that I might have written
+you a kinder letter,&rdquo; he said after a moment. &ldquo;But
+everything had gone wrong then&ndash;&ndash;the mater cut up
+rough&ndash;&ndash;and I was up to my eyes in debt. It was the
+best thing for both of us to put an end to it, don&rsquo;t you
+think it was? You used to say that you wouldn&rsquo;t mind
+being poor, but in the end you&rsquo;d have hated it as much
+as I should.&rdquo; He paused as if expecting her to speak,
+but she was plucking at the blue-and-white fringe of
+the tablecloth with nervous fingers.</p>
+<p>What did he mean&ndash;&ndash;that he might have written her a
+kinder letter&ndash;&ndash;when she always remembered it as one
+of the dearest she had ever received?</p>
+<p>He went on again&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It hurt me more than you&rsquo;ll ever know.&rdquo; There was
+a sort of self-satisfaction in his voice. &ldquo;It took me a
+long time to forget you, Lallie, and then, just as I was
+beginning, I saw you at the theatre&ndash;&ndash;in the stalls ...
+with Mellowes.&rdquo; His brows met above his handsome
+eyes. &ldquo;Mellowes wasn&rsquo;t long picking you up,&rdquo; he added
+jealously.</p>
+<p>Her lip quivered, but she did not raise her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You saw me, too, didn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he persisted. &ldquo;I know
+you did, because Mellowes came round afterwards and
+cursed me to all eternity.&rdquo; He laughed. &ldquo;I should have
+made a point of seeing you the next day if it hadn&rsquo;t
+been for his confounded interference,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;He
+told me to get out of London and leave you alone.&rdquo; He
+bent towards her a little. &ldquo;What is Mellowes to you?&rdquo;
+he asked her deliberately.</p>
+<p>She raised her eyes now, and somehow it seemed as
+if, in the last few moments, the man she had known and
+loved had changed into a stranger&ndash;&ndash;some one whom she
+had never seen before, whom she hoped never to see
+again.</p>
+<p>She forced her lips to smile; she felt at that moment
+she would die rather than let him see how she was suffering,
+or guess how she had suffered in the past.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been kind to me,&rdquo; she said voicelessly. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s
+all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Raymond made a little, inarticulate sound.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got me to thank for ever getting to know you,&rdquo;
+he said. &ldquo;I gave him your address and asked him to
+take you out a bit if he fancied it.... I asked him
+to be kind to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The hands in her lap twitched convulsively.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If I&rsquo;d had one tenth of his beastly money,&rdquo; Raymond
+said then savagely, &ldquo;we shouldn&rsquo;t be sitting here
+now as if we were strangers&ndash;&ndash;as if ... Lallie&ndash;&ndash;do
+you remember the good time we used to have&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I remember everything.&rdquo; He bent closer.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I never cared for any woman in all my life but you.
+It&rsquo;s cursed hard luck.&rdquo; He sighed. &ldquo;You know I&rsquo;m
+married?&rdquo; he asked abruptly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes!&rdquo; The words came stiffly.</p>
+<p>His eyes searched her white face jealously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t seem to care. I&rsquo;ve often wondered if you
+knew&ndash;&ndash;and if you minded!&rdquo; He sat staring before him,
+and there was a little smile in his eyes. &ldquo;We do things
+in style now, I can tell you,&rdquo; he said with sudden change
+of voice. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s as rich as you please, and she likes to
+spend her money.&rdquo; Another silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you&rsquo;ll be happy,&rdquo; Esther said faintly.</p>
+<p>Afterwards she wondered what made her say it, seeing
+that she did not care in the very least if he were
+happy or not; why should she care? This man was a
+stranger to her.</p>
+<p>He laughed ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I suppose we shall,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s not a bad
+sort, and she lets me alone....&rdquo; He roused himself
+suddenly and bent closer to her. &ldquo;Lallie&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ll let me
+see you again. There&rsquo;s no reason why we can&rsquo;t be&ndash;&ndash;friends&ndash;&ndash;just
+because I&rsquo;m married&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He tried to
+take her hand, but now she repulsed him, though very
+gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to be a little prude?&rdquo; he said in a
+whisper. &ldquo;I can give you the time of your life if you&rsquo;ll
+let me. I&rsquo;ve plenty of money now&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your wife&rsquo;s money,&rdquo; said Esther with stiff lips.</p>
+<p>He looked annoyed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you like to put it that way&ndash;&ndash;but she doesn&rsquo;t mind&ndash;&ndash;she&rsquo;s
+too fond of me to mind how much I spend ...
+Lallie&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She hated to hear that name, because once
+she had loved it.</p>
+<p>She closed her eyes for a moment with a little sick
+shudder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you faint?&rdquo; he asked anxiously. &ldquo;I suppose it
+is warm in here. Take your coat off! Jove! that&rsquo;s a
+fine coat&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He ran an appreciative hand down the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span>
+soft fur sleeve; a sudden suspicion crept into his eyes.
+&ldquo;Who gave you that?&rdquo; he asked sharply. &ldquo;Not Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;at least....&rdquo; She could not go on. Micky
+had given it to her, she knew, but she would have bitten
+her tongue through rather than have told this man.</p>
+<p>It had been Micky all the time&ndash;&ndash;Micky....</p>
+<p>She thrust the thought of him from her; she did not
+want to think of him now. There would be plenty of
+time later on; plenty of time when she had shaken
+off the last rag of the past.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It cost a pretty penny, whoever bought it,&rdquo; he said
+sulkily. &ldquo;What else has he given you? If you can take
+presents from him you can&rsquo;t refuse to let me see you
+sometimes, and after all&ndash;&ndash;you did love me once....
+Esther, do you remember the way you cried that last
+day?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she said mechanically, &ldquo;I remember; I remember
+everything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You loved me well enough then,&rdquo; he reminded her
+moodily. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t behave like an iceberg then, Lallie,
+and I&rsquo;m not really changed; I&rsquo;m the same man I was&ndash;&ndash;I
+care for you just as much&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re married!&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>She felt as if she had so much time mapped out before
+her during which she must put up with this man&rsquo;s
+society; as if each moment were another inch torn in
+the rags of disillusionment which had got to be destroyed
+thoroughly before she could ever hope to gather up the
+broken threads of her life again.</p>
+<p>He laughed at her reminder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the only married man who sometimes forgets
+that he is no longer a bachelor,&rdquo; he said detestably.</p>
+<p>He laid an arm familiarly along the back of her chair.
+He touched her chin with his fingers.</p>
+<p>She moved back, the hot blood rushing riotously over
+her face. She was white no longer; she looked like a
+marble Galatea suddenly brought to life.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span></div>
+<p>Raymond Ashton laughed, well pleased. He was confident
+that he had not lost his power over her. For the
+moment his appalling vanity blinded him to the fact that
+it was not love in her eyes, but scorn.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you thinking, Lallie?&rdquo; he asked her.</p>
+<p>She sat very straight and stiff in her chair.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am thinking,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;how impossible it seems
+that I can ever have thought that I cared for you.&rdquo; Her
+voice was low but very clear, and he heard each word
+distinctly. &ldquo;I am thinking that you are the most contemptible
+thing I have ever met in my life&ndash;&ndash;I am thinking
+how sorry I am for the woman who is your wife.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She pushed back her chair and rose.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Would you like to hear any more of my thoughts?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p>Ashton had risen too; there was a look of bewildered
+amazement in his face; he tried to laugh. Even now he
+thought she was joking.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lallie&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said hoarsely. He half held his hand to
+her. &ldquo;Lallie&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said again&ndash;&ndash;but the cold contempt
+of her face struck the appeal from her lips.</p>
+<p>He drew himself up with a poor attempt at dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So virtue is to be the order of the day, is it?&rdquo; he
+said sneeringly. &ldquo;Very well&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; His eyes flamed as
+they rested on her face. &ldquo;It makes one wonder why
+you are here&ndash;&ndash;in Paris&ndash;&ndash;alone!&rdquo; he said insultingly&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;If
+you are alone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little point of silence. For a moment
+Esther scanned his handsome face as if she were trying
+to remember what it was she had ever loved in him&ndash;&ndash;his
+eyes!&ndash;&ndash;but they were so cruel and insolent&ndash;&ndash;his lips
+... she shuddered, realising that in all her life she
+could never undo the memory of his kisses&ndash;&ndash;then she
+pulled herself together with a great effort and turned
+away.</p>
+<p>He followed. His amazement had gone now&ndash;&ndash;he was
+merely furiously angry&ndash;&ndash;his face was crimson&ndash;&ndash;he caught
+her arm in a grip that hurt.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;My God, you&rsquo;re not going like this,&rdquo; he said furiously.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s only a few weeks ago that you were crying round
+my neck and begging me not to throw you over. Oh,
+that hurts, does it?&rdquo; he said as she winced. &ldquo;I dare say
+you&rsquo;d like all that wiped out and forgotten. But I&rsquo;ve
+got a few letters to remember you by&ndash;&ndash;a few letters that
+would hardly make pleasant reading for the next man
+who is fool enough to waste his time on you&ndash;&ndash;and I
+promise you I&rsquo;ll send them along if it&rsquo;s Mellowes or any
+other man&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She raised triumphant eyes to his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He wouldn&rsquo;t read them,&rdquo; she said passionately. &ldquo;Send
+them if you like; but he wouldn&rsquo;t read them&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She
+was not conscious of the admission in her words&ndash;&ndash;she
+only knew that the knowledge that Micky was there
+somewhere in the background gave her the strength to
+defy Ashton.</p>
+<p>She saw the sudden fury that filled his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then&ndash;&ndash;then you admit that it&rsquo;s Mellowes,&rdquo; he stammered.
+&ldquo;That it&rsquo;s he who has taken my place&ndash;&ndash;who
+has cut me out&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; His voice changed to a sort of
+threat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I might have know what he meant to do. I might
+have guessed. Wait till I see him&ndash;&ndash;wait till I get back
+to London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled&ndash;&ndash;a little smile of security and confidence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is no need to wait,&rdquo; she said quietly. &ldquo;Mr.
+Mellowes is here in Paris with me, if you wish to see
+him.&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXI' id='CHAPTER_XXXI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Ashton echoed Esther&rsquo;s words hoarsely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here! With you! in Paris!... Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A wave of bitterest jealousy surged through him.
+He fell back a step, struck dumb by the force of his
+emotions, and Esther fled away from him down the street.</p>
+<p>She seemed to have awakened all at once to her true
+position. She was alone, with only a few shillings in her
+pocket and in a strange city.</p>
+<p>She was tired to death. She felt as if her limbs would
+give way beneath her. The driver of a fiacre looked at
+her and drew his horse to the kerb.</p>
+<p>Esther nodded; she threw her suit-case on to the seat
+and clambered in after it.</p>
+<p>But where to go? The old blinding fear of her loneliness
+rushed back. Where could she go?</p>
+<p>Then she suddenly remembered the hotel from which
+Micky had written to her. She would go there. It would
+be somewhere at least to sleep and rest.</p>
+<p>It was only a little drive to the hotel; she wished it
+had been longer.</p>
+<p>A commissionaire came forward, and said something
+in French. She looked up at him, but his face seemed
+all indistinct and unreal. She tried to answer, but her
+own voice sounded as if it were miles away.</p>
+<p>They were in the small, rather dreary lounge. Esther
+passed a hand across her eyes. She must conquer this
+absurd weakness. She forced herself to remember that
+she was alone, but she felt as if she had no will-power
+left.</p>
+<p>A door in front of her opened suddenly, and a man
+came into the lounge.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span></div>
+<p>When he saw Esther he stopped. The hot colour
+rushed to his face. He seemed to be waiting for some
+sign from her. For a moment their eyes met; then,
+hardly knowing what she did, Esther held out her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, please,&rdquo; she said faintly, &ldquo;oh, please tell me&ndash;&ndash;what
+I am to do?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But for the next few minutes she was past remembering
+anything, though she never really lost consciousness.
+She only knew that everything was all right now
+Micky was here&ndash;&ndash;and the sheer relief the knowledge
+brought with it for the time threw her into a sort of
+apathy.</p>
+<p>Some one took off her hat and the big fur coat that
+had grown so heavy; some one had bathed her face and
+unlaced her shoes, and now Micky stood there looking
+down at her with eyes that hurt, though they smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told them to bring lunch in here,&rdquo; he went on.
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll like it better than the public room&ndash;&ndash;and I haven&rsquo;t
+had mine yet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked up at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And can we&ndash;&ndash;can we go back to London to-day?&rdquo;
+she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We can go any time you like,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>He felt he had aged years during that morning. No
+sooner had Esther got out of his sight at the station than
+he was beside himself with remorse for having allowed
+her to go; he had spent the whole morning wandering
+about looking for her. He had been to this hotel a
+dozen times; he had only just come in again when she
+followed.</p>
+<p>The relief of having her safely in his charge once more
+was almost more than he could bear. He walked over
+to the door, then stopped and looked back at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t ... you won&rsquo;t run away from me
+again, will you?&rdquo; he asked. For the first time there was
+real emotion in his voice.</p>
+<p>Esther had been sitting looking into the fire; she raised
+her head now.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t go,&rdquo; she said tremulously. &ldquo;Please don&rsquo;t go.
+I want to speak to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He flushed crimson, he tried to make some excuse.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Another time.... You&rsquo;re tired. I&rsquo;ll come back
+presently. You ought to get some rest if we&rsquo;re to go
+back to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It must be now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shut the door, but he kept as far away from her
+as possible, standing over by the window that looked
+into the dreary winter garden.</p>
+<p>There was something implacable about his tall figure.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, won&rsquo;t you come here?&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>He obeyed at once. He rested an elbow on the mantelshelf
+and kept his eyes fixed on the fire.</p>
+<p>There as a little silence, then Esther said, almost in
+a whisper:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I want to beg your pardon. I hope you will&ndash;&ndash;will
+try and forgive me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not move.</p>
+<p>She struggled on:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen ... Mr. Ashton.&rdquo; Somehow she could
+not bring herself to speak of him by his Christian name.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I know&ndash;&ndash;I know&ndash;&ndash;that I&rsquo;ve been&ndash;&ndash;been a fool.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her voice broke. She gripped the arms of the chair
+hard to keep herself from breaking down.</p>
+<p>Micky forced himself to speak.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad you&rsquo;ve seen him&ndash;&ndash;as you wished it,&rdquo; he said
+jerkily. &ldquo;But as hoping I will forgive you, there&rsquo;s nothing
+to forgive&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s all the other way on. I behaved like&ndash;&ndash;like
+a cad&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s for you to forgive me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He smiled faintly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And now we&rsquo;ve both said the right thing I&rsquo;ll go and
+see about that train,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>But again she stopped him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want you to go&ndash;&ndash;I want to talk to you. I
+want ... oh, I don&rsquo;t know what I do want!&rdquo; she
+finished, with a sob.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re tired out,&rdquo; Micky said calmly, though he
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span>
+looked anything but calm, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m going to bully you
+and insist that you rest. I&rsquo;ll come back presently....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went away quickly, as if he were afraid of being
+kept against his will but outside the door he stood still
+for a moment with his hand over his eyes before he
+pulled himself together and went on.</p>
+<p>Esther listened to his departing steps with a sinking at
+her heart.</p>
+<p>What had she hoped for? She hardly knew, but she
+felt as if she had made an overture of friendship that
+had been kindly but decidedly refused.</p>
+<p>Her cheeks burned. It was not what she had expected.</p>
+<p>It seemed an eternity till Micky came back again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a train in half an hour,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;We
+can get back to town very comfortably. I&rsquo;ve wired to
+June to meet us. She probably came up from Enmore
+yesterday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June! Esther had almost forgotten June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You ought to be getting ready if we are to catch
+that train,&rdquo; Micky said. &ldquo;Would you rather stay till
+to-morrow? I&rsquo;m afraid the journey will tire you dreadfully.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She rose hurriedly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, no&ndash;&ndash;oh no, I&rsquo;d much rather go!&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>Micky had reserved a carriage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think I will go in a smoker,&rdquo; he said. He put some
+magazines and a box of chocolates on the seat; he avoided
+looking at her. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a corridor train so I&rsquo;ll come and
+see that you are all right occasionally&ndash;&ndash;if I may.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not answer; she felt a little chill of disappointment.
+He had not asked a single question about
+Raymond, and now he was suggesting that they travel
+the long journey separately.</p>
+<p>He hesitated.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you be all right?&rdquo; he asked awkwardly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, thank you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went away, and presently the train started. Esther
+looked out of the window and watched the city as it
+was rapidly left behind.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never want to see it again,&rdquo; was the thought in
+her heart. &ldquo;I wish I never had seen it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She felt like a naughty child who has run away from
+home and is being ignominiously brought back.</p>
+<p>Last night seemed like some fevered dream; Raymond
+Ashton some man of whom she had read in a book or
+seen in a play.</p>
+<p>A phantom lover!&ndash;&ndash;he had not even been that, and
+once she had wished to die because she had got to be
+separated from him.</p>
+<p>Her eyes fell on her hand&ndash;&ndash;she still wore his ring.</p>
+<p>With sudden passion she dragged it from her finger;
+she let the window down with a run and flung the ring
+far out into the grey evening. It was the end of a dream;
+the final uprooting of an illusion.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXII' id='CHAPTER_XXXII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther slept through the long journey fitfully&ndash;&ndash;she
+was mentally and physically exhausted. She
+was only thoroughly aroused by people out in the
+corridor moving about collecting bags and baggage.</p>
+<p>She opened her eyes with a confused feeling&ndash;&ndash;the train
+was slackening speed, and Micky stood in the doorway.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are nearly in,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>The train was almost at a standstill.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Calais! Calais!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther rose to her feet&ndash;&ndash;her limbs were trembling, and
+her head ached dully.</p>
+<p>Micky took her suit-case from the rack.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better fasten your coat,&rdquo; he said casually. &ldquo;It
+will be cold on the boat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She looked at him half fearfully. Was this the same
+man who had followed her from Enmore with such passionate
+haste and eagerness? He was perfectly undisturbed
+now at all events, he seemed even to avoid looking
+at her.</p>
+<p>When they got on board he found her a chair on the
+leeside of the boat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you a good sailor?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I&rsquo;ve never been any distance until
+yesterday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better stay here; it&rsquo;s preferable to that stuffy
+cabin.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But he left her alone almost the whole time, though
+she knew that he walked up and down close to where
+she sat. She could see the glow of his cigar through
+the darkness and hear the slow sound of his steps.</p>
+<p>She tried to think things over quietly as she sat there,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span>
+but everything seemed so unreal, and most of all the fact
+that Micky had once professed to love her.</p>
+<p>In the train he left her to herself till they reached
+London. He was sure she &ldquo;did not want to be bothered,&rdquo;
+he said, and he was going to smoke.</p>
+<p>Esther felt a little pang of disappointment. It seemed
+a long time till the train steamed fussily into Charing
+Cross; and the old weary feeling of loneliness had settled
+again upon her heart by the time Micky came to the
+door of the carriage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June is sure to be somewhere about,&rdquo; he said laconically.
+&ldquo;Will you stay here while I see if I can find her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She took a hurried step forward.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I&rsquo;ll come with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She felt afraid of June&rsquo;s kindly quizzical eyes; June
+who knew why she had run away to Paris, and what
+had been awaiting her there.</p>
+<p>She touched Micky&rsquo;s arm&ndash;&ndash;the eyes she raised to his
+face were troubled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When shall I see you again?&rdquo; she asked falteringly.</p>
+<p>He half smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you want to see me again?&rdquo; he questioned
+gravely. &ldquo;You can have no use for me&ndash;&ndash;after this!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther flushed painfully. Through the crowd she saw
+June pushing towards them. This was the last moment
+she would have with Micky, she knew, and in a flash
+something seemed to tell her what this man had meant
+to her during the last two terrible days.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she said tremblingly, &ldquo;if you only would let
+me thank you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky laughed harshly&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hate thanks,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>June was upon them; she seized Esther and kissed
+her rapturously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You darling! You&rsquo;ll never know how glad I am to
+see you. I&rsquo;ve been here for hours. Aren&rsquo;t you dead
+tired? Micky, she looks worn out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Does she?&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span></div>
+<p>He was dead beat himself; he looked round vacantly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wired Driver&ndash;&ndash;I thought he&rsquo;d be here....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here, sir,&rdquo; said a voice at his elbow, and there was
+Driver, stolid and impenetrable as ever.</p>
+<p>Micky was unfeignedly glad to see the little man;
+for almost the first time in his life he realised that sometimes
+dullness and short-sightedness are a blessing in
+disguise. Apparently to Driver there was nothing odd
+in this mad rush over to Paris; his expressionless eyes
+saw the untidiness of his master&rsquo; toilet without changing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve brought the car, sir,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good man; get me a taxi, then. You must take the car
+down to your rooms,&rdquo; Micky said to June. &ldquo;No, don&rsquo;t
+argue; I insist&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He put the two girls into the car; he did not look
+at Esther, though he squeezed June&rsquo;s hand when he said
+good-bye.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me know if you get back all right; I shall see
+you soon.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He raised his hat, stood aside, and the car started forward.</p>
+<p>June looked at Esther with a sort of shyness. It
+seemed as if years must have passed since they were
+down at Enmore.</p>
+<p>The car had rolled out of the station and into the
+heart of London before either of them spoke; then Esther
+said, stiltedly:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was kind of you to come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June flushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t kind at all,&rdquo; she said bluntly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re my
+friends, or, at least, you were, and, as for Micky&ndash;&ndash;well,
+I love him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a sort of defiance in her voice. She had
+seen the tired, strained look in Micky&rsquo;s face, and she
+was nearer being angry with Esther than she had ever
+been, but she turned and took her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Somehow I never thought I should see you again,&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span>
+she said, with real emotion. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t slept a wink
+since you went away.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re much too good to me,&rdquo; Esther said. &ldquo;Everyone
+is much too good to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think Micky is, certainly,&rdquo; June agreed exasperatedly.
+&ldquo;The man&rsquo;s a perfect fool to run about like he
+does after a woman who doesn&rsquo;t care two hoots about
+him.... There! now I oughtn&rsquo;t to have said that.
+Esther, if you&rsquo;re crying....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had covered her face with her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not crying,&rdquo; she said in a stifled voice. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m
+so ashamed. I don&rsquo;t know what you must think of me&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s
+so&ndash;&ndash;so humiliating.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nothing of the kind,&rdquo; June declared. &ldquo;The only
+mistake you&rsquo;ve made is to put your money on the wrong
+man, if you&rsquo;ll excuse the expression. Raymond Ashton
+was always an outsider.... There! I won&rsquo;t say
+another word. You&rsquo;ve come home, and that&rsquo;s all that
+matters.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was only when they were safely up in the room with
+the mauve cushions that she flung her hat down on the
+sofa and drew a long breath.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I never thought we should be here together
+again,&rdquo; she said tragically. &ldquo;It seemed like the end of
+everything when I found your note on the pincushion.
+I don&rsquo;t know what I should have done if it hadn&rsquo;t been
+for Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what I should have done either,&rdquo; Esther
+said. She met June&rsquo;s eyes and flushed crimson. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve
+been horrid about him, I know,&rdquo; she added bravely. &ldquo;And
+now I&rsquo;m sorry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June said &ldquo;Humph.&rdquo; She sat for a moment staring
+at the floor, then she got up and searched for the inevitable
+cigarettes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You ought to go to bed,&rdquo; she said in her most matter-of-fact
+tone. &ldquo;Where did you sleep last night?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nowhere&ndash;&ndash;at least&ndash;&ndash;we were in the train all night.
+I did sleep a little, but....&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span></div>
+<p>June took her by the shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Off you go to bed, and don&rsquo;t argue. I&rsquo;ve had a fire
+put in your room, and Charlie is there with a new bow
+on. I&rsquo;ll come and tuck you up when you&rsquo;re ready,
+and....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But Esther refused to move.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t sleep if I went to bed. I want to tell you
+about&ndash;&ndash;about what&rsquo;s happened....&rdquo; She paused
+breathlessly, but June was not going to help her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to hear anything,&rdquo; she said flatly. She
+looked at Esther and saw the tears in the younger girl&rsquo;s
+eyes. She put an arm round her, drawing her down to
+the sofa.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me all about it, then,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just&ndash;&ndash;just
+longing to know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But there isn&rsquo;t much to tell, except&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Esther held
+out her left hand. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not engaged any more,&rdquo; she
+said with a faint attempt to laugh. &ldquo;He&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Ashton&ndash;&ndash;is
+married....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know&ndash;&ndash;Micky told me before we went to Enmore.
+I hope he&rsquo;s married a vixen who&rsquo;ll lead him an awful
+dance. It would serve her right to let her know the
+sort of man he is&ndash;&ndash;to let her know the sort of letters he&rsquo;s
+been writing to you&ndash;&ndash;to show him up properly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther hid her face in the mauve cushions.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but he has never written to me,&rdquo; she said chokingly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had a letter from him since he went
+away, and that was on New Year&rsquo;s Eve. It&rsquo;s all been
+a mistake&ndash;&ndash;a sham ... he never cared for me&ndash;&ndash;he
+never really wanted me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June threw away the cigarette and tried to raise Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you talking about? He did write to you&ndash;&ndash;you
+told me yourself that he wrote beautiful letters&ndash;&ndash;he
+sent you that money&ndash;&ndash;Esther! what do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked up; for a moment June caught a glimpse
+of misty, shamed eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t from him: those letters&ndash;&ndash;the money
+never came from him,&rdquo; she said in a stifled voice.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;What! My good child, have you gone out of your
+mind?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June was a hundred miles from guessing the truth.
+&ldquo;If he didn&rsquo;t write them, then who in the world did?&rdquo;
+she demanded crisply. &ldquo;And if he didn&rsquo;t send the money,
+who in the wide world....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She caught her breath on a sudden illuminating
+thought.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther ... not&ndash;&ndash;not&ndash;&ndash;Micky!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo; It was the smallest whisper, and it was followed
+by a tragic silence; then June got up and began
+walking aimlessly about the room; she felt as if she had
+been robbed of all breath.</p>
+<p>Twice she turned and looked at Esther&rsquo;s huddled figure,
+then she went back, laid a hand on her arm and said
+in an odd, gentle voice that was strangely unlike her
+own brisk tones:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And do you mean to say that you don&rsquo;t just think
+him the finest man in all the world?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther sat up with sudden passion.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think of him at all&ndash;&ndash;it was like having a
+knife turned in my heart when I knew,&rdquo; she said wildly.
+&ldquo;Oh, you can&rsquo;t understand if you&rsquo;ve never cared for
+anybody what it feels like to know that you&rsquo;ve been made
+a fool of. When he told me I felt that I hated him&ndash;&ndash;there
+didn&rsquo;t seem anything fine or good in what he had
+done; I only knew that I&rsquo;d been played with, made fun
+of....&rdquo; She stopped, sobbing desperately, but for
+once June attempted no consolation. She was looking at
+Micky&rsquo;s portrait on the shelf, and there was a wonderful
+tenderness in her queer eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who told you?&rdquo; she asked then. &ldquo;Who told you that
+it was Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He did&ndash;&ndash;he only told me when he knew why I was
+going to Paris&ndash;&ndash;he told me in the train. It&rsquo;s been from
+Mr. Mellowes all along&ndash;&ndash;the money I&rsquo;ve had every week&ndash;&ndash;my
+clothes&ndash;&ndash;this coat ... he&rsquo;s been paying for
+my food, and for me to live here....&rdquo; She raised
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span>
+her eyes to June&rsquo;s face. &ldquo;Did you know?&rdquo; she asked
+shakily. &ldquo;He said you didn&rsquo;t, but somehow....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June rounded on her angrily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If Micky said that I didn&rsquo;t, that ought to be good
+enough,&rdquo; she said curtly. &ldquo;And of course, I didn&rsquo;t
+know&ndash;&ndash;if I had, I should have told him that he was a
+fool to waste his time and money on a girl who thought
+nothing of him,&rdquo; she added flatly. Her voice changed
+all at once. &ldquo;Oh, isn&rsquo;t he just splendid!&rdquo; she said emotionally.
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand it in the very least, why
+he has done it, or how he managed it, or anything, but
+I think it&rsquo;s the finest thing in all the world&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Esther
+turned away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I knew him before we met here&ndash;&ndash;he wanted to tell
+you, but I asked him not to&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She stopped and
+dragged on again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I met him on New Year&rsquo;s Eve&ndash;&ndash;I was so miserable&ndash;&ndash;there
+seemed nothing to live for, and he was kind and
+so ... so ... I told him a little of what was
+wrong, and I suppose he guessed the rest.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when he went to Paris that time it was all for
+your sake, and it was for your sake he kept coming
+here&ndash;&ndash;oh!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;June rose to her feet with a gesture of intolerance&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;if
+you don&rsquo;t just adore the ground he walks
+on,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you ought to, and that&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;ve got to
+say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther made no answer; she was looking into the fire
+with eyes that as yet saw only the ruins of a dream that
+had been so beautiful, the rapidly receding shadow of
+the man whom she had once made a giant figure in her
+life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never want to care for any one again,&rdquo; she said
+presently in a hard voice. &ldquo;You told me once that people
+were happier if they didn&rsquo;t love, and I think you were
+right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was an idiot to ever say such a thing,&rdquo; June cried
+in a rage. &ldquo;And you&rsquo;re a bigger idiot if you pretend
+to think I was right. There&rsquo;s nothing better in the whole
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span>
+world than being loved&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; Her face flushed like a
+rose. &ldquo;If Micky had cared for me even a quarter as
+well as he does for you I would have married him, and
+that&rsquo;s the truth,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;It was only because I
+knew he hadn&rsquo;t anything except friendship to offer me
+that I knew it wasn&rsquo;t fair....&rdquo; She tried to cover
+the seriousness of her words with a laugh. She lit
+another cigarette. &ldquo;And now, having got rid of my
+heroics, let&rsquo;s talk sense,&rdquo; she added more calmly. &ldquo;But
+you ought to go to bed. You look worn out. You&rsquo;ll
+be a wreck in the morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to go to bed. I have such a lot to tell
+you. I shall have to leave here, of course; I haven&rsquo;t
+got any money. I must try and find a post. I thought of
+asking Eldred&rsquo;s to take me back; there might be a vacancy
+now....&rdquo; But her voice sounded weary and hopeless.</p>
+<p>June swooped down on her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You poor tired baby, come along to bed and don&rsquo;t
+worry any more. You&rsquo;ve got me whatever happens, and
+if the worst comes to the worst there&rsquo;s always June
+Mason&rsquo;s wonderful skin food for both of us to live on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They went upstairs together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing like sunshine to put you on good
+terms with yourself,&rdquo; she said philosophically. &ldquo;Whenever
+I&rsquo;m in the dumps or feel that I&rsquo;m looking particularly
+plain, I put on my best hat and go out in the sunshine,
+and I assure you I&rsquo;m a good-looking woman when I
+come home again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re always better than good-looking,&rdquo; Esther told
+her.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXIII' id='CHAPTER_XXXIII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>June tucked Esther up in bed and replenished the
+fire. She turned out the gas, leaving the room fire-lit.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June,&rdquo; Esther said timidly. &ldquo;What did your aunt
+think? What did she say&ndash;&ndash;when&ndash;&ndash;when&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She said we must go back and finish our visit another
+time&ndash;&ndash;she took a great fancy to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re saying that to please me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not! honest Injun!&rdquo; June heard the tears in
+Esther&rsquo;s voice; she bent and kissed her gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, not another word! I refuse to answer another
+question! Pleasant dreams&ndash;&ndash;or better still, no
+dreams at all.&rdquo; She went away, and shut her door behind
+her.</p>
+<p>Esther lay awake for a long time watching the firelight
+on the walls and ceiling, and thinking of what had
+happened.</p>
+<p>It seemed impossible that she had even really seen
+and spoken to Raymond Ashton; impossible that instead
+of loving him desperately, she could only shudder at the
+memory of him.</p>
+<p>The tears forced their way to her eyes, and scorched
+her cheeks. But for Micky, where might she not have
+been now?&ndash;&ndash;and he had refused to even let her thank
+him. Her heart was filled with a new humility. At
+best her words would be so poor&ndash;&ndash;like beggars in the
+palace of his generosity.</p>
+<p>But she would see him again soon&ndash;&ndash;she comforted herself
+with the assurance. In spite of his changed manner
+and apparent indifference, she was sure she would see
+him again. Micky&ndash;&ndash;as June had said of him&ndash;&ndash;never
+failed!</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span></div>
+<p>It was her last thought as she fell asleep, that she
+would surely see him the next day.</p>
+<p>But Micky did not come!</p>
+<p>Esther rested till lunch time, after which June insisted
+on a walk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The sun&rsquo;s shining, and it&rsquo;s wicked to stay indoors,&rdquo;
+she declared; she marched Esther about for half an
+hour.</p>
+<p>Esther had been so sure that Micky would come. She
+glanced up at the clock, and then at Micky&rsquo;s photograph&ndash;&ndash;but
+to-day he seemed to be looking past her into
+the room to where June was bustling about, and she gave
+a little sigh.</p>
+<p>The evening dragged away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you thinking about?&rdquo; June asked once
+abruptly. &ldquo;You look so sad, don&rsquo;t look sad, my dear!
+there&rsquo;s lots of happy days to come yet&ndash;&ndash;happier days
+than you&rsquo;ve ever had.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was only half listening. It was too late for
+Micky to come now was the thought in her mind. Supposing
+he never came again?</p>
+<p>She cried herself to sleep that night. When she woke
+it was late in the morning, and June had had her breakfast
+and gone out.</p>
+<p>She came in while Esther was dressing. She looked
+very pleased and alert.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Business, my child!&rdquo; she said enthusiastically. &ldquo;Such
+a duck of an American! and Micky&rsquo;s introduction! Mr.
+George P. Rochester!&ndash;&ndash;isn&rsquo;t it a lovely name? He&rsquo;s
+going to establish me firmly in little old New York, as
+he calls it, and make my fortune. I&rsquo;m going out to lunch
+with him at one o&rsquo;clock, and you&rsquo;re coming too!&ndash;&ndash;Oh,
+yes you <i>are</i>!&rdquo; as Esther shook her head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told him
+all about you already.&rdquo; Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must have got on very fast,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And
+anyway I&rsquo;m not going to play odd-man-out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June made a little grimace.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;I telephoned Micky and asked him to come and make
+a fourth,&rdquo; she admitted.</p>
+<p>Esther flushed. She looked up eagerly:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;and is he coming?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, he isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she said with overdone indifference.
+&ldquo;He said he&rsquo;d got an engagement already, but between
+you and me and the doorpost,&rdquo; she added darkly, &ldquo;I
+don&rsquo;t believe it! I think he just didn&rsquo;t <i>want</i> to come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Esther faintly. &ldquo;I expect he has a good
+many engagements,&rdquo; she added after a moment.</p>
+<p>June said &ldquo;Humph!&rdquo; She recalled the curt manner of
+Micky&rsquo;s refusal, and wondered if there had been a more
+serious rupture between himself and Esther than she was
+ever likely to hear about.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So we shall have to make up our minds to enjoy ourselves
+without his distinguished company,&rdquo; she said airly.
+&ldquo;I dare say we shall be able to manage quite nicely.
+Esther, aren&rsquo;t you going to wear your fur coat?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My fur coat!&rdquo; said Esther rather unsteadily. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+not mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was taking from the wardrobe the shabby jacket
+she had worn the first night she met Micky; it looked
+more shabby and unsmart than ever, but she was going
+to wear it whatever happened.</p>
+<p>She was smarting with humiliation. She had offered
+Micky her little olive branch when they parted two days
+ago at Charing Cross, and this is how he had accepted
+it!</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If he&rsquo;s trying to pay me out, I suppose it&rsquo;s only what
+I deserve,&rdquo; she thought miserably, and yet it did not seem
+like Micky to deliberately try or wish to hurt or humiliate
+any one.</p>
+<p>She did her best to push the shadow aside. She tried
+to laugh and talk with June as they went off to meet
+Mr. George P. Rochester.</p>
+<p>He was a big, bluff man, with a hand-clasp like the
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span>
+grip of a bear, and a twang that could be cut with a
+knife.</p>
+<p>They lunched at a restaurant which she had never
+even heard of, though June seemed quite at home. There
+were several people at other tables, whom June knew,
+and Esther felt very out of it all, and unhappy.</p>
+<p>It was a good thing she had refused to marry Micky,
+she thought with a sort of anger. She knew none of his
+friends and nothing of the life to which he had always
+been accustomed. She did not realise that it was the
+knowledge of her shabby coat that was affecting her
+spirits more keenly than anything.</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s clothes were not new, but they had an unmistakable
+&ldquo;cut&rdquo; about them, and Rochester was exceedingly
+well dressed.</p>
+<p>He talked to June a great deal. Once or twice he
+tried to draw Esther into the conversation, but, seeing
+that she wished to be let alone, he soon gave up the attempt.</p>
+<p>He was certainly a most friendly person&ndash;&ndash;one would
+have thought that he and June had known one another
+for years. Before lunch was ended he had invited himself
+to tea for the following afternoon.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s Yankee push if you like!&rdquo; June said when
+he had gone. &ldquo;Give me a Yankee every time to make
+things go!&rdquo; She looked at Esther excitedly. &ldquo;Do you
+know,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve a great mind to try and persuade
+that man to come into partnership with me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should say he&rsquo;d suggest it himself if you give him
+another day or two,&rdquo; she said drily. She wandered listlessly
+round the room.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shall have to leave here at the end of the week,&rdquo;
+she said suddenly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s impossible to go on living here,
+and letting you pay my rent and my food bill. I owe
+you more than I can ever repay already.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you talk like that I&rsquo;ll&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll kill you!&rdquo; said June in
+a rage. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t understand what friendship means.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span>
+Micky had tried to teach you, and so have I, and all you
+do is to throw it back in our faces.... O Esther,
+don&rsquo;t!...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther had turned away and covered her face with
+her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know you think I&rsquo;m ungrateful and horrid,&rdquo; she
+said brokenly. &ldquo;But how would you like to be in my
+position? I haven&rsquo;t a shilling of my own in the world&ndash;&ndash;the
+things I&rsquo;ve been wearing since I came here are paid
+for by ... by ... oh, you know! I hate to
+look at that fur coat and my new frock. You talk to me
+about being proud and obstinate; well, I can&rsquo;t help it,
+you must go on thinking it, that&rsquo;s all; I&rsquo;d rather die
+than take anything more from any one. I kept myself
+before, and I will again....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to hurt you&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m a perfect beast,&rdquo; June
+declared in remorse. &ldquo;But it does seem such a shame.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther raised a flushed face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t all have money and be independent,&rdquo; she
+said hardily. &ldquo;But I think you might try and understand
+how I feel about it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I only know that I&rsquo;m dying to help you, and you
+won&rsquo;t let me,&rdquo; June said grumpily. &ldquo;Lord! where is my
+cigarette case? I shall swear or do something worse if
+I can&rsquo;t smoke.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She went out of the room, and Esther heard her go
+clattering up the stairs. There were tears in her eyes
+now, but she brushed them angrily away; after all, what
+was there to cry for! It was only that she had got
+to go back to where she had left off that New Year&rsquo;s
+Eve when she first met Micky; everything was just as
+it had been then, save that she was the poorer now by
+the loss of a dream.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXIV' id='CHAPTER_XXXIV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>June&rsquo;s friendship with Mr. George P. Rochester
+grew apace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky&rsquo;s introductions are <i>always</i> a success,&rdquo; she
+told Esther. &ldquo;And Micky likes him too&ndash;&ndash;awfully! Mr.
+Rochester is round at Micky&rsquo;s rooms nearly every night.
+They&rsquo;re <i>ever</i> such pals!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are they?&rdquo; said Esther. The mention of Micky&rsquo;s name
+always seemed to make her heart quiver. She wondered
+if June knew why he never came to the house now, and
+what she thought about it all.</p>
+<p>In her own mind she was sure that Micky had cast
+her off, and the knowledge left her with a sense of
+desolation.</p>
+<p>She never spoke of him unless June did so first, and
+she tried never to think of him. But Micky was a personality
+not to be lightly dismissed from memory, and
+he haunted her thoughts waking and sleeping.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If I could only get some work,&rdquo; she told herself,
+&ldquo;it would be better. It&rsquo;s so dreadful having nothing to
+do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She had applied to Eldred&rsquo;s unsuccessfully&ndash;&ndash;she had
+climbed the narrow stairs of the agency a dozen times
+only to be met with rebuff.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You refused an excellent post I offered to you,&rdquo; she
+was told icily. &ldquo;I am not likely to be able to find you
+such another.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June coaxed her into helping with the &ldquo;swindle.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t I&rsquo;ll have to pay some one else to do it,&rdquo;
+she declared. &ldquo;And oh, Esther, <i>don&rsquo;t</i> be so proud!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So Esther gave in. She filled the little mauve pots
+with the profound skin food and fastened on lids and
+labels till her head swam.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span></div>
+<p>Sometimes Mr. George P. Rochester came to help&ndash;&ndash;at
+least he called it &ldquo;help&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;but he did very little actual
+work, as he was always too busy looking at June and
+talking to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Has he suggested the partnership yet?&rdquo; Esther asked
+one night.</p>
+<p>June flushed rosily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be absurd,&rdquo; she answered, and something in
+her voice woke a little note of fear in Esther&rsquo;s heart.</p>
+<p>Was she to lose June too? Was there to be nothing
+left to her in all the world? Her hands shook as she
+went on mechanically filling the row of little mauve
+pots.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther,&rdquo; said June suddenly, &ldquo;how long is it since
+you saw Micky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a little pause, then Esther said constrainedly.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen him since&ndash;&ndash;since we came back
+from Paris.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She waited a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; she asked with an effort.</p>
+<p>June kept her eyes bent on her work.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because I haven&rsquo;t seen him myself for nearly a
+week,&rdquo; she said slowly. &ldquo;And I hear&ndash;&ndash;I hear that he&rsquo;s
+running round with that Deland girl again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not dare to look up as she spoke, and she went
+on quickly, &ldquo;Of course it may only be gossip&ndash;&ndash;but
+George&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Rochester&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she hurriedly corrected
+herself, &ldquo;tells me that Micky took him to their house
+to dinner last night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Silence. June filled pots at random, wildly, then Esther
+spoke.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve done eight dozen,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do you think that
+is enough to go on with?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June raised her eyes guiltily, then suddenly she pushed
+the laden tray from her and ran round to Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she said impulsively, &ldquo;if only&ndash;&ndash;only you could
+have made yourself care for him.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span></div>
+<p>She put her arms round the younger girl&rsquo;s unresponsive
+figure.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I want you to be happy too, so badly,&rdquo; she went on
+earnestly. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mean to tell you yet, but I must
+somehow. George&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Rochester&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she broke off,
+laughing and crying together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The man&rsquo;s a perfect disgrace,&rdquo; she protested, &ldquo;I
+told him so, too! I&rsquo;ve only known him three weeks,
+and&ndash;&ndash;and&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; she raised tear-drowned eyes to Esther&rsquo;s
+face. &ldquo;What can you do when a man that size kisses
+you?&rdquo; she demanded.</p>
+<p>Esther had to laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, do what you did,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Kiss him in return.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June wiped her eyes and laughed, and shed more tears.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never meant to marry any one,&rdquo; she said angrily.
+&ldquo;But the dreadful creature seems to want me so desperately
+badly. I&rsquo;m really utterly miserable, only&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O June!&rdquo; said Esther.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So I am! At least!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;June looked up and suddenly
+laughed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a wicked liar! but
+oh, such a gloriously happy, wicked liar!&rdquo;</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>&ldquo;And it&rsquo;s all entirely due to me,&rdquo; Micky said when
+June rang him up the following morning to tell him the
+news.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I introduced you! What do I get out of it all I
+should like to know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His voice was playful, but June took him seriously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O Micky! if you could only be as happy as I am,&rdquo;
+she said eagerly.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If wishes were horses, my dear&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he said sententiously.
+&ldquo;But don&rsquo;t worry about me, I&rsquo;m all right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then, will you come to dinner to-night? No, <i>not</i> at
+the boarding house! We&rsquo;ll go to the Savoy&ndash;&ndash;just to
+celebrate! We four!&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;We <i>four!</i>&rdquo; said Micky sharply.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;I shall bring Esther, of course.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was the smallest possible pause, then Micky
+said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, but I&rsquo;ve another engagement. I promised
+the Delands to go with them to the Hoopers&rsquo; dance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June said &ldquo;<i>Hang</i> the Delands,&rdquo; and rang off in a
+huff.</p>
+<p>Micky hung up the receiver and turned away. He
+was sorry to disappoint June, and yet he had no smallest
+intention of meeting Esther. If she had wanted him she
+would have sent a note or a message&ndash;&ndash;but she did not
+want him! More than once she had said that she hated
+him&ndash;&ndash;it was time to learn that she meant what she said.
+Micky&rsquo;s pride had got the upper hand at last, and he
+would rather have died now than make the smallest overture
+to the girl at whose feet he had once been willing
+to grovel.</p>
+<p>Driver came to the door:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A parcel, sir. Shall I bring it in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky answered absently:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver went out of the room. After a moment he
+came back with a square box which he set down on the
+table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shall I open it, sir?&rdquo; he asked, as Micky did not
+speak.</p>
+<p>Micky started.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; oh, yes&ndash;&ndash;open it. What the dickens is it? I
+haven&rsquo;t ordered anything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver said that he did not know&ndash;&ndash;that it had been left
+by a messenger. He untied the knotted string with neat
+precision, and rolled it into a ball before he removed the
+paper.</p>
+<p>Micky walked up to the table and lifted the lid with
+faint curiosity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A fur coat,&rdquo; he said blankly. &ldquo;A fur&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; He stopped.
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span>
+For a moment he stood staring down into the box, then
+he let the lid fall over it again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right&ndash;&ndash;you can go,&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>Driver walked to the door stoically, and Micky went
+back to the fire.</p>
+<p>So she would not even keep the fur coat! She cared
+so little for him that she must needs send back his paltry
+gifts. What a fool he was to care&ndash;&ndash;what a fool!</p>
+<p>Driver, coming back for a moment, stopped petrified
+in the doorway. Micky was standing by the mantelpiece
+with his face buried in his arms.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXV' id='CHAPTER_XXXV'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXV</h2>
+</div>
+<p>It was late that night when Micky turned up at the
+Delands&rsquo;. He had taken extravagant pains with his
+toilet, lingering over it as long as possible. Ever
+since the arrival of that parcel from Esther, he had been
+trying to make up his mind to take the irrevocable step,
+and ask Marie Deland to be his wife. He was miserably
+sure that she would accept him, miserably sure that he
+was already forgiven for the past.</p>
+<p>He kept on persuading himself that it was the one
+and only thing left to him to do. He tried to believe
+that once the affair was settled, he would find some sort
+of happiness. After all, what did it matter whom he
+married if it could not be Esther?</p>
+<p>He looked pale but determined when he walked into
+the Delands&rsquo; drawing-room and found Marie there alone.
+She turned to greet him with a little eager movement
+that was somehow comforting.</p>
+<p>Here, at any rate, was some one who really cared for
+him and was glad to see him. He took the hand she
+held out and, bending, kissed it.</p>
+<p>She caught her breath on a little sound that was almost
+a sob, but she checked it instantly and tried to laugh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is almost like old times,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Quite like old times,&rdquo; Micky answered recklessly.
+&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just turned the pages back again and gone on
+where we left off, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked at her and tried to forget everything else.
+She was pretty and dainty enough to satisfy the most
+exciting man, and she loved him! To a man who is
+disappointed and unhappy there is great consolation in
+the knowledge that to one person at least he counts before
+anything else in the world.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span></div>
+<p>She looked up at him, and impulsively he took a step
+towards her; another moment and Micky would have
+sealed his fate, had not Mrs. Deland pushed open the
+door and walked into the room.</p>
+<p>It had not been any effort for her to forgive Micky
+for his cavalier treatment of her daughter. For the
+last week she had been busy telling every one that Marie
+and Micky had made up their quarrel&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;entirely Marie&rsquo;s
+fault it was, you know,&rdquo; and so on.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are going to give me half your dances at least,&rdquo;
+Micky said, when they reached the Hoopers&rsquo;. He took
+the card from Marie&rsquo;s hand and filled in his own initials
+recklessly against the numbers.</p>
+<p>She laughed tremulously; she was too happy to think
+of anything but the present; she had got Micky again,
+and that was all she cared about.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-evening!&rdquo; said a voice at her side, and, turning,
+she found Raymond Ashton at her elbow.</p>
+<p>Marie did not care particularly for Ashton. She
+greeted him rather coldly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So you&rsquo;re back in town,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And your wife?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not here to-night,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;She has a bad
+cold, so I persuaded her to stay at home. May I have
+a dance?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She gave him her card reluctantly. She would have
+liked to have refused, but she thought Micky would be
+annoyed; she did not know that he and this man were
+friends no longer.</p>
+<p>She saw him glance at Micky&rsquo;s many initials on her
+card, saw the half ironical smile he gave as he looked
+at her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mellowes is back, then?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes&ndash;&ndash;he came with us to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really! I thought&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he paused eloquently.</p>
+<p>Marie flushed, she knew quite well what he meant; that
+he must have known how Micky had once deserted her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I understood that Mellowes was in Paris.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton went on calmly.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;At least I was told so by an ... acquaintance
+of mine&ndash;&ndash;who was staying there with him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Marie&rsquo;s eyes dilated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Father and I crossed by the same boat as he did,&rdquo;
+she said with an effort. &ldquo;He was alone then&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton laughed detestably. &ldquo;Ah, but not afterwards,&rdquo;
+he said&ndash;&ndash;then checked himself. &ldquo;But I forgot. I must
+not tell tales out of school, only as every one seems to
+have learned of his <i>penchant</i> for the little lady from
+Eldred&rsquo;s&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;he laughed lightly.</p>
+<p>Marie stood staring down the long ballroom. The
+colour slowly faded from her cheeks, leaving her as
+white as her frock. She looked at Ashton, intent on a
+crease in his glove, and she broke out stammering:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How dare you say such a thing! I don&rsquo;t believe you&ndash;&ndash;in
+Paris&ndash;&ndash;Micky&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He raised his brows with assumed surprise.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry&ndash;&ndash;perhaps I should not have spoken&ndash;&ndash;but
+I thought every one knew&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders. &ldquo;Of course it may be a
+mistake, but I happen to know the lady in question
+slightly&ndash;&ndash;through Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;and it was she who told
+me.... I am sorry if my carelessness has pained
+you&ndash;&ndash;excuse me, I am engaged for this dance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He bowed and left her standing there, white and
+dazed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe it! I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she told herself despairingly,
+and yet in her heart something told her that, for
+once at least, Ashton had spoken the truth.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Our dance, I think,&rdquo; said Micky beside her.</p>
+<p>She laid her hand on his arm mechanically; they went
+the round of the room once, then Micky, glancing down,
+saw how white she was and how her head drooped
+towards his shoulder.</p>
+<p>He tightened his arm a little&ndash;&ndash;he swept her skilfully
+out of the crowd and into a small anteroom; he put
+her into a chair and bent over her in concern.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;You are not well&ndash;&ndash;what can I do? Can I get you
+anything?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a moment she did not speak, then all at once she
+rose to her feet; she clutched Micky by both arms; he
+could feel how her hands shook; there was heartbroken
+tragedy in her brown eyes as she looked into his face.
+For once she had forgotten her pride and the indifference
+into which she had been drilled for twenty years; she
+was no longer Marie Deland, a sought-after and courted
+beauty; she was just an unhappy, jealous woman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t true, Micky, is it?&rdquo; she entreated him; her
+voice was only a broken whisper. &ldquo;Tell me&ndash;&ndash;oh, please,
+please, tell me. You don&rsquo;t care for her, do you?&ndash;&ndash;it
+isn&rsquo;t true, is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She forgot that he did not know of what she was
+speaking; it seemed as if everybody in the world must
+know of this tragedy that had desolated her life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t bear it any longer&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s no use.... I&rsquo;ve
+borne all I can.... O Micky ... Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He forced her hands from his arms; he put her back
+into the chair and sat beside her; he hated to see the
+white despair of her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re ill&ndash;&ndash;upset.... It&rsquo;s all right&ndash;&ndash;everything
+is all right. You&rsquo;re not to worry any more....
+Everything is all right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At that moment he would have given his soul could
+he have truthfully said that he wanted her for his wife.
+He cursed himself for a cur and a coward, but somehow
+he could not force the words to his lips.</p>
+<p>She lay back against the cushions, hiding her face.</p>
+<p>There was a tragic moment of silence. Out in the
+ballroom a noisy one-step was in boisterous progress;
+there was a great deal of laughter and chattering; the
+little anteroom seemed as if it must be in another
+world.</p>
+<p>Micky got up. He walked across the room and shut
+the door. There was a hard look about his mouth. For
+an instant he stood staring down at the floor irresolutely,
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span>
+then he came back to Marie. He bent over her, but he
+did not touch her.</p>
+<p>He spoke her name gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Marie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not raise her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I want to speak to you,&rdquo; he said huskily.</p>
+<p>She looked up then. Her face was flashed and quivering,
+and the brown eyes that for a moment met his own
+were full of an unutterable grief and shame.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; she said in a broken whisper. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;d just
+go away&ndash;&ndash;and leave me to myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky did not answer. The impossibility of ever going
+back now struck him to the soul. This was the end,
+the very end&ndash;&ndash;he had burned his boats and bidden good-bye
+to the woman he loved for ever.</p>
+<p>Then all his natural chivalry rose in his heart. Hitherto
+it had been only of himself that he had thought,
+but now ... his eyes softened as they rested on
+the girl&rsquo;s bowed head; he stooped and took her hand, held
+it fast in his steady grip.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you marry me?&rdquo; he said very gently.</p>
+<p>And, oh, the long time before she answered! It
+seemed to Micky that he lived through years as he stood
+there with the rattling tune of the one-step in his ears
+and Marie&rsquo;s tragic figure before his eyes. Was she never
+going to speak?</p>
+<p>Then she sat up very stiff and straight&ndash;&ndash;there were
+tears scorching her flushed cheeks, and her eyes seemed
+to burn.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will I&ndash;&ndash;will I&ndash;&ndash;marry you?&rdquo; she echoed, as if not
+understanding.</p>
+<p>Her voice rose a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then it isn&rsquo;t true ... it can&rsquo;t be true&ndash;&ndash;what he
+said?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What did he say? Who are you talking about? What
+do you mean?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She began to sob; quiet, tearless sobs that seemed to
+bring no relief with them.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Raymond Ashton&ndash;&ndash;he told me&ndash;&ndash;here! just now&ndash;&ndash;that
+you....&rdquo; She stopped, catching her breath at the
+change in Micky&rsquo;s face; it no longer looked tender&ndash;&ndash;his
+eyes were fierce.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ashton! What has he said?&rdquo; His voice was roughly
+insistent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He told me that you&ndash;&ndash;you were in Paris&ndash;&ndash;a week or
+two ago&ndash;&ndash;with a girl from Eldred&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lie!&rdquo; The words escaped Micky before he could
+check them; his first thought was to defend Esther. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+an infernal lie!&rdquo; he said again violently.</p>
+<p>It turned him cold to think of all that the brute must
+have implied.</p>
+<p>The tears were frozen on Marie&rsquo;s cheeks&ndash;&ndash;her hands
+were clasped together in her lap.</p>
+<p>When at last she found her voice it was strained and
+cracked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;... that she told him you were there with her....&rdquo;
+Her brown eyes searched his face as if they
+were trying to read his very soul. &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s a lie,&rdquo; she
+said shrilly, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s she who is lying&ndash;&ndash;she told Raymond
+Ashton that she was there with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She told him....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For a moment Micky stood like a man turned to stone.
+Was this the truth?&ndash;&ndash;that Esther had told Ashton....</p>
+<p>He looked again at Marie.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When did Ashton tell you this?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To-night&ndash;&ndash;not a moment ago&ndash;&ndash;he is here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here!&rdquo; Then to how many more people had he told
+the same distorted story?</p>
+<p>The blood beat into Micky&rsquo;s face; it seemed to hammer
+maddeningly against his temples. Nothing counted
+but the fact that Esther&rsquo;s name was being bandied about
+on the lips of the creature. To stop him&ndash;&ndash;to stop his
+lying tongue was the one thought in Micky&rsquo;s mind; he
+saw the whole world red as he tore open the door of the
+silent room and strode out into the corridor.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span></div>
+<p>The noisy ragtime had ceased, but a storm of deafening
+applause and cries of &ldquo;Encore!&rdquo; filled the ballroom.</p>
+<p>An elderly man cannoned into Micky, and stopped
+short with a laughing apology.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hullo, Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;not dancing&ndash;&ndash;what the deuce is
+the matter?&rdquo; he asked with sudden change of voice.</p>
+<p>Micky passed a shaking hand across his mouth&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing ... where&rsquo;s Ashton&ndash;&ndash;have you seen
+Ashton?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve just left him; he isn&rsquo;t dancing either. Can&rsquo;t
+think what&rsquo;s happened to you youngsters to-day. When
+I was your age....&rdquo; He broke off, realising that
+Micky was not listening. &ldquo;Ashton&rsquo;s in the smoking-room,&rdquo;
+he said uneasily.</p>
+<p>Micky went on; his hands were clenched, his teeth set.</p>
+<p>The smoking-room door was half ajar; he could see
+that there were several men there. There was a clink of
+glasses and the sound of voices talking in a rather subdued
+way.</p>
+<p>Micky paused. He knew that if Ashton were there it
+would mean a scene, and a scene in any one else&rsquo;s house....
+The thought snapped at the sound of his own
+name.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mellowes! Well, you do surprise me.&rdquo; There was
+a chuckle. &ldquo;Always thought he was one of the good
+boys.... It just shows that you never know a man
+till you find him out. Rather an error of judgment to
+choose Paris, eh? Who did you say she was?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A girl from Eldred&rsquo;s&ndash;&ndash;pretty little thing. I knew her
+before he did. As a matter of fact, it was only when I
+cooled off....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>That was Ashton&rsquo;s voice; Micky could not see him,
+but he could picture vividly the eloquent shrug, the meaning
+smile with which he finished his incomplete sentence.</p>
+<p>The hot blood died down, leaving him cool and alert.
+He pushed the door wide and walked into the room.</p>
+<p>The group of men by the fireplace scattered; some
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span>
+one coughed deprecatingly; some one else seized upon
+a siphon and began filling an already full glass recklessly.</p>
+<p>Nobody spoke.</p>
+<p>Micky kicked the door to behind him, shutting it with
+a slam.</p>
+<p>His eyes went straight to Ashton&ndash;&ndash;a pale Ashton, trying
+to smile unconcernedly and brazen the situation out.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give you two minutes in which to apologise,&rdquo;
+Micky said in a voice of steel. &ldquo;Two minutes in which
+to retract the damned lies you&rsquo;ve just been saying in
+this room&ndash;&ndash;or&ndash;&ndash;or I&rsquo;ll thrash you within an inch of your
+life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the silence following one could have heard a pin
+drop. Every one looked at Ashton. Micky took out his
+watch.</p>
+<p>It seemed an eternity before Ashton spoke.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve been listening&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he began blustering.</p>
+<p>He moistened his dry lips.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What I said is the truth,&rdquo; he broke out spluttering.
+&ldquo;You were in Paris with....&rdquo; But the name was
+never spoken&ndash;&ndash;Micky&rsquo;s clenched fist shot out and struck
+him right in the mouth.</p>
+<p>In a moment the room was in an uproar; half a dozen
+men rushed at Micky and pinned his arms.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mellowes&ndash;&ndash;for God&rsquo;s sake&ndash;&ndash;if Hooper comes in....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton had staggered back against the wall; his mouth
+was cut and bleeding; he was swearing horribly.</p>
+<p>Micky was crimson in the face; the veins stood out
+like cords on his forehead; he was straining every nerve
+to free himself from his captors.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Apologise!&rdquo; he gasped. &ldquo;Apologise, you dammed
+cad!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashton laughed savagely.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Apologise! What for? It&rsquo;s the truth, and you know
+it. Apologise! I&rsquo;ll repeat it.... I say that you
+were in Paris three weeks ago with Esther Shepstone,
+one of the girls from Eldred&rsquo;s....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky suddenly stopped struggling, but his breath
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span>
+came in deep gasps as he spoke. He looked round at
+the faces of the other men.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know most of you&ndash;&ndash;here,&rdquo; he said in a laboured
+voice. &ldquo;And most of you know me&ndash;&ndash;and you know that
+I&rsquo;m not a damned liar like Ashton; and I know that
+you&rsquo;ll believe me&ndash;&ndash;believe me&ndash;&ndash;when I tell you that the
+lady who was with me in&ndash;&ndash;in Paris&ndash;&ndash;three weeks ago&ndash;&ndash;is
+my wife ... we&rsquo;ve been married some time&ndash;&ndash;and
+it is solely by her wish that it has been kept a
+secret.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>If Micky had dropped a bomb in the room it could
+hardly have created more consternation. The incredulity
+on the faces of the men around him would have been
+amusing to an onlooker, but to Micky the whole thing
+was tragedy.</p>
+<p>He had brought Esther to this with his blundering
+quixotism; he was nearly beside himself with remorse.</p>
+<p>If he had been free he would have half killed Ashton.
+His hands ached to get at him; to take him by his
+lying throat and choke the breath from his body.</p>
+<p>He looked at the men around him with passionate eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never given any of you cause to doubt my word
+yet,&rdquo; he said hoarsely. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ll agree with
+me that this man should be made to retract what he
+said and apologise.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly&ndash;&ndash;he ought to apologise. It&rsquo;s disgraceful&ndash;&ndash;infernally
+disgraceful,&rdquo; said a man who had been listening
+to Ashton&rsquo;s story eagerly enough a moment ago.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you say, gentlemen?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a chorus of assent. The men who had been
+holding Micky&rsquo;s arms let him go.</p>
+<p>Ashton backed a step away.</p>
+<p>His face was livid, his eyes furious, but he knew that
+there was no other course open to him; nobody in the
+room had any sympathy with him now.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I apologise,&rdquo; he said savagely. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know that&ndash;&ndash;the&ndash;&ndash;lady&ndash;&ndash;Mellowes
+had married&ndash;&ndash;the lady.&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span></div>
+<p>His tone added that even now he did not believe it;
+he edged away to the door and disappeared.</p>
+<p>Micky dropped into a chair; he looked thoroughly
+done up. Some one pushed a glass of whisky across to
+him. There was an uncomfortable silence. Perhaps
+they were all feeling guilty; perhaps they all remembered
+with what relish they had listened to this spicy bit of
+scandal.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never could stand Ashton,&rdquo; some one said presently,
+in gruff abasement. &ldquo;Worm&ndash;&ndash;the man is!&ndash;&ndash;perfect outsider!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There were several grunts of assent; the sympathy
+was decidedly with Micky.</p>
+<p>After a moment he rose to his feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose an apology is due from me too,&rdquo; he said;
+he spoke with difficulty. &ldquo;But I think any of you&ndash;&ndash;in
+the same circumstances&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Quite right&ndash;&ndash;certainly.... Should have done the
+same myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky smiled faintly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I am sure you won&rsquo;t let this go any further&ndash;&ndash;for&ndash;&ndash;for
+my wife&rsquo;s sake,&rdquo; he added.</p>
+<p>They pressed round him, shaking him by the hand
+and reassuring him. Micky took it for what it was
+worth. He knew that those of them who were married
+men would go straight home and tell their wives of the
+scene at Hoopers&rsquo;, and he knew how speedily the story
+would spread.</p>
+<p>He got away as soon as he could and left the house.</p>
+<p>He never gave Marie another thought, till he found
+himself out in the street and walking away through the
+fresh spring night.</p>
+<p>He took off his hat and let the air blow on his hot
+forehead; his hand still trembled with excitement.</p>
+<p>He tried to think, but his thoughts would not come
+clearly. When he got back to his rooms he asked Driver
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span>
+for a stiff brandy. The man looked at his master diffidently,
+and asked if anything were the matter.</p>
+<p>Micky laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why? Do I look as if there is?&rdquo; He glanced at
+himself in the mirror. His face was very white.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, there&rsquo;s nothing the matter. I&rsquo;m tired, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver turned to the door, but Micky called him back.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been with me a good many years, Driver,&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And you&rsquo;ve been a faithful servant.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man&rsquo;s stolidness did not change a fraction.</p>
+<p>Micky took a gulp at the brandy.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you were to hear that I&rsquo;m married, you wouldn&rsquo;t
+be surprised, would you?&rdquo; he asked with a rush.</p>
+<p>Driver stood immovable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not in the least, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You would even say that you knew that I&rsquo;ve been
+married some weeks, wouldn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good&ndash;&ndash;you may go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir, and good-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-night,&rdquo; said Micky.</p>
+<p>And now, what was to be done now?</p>
+<p>When he left this room three hours ago it had been
+with the determination to put the past behind him for
+ever, and what had he done? Only walked more deeply
+into his quixotism and seriously compromised the woman
+he loved.</p>
+<p>He had said that she was his wife. It gave him a
+little thrill to remember that a dozen of his acquaintances
+had heard him say it, and were probably even now
+spreading the story of his marriage far and wide.</p>
+<p>He paced up and down the room. He had failed all
+round; even love and desperate desire had not been able
+to help him.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span></div>
+<p>He thought suddenly of June; June who, with all her
+bluntness, had a great heart and a deep understanding.</p>
+<p>She would not want explanations; she would know
+why he had done it, and sympathise.</p>
+<p>But June was obviously not the one concerned. It
+was not to June that he must confess.</p>
+<p>The clock in his room struck twelve; too late to do
+anything to-night. The memory of Marie returned&ndash;&ndash;Marie
+as she had looked when he found her in the drawing-room
+that night; as she had looked when he had left
+her in the little anteroom at the Hoopers&rsquo; and gone out
+with murder in his heart to find Ashton.</p>
+<p>He stopped dead in his pacing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you cad&ndash;&ndash;you cad!&rdquo; he said with a groan.</p>
+<p>Life was an intolerable, purposeless thing. He sat
+down at his desk and leaned his head in his hands. His
+whole life seemed to spell failure. With sudden impulse
+he seized a pen and began to write.</p>
+<p>For the first few moments he hardly knew what he
+wrote. It was only when he reached the end of the
+first page that he seemed to realise with a start what he
+had done. He looked back at the written lines with
+something of a shock. There was no beginning to the
+letter, no date or address; it simply started off as if the
+pen had been guided by some influence outside himself,
+some desperate need.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what you will think when you get this letter. I
+am writing it because to-night I think I am half mad. I love you
+so much; there seems nothing in the whole world that counts
+any more now that I am beginning to understand that I can
+never have you. Esther, I ask you on my knees to listen to
+what I have to say. I have tried to keep away from you, to
+forget you; I&rsquo;ve tried to put you out of my heart and persuade
+myself that I do not care&ndash;&ndash;but it&rsquo;s no use. I love you; I know
+you care something for me, but I shall love you always. To-night
+I have done an unpardonable thing for your sake. I explain
+things so badly. I can only hope that you will understand and
+try to make some excuse for me. Some one knows we were
+together in Paris&ndash;&ndash;I need not tell you who. To-night, at a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span>
+house where I was, he had told several people that you and I
+had been to Paris together....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Micky had gone on writing rapidly&ndash;&ndash;he seemed to
+have lost himself in a sea of eloquence; his heart was
+pleading with the woman he loved through the poor
+medium of a sheet of unaddressed paper.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;It nearly drove me mad to hear you spoken of by him. There
+was a scene, and I knocked him down ... you will hate me
+for this, but I would have killed him if they had let me. I told
+them afterwards that you were my wife&ndash;&ndash;try and understand
+how I have suffered all these weeks&ndash;&ndash;I told them that we had
+been married some time, and that it had been kept secret by
+your own wish. It&rsquo;s only now, when I am more alone and can
+think clearly, that I see what I have done. You don&rsquo;t care for
+me, and I have compromised you even more than that man did
+by his lying insinuations. Tell me what I am to do&ndash;&ndash;anything,
+anything in the world. My whole life is yours to do with as
+you will. Be my wife, dear, be my wife....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>For a moment the pen faltered, but Micky went on
+again with an effort.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;I will stay in London twenty-four hours for your answer,
+and then, if I don&rsquo;t hear....&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The pen faltered again, and this time finally stopped.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXVI' id='CHAPTER_XXXVI'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2>
+</div>
+<p>&ldquo;The question is,&rdquo; said June critically, looking out
+of the window to the street where a fine drizzle of
+rain was falling, &ldquo;does one, or does one not, wear
+one&rsquo;s best hat to go out and meet the one and only man
+one has ever loved?&rdquo; She turned round and looked at
+Esther with a little nod. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s grammar, though you
+may not think it, my dear,&rdquo; she said.</p>
+<p>Esther laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should say one does wear one&rsquo;s best hat,&rdquo; she said
+decidedly. &ldquo;Especially seeing what a very charming hat
+it is.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She leaned her elbows on the table and looked at June
+admiringly. &ldquo;How long is it since you saw the great
+and only?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>June did some rapid counting on her white fingers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nineteen hours exactly,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But it seems
+like ninety! I nearly died with joy when his note came
+at breakfast time&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She looked at Esther wistfully.
+&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t know how lovely it is to have some one of
+your very own,&rdquo; she said with unwonted sentimentality.</p>
+<p>Esther averted her eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I envy you,&rdquo; she said quietly. &ldquo;But you&rsquo;ll be late
+if you stand rhapsodising here&ndash;&ndash;be off!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June bent and kissed her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t be long&ndash;&ndash;he&rsquo;s only asked me for lunch....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have known lunches that lasted till tea-time,&rdquo; she
+said. &ldquo;When there has been a great deal to talk about.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June went downstairs singing. During the last few
+days she had, as she would have expressed it, begun to
+discover herself all over again. Certainly the world had
+utterly changed, and was more like a fairy city than a
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span>
+place where it rained a great deal and where buses and
+taxicabs splashed pedestrians with mud.</p>
+<p>Lydia met her at the foot of the stairs; she smiled at
+sight of the new hat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was just coming up, Miss June,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+a letter for Miss Shepstone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June held out her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take it, and save you the trouble&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She became
+conscious all at once of the girl&rsquo;s admiring eyes,
+and blushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you like my hat, Lydia?&rdquo; She turned round for
+inspection.</p>
+<p>Lydia admired enthusiastically, as she admired everything
+of June&rsquo;s, and forgetful of everything but the
+moment, June thrust the letter for Esther into her coat
+pocket and went out blissfully into the rain to meet
+George Rochester.</p>
+<p>George was ardent; he went into rhapsodies over the
+hat; he forgot to eat his most excellent lunch, and hardly
+took his eyes off June.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all so much waste of time this being engaged,&rdquo;
+he said with pretended annoyance. &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t we do
+the trick and get married? What are we waiting for?
+I&rsquo;ll take you to the States for a wedding trip.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June laughed, and protested blushingly that it was
+much too soon.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t thought about it,&rdquo; she declared, not quite
+truthfully. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s tons of things to see to first. What
+about my business and Esther?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Leave the one to look after the other,&rdquo; he said
+promptly.</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;I should hate to leave Esther alone; if
+only she could be married too?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well&ndash;&ndash;find her a husband. What about Mellowes?&rdquo;
+he suggested jokingly.</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s face sobered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh&ndash;&ndash;Micky!&rdquo; she said. She was not sure if she was
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span>
+justified in telling Rochester that Micky had once cared
+for Esther. &ldquo;I thought he was practically engaged to
+Marie Deland,&rdquo; she said doubtfully.</p>
+<p>Rochester gave an exclamation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That reminds me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There seems to have
+been a bit of a row at the Hoopers&rsquo; dance last night....
+I wasn&rsquo;t there&ndash;&ndash;but I heard some fellows at the
+club talking it over just now. Do you know a man
+named Ashton?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June sniffed inelegantly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do I not!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, if you don&rsquo;t like him, you&rsquo;ll be pleased to hear
+that Micky knocked him into the middle of next week,&rdquo;
+Rochester said calmly.</p>
+<p>June&rsquo;s eyes gleamed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never! Well, I&rsquo;m delighted to hear it! What was
+it about?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Rochester shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, they were gossiping about some woman, as far
+as I could make out&ndash;&ndash;a woman Micky had been rather
+friendly with, from what I gathered&ndash;&ndash;they didn&rsquo;t mention
+her name, but&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; he hesitated. &ldquo;They spoke of
+her as a girl from ... I&rsquo;ve forgotten the name,
+but I think it was a petticoat shop&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Eldred&rsquo;s?&rdquo; said June sharply.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, that was it! What do you know about it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing&ndash;&ndash;go on! What were they saying?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That she&rsquo;d been to Paris with Mellowes, and Mellowes
+overheard it, and there was a bit of a fight, and
+Mellowes said that the girl was his wife....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June gasped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;<i>What</i>!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Rochester looked rather uncomfortable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s only club talk,&rdquo; he said deprecatingly. &ldquo;Dare say
+it&rsquo;s all lies.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June pushed back her chair; her brain was in a whirl;
+she stared at Rochester with dazed eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course you&rsquo;re mad, quite mad,&rdquo; she said calmly.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Or I am! which is it?... My dear man, the
+girl Micky went to Paris with was Esther! <i>my</i> Esther
+Shepstone! and here you are trying to tell me that she
+and Micky are <i>married</i>!&rdquo; She burst into hysterical
+laughter.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to tell you,&rdquo; he protested injuredly.
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s only what I heard; and any way, if Mellowes went
+to Paris with Miss Shepstone&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He broke off before the anger in June&rsquo;s eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you speak about Esther in that tone of voice again,
+I shall hate you for ever,&rdquo; she said furiously. &ldquo;If you
+must know the truth, I&rsquo;ll tell it to you, and another time
+just don&rsquo;t judge people till you&rsquo;ve heard both sides of
+the question,&rdquo; and she promptly proceeded to tell him
+the whole story of her meeting with Esther, and all that
+had happened since.</p>
+<p>Rochester listened quietly, but when she had finished,
+he said&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Micky ought to have finished that skunk last night.
+If he cares for Miss Shepstone....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh but I don&rsquo;t think he does now,&rdquo; June struck in
+sadly. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t been near her since they came back
+from Paris, and every one says that Marie Deland&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;
+she broke off.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when Miss Shepstone gets to hear what happened
+last night?&rdquo; Rochester asked drily.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but she won&rsquo;t&ndash;&ndash;she doesn&rsquo;t know anybody who
+would tell her except you or me,&rdquo; June said positively.
+&ldquo;And of course she must <i>never</i> know. She never liked
+Micky, though <i>why</i>!...&rdquo; She shrugged her shoulders.
+&ldquo;Have you seen him to-day?&rdquo; she asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m going to this evening.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you won&rsquo;t let him know what I&rsquo;ve told you?
+promise me!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is it likely that I should? Men don&rsquo;t gossip.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t they?&rdquo; June answered tartly. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t
+trust one of them, not even you,&rdquo; she added with a
+melting smile.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span></div>
+<p>In spite of her promise to Esther, it was past tea-time
+when she got back home; she threw her hat and
+coat down anywhere and poked up the fire.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you had tea? What have you been doing all
+day?&rdquo; she demanded crisply. &ldquo;You <i>haven&rsquo;t</i> had tea!&ndash;&ndash;Good
+gracious, I&rsquo;ll make some at once; I had some with
+George, but I&rsquo;m quite ready for some more. My word!
+what a difference a man can make in one&rsquo;s life,&rdquo; she
+said, suddenly grave. &ldquo;And to think that I ever talked
+piffle about not wanting to get married.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She bustled round the room singing blithely; she was
+brimful of happiness. &ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t be surprised to hear
+that I&rsquo;m going to be married quite soon,&rdquo; she said with
+elaborate carelessness. &ldquo;Lord! won&rsquo;t people have forty
+fits? Except for Micky, my crowd don&rsquo;t know I&rsquo;m engaged
+yet. I&rsquo;m going to take George home to see them
+on Sunday. I&rsquo;ve discovered that he&rsquo;s fourth cousin,
+about ninety times removed, to a baronet, so, perhaps,
+that will put them all in a good temper with him. My
+people do love titles! Give them a lord, or something,
+and it doesn&rsquo;t matter what else he is, or isn&rsquo;t....
+You&rsquo;re not listening, Esther.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am. I heard every word you said.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther was sitting by the fire with Charlie curled up
+in her lap; her face looked very sad and thoughtful.
+So she was to lose June quite soon!&ndash;&ndash;her lips trembled;
+what was there left for her in all the world? It almost
+seemed as if time had stood still for a moment, and then
+suddenly rushed her back again with breathless speed,
+to leave her bereft of hope and happiness, as she had
+been before she met Micky.</p>
+<p>Charlie had been her only friend then. Was he all
+that was to remain to her now?</p>
+<p>June watched her across the room.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are you thinking about?&rdquo; she asked suddenly;
+but Esther only shook her head.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span></div>
+<p>For two days Micky Mellowes never left his rooms,
+and hardly ate a thing, and for once in his life Driver
+permitted a spark of anxiety to creep into his dull eyes.
+He was sure that his master was ill; he tried tempting
+dishes and alluring cocktails, but Micky refused them all.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My good man, I&rsquo;m not an invalid,&rdquo; he protested irritably.</p>
+<p>He hated it, because he knew his agitation was apparent;
+he tried to settle to read, but whenever a bell
+rang through the house he started up with racing pulses.</p>
+<p>She must have got his letter, he knew. If there was
+any hope for him at all she would write at once or send
+for him. His nerves began to wear to rags.</p>
+<p>Sometimes his hopes soared to the skies, to drop to
+zero again. Once in a fit of despondency he told Driver
+to pack his bag, as they would be leaving early in the
+morning.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir&ndash;&ndash;where shall we be going, sir?&rdquo; Driver asked
+stoically.</p>
+<p>Micky swore.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You do ask such damned silly questions,&rdquo; he complained
+irritably.</p>
+<p>An hour later, when he found Driver packing, he called
+him a fool, and told him to unpack at once.</p>
+<p>And so the days dragged away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Any more posts to-night?&rdquo; Micky asked jerkily, on
+the second day.</p>
+<p>Driver eyed the clock.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There should be one at nine, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But nine came, and half-past, and no post.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is it too late for the post now, Driver?&rdquo; Micky asked
+feverishly, when it was nearly ten.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The post went by, sir,&rdquo; was the answer. &ldquo;I was
+down at the door and saw the postman pass.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky went back to his chair. It was all he could
+expect, he told himself&ndash;&ndash;there had been no answer to his
+letter: there never would be an answer now.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span></div>
+<p>When Driver came into the room again, Micky said
+without looking up&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pack that bag again, there&rsquo;s a good fellow, will you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said Driver imperturbably.</p>
+<p>He hesitated, then asked&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And&ndash;&ndash;er&ndash;&ndash;where did you say we should be going,
+sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t say,&rdquo; said Micky. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t care&ndash;&ndash;on
+the Continent&ndash;&ndash;anywhere you like&ndash;&ndash;look up some
+hotels....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>One place was as good as another, he argued, as he
+sat and watched Driver pack. Wherever he went he
+was going to be infernally miserable, so what did it
+matter?</p>
+<p>When Driver stoically inquired how long he expected
+to be away, Micky answered violently that he was never
+coming back if he could help it; he said he hated London&ndash;&ndash;he
+said he was sick to death of his flat and wanted
+a change.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t come back till the autumn anyway,&rdquo; he
+declared recklessly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; was the stolid reply. Driver knew
+his master; he could remember another occasion when
+Micky had left London in a rage never to return, and
+ten days had seen him back again.</p>
+<p>Certainly this was rather a different case from that
+other; this time there was a woman behind it. Driver
+knew this perfectly well, though beyond the posting of
+letters and the buying of the fur coat he had had no firsthand
+evidence.</p>
+<p>But he kept his thoughts to himself and packed shirts
+and socks and coats by the score, as if to keep up the
+belief that they were really going for months, instead
+of the day which were the limit he prescribed in his own
+mind.</p>
+<p>When Rochester called later on in the evening, Micky
+was almost rude to him. The American looked so unfeignedly
+happy that it got on Micky&rsquo;s nerves; but George
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span>
+P. Rochester was difficult to snub; he looked on at the
+packing with childlike amazement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a sudden idea of yours, this flitting!&rdquo; he submitted
+mildly. Micky did not answer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hope you&rsquo;ll be back in time for my wedding, Sonnie,&rdquo;
+Rochester said again.</p>
+<p>Micky flushed crimson; there was something rather
+pathetic about him at that moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ll be back all right,&rdquo; he said shortly.</p>
+<p>Rochester laughed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t have to stay away long then,&rdquo; he said
+significantly.</p>
+<hr class='toprule' />
+<div class='chsp'>
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span>
+<a name='CHAPTER_XXXVII' id='CHAPTER_XXXVII'></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2>
+</div>
+<p>Esther woke from a troubled sleep that night, to
+find June standing beside her. Pale moonlight
+shone into the room from half-drawn blinds, filling
+it with an eerie light, as Esther started up trembling and
+frightened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is it? is anything the matter? Oh, I thought
+you were a ghost!&rdquo; She clutched at June with both
+hands. &ldquo;Oh, is anything the matter?&rdquo; she asked again.</p>
+<p>June laughed nervously; she found matches and lit a
+candle, then she came back to Esther and thrust something
+into her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll never forgive me,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve had
+it in my coat pocket for two days....&rdquo; She pushed
+her dark hair back from her forehead tragically. &ldquo;Lydia
+gave it to me for you the day I went out in my best hat
+to meet George, and I was such a selfish, conceited pig
+that he put everything else out of my head, and I forgot
+all about it till just now, when I was lying awake thinking
+... and then ... oh, Esther, it&rsquo;s from
+Micky!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther looked down at the crumpled envelope&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;From&ndash;&ndash;Micky?...&rdquo; she said. She was only half
+awake; she made a very fair picture there with her long
+hair tumbling about her shoulders, and her face a little
+flushed and startled.</p>
+<p>June turned to the door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go away&ndash;&ndash;you don&rsquo;t want me.... I&rsquo;ll
+go&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; but Esther caught her hand.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No&ndash;&ndash;no.... Wait! please wait!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well&ndash;&ndash;but I&rsquo;m half frozen....&rdquo; June looked
+plaintively at Esther, but Esther had forgotten her, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span>
+she dragged the quilt from the bed, and wrapped it round
+her small figure till she looked like a mummy.</p>
+<p>There was a long silence, then Esther raised her eyes
+to June&rsquo;s anxious face.</p>
+<p>Her own was quite colourless, and her grey eyes
+looked dazed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you&ndash;&ndash;will you&ndash;&ndash;read it?&rdquo; she said faintly.
+&ldquo;Please&ndash;&ndash;I want you to&ndash;&ndash;I ... somehow I feel as
+if I&rsquo;m dreaming.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But June at any rate was wide awake. It only took
+her two minutes to read Micky&rsquo;s passionate appeal; the
+next she was laughing and crying together, and hugging
+Esther boisterously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, isn&rsquo;t he the most wonderful man? Don&rsquo;t you
+love him? Don&rsquo;t you just adore him? Oh, if you&rsquo;re
+going to break his heart after all this, I&rsquo;ll <i>never</i> forgive
+you!... Why, my George isn&rsquo;t in it with Micky,
+poor darling!&rdquo;&ndash;&ndash;she shook Esther in her excitement&ndash;&ndash;&ldquo;What
+are you made of, that you can&rsquo;t see what a king
+he is? I don&rsquo;t believe there&rsquo;s any blood in your veins
+at all,&rdquo; she declared indignantly. &ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t got a
+heart.... Oh, Esther darling! I didn&rsquo;t mean it&ndash;&ndash;I&ndash;&ndash;oh,
+I&rsquo;m such an idiot!...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And the two girls clasped each other and cried together.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And now if this ridiculous midnight scene is ended,&rdquo;
+June said presently, sniffing her tears away, &ldquo;let&rsquo;s talk
+sense. I&rsquo;ll go and see Micky in the morning and explain
+everything. He knows what I am&ndash;&ndash;he won&rsquo;t be at all
+surprised&ndash;&ndash;oh, I&rsquo;m so glad&ndash;&ndash;so more than glad....
+Oh, Esther, <i>why</i> do you hide your face?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because I&rsquo;m so ashamed,&rdquo; Esther said in a stifled
+voice. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worth loving&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ve ... oh, you
+don&rsquo;t <i>know</i> how I&rsquo;ve treated him!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June was silent for a minute, then she said gently&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But Micky will forget all that&ndash;&ndash;Micky never remembered
+a mean thing against anybody in his life.&rdquo; She
+forced Esther to look at her. &ldquo;Tell me one thing, and
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span>
+then I&rsquo;ll go and leave you in peace,&rdquo; she coaxed. &ldquo;Do
+you&ndash;&ndash;do you ... <i>you</i> know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But in this instance, at least, a verbal answer was not
+necessary.</p>
+<p>June kissed her rapturously.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, you darling,&rdquo; she said. She blew out the candle,
+and sped down to her own room again like a ghost in
+the moonlight.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>&ldquo;Was there anything else you was wanting, sir?&rdquo;
+Driver inquired stolidly. He stood on the platform looking
+in at the first-class compartment where Micky sat
+alone in durance vile, waiting for the train to start.</p>
+<p>He frowned, and pulled his soft hat further down over
+his eyes as he answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, nothing.... I&rsquo;ll see you at Dover.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There were many people on the platform; in the next
+carriage a pretty girl was seeing a man off&ndash;&ndash;looking up
+at him as he stood on the footboard with eyes that told
+their story eloquently.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at her enviously. He would have given
+his right hand if there had been some one there to see
+him off with just that expression in her eyes&ndash;&ndash;the right
+some one, of course. He turned away from the window
+with an uncomfortable lump in his throat.</p>
+<p>He had nothing in the world but his confounded
+money, and a lot of good that was to him! It could not
+buy happiness.</p>
+<p>The guard came down the platform&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take your seats&ndash;&ndash;take your seats....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A girl and a man pushed past him. The girl was
+staring eagerly in at all the windows as she passed.
+When she saw Micky she gave a little cry of relief.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here he is&ndash;&ndash;Micky! Micky!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky started to his feet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;June!&rdquo; he said. For a moment he thought something
+must have happened&ndash;&ndash;something was wrong&ndash;&ndash;Esther!...
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span>
+her name was trembling on his lips, but June rushed on
+impetuously before he had time to speak it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We thought we&rsquo;d come and see you off&ndash;&ndash;George told
+me you were going, and I guessed you&rsquo;d be on this
+train.... I&rsquo;m so glad we found you&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s rotten
+seeing oneself off, isn&rsquo;t it?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Rochester came up laughing and red in the face; he
+took off his hat and mopped his hot forehead.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t keep pace with her, she&rsquo;s like a whirlwind,&rdquo;
+he said whimsically. &ldquo;She raced me off here before I
+could say a word.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of you to come,&rdquo; Micky said.</p>
+<p>He was pleased to see them; he felt decidedly less
+ill-tempered than he had done a moment ago. He looked
+down at June&rsquo;s radiant face, and a little doubt went
+through his heart.</p>
+<p>He was in that dangerous state through which so
+many men have to pass when the woman they love will
+have none of them. If Marie Deland had happened to
+turn up then, he would have asked for forgiveness and
+have married her offhand and regretted it the next day;
+and now, as he looked at June, he wondered if he had
+been a fool not to properly appreciate her. He felt
+a vague twinge of jealousy, realising that the days were
+gone for ever when he had been the most wonderful
+man in all the world to her.</p>
+<p>He had never loved her save in a brotherly way, and
+he did not love her now, but at heart men are all dogs
+in the manger, and it was some such feeling that filled
+Micky&rsquo;s heart as he leaned out of the window and looked
+at this girl.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you&rsquo;ll have a good time,&rdquo; she said cheerily.
+&ldquo;Have you got anything to read?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t want anything&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;m not in a reading mood.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky was longing to ask about Esther, but pride prevented
+him.</p>
+<p>The guard was blowing his whistle; doors were slamming;
+June gripped Micky&rsquo;s hand.</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Be a good boy, and have a good time,&rdquo; she said.
+There was a furious excitement in her eyes.</p>
+<p>He made a grimace.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not expecting to have a good time,&rdquo; he answered.</p>
+<p>The train was slowly moving; June ran a few steps to
+keep up with it. Micky blurted out his question at last&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Shepstone ... Esther ... is she all
+right, June?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>June smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, she&rsquo;s first rate,&rdquo; she said airily. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s gone
+away for a holiday.... Good-bye.&rdquo; She fell back
+laughing and waving her hand.</p>
+<p>Micky kept his head out of the window till a cloud
+of smoke from the engine blown backwards shut out
+all sight of her, then he drew in, dragging the window
+up with a slam.</p>
+<p>Gone away for a holiday, had she?&ndash;&ndash;well&ndash;&ndash;it was nothing
+to him. He turned round to go back to his seat in the
+corner then stopping dead, staring as if he had seen a
+ghost; for Esther was sitting there just behind him,
+looking up at him with scared eyes.</p>
+<p>For a moment Micky did not move; he was like a
+man turned to stone. Then the blood rushed to his face
+in a crimson tide; he broke out into stammering speech&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You ... you ... what ... what ...
+I thought....&rdquo; He swayed forward a little and caught
+her hands. &ldquo;You are real&ndash;&ndash;I thought ... I thought
+I was just imagining it all; I thought.... Oh, wait
+a moment....&rdquo; He sat down and leaned his head
+in his hands.</p>
+<p>He felt sure that he must be mad or dreaming&ndash;&ndash;the
+world had turned upside down and pitched his thoughts
+into chaos; he was sure that when next he looked Esther
+would no longer be there&ndash;&ndash;he dreaded having to raise
+his eyes.</p>
+<p>Esther stretched a timid hand to him; her voice shook
+as she said&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I thought ... I thought perhaps you&rsquo;d be
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span>
+glad to see me&ndash;&ndash;just ... just a little&ndash;&ndash;glad....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Glad!&rdquo; Micky echoed the word with almost a shout.
+He got up and went over to her; he looked down at her
+with an agony of doubt and fear in his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why have you come?&rdquo; he asked hoarsely. &ldquo;If this
+is only a joke&ndash;&ndash;if it&rsquo;s any nonsense of June&rsquo;s ...
+by God, it&rsquo;s the cruellest joke you could have played on
+me.... I&ndash;&ndash;I....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Esther covered her face with her hands.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s all you&rsquo;ve got to say to me,&rdquo; she began
+tremblingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He drew her hands down; he forced her to look at
+him; for a long moment his eyes searched her face disbelievingly,
+not daring to hope....</p>
+<p>Her cheeks flamed, but she met his eyes bravely.</p>
+<p>Micky drew a long breath; he passed a hand across
+his eyes as if to waken himself.</p>
+<p>Then all at once he seemed to realise that this was
+in very truth the woman he wanted sitting beside him;
+that she was here and for his sake; that he was alone
+and unhappy no longer; and that after all the weeks of
+hunger and restlessness he had got his heart&rsquo;s desire.</p>
+<p>He looked down at her tremulous face with eyes of
+passionate tenderness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is this my wife?&rdquo; he asked hoarsely, and Esther answered&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you still want me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Want you!&rdquo; Micky caught her to him. &ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t I
+always wanted you?...&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Fortunately the train was not very full, and the corridor
+immediately outside their carriage was deserted,
+or somebody might have had a very interesting demonstration
+of how to kiss a woman who had refused for
+months to be kissed.</p>
+<p>Micky was like a boy in his happiness. He looked
+years younger than the gloomy man who had dismissed
+Driver ten minutes since. He could not take his eyes
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span>
+from Esther&ndash;&ndash;he could not believe in his own happiness
+even while he was engulfed in it. His arm was round
+her, regardless of chance wanderers in the corridor&ndash;&ndash;he
+held her hand to his lips and kissed it passionately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What have you done with ... that other ring
+you used to wear?&rdquo; he asked jealously.</p>
+<p>She turned her face away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I threw it out of the window when we came back
+from Paris,&rdquo; she told him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give you another. I&rsquo;m going to give you everything
+you want now.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been too good to me already,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I
+can never repay you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve given me yourself. There is nothing else in
+the world that I want.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He laughed happily.</p>
+<p>He bent his head towards her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Esther ... when did you ... when did
+you first ... think that you liked me ... just
+a little?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her head dropped; he could not see her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; she said in a whisper.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In Paris,&rdquo; he urged, &ldquo;or before? Tell me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think it was in Paris&ndash;&ndash;after ... after I saw
+... Raymond! You were so kind ... so different.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He laughed ruefully.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was nearer hating you then than ever in my life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He saw the colour creep into her face. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve told
+me ever so many times that you hated me,&rdquo; he went on
+quickly, &ldquo;but you never told me that you ... loved
+me, Esther!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He waited, but she did not look at him.</p>
+<p>Then suddenly she took his hand in both of hers; she
+bent her head and kissed it with a sort of passionate
+gratitude that brought a mist to Micky&rsquo;s eyes. He seemed
+to see her all at once as he had first seen her that New
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span>
+Year&rsquo;s Eve; alone, unhappy&ndash;&ndash;with nobody to care what
+she did, or what became of her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re so much, much too good for me,&rdquo; she said
+brokenly. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve done everything for me, and I&rsquo;ve
+done nothing for you&ndash;&ndash;I haven&rsquo;t even been ... nice!
+I can&rsquo;t tell you what I feel about it all&ndash;&ndash;I only know
+that&ndash;&ndash;just lately&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ve&ndash;&ndash;you&rsquo;ve made everything seem
+so different&ndash;&ndash;since you wrote me that letter&ndash;&ndash;it makes
+me feel in my heart that it&rsquo;s always really been you&ndash;&ndash;always
+you, and never ... never any one else.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Darling,&rdquo; said Micky huskily. &ldquo;And perhaps&ndash;&ndash;some
+day&ndash;&ndash;do you ... do you ... think ...
+you could ever care for me more than ... than you
+cared for ... that other fellow, confound him!&rdquo; he
+added fiercely.</p>
+<p>She looked up at him and smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think,&rdquo; she said slowly, &ldquo;that I only ... only
+really began to care for&ndash;&ndash;him&ndash;&ndash;when he went away&ndash;&ndash;and
+when those letters began to come; and so you see&ndash;&ndash;it
+was always you, because it was you who wrote them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was a rotten thing to do, but I wanted to help you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You did help me ... and&ndash;&ndash;Micky....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Darling....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My fur coat ... can I&ndash;&ndash;will you give it back
+to me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give you everything in the world if you&rsquo;ll say you
+love me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do&ndash;&ndash;I....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Say it then,&rdquo; he urged gently.</p>
+<p>For a moment she did not answer; she was still a
+little afraid of him; she still felt something of pride and
+constraint between them; though she knew it was for her
+to sweep away the last barrier.</p>
+<p>She looked up at him, the sensitive colour rushing to
+her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I love you,&rdquo; she said softly. &ldquo;Oh, Micky, some one
+will see&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span></div>
+<p>But Micky only laughed.</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>The train was running on to Dover Harbour before
+Micky realised it; he looked at Esther with pretended dismay
+in his happy eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And pray, what am I to do with you, madame? Do
+you realise that I&rsquo;m going to Paris?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo; She laughed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going there too&ndash;&ndash;of
+course, if you&rsquo;d like to travel in a different train to
+me....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was a very different Esther from the pale, frightened-looking
+girl who had said good-bye to June at Victoria.
+Her eyes were dancing now, and her face was
+radiant. Micky regarded her with proud satisfaction.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You look years younger and prettier already,&rdquo; he
+said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s after only an hour or two of my wonderful
+society; so what you&rsquo;ll look like when we&rsquo;ve been
+married for years and years....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stopped, and a sudden emotion filled his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What shall we do, love of mine?&rdquo; he asked tenderly,
+&ldquo;Shall we go on, or shall we go back?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind&ndash;&ndash;either way, I&rsquo;m afraid you&rsquo;ll have to
+pay for me,&rdquo; she told him saucily. &ldquo;June rushed me
+off so, I forgot my purse&ndash;&ndash;Mr. Rochester got me a ticket,
+but....&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll go on,&rdquo; said Micky hurriedly. The train was
+almost at a standstill. &ldquo;You said you hated Paris&ndash;&ndash;but
+you won&rsquo;t hate it with me. We&rsquo;ll get married as soon
+as we get there&ndash;&ndash;I&rsquo;ll take you everywhere.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her eyes fell.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t any nice clothes&ndash;&ndash;I only brought a small
+case; I never thought you ... you....&rdquo; She
+stopped, stammering.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Paris is full of clothes,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll stay
+just long enough to buy what you want, and then we&rsquo;ll
+<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span>
+go south. Esther, you&rsquo;ve never seen the south of France
+in springtime, have you? I&rsquo;ll take you there for our
+honeymoon.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She drew back a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But, Micky&ndash;&ndash;there&rsquo;s June&ndash;&ndash;what will she say&ndash;&ndash;what
+will she think?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll think that you&rsquo;ve behaved sensibly&ndash;&ndash;at last!&rdquo;
+he answered audaciously. &ldquo;June knew she wouldn&rsquo;t
+see either of us again for some time when we left her at
+Victoria&ndash;&ndash;June is a most discerning woman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a dear,&rdquo; said Esther warmly. &ldquo;I owe all my
+happiness to her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky pretended to look offended.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was under the delusion that you owed it to me,&rdquo;
+he said with dignity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To you!&rdquo; Her face changed wonderfully; she bent
+her head and kissed the sleeve of his coat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t talk about what I owe you&ndash;&ndash;it&rsquo;s just&ndash;&ndash;everything!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Micky drew himself up a dignified inch.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m beginning to think I&rsquo;m a very wonderful man,
+do you know?&rdquo; he said, addressing some imaginary person.</p>
+<p>Driver appeared at the door. He hesitated for just
+the faintest possible moment when he saw Esther, but
+his face was as stolid as ever.</p>
+<p>Micky rose to the occasion, though he turned rather
+red.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Driver,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;let me introduce you to my
+wife&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Driver touched a respectful forelock; if he felt surprise
+he did not show it.</p>
+<p>He took Esther&rsquo;s suit-case down from the rack.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Was you&ndash;&ndash;was you wanting to send a wire, sir?&rdquo;
+he asked stolidly.</p>
+<p>Micky looked at the girl beside him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Send June one from Paris,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know
+what she&rsquo;ll say&ndash;&ndash;&ndash;&rdquo;</p>
+<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span></div>
+<p>But June might have been expecting the wire, judging
+from the calm way in which she received it; she showed
+it to Rochester as if it were nothing out of the way;
+she looked over his shoulder as he read it.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Married in Paris this morning. Love from Mr. and Mrs.
+Micky.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>She laughed and met Rochester&rsquo;s eyes; there seemed
+to be an inquiry in his. June hesitated a moment, then
+she nodded.</p>
+<p>And forty-eight hours later Micky and Esther read her
+reply just as they were leaving for the flower-fields of
+France&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Married in London this morning&ndash;&ndash;June and George.&rdquo;</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>&ldquo;Some people have no originality,&rdquo; Micky complained
+in pretended disgust.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But if they&rsquo;re half as happy as <i>we</i> are,&rdquo; Esther said
+shyly.</p>
+<p>Micky looked scornfully sceptical.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh well! if you&rsquo;re going to expect the impossible....&rdquo;
+he submitted.</p>
+<p style='font-variant:small-caps;text-align:center; margin-top:2em;'>The End</p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><i>&ldquo;The Books You Like to Read<br />
+at the Price You Like to Pay</i>&rdquo;<br />
+<br />
+<span style='font-style:italic;font-size:1.4em;'>There Are Two Sides<br />
+to Everything</span>&ndash;&ndash;</p>
+<p>&ndash;&ndash;including the wrapper which covers
+every Grosset &amp; Dunlap book. When
+you feel in the mood for a good romance,
+refer to the carefully selected list
+of modern fiction comprising most of
+the successes by prominent writers of
+the day which is printed on the back of
+every Grosset &amp; Dunlap book wrapper.</p>
+<p>You will find more than five hundred
+titles to choose from&ndash;&ndash;books for every
+mood and every taste and every pocket-book.</p>
+<p><i>Don&rsquo;t forget the other side, but in case
+the wrapper is lost, write to the publishers
+for a complete catalog</i>.</p>
+<p class='center'><i>There is a Grosset &amp; Dunlap Book<br />
+for every mood and for every taste</i></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>B. M. BOWER&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>CASEY RYAN</p>
+<p>CHIP OF THE FLYING U</p>
+<p>COW-COUNTRY</p>
+<p>FLYING U RANCH</p>
+<p>FLYING U&rsquo;S LAST STAND, THE</p>
+<p>GOOD INDIAN</p>
+<p>GRINGOS, THE</p>
+<p>HAPPY FAMILY, THE</p>
+<p>HER PRAIRIE KNIGHT</p>
+<p>HERITAGE OF THE SIOUX, THE</p>
+<p>LONG SHADOW, THE</p>
+<p>LONESOME TRAIL, THE</p>
+<p>LOOKOUT MAN, THE</p>
+<p>LURE OF THE DIM TRAILS, THE</p>
+<p>PHANTOM HERD, THE</p>
+<p>QUIRT, THE</p>
+<p>RANGE DWELLERS, THE</p>
+<p>RIM O&rsquo; THE WORLD</p>
+<p>SKYRIDER</p>
+<p>STARR OF THE DESERT</p>
+<p>THUNDER BIRD, THE</p>
+<p>TRAIL OF THE WHITE MULE, THE</p>
+<p>UPHILL CLIMB, THE</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>ZANE GREY&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>TO THE LAST MAN</p>
+<p>THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER</p>
+<p>THE MAN OF THE FOREST</p>
+<p>THE DESERT OF WHEAT</p>
+<p>THE U. P. TRAIL</p>
+<p>WILDFIRE</p>
+<p>THE BORDER LEGION</p>
+<p>THE RAINBOW TRAIL</p>
+<p>THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT</p>
+<p>RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE</p>
+<p>THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS</p>
+<p>THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN</p>
+<p>THE LONE STAR RANGER</p>
+<p>DESERT GOLD</p>
+<p>BETTY ZANE</p>
+<hr class='tb' />
+<p>LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS</p>
+<p>The life story of &ldquo;Buffalo Bill&rdquo; by his sister Helen Cody
+Wetmore, with Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>ZANE GREY&rsquo;S BOOKS FOR BOYS</span></p>
+<p>KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE</p>
+<p>THE YOUNG LION HUNTER</p>
+<p>THE YOUNG FORESTER</p>
+<p>THE YOUNG PITCHER</p>
+<p>THE SHORT STOP</p>
+<p>THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>ETHEL M. DELL&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>THE LAMP IN THE DESERT</p>
+<p>The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and
+tells of the lamp of love that continues to shine through
+all sorts of tribulations to final happiness.</p>
+<p>GREATHEART</p>
+<p>The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals
+a noble soul.</p>
+<p>THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE</p>
+<p>A hero who worked to win even when there was only
+&ldquo;a hundredth chance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>THE SWINDLER</p>
+<p>The story of a &ldquo;bad man&rsquo;s&rdquo; soul revealed by a
+woman&rsquo;s faith.</p>
+<p>THE TIDAL WAVE</p>
+<p>Tales of love and of women who learned to know the
+true from the false.</p>
+<p>THE SAFETY CURTAIN</p>
+<p>A very vivid love story of India. The volume also
+contains four other long stories of equal interest.</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.4em;'>&ldquo;STORM COUNTRY&rdquo; BOOKS BY</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style='font-size:1.8em;'>GRACE MILLER WHITE</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>JUDY OF ROGUES&rsquo; HARBOR</p>
+<p>Judy&rsquo;s untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things,
+her faith in life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess.
+Her faith and sincerity catch at your heart strings. This
+book has all of the mystery and tense action of the other
+Storm Country books.</p>
+<p>TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY</p>
+<p>It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary
+Pickford made her reputation as a motion picture actress.
+How love acts upon a temperament such as hers&ndash;&ndash;a temperament
+that makes a woman an angel or an outcast, according
+to the character of the man she loves&ndash;&ndash;is the
+theme of the story.</p>
+<p>THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY</p>
+<p>The sequel to &ldquo;Tess of the Storm Country,&rdquo; with the
+same wild background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters&ndash;&ndash;tempestuous,
+passionate, brooding. Tess learns the
+&ldquo;secret&rdquo; of her birth and finds happiness and love through
+her boundless faith in life.</p>
+<p>FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING</p>
+<p>A haunting story with its scene laid near the country
+familiar to readers of &ldquo;Tess of the Storm Country.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>ROSE O&rsquo; PARADISE</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Jinny&rdquo; Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate
+yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe
+Grandoken, a crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her
+romance is full of power and glory and tenderness.</p>
+<p class='center'><i>Ask for Complete free list of G. &amp; D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction</i><br />
+<br />
+<span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.4em;'>THE NOVELS OF</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style='font-size:1.8em;'>MARY ROBERTS RINEHART</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>DANGEROUS DAYS.</p>
+<p>A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and
+stirring appeal.</p>
+<p>THE AMAZING INTERLUDE.</p>
+<p>Illustrations by The Kinneys.</p>
+<p>The story of a great love which cannot be pictured&ndash;&ndash;an interlude&ndash;&ndash;amazing,
+romantic.</p>
+<p>LOVE STORIES.</p>
+<p>This book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love
+affairs&ndash;&ndash;sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;K.&rdquo; Illustrated.</p>
+<p>K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where
+beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse.
+The joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and
+sympathetic appreciation.</p>
+<p>THE MAN IN LOWER TEN.</p>
+<p>Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.</p>
+<p>An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death
+of the &ldquo;Man in Lower Ten.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>WHEN A MAN MARRIES.</p>
+<p>Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.</p>
+<p>A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that
+his aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the
+family income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the
+young man met the situation is entertainingly told.</p>
+<p>THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph.</p>
+<p>The occupants of &ldquo;Sunnyside&rdquo; find the dead body of Arnold
+Armstrong on the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank
+failure is announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of
+absorbing interest.</p>
+<p>THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.)</p>
+<p>Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly
+realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young
+ambitious doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together
+with world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their
+love and slender means.</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>RUBY M. AYRE&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>RICHARD CHATTERTON</p>
+<p>A fascinating story in which love and jealousy play
+strange tricks with women&rsquo;s souls.</p>
+<p>A BACHELOR HUSBAND</p>
+<p>Can a woman love two men at the same time?</p>
+<p>In its solving of this particular variety of triangle &ldquo;A
+Bachelor Husband&rdquo; will particularly interest, and strangely
+enough, without one shock to the most conventional minded.</p>
+<p>THE SCAR</p>
+<p>With fine comprehension and insight the author shows a
+terrific contrast between the woman whose love was of the
+flesh and one whose love was of the spirit.</p>
+<p>THE MARRIAGE OF BARRY WICKLOW</p>
+<p>Here is a man and woman who, marrying for love, yet try
+to build their wedded life upon a gospel of hate for each
+other and yet win back to a greater love for each other in
+the end.</p>
+<p>THE UPHILL ROAD</p>
+<p>The heroine of this story was a consort of thieves. The
+man was fine, clean, fresh from the West. It is a story of
+strength and passion.</p>
+<p>WINDS OF THE WORLD</p>
+<p>Jill, a poor little typist, marries the great Henry Sturgess
+and inherits millions, but not happiness. Then at last&ndash;&ndash;but
+we must leave that to Ruby M. Ayres to tell you as only
+she can.</p>
+<p>THE SECOND HONEYMOON</p>
+<p>In this story the author has produced a book which no
+one who has loved or hopes to love can afford to miss.
+The story fairly leaps from climax to climax.</p>
+<p>THE PHANTOM LOVER</p>
+<p>Have you not often heard of someone being in love with
+love rather than the person they believed the object of their
+affections? That was Esther! But she passes through the
+crisis into a deep and profound love.</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+<hr class='pb' />
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.8em;'>JACKSON GREGORY&rsquo;S NOVELS</span><br />
+<br />
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap&rsquo;s list</p>
+<p>THE EVERLASTING WHISPER</p>
+<p>The story of a strong man&rsquo;s struggle against savage nature and humanity,
+and of a beautiful girl&rsquo;s regeneration from a spoiled child of wealth into
+a courageous strong-willed woman.</p>
+<p>DESERT VALLEY</p>
+<p>A college professor sets out with his daughter to find gold. They meet
+a rancher who loses his heart, and become involved in a feud. An intensely
+exciting story.</p>
+<p>MAN TO MAN</p>
+<p>Encircled with enemies, distrusted, Steve defends his rights. How he
+won his game and the girl he loved is the story filled with breathless
+situations.</p>
+<p>THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN</p>
+<p>Dr. Virginia Page is forced to go with the sheriff on a night journey
+into the strongholds of a lawless band. Thrills and excitement sweep the
+reader along to the end.</p>
+<p>JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCH</p>
+<p>Judith Sanford part owner of a cattle ranch realizes she is being robbed
+by her foreman. How, with the help of Bud Lee, she checkmates Trevor&rsquo;s
+scheme makes fascinating reading.</p>
+<p>THE SHORT CUT</p>
+<p>Wayne is suspected of killing his brother after a violent quarrel. Financial
+complications, villains, a horse-race and beautiful Wanda, all go to make
+up a thrilling romance.</p>
+<p>THE JOYOUS TROUBLE MAKER</p>
+<p>A reporter sets up housekeeping close to Beatrice&rsquo;s Ranch much to her
+chagrin. There is &ldquo;another man&rdquo; who complicates matters, but all turns
+out as it should in this tale of romance and adventure.</p>
+<p>SIX FEET FOUR</p>
+<p>Beatrice Waverly is robbed of $5,000 and suspicion fastens upon Buck
+Thornton, but she soon realizes he is not guilty. Intensely exciting, here is a
+real story of the Great Far West.</p>
+<p>WOLF BREED</p>
+<p>No Luck Drennan had grown hard through loss of faith in men he had
+trusted. A woman hater and sharp of tongue, he finds a match in Ygerne
+whose clever fencing wins the admiration and love of the &ldquo;Lone Wolf.&rdquo;</p>
+<p class='center'><span style='font-size:1.00em;'><span class='smcap'>Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></span></p>
+
+<!-- generated by ppg.rb version: 3.17 -->
+<!-- timestamp: Mon Oct 19 02:43:19 -0600 2009 -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom Lover, by Ruby M. Ayres
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM LOVER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 30286-h.htm or 30286-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom Lover, by Ruby M. Ayres
+
+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: The Phantom Lover
+
+Author: Ruby M. Ayres
+
+Release Date: October 19, 2009 [EBook #30286]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM LOVER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+BY
+
+RUBY M. AYRES
+
+AUTHOR OF A BACHELOR HUSBAND, THE SCAR, ETC.
+
+NEW YORK
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+Made in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1921, BY W. J. WATT & COMPANY
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATED
+
+TO MY FRIEND
+
+Janet Moore
+
+THE REAL 'JUNE MASON'
+
+IN THIS STORY
+
+
+
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Somewhere out in the night a woman was crying, crying desolately. The
+sad, rather monotonous sound broke the silence of the street and
+floated through the open window of a room where Micky Mellowes was
+wondering how the deuce he should get through the long evening lying
+before him.
+
+Micky was in a bad temper. It was not often that he was in a bad
+temper, but he had begun the day by waking with a headache, which was
+still with him, and which accounted for the wide open window and the
+breath of icy air which was filling the room and fluttering the
+curtains; and half an hour ago some people with whom he had been going
+to dine had rung up and told him that the party was off owing to the
+sudden death of a relative, thereby leaving the evening long and empty
+on his hands.
+
+It was New Year's Eve, too, which made matters a thundering sight
+worse.
+
+He wondered if Marie Deland was feeling as sick about it as he was.
+Micky was in the middle of an interesting flirtation with Marie, which
+bade fair to develop into something deeper with careful engineering on
+the part of her family, for Micky was a catch, and though so far he
+had proved himself singularly adroit in avoiding mothers with
+marriageable daughters, the Delands were beginning to pat each other
+on the back and to look pleased.
+
+When the sound of crying reached him he had been feeling so thoroughly
+fed-up with life that it had seemed impossible for anything ever to
+interest him again; but now he climbed out of his chair with a faint
+show of energy and strolled over to the window.
+
+It was a cold, clear night, with myriads of stars in the dark sky that
+seemed to shed a faintly luminous light to earth, bright enough at all
+events for Micky to distinguish the figure of a girl walking slowly
+along the pathway below.
+
+She was walking so slowly and dispiritedly that a sort of vague
+curiosity stirred in Micky's heart; here, at least, was some one even
+more fed-up with life than he himself, and with a sudden impulse he
+turned from the window, and, snatching up a hat and coat which he had
+thrown down when he came in an hour earlier, made for the stairs.
+
+He was half-way down when an apologetic cough at his elbow arrested
+him; he stopped and turned.
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"If you please, sir, Mr. Ashton has just sent round to ask if you
+could make it convenient to be in at ten o'clock this evening, as he
+wants to see you particularly."
+
+Micky looked surprised; Ashton had been very particularly engaged for
+that evening, he knew. Evidently something had happened to upset his
+plans as well.
+
+"Ten o'clock? All right; I dare say I shall be in."
+
+He went on down the stairs.
+
+Out on the path he paused and looked up and down the street.
+
+The impulse that had sent him out had died away; it was beastly cold,
+and much more comfortable by the fire. He hesitated, and in that
+moment he saw the figure of the girl again.
+
+She had stopped now in the light of a street lamp, and seemed to be
+looking at something she carried in her arms--a child! Surely not a
+child!
+
+Micky's curiosity was aroused. He buttoned the collar of his coat more
+closely round his chin and went on.
+
+The girl had moved too, almost as if she felt instinctively that she
+was being followed, and as Micky drew abreast with her she shrank a
+little to one side as if afraid.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Micky bluntly.
+
+They were some few yards from the lamp now. But, as she turned to look
+up at him with startled eyes, its yellow light fell on her face; and
+Micky saw with amazement that she was quite young and exceedingly
+pretty, in spite of the distress in her eyes, and the tears that were
+still wet on her cheeks.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked again, more gently, and waited for the
+pathetically shaken denial which he felt sure would come.
+
+"Nothing--nothing at all."
+
+"Nothing!" There was a note of exasperation in his voice. "You were
+crying--I heard you, and people don't walk about the streets at this
+time of night and cry if there's nothing the matter. If that's a baby
+you've got with you, you ought to know better than to----" He broke
+off. She was laughing, a weak, uncertain little laugh.
+
+"A baby!" she said tremulously. "It isn't a baby; it's a cat."
+
+"A cat!" Micky's voice was full of disgust. He looked down at her from
+his superior height with sudden suspicion. If this was just a hoax?
+
+"Well, what's the matter anyway?" he asked again.
+
+She looked away from him without answering.
+
+Micky began to feel a bit of a fool; he wished he had not yielded to
+the impulse to follow her. After all, it was no business of his if a
+stranger chose to walk about his road and weep; he looked at her
+impatiently.
+
+Her hair beneath its not very smart hat shone golden in the lamplight,
+and the little oval of cheek and rounded chin which was all he could
+see of her averted face somehow touched a forgotten chord in his heart
+and made him think of his boyhood and the girl-mother who had not
+lived long enough to be more than a memory....
+
+"Don't think I'm interfering or trying to annoy you," he said again.
+"But if there is anything I can do to help you...."
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"There isn't anything.... I ought to have known better than to let you
+hear that I was crying ... there's nothing the matter, I----" Then
+quite suddenly she broke down again into bitter sobbing. "Oh, I'm so
+miserable--so utterly miserable--I wish I were dead!"
+
+Micky was appalled; he had heard women say that sort of thing before,
+and had said it himself scores of times, but never with that note of
+tragedy which he heard in this girl's voice.
+
+Ten minutes ago he had considered himself the most miserable of
+mortals because he had been let down over a dinner; he was ashamed of
+his temper now as he stood there in the starlight and listened to this
+girl's sobbing.
+
+"Look here," he said after a moment, "you'll never feel any better if
+you stay out here in the cold. I don't suppose you've had a
+respectable meal for hours either--I know what women are. Where do you
+live? You'll soon feel better when you get beside a fire and have
+something to eat."
+
+"I'm not going home any more," she said.
+
+She spoke quite quietly, but with a sort of despair which there was no
+mistaking.
+
+Micky was a rapid thinker. He had clean forgotten his headache. This
+was adventure with a capital letter. There was still something of
+romance in the world which his jaded palate had not yet tasted.
+
+"I'm sure you're tired," he said gently, "and probably fed-up. So am
+I. I was just wondering what in the world to do with myself when I
+heard you crying. It made me feel a sort of kinship with you--it did,
+upon my word. If I'd been a woman I dare say I should have been
+howling like anything. Will you come along with me and let me give you
+some supper? I'm hungry too...."
+
+She shrank back from him with a little gesture of fear.
+
+"Oh no--please let me go!..."
+
+She tried to pass him, but Micky barred the way.
+
+"You can't walk about the streets all night," he said determinedly.
+"The cat will hate it anyway, even if you don't mind." There was a
+hint of laughter in his voice, though he had never felt more serious
+in all his life. "And if you don't want me to take pity on you, you
+might at least take pity on me ... please don't think I'm a bounder
+trying to annoy you or anything like that ... perhaps I want a friend
+just as badly as you do...." He stopped, aghast at his own temerity.
+
+"If you do," she said tremulously, "I am more sorry for you than I can
+say."
+
+"I'm glad you said that," Micky answered, "because now you'll come
+along and have that supper with me. There's a little cafe quite near
+here that I know. If we are both miserable, we can at least be
+miserable together."
+
+Something told him that this girl was at the end of her tether; that
+she was desperate, and his first casual curiosity concerning her
+deepened in the most surprising fashion.
+
+He felt in some inexplicable way that a curtain had been lifted from a
+phase of life hitherto hidden from him; as if he were standing on the
+threshold of a new world, where women only weep for something real and
+tragic, not just butterfly tears of petulance like the women of his
+own class.
+
+The girl was silent for a moment; then suddenly she laughed, a hard
+little laugh of recklessness.
+
+"Very well," she said. "I suppose I may as well."
+
+Micky was infinitely relieved; somehow he had not really thought that
+she would allow him to accompany her.
+
+They walked along for a few steps in silence. Once or twice the cat,
+tucked under the girl's arm, gave a faint mieow of protest, and Micky
+smiled to himself in the darkness.
+
+It was the cat that seemed to give such a real touch of pathos to the
+whole adventure, he thought, and wondered why. He looked down at her
+deprecatingly.
+
+"Let me carry it," he suggested.
+
+"Carry it?" she echoed. "What do you mean?--Oh, the cat; no, thank
+you. He wouldn't like it: he hates strangers."
+
+"Oh!" said Micky. He felt chagrined. "Is it a great pet?" he asked.
+
+"Yes." She hunched her queer burden more closely under her arm. "It
+isn't really mine," she explained. "But they were so unkind to it in
+the house that I had to bring it."
+
+Micky was dying to ask questions, but somehow it hardly seemed a
+propitious moment. He did not speak again till they reached the little
+cafe.
+
+It was a quiet little downstairs place, and just now was almost
+deserted.
+
+Micky chose a corner table which was partially screened from the rest
+of the room. As he stood up to take off his coat he looked at the girl
+interestedly.
+
+She was better than pretty, he decided with a little pleasurable
+thrill; he could not remember when he had seen a face that appealed to
+him so strongly in spite of its pathos and the tear stains round her
+eyes.
+
+And such sweet eyes they were!--really grey with dark lashes and
+daintily pencilled brows. She looked up suddenly, meeting his earnest
+regard.
+
+"Well?" she said. There was a touch of defiance in her voice; the
+colour had risen in her white cheeks.
+
+"Well?" said Micky with a friendly smile.
+
+He sat down opposite to her; he was thanking his lucky stars that the
+Delands' message had reached him before he changed into evening
+clothes; somehow as he looked at this girl he felt slightly ashamed of
+his own lazy, luxurious life and the banking account which, like the
+cruse of oil, never failed. That this girl had no surplus of this
+world's goods he was certain, though she was neatly dressed and was
+unmistakably a lady. Her gloves were worn and had been carefully
+mended, and her coat looked far too thin for such a cold night.
+
+"Well, what are we going to have?" he asked. It was surprising how
+cheerful he felt. "And what about that wonderful cat of yours? By the
+way, hasn't it got a name?"
+
+She smiled faintly.
+
+"I call him Charlie," she said.
+
+"Charlie!" Micky's eyes twinkled. "Well, it's original, anyway," he
+said with a chuckle. "And Charlie must have some milk, I suppose. I
+say, he's a bit thin, isn't he?" he asked dubiously.
+
+She had taken off the shawl which had been wrapped about it, and the
+poor animal sat on her lap blinking in the light, a forlorn enough
+specimen, with a long tail and fierce eyes.
+
+The girl stroked its head.
+
+"He's been half starved," she said. "You'd be thin if you hadn't had
+any more to eat than he's had."
+
+"I'm sure I should," said Micky humbly. He thought guiltily of the
+waste which he knew went on in his own establishment; it was odd that
+it had never struck him before that there must be many people in the
+world, not to mention cats, who would be glad enough of the waste from
+his table.
+
+He picked up the menu to hide his discomfort. When the waiter came he
+ordered the best dinner the restaurant served. He was conscious that
+the girl was watching him anxiously. When the waiter had gone, she
+said, "I can't afford to have a dinner like that."
+
+Micky flushed crimson.
+
+"I thought you were dining with me," he stammered. "I--I hope you
+will--I shall be only too honoured...."
+
+Her grey eyes met his anxiously.
+
+"I've never done a thing like this before," she said in distress. "I
+don't know what you are thinking of me ... but ... well, I suppose I
+was just desperate...." She broke off biting her lip, then she rushed
+on again. "I don't suppose you'll ever see me any more, so it doesn't
+really matter much, but...."
+
+"I hope to see you again, many times," said Micky, with an earnestness
+that surprised himself.
+
+She looked away, and her face hardened.
+
+"I suppose men are all the same," she said, after a moment.
+"However...." she shrugged her shoulders with a sort of recklessness
+that made Micky frown. She leaned back in her chair with sudden
+weariness. "It's very kind of you," she said disinterestedly.
+
+"It's not kind at all," he hastened to assure her. "I'm much more
+pleased to be with you than you are to be with me. If it hadn't been
+for you I should have spent this evening alone--New Year's Eve, too,"
+he added, with a sort of chagrin and a sudden memory of Marie Deland.
+
+"New Year's Eve!" she echoed. She closed her eyes for a moment, and
+Micky had an uncomfortable sort of feeling that she was looking back
+on the year that was dying and could see nothing pleasant in the whole
+of the twelve months. Presently she opened them again with a little
+sigh. "Well, I don't want another year like the last one," she said.
+
+"You won't have," he told her promptly. "I've got a sort of feeling
+that there are lots of good things coming along for you. The luck has
+to change some time or other, and if you've had a rotten time in the
+past you won't have it in the future."
+
+"I don't believe in luck," she said.
+
+"Don't you? I do," Micky declared. He hated the despondency in her
+face; he felt a strong desire to see her smiling and happy. He rattled
+on, talking any nonsense that came into his head.
+
+The waiter came down the room and set the dishes on the table. He gave
+a sort of supercilious sniff when Micky asked for a saucer of milk for
+the cat. He looked at Charlie with scorn--Charlie, curled up on the
+girl's lap now and purring lustily.
+
+"Of course, you know, we really ought to have a bottle of wine," Micky
+said dubiously. "Just something cheap, as it's New Year's Eve."
+
+He would like to have given her champagne, but dared not suggest it.
+He was quite sure that if she knew he was a rich man she would fly off
+at a tangent. He ordered an inexpensive bottle of red wine and filled
+her glass.
+
+"Well, here's luck to the New Year," he said sententiously. "And to
+our delightfully unexpected meeting," he added.
+
+She flushed up to her eyes.
+
+"Are you always as kind to people as you have been to me?" she asked
+tensely.
+
+Micky blushed.
+
+"Oh, I say!" he protested. "You don't call this being kind, do you? I
+assure you it's just pure selfishness. I should have spent my evening
+alone if we hadn't met--and I hate being alone; I bore myself stiff in
+five minutes. I'm just--honoured that you should have allowed me to
+eat my supper with you. If you knew how beastly fed-up I was feeling
+... the world seemed a positively loathsome place."
+
+She laughed; she leaned her elbows on the table and her chin in her
+hands, looking at him with thoughtful eyes.
+
+"Are you poor?" she asked with disarming frankness.
+
+"Poor as a church mouse," said Micky promptly. "At least"--he hastened
+to amend his words--"I'm one of those unfortunate beggars who spend
+money as fast as they get it. I've never saved a halfpenny in my
+life."
+
+This at least was the truth.
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Neither have I--I've never had one to save...."
+
+The despondency was back again in her voice; Micky broke in hastily--
+
+"Before we go any further I think we ought to know one another's
+names." He fumbled in a pocket for a card, but changed his mind
+quickly, remembering that his cards bore the address of the expensive
+flat which he honoured with his presence. "My name is Mellowes," he
+said. "I've got several Christian names as well, but people call me
+Micky...." He waited, looking at her expectantly. "Won't you tell me
+yours?" he asked.
+
+She was staring down at her plate. He could see the dark fringe of
+lashes against her cheeks. Suddenly she looked up.
+
+"Why do you want to know my name? We shall never meet again, I----"
+
+Micky leaned a little forward.
+
+"If we don't," he said quietly, "it will be the greatest disappointment
+I have ever had."
+
+She looked at him with a sort of fear.
+
+"You don't mean that," she said, with a catch in her voice. "You don't
+really mean that ... you're just one of those men who say things like
+that to every woman you----" She broke off, struck by the chagrin in
+Micky's face. "No--I oughtn't to have said that," she went on
+hurriedly. "I beg your pardon ... I ought not to have said it, and I
+will tell you my name if you really want to know. My name is
+Esther--Esther Shepstone."
+
+"Thank you!" said Micky. "And now we're going to drink to good
+resolutions for the New Year ... have you made one yet?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"What's the use? Besides ... I don't want to make any."
+
+"Very well, then, I'll make one for you." He refilled her glass and
+handed it to her. "Now say after me: 'I resolve that during the coming
+year I will be good friends with Micky Mellowes----' Oh, I say,
+don't--please don't...."
+
+She had dropped her face in her hands again, and Micky had a miserable
+conviction that she was crying.
+
+But he was wrong, for presently she looked up again, and her eyes were
+dry, though a little hard and bright.
+
+"I don't believe in a man's friendship for a woman," she said. "But
+I'll say it, if you like," and she took the glass from his hand.
+
+"And to-morrow," said Micky presently, "I'm going to take you out to
+tea or something--if I may," he added hurriedly.
+
+He waited, but she did not speak. "May I?" he asked.
+
+She was twisting the stem of her wineglass nervously; after a moment
+she began to speak jerkily.
+
+"When I came out to-night I didn't mean to go back any more," she
+said. Her voice was low and full of a weary bitterness. "I was so
+unhappy I didn't want to live." She caught her breath. "If it hadn't
+been for you"--she was looking at him now with shame in her eyes. "If
+it hadn't been for you I shouldn't have gone back--ever----" she
+added. "But now...."
+
+"But now," said Micky as she paused, "you're going back, and we're
+going to start the new year--friends, you and I! Is that a bargain?"
+he asked.
+
+"Yes...."
+
+Outside Micky hailed a taxicab.
+
+"You're much too tired to walk," he said when she protested. "And it
+will be a new experience for Charlie," he added with a twinkle.
+
+He put her into the cab, and stood for a moment at the door.
+
+"And the address?" he asked.
+
+She hesitated, looking away from him; then suddenly she told him.
+
+"It's Brixton Road--it's--it's a very horrid boarding-house," she
+added with a half-sigh.
+
+"Boarding-houses are all horrid," said Micky cheerily. "But I'll come
+down myself to-morrow and see how bad it really is."
+
+He tried to see her face.
+
+"Shall you be in if I come in the afternoon?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"About four, then," said Micky. He groped for her hand, found it, and
+pressed it. "Good-night," he said.
+
+"Good-night."
+
+And the next moment Micky was alone in the starlight.
+
+He stood looking after the taxi with a queer sense of unreality. Had
+he just dreamt it all, and was there really no such girl as Esther
+Shepstone? No Charlie? He shook himself together with a laugh. Of
+course it was real, all of it! He walked on soberly through the cold
+night.
+
+To-morrow he would go to the very horrid boarding-house in the Brixton
+Road and see her again.
+
+Esther! He liked her name; there was something quaint and old-world
+about it. It seemed impossible that they had only met a few hours
+ago.
+
+His headache had quite vanished. He was whistling a snatch of song
+when he let himself into the house and went upstairs.
+
+He opened the door of his sitting-room, and then stopped dead on the
+threshold. The lights were burning fully, and a man was ensconced in
+his favourite armchair by the fire--Ashton. Lord! he had forgotten all
+about Ashton.
+
+Micky looked guiltily at the clock--nearly eleven!--he began a
+half-apology.
+
+"Awfully sorry, old man--I was kept.... Been waiting long?"
+
+"I got here at ten."
+
+Ashton climbed out of the chair and looked at Micky with a sort of
+shamefacedness.
+
+"Don't take your coat off," he said suddenly. "I want you to come out
+again----"
+
+"Out! Now! Look at the time, man!"
+
+"I know--it's only eleven.... I'm catching the midnight to Dover...."
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Dover! What in the world...."
+
+Ashton turned round and looked down at the fire with a sort of
+embarrassment.
+
+"It's the mater," he said jerkily. "She's found out----"
+
+Micky looked puzzled.
+
+"Found out! What on earth...."
+
+Ashton made an impatient gesture. He was a good-looking man, with dark
+eyes that could look all manner of things without in the least meaning
+them.
+
+"About that girl at Eldred's," he said in a strangled voice. "You
+know! I told you about her. Lord, man, don't look so confoundedly
+ignorant! I told you about her," he broke off. "Well, some one's told
+the mater, and this morning...." he shrugged his shoulders. "There's
+been old Harry to pay! She told me if I didn't give her up she'd cut
+me out of her will. She would, too!" he added, in savage parenthesis.
+
+"Well! and what did you say?"
+
+Ashton looked round.
+
+"Hang it all! what could I say? Told her I would, of course."
+
+There was a sharp silence.
+
+"I thought you liked the girl," said Micky bluntly.
+
+The other man winced.
+
+"So I did--so I do.... It's a rotten shame. If you'd ever seen her ...
+you never have, have you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Neither has the mater.... Women are all the same; because the girl
+has to work for her living they think she isn't fit for me to
+marry.... It's all a lot of rot.... However--beggars can't be
+choosers--and so I'm off to-night."
+
+Micky looked at him keenly.
+
+"You mean that you're going without a word to the girl?"
+
+"What can I do?--I went and saw her this morning--we had a rotten
+scene. I meant to tell her it was all up, but somehow I couldn't; I'm
+too dashed fond of her, and that's the truth. I can't bear to see her
+cry--it makes me feel such a cur...."
+
+He waited a moment, but Micky made no comment.
+
+"So the only thing is to clear out," Ashton went on jerkily. "I can't
+afford to quarrel with the mater, you know that.... Perhaps some
+day...." He stopped. "After all, she can't live for ever," he added
+brutally.
+
+Micky said nothing.
+
+"So I'm off to-night," Ashton went on with an effort. "I wanted to see
+you--I knew I could trust you...." He fumbled in a pocket. "There's a
+letter here.... I've written--I couldn't see her again. I know I'm a
+coward, but ... well, there it is!"
+
+He threw the letter down on the table.
+
+"Will you go and see her, old chap, and give her that?" he asked with
+an effort. "Tell her I--oh, tell her what you like," he went on
+fiercely. "Tell her that if I could afford it...."
+
+He stopped again, and this time the silence was unbroken for some
+minutes.
+
+Then he roused himself and picked up his coat. "Well, I must be
+getting along. I left my baggage at the station."
+
+He looked at Micky. "I suppose you think I'm an infernal sweep, eh?"
+he asked curtly.
+
+"No," said Micky.
+
+He had always expected that Ashton's romance would end like this, and
+he felt vaguely sorry for the girl, though he had never seen her. She
+must have expected it, too, he thought. She must have known Ashton's
+position all along. He followed his friend out of the room.
+
+"You haven't told me her address," he said suddenly.
+
+He decided that it would be better to send the letter--he did not want
+to see her. He hated a scene as much as Ashton did.
+
+Ashton was at the top of the stairs.
+
+"It's on the letter. What have you done with it?"
+
+There was an irritable note in his voice. "Don't leave it lying there
+for that man of yours to see."
+
+Micky went back into the room. The letter lay on the table where
+Ashton had thrown it down.
+
+He picked it up, glancing casually at the written address as he did
+so. Then suddenly his tall figure stiffened, and a curiously blank
+look filled his eyes, for the name scribbled there in Ashton's writing
+was--
+
+"Miss Esther Shepstone," and, below it, the number of the very horrid
+boarding-house in the Brixton Road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Micky stood staring at the envelope in his hand. He felt as if
+something had happened to paralyse all power of action.
+
+Esther Shepstone and Ashton's girl from Eldred's were one and the
+same; that was all he could grasp, and it sounded absurd and
+impossible.
+
+He had heard so much of this girl--Ashton had talked about her times
+without number--Lallie he had called her; now he came to think of it,
+Micky could not remember having ever heard her spoken of by any other
+name; and Lallie and Esther Shepstone were one and the same.
+
+Was this, then, why she had cried, because of Ashton...?
+
+Ashton called to him impatiently from the stairs.
+
+"What the deuce are you doing? I shall miss my train."
+
+Micky roused himself with a start, and, dropping the letter into his
+pocket, went slowly out of the room; he felt as if he could not have
+hurried had his life depended upon it; there was an absurdly cold sort
+of feeling round his heart.
+
+It was ridiculous, of course; it was nothing to him if the girl with
+whom he had dined an hour ago loved Ashton; he had never seen her
+before. That sounded an absurd truth, too; it seemed impossible that
+until this evening he and she had never met.
+
+"For heaven's sake, hurry up, man," said Ashton again sharply.
+
+He was at the bottom of the stairs; the face he turned over his
+shoulder to Micky looked pale and harassed.
+
+Micky quickened his steps and joined his friend in the porch below;
+they stood together out on the path waiting for a taxicab.
+
+Micky glanced at Ashton with a curious sense of unreality; he felt as
+if he had never seen him before; it seemed impossible that this Ashton
+could know Esther--and Charlie!
+
+A taxicab drew up to the kerb; Ashton banged open the door and got in.
+Micky followed, and they drove some way in silence.
+
+"I'll take thundering good care I don't stay away long," Ashton said
+suddenly, with a sort of growl. "And if the mater thinks it will make
+me forget Lallie----"
+
+"I thought her name was Esther," said Micky quietly. He was looking
+out of the window into the starry night.
+
+"So it is--but I always call her Lallie." He looked at his friend with
+a sort of vague suspicion. "How do you know what her name is?" he
+asked.
+
+"I saw it on the letter you gave me."
+
+Ashton grunted.
+
+"I think it would be better if you posted it to her yourself and have
+done with it," Micky said with an effort. "I'm a rotten hand at this
+sort of thing. It can't do any good if I go and see her."
+
+"You said you would go--you might be a sport and stick to your word,"
+Ashton protested. "I'd do the same for you any day."
+
+Micky rather doubted it, but did not like to say so.
+
+"If you knew how sick I am about the whole business," Ashton went on
+jerkily. "You may not believe me, but I tell you, Micky, that I'd
+marry that girl to-morrow if only----"
+
+"If only--what?" Micky asked as he paused.
+
+"Oh, you know! What the dickens can I do without a bob to my name
+except what the mater chooses to dole out? I tell you," he went on
+with a sort of snarl, "it'll be very different when I get the money.
+Gad! if only I'd got it now!"
+
+"Money isn't everything," said Micky sententiously. "And if you like
+the girl, why not marry her and face it out?"
+
+Ashton gave a savage little laugh.
+
+"It's all very fine for you to say that money isn't everything--that's
+only because you've got it, and are never likely to be without it. You
+don't know what it feels like to be up to your eyes in debt and not
+knowing where to turn for a fiver. Bah! what's the good of talking?"
+He let down the window with a run, turning his face to the keen night
+air.
+
+They were nearing their destination, and there was still something he
+wanted to say to Micky which so far, he had been afraid to put into
+words.
+
+"Well, I suppose I shan't be seeing you again for a bit," he said,
+with rather a forced laugh. "You've been a good pal to me, Micky----"
+
+Micky said "Rot!" rather shortly; he frowned in the darkness; Ashton
+got on his nerves; he rather wished he had not come to see him off.
+
+"Oh, but you have--whether you like me to say so or not," the other
+man went on obstinately. "And--and there's one last thing I'm going to
+ask you before I go...."
+
+He waited, but Micky did not speak.
+
+The taxi was turning into the station yard now, moving slowly because
+of the congested traffic.
+
+"If you could give Lallie some money," Ashton went on with a rush.
+"I'd send her some, but I've only just got enough to get out of the
+way with. I'll pay you back as soon as the mater condescends to send
+me another cheque...."
+
+Micky's face felt hot.
+
+"Hasn't she--hasn't she got any, then?" he asked with an effort.
+
+"No--at least I promised her some when I saw her this morning.
+She--she's left Eldred's. You see"--he drew a hard breath--"you see, I
+hoped we'd be able to get married, and so--well, there was no sense in
+her staying on there. She was worked to death, poor kid."
+
+He glanced at Micky, but could not see his face.
+
+"You understand, don't you?" he said, encouraged by his silence. "She
+owes them a bit at the boarding-house where she is living. I promised
+to wipe it off for her, but the mater cutting up rough altered
+everything, and so ... if you could give her a little----"
+
+"I'll see to it," said Micky. He opened the door of the taxi and got
+out before it was at a standstill. He took off his hat and let the
+cold air play on his hot forehead. He could hardly trust himself to
+speak.
+
+He was thankful when Ashton went off to see to his luggage. He walked
+into the station and found himself aimlessly staring at a notice
+board. He could not remember when he had felt so furiously angry.
+
+Had Ashton changed? he was asking himself in bewilderment. Or was it
+merely that he had never seen the man he really was until to-night?
+
+He tried to remember what Ashton had told him about Esther Shepstone
+in the past. That she had been at Eldred's he knew, and that Eldred's
+was a place where women bought silk petticoats and things he also
+knew. He had heard Marie Deland and her friends talking about it lots
+of times. Marie had once invited him to accompany her there when they
+had been out together, but he had refused and had waited outside for
+her. Now he came to think of it, that was about all Ashton had ever
+told him of Esther Shepstone.
+
+He knew that Ashton had been seen about with her a great deal; knew
+that he had had to stand a lot of harmless chaff in consequence; he
+himself had joked about Ashton's "latest" as they had all called her:
+it seemed a memory to be ashamed of, when he thought of the way he had
+heard her sobbing in the street that night, of the distress in her
+eyes, of the hopeless way in which she had spoken.
+
+Ashton rejoined him.
+
+"Buck up! The train's in."
+
+They went along the platform, followed by a porter with Ashton's
+baggage. Micky looked at it resentfully; Ashton was evidently
+prepared to enjoy himself; this was no rush after mere solitude and
+forgetfulness.
+
+He stood stiffly at the carriage door while Ashton stowed his smaller
+traps on the rack. Presently he came to the window.
+
+"You'll do the best you can, won't you, old man?" There was a real
+anxiety in his eyes, but Micky was not looking at him; he answered
+stiffly--
+
+"Yes, I'll do what I can."
+
+"She'll soon get another job," Ashton went on, with forced confidence.
+"I'm sorry she left Eldred's, now it's come to this, but how was I to
+know?" he appealed to Micky, but he might as well have appealed to a
+brick wall for all response he got.
+
+"And when I come back----" he said again. "Tell her that when I come
+back many things may be all right again ... tell her that, will you?"
+
+"I'll tell her," said Micky stolidly.
+
+The guard was blowing his whistle now, doors were being shut.
+
+Micky roused himself and looked at his friend.
+
+"Are you--er--are you going to write to her?" he asked constrainedly.
+
+Ashton coloured.
+
+"No--it's better not--far better let the thing drop till I come back.
+I've explained it all in my letter--she'll understand. It's no use
+writing--don't you think it's better not----"
+
+Micky hunched his shoulders.
+
+"It's your affair," he said laconically.
+
+"Yes, well, I shan't write--I'll send you my address as soon as I know
+where I'm staying, and you can let me know what she said and how she
+takes it.... Oh, confound it!"
+
+A porter had come along and slammed the door; the train was slowly
+moving; Micky was vaguely glad that there had been no time in which to
+shake hands. A moment, and he was walking away alone down the
+platform.
+
+His hands were deep thrust in the pockets of his coat; he took no
+notice of anything; he walked on and out of the station.
+
+Well, this had been an eventful New Year's Eve with a vengeance; he
+glanced up at the clock in the dome behind him--only a quarter to
+twelve now, and yet so much had been crowded into the past four hours.
+Since the moment when the Delands rang up to cancel his engagement to
+dine he seemed to have stepped out of the old world into a new. He
+wondered what Esther Shepstone was doing in the very horrid
+boarding-house of which she had told him--if she was thinking of
+Ashton.
+
+What a cad the man was, what a cad!--he was amazed that he had not
+discovered it before--to clear off and leave a girl like this, without
+a word of farewell except the letter. He wondered if he meant to
+deliver it and admit that he knew Ashton, or if he meant just to stick
+a stamp on and post it to her.
+
+He realised that there was nothing very much to be proud of in an
+admission that he knew Ashton, and yet they had been friends for
+years.
+
+It was striking twelve when he got home; he stood for a moment on the
+doorstep, looking up at the starry sky.
+
+Several clocks were chiming midnight in the distance; he listened with
+a queer sense of fatalism.
+
+This was the strangest New Year's Eve he had ever spent in his life.
+At this hour last year he had been dancing the old year out, and
+to-night, had things gone as he had thought, he would have been
+somewhere with Marie Deland--he might even have proposed to her by
+this time. He smiled faintly, remembering that the intention had
+really been somewhere in the background of his mind; but that, too,
+had faded out now to give place to other, more important, factors.
+
+Nine, ten, eleven, twelve! He counted the strokes mechanically; there
+was a breathless pause, then the clash of bells.
+
+Some irrepressibles in a block of flats near by raised a cheer; the
+front door of a house opposite was open, and Micky caught a glimpse of
+a crowded hall and black-coated men and girls in pretty frocks.
+
+He felt strangely removed from all the noise and laughter; after a
+moment he turned and went up to his room.
+
+The fire had been carefully made up and his slippers and dressing-gown
+put to warm. Micky looked at them with a sort of disgust; it was
+sickening for a healthy grown man to be so pampered; he kicked the
+slippers into a corner and tossed the dressing-gown on to the couch.
+
+He wondered what sort of a room Esther Shepstone had in the very
+horrid boarding-house--what odd corner the thin black cat curled into
+to sleep.
+
+He took Ashton's letter from his pocket and stuck it up against the
+clock on the mantelshelf.
+
+"Miss Esther Shepstone...."
+
+It was fate, that's what it was! He wondered if she would ever have
+lived to get that letter had fate not thrown her across his path that
+night.
+
+She had been desperate--at the end of her tether, and all for the sake
+of that cad Ashton.
+
+He turned his back on the letter and lit a cigarette, but he let it go
+out almost at once, and turned back again to stare once more at the
+name scrawled on the envelope.
+
+What had Ashton written to her? It worried him because he did not
+know. Ashton had had other love-affairs--not quite such serious ones,
+perhaps, but still serious enough--and Micky knew that when he had
+wearied of them he had set about getting free of them by the shortest
+route, caring little if it were also a brutal one. He thought of the
+despair he had seen in Esther's face that evening; he dreaded that
+there might be something in Ashton's farewell letter that would plunge
+her back more deeply into her misery.
+
+Out in the night the bells were still ringing joyously.
+
+It was New Year's morning, and perhaps, if he sent that letter ... He
+stood quite still for a moment, staring at it; then suddenly he threw
+his cigarette into the fire and snatched the letter down from the
+shelf.
+
+He tore it open impulsively and drew out the enclosure. He unfolded it
+and began to read. The silence of the room was unbroken save for the
+little crisp sound as Micky turned the paper; then the letter
+fluttered to the rug at his feet and lay there, half-curled up, as if
+it were ashamed of the words it bore and wished to hide them.
+
+Micky raised his eyes and looked at his reflection in the glass above
+the mantelshelf. The pallor of his face surprised him, and the look of
+passionate anger in his eyes.
+
+He was a man of the world. He was no better and no worse than many of
+the men whom he knew and called his friends, but this letter, in its
+brutal callousness, seemed to shame his very manhood.
+
+He had liked Ashton, had been his constant companion for months, but
+he had never suspected him of being capable of this.
+
+He supposed he ought to be ashamed of having opened the letter, but he
+was not ashamed; he was glad that he had been able to spare the girl
+this last and hardest blow of all--the knowledge that the man whom she
+loved and trusted was unworthy.
+
+Presently he picked the letter up from the rug. He picked it up with
+the tips of his fingers, as if it were something repulsive to him, and
+threw it down on the table.
+
+The first few words stared up at him as it lay there.
+
+  "DEAR LALLIE,--By the time you get this letter I shall be out of
+  England, and I hope you won't make things worse for me than they
+  already are by trying to find out where I have gone or by writing
+  to my people and making a scene. The worst of these little
+  flirtations is that they always have to end, as this must, and you
+  must have known it."...
+
+Micky drew in his breath hard; not an hour ago in this very room
+Ashton had made out how cut-up he was at the turn his affairs had
+taken, and yet all the time he had written this letter.
+
+He flicked over a page and read on:--
+
+  "... I shall never forget you and the good times we've had
+  together. I should try and get back at Eldred's, if I were you.
+  It's a good thing we didn't get married as matters have turned
+  out, or the fat would have been in the fire with a vengeance. As
+  it is, I shall have all my work cut out to put the mater in a good
+  temper again. I am sending you some money by Mickey Mellowes; he's
+  a friend of mine and as rich as Croesus, and as selfish as the
+  devil. If he offers to take you out, let him, by all means. It
+  wouldn't be a bad thing if he took a fancy to you; he doesn't care
+  a hang for any one but himself. If only I'd got half his money ...
+  but what's the use of talking about it? Anyway, this is good-bye;
+  I shan't write again. Be a sensible girl, and try to see things
+  from my point of view. It would only have meant ruin for both of
+  us if I'd stuck to you. Good-bye; I send you my love for the last
+  time.
+
+                                                    RAYMOND ASHTON."
+
+And this from the man whom she loved; the man who had pretended to
+love her!
+
+Micky dragged forward a chair with his foot and sat down straddlewise.
+He leaned an elbow on the chair-back and ran his fingers through his
+hair with a sort of bewilderment.
+
+"He's as rich as Croesus and as selfish as the devil...."
+
+And this from Ashton, his friend--the man whom he had helped out of
+scrapes scores of times; the man to whom he had lent money without the
+least hope of its ever being returned; Micky felt as if he had a blow
+in the face.
+
+His thoughts were in a whirl; the whole world needed readjusting. Was
+he selfish? he asked himself in perplexity--if so, it was quite
+unconsciously, and anyway Ashton was the last person who should have
+made the accusation.
+
+"I am sending you some money by a friend of mine...."
+
+There was no hint that the money was first to be borrowed; he had
+evidently been sure of his prey; Micky swore under his breath.
+
+Of course, Ashton had not dreamed of the letter being opened, had not
+dreamed of anything but that his carefully-made plans would be
+minutely carried out and nothing more said.
+
+Micky sat for a long time, lost in thought; the hands of the clock
+crawled round to one and the chime struck; he looked up then, glancing
+at the clock vaguely.
+
+If he had not met Esther Shepstone there might have been no Esther in
+the world at all now; if he allowed that letter to reach its
+destination he would be plunging her back again into the abyss of
+despair from which he had dragged her only that evening. She loved
+Ashton; of that Micky was sure. Very well then, she should at least
+have some part of her ideal left to her.
+
+He went over to his desk and took up paper and pen; he spread Ashton's
+letter out before him and studied the writing carefully.
+
+Ordinary sort of writing, rather unformed and sprawly, but after a
+trial run Micky managed a very presentable copy of it.
+
+He sat back in his chair and eyed his handiwork with pride; he had
+missed his vocation, he told himself with a chuckle; he ought to have
+been a forger.
+
+Then he dipped the pen in the ink again and squared his elbows. He had
+never written a love-letter in his life, but he knew positively that
+he was about to write one now.
+
+He thought of Esther and the wistfulness of her grey eyes; she was the
+girl whom a man could love. He coloured a little as the thought
+involuntarily crossed his mind; she was a girl whom--he began to write
+rapidly.
+
+"My darling little girl----"
+
+Micky was naturally rather eloquent with his pen, though he had never
+before tried it in this especial direction.
+
+"This is the most difficult letter I have ever had to write in all my
+life; first, because I love you so much; and, secondly, because I am
+afraid it is going to hurt you nearly as much as it hurts me. Dear, as
+it will be some time before I see you again, and because I cannot
+explain everything to you, I am going to ask you to trust me till we
+meet again. I am leaving England to-night...."
+
+Micky paused and ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly before he
+struggled on once more: "I shall be thinking of you every minute till
+we meet again, and of the happy times we have had together. I will
+write to you whenever I can...." The pen paused, and Micky groaned,
+recalling that Ashton had said he should not write at all.
+
+"It'll have to do, anyway," he muttered, and again the pen flew: "I'm
+not much of a hand at writing letters, as you know, but you must try
+and read between the lines, and guess at all I would say were we
+together ... All I will say to you when we meet again."
+
+That last sentence was rather neat, Micky thought with pride, then a
+wave of compunction swept through his heart as he remembered the
+tragedy behind it all, and he finished the page soberly enough: "Ever
+yours, Raymond Ashton."
+
+"Damn him!" said Micky under his breath, as he blotted the signature;
+then he took two ten-pound notes from a drawer in his desk, and,
+enclosing them in the envelope, sealed and stamped it.
+
+It was half-past one, but Micky climbed into his coat again. He locked
+Ashton's letter into his desk, and, taking the one he had written,
+went quietly down to the street.
+
+The world was sleeping and deserted, and Micky's footsteps echoed
+hollowly along the pavement.
+
+"You're a fool, you know!" he told himself, with a sort of humour.
+"You're a bally fool, my boy! It won't end here, you see if it does."
+
+But he went on to the pillar-box at the street corner.
+
+When he reached it he stood for a moment with the letter in his hand.
+
+"You're a fool," he told himself again hardily. "Micky, my boy, you're
+a bally idiot, interfering with what doesn't concern you--with what
+doesn't concern you in the very least."
+
+He looked up at the stars and thought of Esther Shepstone, of her eyes
+and her wavering smile, and the soft note in her voice as she had
+asked him--
+
+"Are you always as kind to every one as you have been to me?"
+
+No concern of his! It was every concern of his; he knew that he was
+only living for the hours to pass before he saw her again. No concern
+of his! when the greatest miracle of all the world had come to pass
+during those last hours of the old year, inasmuch that Micky Mellowes,
+heartwhole and a bachelor for thirty odd years, had been bowled over
+by a girl without a shilling to her name--a girl who loved another
+man, but a girl to whom Micky had without wishing it, without knowing
+it, dedicated the rest of his life!
+
+He was her champion for the future, some one to stand between her and
+the callousness of the man of whom even now she was probably
+thinking.
+
+"No concern of mine!" said Micky to himself with fine scorn. "Why, of
+course it is! Every concern of mine."
+
+He squared his shoulders and dropped the envelope into the pillar-box.
+
+And so Micky Mellowes posted his first love-letter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+In spite of the events of the night Micky Mellowes slept soundly. It
+was half-past nine when he woke, to find his man Driver moving
+noiselessly about the room.
+
+When he saw that Micky was awake he approached the bed.
+
+"Good-morning, sir, and a happy New Year."
+
+Driver had an expressionless voice; he announced tea or tragedy in
+exactly the same tone.
+
+"Eh?" said Micky vacantly; the words opened the door of memory, and he
+sat up with a start. It was New Year's Day, and last night ... ye
+gods! what had not happened last night? Micky tingled to the tips of
+his fingers as he remembered the letter he had written and posted; he
+had expected to feel rotten about it in the light of day; it was an
+agreeable surprise to find that he did not feel anything of the kind.
+
+When he went in to breakfast there was a pile of letters waiting for
+him; he looked them through carelessly--there was one from Marie
+Deland, which he opened with a vague feeling of nervousness.
+
+Marie was a nice little girl; he really was quite fond of her, and yet
+... surely the days of miracles had not yet passed away, seeing that
+in a few short hours his feeling for her had changed from something
+warmer to more brotherly affection.
+
+It made him feel uncomfortable to read what she had written; it was
+really only quite an ordinary letter of regret that she had not seen
+him last night, but Micky imagined he could read more between the
+lines.
+
+"... I quite hoped you would drop in, if only for a few moments," so
+she wrote. "It's been so dull. I am writing this alone in the
+library."
+
+Micky knew that library well; he and she had spent a good deal of time
+there together talking sweet nothings; he wondered if he would have
+been an engaged man by this time if that relative of the Delands had
+not so conveniently died, and if Esther had not chosen his particular
+street in which to weep.
+
+He screwed the letter up and tossed it into the fire; he would answer
+it some time, or call; there was no immediate hurry. When he had
+finished his breakfast he went to his locked desk and took out
+Ashton's letter--somehow until he actually saw it again he could not
+quite believe that the events of last night had not all been a dream;
+but the letter was real enough, at all events with its callous
+beginning to "Dear Lallie."
+
+The morning seemed to drag; twice people rang him up on the 'phone and
+asked him to lunch, but Micky was not in the mood for lunch; he felt a
+suppressed sort of excitement, as if something of great import were
+about to happen.
+
+Driver looked at him woodenly once or twice; his face was as
+expressionless as his voice, but his dull eyes saw everything, and
+behind them his keen brain wondered what had happened to make Micky so
+restless.
+
+Towards one o'clock he ventured a gentle reminder.
+
+"You have an engagement for half-past three, sir--Miss Langdon's."
+
+Micky was yawning over the paper then; he looked up with an absurdly
+blank face.
+
+"Oh, I say!--well, I can't go, anyway. What was it for? I'm going
+out--I've got an important appointment."
+
+Driver never showed surprise at anything if he felt it.
+
+"It was a musical 'At 'Ome,' sir," he answered stolidly. "Shall I ring
+up and say that you won't be able to come?"
+
+"Yes, ring up," said Micky. He coloured self-consciously beneath the
+man's stoic eyes and hurriedly buried his head again in the
+newspaper.
+
+At three o'clock he changed his clothes for an immaculate morning-coat
+and grey trousers; then, remembering what Esther had said about the
+very horrid boarding-house, he changed them again for the oldest tweed
+suit in his possession, and a pair of brown boots that had seen their
+best days and long since been condemned by Driver.
+
+"How in the world do I get to Brixton?" Micky asked the man when he
+was ready. "I know I could take a taxicab, but I don't want to. What
+other ways are there?"
+
+Driver told him.
+
+"There's the train, sir, or a tram."
+
+Micky jumped at the tramcar. He was sure that people who lived in
+Brixton must all use tramcars.
+
+"How long would a tramcar take?" he asked.
+
+Driver considered. Finally he said that he thought it might be the
+best part of an hour.
+
+Micky glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter past three. He
+took up his hat hurriedly and went out into the street.
+
+A taxicab would have to do for to-day anyway. He could dismiss it at
+the corner of the road and walk the last few yards. A moment later he
+was being whirled through the streets.
+
+He sat leaning back in the corner with his feet up on the seat
+opposite, feeling decidedly nervous.
+
+Supposing he did not see Esther--supposing she were not there?
+Supposing she had purposely given him the wrong address? Supposing
+... oh, supposing a thousand and one things! Micky was full of
+apprehension when at last the taxicab stopped at the corner of the
+Brixton Road and the driver came to the door to ask what number.
+
+Micky scrambled out.
+
+"Oh, I'll walk the rest of the way."
+
+He paid the man liberally, and set out along the crowded pathway.
+There were so many people about that he thought it must be a market
+day or something. A word with a policeman elicited the information
+that he was at quite the wrong end of the street for the number he
+wanted. Micky was rather glad. He felt that he needed time in which to
+collect his thoughts, and yet when at last he reached his destination
+he felt as nervous as a kitten and strongly inclined to go back. But
+he went on and up the bare strip of garden which led to the front door
+of the house. It wasn't such a bad-looking house, he thought. Not
+nearly as bad as he had expected from the girl's description. In fact,
+once upon a time it must have been rather a palatial residence, but
+all the windows now were boxed up with cheap, starchy-looking
+curtains, and there was a sort of third-rate atmosphere about the
+basement and the cheap knocker on the front door.
+
+Micky looked for a bell, but there wasn't one, so he knocked.
+
+It seemed a long time before anybody came. When at last they did he
+heard them coming for a long time before the door was opened, heard
+slipshod steps on shiny linoleum, and a husky sort of breathless
+cough.
+
+The owner of the cough was young and scared-looking, in shoes several
+sizes too large for her, and a skirt several inches too short. When
+Micky asked for Miss Shepstone she stared without answering for a
+moment, then she turned and slopped back the way she had come, leaving
+the door on the chain.
+
+Micky chuckled to himself; she evidently did not like the look of
+him.
+
+He waited patiently; then he heard another step along the shiny
+linoleumed floor of the hall--a very different step this time--and,
+turning eagerly, he saw Esther herself in the doorway.
+
+"I didn't really think you would come," she said breathlessly.
+
+For a moment Micky could not find his tongue. If he had thought this
+girl pretty last night with the tears in her eyes he thought her a
+thousand times prettier now. She looked as if some magician hand had
+wiped the distress from her face and convinced her that the sun still
+shone.
+
+She wore the same clothes she had worn last night, but even they
+seemed somehow to have changed. There was a bunch of violets pinned in
+her jacket. Micky wondered if it were the violets that were
+responsible for the alteration.
+
+"When I make an appointment I always keep it," he said.
+
+He had almost added "with any one like you," but thought better of it.
+"And are you going to let me take you out to tea?" he asked.
+
+She hesitated; she glanced back into the dingy hall behind her.
+
+"I am leaving here to-day," she said. "My box has gone already. If you
+will wait a moment ... I would ask you in, but you'd hate it so."
+
+"I'll wait outside," said Micky.
+
+He went down into the street. For the moment he had quite forgotten
+all about Ashton and the letter which must by this time be in Esther's
+possession.
+
+"And what about Charlie?" he asked whimsically when she joined him.
+
+She smiled, shaking her head.
+
+"I sent him on--in a basket. Nobody wants him here--he only gets
+badgered about all day long; so I'm taking him with me. Do you think I
+ought not to?"
+
+"I think Charlie is a most fortunate cat," said Micky.
+
+She did not take him seriously.
+
+"I think he will be happier with me anyway," she said "I'm going to
+quite a nice boarding-house now. I went out this morning and found
+it." She looked up at him with a smile. "I don't think even you would
+mind coming to tea there," she said.
+
+"I thought you were going to say mind coming there to live," Micky
+told her audaciously. "I've been looking about for fresh diggings; I'm
+tired of mine." He stopped and glanced behind him. "Can we get a
+tramcar here?"
+
+"I'm not tired," she said quickly.
+
+"Well, I must admit that I am," Micky answered. He hated walking at
+the best of times, and he did not like to suggest another taxicab.
+"Let's go on top."
+
+They climbed up and found a front seat; there was a working man next
+to them smoking shag in a clay pipe; he looked at Micky and Esther
+doubtfully, then asked--
+
+"Does your good lady mind smoke, mister?"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I don't mind at all," she said, laughing.
+
+"You got home all right last night, then?" Micky said presently.
+"After you had gone I wished I had seen you safely in...."
+
+"It's kind of you, but I was quite all right." There was a note of
+constraint in her voice. "I should like to thank you for what you did
+for me last night," she said hesitatingly.
+
+"If it hadn't been for you...." She stopped.
+
+Micky did not know what to say.
+
+"Anyway, it's all right now, eh?" he asked presently, with awkward
+cheerfulness. "I thought it would be; when things look so black that
+they can't possibly look any blacker, they always begin to mend. I've
+found that out before; I don't know if you have."
+
+"I found it out this morning."
+
+Micky looked down at her. She was sitting with her hands clasped
+together in her lap; there was a little flush in her cheeks, and her
+lips were curved into a faint smile.
+
+"It seems so wonderful too," she went on softly, "that it should have
+happened on New Year's Day----"
+
+"Fares, all fares, please," said the conductor beside them. Micky
+dived into a pocket and found a shilling.
+
+"Two, please," he said.
+
+He had paid for and shared taxicabs with Marie Deland times without
+number, but it had never given him quite the same pleasurable little
+thrill as he experienced at this moment.
+
+There was something so pleasantly familiar about this tramcar ride,
+the fact of sharing the same uncomfortable seat with Esther
+Shepstone.
+
+"Penny ones?" the conductor asked.
+
+Micky looked at the girl.
+
+"Where shall we get off?" he asked.
+
+"Penny ones will do," she said.
+
+Micky took the tickets and pocketed his change.
+
+"I don't know if there are any decent teashops round here," he said
+dubiously. "If you would rather go up to the West End...."
+
+But finally they found a confectioner's quite close to where the penny
+fare ended.
+
+Micky looked round critically.
+
+"Is this all right?" he asked. "I've never been here before."
+
+"I have, often," she said. She was drawing off her gloves.
+
+Micky glanced hurriedly at her hands; she was wearing a ring. Hardly
+knowing that he did so, he leaned across and touched it.
+
+"Is that an engagement ring?" he asked. His voice sounded a little
+breathless.
+
+She looked up at him, drawing her hand away.
+
+"Why do you ask me?"
+
+He drew back; he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I beg your pardon. I suppose I have no right to ask."
+
+He ordered tea. He talked rather forced platitudes for the rest of the
+time. He was just going to call for the bill, when Esther Shepstone
+said suddenly--
+
+"Mr. Mellowes, I should like to tell you something."
+
+"Yes!" Micky did not look at her. Somehow he could not trust himself.
+
+"I don't in the least know why I want to tell you," she said again
+nervously. "But--you've been so kind to me...."
+
+"Yes!" said Micky gently, as she paused. "Yes, what is it?"
+
+She was twisting her teaspoon, and she kept her eyes lowered.
+
+"Last night, when I met you--I was very unhappy ... There didn't seem
+anything to live for in the world.... I don't know if you've ever felt
+like that, or if you have ever cared for any one--really cared, I
+mean--but if you have...." She stopped again.
+
+"I think I understand," Micky said, with an effort. "You mean that
+there's some one, some man...."
+
+She raised her grey eyes to his face.
+
+"Yes, that's what I mean."
+
+"Some man you care for--care for very much," Micky went on slowly.
+"Perhaps some one you have quarreled with--who hadn't been quite as
+... kind as he might have been----"
+
+The soft colour flooded her face.
+
+"Did you guess--last night?" she asked shyly.
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Did I? I am not sure, perhaps." He drew a long breath that was half a
+sigh. "Well?" he queried.
+
+"I don't know why I am telling you this----" she said again, with a
+sort of distress. "It cannot interest you, but, somehow, I think I
+should like you to know."
+
+"It interests me very much--I am honoured that you should tell me."
+Micky looked again at the ring she wore; quite a cheap little ring,
+with a couple of inferior diamonds. "You mean that you are engaged to
+be married?"
+
+"Yes; at least----" The words were only a whisper.
+
+Micky sat very still.
+
+"Well, I suppose you will have me for a friend all the same, won't
+you?" he asked with an effort.
+
+She looked at him in faint amazement.
+
+"I thought if I told you that perhaps you'd rather not...." She
+stopped in confusion.
+
+Micky leaned a little closer over the table.
+
+"You said last night that you didn't believe in a man's friendship for
+a woman," he said. "Well, I am going to make you believe in it. I'm
+going to be your friend. The fact that you are engaged makes no
+difference to me, if it doesn't to you."
+
+She looked at him earnestly.
+
+"If you mean that," she said, "I think I'm very glad."
+
+"Thank you. I suppose I mustn't ask who the--the lucky man is?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I can't tell you. And he's away now--out of England."
+
+Her voice changed a little, her eyes looked past Micky as if for the
+moment she had forgotten him.
+
+Micky watched her jealously.
+
+"And so whatever was wrong last night is all right to-day, is that
+it?" he asked with an effort.
+
+"Yes ... somehow I never thought it would be, but this morning----"
+
+"This morning?" he echoed as she stopped.
+
+"I had a letter this morning," she told him, and her voice had
+softened so wonderfully that Micky caught his breath. "Oh, I wonder if
+you have ever been as unhappy as I was last night, and then had a
+letter, a wonderful letter like I had this morning? There was
+something in it that seemed to put everything right straight away;
+something that I've always wanted before and never had. I can't
+explain it any better than that, but perhaps you understand. I'm just
+telling you because I feel so happy I must tell somebody, and because
+I didn't want you to misjudge him as I did yesterday. I thought he
+didn't really care, and I wanted to die, but to-day, when his letter
+came----" She broke off into a little happy laugh.
+
+Micky had rammed his clenched hands into his pockets; the blood was
+hammering in his temples; his brain felt in a whirl; somehow in all
+his wildest imaginings he had never dreamed of this.
+
+It was his letter that had brought that new look of happiness to her
+eyes! His letter which perhaps even then lay against her heart; the
+first love-letter he had ever written to any woman, and she believed
+it to have been written by Raymond Ashton!
+
+He did not realise how long he sat there without speaking till Esther
+spoke to him again. There was a little anxious note in her voice.
+
+"I'm afraid I've bored you horribly with all this. I know it's no
+interest to you, but I felt that I must tell somebody."
+
+Micky roused himself with an effort.
+
+"It's of great interest to me," he said. "And you mustn't ever say a
+thing like that again. We're going to be friends, and real friends are
+always interested in everything that concerns the other. I'm more glad
+than I can say that you're happy. I only hope it's going to last for
+ever."
+
+Perhaps there was a dubious note in his voice, for an anxious gleam
+crept into the girl's eyes.
+
+"You sound as if you don't think that it will," she said quickly.
+
+Micky made a hurried disclaimer.
+
+"I do think so, of course I do! You deserve all the happiness you can
+get, and whoever the man is, if he doesn't make you happy----"
+
+He stopped, with frowning memory of Ashton and their parting only last
+night.
+
+He hoped in his heart that they would never meet again; if they did,
+he realised that there would be quite a few nasty things he would feel
+called upon to say to him.
+
+The waitress brought the bill at that moment and put an end to further
+conversation, for which he was thankful. He realised that he was
+getting rather out of his depth. He breathed more freely when they
+were safely out in the street.
+
+"And where is the new boarding-house?" he asked presently. He wanted
+to change the subject; every moment he was afraid that he would say
+something to give himself away. He supposed he had behaved like an
+impetuous fool. He ought never to have posted that letter--ought never
+to have opened Ashton's; and yet--if he had not done so.... He looked
+down at the girl beside him, and wondered grimly how she would have
+felt if he had allowed that callous farewell to reach her.
+
+"It's quite close to where we are now," she told him. "It's rather
+more expensive than the last one, but it's well worth the extra money,
+and"--she glanced up at him smilingly--"I'm better off to-day than I
+was yesterday," she explained. "And when I go back to work again----"
+
+"Are you going back, then?" he asked quickly.
+
+"Of course I am. I must do something, and they will take me back at
+Eldred's, I know----"
+
+"Eldred's!" Micky frowned. "That's the petticoat shop, isn't it?"
+
+She laughed.
+
+"Yes; how did you know?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I've seen the place lots of times. A girl I know buys all her----" He
+stopped. "Do you want to go back there?" he asked.
+
+"Not particularly, but it's easier than looking for a fresh place, and
+I know they will take me. I'm in the workroom, and it's not really
+such a hard life."
+
+Micky did some rapid thinking; it was surprising how easily his brain
+had taken to hard work during the last twenty-four hours.
+
+"Why don't you get a job as a companion to a nice old lady or
+somebody?" he suggested vaguely.
+
+She laughed again.
+
+"It doesn't sound a bit attractive," she said frankly. "I think you
+need an awful lot of patience. It's very kind of you to be interested,
+but I think I shall go back to Eldred's, for a time, at least."
+
+Micky did not like the idea at all, but he let the subject drop.
+
+"Are you going back to the Brixton Road?" he asked after a moment.
+
+"Oh no; I paid them before I left this afternoon, so I shall go
+straight to the new place."
+
+"I should like to walk there with you, if I may," said Micky.
+
+"Of course you may."
+
+"And when shall I see you again?" he asked. "You're not going to
+vanish for days, are you? I've got no end of time to kill, and----"
+
+"But I haven't," she reminded him. "At least, I shan't have when I
+start work. But I should like to see you again," she added kindly.
+
+"Thank you," said Micky with faint sarcasm.
+
+He felt vaguely disappointed with the whole afternoon. She was holding
+him so decidedly at arm's length. He supposed it was that infernal
+fellow Ashton that stood between them. There was a sort of irony, too,
+in the fact that he himself had by his own action established him more
+firmly than ever in this girl's affections.
+
+And the fellow was not worth a thought! That was the rotten part of
+it. As he looked at her he felt strongly tempted to blurt out the
+truth; to tell her that it was he who wrote that letter--to undeceive
+her once and for all.
+
+But the thing was manifestly impossible. She would probably think it
+an abominable thing to have opened Ashton's letter; she would probably
+be furious if he let her know that the money she had received had come
+from him. Whichever way he turned he seemed to be in a corner.
+
+They had reached the new boarding-house now, and Micky was relieved to
+see that it was a decided improvement on the one in the Brixton Road.
+
+The windows were not boxed up, and the steps and the bell were clean.
+It was on the sunny side of the road, too, and had an air of
+cheerfulness about it.
+
+"It's much better than the other one, isn't it?" Esther asked.
+
+"Streets better," he assured her. "I shouldn't mind living here
+myself...." He waited, but she made no comment, and he felt rather
+snubbed.
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Don't you like the place where you are living now?" she asked after a
+moment. "Don't they make you comfortable there?"
+
+"Oh, it's comfortable enough," said Micky. He wondered if he looked as
+guilty as he felt. "But I don't believe in sticking on anywhere too
+long. A change is good for every one. I shall be shifting out some day
+soon, I expect."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"I shall see you again soon," he said. "And if there is anything I can
+do for you----"
+
+"Thank you, but there isn't." She spoke quite kindly, but Micky had
+the uncomfortable sort of feeling that her thoughts were elsewhere. He
+waited a moment, then held out his hand.
+
+"Well, good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye, and thank you for my tea."
+
+She nodded and smiled and turned away from him.
+
+There was nothing else for Micky to do but to go; he raised his hat
+and walked off disconsolately.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+When Esther went upstairs to her room in No. 11 Elphinstone Road, she
+found the door standing open, and she could hear some one talking
+inside.
+
+She stood still for a moment in amazement; she thought perhaps she had
+made a mistake and come to the wrong room, but a glance reassured her;
+the number of her room was 23, and this one was 23; she pushed the
+door wider and went in.
+
+Her boxes were there, standing one upon the other, so as to make more
+space in the small room, and on the rather shabby rug by the fireplace
+a woman was kneeling with her back to the door.
+
+She did not hear Esther enter, and for a moment the girl stood staring
+at her in blank amazement. She could not see her face, but she could
+see that the woman was small and slightly built, with a wealth of jet
+black hair coiled in becoming carelessness with a couple of yellow
+pins to fasten it.
+
+She wore a yellow blouse, which Esther would have thought hideous on
+any one else, but somehow against that dark coil of hair it looked
+decidedly picturesque.
+
+Esther moved a little, deliberately knocking against a chair to
+attract attention, and the girl on the hearthrug looked round with a
+startled exclamation; then scrambled to her feet.
+
+"I heard there was a cat," she explained. "Lydia told me that he was
+shut up here alone, so I just had to come in and see him. I hope you
+don't mind. I brought him some milk."
+
+For a moment Esther was too taken aback to answer. She looked from the
+little woman in the yellow blouse to Charlie, sprawled on the rug and
+purring lustily, and then back again to the little woman.
+
+She was very attractive looking, that was Esther's first thought, and
+her next that she had never seen any one with such a beautiful
+complexion.
+
+"You're Miss Shepstone, aren't you?" her visitor queried in the
+friendliest of tones. "You see, I know quite a lot about you already.
+Lydia told me--Lydia's the housemaid--you'll like her; she's a really
+nice girl. My name is June Mason--I live here, too, and I hope we will
+be great friends."
+
+There was something so breezily disarming about her that Esther held
+out her hand.
+
+"You're very kind. I hardly know what to say...."
+
+"Don't say anything," Miss Mason answered airily. "I'm going to like
+you; I knew I should somehow when I first heard your name. I believe
+in that sort of thing--I don't know if you do, but as soon as Lydia
+told me who it was that had taken this room I knew I should like you.
+I think your name is sweet--Esther! So quaint and old-world. Have you
+had your tea?--yes, oh, what a shame! I've got some ready for you in
+my room. Oh, I hope you don't think it's awful cheek," she broke out
+with a sort of embarrassment. "I've got a sitting-room here as well as
+a bedroom, and I always make my own tea, it's better than you can get
+downstairs. I've got a fire there too, and if you're ever cold I hope
+you'll come and sit with me. I'm out a good deal but you can always
+use my room when I'm not there, if you care to. Take off your hat and
+come and see it now, or are you too tired? I don't want to worry
+you."
+
+"I'm not a bit tired," Esther said, laughing; she felt a little
+bewildered by this sudden offer of friendship, but June Mason
+interested her, and after a moment she took off her hat obediently.
+
+"We'll bring the cat too," Miss Mason said; she swooped down with a
+quick movement and caught the cat up in her arms. "I love cats," she
+said. "What's his name?"
+
+"Charlie," said Esther shyly. "He's very thin, but they weren't kind
+to him where he belonged before...."
+
+"What a shame! I simply loathe people who are not kind to animals.
+Never mind, he'll soon get all right. Now come along--I'll help you
+unpack your boxes presently."
+
+She led the way downstairs, and Esther followed.
+
+She had been feeling a little scared of this new boarding-house. She
+felt grateful for this girl's unaffected overture.
+
+"Mine's the best room in the house," Miss Mason informed her. She
+pushed open the door of a room immediately below Esther's. "Sit down
+and make yourself at home. I'll get the tea in half a minute. I know
+you'll have another cup. I shall, anyway. Do you smoke?"
+
+"No," said Esther.
+
+"Well I do. I hope you're not shocked. I find it's so soothing when
+you've got nerves; and I'm a frightfully nervy person. I am hardly
+ever still; I'm always on the go."
+
+Esther could well believe it. She looked on with a slightly dazed
+feeling while June Mason lit a cigarette and bustled about the room.
+
+It was a very comfortable room, with plenty of easy-chairs and lots of
+cushions all in the same pale shade of mauve.
+
+"I didn't think there would be any rooms as comfortable as this in the
+house," Esther said. "I suppose you pay a great deal for it, though."
+
+"I don't know about that. Most of the furniture is mine and all the
+cushions. Do you like my cushions?"
+
+She put down the teapot, which she had been about to fill, and caught
+up one of the cushions, plumping its softness together with her white
+hands.
+
+"Mauve is my lucky colour," she rattled on. "Everything I do in mauve
+turns out well. But perhaps you don't believe in a superstition like
+that?"
+
+Esther was rather bewildered.
+
+"I'm not sure. I never thought about it," she said hesitatingly. "But
+it's a very pretty colour."
+
+Miss Mason dropped the cushion to the floor, and stooping picked
+Charlie up and deposited him on it.
+
+"Doesn't he look sweet?" she demanded. "And a black cat is lucky too,
+you know, so that's a comfort."
+
+She went back to the teapot, made the tea, and poured out a cup for
+Esther.
+
+"Is that chair comfy?--yes, lean back! What are you looking at? Oh, my
+photographs! Yes. I have got a lot, haven't I? Lydia dusts them for
+me! Lydia's a treasure! You'll love her. When I get married she's
+going to leave here and come with me----"
+
+Esther looked interested.
+
+"Are you going to be married?" she asked.
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"Am I? No, I'm not. I'm too fond of my independence. Not that I don't
+like men. I do like them, and I've got some awfully good pals amongst
+them, too. Look!"
+
+She turned with one of her rapid movements, caught up a photograph
+from the shelf and handed it to Esther.
+
+"There! that's one of the nicest men I ever met in my life," she said
+enthusiastically. "Don't you think he's got a ripping face?"
+
+Esther took the portrait laughingly--she thought June Mason one of the
+most amusing people she had ever met--then she caught her breath on a
+little smothered exclamation as she found herself looking straight
+into the pictured eyes of Micky Mellowes.
+
+June Mason was too occupied with a fresh cigarette to notice the blank
+look that filled Esther's eyes.
+
+She sat there in the big chair, staring at Micky's portrait with a
+sense of foreboding. Surely it was something bigger than just chance
+that had introduced him into her life for the second time.
+
+"He's one of the best," June Mason went on. She dragged forward
+another chair and plumped down into it comfortably.
+
+"Don't you admire him?" She opened her eyes wide, looking across at
+Esther.
+
+"Yes, oh yes! I think he's quite nice," Esther said stiltedly. "But
+not a bit good-looking, do you think?" she asked, with a sort of
+hesitation.
+
+Miss Mason took the portrait from her and held it at arm's length.
+
+"Um!" she said critically. "Perhaps he isn't, but I like him so much,
+you see, that I'm not a fair judge. He's been a good friend to me, at
+all events."
+
+She got up, replaced the frame on the shelf, and plumped back once
+more amongst her mauve cushions.
+
+"My people wanted me to marry him at one time," she went on airily. "I
+might have done so only I liked him too well. He didn't care for me,
+except as a friend, and it seemed a shame to spoil it, so I put my
+foot down."
+
+"You mean that you refused him?"
+
+Esther was interested; she was remembering how Micky had told her that
+he had never really cared for any woman in all his life.
+
+"He never asked me, my dear," Miss Mason answered candidly. "I let him
+see that it wouldn't be any good if he did, and I know he was
+frightfully relieved. We were never so nearly in love with one another
+as we were when we both knew that we didn't mean to get married." She
+chuckled reminiscently. "It finished me with my people, though," she
+added, "so I cleared out and came here."
+
+"And--Micky?" Esther asked. "I--I mean Mr. Mellowes...."
+
+Miss Mason looked faintly surprised.
+
+"How did you know his name?" she asked. "Did I tell you? I suppose I
+did. Oh, he's all right; he's the kind of man who always will be all
+right. He's got another girl on the tapis now. I don't know if it will
+come to anything, though. Anyway, she's not good enough for him."
+
+"You seem very fond of him," Esther said.
+
+"I am. He's a dear! I should love to see him happily married to a girl
+with a heart of gold like his own. I think I know him better than most
+people, and his little corner of the world would be amazed if they
+knew the amount of good Micky manages to do."
+
+She had flushed up with her own enthusiasm. Her curious eyes (Esther
+could not decide if they were grey, blue, or green, or a mixture of
+all three) were very bright and expressive.
+
+"I've heard lots of rotten things said about him," she went on, "and I
+know that none of them are really deserved--at least most of them are
+not. He isn't a saint--but what man is, I should like to know? But
+Micky's the sort who would give his life for a friend or any one
+little and weak. Do you know"--she flung away the half-smoked
+cigarette and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees--"last
+winter, down in the country, I saw Micky go into a dirty pond in
+evening dress to rescue a drowning cat. What do you think of that?"
+
+"A--a--cat!" said Esther faintly. She looked at Charlie, and
+remembered how Micky had paid for milk for him the night of their
+strange meeting.
+
+"A miserable drowning cat!" Miss Mason went on with tragic emphasis.
+"He heard it mewing from the road, and he went in after it without
+stopping to think. Now, I call a man a hero who will do a thing like
+that when he is on his way to a dance he is very keen about, don't
+you?"
+
+"Yes," said Esther. Her heart warmed towards Mellowes. Kind as he had
+been to her, she had not been quite sure of him; it made her feel
+happier to hear him so warmly championed.
+
+"You'll be sick to death of my chatter," June Mason broke out with
+sudden change of voice. She helped herself to a third cigarette. "I
+hope you don't mind smoke," she apologised. "I'm always at it; I think
+I smoke dozens a day----"
+
+"Or throw them away half smoked," Esther thought amusedly. "I don't
+mind at all," she answered.
+
+"You haven't told me a thing about yourself," Miss Mason reminded her
+reproachfully. "And it's not fair that I should do all the talking. I
+know your name, and that's about all. Have you got any people? Where
+do you come from?"
+
+Esther flushed a little.
+
+"There isn't much to tell you. I haven't any people. I was born in
+India, and my mother died there. I don't know anything about my
+father. I was sent home to an aunt, and she looked after me till about
+three years ago, when she died. I came to London then, and they took
+me on at Eldred's--do you know Eldred's?"
+
+"Do I not?" said Miss Mason fervently. "Scrumptious things they make;
+but what prices! I can't afford them very often, but I go in there a
+good deal. I know the manager, and he's going to do some business for
+me--at least I hope he is. If I can get my stuff into his place it
+will be a splendid thing. All London shops there, you know; all London
+with any money, that is!"
+
+Esther looked mystified.
+
+"Your stuff!" she echoed. "What do you mean?"
+
+June Mason laughed merrily. She had a very infectious laugh and a
+trick of covering her face with her hands while she was laughing.
+
+"I forgot that you didn't know!" she said. "I seem to know you so
+well, I can't remember that we never saw one another before to-day. My
+dear, I make face cream. Wait a moment."
+
+She sprang up and disappeared behind a mauve curtain into an
+adjoining room. Esther heard her moving about, opening and shutting
+boxes and singing a snatch of song all the time. Presently she came
+back with a tray crowded with little pots and phials of all sizes and
+descriptions. She plumped down on her knees beside Esther's chair.
+
+"There you are!" she said lightly, though there was an odd dash of
+pride in her voice. "Face cream, night and day cream, eyelash tonic,
+and all the rest of it! Of course, I'm only just starting--I'm not
+like those people who advertise in all the papers and charge about a
+guinea for a shilling jar; but my stuff is as good as theirs any day,
+and better, because it's pure. Look!" She took a lid off a little
+white pot with a mauve label and held it to Esther.
+
+"Isn't that a glorious perfume?" she demanded. She sniffed it herself
+with relish. "And it's all my invention, and I'm as proud of it as a
+cat would be of nine tails. When I've got things a little more
+ship-shape, Micky's going to put it on the market for me. It wants a
+man behind all these sort of things you know. I can do all the donkey
+work, but I've got no head for business. I never know the difference
+between a loss and a profit. It was partly over this that I quarrelled
+with my people--they said it was low-down to make face cream and sell
+it--they're awful snobs! So I just cleared off and changed my surname
+and came here. I'm quite happy, and if I haven't got as much money as
+I had, I don't mind--I've got my liberty, and that's worth every
+thing."
+
+"I think you're just wonderful," Esther said. She picked up a lid from
+one of the little pots and looked at the mauve and white label.
+
+"June Mason's natural beautifier...."
+
+She looked at the glowing face opposite to her.
+
+"Do you use it for your own skin?" she asked shyly.
+
+Miss Mason chuckled; she pushed the tray to one side along the floor.
+
+"I don't mind telling you that I've never used cream to my skin at
+all," she said. "But people think I do, and so there you are! Have
+some more tea?"
+
+She refilled Esther's cup and lit another cigarette. "So that's what I
+am," she said. "And now go on, and tell me about yourself. You said
+you were at Eldred's!"
+
+"Yes, I was there for two years. I rather liked it! I love pretty
+things, and I was in the workroom. They paid me quite well, too,
+though it was hard work, and then--well, then I left----" her voice
+changed subtly.
+
+"Why?"
+
+The query was only interested, and not at all impertinent.
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"Well--well--I thought I was going to be married. He--well, he asked
+me to leave to marry him, and so I did...."
+
+"But you're not married?"
+
+"No----" Esther was looking away into the fire. "No, I'm not married,"
+she said in a stifled voice. "He--my fiance--has had to go away on
+business--abroad, and I don't know when I shall see him again."
+
+Her voice sounded sad and dispirited.
+
+"You poor little thing!" said June Mason. She leaned over and laid her
+hand on Esther's. "Never mind! The time will soon pass, and then he'll
+come back and you'll live happily ever after----"
+
+Esther smiled.
+
+"I know. I keep on telling myself it's foolish to worry. I felt quite
+happy this morning. I had a letter from him, and somehow when I read
+it things didn't seem half so bad; but----"
+
+"And you'll have another to-morrow, I expect." Miss Mason insisted.
+"And another the next day, and one every day while he's away. There!
+That's better," she added cheerily as Esther laughed.
+
+"I don't like to see you look so sad. I'm going to cheer you up. I
+shan't allow you to be miserable. And anyway," she added, with a
+sudden softening, "you've got some one who loves you, and that's worth
+everything else in the world."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. Her eyes shone and she thought of the letter which
+was even then lying against her heart. Somehow she had never realised
+how much he really cared for her till to-day.
+
+"And what are you going to do till he comes home?" Miss Mason asked
+interestedly. "If you had something to do you'd find the time pass
+ever so much more quickly."
+
+"It's a question of having to do something rather than how to pass the
+time," Esther said. "I haven't any money except what I can make. My
+aunt left me a little when she died, but it was only a very little,
+and I spent most of it at first while I was looking for work. So I'm
+going back to Eldred's--if they will have me, and I think they will."
+
+Miss Mason said "Humph!"
+
+"I think you're too good for a petticoat shop," she said bluntly.
+"You're wasted there! Nobody sees you, and you're so pretty----"
+
+"Oh, what nonsense!" Esther exclaimed. She laughed in sheer amusement.
+To her it seemed absurd for this girl to call her pretty; she
+considered June Mason such a personality--so attractive!
+
+She really did make a picturesque figure as she sat there with her
+mauve cushions all around her. Her yellow blouse and dark hair and
+wonderful rose-leaf skin reminded one of some brilliant portrait
+painted by a master-hand.
+
+Esther would have been surprised could she have known the thought in
+June's mind at that moment.
+
+"She's just sweet! I don't know when I've seen a face I admire more.
+Micky would adore her! She's just the sort of woman he always raves
+about. I must ask him to tea to meet her one day."
+
+"There are heaps of other berths going besides Eldred's, you know,"
+she said earnestly. "However, you must do as you like, of course." She
+threw away another unfinished cigarette. "Do you think we are going to
+be friends?" she asked.
+
+"I am sure we are," Esther said. She really did think so; she had
+never met any one in the least like June Mason before. She began to
+feel glad that she had come to this house. It was much more expensive
+than the Brixton Road, certainly, but it was well worth it, even if
+only because she had met this quaint little woman.
+
+It was nearly seven o'clock before she thought of going back to her
+own room, and then it was only the chiming of a clock on the shelf
+that roused her.
+
+"Nearly seven!" She started up in dismay. "I had no idea it was so
+late. I am sorry for having stayed so long."
+
+"There's nothing to be sorry for," June declared. "You may go shares
+with this room if you like. I'm out so much, it isn't used half the
+time. Think it over, will you?"
+
+Esther flushed nervously.
+
+"It's awfully kind of you; I should love to, but I couldn't afford it.
+I'm really paying more money now than I ought to. I want to save,
+too----"
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"For the wedding! Lucky girl! I hope you'll ask me to come and see you
+married--and I hope he's very nice," she added.
+
+"He is," said Esther eagerly. "And he's very handsome," she added
+shyly.
+
+But Miss Mason was not impressed.
+
+"I don't care a fig if a man is handsome or not," she said bluntly.
+"If he's just manly and straightforward and kind, that's all I expect
+him to be. Now look here--we have dinner at half-past seven in this
+establishment. It's only supper really, but we all put on our best
+blouses--if we've got any--and call it dinner. I'll call for you on
+the way down and we'll go in together. I'll tell Mrs. Elders you are
+going to share my table, if you like; it's deadly dull sitting
+alone."
+
+"I should like to sit with you very much," Esther said eagerly. "But I
+really haven't got a 'best' blouse." She glanced down at the plain
+white silk shirt she wore; it had been washed many times, and had lost
+its first freshness.
+
+"Come down as you are, then," Miss Mason urged, "and I will too! I
+hate changing. This yellow rag is good enough for the old tabbies we
+get here."
+
+Esther went half-way down the stairs and came back.
+
+"Charlie--I've forgotten Charlie."
+
+"Charlie can stay where he is till bedtime," June declared. "You can
+come up and fetch him then. Hurry, or you'll be late."
+
+Esther went down to her room, feeling more light-hearted than she had
+done for a long time.
+
+As she unpacked her boxes and tidied her hair she could hear June
+Mason moving about upstairs, singing cheerily.
+
+"I'm going to like her--I'm going to like her awfully," she told
+herself. She hurried to be ready in time, but the rather unmelodious
+dinner-bell had clanged through the house twice before June came to
+the door.
+
+"You've unpacked, then?" she said. She looked round the small room
+approvingly. "I can see you're one of the tidy ones," she said. "I'm
+not; I wish I were. However, we can't all be the same. Are you
+ready?"
+
+She took Esther's arm and they went downstairs together.
+
+"Every one knows you're coming," June said as they neared the
+dining-room. "Every one always knows everything that goes on here.
+Don't take any notice if they stare a lot; they must stare at
+something, poor darlings. I'll tell you who they all are and all about
+them."
+
+The dining-room was a long, narrow sort of room that looked as if it
+once had been two rooms recently thrown into one; the floor was
+covered with slippery green linoleum, and there was a long table
+running almost the length of the room, with a few smaller ones on
+either side.
+
+A grey-haired woman with pebble glasses stood at the head of the long
+table; Esther recognised her as the proprietress, Mrs. Elders.
+
+She said good-evening to Esther and stared frigidly at June, as if she
+did not like to see the two girls together. She did not approve of the
+little face cream lady, though she was careful never to say so, as
+June was one of her best paying propositions.
+
+Esther was glad when they reached their own table; glad, too, that she
+was more or less out of the way of curious glances.
+
+The dinner was plain, but infinitely superior to the fare she had had
+to put up with in the Brixton Road.
+
+"Do you have all your meals here?" she asked June presently.
+
+"No--only breakfast and supper--and not always supper. I go out with
+friends sometimes. Every one hasn't given me up just because my family
+have. But the food is quite good here. They're rather too fond of rice
+and stewed apples; but it might be worse. Turn round presently and
+look at the man behind you with the grey hair. Isn't he handsome? We
+call him the colonel, though I don't believe he's a colonel at all.
+He's a dear, but he always complains about everything. I know he gives
+notice regularly on Saturday morning and takes it back again on
+Saturday night. Mrs. Elders would think he wasn't well if he missed
+giving her notice."
+
+She laughed, and turning in her chair spoke to a young man who was
+sitting alone at one of the smaller tables behind her.
+
+"Is your cough better?" she asked. "I'm going to give you some special
+stuff to-night for it. No, it isn't at all nasty." She turned back to
+Esther. "May I introduce Mr. Harley--he's the most interesting person
+in the whole house. He writes stories and things, Mr. Harley, this is
+Miss Shepstone--a great friend of mine."
+
+Harley bowed. He was pale, delicate-looking young man with fine dark
+eyes.
+
+"You never told me that you knew Miss Shepstone," he said to June.
+
+"I didn't know her till this afternoon," she answered promptly; "but I
+make friends quickly, as you know."
+
+"You'll like Harley," she told Esther presently in an undertone. "He's
+very clever, but so delicate, poor boy! He ought to live in the
+country instead of in London. He's the sort of person I should love to
+help if I were rich."
+
+"It must be wonderful to be rich," Esther said. There was a little
+flush in her cheeks; she was really enjoying herself. "It's the dream
+of my life to have enough money to be able to do anything I like," she
+added earnestly. "Just for a month! If I could be really rich just for
+one month I wouldn't mind going back to being poor again."
+
+Miss Mason said "Rubbish!" briskly. "Money can't buy happiness, my
+dear, and don't you forget it. My people think it can, and lots of
+other people think the same. It only shows what fools they are. It was
+the money my people couldn't get over when I declined to marry Micky
+Mellowes...." She made a little wry face. "I remember my mother coming
+into my room one night in her dressing-gown--poor soul!--when she
+heard I'd told Micky there was nothing doing, and saying tragically:
+'June, you must be mad--stark, staring mad! Why, the man's as rich as
+Croesus!'"
+
+"Rich!" Esther was conscious of an odd little sinking at her heart.
+"Is Mr. Mellowes rich, then?" she asked constrainedly.
+
+Miss Mason was helping herself to a pat of butter. She held it poised
+for a moment on the end of her knife while she answered--
+
+"Rich? I should think he is! He's one of the richest men in London."
+
+"One of the richest men in London!--but he----" Esther had been going
+to add "But he told me that he was poor;" she only just checked the
+words in time.
+
+June nodded.
+
+"He's the despair of all the match-making mammas," she said lightly.
+"Over thirty, he is, and still a bachelor! I'm not sure if he isn't on
+the verge of being caught now, but you never can tell! With a little
+luck he may escape--she isn't good enough for him, anyway. Have you
+finished? I'm dying for a cigarette, and we aren't allowed to smoke
+here. Come up to my room and I'll make you some coffee; the stuff they
+give us here isn't fit to drink."
+
+She pushed back her chair and rose, and Esther followed.
+
+She kept her eyes down as she walked the length of the room; the
+colour rose in her cheeks as she realised how every one was staring at
+her. The colonel, whom June had declared was not a colonel at all,
+rose and held the door open for them to pass out.
+
+June chuckled as they went upstairs.
+
+"You've made an impression, my dear! It isn't often he does that for
+any one." She slipped an arm through Esther's. "Why are you frowning
+so? Have I said anything to annoy you?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Of course not. I was only thinking.... Do you--do your friends ever
+come here to see you?"
+
+She was thinking of Micky Mellowes, and wondering if he ever came to
+the boarding-house, and if so, why he had not told her that he knew
+somebody living here. After all, if he had deceived her in one
+instance he would do so in many others--she felt a curious sense of
+hurt pride; why had he gone out of his way to tell her he was a poor
+man, when all the time----?
+
+"To tell you the truth," June said frankly, "none of my friends know
+where I am living. Call it false pride if you like, but there you are.
+I have all my letters, except business ones, sent to my club--I belong
+to an unpretentious club--I'll take you there some day--and not even
+Micky knows that I live here. You see, when I flew in the face of
+providence, otherwise my noble family, they stopped my allowance, so
+as I'm entirely self-supporting, I had to be careful and live
+inexpensively, so I came here. And I'm very comfortable. If I want to
+meet any of my friends we meet out somewhere. I think it's better; it
+leaves me quite free...."
+
+They were back in her room again now, and Charlie had looked up with
+one eye from his mauve cushion, and purred, by way of a greeting.
+
+June lit a cigarette and rushed about in pursuit of the coffee-pot.
+All her movements were quick. She seemed to breathe life and energy.
+
+Esther walked over to the fireplace, and found herself looking at
+Micky's photograph.
+
+After all, he was just like all the other men she had ever known;
+apparently none of them could be simple and sincere; she supposed it
+had been his way of condescending to her, to pretend that he was poor
+and in similar circumstances to herself; perhaps he had guessed that
+she would never have allowed him to pay for her supper or tea, or have
+talked to her as he had done, if she had known him to be a rich man.
+
+She need never see him again, that was one thing; her heart hardened
+as she met the frankness of his pictured eyes; he was not as honest as
+he looked.
+
+She had mistaken condescension for kindness. She bit her lip with
+mortification as she recalled the confidence she had made to him only
+that afternoon. He was probably laughing at it now, and no doubt would
+repeat all she had said to his friends as a good joke.
+
+She went to her own room as soon as she had had the coffee. She made
+the excuse that she was tired, but when she went upstairs she sat down
+on the side of the bed and made no effort to undress. A sort of shadow
+seemed to have fallen on her spirits. She felt mortified that Micky
+should so deliberately have lied to her; her cheeks burned as she
+thought of the despair she had been in last night when she met him.
+She hoped she would never see him again.
+
+She looked round the little room with angry eyes. If only Fate had set
+her feet in sunnier paths. She looked at the plain furniture and cheap
+carpet; the wallpaper was hideous; there was a frightful oleograph of
+two Early Victorian women with crinolines and ringlet curls hanging
+over the mantlepiece. They both looked smug and self-satisfied. There
+was an enlarged photograph of a bald-headed man wearing a Masonic
+apron on another wall. He was fat and had his right hand plastered
+carefully along a chair-back to bring into prominence a large signet
+ring. Esther looked at him and shivered. She felt utterly alone and
+cut off from the world. She longed for Raymond Ashton with all her
+soul. She hated Micky Mellowes because his kindly condescension had
+made her feel her position more acutely now she knew him to be what he
+was.
+
+In spite of the new friend she had made in June Mason she felt lonely
+and unwanted; she began to cry like a child, as she sat there on the
+side of the iron bedstead; the tears ran down her cheeks and she made
+no effort to wipe them away.
+
+She wanted to be happy so badly, and it seemed as if she never was to
+be happy. The elation that had come to her when she read Micky's
+letter that morning had faded miserably; after all, what was a letter
+when it was a real, living personality she wanted, and not mere
+words?
+
+Downstairs she could hear June Mason moving about and singing; she at
+least was happy with her little mauve pots and her cheery optimism.
+
+Esther cried all the time she undressed; she crept into bed sobbing
+miserably, like a child who sleeps at a boarding-school for the first
+time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Micky passed three days before he made any attempt to see Esther
+Shepstone again; days that seemed like a month at least, and during
+which he lost his appetite and forgot to smoke.
+
+That she did not particularly care if she saw him again or not, he was
+miserably sure. She had no thoughts for any one but Ashton. He felt as
+if he could not settle to anything. On the third morning Marie Deland
+rang him up. He had told her many times that her voice on the
+telephone cheered him, but to-day it made him frown.
+
+He tried to answer her cheery "That you, Micky?" as cheerily, but he
+knew it was a failure.
+
+"What's the matter?" she asked quickly. "Aren't you well? Or are you
+cross?"
+
+There was a hint of laughter in her voice. She had never known Micky
+cross; he was always the cheeriest of mortals.
+
+Micky grabbed at the excuse she offered him.
+
+"I've got a brute of a headache," he said.
+
+"Poor old boy!" The pretty, sympathetic voice irritated him. "Come out
+for a walk; it will do you good."
+
+"Thanks--thanks awfully, but I don't think it would. I'm a perfect
+bear--you'd hate me. Some other time."
+
+There was a little pause. Micky could have kicked himself as he
+remembered on what terms they had parted. It was not her fault that a
+miracle had happened since then to metamorphose the whole world. He
+supposed uncomfortably that she was just the same as she had been when
+he last saw her. He knew she must be wondering why he had stayed away
+so long. He tried to soften his words.
+
+"I'll look in to-night, if I may. Sorry to be such a bear."
+
+She answered rather dispiritedly that it was all right, that she was
+sorry he felt ill. It was a relief when she rang off. He took his hat
+and went off to call on Esther.
+
+He felt that he could settle to nothing till he had seen her again;
+there was a curious jealousy in his heart about Ashton; he would have
+given anything he possessed to be able to disillusion her, but knew it
+was impossible without hopelessly compromising himself.
+
+It was a bitter disappointment to find that she was out when he
+reached the boarding-house; his face fell absurdly when he turned and
+walked away.
+
+He wondered if she really was out, or only out to him.
+
+After a moment he laughed at himself. A few days ago he had not known
+there was such a person as Esther Shepstone in the world, and yet now
+here he was, consumed with jealousy because she was not in when he
+called.
+
+He took a taxicab back to the West End; he walked about for half an
+hour staring aimlessly into shop windows, then went back to his rooms.
+He could not understand his extraordinary restlessness; he had only
+once before felt anything like it in all his life, and that had been
+the first time he ever backed a horse, and was waiting a wire from the
+course to say if the brute had won.
+
+He recalled the fever of impatience that had consumed him then, and
+laughed; after all, it had been nothing compared with this.
+
+Driver came into the room.
+
+"If you please, sir, Miss Mason has been on the 'phone. She said would
+I ask you to meet her for tea."
+
+Micky did not look enthusiastic; he liked June awfully, but to-day
+every one and everything seemed a bore.
+
+"Tea! Where?" he asked vaguely.
+
+"Miss Mason said that you would know, sir; the same place as usual."
+
+"Oh, all right!"
+
+Micky looked at the clock and sighed. After all, June was always
+amusing; he went off almost cheerfully to the unpretentious club of
+which she had spoken to Esther. He had to wait in the lobby while a
+boy in buttons fetched June to him. She came downstairs looking very
+much at home, and smoking the inevitable cigarette. It was one of June
+Mason's charms that she always managed to look at home wherever she
+was.
+
+She had taken off her coat, but she wore a green hat with a gold
+ornament that suited her to perfection, set on her dark head at rakish
+angle.
+
+"I began to think you were not coming," she said.
+
+She gave him her left hand, and Micky squeezed it in friendly fashion.
+They went upstairs together to a small tea-room, which was just now
+deserted save for two waitresses who were giggling together over a
+newspaper.
+
+June walked over to a table in the window, and Micky followed.
+
+He had been here with her scores of times before, and the two
+waitresses smiled at one another knowingly; they were quite sure that
+this was romance.
+
+Micky was sitting with an elbow on the table, absently smoothing the
+back of his head; he was wishing it was Esther sitting opposite to
+him; he looked up with a little start when June spoke to him.
+
+"What's up, Micky? I've never seen you looking so depressed."
+
+He roused himself with an effort.
+
+"Oh, nothing, nothing! It's the beastly weather, I expect."
+
+She looked at him quizzically with her queer eyes.
+
+"I shouldn't have thought the weather would depress you," she said.
+"However, if you say it does----"
+
+He shook himself together.
+
+"I'm not depressed any longer," he declared. "Well, and how are you?
+And how is the swindle?" It was Micky's pet joke to call June's
+invention the "swindle," though in his heart he was almost as proud of
+it as she was.
+
+She laughed.
+
+"It's very well, thank you; but that isn't what I want to talk to you
+about to-day. Micky, would you like to come to tea with me one
+afternoon?"
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Tea! Haven't I come to tea with you to-day?"
+
+"Silly! I don't mean here; I mean where I live. It's a boarding-house.
+I dare say you'll hate it, but it's really quite a nice place, and
+beggars can't be choosers, anyway. I've got a very comfortable
+sitting-room and most of my own furniture, and I can give you a good
+cup of tea, or anything else, if you prefer it."
+
+"I shall be delighted," Micky looked puzzled. "But isn't this rather a
+breaking of rules? It's not so very long ago that you made me swear
+never to try and find out where you lived. I thought it was all to be
+a deadly secret."
+
+"So it was, but I've decided to admit you. I know you're safe, and,
+Micky, wouldn't you like to meet the dearest, prettiest, most
+attractive little girl...."
+
+Micky moved his chair back in mock alarm.
+
+"June! You're not turning match-maker! If you are, I give you fair
+warning that our friendship will have to end once and for ever. I'll
+put up with a lot from you, but not this--not...."
+
+"Don't be an idiot!" said June calmly. "There isn't the slightest
+fear! And anyway----" she added, with a half sigh, "she's engaged, so
+it wouldn't be any good. But I want you to help her.... Oh, I know I'm
+always bringing you foundlings to help and look after, but you've got
+such a big heart--and such a big banking account," she added
+audaciously.
+
+"Well, go on----" he said resignedly. "Who is the foundling this time,
+and what am I to do?"
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"She's a darling," June said warmly. "I've only known her for four
+days--she lives in the same house. I took a fancy to her from the
+first moment I saw her. No, it was before that--it was when I first
+heard her name...."
+
+Micky raised his brows.
+
+"What a creature of impulse! My dear, you'll burn your fingers badly
+some day."
+
+"And when I do," said Miss Mason sharply, "I shan't come crying to you
+for sympathy; however ... Well, she's poor! she's one of those
+horribly poor, frightfully proud people whom it's impossible to help.
+I've tried all ways! I asked her to go shares with my sitting-room,
+and she said she couldn't afford it; she'll hardly let me give her a
+cup of tea or coffee for fear I should think she is sponging on me.
+She seems most frightfully alone in the world. She says she engaged to
+a man, but he's abroad, and I'm sure he's not nice, anyway. He's only
+written to her once since I've known her, at all events, and this
+morning when there wasn't a letter, I know she went back to her room
+and cried. I knocked at the door, but she wouldn't let me in."
+
+She paused, and looked at Micky for sympathy.
+
+He half smiled; he knew how enthusiastic June always was about
+everything.
+
+"Well, and what do you want me to do for this damsel in distress?" he
+asked gently.
+
+"I want you to get her a berth somewhere," he was told promptly. "No,
+it's no use saying you can't! My dear man, you must know scores of
+people who'd take her in. She thought she was fixed up all right, but
+now it appears that the people she was with before haven't got a
+vacancy for her, and so that's knocked on the head. She told me that
+she's have to just take the first thing that came along. I don't
+believe she's hardly got a shilling to her name. I offered to take her
+into partnership with me. I said we'd go travelling together for my
+beauty cream, but she wouldn't hear of it.... She's so proud!"--and
+here a sound of tears crept into June Mason's voice. "I ask you,
+Micky, what can be done with any one like that?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"If she'll take anything that comes along, she ought to get a job
+pretty soon," he said laconically. "I'll speak to a man I know--can
+she write a decent hand and all that sort of thing?"
+
+"Of course she can! But I want a good berth, mind you! I've never been
+so fond of anybody as I am of her. She's awfully worried about this
+horrid man she's engaged to. She doesn't say much about him, but this
+morning she said that there didn't seem to be anything to live for,
+and her eyes looked so sad...."
+
+Micky smiled at her serious face.
+
+"You'd make an eloquent appeal in a court of law," he said. He took a
+pencil from his pocket and an envelope. "Give me her name and address,
+and I'll see what I can do. I don't promise anything, mind you, but
+I'll do what I can...."
+
+"You're a dear," said June warmly. "I know you were the one to come
+to. I'm quite sure when you've seen Esther you'll ... why, what's the
+matter, Micky?"
+
+Micky had looked up sharply. His face had paled a little.
+
+"What name did you say?" he asked. He never knew how he managed to
+control his voice. His heart seemed to be thumping in his throat.
+"What name did you say?" he asked again, with an effort. "I did not
+catch it----"
+
+"It's Esther," said June, "Esther Shepstone."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Micky's pencil jerked suddenly, sending an aimless scrawl across the
+paper; for an instant he stared at his companion with blank eyes.
+Fortunately June Mason was too intent on the relighting of her
+cigarette to have any attention to spare for him; she went on talking
+as she puffed.
+
+"Yes...."--puff--"that's her name...." Another puff. "Isn't it a
+change from your eternal Violets and Dorothys?"... Puff, puff. "Oh,
+bother!" She threw the cigarette into an empty grate behind her and
+prepared to give Micky her undivided attention once more. "Well, what
+do you think about it? You haven't written her name down. Esther
+Shepstone, I said.... Write it down," she commanded.
+
+Micky obeyed at once. He was beginning to recover himself a little.
+
+"I shall be able to help her all right," he said quickly. "Only, of
+course, you won't let her know I'm mixed up in it at all; she'd hate
+it if she knew, she...."
+
+"How do you know she would?" June demanded with suspicion.
+
+Micky met her eyes squarely.
+
+"Well, you said she was proud or something, didn't you? And anyway I
+don't want to pose as a blessed philanthropist; I'm not one either,
+but I'll see what I can do for--for this new friend of yours. You say
+she's poor?"
+
+"Horribly poor, I'm afraid," said June with a sigh. "Micky, it's
+rather pathetic--somebody sent her some money--not very much, but
+still, it was money she evidently didn't expect. I've got a sort of
+idea that it was from this man she's supposed to be engaged to----"
+
+"Why do you say 'supposed'--she is engaged to him, isn't she?"
+
+June shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"She says so, and she wears a ring, but I've a sort of instinctive
+feeling that there's something funny behind it. Anyway, I know she's
+not happy; but don't interrupt. About this money--well, it was partly
+my fault! I persuaded her to go and buy herself some clothes--she had
+such a few things, poor child! And I even went with her and she bought
+a frock and a new coat...."
+
+"Yes," said Micky eagerly; he was glad she had bought a new coat; he
+remembered how thin hers had been on that memorable night, and how she
+had shivered in the cold night air.
+
+"She was as pleased as a child with a new toy," Miss Mason went on.
+"She brought them all up to my room to show me when they came home,
+and we both tried them on ... and you've no idea how sweet she
+looked," she added with enthusiasm. "Of course, I suppose this is
+boring you horribly," she said deprecatingly.
+
+"No," said Micky honestly. "It's not boring me at all, I promise
+you."
+
+"Well, anyway, she got the clothes, and now the place where she was
+before say they can't take her back--it's Eldred's, the petticoat
+shop. I don't suppose you know it, but----"
+
+"I know it very well," said Micky.
+
+"Oh, do you?" She laughed. "Well, they either won't or can't take her
+back, and now she feels that she ought not to have spent the money on
+the new frock and coat, and this morning she told me that she was
+afraid she would have to leave Elphinstone Road, as it was more than
+she could afford." June's eyes flashed. "Micky, what can one do with
+people who are poor and proud? It's a most difficult combination to
+fight. I blundered in and offended her by offering to lend her some
+money, and, of course, she wouldn't hear of it, and there you are!"
+
+She sighed, and leaned back in her chair despondently.
+
+"Have a cake," said Micky absently; he pushed the plate across to her.
+"The ones with the white sugar are nice."
+
+Miss Mason ignored him.
+
+"If that's all the interest you take----" she said offendedly.
+
+Micky started.
+
+"My dear girl, I'm full of interest--chock full to the brim! But we
+came here for tea, so we may as well eat something while I try to
+think of a plan." He wrinkled his forehead. "Of course," he
+ejaculated, "that chap--what did you say his name was?"
+
+"What chap? Oh, the fiance! I don't know; she hasn't even let me see
+his photograph yet; but she says he writes dreams of letters. I
+haven't seen them either, of course."
+
+"He may send her some more money. After all, you say it's only four
+days since she heard from him. That's not very long; men are always
+rotten letter writers."
+
+Miss Mason looked wise.
+
+"Four days is a long time when you're in love," she said. "If you were
+engaged to Esther Shepstone I'll bet you'd write to her every day.
+You're just the kind. Oh, I know what you're going to say--that you're
+cut out for a bachelor, and rubbish like that, but you wait and see,
+Micky--it's never too late."
+
+"I've never written a love-letter in my life," Micky declared
+indignantly. "And, anyway----"
+
+June leaned across the table and looked at him with accusing eyes.
+
+"Never? On your word of honour, Micky?"
+
+Micky laughed and coloured.
+
+"Well, perhaps--once!" he admitted. "But that's beside the point,
+isn't it?... I'll think things over and write to you."
+
+"Yes, but soon, Micky, soon! It's not a case where you can sit down
+with your feet on the mantelpiece and give yourself a week to turn
+things over in your mind. I want to know at once, to-morrow--to-night,
+if possible. I know what Esther is--she'll be gone before I can turn
+round, and I should hate her to go. I haven't got many friends, and I
+do feel that she and I are going to be real friends--great friends ...
+I don't know when I've taken such a fancy to anybody----"
+
+"You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that," said Micky. His
+eyes were shining. Then he realised that he had displayed rather
+unnecessary warmth and hastened to amend his words. "I always said
+that what you wanted was a real woman friend," he added more quietly.
+
+June was drawing on her gloves; she had very white hands and
+beautifully-kept finger-nails, and she was very proud of them.
+
+"Never mind me," she said briskly. "You bustle about and find a post
+for Esther, and I'll love you for ever. Are we ready?"
+
+She rose and gathered up her various belongings. Micky declared that
+she was always laden with small, oddly-shaped parcels.
+
+"Samples, my dear man, samples!" she said briskly when Micky asked if
+he might not be allowed to carry some. "And they're much too precious
+to risk you dropping any."
+
+"There's just one stipulation," Micky said as he followed her
+downstairs again. "You're not to tell Miss Shepstone anything about
+me--I'm going to be very strict on this subject. Will you promise?"
+
+"Bless your heart, yes--and if you come to tea one day----"
+
+"Oh, I don't think I'll come to tea," Micky said hastily. "I should
+only feel rotten--self-conscious and all the rest of it, even if I was
+quite sure she didn't know anything--not that there's anything to know
+yet," he added quickly. "I may not be able to help her."
+
+Miss Mason laughed.
+
+"Oh, you'll help her right enough," she said breezily. "I know you."
+
+She dismissed him when they reached the street. "No, I don't want you
+to come with me; I've got some business to see to and you'd only be a
+nuisance." She gave his hand a squeeze. "Good-bye, and thanks ever so
+much Micky. You'll write to me--or wire?"
+
+"As soon as there is anything to report."
+
+He raised his hat and turned away, and June dived across the road,
+perilously near to a motor-omnibus, clutching her samples jealously to
+her heart.
+
+"It'll be all right now," she told herself, with a sense of comfort.
+"Everything's always all right as soon as Micky gets hold of it."
+
+A soliloquy which made it seem all the more curious that she should
+have hesitated to trust herself to him for life. Perhaps, as she had
+told Esther, she cared too much for him to take the risk for them
+both. He had told her candidly that he did not care for her as a man
+should care for the woman he marries.
+
+"And he makes a ripping friend! Ripping!" she told herself as she
+scurried along to interview another beauty specialist about the
+"swindle," as Micky politely called it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Micky went straight home when he left June. What he had heard about
+Esther had disturbed him very much. He loathed to think that she was
+unhappy.
+
+The question was, how best to help her, and quickly. He was thankful
+she had made a friend of June. June was one of the best, the loyalest
+pal a man could ever have.
+
+But, as June had said, Esther was too proud to take help unless it was
+most tactfully offered. He racked his brains in vain. It was a
+sickening thought that, with all his wealth, he could give her
+nothing. Even the few paltry pounds she had unconsciously taken from
+him would have been indignantly rejected had she known who was the
+donor.
+
+With sudden impulse he sat down and wrote to her. After all, she had
+accepted his friendship; there was no reason on earth why he should
+not write and ask to be allowed to see her again. He wrote most
+carefully lest she should discover some likeness to the letter he had
+written to replace Ashton's.
+
+Might he take her out to dinner one night? Any night would suit him.
+And did she like theatres? He had a friend who sometimes gave him a
+couple of seats for a show. He would arrange for any night she liked
+to mention.
+
+He thought that was a neat stroke of diplomacy--of course, she would
+not think he could afford to buy seats, and anyway it was true that he
+had a friend who often gave him boxes and things--he would have to be
+careful that Phillips did not send along a box this time though.
+
+He ended up by hoping formally that she and Charlie were quite well
+and comfortably settled into their new home, and he signed himself:
+"Yours very sincerely, Micky Mellowes."
+
+When he had finished the letter, he realised that he had written it on
+his own heavily embossed writing paper, so he had to dig Driver up and
+borrow a cheap sheet of unstamped grey paper and write it all out
+again. Then he went out and posted it himself.
+
+As soon as it had gone he wished he had sent it by hand; it meant such
+a deuce of a time to wait for a reply; he calculated that he could not
+possibly hear before to-morrow night.
+
+But in this he was pleasantly disappointed, for his own letter reached
+the boarding-house in Elphinstone Road that night, and Esther's reply
+was waiting for him with the kidney and bacon in the morning.
+
+Micky's heart began to thump when he saw the letter beside his plate;
+he had never seen Esther's handwriting, but he knew by instinct that
+it was hers. He scanned the first lines eagerly, and his face fell.
+
+  "DEAR MR. MELLOWES,--Thank you for your letter. I am sorry, but I
+  cannot come out with you, either to dinner or to a theatre.--
+
+                                Yours very truly, ESTHER SHEPSTONE."
+
+Micky's face was pathetic in its disappointment. He read the few curt
+lines through again and again, vainly trying to find something more
+behind the unmistakable refusal, but there it was in all its bald
+decision.
+
+She did not want to go out with him any more; she did not care if she
+saw him again or not.
+
+Micky left his breakfast, he no longer had any appetite. He had never
+had such a snub in all his life--out of his disappointment anger was
+rising steadily; she had no right to snub him like that without a
+reason.
+
+Driver, coming into the room at that moment, saw the untouched
+breakfast and halted midway between door and table to stare at his
+master.
+
+Micky stood with his hands deep thrust into his pockets, glowering
+into the fire. Driver advanced a step.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir--but wasn't you well?" he asked stoically.
+
+Micky began to swear, then his mood changed and he laughed.
+
+"Yes, I'm all right----" He hesitated. "Driver, would you like to go
+to Paris?"
+
+Driver raised wooden eyes.
+
+"Anywhere you wish, sir," he answered, in his usual expressionless
+voice. "When were you thinking of starting, sir?"
+
+"I'm not thinking of starting at all," said Micky. "I want you to
+go--alone! You've been often enough now not to get lost. Do you think
+you can manage it?"
+
+"Yes, sir, if you think you can manage without me here."
+
+There was the faintest touch of amazement in the man's even voice; he
+knew how helpless Micky was, or pretended to be--knew how he hated
+being left to do for himself.
+
+But Micky only laughed.
+
+"Oh, I can manage all right. I shall probably go away somewhere myself
+for a few days. Besides, you won't be gone long----" He paused.
+
+"No, sir," said Driver.
+
+Micky was leaning against the mantelshelf; his eyes were all crinkled
+up into a laugh as if he had heard some excellent joke which he was
+about to repeat.
+
+"No, you won't be gone long," he said again. "A couple of days, I
+should think. You can put up at the hotel we stayed at last time;
+they'll look after you, and the manager speaks English."
+
+"Yes, sir----" Driver hesitated. "And--what were you wanting me to do
+when I get there, sir?" he asked, after a moment.
+
+Micky clung to his joke for an instant longer, then suddenly he let it
+go.
+
+"I want you to post a letter for me," he said.
+
+Driver was too well trained to show amazement at Micky's instructions,
+but just for a fractional second he forgot to answer with his usual
+"Yes, sir," and stood immovable. Then he recovered himself, and said
+it twice with hurried apology.
+
+"And am I to go at once, sir?"
+
+"To-morrow morning will do," Micky said. "You can go by the first boat
+train." He looked at the man anxiously. He had a sort of uncomfortable
+feeling that Driver must be thinking he was not quite right in the
+head. After a moment he dismissed him.
+
+Then Micky went over to his desk and rummaged amongst the many papers
+and letters there till he found a sheet of paper embossed with the
+name of an hotel in Paris. It had not been used, and Micky heaved a
+sigh of relief.
+
+He went to bed late that night. He forgot all about his promise to go
+round to the Delands. He spent the time writing letters and tearing
+them up again till the wastepaper basket was full; then he carried it
+over to the fireplace and burnt every scrap of paper it contained.
+
+There were two finished letters lying on his desk. One was sealed and
+addressed, but not stamped, and the other was written on a sheet of
+Driver's plain notepaper, which Micky folded and unfolded with a sort
+of nervous dissatisfaction.
+
+Its contents were not very long, but they had taken a good deal of
+composing.
+
+  "DEAR MISS SHEPSTONE,--I received your note in reply to my letter
+  and cannot help saying that I feel very hurt at your decided
+  refusal to allow me to take you out. I thought we were to be
+  friends? Have I been so unfortunate as to offend you? If so, I can
+  only assure you that it has been utterly unintentional. Won't you
+  let me see you, if only for a moment? I will meet you at any time
+  or place.--                          Yours sincerely, MICKEY
+  MELLOWES."
+
+
+He gave a dissatisfied growl as he finished reading it. Not a very
+eloquent epistle. There was so much more which he wanted to say, but
+did not dare to. He folded it again and thrust it into an envelope;
+then he addressed it and laid it beside that other on his desk,
+comparing the two handwritings with complacence.
+
+Not in the least alike! Nobody would ever suspect that they had been
+written by the same person.
+
+He rang for Driver and gave him the unstamped envelope. "This is what
+I want you to post in Paris. Mind you put enough stamps on. You'd
+better have it weighed."
+
+"Yes, sir." Driver looked at the other letter. "And--is that for the
+post too, sir?"
+
+Micky put his hand behind him with a guilty gesture.
+
+"No; I'll post that myself," he said, and he went out then and there
+into the cold night and did so.
+
+As it dropped into the letter-box Micky looked up at the stars and
+sighed.
+
+What the dickens could he have done to make her so distant? At any
+rate he would let her see that he was not to be so easily snubbed. If
+she didn't answer his letter he would go boldly round to Elphinstone
+Road, and stay there till he saw her.
+
+He was half way to bed before he remembered that he had promised to go
+to the Delands that evening. He stopped short with his necktie half
+undone and swore.
+
+What the deuce would they think of him?
+
+Well, he would have to plead that headache still, that was all, and if
+Marie chose to cut up rough.... Micky felt mean because he rather
+hoped that she would. He knew that he wanted their friendship to
+cease, but, man-like, he did not altogether like having to take the
+initiative. Marie was a nice little girl, and if it hadn't been for
+that relative of hers dying on New Year's Eve--well, he would probably
+have been engaged to her by this time.
+
+He went to bed feeling miserable.
+
+Driver had just left the house to catch the boat train the following
+morning when June Mason rang Micky up.
+
+"Any news for me?" she demanded. "I hate worrying you so soon, but
+Esther's given notice. She's told Mrs. Elders that she can't afford to
+stay on. I nearly shook her this morning. I asked her to let me help
+her for the time being. I even said that I would take five per cent.
+interest on the hateful money if she was so abominably proud, and she
+laughed! She cried the next minute and said I was much too kind to
+her, but she wouldn't listen. What have you done?"
+
+"Everything," said Micky promptly. "In a couple of days--"
+
+"My good man, that's much too long to wait."
+
+"It's the best I can do," said Micky rather shortly. "And you'll find
+it's a good best if you'll be patient."
+
+He heard the sigh she gave.
+
+"Honest Injun!" he said seriously.
+
+"Oh, very well. If you let me down, Micky----"
+
+"You won't be let down," Micky said.
+
+June went back to Elphinstone Road with a heavy heart.
+
+She was very thorough in her friendships, and it really seemed a
+terrible thing to her that Esther would not accept help.
+
+She felt so genuinely fond of the girl herself that she could not
+understand the feeling of affection and confidence not being
+reciprocated; she went up to her room and tucked herself into the big
+armchair amongst the mauve cushions and smoked innumerable cigarettes.
+Charlie was asleep by the fire; he found his way upstairs now without
+invitation; he was beginning to get quite respectable-looking; he had
+lost his wild, scared look, and even his purr had taken on a sleekier,
+smoother sound.
+
+June stared at him for some time, then suddenly she got up and went
+downstairs.
+
+She knocked at Esther's door, but there was no answer, and she went
+back to her own room dejectedly.
+
+If only Esther were not so proud they might have such good times
+together! If only Esther had a little money and could go shares with
+this room; but what was the good of wishing? She hurled one of the
+mauve cushions across the room, and after that she felt better.
+
+She went down to lunch because she hoped Esther would be there, but
+she was not. The long room was rather empty, and June ate her cold
+meat and pudding hurriedly and went back upstairs.
+
+It was getting dusk when she heard Esther come in; she waited eagerly,
+but the footsteps did not come on to her door. June threw another
+cushion across the room to keep the other company; it was her chief
+vent for anger or irritation.
+
+"Confounded pride," she said under her breath. She paced up and down
+for some minutes, then she caught Charlie up from his cushion and went
+downstairs to Esther's room with him in her arms.
+
+Her knock was answered immediately and Esther stood there in the
+doorway.
+
+June spoke without looking at her.
+
+"I've brought Charlie down--I thought if he stayed up in my room any
+longer you'd be wanting to pay me for his board and lodging."
+
+She thrust the cat into Esther's arms and turned away.
+
+She was feeling very sore; hers was such a generous nature that she
+could not understand why Esther could not see how glad she would have
+been to help her; she went back to her own room and slammed the door.
+
+A moment later she was sorry for what she had done; twice she went
+half way down the stairs to apologise, then came back again.
+
+"Do her good," she told herself snappishly. "I've no patience with
+such silly pride, and as for you, my boy," she stopped and shook her
+fist at Micky's photograph, "if you don't buck up and find her
+something...."
+
+The two days dragged away. June purposely avoided Esther; she never
+went into the dining-room to meals, and Esther never came upstairs to
+June's room; there was a kind of armed neutrality between them.
+
+Charlie, too, seemed to have been told to keep away, and June missed
+his lusty purr in the silent room.
+
+She shed a few tears into the mauve cushions; she thought Esther was
+wilfully misunderstanding her; she wrote to Micky on the second day
+with a great deal of emphasis.
+
+"Are you dead or asleep? Here am I, just living to hear from you, and
+you leave me without a word! Esther and I haven't spoken for two days,
+not that you care, of course. You don't believe in my friendships, I
+know, but it's a very serious thing for me. I'm more fond of that girl
+than I've ever been of anybody, and now she'll walk out of this house
+and my life, and it will be your fault...."
+
+She knew this was unfair to Micky, but she knew that Micky would
+understand--Micky always understood.
+
+But Micky frowned over the letter. Did she imagine he enjoyed sitting
+down here doing nothing? What pleasure did she suppose he was getting
+out of the whole thing?
+
+He threw the letter into the fire. Something ought to happen
+to-morrow, anyway. The last two days had seemed like months.
+
+To kill time he went round to the Delands. He felt a little nervous as
+he reached the house. It seemed an unconscionable time since he was
+last here. When the butler opened the door he felt an insane desire to
+say, "Good evening, Jessop! You're still here, then." Such a decade
+ago it seemed since Jessop had been wont to admit him without question
+and take his hat and coat.
+
+But Jessop did not smile to-night, and did not move back an inch when
+he saw who was the caller.
+
+Micky was nonplussed.
+
+"Er--anybody in?" he asked awkwardly.
+
+"No, sir; the mistress and the young ladies are all out, sir...."
+
+"Oh!" There was a little silence; then Micky turned on his heel.
+"Well, good-night!" he said jerkily.
+
+He walked away, not sure if he was relieved or disappointed. A few
+yards down the road he almost cannoned into a man he knew.
+
+"Hullo, Philips! Where are you off to?"
+
+Philips stopped.
+
+"Hullo, Micky! Not coming my way? I'm going to the Delands. What's up
+with you? Haven't seen you for a week or more."
+
+"I've been seedy," Micky said hurriedly. "And the Delands are out.
+I've just called there myself."
+
+"Eh?" Philips tried hard to see his face through the darkness. "Rot,"
+he said at last. "They've got a musical evening on--I had a special
+invite."
+
+Micky said nothing. This was a nasty blow; apparently the Delands were
+only "not at home" to him. Jove! he must have behaved caddishly. He
+walked on feeling very subdued. Had he quite lost his wits, he
+wondered, that for the sake of a girl who would have none of him he
+was willing to offend all his old friends? He tried to look at his
+behaviour from Marie Deland's point of view. Yes, it must look pretty
+rotten, he was forced to admit.
+
+He thought about it all the time he walked home. He asked himself
+honestly if this new game was worth the candle.
+
+Esther loved another man.
+
+Already she had shown him that she cared nothing for him or his
+friendship, and yet--yet---- Micky set his teeth. He had never wanted
+anything really badly in all his life before, but now he wanted this
+girl.
+
+"I'm not done yet, anyway," he told himself. "After all--let the best
+man win."
+
+He felt that he had decided a question of great importance as he went
+back to his rooms; it was a pleasant surprise to find Driver there;
+Micky beamed.
+
+"You've got back, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The man took Micky's hat and coat, and turned to go.
+
+Micky stared.
+
+"Everything all right?" he asked, with a touch of anxiety.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You posted the letter?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and had it weighed...." There was a little pause.
+
+"Is that all?" Micky asked. "Nothing else happened?"
+
+The man raised his expressionless eyes.
+
+"I should have got in this morning, sir, but we had a rough crossing,
+and I was ill----"
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Poor old Driver!--anything else?"
+
+"Yes, sir--I met Mr. Ashton in Paris. He seemed very surprised to see
+me there without you, sir."
+
+Micky's face changed; he had not counted on this.
+
+"Good Lord!" he said. "You didn't tell him you----?"
+
+Driver raised his eyes.
+
+"I never tell anybody anything, sir," he said woodenly.
+
+Micky breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"Good man.... He was alone, of course?"
+
+"Alone at the hotel, but I saw him out driving twice with the same
+lady, sir."
+
+"You saw him out twice--driving with the same lady?" Micky echoed the
+man's words vaguely. "All right--you can go."
+
+"Thank you, sir." Driver departed, closing the door noiselessly.
+
+Ashton had soon found consolation, Micky thought savagely. He wondered
+what Esther would say if she could know. What was Driver thinking
+about it all? Driver was safe as the Bank of England; but, all the
+same, it was not altogether pleasant to feel that he had had to give
+himself away to his valet.
+
+He looked up at the clock. Past nine! So there would not be another
+post in to-night.
+
+Esther had not answered his note, and two whole days had elapsed.
+
+Micky began pacing the room. Why had she so suddenly thrown him over,
+he wondered miserably.
+
+He could not imagine what he had done to offend her.
+
+He hardly knew how the days had passed since New Year's Eve. He had
+not visited any of his old haunts or seen any of his friends. It
+almost seemed as if he had opened the book of a new life and forgotten
+about the old.
+
+She might have answered his letter. Dash it all! he wasn't just a
+bounder who had spoken to her for his own amusement. He kicked a
+hassock out of his way and went to bed.
+
+If he didn't hear in the morning, he would risk it and go round to see
+her. At the worst she could only have the door shut in his face....
+
+"And even then----" he told his reflection in the mirror fiercely, as
+he struggled with a stud. "Even then I'm not done--and I'll show her
+that I'm not...."
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+June Mason was mixing perfume the following morning when a little
+knock came at her door.
+
+She looked up from her work and listened; after a second she resumed
+her occupation briskly.
+
+"Come in," she said.
+
+She did not raise her eyes when the door opened, though she knew quite
+well who had entered the room, and for a second Esther Shepstone stood
+on the threshold hesitatingly, then she spoke.
+
+"May I come in?"
+
+June Mason looked up with an exaggerated start; she was a picturesque
+figure at that moment in a big white overall, and with a scarf of her
+favourite mauve tied over her dark head.
+
+She held a little phial in either hand, and there was a delicious
+faint smell of rose perfume in the room.
+
+"You!" she said. "Gracious! I thought you were dead and buried long
+enough ago. Oh yes, come in.... You don't mind me going on with my
+work, do you? I'm up to my eyes in it.... Sit down."
+
+But Esther stood where she was, the eagerness died out of her pretty
+face.
+
+"I won't stay if you're busy," she said. "I'll come another time,
+but----" she hesitated. Across the room the eyes of the two girls met,
+and June Mason promptly put down the two little phials.
+
+"Come in and apologise, and so will I," she said heartily. "There!"
+She reached up--Esther was taller than she--and gave the younger girl
+a sounding kiss. "There! I don't often kiss people, so you can
+consider yourself flattered." She dragged forward a chair and pushed
+Esther into it. "Now, what do you want, and where's that Charlie?
+You've no idea how I've missed him. No--you stay there, and I'll go
+and fetch him up."
+
+She darted off, and returned a moment later with Charlie in her arms.
+There were yards of mauve ribbon lying on the table and she cut off a
+length and tied it in a bow round his neck; then she kissed his head
+and dropped him on to his cushion. "There! Now, we're quite at home
+again," she said. "And now, fire away and tell me why you're here."
+
+She packed all the dishes and boxes on to a tray, put them out of
+sight behind a screen and came back to the fire.
+
+"Do you like this perfume? It's something new! I'm trying to blend it
+with white rose. Isn't it gorgeous?"
+
+"Beautiful!" said Esther. She consented to have her chin dabbed. "What
+are you making now?" she asked.
+
+Miss Mason chuckled.
+
+"Oh, I'm only experimising, as Micky calls it," she said lightly. "We
+don't want to talk shop. You've got some news; I can see by your face
+that you have."
+
+Esther laughed and flushed.
+
+"Oh, I have," she said tremulously. "Such wonderful news."
+
+"Humph!" said June drily. "From the young man, of course? Well, is he
+on his way home, and have you got to get a wedding dress in the next
+five minutes or something?"
+
+"Oh no, it isn't anything like that," said Esther. There was a shade
+of regret in her voice. "But he's in Paris--he says he's not staying
+there, but he had to pay a business call."
+
+June gave a rather unladylike sniff, but Esther was too engrossed to
+notice.
+
+"He seems to have been very lucky," she went on. "He hadn't got very
+much money when he went away, but he's got some appointment now; he
+does not say what and...."--she gave a little excited laugh--"he says
+that he's going to send me L3 a week for as long as he is away....
+Isn't it wonderfully good of him? I suppose I ought not to take it,
+but he says that if things had turned out as he hoped, we should have
+been married, and so ... you don't think it's wrong of me to take it,
+do you?" she asked anxiously.
+
+June rose to her feet. She looked chagrined; she had been so sure that
+this man was a rotter, that it was a bit of a set-back to hear this
+news.
+
+"You take it, my dear, and don't be a goose," she said promptly. "As
+he says, if you were his wife you'd take it, and as you're going to be
+married, it's quite the right thing if he's well off that he should
+help you! I hope you won't let your silly pride make you send it back;
+you'd only hurt his feelings."
+
+"I wouldn't do that for anything," Esther said quickly. "But it's such
+a lot of money."
+
+"Rubbish!" said June. "Why, Micky Mellowes wouldn't even stop to pick
+it up if he dropped it in the road."
+
+"We are not all millionaires like Mr. Mellowes," Esther said sharply.
+"And he ought to be ashamed of himself if he really wouldn't stop to
+pick it up."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Don't you take things so literally, my dear," she said. "I know you
+don't like Micky, though you've never seen him, but I'm going to ask
+him here to tea one day, if he'll come----"
+
+"I don't suppose he will," said Esther. "Elphinstone Road wouldn't be
+good enough for him, would it?"
+
+June frowned.
+
+"I don't like to hear you talk like that about Micky! It's not fair,
+when you don't know him. I tell you he's one of the best--and, anyway,
+as he's a friend of mine----"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I'm sorry--I'd no right to have said anything about him at all;
+please forgive me."
+
+"Oh, it's all right," June said laconically. "But he isn't a bit of a
+snob; he'd do anything in the world for anybody."
+
+Esther glanced up at his portrait on the shelf. She felt a trifle
+ashamed of what she had said; after all, Micky had been good to her in
+his own way, even if his own way had been patronising.
+
+"And so I shall stay on here," she said, after a moment. "And if you
+think you would still like me to share this room----"
+
+June pounced upon her.
+
+"You darling! It's too good to be true. Of course, I should love it!
+I'll go and tell old Mother Elders straight away; it will put her in a
+good temper for a month."
+
+"She's out," Esther said quickly. "I went to tell her myself as soon
+as I got my letter.... It only came this morning." She coloured
+sensitively beneath June's quizzical eyes.
+
+"And of course you've been devouring it ever since," June said. "Well,
+and very nice too! There's nothing to be ashamed of. I'll admit that I
+didn't think somehow that he could be a very nice sort of person, this
+young man of yours. No, I don't know why I thought so--just an idea of
+mine. I get hold of ideas like that. But I've changed my mind now; I'm
+sure he's a dear, or you'd never look so happy."
+
+"I should love you to see him," Esther said with enthusiasm. "I'm sure
+you would like him. I don't know his people, of course--I suppose if
+they thought he cared for me they'd be angry--but it doesn't really
+matter, and I know he doesn't care at all for his mother...."
+
+June looked up from stroking Charlie.
+
+"Now, I wish you hadn't said that," she said frankly. "No man can be
+really nice who doesn't love his own mother."
+
+Esther looked distressed.
+
+"But she's horrid!" she said eagerly. "He has told me how horrid she
+is to him--really she is--and as he's her only son----" She stopped.
+"After all," she went on, "there's no law to make you like a woman
+just because you happen to be her son, is there?"
+
+"It's unnatural not to," June answered shortly. "However, as neither
+of us know his mother, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. She
+may be a perfect old cat. Some women are."
+
+She wandered round the room to find a cigarette, and Esther sat
+looking into the fire.
+
+She could not remember her own mother. But somehow she felt sure that,
+had she been living, she would have adored her.
+
+She had never heard Raymond say anything nice of Mrs. Ashton--he had
+always spoken about her in a bitter, half sneering way.
+
+She looked across to June timidly.
+
+"Do you always judge people by what you call 'instinct'?" she asked.
+"When I first knew you you told me that you felt sure you would like
+me before ever you saw me, and----"
+
+"And I was right," June said triumphantly. "I nearly always am right
+when I get an instinct about anything. Micky says it's all rot!--there
+I am, talking about him again--it's a habit, so don't notice it! But
+even he has to admit how often I am right; I could give you dozens of
+instances."
+
+Esther did not pursue the subject; she was remembering how June had
+said that she had an "instinct" that Raymond was not nice.
+
+"I think you're the most original person I've ever met," she said with
+a little smile.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Eccentric, Micky says I am----" she answered, then broke off with a
+comical look of despair. "You really must excuse me for everlastingly
+dragging him in," she apologised. "As I said before, it's a habit--and
+there goes the dinner gong. Are we going to feed here to-day?"
+
+Esther rose from the chair.
+
+"I am," she said. "And I'm hungry, so I do hope there's something
+nice."
+
+They went down together.
+
+"Curry," said June, sniffing the air critically. "The colonel will be
+pleased; he's always telling us how they used to make curry in India,
+poor old chap! Though I don't think any of us really believe that he's
+ever been there."
+
+But the colonel was not there.
+
+"He's ill," so young Harley told the two girls as they sat down at
+their table. "I went up to see him this morning, and he really looks
+ill."
+
+"You don't look in exactly rude health yourself," said June in her
+blunt fashion. She noticed that Harley looked at Esther a great deal,
+and she made up her mind to tell him at the earliest opportunity that
+Esther was engaged. June scented romance everywhere.
+
+"They are the first violets I have seen this year," Esther was saying,
+looking at a little bunch the young man wore in his coat.
+
+He took them out eagerly and laid them down beside her plate.
+
+"Do have them, will you? I never wear flowers really, but a girl in
+the street begged me to buy them."
+
+Esther took them up eagerly.
+
+"They are my favourite flowers," she said. "And I haven't had any
+given to me for--oh, for ever so long."
+
+It gave her a little pang to remember that Ashton had always brought
+her violets in the first days of their acquaintance. It was one of the
+many little attentions which he had gradually dropped.
+
+"You're not to let Mr. Harley fall in love with you, mind," June said
+severely as they went upstairs after dinner. "He's much too nice to be
+made unhappy--even by you," she added affectionately.
+
+Esther stared.
+
+"Why, whatever do you mean?" she cried. "I never see him or speak to
+him, except at meal times."
+
+"I mean what I say," June insisted. "Didn't you see how he looked at
+you when you took his violets?"
+
+Esther flushed with vexation.
+
+"Why, what perfect nonsense!" she protested.
+
+But June only laughed.
+
+"Onlookers see most of the game," she declared. "Aren't you coming up
+to my room? Our room, I mean."
+
+"I've got to go out--I had an appointment at half-past two, but I'll
+love to come to tea with you," she added, seeing the disappointment in
+June's face.
+
+"Very well, then, four o'clock. But who is the appointment with? You
+won't need to find a berth now. You're a lady of leisure."
+
+"But I shall try all the same. I don't mean to be lazy just because
+he's so good to me. I shall save all I can. I went to an agency
+yesterday----"
+
+"They'll rob you," June protested. "They always do. I know what agents
+are," she added darkly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+But if she had hoped great things from her call that afternoon she was
+disappointed. The thin, aristocratic-looking person who owned the
+"Bureau," as it was called, looked at her with coldly critical eyes,
+and said that she had no vacancies likely to suit her.
+
+"But you told me to call," Esther protested.
+
+"Certainly; there might have been something," was all the answer she
+received. "Call again to-morrow, if you please."
+
+Esther went out dispiritedly. There were so many girls of her own
+class and age in the bare waiting-room; she felt quite sure that they
+would all get berths before she had a chance.
+
+She felt glad that she had June Mason to go back to. June was always
+sympathetic. She went straight upstairs to the sitting-room with the
+mauve cushions.
+
+June opened the door before she had time to knock.
+
+"I thought it was you. I heard your step. What's the matter? You
+sounded dispirited as you came upstairs."
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I believe you must have second sight, or whatever they call it. But
+you're right this time; I am rather down on my luck. They haven't
+anything at the agency to suit me. I----" She stopped, looking past
+June into the cosy room to where a man had just risen from a chair by
+the fire--a tall man--who looked across at her with eyes that were
+half-abashed, half-defiant. Micky Mellowes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+June introduced Micky and Esther with a sort of hurried
+self-consciousness. It was not by her invitation that Micky was here
+this afternoon, and the fact that she had asked him to help Esther
+embarrassed her.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes--Miss Shepstone; you've both heard of each other, so I
+can leave you to entertain one another while I get tea."
+
+And she bolted out of the room.
+
+Esther looked after her with angry eyes; she thought June might have
+stayed--she took a quick step forward to call her back, but Micky
+stopped her; he put a hand on the door above her head, shutting it
+fast.
+
+"I'm going to speak to you, whether you like it or not," he said.
+
+She faced him angrily; she was very flushed.
+
+"I don't know what you mean. You've no right to speak to me like that.
+If Miss Mason has asked you here to meet me----"
+
+"June didn't know I was coming. She has no more idea than the dead
+that we have ever met before. I haven't told her, and I don't suppose
+you have--or will," he added grimly. "However, as we are alone, will
+you tell me what I've done to offend you? It's not fair to take me for
+a friend and then fling me over as if I were an old glove.... If I've
+annoyed you, the least you can do is to tell me how and give me a
+chance to explain."
+
+Esther had walked back to the fire and Mellowes followed her. He knew
+that he had only got a few moments, and he meant to make the most of
+them.
+
+"You refuse to see me or to allow me to take you out," he went on
+urgently. "And you haven't even answered my last letter. If I have
+offended you----"
+
+"You haven't," said Esther, as he paused. "I'm not at all offended."
+
+"Then why, in the name of all that's holy----" he began again, in
+exasperation. She cut him short.
+
+"You didn't tell me the truth about yourself. You made out you were
+poor! You pretended to be some one quite different to what you are.
+You've a perfect right to, I suppose, if you wish, but I hate being
+deceived and treated like that. I suppose you think anything is good
+enough for me! Perhaps it is, but----"
+
+Micky brought his fist down with a bang on the back of the big
+armchair.
+
+"I give you my word of honour, Miss Shepstone, that what I said was
+only because it seemed the best way to make you trust me. I had
+absolutely no other reason for pretending to--to--be anything but what
+I am. I know you'd have gone off at a tangent if I'd said I was
+unfortunate enough to be rich, I know----"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"You didn't even write to me from your real address--you just put a
+number." She broke into an angry little laugh. "I suppose you thought
+I shouldn't understand that a number can also be an expensive flat."
+
+Micky turned pale with anger.
+
+"You're deliberately trying to make out that I'm a bounder. It's not
+fair--I don't deserve it; and as to thinking anything good enough for
+you--I suppose you'd only take it as a fresh insult if I told you that
+there is nothing in the world I consider good enough for you.... I
+... oh, what's the good of arguing," he broke out with sudden rage.
+
+"It's no good at all, and there's nothing to argue about," Esther said
+stiffly. She had taken off her gloves and was flattening them out
+nervously. "You offered me your friendship, and now I decline it. I
+suppose I am free to do so?"
+
+"No," said Micky violently, "you're not ... I--I ..." He turned away
+sharply, realising with dismay how nearly he had blurted out the truth
+about Ashton. After a moment he spoke more quietly.
+
+"It is pure chance that brought me here. I have known June Mason for
+years; we are old friends. She has no idea that I have ever seen you
+before, but I will tell her this moment if you wish it----"
+
+She raised passionate eyes to his face.
+
+"I will never forgive you as long as I live if you dare to," she said
+stormily.
+
+Micky frowned till his brows nearly met above his kind eyes.
+
+"Whatever I say or offer to do is wrong, of course," he said savagely.
+"If I had not offered to tell her, you would probably have said that I
+was ashamed of knowing you ... oh, good Heavens! whatever have I said
+now?" he added as he saw the hot blood rush to her face.
+
+He went over to her and tried to take her hand. "Do forgive me; I beg
+of you to forgive me--I'm a clumsy idiot--but you don't know how hurt
+I've felt about being turned down in this way."
+
+"It's absurd to feel hurt--I haven't turned you down; I wish you
+wouldn't keep saying that I have. Why I--I hardly know you," she added
+with a little angry laugh.
+
+Micky turned away; he stood staring down into the fire; neither of
+them spoke again till June returned.
+
+She carried a tray of cakes and hot toast; she set it down with a
+thump on the round table by the fire.
+
+"I coaxed it out of Mrs. Elders," she explained breathlessly. "I
+generally keep some cake up here myself, but I haven't got a bit
+to-day. Esther, fetch the cloth, there's a dear; and, Micky, you put
+the kettle on--I have filled it."
+
+She bustled about, talking the whole time; if she noticed the
+constraint between the other two she said nothing till tea was ready,
+and she sat down amongst the mauve cushions with a breathless sigh.
+
+"Now we're going to be cosy. Well, and how have you two been getting
+on? Micky, I've told Esther so much about you, she's sick to death of
+the sound of your name."
+
+"I never said so," Esther protested quickly.
+
+"Have some cake," Micky said; he deposited a slice on June's plate and
+adroitly changed the subject. He was furiously angry; he had not
+believed that Esther had it in her to turn on him as she had done. But
+the more she snubbed him, the more determined he was not to be
+snubbed. As he sat there stirring his tea and listening to June's
+chatter he was watching Esther all the time.
+
+She had taken off her coat now. He wondered if it was the coat his
+money had bought her; it was not half good enough, anyway. He thought
+of the furs and expensive gloves which Marie Deland wore, and he
+longed to be able to give some to this little girl who sat there with
+such angry defiance in her eyes.
+
+He realised that this pride of hers was going to be the hardest
+barrier of all between them.
+
+She could not forgive him because he was a rich man and had pretended
+to be poor; she could not forget that he had paid for her dinner and a
+saucer of milk for the cat. He looked down to where Charlie sat
+blinking in the firelight, and a little smile crossed his face. He
+wondered if perhaps some day soon she would offer to repay him for
+that night--if she would insist on doing so, as she had insisted on
+paying her share of everything with June.
+
+"More tea?" June demanded across the table, and Micky said,
+"Oh--er--yes, thanks," hurriedly. As long as the meal was unfinished
+Esther would have to stay in the room, he thought; she could not very
+well leave before; but in this he was mistaken, for Esther put her cup
+down almost at once and looked at June.
+
+"Will you think me very rude if I run away?" she asked. "I've got to
+see Mrs. Elders and tell her I am staying on--I think she has been
+trying to let my room."
+
+June looked disappointed. "Oh, well, if you really must go," she said.
+"Come back when you've seen her."
+
+"Thank you," said Esther. She turned to Micky, who had risen. "I won't
+say good-bye, then," she said with an effort to speak lightly.
+
+He held open the door for her, and a moment later she had gone. As
+soon as he came back to his chair June rounded on him.
+
+"What have you said to annoy her?" She looked quite angry! "I wanted
+you to like each other. Really, Micky, you are the limit! She won't
+come back again, you see if she does."
+
+"No," said Micky. "I don't think she will." He laughed a rather
+chagrined laugh. "I haven't said anything as far as I know," he added.
+"It's what you've said, I fancy. You've fed her up with accounts of
+what a wonderful person I am."
+
+"So you are," said June.
+
+He frowned.
+
+"It's kind of you to think so, but I don't know anybody else who
+shares your opinion."
+
+"Well, I can't help the world being full of idiots, can I?" she
+demanded in exasperation. "And, Micky, why did you come here to-day?
+When I asked you before you said you didn't want to come; you've soon
+changed your mind."
+
+"I came to tell you about Miss Shepstone. You asked me to get her a
+berth...."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"My dear boy, you're too late! She doesn't want your help now, or mine
+either, for that matter," she added ruefully. "She's a lady of
+means--that wonderful man of hers who's tucked up in Paris having the
+time of his life is going to allow her three pounds a week."
+
+She paused and looked across at him expectantly.
+
+"Well, why don't you look surprised?" she asked.
+
+Micky swallowed hard.
+
+"I am surprised!" he said. "Too jolly surprised for anything. It's
+good news, eh? I suppose she was pleased...."
+
+"Of course she was! She's staying on now, and is going to share my
+room. She had a qualm just for a moment, as to whether she ought to
+take the money, but I soon put her mind at ease. 'Take all you can
+get, my dear,' I said. After all, I dare say if the man's giving her
+three pounds he could afford to give her about double that amount; men
+are not particularly generous from what I know of them--except you,
+Micky...."
+
+Micky got red.
+
+"But three pounds a week is enough to live on? Don't you think it is?"
+he asked, with a touch of anxiety in his voice.
+
+"It's enough to live here on," June admitted. "But it's not great
+wealth. Still, she's going to get a berth as well, so perhaps, after
+all, the one you've heard of will suit her. What is it?"
+
+Micky was stooping, patting Charlie's head.
+
+"It's in an office," he said, after a moment; his voice sounded a
+little uncertain. "I don't think it would really suit her, though--now
+I've seen her," he hastened to add. "It would be too hard work--late
+hours and all the rest of it, dontcherknow."
+
+June looked at his bent head shrewdly.
+
+"Humph!" she said. "Perhaps it's just as well this phantom lover of
+Esther's has turned up trumps, if that's all you'd got to offer her."
+
+"Phantom lover!" said Micky; his voice sounded as if he were annoyed.
+"Whom are you talking about?"
+
+"Esther's beloved," June said airily. "She won't tell me his name, so
+I call him the phantom lover, because I've got an eerie sort of
+feeling in my mind about him that he doesn't really exist. What do you
+think, Micky?"
+
+"My dear girl, how can I possibly know?"
+
+June produced some cigarettes.
+
+"If he were all that she'd like me to believe he is," she said
+shrewdly, "she'd tell me more about him. She certainly got a bit more
+confidential to-day, and said that he had a cat for a mother and a few
+things like that. She had another letter from him this morning; he's
+in Paris--on business, so he tells her." She laughed, turning her face
+for a moment against the mauve cushion. Suddenly she sat upright
+again, "Micky, I should hate that man if I knew him!"
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"Another of your 'instinctive hates'?" he asked whimsically.
+
+She nodded.
+
+"I know you don't believe in them, but...."
+
+"Don't I?" said Micky thoughtfully. "I'm not so sure." He looked at
+his watch. "Well, I must be trotting. There's nothing else I can do
+for you, I suppose? No more waifs who want billets...?"
+
+"You're laughing at me."
+
+"I'm not--I never laugh at you." He laid his hand on her shoulder for
+a moment. "Don't bother to get up; you look so comfortable ...
+Good-bye----"
+
+"Good-bye--and, Micky, don't make up your mind not to like Esther just
+because of this afternoon."
+
+"My dear, I never thought of such a thing," he protested lamely.
+
+June snuggled more cosily into the cushions.
+
+"Ah, but I know what you are," she said, for once hopelessly on the
+wrong track.
+
+Micky laughed to himself as he went down the stairs; he wondered if he
+was getting clever, or if June was not so quick to see a thing as he
+had believed, that she had not noticed the constraint between himself
+and Esther.
+
+He looked about him eagerly as he went out, hoping to catch a
+glimpse of Esther, but the house seemed deserted, quite different from
+what he had pictured it to be. He had always thought that a London
+boarding-house must be noisy and crowded and perpetually smelling of
+soap and cabbage water; he was relieved to find that this was
+fairly comfortable and quiet.
+
+He picked up a taxicab at the corner of the road and was driven back
+to his flat. He felt very depressed. Everybody seemed to have
+interests in life except himself. He wished he had got married years
+ago and settled down. He thought of Marie Deland with remorseful
+affection. Here was another woman who must be thinking him a positive
+outsider. How in the world did a man put an end to a flirtation that
+was growing rapidly into something else without hurting a woman's
+feelings, he wondered.
+
+Ashton had accomplished it quite successfully several times. Micky
+sighed, and let himself into his flat.
+
+There were several letters lying on the table; he flicked them through
+disinterestedly; then he stopped--the last one was from Ashton.
+
+Micky stood for quite a minute staring down at the handwriting, which
+he had been at such pains to copy. Then he ripped open the envelope.
+
+Ashton wrote from Paris:--
+
+  "DEAR MICKEY,--Just a line to send you my address, as promised.
+  Hope things are going well with you. I am staying on here for the
+  present, as I have run up against Maisie Clare--you remember her,
+  Tubby Clare's little widow? My son, she's got pots of money, and
+  at the present moment things are looking promising! The mater
+  would be pleased if I could manage to pull it off. By the way, I
+  dare say Driver told you I met him the other day--he was very
+  mysterious and hadn't a word to say! Surely he wasn't joy-riding
+  over here by himself? Remember me to every one.--Yours, R. F.
+  ASHTON."
+
+And not one word about Esther! Not a single mention of the girl who
+was thinking of him night and day, and only living to see him again.
+
+Micky crushed the letter and tossed it into the fire. That settled it,
+he told himself; he no longer had the slightest compunction in cutting
+Ashton out; the fellow was not worth a moment's consideration.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Esther trudged to and fro from the agency where the stiff and stately
+lady presided so many times during the next few days that she began to
+hate the sight of the tall building and the dark stairs covered with
+worn linoleum.
+
+Every day the waiting-room seemed crowded with girls, many of whom
+were a great deal more shabby and hopeless looking than she was, and
+they all sat patiently on the wooden chairs and eyed one another with
+a sort of jealous suspicion till their turn came to pass within the
+magic portal which guarded the stiff and stately lady from the vulgar
+gaze.
+
+"I told you an agency wouldn't be any good," June Mason said when
+Esther came home after another fruitless journey. "They take your
+money and forget you till you turn up to remind them that you're still
+in existence. Give it up, my dear, and come into partnership with me.
+I should love to take you round to all the big stores and tell them
+that you owe your milk and rose complexion to my famous cream." She
+burst out laughing. "Can't you imagine it! Esther, you and I ought to
+tour the country in a caravan or something. Call ourselves the new
+Sequah." She rolled over in the big chair and hid her face in the
+cushions.
+
+Esther laughed; she felt quite at home now in June's room. There were
+a few of her own possessions lying about, and she had bought Charlie a
+new cushion of his own. It gave her a sense of independence to know
+that she was paying her share of everything.
+
+"I shall get something if I wait long enough," Esther said presently.
+"Do you know, I rather think I should like to be a companion, after
+all. I told Mr.----" She stopped; she had been about to add that she
+had once told Micky how she would hate it.
+
+"It might not be so bad," June admitted; "but you want some one with
+pots of money and a good temper."
+
+She looked at Esther consideringly.
+
+"There wouldn't have to be any eligible sons either," she said
+bluntly. "You're much too pretty----"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"What nonsense!"
+
+June dragged Esther to her feet and made her look in the glass.
+
+"Now dare to call it nonsense--look at yourself," she commanded.
+
+But Esther only looked at June.
+
+"Next to you," she began, but June cut her short.
+
+"If you're going to try blatant flattery," she said.
+
+They both laughed at that.
+
+Some one tapped at the door; Lydia, the smiling housemaid, appeared;
+she looked at the two girls with a sort of parental expression; she
+was very fond of them both, and never minded how late or how hard she
+worked to do little extra jobs for either of them. It was her greatest
+pride to stay in when her "evening out" came and help June label the
+little mauve pots; she recommended the famous cream to all her
+friends; she was as proud of it as if it were her own invention.
+
+She carried a note on a tray now, which she handed to Esther.
+
+"I found it on the hall table, Miss," she said. "It must have been
+left by messenger."
+
+She waited a moment to make up the fire and tidy the hearth; she was
+always glad of an excuse to stay in the room; she was never tired of
+telling her friends what a pretty room it was--she loved the mauve
+cushions and the many photographs.
+
+She went away with a reluctant backward look. June yawned.
+
+"Another love-letter?" she asked chaffingly. She looked across at
+Esther, and was surprised to see the embarrassment in the girl's
+face.
+
+"It's from Mr. Harley," she said, in distress. "Oh, I'm sure I've
+never let him think I----" She handed the letter to June. "He wants me
+to go to a theatre with him," she added in confusion.
+
+"Well, I should go," said June promptly. "You don't get much fun, and
+the man knows you're engaged, and if he likes to chance it----"
+
+"But how does he know I'm engaged? I've never told him."
+
+"I did," June said calmly. "I saw the way the wind was blowing and
+told him to save complications." She made a little grimace at Esther.
+"And after this note are you still going to declare that he isn't more
+than ordinarily interested? Esther, you're the most unsuspecting
+baby---- Say you'll go, of course. There's no harm in it."
+
+"I certainly shall not go," Esther said; "I don't want to, for one
+thing, and, for another, it would not be fair----"
+
+"You mean to Mr. Harley?" June asked.
+
+"Yes, and to----"
+
+"To the phantom lover! Oh, I see!" said June drily.
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"I don't know what you mean," she said with a touch of dignity.
+
+"Oh yes, you do," June declared. "Don't look so angry! What am I to
+call him, pray? You haven't told me his name." She waited, but Esther
+did not speak. "Of course, if you'd rather not," she added, rather
+stiffly.
+
+Esther got up and came over to sit on the arm of her chair.
+
+"It isn't that I don't want you to know, but--well, I promised him not
+to tell any one; you see, his people would be furious if they knew.
+After all, I suppose I'm not anybody, and----"
+
+June pushed her away.
+
+"Oh, you make me tired!" she said crossly. "Why will you insist on
+belittling yourself? Who on earth is this wonderful man that he sets
+himself up for such a model of superiority? He can't be anybody if
+he's ashamed of you. You don't like Micky, I know, but, with all his
+money and position, if he loved you he'd be only too proud to shout it
+from the housetops, and not care a hang what the world thought.
+There's no rotten pride about Micky--if he loved a beggar girl he'd be
+proud of it.... No, don't say any more, it makes me boil!"
+
+She lit another cigarette and puffed at it furiously.
+
+"Do you--do you think I should go with Mr. Harley, then?" Esther asked
+presently. Her pretty face was flushed and troubled.
+
+"No, I don't," said June emphatically. "I think you ought to please
+yourself. I don't want to advise you, but it does seem to me that
+you're throwing away any chance of real happiness for a--for a, what
+do they call it?--something beginning with a 'c'...."
+
+"Chimera," said Esther. She sat with downcast eyes for a moment, then
+suddenly she began to cry. Perhaps in her heart she felt in some
+mysterious way that June was right, that this girl, with her odd
+instinct, had put her hand right on the heart of things, and that her
+happiness did not really lie with Raymond Ashton.
+
+And yet she loved him. Night and day he was never out of her thoughts.
+She slept with his letters under her pillow. Since he went away he had
+done much to blot out all that had gone before. And yet sometimes the
+memory of that past unhappiness, of its disagreements and quarrels and
+petty unkindnesses would raise its ugly head and look at her with a
+sort of leer as if daring her to forget entirely.
+
+June was all remorse in a moment.
+
+"I'm a pig!" she said disgustedly. "I ought to be kicked. Why do you
+let me talk so much? It's awful cheek of me to dare to criticise you.
+I'll never do it again. He may be an angel for all I know. Esther, if
+you don't stop crying I shall cry too, and then there'll be a nice
+sort of noise."
+
+Esther dried her eyes and laughed shakily.
+
+"I'm silly; I don't know why I cried. There's nothing to cry for," she
+protested.
+
+"That's why women always cry," said June hardily.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Esther climbed the stairs of the agency again the following morning.
+There was a little feeling of despondency in her heart. She had slept
+badly, and she had not been able to forget what June had said about
+Ashton.
+
+Esther was influenced by June's "instincts," as she chose to call
+them; she knew it was foolish, but the fact remained all the same.
+
+When she opened the waiting-room door she felt half inclined to turn
+and go away again. She would only meet with the same answer: "Nothing
+that will suit you to-day, Miss Shepstone."
+
+But for a wonder the room was almost empty, and the tall and stately
+one was standing at the communicating door.
+
+When she saw Esther she came forward.
+
+"I was hoping you would call, Miss Shepstone. Will you come into my
+room?"
+
+Esther's heart leapt. She obeyed eagerly.
+
+A lady was sitting at the table looking rather bored and irritated.
+
+She was grey-haired and handsome, and most beautifully dressed. She
+turned slightly when Esther entered, and stared at her through her
+lorgnette, then she looked at the stiff and stately one.
+
+"Is this--er--the young lady?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, madam--this is Miss Shepstone." The stately one introduced
+Esther with a wave of her hand. "This lady, Miss Shepstone, is looking
+for a companion. Some one who can work well--and read aloud." She
+looked at Esther sharply. "Can you read aloud?" she asked.
+
+Esther stammered out that she supposed she could, but ...
+
+"That is a minor detail," the lady with the lorgnette interrupted.
+"Miss Shepstone, I am not wanting a companion in the ordinary sense of
+the word. That is to say, I do not want you to be constantly with me.
+You will have your own bedroom and sitting-room--and I shall only want
+you at certain hours of the day. You will write letters for me and
+make yourself generally useful." She paused, she searched the girl's
+eager face through her glasses.
+
+"How old are you?" she asked.
+
+"Twenty-four," said Esther.
+
+"Humph! And what have you done up till now?"
+
+Esther flushed.
+
+"I was in the workroom at Eldred's. The manager has promised to give
+me a reference, but----"
+
+"Eldred's!" the sharp gaze wavered a little. "And why did you leave
+there, may I ask?"
+
+"I left to get married, but----"
+
+"But you are not married, of course."
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor going to be?"
+
+"Not for the present, but----"
+
+She was cut short again.
+
+"I don't want to get used to you and to get you used to my ways and
+then for you to leave me," she was told. "And I don't want a young man
+constantly dangling round the house." Her voice was sharp, but not
+unkind, and there was a smile in the keen eyes.
+
+"No," said Esther. "I quite understand."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Well," said the owner of the lorgnette then, "what do you think about
+it? Do you think you would like to come? Do you think you would like
+me?"
+
+Esther smiled, there was something in this blunt questioning that
+reminded her of June Mason.
+
+"Yes," she said. "I think I should, but----"
+
+"I hate that word," she was told promptly. "I don't want any 'buts' in
+the question. You either wish to come or you do not. I will give you
+fifty pounds a year, and your keep, of course. It's too much for an
+inexperienced girl like you, but I think I shall rather like you.
+Well, what do you say?"
+
+Esther did not know what to say. The offer was tempting enough, but
+she thought of June Mason and the room with the mauve cushions where
+she was settling down so happily, and her heart sank.
+
+"I should like to think it over," she said, stammering. "I have a
+friend I should like to talk it over with if you don't mind. If you
+will give me just a day or two...."
+
+"Take a week by all means. I am going away myself for a few days, and
+I shan't want you till I come back. Write and tell me what you decide
+to do. Here is my card...." She took one from a heavy silver case and
+laid it on the table. She looked at Esther quizzically, then suddenly
+she held out her hand.
+
+"Good-bye, Miss Shepstone. I hope I shall see you again," and the next
+moment she had gone.
+
+The stiff and stately owner of the agency was smiling, well pleased.
+
+"You are most fortunate, Miss Shepstone," she said. "You have secured
+one of the best posts I have on my books. If you take my advice you
+will not hesitate. Make up your mind at once."
+
+Esther did not answer. She took up the card from the table, then she
+drew in her breath with a hard sound, for the name printed there was
+Mrs. Raymond Ashton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Esther never knew how she got out into the street. She walked along
+like some one in a dream; her cheeks were burning hot.
+
+Mrs. Raymond Ashton! Raymond's mother! The woman of whom he had spoken
+so often and so bitterly. The woman who had raised such a fierce
+objection to her marriage with Raymond.
+
+There was not much resemblance between mother and son; they were both
+handsome, but there was a sort of humour in Mrs. Ashton's face which
+Raymond's lacked. Esther tried vainly to find some likeness between
+them.
+
+She realised how different this woman was to what she had pictured
+her, remembered that spontaneously offered hand. Had Mrs. Ashton known
+who she was? Oh, surely not, or she would never have appeared so
+anxious to engage her.
+
+How angry Raymond would be. Angry that the woman he loved was to go to
+his mother as a paid companion. Esther could not help smiling. For her
+own sake she would not mind it. At least she would be with his mother
+and in his home; but, of course, the thing was impossible--such a
+situation would not be tolerable. She would have to write and refuse.
+
+"Good afternoon!" said a voice, and, turning hurriedly, Esther found
+Micky Mellowes beside her.
+
+He looked as if he were not quite sure of his reception; but to-day
+Esther had other thoughts to occupy her which were more interesting
+than he was--and the smile she gave him was almost friendly.
+
+"Good afternoon! Isn't it cold?"
+
+"Very.... Where are you hurrying off to?"
+
+He tried to speak casually, but his heart was beating uncomfortably.
+
+"I'm just going back home," Esther said. "I've been to an agency
+looking for a berth."
+
+"A berth!" A frown came between his eyes. "What sort of a berth?" he
+asked quickly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Well, I'm think of taking your advice--and going as companion to an
+old lady--not that she's very old," she added doubtfully, with sudden
+memory of Raymond's mother.
+
+"You mean that you have decided?"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Well, I have the refusal of it." She looked at him with defiant eyes.
+"I am only just hesitating--I want to talk to Miss Mason about it--she
+is much more worldly wise than I am."
+
+"June is a very sensible woman," he said. "I am glad you like her." He
+hesitated. "And the--er--post?" he asked with an effort. "Will it be
+in town?"
+
+"Oh yes."
+
+She was obviously not going to tell him any more, but Micky
+persevered.
+
+"I wonder if it is likely to be any one I know. I have quite an
+extensive acquaintance in London."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. "But I don't suppose you will know these people,
+anyway," she added with an unconscious touch of loftiness in her
+voice. "The name is Ashton--Mrs. Raymond Ashton."
+
+There was the barest possible silence before Micky answered, a silence
+during which the blank dismay and anger that crossed his face would
+have been amusing had it not also had something of pathos in it.
+
+"Ashton?" he said. "Oh, yes, I know Raymond Ashton very well." He was
+watching her with jealous eyes, and she turned her head sharply and
+looked up at him.
+
+Just for a moment a traitorous eagerness crossed her face; he could
+almost see the quick question on her lips, then she laughed.
+
+"Really! How funny! But, of course, as you say, you must know a great
+many people."
+
+"I have known the Ashtons for years. You will like Mrs. Ashton."
+
+There was a sort of quiet insinuation in the words, and Esther bit her
+lip.
+
+"And--the son?" she asked. "I think you said you knew the son."
+
+"Yes, I know him--he is in Paris, I believe."
+
+Micky was conscious of a queer tightening about his throat; it was a
+tremendous effort to force himself to speak lightly.
+
+"And shall I like him as well, do you think?" Esther asked deliberately.
+
+Micky did not answer.
+
+"Do you like him?" she persisted.
+
+Micky's restraint broke its bonds; if he had died for it he could not
+have checked the words that rushed to his lips.
+
+"I detest the fellow!" he said. "He's a beastly outsider!"
+
+He dared not look at her. He held his breath, waiting for the storm to
+break, but if he had lost his self-control she kept hers admirably.
+
+"Really," she said. Her voice was a little breathless, but quite calm.
+"What does a man mean when he calls another man--such a name?"
+
+Her face was quite colourless, even to the lips, and her hands were
+clenched in the shabbiness of the cheap little muff she carried.
+
+He blunderingly tried to make amends.
+
+"I ought not to have said that, just because he's not the sort of man
+I care about," he said stammeringly. "He's quite all right--it all
+depends from what point of view you regard him. I hope you will forget
+that I said that, Miss Shepstone. It--it was unpardonable."
+
+"It's a matter of complete indifference to me what you say about--Mr.
+Ashton," she told him.
+
+She stopped. They had been walking along together.
+
+"Which way are you going?" she asked.
+
+Micky flushed up to his eyes; he knew this was a dismissal.
+
+"I was coming along to see June," he said. "I hoped you would allow me
+to walk along with you--if I am not intruding."
+
+Esther forced a smile, but her lips felt stiff.
+
+"Oh, but I am not going back," she said. Her voice sounded as if it
+were cut in ice. "So I won't detain you. Good-bye."
+
+She turned and left him, walking quickly away again in the direction
+from which she had just come.
+
+Her eyes were smarting with tears that had to be restrained.
+
+"How dare he--oh, how dare he?" she asked herself passionately. "What
+does he know about Raymond?"
+
+She could not trust herself to go back home. She walked about in the
+cold till she was tired out. She wanted to be sure that Micky would
+have left Elphinstone Road before she got there. She wondered if June
+knew the Ashtons too. She probably did, as Micky Mellowes knew them.
+They were both of Raymond's own world, these two. It was only she, who
+loved him best, who was outside the magic circle of his friends.
+
+It was nearly supper time when she got in. She paused for a moment in
+the hall and looked anxiously at the rows of coats and hats hanging
+there. She thought she would know Micky's if she saw them there. She
+forgot that he might have taken them up to June's room. She turned
+away with a little sigh.
+
+At the foot of the stairs she met young Harley. He coloured
+sensitively when he saw her and stood aside for her to pass.
+
+Esther flushed too. She wondered what he thought of her note refusing
+the theatre. With sudden impulse she spoke--
+
+"I hope you are not angry with me, Mr. Harley, but--but perhaps you do
+not know that I am engaged to be married, and so ... so I don't think
+I should accept invitations from any one else, though--though it was
+kind of you to ask me," she added.
+
+"I should have been delighted if you could have come," he said. "But,
+of course, if your fiance would not care about it----" He broke off as
+if there was nothing more to be said.
+
+Esther wondered if Raymond really would mind; at first he had been
+very jealous, and could not bear her to speak to another man, but
+latterly--she hated it, because she could not forget that once he had
+told her she could marry a man with money if she only played her cards
+carefully--the man who had said that seemed a different personality
+altogether from the man whose letters she had only lived for during
+the last fortnight.
+
+Was she mean and unforgiving that she continually found herself
+remembering the quarrels and scenes they had had? She wanted so
+earnestly to forget them; she went up to June's room with dragging
+steps.
+
+The door of the room opened before she reached the landing, and June
+came out.
+
+"I knew it was you," she said. "Poor soul! how tired you sound.
+Another day of miserable failure, I suppose. Never mind, come and sit
+down in the warm, and you'll soon forget it."
+
+Esther laughed rather shamefacedly.
+
+"It's been a day of success, strange to relate," she said. "But I'm
+tired, dead tired--I must have walked miles." She suddenly remembered
+Micky; she looked round with--a quick suspicion. "Have you been alone
+all the afternoon?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, quite alone," June laughed. "Who did you expect to find here,
+pray?" she demanded.
+
+"Nobody--I only wondered if you had had any visitors."
+
+"I might have known it wasn't the truth that he was coming here," she
+told herself vexedly.
+
+"Well, and what about the success?" June asked; she was sitting on the
+hearthrug stroking Charlie. "You don't mean to say that the old dear
+at the agency really had something to offer you this time?"
+
+Esther nodded.
+
+"Yes, and she's desperately anxious for me to take it, too. It's quite
+a good offer, but it means leaving here and living in; and I don't
+believe I want to leave here," she added ruefully.
+
+June looked dismayed.
+
+"I shan't let you go," she said promptly. "Just as we are settling
+down so cosily." She put her white hands over her ears. "No, I don't
+want to hear another thing about it, if that's it," she said. "I
+shan't listen--write and refuse it--write and refuse it at once."
+
+Esther laughed; she pulled June's hands down and held them firmly.
+
+"Tell me," she said. "Do you know any people named Ashton?"
+
+She was longing to find out if June did know them; it seemed such a
+lifetime since she had seen Raymond or spoken to him, she was hungry
+to hear him spoken of, even if only by this woman who probably had
+merely known him as an ordinary acquaintance.
+
+"Ashton!" June wrinkled up her nose. "I know some Ashtons who live in
+Brayanstone Square," she said at last. "A mother and son. A very
+handsome woman she is, with white hair, she has a sort of grande dame
+look about her--the sort of woman you can imagine in a powdered wig
+and a crinoline, curtsying to the queen." She scrambled up, and,
+snatching a paper fan from the shelf, swept Esther a graceful curtsy
+to illustrate her meaning.
+
+But Esther was too much in earnest to be amused.
+
+"It must be the same Mrs. Ashton," she said eagerly. "This is her
+card--she gave it to me to-day--Mrs. Raymond Ashton."
+
+June glanced at the card and nodded briskly.
+
+"Yes, it's the same. I don't know her frightfully well; she's rather
+reserved, too; but I admire her immensely--well, go on."
+
+"She wants me to go to her as a sort of companion--she has offered me
+fifty pounds a year."
+
+June whistled.
+
+"Not bad, is it? But you'll refuse, of course?"
+
+"I asked her to let me think it over; I said I should like to talk it
+over with you first."
+
+June clasped her hands round her knees and stared into the fire
+thoughtfully.
+
+"She's a widow, isn't she?" Esther said hesitatingly. "At least--she
+didn't say anything about a husband."
+
+"Yes, she's a widow right enough," June said. "And delighted to be, I
+should think," she added bluntly. "I never knew the departed spouse,
+but from all accounts he was a perfect terror."
+
+Esther said nothing. Raymond had always spoken of his father as being
+a "rare old sport."
+
+After a moment--
+
+"There's a son, too," June said. "A kind of Adonis to look at,
+beautiful eyes and all that sort of thing."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. She tried hard to keep the eagerness from her
+voice. "Do you--do you know the son too?" she asked nervously.
+
+June gave a queer little laugh.
+
+"Oh yes, I know him. That is to say, I say 'How d'ye do' to him when I
+have the misfortune to meet him, but----"
+
+Esther's hands were clasped in her lap.
+
+"Why--why--misfortune?" she asked.
+
+June Mason shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Oh, I don't know--it's hard to explain--he's never done me any harm,
+but there are some people one hates by instinct, and Raymond Ashton is
+one of the people I hate." She smoothed a crease in the skirt of her
+frock. "He's such a--such an awful outsider," she added, unconsciously
+choosing the word Micky Mellowes had used a few hours before.
+
+Esther sat very still. Twice she tried to speak, but no words would
+come. She knew that it was unfair to June to sit there and allow her
+to go on talking about Raymond, but something in her heart seemed to
+have set a seal on her lips.
+
+"He's that insufferable kind of creature who thinks himself
+irresistible," June went on. "Micky has often told me the way he brags
+about his so-called 'conquests.' Conquests, indeed! What are they but
+a few poor ignorant girls hoodwinked by his handsome face and smooth
+tongue? Dozens of girls he's had, my dear, literally dozens! Only the
+other day some one told me that Mrs. Ashton had to threaten to cut him
+off with a shilling if he didn't give up some little person he was
+supposed to be going to marry! I don't know how true it is, mind you,
+but that's the sort of man he is--I've no time for him at all," she
+finished vigorously.
+
+She turned to look at Esther, and gave a little exclamation of alarm.
+"How pale you are! Don't you feel well?"
+
+"I'm quite all right--I'm just tired--I don't think I'll go down to
+supper to-night. I'll just stay here and be quiet. I wanted to hear
+what you had to say about my future employer."
+
+"Future fiddlesticks!" June retorted. "You're not going to her, my
+dear; I shan't let you. If Raymond came home while you were there,
+you'd never have any peace."
+
+Esther was lying back now with closed eyes. Over and over again in her
+mind she was saying to herself--
+
+"I don't believe it--I don't believe a word of it; it's all cruel
+lies--first Mr. Mellowes and now June. They both hate him, that's what
+it is; but I don't believe a word of what they say." June was bustling
+about the room fetching cushions and a light rug which she had laid
+over Esther.
+
+"You have a little sleep, and you'll feel heaps better," she said.
+
+She went away, shutting the door quietly; and Esther hid her face in
+her hands.
+
+She hardly knew why she was crying, she only knew that she was utterly
+miserable.
+
+She took Ashton's last letter from her dress and read it through
+again--how could any one, reading it, doubt that he loved her? How
+could any one, knowing his careful thought for her, believe that he
+was the detestable personality June and Micky had described?
+
+She kissed the signature passionately. Nobody in all the world counted
+but this one man.
+
+She got up and went over to June's desk, which both girls used; she
+felt that she must write to him and tell him how much she wanted him.
+
+When she had finished writing she looked to the head of the paper on
+which she had written for the address, and then she saw a postscript
+scribbled in a corner which she had not noticed before.
+
+  "Don't write to me here--I shall have left this hotel by the time
+  you get my letter. I will write again as soon as possible."
+
+It was like a door with iron bars being closed in her face; she could
+not write after all! She could have no relief for all her longing and
+unhappiness; she must just wait and wait, eating her very soul out,
+till he wrote again.
+
+She tore up what she had written and threw it into the fire.
+
+"The phantom lover"--June's half playful, half mocking words came back
+to her with foreboding. Was he indeed only a phantom lover? Just a
+creation of her own brain and desire? She tried to thrust the thought
+from her; she was tired and fanciful; in the morning she would be all
+right; it was not fair to him, it was not fair to herself to be so
+doubting. She went back to June's couch and curled up amongst the
+mauve pillows; life was so hard, so disappointing; it gave so little
+of all that one desired; the tears fell again, presently she cried
+herself to sleep.
+
+June came back on tiptoe; she stole across the room and looked at
+Esther, then she went back to the hearthrug to keep Charlie company.
+
+The fire had died down and she replenished it as quietly as she could,
+putting a knob on at a time with her fingers.
+
+As she leaned over to poke them softly together she caught sight of a
+scrap of paper lying in the grate. It looked like part of a torn
+letter, and without thinking June picked it up--the one word "dearest"
+stared up at her in Esther's writing.
+
+June looked at it for a long moment, then she turned her head and
+glanced at Esther, still sleeping.
+
+June frowned; she hunched her shoulders impatiently.
+
+"More phantom lover, I suppose," she told herself crossly; she threw
+the little scrap of paper into the fire and watched it burn with a
+sort of vixenish delight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+"I've decided to accept Mrs. Ashton's offer," said Esther suddenly.
+
+It was the following afternoon, and she had been helping June paste
+labels on to the little mauve pots. She looked up as she spoke, with
+the paste brush still in her hand and her fingers all sticky.
+
+"Did you hear what I said?" she demanded guiltily.
+
+"Yes, I heard," June said rather tartly. "And I think you're a mean
+pig. However, go on! Have your own way! Don't mind me."
+
+"It isn't that at all," Esther declared. "But I must do something--I've
+been idle quite long enough. I shall be sorry to leave you, but I shall
+still pay for my half of the room."
+
+"Thank you--thank you very much," said June drily. Esther flushed in
+distress.
+
+"Don't be so unkind! It's not that I want to leave you. I've been
+happier here with you than anywhere else, but I must work, I can't
+live on nothing...."
+
+"You could live on three pounds a week if you wished to. What do you
+suppose the phantom lover will say if he knows that his money hasn't
+helped you, and that you're going to make a drudge of yourself?"
+
+"I shan't be a drudge--I----"
+
+June broke in impatiently.
+
+"Oh, very well--I don't want to argue, but I think it's mean of you.
+If you really liked me you'd stay...."
+
+"I shall come to see you whenever I get any time off."
+
+"Yes, once a week for two hours, I suppose--and when I shall probably
+be out."
+
+"I shall write first and let you know when I'm coming."
+
+June took no notice; she screwed the lid on to a perfume bottle and
+wiped her fingers on the white overall.
+
+"You needn't put any more labels on," she said shortly. "I can do the
+rest myself."
+
+She took the tray away from Esther and carried it into her bedroom;
+when she came back there was a suspicion of tears in her eyes. Esther
+looked distressed. She felt that she was behaving meanly, and yet she
+meant to go to Mrs. Ashton's.
+
+"Micky Mellowes is coming directly," June said tartly. "If you don't
+want to see him you'd better go. I know you hate him...."
+
+Esther turned scarlet. She took off the apron she had borrowed from
+June and turned to the door.
+
+Before she reached it June followed.
+
+"I'm a pig. I apologise humbly! Please stay. Why don't you box my ears
+when I speak to you like this?" She dragged Esther back to the fire.
+"I'm wild because you've made up your mind to leave me. Our friendship
+doesn't mean anything to you.... There's Micky--he'll want to know why
+I've been crying. Amuse him for five minutes, there's an angel, and
+I'll come back."
+
+She was gone in a flash.
+
+A smiling Lydia showed Micky into the room. Lydia liked Micky; he was
+always courteous, and he had been generous with his tips on each
+occasion that he had visited the house.
+
+Micky looked a little embarrassed when he saw Esther. He glanced
+quickly round the room. "June ... I----"
+
+"She's coming in a moment," Esther explained. "Won't you sit down?"
+
+Micky sat on the arm of the big chair; he was cold; he leaned forward,
+rubbing his hands vigorously. Esther watched him critically.
+
+She had told June that she did not consider him in the least
+good-looking, but now the thought crossed her mind that this had not
+been quite a fair thing.
+
+He was tall and well made, and he had brown hair that grew well about
+his temples, and waved slightly where it parted.
+
+His nose was nothing particular and slightly crooked, and his eyes
+were nondescript in colour, but kind ... so kind! Esther remembered it
+was the first thing she had noticed about him the night they met.
+
+He looked up.
+
+"Well," he said, "have you found another berth yet?"
+
+"I'm going to Mrs. Ashton's," Esther said.
+
+She was amazed at the sudden change in his face; a look of furious
+anger flashed into his eyes; he rose to his feet.
+
+"You're not serious?" he said quietly.
+
+Esther laughed; she felt painfully nervous without knowing why.
+
+"Serious? Indeed I am!" she answered. "Mr. Mellowes, what are you
+doing?..."
+
+Micky had caught her hands. Jealousy was driving him with whips of
+fire--jealousy of this phantom lover, whom he himself had created.
+
+"You're not to go," he said hoarsely. "I--I--I can't bear to think of
+you having to work for your living. There's no need--it's all
+nonsense. You'd hate being at the Ashtons.... Esther----"
+
+She wrenched herself free; she was white to the lips.
+
+"You must be mad!" she said. "How dare you speak like this? What is it
+to you what I do? How dare you try to interfere? What business is it
+of yours?"
+
+Micky laughed shakily; he had recovered himself a little now.
+
+"It's everything to me," he said rather hoarsely. "You must know that
+it is. Esther, will you marry me?"
+
+If only premeditated proposals were made, there would be few marriages
+in the world. Ten minutes ago, when Micky Mellowes walked into the
+room, he had no intention of asking Esther to marry him, but now it
+seemed as if he had come for that express purpose as he stood there,
+grimly obstinate.
+
+There was a moment of silence; then Esther drew herself up.
+
+"I think you must be mad," she said. "I've only seen you once or twice
+in my life. I have told you that I am already engaged."
+
+"I know, but it makes no difference," said Micky. "I ask you to marry
+me--will you marry me?"
+
+She drew back from him.
+
+"You must be mad."
+
+Micky laughed. "You've said that two or three times already, but I
+assure you that I'm quite sane. I loved you the first moment I ever
+saw you, but, of course, you won't believe it. However, that doesn't
+matter--you haven't answered my question. Will you marry me?"
+
+"You know I am engaged--how dare you?..." She backed away from him
+till she was close to the door. Micky laughed savagely.
+
+"You needn't be afraid--I'm not going to hurt you--I'm not going to
+move from this hearthrug, but I should like you to answer my question.
+Once again, will you marry me?"
+
+"No----"
+
+He forgot his promise and took a step towards her.
+
+"I can make you happier than any other man possibly could. I've never
+cared for a woman in my life till I met you...."
+
+"I wouldn't marry you if you were the only man in the world--I--I
+don't even like you...." Her voice shook with anger now. "My answer is
+no--no--no! I shall never change my mind if I live to be a hundred
+..." she added vehemently. The words seemed forced from her by
+something in his eyes.
+
+"You will," said Micky calmly, though he felt anything but calm.
+"Women always do; but if you don't feel like changing it just at this
+moment, will you please tell June I am here? I came to see her, and
+I'm tired of waiting...." He turned away and went back to his seat on
+the arm of the big chair as if nothing had happened, but his hand
+shook when he tried to light a cigarette.
+
+When June came back he was absently turning the pages of a magazine;
+she looked at him for a moment, then began to laugh.
+
+"Micky! What in the world has happened to you lately? Do you always
+read a paper upside down?"
+
+Micky started, looked down at the magazine, and said a bad word; then
+he laughed too, and flinging the magazine across the room got to his
+feet, stretching his long arms.
+
+"Where's Esther?" June demanded. "I asked her to stay and amuse you
+till I came back...."
+
+"She did her best," said Micky drily. "But I am afraid I bored her."
+
+June looked annoyed.
+
+"I do think you two might try and like one another, if only for my
+sake," she said. "It's so perfectly obvious that you hate one another,
+and I cannot see why for the life of me."
+
+"One of your instinctive hates, perhaps," Micky submitted, with a
+touch of irony. He went back to the chair.
+
+"Miss Shepstone tells me she has found a berth," he said, after a
+moment. June nodded.
+
+"Yes. Did she tell you with whom?"
+
+"Yes; Mrs. Ashton."
+
+Something in the tone of his voice made June look up quickly.
+
+"Well?" she said.
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Nothing--I dared to suggest that perhaps she would not like the
+place, and she flew at me."
+
+June laughed.
+
+"That's just like Esther; she asks for your advice, and then----"
+
+"She didn't ask for mine," Micky cut in. "I very kindly volunteered
+the information."
+
+"Oh!" June was on her knees now toasting buns.
+
+"They're stale," she informed Micky candidly. "But you won't know it
+when they're toasted."
+
+Micky watched in silence. He was wondering if June had heard anything
+of his conversation with Esther; they had both spoken rather loudly.
+He was also wondering whether he should tell June the whole story.
+
+"You must make allowances for her," June said briskly, as he was still
+hesitating. "I know she's worried about this man. I discovered another
+thing this morning, Micky"--she turned with a sudden jerk to look at
+him, and the bun fell off the fork into the fire.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Well, what have you discovered now?" he inquired.
+
+"Why, that she can't write to him--he doesn't give her an address--or,
+if he does, he takes good care to move on before she has time to
+answer his letters. It looks to me, Micky, as if that young man is
+shirking his responsibilities. If you ask my candid opinion, Esther
+won't ever see him again."
+
+Micky said "Rot!" rather uncomfortably. "If the fellow is
+travelling--moving about...."
+
+"He could give her an address and have the letters sent on, couldn't
+he?" June demanded.
+
+Micky rubbed his chin.
+
+"What's she want to write to him for?" he asked presently.
+
+June swung round, and a second bun almost shared the fate of the
+first, but she grabbed it back in time.
+
+"What does she want to write to him for?" she echoed with scorn. "My
+poor child, what does any one want to write to any one for? She's in
+love with the man, and when you're in love you simply have to write it
+down--at least, that's what I understand from people with wide
+experience. Esther's bursting to write and tell the phantom lover how
+much she loves him and what a wonderful man he is; as a matter of fact
+she does write to him, and tears the letters up again, and that's no
+satisfaction. I wish to goodness he'd get run over and done with," she
+added exasperatedly.
+
+"I don't suppose she wishes it," said Micky.
+
+"That's because she doesn't know what's good for her; he was probably
+the first man who had ever paid her any attention, and from what she
+says he's a bit of a swell, and I suppose she was flattered...."
+
+"Rot!" said Micky violently; it made him boil to hear June say things
+like this. Ashton superior to Esther? It was like the man's confounded
+impudence to even think such a thing.
+
+"Not such rot," June said wisely. "And that's what all the trouble is
+about, or my name's not what it is. He has a stuck-up old cat of a
+mother who won't condescend to know Esther.... What did you say?"
+
+"Nothing," said Micky. He got up and began strolling about the room
+with his hands in his pockets, and June finished toasting her buns and
+made the tea.
+
+"I'll just go up and tell Esther," she said. She went out of the room
+and upstairs.
+
+"Tea," she announced cheerfully, knocking at Esther's door; she turned
+the handle and went in. Esther was standing by the window looking out
+into the neglected garden at the back of the house; she turned.
+
+"I'm not really hungry, and if you'd like to have Mr. Mellowes to
+yourself----" she began.
+
+June stared at her.
+
+"My dear," she said then drily, "if I'd wanted to have Mr. Mellowes to
+myself I should have married him long ago; so don't pretend you're not
+dying for one of the stale but toasted buns."
+
+She linked her arm in Esther's, and they went downstairs together.
+Esther did not want to come, but it seemed easier to give way than to
+make excuses. She took the chair which Micky brought forward; she felt
+a little nervous and ill at ease. Once, when their eyes met, she found
+herself colouring sensitively.
+
+Micky let her alone in a marked fashion and talked to June. He had
+found the man he had been looking for for months, he declared, a good
+business man, honest----
+
+"Really honest, Micky?" June asked, laughing.
+
+"Really honest," Micky maintained. "Do you think I'd put you on to him
+else? I've told him all about you. I went out to lunch with him
+yesterday and we talked face creams and vanities till my head reeled.
+He's full of ideas, bursting with fresh notions for advertising. He
+didn't say so in actual words, but he thinks you'll be a little gold
+mine if you'll put yourself in his hands."
+
+June's eyes sparkled; she jumped up from her chair, put her arms
+around Micky's neck, and gave him a sounding kiss.
+
+"You're a dear," she said, "and I just love you!"
+
+Esther glanced up quickly. June need not have done that, she thought
+with a touch of irritation, but Micky only laughed.
+
+"Come here and you shall have that back with compound interest," he
+said, but June shook her head.
+
+"That's enough for to-day, and Esther's looking shocked to death."
+
+"I'm not--I never thought about it," Esther protested indignantly.
+June laughed.
+
+"Well, you looked angry anyway," she declared. "Didn't she, Micky?"
+
+"I'm afraid I didn't notice," he answered coolly, but he had, and for
+a moment his pulses had leapt at sight of the anger in Esther's eyes;
+she could not surely hate him as much as she pretended if it annoyed
+her that June should kiss him.
+
+But she was indifferent enough now at all events; she was leaning
+back listlessly, her eyes fixed on the flames, her face sad and
+thoughtful.
+
+She was thinking about Ashton, Micky told himself savagely, wishing he
+were here, no doubt--Ashton, who even at that moment was probably
+running round Paris with Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+June was packing the tea things on to the tray and humming a snatch of
+song. Esther rose.
+
+"Let me do that--you cleared away yesterday."
+
+She took the tray.
+
+June asked Micky for a cigarette.
+
+"I've got heaps somewhere," she said vaguely. "But I never know where
+they are." She looked over to Esther. "Don't bother to put the cups
+away now," she said. "Come back and be cosy."
+
+She was rather surprised that Esther obeyed; she had quite expected
+her to go off and not return.
+
+Fond as she was of Esther, she could not quite make her out; she was
+full of surprises. It was getting dusk, and the room was full of
+shadows.
+
+"Shall I light up?" Micky asked. "Or do we like the firelight?"
+
+"We like the firelight," June said promptly; she nestled down amongst
+her mauve cushions.
+
+Micky was sitting straddle-ways across a chair between the two girls,
+and Esther had drawn back a little so that her face was in shadow.
+Micky glanced at her once, but could only see the glint of firelight
+on her hair and her hands clasped listlessly in the lap of her frock.
+He glanced at them; she still wore Ashton's ring, with its three
+inferior stones; he wondered how long the farce was going to be kept
+up and what would happen to bring it to an end.
+
+"If some one doesn't talk," June said drowsily, "I shall go to
+sleep."
+
+There was a quiet peacefulness in the cosy little room. Micky crossed
+his arms on the chair back and leaned his chin on them, staring into
+the fire, and Esther, from her place in the shadows, looked at him
+unobserved.
+
+Not in the least good-looking, she told herself again, and yet in
+common fairness she had to admit to herself that there was something
+about Micky Mellowes that was undeniably attractive.
+
+She liked the obstinacy of his chin--she liked the way his hair grew,
+and the shape of his hands--strong, manly hands they were, in spite of
+the fact that they had probably never done a day's useful work in
+their lives. Of course he was too well dressed. To begin with, there
+was no need to wear grey spats over his shoes, or to have his trousers
+so immaculately creased. She forgot that she had liked Ashton to
+indulge in both these weaknesses.
+
+Micky was whistling a snatch of a love-song under his breath. Esther
+did not know what it was; she had never heard the melody before, but
+something in the softly sentimental notes brought the tears to her
+eyes; before she was aware of it they were tumbling down fast.
+
+June sprang suddenly to her feet.
+
+"Why are we all mooning like this? Micky, give me a match." She almost
+snatched the box from him and lit the gas; the yellow flare flooded
+the room. Micky, glancing at Esther, saw the tears on her cheeks and
+the way she averted her head.
+
+He scowled and rose to his feet, standing so that his tall figure
+shielded her.
+
+"Well, I must be getting along," he said. He pulled out his watch and
+looked at it, but he never noticed what the time was.
+
+He was thinking of Esther and the tears he had surprised.
+
+"And when are you going to introduce me to this man who is to make my
+fortune?" June demanded crisply. She was standing on a footstool,
+trying to see herself in a glass above the mantelshelf.
+
+"Esther, you might have told me what a sight I look! My hair is all
+over the place."
+
+"I thought it looked nice," Esther said hurriedly. She knew Micky had
+seen her tears, and was silently hating him for it.
+
+Micky answered hesitatingly, "I'll let you know--I'll fix it up and
+let you know. There's no hurry, is there? I don't want him to think we
+are too keen."
+
+"But I am keen," June insisted. "Wouldn't you be keen if some one had
+told you you would be a gold mine, properly handled?" she laughed.
+"Oh, I forgot! money is no object to you. Well, bide your own time, my
+dear, but don't let it be too long.... Must you really go?"
+
+"I'm afraid so; and, June----"
+
+"Um!" said June, intent on another cigarette.
+
+Micky fidgeted. He looked down at the carpet.
+
+"If you don't hear anything of me for a few days you'll know I'm out
+of London...." He looked at Esther, but she was kneeling down by the
+fire stroking Charlie.
+
+"Out of London!" June said in surprise. "Where are you going?"
+
+Micky cleared his throat.
+
+"I thought of running over to Paris for a day or two," he said.
+
+"Paris!" They were both looking at him now. Micky was painfully aware
+of the eagerness in Esther's face.
+
+"Yes; I haven't been since September. Anything I can do for you while
+I'm there?"
+
+June raised her brows comically.
+
+"Not for me, but perhaps Esther ... Esther has a great friend over
+there, haven't you, my child?"
+
+Esther turned crimson from chin to brow.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes is not at all likely to meet any friend of mine," she
+said stiffly.
+
+Micky felt horribly sorry for her.
+
+"Don't be too sure, Miss Shepstone," he said lightly. "It's a small
+world, you know, and it's the most unexpected things that happen."
+
+But Esther seemed not to have heard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Micky went to Paris. "No, I shan't want you, Driver," he told his man
+awkwardly. "I'm only going for a day or two. I--er--I shan't want
+you," he said again lamely.
+
+He looked at the man guiltily, but Driver was as impassive as ever.
+"Very good, sir," he said. He could not understand what had happened
+to Micky; as a rule, he refused even to take his own railway ticket or
+speak to a porter. This new independence worried him.
+
+But Micky went off cheerfully enough. He rang June up at her club the
+morning he started and told her he was really going. He heard her
+cheery laugh across the telephone. "Micky, you're not up to any
+mischief?"
+
+"As if I should be!" he answered with dignity.
+
+"I wouldn't trust you," she said promptly. "However, have a good time,
+and if you see the phantom lover, you might push him into the Seine
+for me."
+
+"I'll remember," Micky said grimly. He hesitated. "Everything all
+right?" he asked.
+
+She echoed his words, not understanding. "Everything all right? Do you
+mean the swindle? Oh, yes, it's going fine, thank you. I had another
+order from those American export people this morning."
+
+"Good.... And--Miss Shepstone gone?"
+
+"No, she's going on Saturday. Sickening, isn't it?"
+
+"I don't think she'll stay long," Micky said soothingly. "It won't do
+her any harm to see how she likes it. Well, good-bye."
+
+He stood for a moment after he had hung up the receiver, staring at
+it. He wished he had not arranged to go to Paris. Supposing Ashton
+took it into his head to come back while he was away? Supposing he
+went home and found Esther there?
+
+He tried to believe that it was not at all likely, but at the last
+moment, as he got into the train and received his ticket from the
+solemn Driver, Micky said--
+
+"You know where to find me if anything happens--if anything should be
+the matter?"
+
+"Yes, sir." Driver raised wooden eyes to his master's face. "Was you
+expecting anything to happen, sir?" he asked stolidly.
+
+Micky got red. "No, you fool!"
+
+"Very good, sir," Driver retorted unmoved.
+
+And so Micky went to Paris. It was dark when he got there, and he
+drove at once to a small and unpretentious hotel in a narrow side
+street, where he had never been before, but of which he had heard from
+Philips.
+
+After all, it was only for a few nights. He did not want to stay in
+Paris long--Paris always bored him, but he made a little grimace as
+he looked up at the windows of the hotel. It certainly was a
+rotten-looking little show, he thought as he followed the concierge
+into the hall. This, too, was small and unpretentious, with a
+polished floor and wicker chairs scattered about. There was a kind of
+winter garden leading from the lounge, where a few neglected palms
+and ferns were struggling for an existence, and the whole place was
+silent, almost deserted.
+
+Micky was too late for dinner, but a smiling host, with a short dark
+beard, assured him that he could have a most excellent supper in less
+time than he would enumerate of what that supper would consist. Micky
+said he didn't care what it was. He followed his suit-case up the
+wide, shallow stairs to a quaint little room with a low ceiling and
+polished floor.
+
+He was beginning to feel more at home after all; one could be quiet
+here and not be eternally running up against people whom one knew; he
+felt more cheerful when he went down to his supper.
+
+He asked the waiter if there were many people staying there. His tone
+of voice sounded as if he sincerely hoped there were not, and the
+waiter tactfully submitted that the place was almost empty.
+
+Micky proceeded with his supper.
+
+It was nearly ten o'clock, but he went out into the lounge when he had
+finished and sat down at a table in one of the most secluded corners.
+
+There were pen and ink and a supply of hotel note paper, which Micky
+looked at with great satisfaction, before he took up a pen, carefully
+examined the nib, squared his elbows and began to write.
+
+  "My darling----"
+
+Micky wrote the words hurriedly and covered them over with a sheet of
+blotting paper as if they made him feel guilty.
+
+  "I thought I should have been leaving Paris before now, but have
+  been delayed. I shall be staying here till the end of the week and
+  am writing this so that you can let me have a letter before I
+  leave. I hope you have received both my other letters safely, and
+  are quite well and as happy as possible, seeing that we cannot be
+  together----"
+
+He sat back for a moment and looked at this frowningly, then he wrote
+on hurriedly.
+
+  "I want you to miss me, you see--I want you to feel as I do, that
+  there is only one thing to look forward to and that is when we
+  shall be together again. Dearest, it seems now that I have never
+  really told you how well I love you. Some day, if all that I wish
+  for comes true, I will tell you the many things you would not let
+  me say when we were last together...."
+
+Micky's pen flew easily enough. For the moment he had forgotten why
+and for whom he was writing, and thought only of Esther as she had
+looked when he last saw her with the tears wet on her cheeks.
+
+  "Write to me as soon as you get this, so that I may have a letter
+  to take with me when I leave. I shall watch for every post and
+  count the minutes till it comes. I have arranged with my bankers
+  to send the money to you every week. Dearest, if this is not
+  enough, please let me know, and I will send some more...."
+
+Micky scratched out the last five words, finally rewriting the whole
+page to add
+
+  "... Let me know and we must see what can be done. I cannot bear
+  to think that you are wanting anything which it is in my power to
+  give you. Tell me all about yourself; if you are well and
+  happy--and how often you think of me. I shall write again soon,
+  perhaps to-morrow ... and till then, and for ever, I am always
+  yours, Micky ...."
+
+He added his own signature without noticing it, then realised what he
+had done and rewrote the last page in a panic.
+
+Supposing he had sent it!--it made him hot all over to think what
+would have happened. He would have to be more careful, he told himself
+severely. He carefully directed the letter and went out to post it,
+then he went to bed in the little room with the low ceiling and lay
+awake half the night.
+
+Now the letter had gone he wished he had never sent it; after all, it
+was cheating Esther. It was not fair to make her write to him; he felt
+that he had behaved like a cur ... he tossed and turned from side to
+side. Perhaps she would not write! He almost hoped she would not. When
+at last he dozed off it was almost daybreak; when he woke it was
+eleven o'clock and the sunshine was pouring into his room.
+
+He had a bit of a headache and felt wretched; he drank four cups of
+strong coffee and went out.
+
+He avoided the popular thoroughfares; he sauntered about till lunch
+time and then went back to the hotel. Apparently the waiter had spoken
+the truth when he said the place was almost empty, for only two of the
+twenty tables were occupied beside his own.
+
+Micky felt bored; he made up his mind to tell Philips what he thought
+of his recommendation when he got back to London. He slept all the
+afternoon, then dressed and went off to dinner at the hotel where he
+and Driver stayed when they were last in Paris. Here at least was a
+welcome; most of the waiters recognised him; the attention was
+excellent, and he got a decent dinner. The hotel was full, but though
+Micky looked suspiciously at every one who came in, he recognised
+nobody.
+
+He wondered how long he had got to stay in Paris. Esther could not get
+his letter and send a reply that would arrive in less than three days;
+he calculated that he could not get back to London before Sunday
+morning.
+
+And Esther was going to Mrs. Ashton's on Saturday.
+
+He had just finished his dinner when the swing doors opened and a man
+came into the room with a lady in evening dress.
+
+Micky looked at them, and his heart began to race--for the man was
+Raymond Ashton, and the woman, Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+Ashton saw Micky at once, and his face fell into almost comical lines
+of dismay, but he pulled himself together at once and spoke to the
+woman beside him.
+
+Micky knew Mrs. Clare slightly; he rose and went towards them.
+
+"I heard you were in Paris," he said. He shook hands with Mrs. Clare;
+she was rather a pretty little woman, small and plump, with round,
+meaningless eyes and a friendly smile.
+
+"We're going to the opera," Ashton said. "Mrs. Clare is not staying
+here, but she very kindly consented to come and dine with me. Are you
+staying here, Micky? When did you come over?"
+
+"Last night; and I'm not staying here. Just dropped in for some
+grub."
+
+"You'd better dine with us," Ashton said, but he did not sound very
+enthusiastic.
+
+Micky laughed. "Thanks, but I have dined. I was just leaving when you
+came in." He thought of Esther, and his face hardened. This was the
+man of whom she was thinking all day and every day; this man who was
+so obviously going to try and marry Tubby Clare's little widow.
+
+He stood talking to them for a few moments, then excused himself.
+
+"You haven't told me where you are staying," Ashton said.
+
+"No--and I'm going away to-morrow anyway.... When are you coming back
+to town?"
+
+Ashton looked quickly at his companion. "Oh, not yet awhile," he
+said.
+
+"I see." Micky met his eyes steadily. "By the way, I got your letter,"
+he said after a moment. "You didn't ask about that letter you gave me.
+I posted it----"
+
+Raymond turned crimson. "The letter--oh yes, thanks--thanks, very
+much. You didn't take it then?"
+
+"No, I posted it." Micky's voice was flinty.
+
+"Er--thanks awfully!" Ashton said again. He twisted his moustache
+nervously. "I'll see you some other time," he said with a rush. "I'll
+drop you a line."
+
+"Right oh!" said Micky laconically.
+
+"I hope I shall see you again too, Mr. Mellowes," Mrs. Clare said. She
+thought she was saying the right thing. She thought these two men were
+friends, and she was sufficiently in love with Raymond to wish to be
+liked by his friends.
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. Clare," Micky said stolidly. "But I am going back to
+London to-morrow; I am afraid I shall have very little time, though I
+should be delighted, of course----"
+
+He felt rather sorry for this woman. After all, she was harmless and
+good natured, she deserved a better fate than to be snapped up by a
+good-looking fortune-hunter.
+
+He was getting into his coat in the lounge when Ashton came after him.
+He looked worried and abashed; he asked a hurried question.
+
+"Everything's all right, eh, Micky?--Lallie, I mean--I thought from
+the way you looked just now--she--she's all right--eh?"
+
+"My dear chap--how should I know? She never answered my letter, though
+I sent the money, as you wished. I thought you would have heard."
+
+"I told you I didn't mean to write--I said that I wanted the whole
+affair cut out," Ashton said irritably.
+
+Micky made no response.
+
+"She sure to be all right, anyway," Ashton said after a moment. "If
+she hadn't I should have heard--eh?"
+
+Micky looked at him coolly.
+
+"You rather sound as if you were expecting to hear she'd done
+something foolish--jumped off Waterloo Bridge or something----" he
+said drily.
+
+Ashton laughed. "Well, you never know," he said heartlessly. "Women
+are such queer creatures--and Lallie was so excitable; she said more
+than once that she'd do away with herself--it's all rot, of course,
+but ... what did you say?"
+
+"Nothing," said Micky curtly. "Good-night." He turned on his heel and
+went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Micky stayed in Paris four days; the four longest days of his life.
+
+He wandered about killing time and wishing everything and every one at
+the bottom of the sea.
+
+It seemed impossible that he had ever managed to have a good time over
+here--the noise and bustle of the streets got on his nerves; the
+things that had always amused him before bored him and left him cold;
+he thought of London with a deadly sort of home-sickness.
+
+Esther did not mean to write to him, he was sure, and in some ways he
+hoped she would not; he realised that he was playing a mean trick on
+her, cheating her out of fond words and a love-letter to which he had
+not the smallest claim.
+
+He tried to salve his conscience by making up his mind to leave on the
+Monday morning whatever happened; if there was no letter by that time
+there would never be one. Esther would have gone to Mrs. Ashton's. It
+was surprising how much he hated the thought of her being with
+Raymond's mother. During the interminable hours when he walked about
+Paris trying to kill time he thought out all manner of possibilities
+that might result from this unforeseen contingency. Mrs. Ashton might
+get fond of Esther--and if she got fond of Esther, well--who knew what
+might happen in the future in spite of Tubby Clare's little widow? He
+had not run across Ashton again, and he sincerely hoped that he would
+not.
+
+When Monday morning came he packed his portmanteau before he left his
+room--there would be no letter for him, so he might as well clear out
+and go home without making a further fool of himself. There was not
+the least hope in his heart when he went to the bureau and asked for
+letters; the reply came as it had done each morning: "Nothing for
+monsieur...."
+
+Micky turned away. He was half way to the dining-room before it
+suddenly dawned upon him that they did not know he was expecting
+letters in the name of Ashton--that he had forgotten to tell them. He
+went back hurriedly to the bureau.
+
+"Any letters for Ashton?--I am expecting one for a friend of mine of
+that name...."
+
+He waited breathlessly while the girl sorted through the pigeon-holes
+on the wall; he felt as if he could hardly breathe when she came back
+with a grey envelope in her hand.
+
+"Mais oui...." she said smilingly. "I did not know it was for
+monsieur...."
+
+Mickey almost snatched it from her; he had not even glanced at the
+writing, but he knew it must be from Esther. He sat down at the
+breakfast table with his thoughts in a whirl; he was sure that the
+waiter must know how excited he felt. He ordered coffee and rolls
+before he opened the envelope; he laid it down on the cloth beside him
+and stared at it very much as a sentimental girl might stare at her
+first love-letter, hesitating to open it, wishing to prolong the
+ultimate delight.
+
+Finally he cut it open carefully and drew out the contents. His pulses
+were racing, he did not know if shame or delight were the greatest
+emotion in his heart; he glanced at the first two words and the blood
+rushed to his face.
+
+It seemed almost sacrilege to read what she had written to the man she
+loved--he pushed the paper back into its envelope--he did not look at
+it again till he had finished his pretence of a meal, then he took it
+out with him into the rather dingy winter garden and sat down in the
+quietest corner he could find.
+
+There he faced the greatest moment of his life; as to whether he
+should go on with this thing or wipe it out of his life once and for
+all.
+
+Ashton had done with Esther; he was as sure of that as he was sure
+that Ashton meant to marry Mrs. Clare. This being so, was it wrong of
+him to try and give Esther some happiness in place of what she had
+lost? She had refused to marry him--she had said that she could never
+care for him; could he hope to make her change her mind? In his heart
+he was sure that he could; he wanted her so badly that it seemed to
+him as if the very force of his desire must compel some return from
+her.
+
+He sat staring down the dismal garden with moody eyes. He knew it was
+a big risk; he thought of her as he had first seen her and as he had
+last seen her. He had never once really thought that she looked
+happy--she had never quite lost the shadow in her eyes or the droop to
+her lips which he had at first noticed, and he wanted her to be happy.
+He wanted her happiness far more than he wanted his own.
+
+He took the letter from his pocket and looked at the address on the
+envelope. "Raymond Ashton, Esq...."
+
+He hated the sight of that name--some day Esther would hate it too,
+when she knew how he had deceived her.
+
+It was a great risk--but ...
+
+"I'll chance it," said Mickey under his breath, and drew out the
+letter again.
+
+  "MY DARLING BOY,--You can never know how glad and happy I was to
+  get your letter to-night and to know that I can really write to
+  you at last. I have been so miserable during these weeks in spite
+  of all your goodness--and you have been good. It makes me feel
+  mean and ungrateful now when I remember how horrid I often was to
+  you before you went away. When you come back I will make it all up
+  to you, and show you how nice I really can be, because I do love
+  you--I have never loved any one but you. Thank you so much for the
+  money you have sent me--I was very much down on my luck when it
+  came. They haven't a vacancy for me just now at Eldred's, or else
+  they did not want me back, and I am going to try and find another
+  berth. I am living in a new boarding-house, as you will see; it's
+  ever so much nicer than the Brixton Road, and I shall be able to
+  stay on now you are so generously sending me money. I have made a
+  nice friend here, too, a girl named June Mason--she tells me that
+  she knows your mother, and you, too!--I did not let her know how
+  well I knew you, dear, as I thought perhaps you would rather I
+  said nothing about it. She has a man friend who sometimes comes to
+  see her--a Mr. Mellowes--she thinks the world of him, but I think
+  he is detestable...."
+
+Mickey caught his breath hard. After a moment he went on reading:
+
+  "June tells me he is very rich, and quite a 'somebody,' but I
+  cannot see anything out of the ordinary about him, and he isn't a
+  bit good looking. He knows you, too--but he does not say much
+  about you. Dearest, it seems such a long time since I saw you--and
+  I cannot help wondering if you really miss me and want me as much
+  as I want you.... Sometimes I would give just anything to lay my
+  head on your shoulder and say how much I love you. I'm very
+  lonely, really; though June is so kind she isn't any one of my
+  very own, is she? And now I wonder if you will be very angry with
+  me if I ask you something? I don't think I should have dared to,
+  only your last letters have been so dear and kind. Raymond, why
+  can't I come out to you and be with you? We could get married, and
+  we should be ever so happy even if we have to be poor--at least, I
+  know I could, and from your letters, somehow I think it sounds as
+  if you, too, have realised that there isn't much happiness away
+  from me. I have had the offer of a good post--I won't tell you
+  what it is, as I want it to be a surprise to you if I do take it.
+  But if you would like me to come, I will just leave everything and
+  come to you. Couldn't you send me a wire when you get this letter?
+  I shall be longing and waiting to hear from you. I am a little bit
+  afraid in my heart, really, now I have written this, but your last
+  letter is lying beside me, and I keep peeping at it and reading
+  what you say there, and somehow I feel that it's going to be all
+  right.--
+
+                         With all my love for ever and ever, LALLIE.
+
+Mickey sat there staring down at her signature a long time after he
+had reached the end.
+
+Then he moved slowly as if it cost him an effort. He was rather pale
+now, and there was a hard line round his mouth. So that was how she
+thought of him! Somehow he had not imagined how much it would hurt to
+read the fond words and to know all the time that they were written to
+another man. And to a man so unworthy! He thought of Ashton as he had
+seen him three nights ago with Mrs. Clare; of his callous questioning
+about Esther; of his almost brutal remarks, and it made his blood
+boil.
+
+He could picture her so well--waiting for a wire that would never
+come.
+
+He hated Ashton at that moment. His brows almost met above his eyes in
+a scowl as he went up to the bureau and asked for his bill. The
+smiling French girl sobered a little meeting his gaze; for once she
+did not dare to smile or dimple; she gave him his account silently.
+
+"Ah, but they are funny, these English;" she told her father
+afterwards. "To-day he had no smile, the tall monsieur--not even one
+little smile!"
+
+She watched Micky across the lounge with interested eyes as he sat
+down at one of the tables and proceeded to write a letter. It took him
+a long time, and twice she saw that he tore up what he had written and
+flung it into the wastepaper basket, but at last he had finished, and
+getting up, stalked away.
+
+Celeste ventured out then--there was nobody about, and tiptoeing
+across the lounge, took the torn papers from the paper-basket. They
+were torn across and across, but on one or two slips the writing was
+visible, and she carried them back with her to the shelter of the
+bureau.
+
+She spread them out on the desk before her, carefully piecing them
+together. She knew English quite well, and she soon made out one
+sentence:--
+
+"It is not that I do not love you--I have never loved you better than
+at this moment--but...."
+
+Celeste was sentimental. She gave a big sigh of sympathy for the big
+Englishman. "No wonder he has no smile!" she told herself. "_C'est si
+triste!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+It was raining and miserable when Micky arrived in London. The roads
+were wet and slippery, and every taxi and omnibus splashed pedestrians
+with mud.
+
+Micky shivered as he stood waiting while a porter lugged his traps
+down from the rack. He had felt depressed in Paris, but now London
+seemed a thousand times worse. The sight of Driver waiting on the
+platform annoyed him. He answered the man's stolid greeting
+snappishly. He had wanted to come home, and yet now he was here he
+wished himself a thousand miles away. He leaned back in a corner of
+the taxi and shut his eyes.
+
+The last four days had got on his nerves; Esther's letter in his
+pocket was like an eternal reproach.
+
+Why had he come back at all? She did not want him--nobody wanted him
+in the whole forsaken world. The silence of his flat seemed a thing to
+be dreaded in his present mood. Driver's inscrutable face would, he
+felt, drive him mad. With sudden impulse he leaned forward and called
+to the chauffeur, "Stop--I've changed my mind--drive me back to the
+Savoy...."
+
+There would be life there, at any rate--life and people and
+music--something to make a man forget the depression that sat like a
+ton weight on his shoulders.
+
+He felt utterly at a loose end; he stalked moodily into the lounge.
+There were many people there, girls in pretty dinner frocks, with
+their attendant cavaliers. Micky glanced at none of them, till
+suddenly a girl who had been sitting on a couch listening rather
+listlessly to the conversation of a youth beside her, rose to her feet
+when she saw Micky, the hot colour flying to her cheeks.
+
+For a moment she hesitated, waiting for him to look at her, to
+speak--but Micky had stalked by without turning his eyes, and after
+the barest second she followed and touched his arm.
+
+"Micky...." she said breathlessly, and again "Micky," with an odd
+little catch in her voice.
+
+Micky turned as if he had been shot, then stopped dead, colouring up
+to the roots of his hair, for the girl was Marie Deland.
+
+She smiled tremulously, reading the distress in his eyes.
+
+"I thought I was never going to see you any more," she said. She tried
+hard to speak casually, but her voice quivered a little. "Where have
+you been hiding all this time, Micky?"
+
+Micky stammered out that he really didn't know--that he'd only just
+come back from Paris--that he did call to see her one night, but that
+they told him she wasn't in. She broke in there impetuously--
+
+"I know; I'm so sorry. It wasn't my fault. I was there all the time.
+Mother----" She stopped, biting her lip, but there was no need to
+explain further. Micky could well imagine that it was by Mrs. Deland's
+orders that the butler had said "Not at home."
+
+His heart was full of remorse as he looked down at Marie. Such a
+little while ago he had thought of her as his wife. He had fully meant
+to marry her.
+
+He broke out again agitatedly--
+
+"I know you must think I'm an awful sweep. I--I--oh, I can't explain."
+He glanced past her to where the rather vapid-looking youth to whom
+she had been speaking sat tugging at an incipient moustache.
+
+"What are you doing here?" he asked again. "Who are you with?"
+
+She told him that she was with her married sister and some friends.
+
+"We're going to have dinner here," she said. She was longing to ask
+Micky to dine with them, but was obviously afraid to do so.
+
+After a moment--
+
+"I suppose I ought to be going," she said. "Violet will wonder where I
+am, Micky." She looked up at him with abashed eyes. "I--I suppose--you
+wouldn't--will you come out to tea with me to-morrow?"
+
+Micky's face reflected the flush in her own; he looked away in
+miserable embarrassment. He knew that she felt the same towards him as
+she had done before that memorable New Year's Eve, and he knew that
+whatever happened now he could never feel the same to her any more.
+
+He answered that he would be pleased, very pleased. Where should he
+meet her--or should he call for her?
+
+"I'll meet you," she said quickly. "You know where we always used to
+go--I'll be there at four, Micky."
+
+She put out her hand and Micky was forced to take it; he felt how her
+fingers shook in his, and he cursed himself for a brute as he turned
+away and left her.
+
+In a way he was glad they had met. Any other woman would have given
+him the snubbing which he knew he so richly deserved. Deep down in his
+heart he wished that she had done so; anything would have been easier
+to meet than this trembling overture of friendship. He knew that the
+little abashed expression in Marie's dark eyes could only mean one
+thing, that he had cut her to the soul and that she still cared for
+him.
+
+He left the Savoy without having any dinner; he went back to his
+rooms, where the imperturbable Driver was brushing and refolding his
+master's clothes. It had almost broken Driver's heart to see the way
+in which Micky had packed his things; he raised eyes of wooden
+reproach as Micky entered the room.
+
+There was a pile of letters on the table. Micky flicked them through
+carelessly; nothing of interest--a few bills and a good many
+invitations; nothing from Esther--not even a note from June.
+
+He sat down by the fire and proceeded to cut the many envelopes open.
+He kept thinking of Marie and wondering if it would be kinder not to
+meet her to-morrow, after all; if he could possibly write her a note
+that would tactfully explain the situation.
+
+He just glanced at each of the notes as he opened them, and let them
+drop to the carpet at his feet. They could be answered later; there
+was nothing of importance, nothing he ... his attention was
+arrested:--
+
+  "DEAR MR. MELLOWES,--I wonder if it will be asking too much of you
+  to come round and see me one afternoon for half an hour?--
+
+                                     Yours sincerely, LAURA ASHTON."
+
+Micky glanced quickly at the address at the top of the paper--it was
+from Raymond's mother.
+
+What in the world could she want with him, he wondered blankly. He
+looked across at Driver.
+
+"This note--the one that came by hand--when did it come?" he asked.
+
+Driver replied that it had been there for two days. He waited a
+moment, then went on brushing Micky's coat.
+
+Micky felt rather disturbed.
+
+Raymond's mother! What in the wide world could she want with him?
+Supposing it were anything to do with Esther ...
+
+He wrote a note in reply at once and said he would call the following
+afternoon; he could just look in early for half an hour and go on
+afterwards to meet Marie; it was strange how he dreaded both these
+appointments.
+
+He felt ridiculously nervous when he reached Mrs. Ashton's house. For
+the first time it occurred to him that possibly Esther would be here
+too.
+
+He was kept waiting some minutes in the drawing room--minutes during
+which he wandered restlessly about staring at the pictures and the
+photographs.
+
+There were many portraits of Raymond--Raymond at all stages of his
+chequered career, smiling and handsome. Micky turned his back on them
+with a feeling of disgust.
+
+The door opened behind him, and, turning sharply, he found himself
+face to face with Mrs. Ashton.
+
+She came forward with outstretched hand.
+
+"This is kind of you, Mr. Mellowes. I did not know you had been away
+till I got your note this morning. I was wondering why I had had no
+reply to mine."
+
+Micky blurted out that he had been in Paris--that he only came back
+yesterday evening.
+
+Mrs. Ashton's face changed a little.
+
+"Paris! Have you been with that son of mine?" she asked sharply.
+
+Micky coloured. "I met him--quite by chance, though. We were not
+together more than a few minutes."
+
+She smiled rather ironically.
+
+"Have you got tired of him at last, then?" she asked. She moved over
+to the fire. She looked back at Micky quizzically. "I have often
+wondered how you put up with his friendship so long, Mr. Mellowes,"
+she added rather sadly.
+
+Micky felt embarrassed. He had always liked Mrs. Ashton. He stammered
+out that he and Raymond had always been very good friends.
+
+She drew her chair a little closer to the fire.
+
+"Very well--then, perhaps, you will be kind enough to answer a
+question I am going to ask you. Mr. Mellowes, what was the name of
+that girl at Eldred's whom Raymond was always about with before
+Christmas?"
+
+The question was so unexpected that Micky was utterly taken aback.
+Before he was aware of it he had told a lie.
+
+"I don't know--at least, he always spoke of her as 'Lallie.' I never
+once saw him with her, Mrs. Ashton--he never introduced me to her."
+
+She looked rather incredulous.
+
+"And yet you were such friends," she said.
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"Our tastes were not always identical," he said rather stiffly. "I am
+not very interested in women, and he----"
+
+"And he is," she finished for him. "There is no need to tell me
+that--I know my son. So you cannot tell me the name of this girl? I
+had hoped that you would be able to do so."
+
+Micky met her eyes unflinchingly.
+
+"I dare say I could find out," he said. "If she is still at
+Eldred's."
+
+"She is not there." Mrs. Ashton looked up at Micky with an anxious
+line between her handsome eyes. "Mr. Mellowes, I have always prided
+myself on my sense of justice, and somehow lately I have got an
+uncomfortable feeling that when I forbade Raymond to have anything
+more to do with that girl it would have been better if I had advised
+her to have nothing more to do with him. He is my son, and perhaps it
+seems strange for me to speak about him like that, but you cannot have
+been friends with him all these months without finding him out, so I
+need not apologise. Raymond is just his father over again...." She
+paused, and a painful little smile curved her lips.
+
+She looked at Micky rather pathetically. "There is no need for me to
+say any more, is there?" she asked.
+
+Micky did not answer. He had heard many stories about Raymond's
+father, all more or less unsavoury, and he knew that from all accounts
+Mrs. Ashton had been greatly to be pitied during his lifetime.
+
+"So if you can't help me in this," she went on presently, "I am afraid
+I have brought you here for nothing. I want to find out who this girl
+is, and see her for myself." She paused, but Micky's face was
+inscrutable.
+
+In his heart he was convinced that she did not believe him, but he had
+no intention of telling her Esther's name; he longed to know if Esther
+were in the house, but, of course, it was impossible to ask.
+
+It almost seemed as if Mrs. Ashton could read his thoughts, for she
+said suddenly--
+
+"Do you know, Mr. Mellowes, that I am going to have a companion?"
+
+Micky echoed her last word vacantly.
+
+"Companion?--I--er...."
+
+"Yes, a girl," Mrs. Ashton went on; "I have always envied people with
+daughters; a daughter is so much more to a mother than a son; but as I
+was not fortunate enough to have one of my own I am going to try
+having a companion. Raymond will be annoyed, I dare say--he has always
+pooh-poohed the idea when I have mentioned it to him, but now----" she
+shrugged her shoulders and sighed impatiently. "Well, he can no longer
+object, I think, seeing that he is to be married himself...."
+
+Micky made a little quick movement, almost knocking over a vase of
+flowers standing at his elbow; he recovered himself with an effort.
+
+"Married?" he said. "Why, I thought...." he broke off. "He did not say
+anything about it to me when I met him in Paris," he said lamely.
+
+"No?" Her handsome eyes searched his agitated face critically. "Well,
+he is to be married all the same," she said. "I heard from him only
+this morning. He is engaged to Tom Clare's widow--Tubby Clare, I
+believe he was always called."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+When Micky left Mrs. Ashton he raced off to meet Marie.
+
+She was looking quite her prettiest, in dark furs with a bunch of
+violets in the breast of her coat, but Micky would not have noticed if
+she had been shabby, his thoughts were elsewhere. He did not even see
+that she wore the bracelet he had given her for a Christmas present,
+or remember that he had once told her violets were his favourite
+flowers.
+
+He apologised breathlessly for being late.
+
+"I had an appointment," he explained. "Raymond's mother; she wrote and
+asked me to call this afternoon." He hesitated, then added, "Did you
+know that Raymond is going to be married? Oh, but, of course, you
+cannot know, as Mrs. Ashton only knew this morning."
+
+Marie's dark eyes opened; like most women, she loved to hear of an
+engagement or marriage.
+
+"Really?" she said. "At last!--not to--surely not to that little girl
+at Eldred's?"
+
+Micky flushed angrily. Did every one know about Esther? he asked
+himself savagely. He answered shortly that it was to Mrs. Clare, Tubby
+Clare's little widow.
+
+Marie looked amazed.
+
+"But we all thought----" she said, then stopped, remembering that
+Micky and Raymond had been great friends. "I hope he'll be happy," she
+said lamely.
+
+Micky laughed shortly.
+
+"I don't," he said. "He doesn't deserve to be."
+
+She made no comment.
+
+There was an excited flush in her cheeks, and a nervous note in her
+voice when she spoke; it was like old times to be here with him again,
+until she met his eyes across the little table, and then it seemed as
+if she were looking into the face of a stranger, a man who was like
+Micky--enough like him to hurt, and yet not Micky at all.
+
+She aroused herself to amuse him. Micky had always told her she
+cheered him up in the old days, but this afternoon he answered her in
+monosyllables, and she saw with bitter mortification how often he
+looked at the clock. At last she was driven to remark on it.
+
+"Micky, are you in a hurry to get away?"
+
+She asked the question lightly, but there was a strained note in her
+voice.
+
+Micky did not look at her.
+
+"No--no, not at all," he said hurriedly. "But I suppose we ought to be
+moving soon...." There was a little pause. "It's been nice seeing you
+again," he added with an effort.
+
+She sat staring down at her plate. Her pretty colour had faded; she
+was very pale, and she bit her lip hard to hide its trembling.
+
+Suddenly she looked up at him.
+
+"Micky--may I ask you a question?..."
+
+"A hundred if you like."
+
+She picked up a teaspoon and twisted it nervously. Micky watched her
+with apprehension; he knew what was coming, and his heart sank.
+
+If only she would be content to leave things as they were; if only she
+would accept the friendship he was willing to give and close the book
+of the past for ever.
+
+He did not understand that it was because she cared for him so much
+that at the risk of losing her self-respect and pride she must ask him
+for the truth, must know ...
+
+He heard her catch her breath, then suddenly she spoke:
+
+"Micky ... why was it? What have I done?"
+
+There was a quiver in her voice that set him on edge; he could not
+stand the sound of unhappiness in any woman's voice, and he had once
+thought he loved Marie....
+
+He answered without looking at her, realising that it was kinder to
+tell the truth out and have done with it.
+
+"I meant to have written to you--I hope some day you will try and
+forgive me, but ... but...." He could not go on for the life of him,
+but he had said enough, and he knew that she understood.
+
+"You mean ... you mean that there is some one else?" she asked with
+stiff lips.
+
+"Yes." He looked at her white, stricken face, and felt himself a
+brute.
+
+It seemed an eternity before she could steady her voice enough to
+speak.
+
+"Is it--is it some one I know?"
+
+"No, dear," said Micky very gently. "It isn't any one you have ever
+seen----"
+
+She picked up her big muff suddenly and held it so that her face was
+hidden; the little word of endearment that had escaped Micky's lips
+had almost broken her down. This was the end of all she had ever hoped
+for, and for the moment she could not choke the anguish in her heart.
+
+The following silence seemed unending; then she looked round for her
+gloves, and put them on, buttoning them with shaking fingers.
+
+"I am ready if you are," she said. She did not look at him, but it
+felt like dying to walk beside him out of the shop and into the cold
+air and know that perhaps this was the last time they would ever be
+alone, he and she. Once her steps faltered a little, and Micky put out
+his hand to steady her, but she drew away from him.
+
+"Please don't," she said in a whisper.
+
+There was a taxi waiting at the roadside, and Micky called to the man.
+There was a slight cold drizzle of rain falling as he held open the
+door. He would have followed but she stopped him. "I should like to go
+alone, if you don't mind."
+
+He looked up, and for a moment he saw her face in the light of the
+taxi lamp; such a white, quivering face it was.
+
+"Marie!..." said Micky in a choked voice, but she waved him away.
+
+He stood there on the kerb till the taxi had whirled out of sight, and
+once again he asked himself desperately if it were all worth while, if
+he were not throwing away the real thing for a chimera.
+
+There was probably a no more unhappy man in London at that moment than
+Micky Mellowes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Esther had spent a week indoors with a cold, and it was the longest
+she could ever remember. June was kindness itself, and fussed and
+petted and made much of her, but the days dragged.
+
+There was only one thing to live for--the post! And though the rat-tat
+rang through the house three or four times a day, there was never
+anything for Esther.
+
+Her own letter to Paris remained unanswered. The telegram for which
+she longed never came.
+
+June watched her with a mixture of sympathy and impatience.
+
+What was the good of putting all one's eggs in the same basket? she
+asked herself crossly. What was the good of falling in love if nothing
+better than unhappiness ever came of it? She began to hate the phantom
+lover, as she called him, with increased hatred.
+
+"I don't think you're strong enough to go yet, you know," she said to
+Esther one afternoon when they were sitting together in the firelight.
+"Write and tell Mrs. Ashton you can't come for another week, or that
+you can't go at all. I do wish you would."
+
+Esther shook her head.
+
+"I promised to go, and I must do something. I shall be all right by
+Monday. Mrs. Ashton has waited long enough as it is."
+
+She looked pale and ill, June thought angrily, and put it all down to
+"that man."
+
+"Has Mr. Mellowes come back from Paris yet?" Esther asked suddenly.
+June was faintly amazed; Esther never spoke of Micky. She answered
+rather dubiously that she did not know.
+
+"I expect he's having such a good time that he'll stay for weeks," she
+added. "I wish he would come back, I want him to get on with my
+business...."
+
+"Mr. Mellowes...." announced Lydia at the door.
+
+June scrambled to her feet with a scream of delight.
+
+"Micky! you villain! we were just talking about you. When did you come
+back? Why haven't you been before? What have you been doing?"
+
+She dragged him over to the fire; she fussed over him and told him he
+was just in time for tea.
+
+"Esther's been indoors a week with a cold," she explained. "No, don't
+you get up, Esther. Micky won't mind...." She pushed Esther back
+amongst the sofa pillows. "Poor darling! She's really been quite ill,"
+she declared.
+
+Micky said formally that he was sorry that she was not well, but that
+the weather was enough to kill anybody; he added that he had been in
+town since Sunday, but ...
+
+"Four days, and you've not been to see me!" said June. "What a shame,
+to neglect us so!"
+
+"I've been busy," Micky defended himself; "I expected to hear you had
+gone to Mrs. Ashton's," he said to Esther.
+
+She raised her eyes.
+
+"No--I am going on Monday."
+
+"Oh," said Micky blankly.
+
+June had opened the door and was calling over the balusters to Lydia
+for hot water.
+
+"And bring lots of it," she said. "We're thirsty...." She came back
+into the room. "The postman's just come," she said with a nod and a
+smile to Esther. "Lydia will bring our letters up if there are any."
+She turned again to Micky. "Well, truant! And what have you been
+doing? Having a good time?"
+
+"No, I have not," Micky said decidedly. "Paris is not what it used to
+be, or I am not!" He laughed. "How's the swindle?"
+
+June began to answer, but stopped as Lydia came into the room. She
+brought a jug of hot water. June danced up to her.
+
+"No letters? I thought I heard the postman."
+
+"One for Miss Shepstone," Lydia said smilingly.
+
+Micky looked across at Esther--her whole face was transformed as she
+turned eagerly with outstretched hand.
+
+There was a moment of silence, then she gave a little sigh of utter
+contentment. June sniffed inelegantly--Micky looked hard into the
+fire; his heart was thumping; that letter ought to have been delivered
+yesterday, he knew; it was cursed bad luck that it should arrive while
+he was here.
+
+There was a little silence in the room while Esther opened it. She
+seemed to have forgotten that she was not alone. Her pale cheeks were
+flushed and her whole face tremulous.
+
+June was bustling about, making a great clatter with the teacups.
+Micky got up and began to prowl round the room; his nerves felt jumpy.
+Because he knew so well who had written that letter he was sure every
+one else must know it too. Presently June nudged him as she passed.
+When he looked at her she made a little grimace.
+
+"Isn't it awful?" she said in a stage whisper.
+
+Micky smiled stiffly.
+
+"Can't I help get the tea?" he asked. "Toast some buns or something?"
+
+"There aren't any to toast," she told him. "Sit down and make yourself
+at home. Esther!"--she raised her voice elaborately--"are you going to
+have any tea, my child?"
+
+Esther had come to the end of her letter; she folded it hurriedly and
+put it away; she cast a quick look at Micky, but he did not see it.
+June was chattering away.
+
+"So Esther is going on Monday," she informed Micky, "and I shall be
+left once more to my lonesome. I'm not at all sure that I shall stay
+on myself," she added. "It's been so jolly having some one to share
+this room with me that I'm not looking forward to my own eternal
+company."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"I may not go after all," Esther said suddenly. There was a note of
+nervousness in her voice. She coloured, meeting June's amazed eyes.
+
+June screamed.
+
+"Not go! Well, I never!" She sat down in a heap on the hearthrug
+staring at Esther. "I never knew such a girl," she complained. "Micky,
+I appeal to you...."
+
+But Micky was not going to be appealed to; he was stolidly stirring
+his tea.
+
+"I suppose I can change my mind if I like?" Esther said.
+
+"Oh, it isn't you who have changed your mind," June cut in ironically.
+"It's something that phantom lover of yours has said in his letter.
+Own up, now."
+
+"Well, and if it is?" Esther demurred. "I suppose he has a right to
+say what he likes, hasn't he?" But she was laughing as she spoke; she
+felt wonderfully happy and light-hearted. "I believe you're jealous,"
+she declared.
+
+"Jealous, indeed!" said June indignantly. Then suddenly she sighed.
+"Well, perhaps I am; who knows? What does he say? or mayn't we ask?"
+
+Micky had stopped stirring his tea; there was a sort of intentness
+about his big figure.
+
+Esther looked at him, and suddenly she stiffened.
+
+"Never mind what he says," she answered defensively.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"Oh, all right--sorry if I was inquisitive." She deliberately turned
+and began talking to Micky; Esther was left to herself, but she did
+not mind, she had enough now to think about. The longed-for letter had
+come at last.
+
+She woke from her reverie with a start when Micky rose and said he
+must be going.
+
+"And don't you be so long before you come and see me again," June said
+in her downright way. "And don't go without that sample, Micky--it
+will go in your pocket quite easily." She darted off to her room to
+fetch it, and Micky moved a step nearer to Esther.
+
+"You have had good news?" he said.
+
+She looked up startled.
+
+Micky's eyes flamed.
+
+"That being so, of course, it is useless for me to ask if you have
+changed your mind yet?" he said again.
+
+Esther gave a stifled cry.
+
+"Are you trying to insult me?" she asked under her breath.
+
+He half smiled.
+
+"I am, if it's an insult to ask you to marry me."
+
+There was no time for more. June came back then with her hands full of
+samples, which she proceeded to stuff into Micky's pocket.
+
+He submitted laughingly.
+
+"Supposing I get run over!" he said resignedly. "People will think
+I've been robbing a beauty shop."
+
+"It will be a fine advertisement for me, anyway," June declared.
+"Can't you see all the halfpenny papers coming out with great
+headlines? Tragic Death of a Young Millionaire! Pockets Stuffed with
+June Mason's Skin Food!" She laughed merrily. "That would be worth
+something, eh, Micky?"
+
+"Heartless woman!" he answered. He turned to Esther. "Good-bye, Miss
+Shepstone."
+
+Esther was glad that he did not offer to shake hands with her; she was
+glad that June went to see him off. As soon as the door had closed on
+them she took her letter out again; she pressed the paper to her
+lips.
+
+It was worth waiting for, worth the heartache and disappointment; she
+closed her eyes for a moment and thought of Raymond Ashton. How she
+must have misjudged him in the past. It did not seem true now that
+they had ever quarrelled, or parted in anger; that she had ever been
+so unhappy that she did not want to live....
+
+June came running up the stairs; she was singing cheerily; Esther
+smiled as she listened ... it must be wonderful to be always as happy
+and light-hearted as June.
+
+"Well, dreamer?" said June. She shut the door with a little slam and
+came over to where her friend sat. "A penny for your thoughts."
+
+She looked at Esther's flushed face in the firelight.
+
+"And so everything is all right after all, eh?" she asked.
+
+Esther nodded.
+
+"And I'm not really going to Mrs. Ashton's after all," she said with a
+sort of shamefaced delight. "Only I didn't want to say so in front of
+Mr. Mellowes.... Oh, aren't you glad?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"My dear, of course I am!" said June heartily. "But for the life of me
+I can't understand how it is that this man of yours has got such an
+influence over you. He's only got to hold up his little finger and
+you're on your knees. I'm beginning to think he must be a kind of
+wonder after all."
+
+Esther did not answer for a moment.
+
+"No," she said. "He isn't at all wonderful, really, except to me,
+and--and I love him, you see," she added shyly. "I suppose every man
+is wonderful to the woman who loves him."
+
+"Until she's his wife," said June tartly. "And then she thinks he's
+all sorts of an idiot, and tells him so."
+
+But Esther was too happy to take her seriously.
+
+"You've never been in love," she said, "or you wouldn't talk like
+that."
+
+"And I never wish to be in love, thank you," said June. "If you and
+Micky are samples of objects who are in love...." She made a little
+grimace, screwing up her nose in disgust.
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"Micky!" she said, surprised into using his Christian name. "Is he in
+love? How do you know he is?"
+
+"I'm not a bat, and I haven't known Micky years for nothing. He hasn't
+been himself for a long time. I've seen it, though I haven't said a
+word. He's in love right enough, there can't be any other explanation,
+seeing that he's too rich to ever be in debt, and they are the only
+two things that ever make a man miserable," she added.
+
+Esther wondered if June was trying to sound her.
+
+"I don't know who the wretched female is," June went on, puckering her
+brows. "I've tried to guess, but it's no good. There was a Miss Deland
+he used to go about with at one time, but I know that's all off."
+
+"Was he engaged to her?"
+
+"No--not really! But her people wanted it, and Micky didn't mind; he'd
+have drifted into it sure enough if something very tremendous hadn't
+happened to make him change his mind. I know Micky--he'd have slipped
+into matrimony as easily as he gets into a taxi, unless some one had
+turned him away from it." She glanced down at the letter in Esther's
+lap. "Tell me what he says," she coaxed. "Take pity on a poor creature
+who hasn't a phantom lover of her own, or a real one either," she
+added laughing.
+
+Esther hesitated.
+
+"I'm never quite sure whether you're laughing at me or not," she said
+nervously. "I know you don't mean to, but----"
+
+June laid her hand on Esther's lap.
+
+"I laugh at every one and everything," she said. "But it's only my
+way, and doesn't mean anything. Perhaps I'm a bit jealous--because you
+love this phantom lover so much better than you love me," she added.
+
+Esther drew the letter from its envelope.
+
+"I'll read you just a few little bits," she said shyly. The blood
+surged into her pretty face.
+
+June leaned back in a corner and closed her eyes. She held a cigarette
+between her lips and puffed at it lazily. There was a little silence;
+then Esther said suddenly--
+
+"I can't. It makes me feel too self-conscious. But he just says that
+he doesn't want me to go into any berth just yet. He says that he may
+be home very soon now...."
+
+"Oh!" said June chagrined. "And then, of course, you'll be married and
+live happily ever after...."
+
+"Yes," said Esther. "I hope so."
+
+June opened her eyes.
+
+Charlie, curled up on his cushion, started to purr lazily. Presently
+June flopped down on her knees beside him and began stroking his
+head.
+
+"You'll let me have Charlie when you're married, won't you?" she said
+suddenly. "I am sure the phantom lover won't want him."
+
+Esther did not answer; she hated herself for remembering that Raymond
+had once said he loathed cats.
+
+"I told you how Micky went into a pond after a drowning kitten, didn't
+I?" June asked reminiscently. "I should have loved him for that alone,
+if for nothing else...."
+
+Esther made no comment. She moved a little, and the letter slipped
+from her lap to the floor.
+
+June picked it up.
+
+"Or is it sacrilege to touch it?" she asked teasingly. She laid it on
+Esther's lap.
+
+"Well, I couldn't help seeing the writing," she said, after a
+moment. "And, do you know, it's awfully like Micky's! If I hadn't
+known it wasn't his I should have declared it was," she said rather
+disconnectedly.
+
+Esther grabbed the letter up.
+
+"Well, it isn't his, anyway," she said sharply.
+
+June laughed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Esther wrote to Mrs. Ashton that same night and told her she must
+regretfully decline the offered position; she gave no reason, but she
+permitted herself a little sigh of regret when the letter was
+dispatched.
+
+She would like to have gone; she would like to have seen Raymond's
+home and to have got to know his mother, but it was his wish that she
+should not go.
+
+She tried to believe that she was happy in the knowledge of his love,
+but in her heart she knew that she was restless and dissatisfied.
+
+"If I had something to do I should be ever so much happier," she told
+June again and again, and June quite agreed.
+
+"It must be awful, killing time," she said. "When I think of the life
+I used to lead at home before I started trying to improve people's
+complexions, I wonder I didn't go mad. Nothing but silly tea-parties
+and scandal.... Ugh! But all the same Micky and I agreed that you
+wouldn't like being at Mrs. Ashton's."
+
+"Micky!" said Esther scornfully. "As if I care what he thinks...."
+
+June looked mildly amazed.
+
+"Oh, all right," she said smoothly. "I suppose I may mention his name
+sometimes, mayn't I?" She began to laugh. "Do you know that for once
+in my life I've been totally wrong with regard to you two? I was so
+sure you'd more than like each other--I even thought it quite possible
+that Micky might fall in love with you--you're so exactly suited to
+him."
+
+"I'm glad you think so," said Esther drily. "I'm sorry I can't oblige
+you by agreeing."
+
+June said "Humph!" She yawned. "All the same," she added after a
+moment, "I'm convinced that things would have been different if it
+hadn't been for that phantom lover of yours; you're so crazy about
+him." There was a touch of exasperation in her voice.
+
+Esther flushed angrily.
+
+"It's absurd of you to talk like this," she said. "Mr. Mellowes is the
+last man on earth I should ever have looked at, even supposing
+Raymond...." She had spoken the name before she was aware of it; in
+her momentary flash of temper the secret she had so carefully guarded
+escaped her.
+
+It was too late to attempt to cover what she had said; she knew by the
+sudden expression of June's face that she had heard.
+
+There was a poignant silence, then June sat up with a little jerk.
+
+"Of course, that's let the cat out of the bag," she said curtly. "And
+you let me run him down! How mean, how unutterably mean of you,
+Esther!... I can't think now why I never guessed! Raymond Ashton!"
+
+Esther had flushed scarlet.
+
+"I never said that was his name," she tried to defend herself. "It's
+purely your imagination. And even supposing it is, do you think I mind
+what you say about him, or Mr. Mellowes either? Neither of you know
+him as I do, or you would never say such cruel, wicked things." She
+stopped with a sob in her voice.
+
+"Then it is Raymond Ashton?" June said gently. She got up and came
+over to where Esther was sitting. "Oh, I am sorry I said anything
+about him!" she cried impulsively. "You ought to have stopped me. How
+on earth was I to know?"
+
+"I don't care what you said; it's all untrue," Esther protested
+stormily. "Nothing you could ever say about him would influence me or
+make me feel any differently."
+
+June got up for a cigarette; when she was nonplussed she invariably
+had to smoke; she took several agitated puffs before she looked at her
+friend again.
+
+"Well, anything I said was in absolute innocence, you know that," she
+said in distress. "I'd no more idea than the dead that you and he....
+So that's why he doesn't want you to go to his mother?"
+
+"He doesn't know; I never told him it was to Mrs. Ashton's--I just
+said I had had an offer of a berth. I suppose you are trying to make
+out now that he----"
+
+"Heaven bless the child!" June cried. "I'm not trying to make out
+anything! I'm struck all of a heap like! as Lydia says. So he's the
+phantom lover, is he?... Well--I can't find any words to suit the
+case."
+
+"He's not a phantom lover," Esther protested. "He's a real lover, a
+very real lover."
+
+June stopped and took her hand.
+
+"I'm not going to let you quarrel with me over him, no matter how
+badly you want to," she said. "No man is worth two friends having a
+row over. I'm quite prepared to take him to my arms and love him if
+you do.... Oh, Esther, don't look like that!"
+
+There were tears in Esther's eyes, and her lips were trembling.
+"You're making fun of me," she protested. "It's unkind of you."
+
+June turned away; she wondered if perhaps, after all, she and every
+one else had thoroughly misunderstood Raymond, and if this girl's warm
+championing of him was deserved.
+
+"He's not nearly good enough for her," she was telling herself
+indignantly. "She'll never really be happy with him."
+
+"I hope you won't tell Mr. Mellowes, or any one else," Esther was
+saying defiantly. "I don't want my affairs talked over by every one."
+
+"I shall not tell any one," June said quietly.
+
+She stood looking down into the fire, and her face was troubled.
+
+Presently she walked to Esther, and, stooping, kissed her.
+
+"I'm awfully glad I know," she said. "It makes our friendship seem so
+much more real."
+
+Esther smiled faintly.
+
+But June was ill at ease. She felt instinctively that things were not
+all right.
+
+"It isn't the man himself," she told herself obstinately. "It's some
+foolish, mistaken ideal of him that she has created."
+
+She wondered what he really was doing in Paris. Micky would know--he
+and Micky had been such great friends. There would be no harm in
+speaking of him to Micky, at least that would not be betraying any
+secret or confidence.
+
+She rang Micky up the following morning. She made the excuse that she
+wanted to see him on business. She took him to lunch at her club.
+
+"You don't look well," was her greeting. "What's the matter, Micky?"
+
+Micky frowned. If there was one thing he hated it was for any one to
+remark on his appearance. He answered brusquely that he had never been
+better in his life.
+
+"By the way, I was going to write when you rang up," he said. "I've
+got some tickets for a first night to-morrow. Would you care to come
+along and--and bring Miss Shepstone?"
+
+June beamed. She liked going out with Micky.
+
+"I should love it," she said with enthusiasm. "I can't answer for
+Esther, though."
+
+"Try to persuade her," he urged carelessly. "I don't suppose she's
+been about much; it would do her good."
+
+"She told me she loves theatres," June admitted; "but the trouble will
+probably be that she hasn't got a dress."
+
+"A dress?" Micky echoed vaguely. "Can't you lend her one of yours?"
+
+June laughed.
+
+"My dear boy, she's much taller than me and slimmer. ... However,
+I'll see what can be done. Where shall we meet you?"
+
+"I'll call for you at seven. We'll have some grub first."
+
+"Good! And if Esther won't come?"
+
+"Oh, well, if she won't, you come along, of course; but try and
+persuade her."
+
+"She's refused Mrs. Ashton's offer, you know," June said presently.
+She kept her eyes lowered; she felt self-conscious and guilty.
+
+"Has she?" Micky did not sound particularly interested.
+
+"Yes; the phantom lover objected, or something, and I think it's just
+as well."
+
+"She said something about it when I had tea with you the other day."
+
+June nodded.
+
+"So she did. I dare say that wretched Raymond would have tried to make
+love to her if she had gone," she added deliberately.
+
+"He's away just now," Micky said quickly. "I ran across him when I was
+over in Paris last week."
+
+June looked up quickly.
+
+"Did you? What's he doing there?"
+
+"Nothing particular; he often goes over, you know."
+
+"I can't stand that man," June said, after a moment.
+
+"No?" Micky's voice was casual.
+
+"I never could see why you were so thick with him," she went on.
+
+Micky laughed lazily.
+
+"Perhaps because I haven't your gift of second sight, my dear," he
+said.
+
+"I shouldn't have thought it would need second sight to see what he
+is," June declared.
+
+She looked across at Micky and was surprised by the hard expression of
+his face. "I hate men who flirt," she added. "Micky, do you know that
+I've got a kind of feeling about Esther's phantom lover that he
+doesn't really exist?"
+
+Micky sat up with sudden attention.
+
+"What do you mean?" he asked.
+
+She shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"I mean that he isn't really a tangible man," she explained
+haltingly.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Oh yes, he is," he said.
+
+June caught her breath.
+
+"You don't mean--oh, do you mean that you know him?" she asked
+excitedly.
+
+Micky met her eyes with a faintly ironical smile in his own.
+
+"Yes, I know him," he answered hardily. "And so do you. My dear, I may
+be very green, but your careful questioning wouldn't deceive a
+mouse."
+
+"Micky!" said June indignantly. She flushed all over her face, and her
+queer eyes blazed angrily. She really felt that she had a done a
+dreadful thing in having allowed him to guess.
+
+"You needn't look so upset," Micky said. "You've not told me anything;
+I knew it long before you did."
+
+"When? How--oh, Micky, do tell me!"
+
+"There's nothing to tell. Ashton often spoke about her to me. I knew
+she was at Eldred's, and--well that's all," he added lamely.
+
+"All!" said June disappointedly. "But surely you know more than that!
+What do you think of him? Do you think he really cares for her? Oh,
+Micky, do you think he's good enough for her?"
+
+Micky looked away.
+
+"I don't know that it matters very much what I think," he said drily.
+"She--she loves him apparently, and that's all that counts, I
+imagine."
+
+"Yes, she loves him right enough," June admitted gloomily. "It was
+quite an accident that she told me his name, of course, and she made
+me promise not to tell any one, particularly you. I suppose because
+she knows that you and he were friends."
+
+"Possibly, if she does know. I rather doubt if Ashton said much to her
+about me, though. He used to keep things to himself a good deal." He
+picked up the menu. "Aren't you going to have anything more to eat? I
+thought you were hungry."
+
+"I'm not now; I'm too excited. Micky, when you saw him in Paris,
+didn't he say anything, ask you anything? Oh, it all seems so
+extraordinary!"
+
+"My dear girl, what could he ask me?" Micky objected gently. "I never
+discuss--Miss Shepstone with him, and he is not in the least likely to
+tell me his private affairs, and I'm sure I don't want to know them."
+
+June was silent for a moment.
+
+"Esther is laying up trouble for herself," she said then. "Don't you
+think she is?"
+
+"I haven't thought about it," Micky maintained stolidly. "And if you
+take my advice, you won't either. It never does to meddle with other
+people's affairs."
+
+"But she's my friend," June objected hotly. "And do you mean to say
+that I have got to stand by and see her ruin her life?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"She's not married yet," he said laconically. "Have some tipsy cake,
+will you?"
+
+"No--I don't want any more."
+
+"Well, I do. Waitress...."
+
+It was a deliberate attempt to change the conversation, and June knew
+it; she sat back in her chair frowning.
+
+She supposed Micky would not talk about Ashton because he was his
+friend; men were so absurdly loyal to one another.
+
+"If you loved Esther as much as I do," she said suddenly, "you
+wouldn't stand by and say nothing while she goes and marries that
+man."
+
+Micky was prodding the tipsy cake with a fork.
+
+"She hasn't married him yet," he said stoically. "And if she's
+happy----"
+
+"She isn't, my good man! at least only in theory!" June declared.
+"It's not Raymond Ashton she really cares for, but some wonderful
+person she thinks he is. She is looking at him through rose-coloured
+glasses."
+
+Micky smiled.
+
+"That's what most women do, isn't it?" he asked. "My dear girl, don't
+get so upset; I thought you wanted to bring me out to talk business."
+
+"This is business, my business at least, even if you're not
+interested. No wonder you didn't want her to go to Mrs. Ashton's!"
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"Well--I thought it would be better not, certainly."
+
+June regarded him severely.
+
+"You're a deep soul," she said. "I never even guessed that you knew
+anything."
+
+"Why should you? And I don't know anything. Can't we talk about
+something else?" he asked plaintively.
+
+It was getting on his nerves, this constant conversation about
+Esther.
+
+"So you'll come along to-morrow, eh?" he asked presently. "It's a long
+time since we went for a little jaunt together."
+
+"I shall love it." But June answered absently; her thoughts were still
+with Esther.
+
+Silence fell. Micky had finished his tipsy cake and was leaning back
+in his chair, a cigarette hanging dejectedly between his lips. He had
+lit it, but it had gone out, and though matches stood beside him he
+made no effort to light it again.
+
+June watched him across the table. He didn't look a bit well, she
+thought. What was the matter with him?
+
+"You know, Micky," she said impulsively, "I had quite made up my mind
+that you and Esther were to fall in love with one another. It would
+have been ideal, wouldn't it?" she asked wickedly.
+
+A little spasm crossed Micky's face, but it was gone so quickly June
+could never be quite sure if she had not imagined it.
+
+"Ideal," he said quietly. "Shall we go?"
+
+"I'll let you know about to-morrow," June said, as they parted. "I
+shall have to wear the same old purple frock I wore when you took me
+out last time; you won't mind?"
+
+"Not a bit, as long as you come; and ... let me know about Miss
+Shepstone. If she won't come I'll give the ticket away."
+
+"I'll let you know," said June vaguely.
+
+She walked home deep in thought. So Micky had known all along? She was
+not quite sure that she was pleased with him for keeping the fact from
+her. They had been such pals, he and she; surely he might have trusted
+her and told her!
+
+"I suppose I'm not to be trusted with a secret, though," she thought
+with a comical sigh. "Look how easily I gave Esther's away!"
+
+Tea was ready when she got in, and Esther and Charlie sat curled up
+together in the firelight.
+
+"I've got an invitation for us both to-morrow night," June said, even
+as she opened the door.
+
+Esther looked up eagerly; she had had rather a dull day of it.
+
+"A theatre," said June. "It's from Micky. I tell you at once, so you
+shan't throw cold water on it. He's got some seats for a first night,
+and asks us both to go. What do you say?"
+
+"I haven't a dress," said Esther promptly.
+
+"I told him you'd say that," June answered calmly, "and he said it
+didn't matter--or something to that effect. Micky never notices what
+you wear," she went on airily. "I'm going to wear an old purple rag
+that I've had for about forty years."
+
+Esther laughed. "I dare say I can buy one in time," she said; she did
+not intend Micky to think she could not afford a frock. "I think I
+should rather like to go," she added shyly.
+
+"Good!" June hid the amazement she felt. "Well, Micky's going to call
+for us and take us out to dinner first. It'll be a scrumptious
+dinner--Micky always does the thing in style!"
+
+"It's kind of him to ask me," Esther said.
+
+"Why?" June demanded. "Oh, you mean because you don't like one
+another? But that wouldn't trouble Micky; he'd take you out if he
+hated the sight of you, he's so kind-hearted."
+
+"Thank you for a doubtful compliment," said Esther.
+
+She was making plans rapidly in her mind. Micky had never seen her
+well dressed.
+
+"I had another cheque from Raymond this morning," she said flushing.
+"So it will come in useful. I can get a ready-made frock--I shan't
+look so bad."
+
+"You'll look an angel whatever you wear," said June affectionately. "I
+know a little woman just off the Brompton Road who'll fix you up,"
+June said eagerly. "She's got the tiniest shop, but it's cram full of
+the sweetest things. She's awfully nice, too."
+
+"I can't afford much," Esther said dubiously.
+
+"She won't charge you much," June declared. "She's a friend of mine.
+She has my creams on her counter. It's a fine advertisement, you see.
+She gets lots of actresses and smart people in, and they ask what it
+is, and try a jar and send for more, and, there you are!"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"If she's too expensive----" she protested.
+
+But she ended by paying much more than she had originally intended.
+There was such a gem of a frock--black velvet and a white transparent
+bodice.
+
+"You look a duck!" June declared. "Doesn't she, Fifine?"
+
+But the mirror told Esther how charming she really looked without any
+further words.
+
+"I really ought not to have spent so much," she said as they went
+home. "But it is rather nice, isn't it?"
+
+"Micky will be absolutely bowled over," June declared. "I shall have
+to take a back seat all the evening."
+
+And Micky apparently was "bowled over," judging by the look that crept
+into his eyes when he arrived and found Esther alone in the
+sitting-room.
+
+June was late, as usual; she called out to him from her room that she
+wouldn't be half a minute.
+
+"There's no hurry," Micky answered quickly. He went over to where
+Esther stood, a little flushed and shy in her new frock.
+
+"It's very kind of you to come," he said rather agitatedly. She looked
+up.
+
+"It's very kind of you to ask me," she answered. She felt much more at
+her ease with him now. She knew that she was looking particularly
+pretty. "And it isn't the first time we have had dinner together, is
+it?" she asked.
+
+He answered eagerly that he was glad she remembered; he had almost
+thought she must have forgotten.
+
+"No, I shall never forget that, though it seems so long ago since that
+night. I was unhappy then, but now...."
+
+"But now?" he asked as she paused.
+
+"Now everything has come right," she told him. "You said you were sure
+it would, if you remember."
+
+His face changed a little.
+
+"I am glad I was such a good prophet," he said.
+
+June came bustling in; she was flushed and breathless, and laden with
+flowers, fan, and gloves, all of which she dropped to the sofa.
+
+"I'm quite ready. Esther, where's my cloak? Do find it, there's an
+angel. Oh, and my slippers--I've got everything else...."
+
+But it was at least another ten minutes before they were in the taxi
+and racing away through the night.
+
+"I've booked a table at Marnio's," Micky said. "I hope you like
+Marnio's, June?"
+
+"I like anything to-night," she told him. "I'm going to enjoy myself
+thoroughly, whatever happens."
+
+Micky glanced at Esther.
+
+"And you, Miss Shepstone?" he asked rather nervously.
+
+"Esther's too excited to speak," June answered for her. "Oh, are we
+here already?"
+
+She led the way into the lounge of the big restaurant; Micky was well
+known here apparently.
+
+"Every one in London knows Micky," June whispered to Esther with a
+sort of pride. "Look at the attention he gets!"
+
+Esther glanced at him; probably anybody with Micky's money could get
+the same attention, she thought.
+
+There were a good many people in the lounge; Esther looked at them
+interestedly. Some of the women were beautifully dressed, but the
+black and white frock held its own bravely.
+
+"You look nicer than any of them," June told her. "I
+knew--hullo!--Micky's found a friend." She looked across to where he
+was standing, and Esther followed her gaze.
+
+Micky was talking to two ladies--one of them was young and rather
+pretty, and the other--Esther's face flushed suddenly, and she bit her
+lip hard, for the other was Mrs. Ashton, Raymond's mother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Esther unconsciously put out her hand and grasped June's arm; she
+would have given anything had it been possible to run away. She saw
+Mrs. Ashton turn and look towards where they were standing, and in
+another moment she had crossed the lounge and was shaking hands with
+June.
+
+"I was just inviting Mr. Mellowes to come and dine with us," she said.
+"But he tells me he already has an engagement." Her eyes smiled at
+June. "I suppose you are the engagement?" she submitted.
+
+June laughed.
+
+A string band was playing a ragtime tune when they entered the
+restaurant. To Esther's unaccustomed eyes the room with its flowers
+and many lights was the most wonderful place she had ever seen. She
+kept close to Micky as he threaded his way through the small tables
+till he found their own, rather at the end of the room and away from
+the noisy band.
+
+He put Esther into a comfortable chair and himself took her cloak.
+
+"You don't mind being left while I go back for June?" he asked
+hurriedly; "she seems to have got lost."
+
+Esther looked after him as he went quickly back down the length of the
+room. She liked him in evening dress. If only it had been Raymond
+instead!--she stifled a little sigh; she meant to enjoy herself this
+evening; she was not going to allow one single despondent thought.
+
+June and Micky rejoined her almost at once.
+
+"I thought some one had eloped with you," June said laughingly. "Where
+did you get to? Micky, how hot this room is--I'm just stifling!"
+
+She threw off her wrap and snatched up a paper fan from the table.
+Micky sat down between the two girls.
+
+"Miss Shepstone didn't want to see Mrs. Ashton, I rather fancy," he
+said coolly. He looked at Esther with a slight smile in his eyes. "I
+believe she was afraid Mrs. Ashton would demand a reason for having
+had her kind offer so cavalierly refused," he went on banteringly.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"Yes, I believe I was," she admitted. "I'm an awful coward over
+explaining things to people."
+
+"So am I," said Micky drily. He was wondering how he was ever going to
+explain the most difficult occurrence of his whole life, and if, when
+he had done so, it would ever be believed.
+
+He looked at Esther a great deal during dinner; he had never seen her
+so animated; her eyes were sparkling, and her cheeks were flushed; she
+talked a great deal, and was particularly friendly to him; he was
+quite sorry when it was time to go on to the theatre.
+
+As they left the restaurant he noticed that she kept close to him
+again, and that she looked anxiously round for Mrs. Ashton.
+
+"It's all right," he said. "She's upstairs in the gallery."
+
+She smiled. She thought he was very quick to understand her. Raymond
+had never seemed to understand things without an explanation. She
+wished he had been rather more like Micky in some ways; she
+wished--she looked up at Micky guiltily; how could she compare the two
+men?--the one whom she loved, and the other whom she did not even
+like!
+
+They were late, and the curtain had risen when they were shown into
+their seats. The theatre was dark, and Esther could hardly see her
+way. She put out her hand with a smothered laugh and felt for Micky's.
+"I can't see," she said.
+
+His fingers closed about hers; such a little hand it felt. He wondered
+why she was being so kind to him to-night. He did not realise that she
+was enjoying herself so much that she felt on good terms with the
+whole world.
+
+Esther sat between him and June, and Micky hardly looked at the stage
+at all. His eyes turned again and again to her rapt face and the
+eagerness of her eyes.
+
+She had been to theatres lots of times, so she told him in a whisper,
+but never in the stalls before. She asked him if he didn't like some
+of the frocks worn by the people close by.
+
+Micky's eyes flashed.
+
+"Not so well as yours," he said.
+
+She drew away from him a little, and he wished he had not said it. In
+that one moment he felt that he had broken down all the friendliness
+she had shown him that evening. She did not speak again for some
+time.
+
+In the interval June leaned over to him.
+
+"Are you bored, Micky? You look bored to death."
+
+Micky stifled a sigh.
+
+"No," he said rather wearily.
+
+His eyes wandered round the crowded house. There were several people
+in the stalls whom he knew. He noticed that people were looking at
+Esther, and he felt a little thrill of pride.
+
+They were wondering who she was, of course. He wished with all his
+heart that he could stand up in his seat and announce to an interested
+world that she was the woman he intended to marry.
+
+When the light went down again Esther leaned a little closer to him.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes----" she said.
+
+"Yes." Micky bent his head towards her eagerly. He could hear her
+agitated breathing, hear too the little quiver in her voice when she
+spoke.
+
+"Did you see who was in that box on the right?--the lower box.... I
+thought it was Mrs. Ashton."
+
+Micky answered casually that very likely it was.
+
+"Odd, eh," he said, "that we should dine at the same place and have
+tickets for the same show?"
+
+Esther said "Yes--yes" twice in nervous hurry.
+
+There was something strained and unnatural about her, and though Micky
+could not see her face clearly he knew that something had happened to
+distress her.
+
+"What is it?" he asked anxiously. "Is anything the matter?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"No.... No."
+
+She sat very still till the curtain fell again, but Micky had the
+feeling that she was not paying the least attention to what was going
+on on the stage, and he knew that her eyes turned again and again to
+the stage box. What was she afraid of, he asked himself in perplexity,
+even if Mrs. Ashton did see her and recognize her, surely--then in a
+flash he knew ... the light had been turned up suddenly, and in that
+moment he saw the figure of a man move quickly from the front of the
+box to the screen of the curtains.
+
+Micky gripped the arms of his seat; for the moment he could not move.
+
+It was Raymond--he knew it as certainly as if he had been told.
+
+No doubt he had seen Esther, whilst she ... poor child! Had she seen
+him too?
+
+He looked down at her; she was sitting up stiffly, her hands clasped
+in the lap of the new frock of which she had been so innocently proud;
+her face was as white as the soft tulle of her sleeves, and her eyes
+were fixed on the box with its velvet curtains where Mrs. Ashton sat
+laughing and chatting with a girl in a pink frock.
+
+They both turned from time to time to some one who stood behind them
+in the shadow; once the curtains moved a little and a man's hand and
+arm showed distinctly.
+
+Micky could bear it no longer; he touched Esther's clasped hands.
+
+"Are you ill?--would you like me to take you out?"
+
+But she shook her head.
+
+"No, no ... please leave me alone."
+
+June had discovered a friend in a seat a row or two ahead with whom
+she was trying to carry on a conversation; she had no eyes for Micky
+or Esther. Micky gave a sigh of relief when the lights were lowered
+again; he could feel all that Esther was suffering, he could put
+himself in her place so thoroughly.
+
+If he went round to the box and made sure if it were Ashton, perhaps
+that would be the best way; he could manage to give him the tip then
+to keep out of the way. He half rose in his seat, but Esther moved at
+once, laying her fingers on his arm.
+
+"Oh, don't go--don't leave me here," she said tremulously.
+
+It was not the man himself she wanted, but his presence somehow gave
+her a feeling of confidence; if, indeed, it was Raymond up there in
+the box. She tried to argue herself out of the fancy; he would have
+let her know if he had come to London--surely she would have been the
+first to whom he would have come; she was mad to ever think the man up
+there in the background could be Raymond.
+
+But the conviction was there in her mind.
+
+"It is he--I know it's he," something in her heart was saying over and
+over again obstinately.
+
+The rest of the play seemed endless; she rose with a quick breath of
+thankfulness when it was over.
+
+"You are in a hurry," June said. "Haven't you enjoyed it?"
+
+"Yes, oh yes, but it's hot--I want to get out."
+
+Micky was deliberately being as slow as he could--he blocked the way
+out obstinately; the stalls were almost empty when at last they left
+them.
+
+June touched his arm.
+
+"Micky--is--Esther ill? Look how white she is."
+
+Esther was some little way ahead of them; she seemed to be trying to
+get out as quickly as possible.
+
+"It's too hot for her, poor darling!" June said. "Micky----"
+
+Micky laughed savagely.
+
+"It's not that," he said, "but Ashton was up in that box with his
+mother, and she saw him."
+
+"Micky----" He silenced her with a frown. He followed Esther as
+quickly as he could, but she was outside in the cold night air before
+he overtook her. There was a crowd here too--rows of cars and
+carriages outside, and women in thin evening frocks and furs shivering
+in the cold wind.
+
+Micky drew Esther's hand through his arm.
+
+"We shall find our cab this way, I think," he said evenly.
+
+He had seen Mrs. Ashton only a few yards away, and he dreaded every
+moment that Esther would see her, and see, too, who was with her.
+
+A sudden block in the crowd momentarily hindered them, and in that
+second a man's light laugh rang out above the noise and chatter of
+voices.
+
+Micky felt the girl beside him give a convulsive start. She tried to
+drag her fingers from his, but he held them fast.
+
+The crowd was moving again now; a second, and Raymond and his mother
+were lost to sight.
+
+Micky had slipped an arm round Esther; he was white to the lips. He
+knew now how near he had been to discovery and the wreck of all his
+hopes. He tried to pretend that he did not understand the cause of her
+agitation. He looked down at her.
+
+"Better now you're in the air?" he asked. "It was hot in the theatre.
+I--Esther----"
+
+She had swung heavily against him, and looking down in sudden alarm,
+Micky saw that she had fainted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+Looking back to that night at the theatre it always seemed to June
+Mason that she had been most extraordinarily blind in not seeing
+before that it was Esther for whom Micky Mellowes cared.
+
+One glance at his face as he lifted the girl in his arms told her more
+than any words would have done; there was a sort of indescribable rage
+and pain in his eyes as he looked down at the white face lying against
+his shoulder.
+
+People gathered about them, curious and sympathetic. June heard some
+one say that it had been so "deuced hot in the theatre, no wonder
+people fainted," but she knew all the time that it was nothing to do
+with the heat; she stooped mechanically and picked up Esther's gloves
+which had fallen from her nerveless hand before she followed Micky
+back into the foyer, where he laid Esther down on one of the long
+velvet lounges.
+
+Afterwards she realised that the sudden discovery that Micky loved her
+friend had been something of a shock to her, that she had even been
+faintly jealous; she did not want to marry him herself, and yet they
+had been such good friends, it gave her an odd little pain to think
+that there was somebody else whom he placed a long way ahead of her in
+his heart.
+
+Most of the people had gone, one or two of the theatre attendants
+lingered; it seemed a long time before Esther opened her eyes. She lay
+for a moment, looking vaguely about her, then her eyes came back to
+Micky, who was bending over her, his face scarcely less white than her
+own.
+
+She made an effort to lift herself from his arm; then quite suddenly
+she burst into tears.
+
+The little sound of sobbing broke the spell that seemed, to have held
+June; she went down on her knees beside her, both arms round the
+slender, shaking figure.
+
+Micky had risen to his feet. June glanced up at him.
+
+"Go and find the taxi and leave her to me," she said sharply. The look
+of suffering in his face hurt her. Micky went out into the cold night
+bareheaded. He hardly knew what he was doing. He stood for some
+minutes on the path forgetting why he had come out at all, before some
+one, jostling against him, brought him back to a sense of time and
+place.
+
+He went down the road to look for a taxi. When he came back Esther was
+sitting up, wrapped in her cloak. She was not crying now, but she
+looked like a child who wants to cry but is determined not to.
+
+June was standing beside her.
+
+"We're quite ready," she said. She kept an arm about Esther, and Micky
+followed them silently.
+
+He saw them into the cab, but did not follow. June asked a sharp
+question: "Aren't you coming?"
+
+"No--at least, not if you can manage without me." His voice sounded
+unnerved; he looked away from June to where Esther was huddled into a
+corner beside her, and suddenly, as if urged by an impulse he could
+not control, he leaned forward, groped for her hand in the darkness,
+and, bending, kissed it passionately.
+
+A moment later he had stepped back and shut the door.
+
+He stood looking after the cab till it vanished round a corner, then
+he went back to the theatre for his hat and coat, and set off again
+down the road.
+
+He was not conscious of any real emotion; but he walked swiftly as a
+man does who has a set purpose, and he did not stop till he found
+himself outside the Ashtons' house.
+
+It was not far off midnight, but lights burned in many of the windows,
+and after a swift glance at the face of the house he went up the steps
+and rang the bell.
+
+It was some moments before the door was opened by a mildly amazed-looking
+servant; Micky asked for Mr. Ashton.
+
+"My name is Mellowes," he said, as she obviously hesitated. "If you
+tell him my name he will see me. I know he is in, I saw him at the
+Comedy Theatre to-night."
+
+He stepped past the girl into the hall, and after a slightly scared
+glance at him she shut the door and departed upstairs.
+
+A moment later Micky heard Ashton's voice.
+
+"You old night-bird! What an ungodly hour to call on any one! I was
+just going to bed; come in."
+
+He spoke easily, but there was a slightly anxious look in his eyes; he
+led the way into the library.
+
+The fire was nearly out there and the room felt chilly; he shivered,
+and, stooping, tried to rake the cinders into a blaze.
+
+Micky watched him silently; after a moment Ashton turned.
+
+"Lord, man! what's the matter? You look as cheerful as Doomsday."
+
+Micky was standing stiffly against the table.
+
+"I saw you in the theatre to-night," he began without preamble. "I was
+with Miss Shepstone, and she saw you, too--at least she believes it
+was you, and I am going to tell her that she was mistaken. How soon
+can you get out of town and back to Paris?"
+
+Ashton stared; the colour had rushed to his face; after a moment his
+eyes fell.
+
+"I don't know what the devil you're driving at," he said irritably. "I
+suppose I can come to London without asking you first, can't I? And,
+as for Lallie"--he grinned nervously--"well, you know as well as I do
+that that's all been off for weeks."
+
+Micky stood immovable.
+
+"You haven't answered my question," he said flintily. "How soon can
+you get out of London?"
+
+Ashton swore under his breath.
+
+"I'm dashed if I know what you're driving at," he said sulkily. "If
+you like to take Lallie to theatres, that's your business; she's a
+nice little girl, I admit, but----"
+
+Micky took a step forward.
+
+"If you want to make me forget that this is your mother's house,
+you're going the right way to do it," he said between his teeth. "And
+I don't want any of your bluff. Miss Shepstone thinks she saw you at
+the Comedy to-night; she'll probably write to you or try to see you in
+the morning, and you've got to be out of London by then--do you
+hear?"
+
+Ashton laughed; he shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Must?" he said nastily. "How long have you been Lallie's champion?...
+Oh, all right, all right," he broke off hurriedly, as he saw the ugly
+light in Micky's eyes. "But it's a bit thick, you know," he resumed
+injuredly. "I've done with her; you know that. You sent my letter on
+to her yourself. It's absurd if I can't come back home for a few days
+in case she should see me and get upset. I'm sorry if she's still fond
+of me, but, dash it all----"
+
+"You haven't answered my question," said Micky again.
+
+He was controlling himself with a mighty effort, but the veins stood
+out like cords on his forehead and his hands were clenched.
+
+The two men looked at one another, and it was Ashton's eyes that
+fell.
+
+"If you're going to bullyrag me...." he began blusteringly, "I may as
+well tell you that I'm not going back to Paris till I please,
+and----"
+
+"Very well," said Micky. He turned on his heel.
+
+Raymond watched him cross the room anxiously. When he reached the door
+he called to him--
+
+"Micky! What the devil are you going to do?"
+
+And Micky answered without turning--
+
+"I'm going to tell Mrs. Clare the way you've treated Miss Shepstone,
+and if she's half the decent sort I think she is she'll throw you
+overboard as you've thrown scores of others...."
+
+Ashton followed and clutched his arm. "Come back; don't be such a
+firebrand! I'll go--I'll clear out by the first train to-morrow....
+I'm sorry if Esther was upset, but...."
+
+Micky cut him short. "The first train leaves Victoria at 9.40; I'll be
+there to see you off."
+
+Ashton scowled. "It's a nice way to treat a friend," he grumbled. "If
+there's really anything up with Lallie ..."
+
+Micky stood like a statue.
+
+"It's decent of you to take her out," Ashton went on uneasily. "I'm
+much obliged to you, I'm sure. She's never had much of a time. If I'd
+had any money...."
+
+Micky broke out then. "Oh, hold your infernal tongue," he said
+furiously.
+
+He walked out of the room, shutting the door hard behind him. He
+passed the astonished maid in the hall and let himself out into the
+night. The blood was pounding in his veins, he felt in actual need of
+physical violence; he did not know how he had managed to keep his
+hands off Raymond. He walked on at a furious pace; presently he
+laughed with a sort of self-pity.
+
+What was the good of what he had done after all? At best he had only
+succeeded in staving off the inevitable for a little while; Esther
+would have to know sooner or later.
+
+Such wasted love it was! All for a man who was not worth one thought,
+or even a tear!
+
+When he got back to his rooms he told Driver to call him early, as he
+was going to see somebody off by train. He was at Victoria long before
+Ashton; the greeting between the two men was constrained.
+
+"I was going back to-day, anyway," Ashton said jauntily. "I'm going to
+be married the day after to-morrow----" He looked at Micky with
+triumphant eyes. "To Mrs. Clare," he added.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Micky got back to his rooms, Driver met him; Driver with a
+spark of unwonted animation in his dull eyes, and who closed the
+sitting-room door mysteriously behind him as he came forward.
+
+"If you please, sir--there is a lady to see you."
+
+"A lady!" said Micky blankly; then he laughed. "Rubbish! You're
+dreaming, man."
+
+"No sir," said Driver stolidly.
+
+Micky stared at him for a moment, then he passed him, and threw open
+the door of the sitting-room.
+
+It was Esther who rose from a chair by the fire as he entered.
+
+For an instant Micky was unable to believe his own eyes, then he shut
+the door and took a step forward.
+
+"You!" he said. "I never thought...."
+
+She broke in agitatedly.
+
+"Oh, I know; I suppose I shouldn't have come; I don't know what June
+would say if she knew; but--but there wasn't anybody else I could come
+to, and you said ... you said...." She flushed up nervously. "Oh, you
+did say you would be a friend to me, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Micky.
+
+He might have reminded her that she had declined his friendship; he
+might have reminded her of all the not very kind things which she had
+said to him, but it was such happiness to see her here in his room
+that he was in no mood to be critical.
+
+"Do sit down ... there's no hurry, is there?" He wanted to put her at
+her ease; he did not like to see the nervous agitation in her face;
+but she shook her head.
+
+"I'm not going to stay, only ... only I...." Her voice changed
+suddenly. "Oh, Mr. Mellowes, will you tell me how I can get to
+Paris?"
+
+"Paris!" Micky echoed the word helplessly. "Paris!" he said again. For
+the moment he stared at her with blank eyes.
+
+She rushed on impetuously.
+
+"I have a friend there--some one I ... some one I ... oh, it's the man
+I'm engaged to, and I want to see him--I must see him! I've got the
+money to get there. I hope you don't think I was going to ask you to
+lend me that...." she added in distress.
+
+"Miss Shepstone ... I--I...." Micky was horribly upset. "I never
+thought anything of the sort. And--and even if you were going to ask
+me, you know quite well that anything I have, anything...."
+
+She stopped him hurriedly.
+
+"Oh, I know, it's very kind of you." Her blue eyes sought his face
+with a sort of abasement. "I don't think I've ever really realised how
+kind you've been to me," she said. "But ... but I've been so worried
+and unhappy ... I--I do hope you'll forgive me if I was rude or
+unkind."
+
+Micky did not answer; so it had come at last, the explanations which
+he had always dreaded; he racked his brains in vain to think of a way
+out of it--to make out the best story he could.
+
+She seemed to realise his perturbation, she came a step nearer to
+him.
+
+"Mr. Mellowes," she said earnestly, "will you tell me something?"
+
+"Yes," said Micky inaudibly, but he did not look at her.
+
+She looked up at him, trying to see his face before she asked her
+question.
+
+"Do you--do you know who the man is that I am going to marry?"
+
+In the silence that followed her timid question, Micky felt that he
+lived through years. Should he tell her the truth, or should he not?
+Ashton was out of London by this time; in another forty-eight hours he
+would be married to another woman; he raised his head with a sort of
+desperation. "No," he said.
+
+He tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that at least it was
+substantially the truth; she was not going to marry Ashton--she never
+could marry him now.
+
+He heard the sigh of relief she gave.
+
+"I'm glad," she said. "Somehow, lately, I have thought that you did
+know. Mr. Mellowes ... last night ... I thought I saw him in the
+theatre last night. I know now that I was mistaken." She paused a
+moment and looked past him to the window and the cold grey street
+outside. "I couldn't have seen him," she said again, as if to convince
+herself rather than him. "Because he is in Paris--I found out this
+morning that he is still in Paris."
+
+"Yes," said Micky. His voice sounded choked. "And so--so you want to
+go out there to him, is that it?"
+
+Her face brightened.
+
+"Yes. I should have told June only--only she isn't very sympathetic.
+You see"--she smiled faintly--"she hates my 'phantom lover,' as she
+calls him, and so--so I know she would only do her best to keep me
+from going to him; but you----"
+
+"I am afraid," said Micky quietly, "that I shall try and do the same
+thing."
+
+He turned and looked at her squarely.
+
+"You've never been to Paris," he said, "and probably you can't speak a
+word of French. You've probably never travelled any distance alone.
+Miss Shepstone, it's impossible for you to go. I am only advising you
+for your own good. Why not write to--to--your fiance and ask him to
+make arrangements for you?"
+
+He broke off helplessly. The poor little letter in which she had
+already done so lay in his pocket at that moment.
+
+It turned him sick to think of the tissue of lies and deceit his own
+actions were forcing upon him.
+
+"I--I have asked him," she said almost in a whisper, "but he said he
+couldn't have me--then! But that's quite a long time ago," she added
+hopefully. "And I thought if he saw me--if I got there and surprised
+him----"
+
+Micky turned away. He could imagine so well what would happen if
+indeed she found Ashton. He walked over to the window and stood
+looking into the street with unseeing eyes.
+
+"Have a little patience," he said presently. "Take my advice and stay
+here. If he--if he can, he will send for you, I am sure." She looked
+up quickly, a spark of anger in her eyes.
+
+"You sound as if you think that will never be," she said sharply.
+
+Micky met her gaze unflinchingly.
+
+"I don't think anything of the sort. I know--I know if I were in his
+place, whoever he is--I should be counting the moments till I could
+... could have you with me." He smothered the momentary seriousness of
+his words with a little laugh. "And now, after that pretty compliment,
+aren't you going to reward me by taking my most excellent advice?"
+
+The ghost of a smile crossed her face.
+
+"I wanted you to say something so different," she told him wistfully.
+
+"I know--but I'm not going to. Any one would advise you as I have. It
+isn't ... it isn't that I'm prejudiced, or anything like that. I would
+give a great deal to see you happy. I hope you believe me."
+
+She sat twisting her hands together nervously. After a moment she
+looked up at him.
+
+"Thank you," she said.
+
+She rose and began to pull on her gloves.
+
+"I hope you don't think it's very dreadful of me to have come," she
+said deprecatingly. "But ... but this morning, somehow, I felt I must
+have someone to talk to--some one to advise me...."
+
+"I am honoured that you came," said Micky gravely. Her eyes fell
+before his.
+
+"And--and you won't tell June?" she appealed.
+
+He smiled rather sadly.
+
+"I am not likely ever to tell any one," he said.
+
+"No, I know. Mr. Mellowes"--she held out her hand to him suddenly,
+her fair face flushing--"I should like to take back something I
+said to you one day. Perhaps you don't remember, but I do, and
+lately--especially since last night, when you were so kind--I've
+felt that I wasn't just to you; and so ... if you will forgive me,
+I should like to be friends with you after all."
+
+She was crimson by the time she had finished, but Micky took her hand
+without answering, held it for a moment, then let it go.
+
+"I suppose I mustn't offer you anything?" he said with forced
+lightness. "No coffee--or tea? It's cold out this morning. If you
+would care for anything, my man would bring it at once."
+
+She laughed and shook her head.
+
+"I don't want anything, thank you." She looked round at Micky's
+luxuriously furnished room. "Isn't it beautiful?" she asked him.
+
+He smiled. "Do you like it? I am glad."
+
+"I think it's lovely." She looked up at him. "I seem to have been
+climbing a ladder lately," she said. "Since I left that awful place in
+the Brixton Road--where I am now is heaps better than that was, but
+this----"
+
+Micky was silent. It trembled on his lips to say that everything he
+had in the world was hers if only she would take it, but he knew the
+utter futility of it. Money and possessions counted very little with
+her. She would not have minded the house in the Brixton Road at all
+with the man she loved.
+
+He went downstairs with her.
+
+"So we're really friends now?" he said when he bade her good-bye. "And
+you'll promise to let me advise you again when you're not quite sure
+what you ought to do?" There was a note of anxiety in his voice.
+
+She flushed nervously.
+
+"It's kind of you to be interested." It seemed strange to her that
+after all that had happened they should have so easily got back to
+their old footing of friendliness. But Micky was not at all happy.
+When she had gone he stood for a long time at the window staring
+moodily out.
+
+When Driver brought lunch, he found Micky poring over a Bradshaw; he
+spoke to the man with elaborate carelessness.
+
+"You'll have to take another trip to Paris--to-morrow will do."
+
+"Yes sir." Driver smoothed a crease in the cloth. "To post another
+letter, sir?" he asked expressionlessly.
+
+Micky looked up sharply, but Driver met his eyes innocently.
+
+Micky coloured.
+
+"No; it isn't a letter this time," he said. "It's to buy a fur coat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+"The phantom lover," said June Mason lugubriously, "is certainly
+turning up trumps."
+
+It was a week later, and she was giving Micky tea.
+
+Esther was out. She knew now that it was to see Esther he came. She
+was quite reconciled to the fact, and had got over her first pang of
+jealousy, but Esther's indifference to him enraged her.
+
+"Can't the girl see what she's throwing away?" she asked herself
+furiously. "What on earth is she made of that she can't see what's
+waiting for her to take? If Micky had adored me as he adores her ...
+well--my name wouldn't have been June Mason to-day."
+
+But she kept such thoughts to herself and treated Micky very much the
+same as usual, though unconsciously there was a slight restraint in
+her manner, especially when Esther was present.
+
+"I'm beginning to think that I've misjudged our Raymond," she went on
+laughingly. "Perhaps some one has converted him. Anyway, he's treating
+Esther handsomely. First the money, and last week the fur coat...."
+Micky looked up with sudden interest.
+
+"Oh, it's come, then, has it!" he said eagerly.
+
+"Come! It's been here two days. How did you know?" she asked with
+sudden suspicion.
+
+"I heard you talking about it. Wasn't it you? No? Then it must have
+been Miss Shepstone."
+
+"I dare say," said June easily. "I never saw any one so delighted with
+a thing as she was with that coat. And it is a beauty, Micky. I only
+hope it's paid for," she added practically.
+
+"Why shouldn't it be paid for?" Micky said.
+
+She made a little grimace.
+
+"Because Raymond Ashton never paid for things if he could help it; and
+you know he didn't," she told him. "However, as he seems to be a
+reformed character, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Suddenly
+she began to laugh. "And that isn't all," she said again. "This
+morning a collar arrived for that blessed cat----" She indicated
+Charlie sleeping peacefully on the rug. "A silver collar, too my boy,
+with Esther's name on it...."
+
+Micky stooped to examine the collar; his face was red when, after a
+moment, he looked up again.
+
+"Esther declares she never told him we'd got a cat," June told him
+doubtfully. "But, of course, she must have done so or else the man's
+got second sight."
+
+Micky was drinking his tea; he choked suddenly.
+
+A feeling of panic closed upon him. Never told him she'd got a cat!
+of course she hadn't! What a fool he had been to make such a
+blunder--what an utter blockhead.
+
+"I expect she did tell him," he managed to say.
+
+"Yes, that's what I think." June lit a cigarette and passed the
+lighted match over to Micky.
+
+"Anyway, Esther goes about the place singing all day," she added
+drily. "There's no doubt at all that she's up in the seventh heaven of
+happiness. Reams of letters the man writes her. Perhaps, as the novels
+tell us, love is a wonderful thing----" She looked at Micky with a
+comical expression in her queer eyes. "I should say it must be if it's
+reformed that man," she added cynically.
+
+Micky said nothing. He had been very uncomfortable about things during
+the last few days. As far as he could find out, Ashton had not yet
+been married. Supposing it had all been bluff when he said he was
+going to be married--supposing he turned up again in London?
+
+Micky stayed as long as he could in case Esther came in; it was only
+when he began to feel sure that June knew why he was dragging his
+visit to such a length that he said he ought to be going.
+
+"There's no hurry," she said kindly. "Why not wait till Esther comes
+in?"
+
+Micky shook his head; he said he couldn't spare the time, but in his
+heart he knew quite well that he intended to wait.
+
+"I suppose she--er--she never talks any more about taking a job now,
+eh?" he asked after a moment.
+
+"No, I don't think so; that man's word is law to her, you know. I
+believe if he said 'Come out here and marry me at once,' she'd fly off
+by the next train. As a matter of fact, I'm expecting something of the
+sort almost daily."
+
+"I don't think she'll do that," Micky said. He stood back to the fire,
+with his hands in his pockets, staring up at the ceiling.
+
+"No!" June watched him quizzically. "Do you know, Micky," she said at
+last, "that I consider you've altered a lot lately?"
+
+He swung round at once, and scrutinised himself in the glass over the
+mantelshelf.
+
+"For the worse, or the better?" he asked anxiously. "I know I never
+was exactly an Adonis."
+
+She laughed merrily.
+
+"I don't mean your face, stupid, but yourself. You're quieter, you
+don't go about so much; in fact"--she challenged him deliberately--"I
+believe you're in love."
+
+"So I am," said Micky stolidly.
+
+She pretended not to take him seriously.
+
+"It's no joking matter--I mean what I say."
+
+"So do I," said Micky. He laughed. He came over to where she was
+sitting, and stood behind her chair so that she could not see his
+face. "I've tried to make up my mind to tell you lots of times," he
+said. "But I thought perhaps you'd have guessed before now...." He
+stopped and moved away restlessly.
+
+June sat very still; presently--
+
+"It's Esther," she said quietly.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Poor old Micky!..."
+
+"You needn't be sorry for me; I walked into it with my eyes wide open.
+I knew she was engaged--I knew it all the time."
+
+"And Esther ... does she know? Have you told her?"
+
+"Yes.... She took it as an insult. Perhaps it was; I don't know. You
+see, I knew she was engaged to that other fellow."
+
+"An outsider! who isn't worth a thought," June cried indignantly.
+"Micky, however could she have refused you?"
+
+He laughed. He looked down at her with a comical expression in his
+eyes.
+
+"She's not the first woman who's done that," he reminded her.
+
+She sat up with sudden haste.
+
+"That wasn't anything, but this...."
+
+"This," said Micky, "isn't anything either, except on my side. You
+always told me that some day I shouldn't be able to have what I
+wanted. You were right."
+
+"I should like to slap her!" said June viciously.
+
+He laughed outright.
+
+"If you did I should slap you, my dear." He went back to his chair by
+the fire. "It's only between ourselves, June," he said.
+
+"Of course ... and, Micky--do you think she will marry Ashton?"
+
+Micky did not answer for a moment.
+
+"No," he said at last. "I don't think so."
+
+June stared at him.
+
+"Then--then do you mean----" But he would not tell her anything.
+
+"You've heard quite enough for one day," he said teasingly. "Don't
+worry your head about me. I don't know why I told you--somehow I
+thought you'd guessed."
+
+June threw her cigarette into the fire.
+
+"I did. I'll be honest--I did guess," she broke off. "Here is Esther,"
+she added.
+
+She got up and opened the door.
+
+"The lady with the fur coat," she announced drily. "Pray come in,
+madame!"
+
+"June," said Esther protestingly.
+
+She seemed to guess who was there. She looked past her friend at once
+to Micky.
+
+She coloured faintly as he rose to greet her.
+
+He had not seen her in the fur coat before. The dark fur suited her
+fairness admirably; the heavy folds hung gracefully about her slim
+figure; her face rose like a flower from the big, upstanding collar.
+
+"And where have you been all the afternoon?" June demanded. "We waited
+tea for you till nearly five."
+
+Esther made a little grimace. "I've had my tea out--with Mr. Harley."
+
+"Harley?" said Micky sharply.
+
+June laughed.
+
+"He's one of the tribe who live here," she explained. "He's a great
+admirer of Esther's. And he's quite a nice boy too, isn't he?" she
+appealed to her friend.
+
+"Very nice," Esther agreed. "I met him quite by chance, and so we went
+and had some tea."
+
+Micky was frowning; it was odd that he felt more jealous of this man
+whom he had never seen than he had ever done of Ashton. He hated to
+feel that Esther had gone out with him wearing her new coat.
+
+He stood by silently while the two girls chattered together; he felt
+very much out of it and unwanted.
+
+"I'm glad everybody likes my coat," Esther said. She had taken it off
+and was holding it at arm's length, admiring its beauty.
+
+"It was a lovely present, wasn't it?" She appealed to Micky.
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+She laid her cheek to the big, soft collar.
+
+"It's something I have wanted all my life," she told him.
+
+Micky put out his hand and took it from her. He hated to see her
+standing there looking so happy because she believed it had come from
+Ashton; he threw it down on the couch.
+
+"I shall have to be going," he said abruptly. He shook hands with
+June, but he walked out of the room without speaking to Esther.
+
+"I don't want any dinner," he told Driver when he got in. "I'm going
+to bed."
+
+Driver opened his mouth to say something and closed it again; he
+brought the evening papers and his master's slippers and turned to
+leave the room. At the door he stopped and looked back.
+
+"Have you seen the evening paper, sir?" he asked deprecatingly.
+
+"No," said Micky. Something in the man's voice arrested his attention;
+he turned in his chair. "Why?" he asked curtly.
+
+Driver came back a step.
+
+"There's a notice of Mr. Ashton's marriage in it, that's all, sir," he
+said woodenly. "I thought that you'd be interested."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+So it had come at last. Micky sat staring down at the small paragraph
+which briefly announced the marriage of Tubby Clare's wealthy widow to
+Mr. Raymond Ashton.
+
+The ceremony, so the paper declared, which had taken place quietly in
+Paris would be a complete surprise to everybody. Mrs. Clare, as all
+the world knew, inherited something like L90,000 under the will of her
+late husband.
+
+Micky whistled softly. Raymond had done well for himself. He would
+be able to live in luxury for the rest of his life; to discharge all
+his debts, if his wife chose to allow him to do so; all but one
+debt--the greatest of them all, and one which he could never hope to
+liquidate--a woman's broken heart.
+
+Esther--what would she say if she knew? And supposing she knew
+now----! It was quite likely that a copy of this same paper had fallen
+into her hands. The thought turned Micky cold; he looked up hurriedly
+at the clock--not yet eight! On what pretext could he go back to
+Elphinstone Road?
+
+He threw the paper down and rose to his feet. His gloves! He would
+make them the excuse--he could go back for his gloves. He taxied down
+the whole way; he sent his name up to June and waited in the hall.
+After a moment she came flying down the stairs.
+
+"Micky! Is anything the matter? What in the world...."
+
+He explained in stammering haste.
+
+"Have you seen the evening paper? No, well, take care not to let Miss
+Shepstone see it. I had to come back and tell you. Ashton--the damned
+outsider...." He ground his teeth.
+
+"Not dead!" said June with a gasp.
+
+"No--he was married yesterday in Paris."
+
+June sat down on the bottom stair; she felt as if all the strength had
+gone out of her.
+
+"It can't be true," she said at last. "Why, she had a letter from him
+only yesterday. Are you sure? It must be another Ashton."
+
+"It isn't--I knew it was coming. He's married Tubby Clare's widow--for
+her money, of course. If Esther knows...."
+
+"It will break her heart," said June.
+
+There were footsteps on the landing above; Micky glanced up
+hurriedly.
+
+"Can't we go somewhere and talk? Everybody will hear if we stay here.
+Where is Miss Shepstone?"
+
+"She's in my room; she's writing to him at this minute----" She broke
+off, drawing in her breath hard. "Oh, Micky, are you quite, quite
+sure? I can't believe it." She stared at him for a moment, then she
+laughed incredulously. "Why, it's only three days ago he sent her that
+fur coat--and the collar for Charlie. Oh, I'm sure it's a mistake!"
+
+"It's not a mistake," said Micky fiercely; he looked away from her.
+"Confound it, isn't there a room where we can go and talk?" he broke
+out again.
+
+She got up from the stairs and led the way across the hall.
+
+"There's the drawing-room. Nobody uses it now because it's so cold."
+She opened the door and peeped in. "There's nobody there."
+
+Micky followed her, shutting the door behind him. The room was chilly
+and uninviting, with a lofty ceiling and a hideous wallpaper. There
+was a gas stove at the far end of the room, turned very low, and
+hissing softly as if in protest.
+
+June knelt down and turned the tap on to its fullest extent.
+
+"The thing is," Micky said hurriedly, "what are we going to do?
+If she stays in London, she's bound to hear about it. All the
+papers will be full of it to-morrow. They'll probably publish his
+confounded portrait. Can't you get her out of London? We've got
+to do something."
+
+June did not look at him. The odd little twinge of jealousy tore her
+heart again. Even though she did not love Micky, she quite realised
+what she was losing. After all it must be a very beautiful thing to be
+cared for as Micky cared for Esther.
+
+She raised her eyes with a little ghost of a smile.
+
+"I'll do anything I can, Micky. If you've got anything to suggest----"
+
+"I thought out crowds of plans coming along in the cab, but they're
+all rotten," Micky admitted dolefully. "I thought you'd be able to
+help me. Can't you be called off to a relative in the country or
+something, and ask Miss Shepstone to go with you?"
+
+June started up.
+
+"Of course I can. I've got an aunt down at Enmore. She's always asking
+me to go and see her. I'll send her a wire. It's too late to-night,
+but in the morning...."
+
+Micky felt in his pocket for a pencil.
+
+"Give me the address and I'll send it first thing." He paused.
+"Supposing Miss Shepstone won't go, though?"
+
+"Oh, she'll go," said June quickly. "I'll tell her it means business
+for me. I'll do the pathetic. I wonder what time there's a train."
+
+"I'll look up all the trains, and arrange everything. Does Miss
+Shepstone know I'm here now?"
+
+"No----"
+
+"Very well, tell her one of your business agents called, and that
+you've got to go off early to-morrow. You can write me a note and post
+it to-night, asking me to see you off. It's quite a usual thing for
+you to do, you know----"
+
+June smiled rather sadly.
+
+"Poor old Micky!" she said.
+
+Micky frowned.
+
+"Don't talk rubbish," he said rather shortly. "I'd do the same for any
+one."
+
+June knew it would be useless to contradict.
+
+"If you can keep her out of town for a week it may all have blown
+over," he went on. "I'll run down and see you if I may----"
+
+"You know you may; but, Micky--don't you think all this is rather
+mistaken kindness? She'll have to know sooner or later; why not tell
+her at once? When the letters stop coming she'll begin to worry, and
+then----"
+
+Micky shook his head obstinately.
+
+"I've my own reasons; be a pal and help me, June."
+
+"Very well, old boy."
+
+She gave him her hand.
+
+"I think you're making a mistake, but I suppose you know your own
+business best. At any rate, I've warned you."
+
+"You're a dear," said Micky gratefully.
+
+June went to the front door with him; in spite of her promise she was
+not feeling happy. Esther would have to know. She went slowly back up
+the stairs.
+
+"It's a mistake," she told herself again, with a sense of foreboding.
+"Micky's making a mistake."
+
+But she determined to act up to her part. She ran up the last flight
+of stairs with a great noise and show of excitement. She burst into
+their sitting-room breathless.
+
+"Such news, Esther! Are you game for a dash down into the wilds of
+nowhere? I've got to go off on business. One of my agents has just
+been here. He's made a mess of things, as usual, and I've got to go
+down and put things right. Oh, it's quite country! I don't know if you
+like the country. I adore it myself. A place called Enmore. I've got
+an antediluvian aunt who lives there, and we'll go and foist ourselves
+on her. She's always asking me to go and see her, so she'll be
+delighted. Well, what do you say?"
+
+"You haven't given me a chance to say anything," Esther protested
+laughing. "You're like a whirlwind, sweeping every one off their feet.
+Where is Enmore to start with? And how can I go? Your aunt doesn't
+know me."
+
+"She'll love you because I do," said June promptly. "Now don't spoil
+everything. The greatest fun of it all is rushing off at a moment's
+notice. I shall send Micky a note to-night and tell him to look up
+trains for us and come and see us off. Micky's always to be relied on.
+If I look trains up myself I always go by the wrong ones and never get
+there." She was sitting down to her desk as she spoke; she looked
+across at Esther, pen in hand. "Well?" she queried.
+
+Esther looked down at Charlie sprawling in the firelight.
+
+"What's going to become of Charlie?" she asked.
+
+"Lydia will look after him," June said promptly. "She adores cats.
+That's one excuse surmounted. Any more?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should like to come, but----"
+
+"Then that's settled. We'll stay a week if we're not bored to death.
+It's a desolate spot--just a handful of houses and a haystack and a
+few things like that, but if you like the country we ought to have a
+good time. I wish I'd got a car...."
+
+"Isn't it rather a funny place to go to for business?" Esther asked
+innocently.
+
+"Not in the least," June declared. "All the ingredients for my skin
+food came from the country--herbs and attar of flowers and all the
+rest of it. Besides"--she swallowed hard before uttering the biggest
+fib of all--"my agent lives down there, you see."
+
+"Oh!" said Esther. She was rather pleased at the idea of a change.
+
+"I suppose we can have letters sent on?" she asked after a moment.
+
+June's scratching pen stopped for a moment; then flew on again faster
+than before.
+
+"Oh, of course!" she said airily.
+
+Her kind heart gave a little throb of pity as she realised that there
+would never be any letters to send on--not any, at least, of which
+Esther was thinking.
+
+The phantom lover had gone for ever.
+
+She looked round at the girl pityingly. She looked so happy and
+unconscious sitting there in the firelight, and all the time if she
+knew what had just happened over in Paris her heart would surely
+break.
+
+"Beast!" said June under her breath.
+
+Esther turned.
+
+"What did you say?" she asked.
+
+"I was only talking to the pen," June answered irascibly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Micky turned up at Paddington the following morning laden with papers
+and chocolates.
+
+"Any one would think we were going to the other side of the world,"
+June told him. "Do you know, my good man, that it's only a couple of
+hours' run to Enmore?"
+
+"Is it?" said Micky guilelessly. "Well, any way, I'm sure you won't be
+able to get De Bry's chocolates down there, so they'll come in
+useful." He looked at Esther. She was wearing the fur coat and a bunch
+of violets.
+
+"I think it's awfully exciting," she said, meeting his eyes. "We never
+thought about going till quite late last night, did we, June?"
+
+"Things done in a hurry are almost the most enjoyable," June answered
+sententiously. "I'm quite bucked at the idea of living the simple life
+for a few days."
+
+"Pity you haven't got a car down there," Micky said. "There ought to
+be some fine runs round about."
+
+"So there are," said June promptly. Her queer eyes twinkled as she
+looked at him. "Micky, would you like to be a perfect dear and come
+down in yours, and take us out? You can stay at the local inn and play
+the heavy swell----"
+
+Micky flushed eagerly.
+
+"That's a ripping idea," he said. He turned to Esther: "I'll come like
+a shot if I shan't be in the way," he added.
+
+Esther smiled; she was surprised to find that the idea was not at all
+distasteful to her.
+
+"Oh yes; do come!" she said.
+
+June had got into the carriage, and was busy arranging her various
+possessions.
+
+"You'll be left behind, Esther," she said warningly.
+
+Esther turned at once.
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Mellowes."
+
+Micky took her hand in a hard grip.
+
+"Good-bye--but only till to-morrow...."
+
+He stood back as the train started; the last glimpse the two girls had
+of him was his radiantly smiling face.
+
+"Do you know," said June, settling herself in a corner, "I believe I'm
+half in love with that man, after all. Isn't he just a dear?"
+
+"He's awfully kind," Esther agreed.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the train drew into the little station at Enmore June looked at
+Esther with a sort of apprehension.
+
+"It's a most awful one-eyed hole, you know," she said. "I do hope you
+won't be bored to death. It won't be so bad if Micky keeps his promise
+and comes down, but if he doesn't...."
+
+"Don't you think he will?" Esther asked quickly.
+
+"Oh, I dare say he will. I hope he will, I'm sure; somebody has got to
+amuse you while I go and see to my business."
+
+"I can amuse myself."
+
+June sniffed.
+
+"Can you? Well, it's more than I could when I used to stay down here.
+There's only a church and a village inn and a handful of cottages. My
+aunt has by far the most distinguished-looking house in the village,
+and I dare say you won't think much of that."
+
+They were on the platform now, and June eyed their two suit-cases
+ruefully.
+
+"We shall have to carry them," she said. "No porters or taxicabs here,
+my dear. Come along."
+
+She grabbed her own, and Esther followed her out into the road.
+
+It was cold but sunny, and the fresh air of the country was something
+quite different from the chilly, damp atmosphere they had left behind
+in London.
+
+Esther drew a deep breath.
+
+"It's lovely," she said. "Do you know"--she looked ahead of her down
+the winding road with a little frown--"I've got the sort of feeling
+that something is going to happen to me here."
+
+"Goodness!" said June. "Don't you start having instincts too! It's bad
+enough for me to have them. What can happen to you, pray, unless you
+get melancholia or something?"
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+It was only a little way into the village; as soon as they came in
+sight of it June pointed excitedly to a red gabled house just visible
+through the trees.
+
+"That's where my aunt lives. She's an old maid, you know, and
+incidentally she thinks I'm a most heaven-born genius. She's nearly
+sixty, but I'll bet anything you like she uses June Mason's Skin
+Beautifier."
+
+She paused to open the iron gate of the little garden, but before
+there was time to ring the bell the door opened and a little lady with
+grey hair and a wonderful complexion very much like June's stood there
+with outstretched hands.
+
+"My dears! I never was so delighted! June--after all these months you
+really have come to see me."
+
+She kissed June heartily and turned to Esther. June introduced them.
+
+"My friend, Esther Shepstone--my aunt, Miss Dearling. I don't know
+what you think of us for arriving on top of our wire like this," she
+said, laughing. "But I like to do things in a hurry--so here we are,
+and we're just starving."
+
+They followed Miss Dearling into a quaint little square room, where
+the table was laid for lunch. June talked away all the time.
+
+"There's another member of the party coming down to-morrow," she said.
+"No; a man this time--Micky Mellowes! You remember him? Yes; I thought
+you would." She flushed a little. "He's going to bring his car down
+and take us all out for rides; so we're in for a good time."
+
+"I remember Mr. Mellowes quite well," Miss Dearling said. When she was
+alone with Esther for a moment she whispered to her--
+
+"We all hoped June meant to marry him, you know, my dear. Perhaps she
+has changed her mind, as she is allowing him to come down. Such a very
+charming man--have you seen him?--and so rich."
+
+"Yes, I've seen him," Esther said. "He is nice--very!"
+
+"It would be the dream of my life fulfilled if I could see June
+married to him," the old lady went on. "June wants a firm hand. She is
+wonderfully high-spirited and clever, you know, but I always feel that
+she would be so much happier with some one to look after her, and he
+is just the man to take care of a woman."
+
+"Yes," said Esther.
+
+She felt Miss Dearling glance at her hands.
+
+"Are you--are you engaged to be married?" she asked, after a moment.
+"Please forgive my curiosity, but I am always so interested in young
+people's love-affairs...."
+
+Esther coloured.
+
+"Yes, I am engaged," she said. "But he is away just now--abroad. I
+hope we shall be married as soon as he comes home again."
+
+Miss Dearling said that she hoped so, too; later, when she got a
+moment alone with June she asked interestedly about the man to whom
+Esther was engaged.
+
+"I do hope he is nice," she said anxiously. "Such a very charming
+girl! such a sweet-looking girl! Is he nice, my dear?"
+
+June crossed the room and shut the door; then she turned round with a
+little grimace.
+
+"He's a pig!" she said.
+
+Miss Dearling screamed.
+
+"Oh, my dear!"
+
+"He is," June maintained stoutly. "She doesn't think so, of course,
+but he is, all the same." She broke off as Esther came back.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+Esther woke in the morning with a pleasurable sense of something going
+to happen. She lay still for a moment looking round her at the heavy,
+old fashioned furniture and flowered chintz curtains.
+
+Miss Dearling's house was essentially Early Victorian, from its wool
+mats and stuffed birds in the sitting-room to the high four-posted
+bedsteads and faded Brussels carpets.
+
+But there was something very old-world and charming about it too, in
+spite of rather ugly furniture, and Esther was just admiring the
+dressing-table, with its petticoat of spotted muslin and pink ribbons,
+when the door opened and June thrust her head round.
+
+"Can I come in?" She did not wait for an answer, but came in, her long
+mauve silk kimono making a little rustling sound as she walked.
+
+"I'm really dressed," she explained, sitting down on Esther's bed.
+"All but my frock, at least, and as the post has just come, and a
+letter from Micky, I thought I'd come and tell you that he'll be down
+to-day--after lunch, and he wants us to meet him. I can't go, as I've
+got a business appointment at three, so you must. He's going to drive
+up to the station and wait there for one of us to come and show him
+where we live."
+
+There was a little silence. Esther flushed beneath the elder girl's
+shrewd gaze.
+
+"I should have thought he could have found out where we live," she
+said rather awkwardly. "And it's such a little way----"
+
+June rose with a great show of dignity.
+
+"Oh, very well, if you don't want to be obliging, but I do think you
+might...."
+
+"Silly--of course I will." Esther caught her hand. "I'll go; the
+station at three o'clock, and then what am I to do? Bring him here, or
+what?"
+
+"Do what you like, my child--I shan't be in till five. Don't let him
+be bored, that's all, or he'll go back to town--the one thing Micky
+cannot stand is being bored."
+
+Esther made a little grimace.
+
+She felt nervous when at five minutes to three exactly she walked down
+the winding road to the station.
+
+June ought to have come herself, she argued; it was a most silly thing
+to send her--she hoped he would not come at all; but all the time she
+was listening for the sound of a car or a motor-horn. The sleepy-eyed
+factotum of the station walked up and stared at her curiously. After a
+few turns he ventured to ask if she wanted to go by train.
+
+"No, I'm waiting for a gentleman--I--oh, here he is."
+
+"'Twas her young gentleman for sure," the sleepy-eyed one told his
+colleague afterwards. "She blushed up like a rose when she saw him."
+
+Micky noticed that blush, too, as he turned the car with a fine sweep
+and came to a standstill.
+
+Esther greeted him with a torrent of explanation.
+
+"June couldn't come, so she made me--she had to go out on business.
+She would make me come!"
+
+"It's very kind," Micky said. "I'm later than I expected--the roads
+are bad down in this part of the world. Well, and how do you like
+Enmore?"
+
+"It's very quiet, but I like it for a change, and June's aunt is ever
+so kind."
+
+"Yes, a dear old lady; I know her well. Did you tell her I was
+coming?"
+
+"June did...."
+
+His eyes swept her face anxiously. No trace of tears or sadness
+to-day, at all events.
+
+"Are we supposed to go straight home?" he asked after a moment.
+"Because, if not, what do you say to a run round first?"
+
+Esther's eyes sparkled.
+
+"I should love it!" She got in beside him, and the car started away.
+
+"I only brought the two-seater," Micky explained audaciously. "I hate
+a crowd. This will take three at a pinch, but it's much more
+comfortable for two."
+
+"It's lovely!" Esther agreed.
+
+She leaned back luxuriously.
+
+"It must be splendid to be able to have a car like this of your very
+own," she said suddenly.
+
+Micky laughed rather ruefully.
+
+"There are other things I would far rather have," he said.
+
+"Are there?" She looked up at him innocently. "What things?" she
+asked.
+
+Micky's hands tightened over the wheel.
+
+"Am I really to answer that question?" he asked.
+
+"No," said Esther hurriedly.
+
+She could not think why she had been so stupid as to say such a thing.
+She felt very vexed.
+
+They went some way in silence. Esther glanced at the man beside her
+timidly.
+
+Would he end up by some day marrying June? she wondered. Lucky June,
+if he did--lucky ... she checked the thought with a little sense of
+shame. Only a few days ago she had declared that she disliked him.
+Perhaps it was the car that made her feel so suddenly envious of the
+woman who would one day be this man's wife.
+
+Micky glanced down at her.
+
+"Are you cold?" he asked.
+
+"I am a little"--she smiled up at him--"in spite of my new coat," she
+said. "I think we had better go home."
+
+June came to the door to meet them.
+
+"I got home earlier than I thought," she told Esther. "Well, Micky?"
+
+"Are there any letters?" Esther asked. She felt a swift feeling of
+envy as she looked at these two, so openly and unfeignedly glad to see
+one another. "I suppose it's expecting too much though," she added
+with a sigh.
+
+June did not answer, and Esther went on and up the stairs.
+
+"There is one for her," June said in an undertone to Micky as soon as
+she had gone. "And one from Paris, too--from that man! Micky, are you
+sure it isn't all a mistake about him being married?"
+
+"Sure," said Micky stolidly.
+
+"Then shall I--what shall I do about that letter--it was sent on from
+London. Ought I to let her have it?"
+
+Micky was taking off his coat, his back was turned.
+
+"Oh, let her have it," he said casually. "It may be the last she'll
+ever get."
+
+He turned swiftly. "Let me look at it."
+
+June took it from her dress and handed it to him.
+
+He glanced at the writing and gave it back to her.
+
+"Oh yes, I should let her have it," he said again.
+
+But June still hesitated.
+
+"Micky--supposing it's to tell her about--you know ... about this
+marriage?"
+
+There was a moment's silence.
+
+"Oh, it would hardly be that," Micky said positively. "At least--well,
+if it is, we must chance it." But his voice did not sound as if he
+were at all anxious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+June raked up another appointment for the following day. "I'm behaving
+like an angel to you," she told Micky. "Yesterday I tramped about the
+fields till I was worn out so that I should be out of the way and
+Esther could meet you. Oh, she didn't want to go at all," she hastened
+to add as she saw the look of pleasure that filled his eyes. "I had to
+make her go."
+
+"Yes, I quite believe that," Micky said.
+
+He was standing beside the car at Miss Dearling's gate, and Esther was
+upstairs putting on her hat. She had protested twenty times that she
+did not really want to go; she had begged June to take her place; she
+had implored Micky to take June instead; but they had both refused.
+
+"I'm not keen on motoring when it's cold," June declared. "Besides,
+I've got my business to see to, and I don't want Micky. You go,
+Esther, and amuse the poor soul!--just to please me."
+
+Esther said "Very well," and tried to look as if she were not anxious
+at all, but she was really looking forward to another drive.
+
+"Didn't you really want to come?" Micky asked as they drove away.
+
+Esther laughed. "Of course I did; I wanted to come so badly I had to
+pretend that I didn't just for decency's sake."
+
+There was a little silence.
+
+"Did you have good news from Paris yesterday?" he asked deliberately.
+
+He felt as if he must speak of Ashton to in some way check the wave of
+joy that had filled his heart at her words; it was not to be with him
+that she had wished to come, but for the drive and the comfort of the
+car.
+
+He saw how her face clouded at his question.
+
+"Yes, thank you," she said, but her voice did not sound very
+enthusiastic. Presently: "Mr. Mellowes," she said suddenly, "do you
+know that I have always been sorry that I did not go to Paris that day
+when I wanted to?--I wish I had now."
+
+"Why now?" Micky asked.
+
+She gave a little troubled laugh.
+
+"I don't know. I really can't explain." She did not understand herself
+what she really meant, but last night when she had read Raymond's
+letter, it had suddenly come over her with a sickening feeling of
+dismay that in some indefinite way he was really getting to be what
+June had always called him--a phantom lover! It seemed so long since
+she had seen him. After all, what were letters and words? But she
+could not explain this to Micky.
+
+"I think I know what you mean," he said after a moment. "You are
+getting tired of this separation. Is that it? Letters are all very
+well, but they are not enough...."
+
+She looked up at him in surprise.
+
+"Why, that is just what I do mean? How did you know?"
+
+He laughed rather ruefully.
+
+"Perhaps I've felt like it myself," he said.
+
+"Have you?" There was a little note of wonderment in her voice.
+
+"I said 'perhaps,'" he reminded her.
+
+She changed the subject; she drew his attention to the country through
+which they were passing. It was bare and wind-swept, but there was a
+sort of rugged picturesqueness about it that appealed to Esther.
+
+"I believe I should like to live in the country, after all," she said
+suddenly. "You seem to be able to really breathe down here; it's not
+shut in like London is."
+
+"Dear old London," Micky said. "We all run it down, but we're all glad
+to get back there when we've been away for more than a few days." He
+leaned forward, wrapping the rug more closely round her. "Where do you
+think you will live when you are married?" he asked.
+
+The hot colour flooded her face; she looked up at him in a scared sort
+of way.
+
+"What a question! How do I know? I've never even thought about it."
+
+"Haven't you?" said Micky. "I have, crowds of times. I've worked it
+all out to a nicety. I shall have a house in London and a place in the
+country as well, so that if my wife doesn't like town we can divide
+our time and stay six months at each."
+
+"We are not all rich like you are, you know," Esther said drily. "I
+dare say when I get married--if I ever do--I shall just have a little
+flat somewhere and stay there for the rest of my life, and be very
+happy too," she added with a sort of defiance.
+
+"Yes," said Micky after a moment. "I think I could be very happy in a
+flat, too, for the rest of my life--with the right woman." He looked
+down at her, smiling thoughtfully "The only trouble is, that I shall
+probably have to marry the wrong one."
+
+"If you do, it will be your own fault, I should think," said Esther,
+laughing. She could not quite understand this man. Had he ever really
+loved her, or had it all just been a pretence?
+
+"No," said Micky promptly. "I think it will be your fault."
+
+Esther raised her eyes slowly. Micky was smiling.
+
+"Yes, I mean it," he said seriously. "The first time I ever saw you I
+thought to myself, 'Here she is! That right woman I've been waiting
+for all my life'--but, of course, you didn't think I was the right
+man, and so that ended it," he added philosophically.
+
+Esther did not like to hear him speak so lightly. She would have been
+surprised if she could have known the desperate unhappiness in his
+heart, the bitterness that drove him to speak so flippantly of all
+that he held best and dearest.
+
+She made no attempt to answer him, and presently he said again with
+change of voice--
+
+"Are you hungry, I wonder? Because I am! And I've got a firm
+conviction that we're coming to a wayside inn. Do you see the chimneys
+through the trees?..."
+
+He slowed the car a little.
+
+"There's another car outside--what do you say? Shall we risk it?"
+
+"It would be rather nice," Esther admitted. She was feeling cold; she
+was rather glad when the car stopped and Micky gave her his hand.
+
+"They've got a fire anyway," he said cheerily. "I saw it through the
+window, and we'll ask for some coffee."
+
+He led the way into the parlour. Two men wrapped in heavy coats stood
+by the fire; they moved to make way for Esther. After a moment they
+went out of the room, and she saw them in the road bending over the
+car next to Micky's.
+
+"We can have coffee and buns," Micky said, coming back after a moment.
+"I don't know what they'll be like, but----"
+
+"I shall enjoy them anyway," she told him. "I really am hungry."
+
+He pulled off his gloves and dragged a chair up to the fire for her.
+
+"This is fine," he said. "Have you ever thought what a novelty a
+honeymoon would be touring through villages like this? I should like
+to just start away and go on driving for miles and miles, just staying
+anywhere and getting meals anyhow."
+
+Esther laughed. "I should have thought it was just the sort of thing
+you would hate," she said.
+
+"That's where you're mistaken," he told her. "I live in town and in
+the way I do because people expect it of me, and I'm too lazy to
+bother to change. It's not a bit the life I should choose if I had my
+way. I hate dressing for dinner, and wading through six or seven
+courses, and being bored stiff half the time by some dressed-up woman
+beside me...."
+
+He looked at her with a comical expression.
+
+Esther leaned her chin in her hand and raised serious eyes to his
+face.
+
+"Well, how would you really like to live, then?" she asked.
+
+Micky sat down on the edge of the table and stuck his long legs out
+before him. He kept his eyes fixed on his boots as he answered--
+
+"Well, I should like a place in the country, as I said, and a
+garden--a ripping garden, with lots of roses and grass--walks like you
+see in old-fashioned pictures, and a high box hedge--that's one of the
+things I simply must have! Have you ever smelt a box hedge after a hot
+sun has been on it? No? well, you ought to; it's fine!"
+
+He paused reflectively.
+
+"I should like to look after the roses myself, I think," he went on
+presently. "I dare say I should make a mess of it, but I should like
+to have a try, anyway. And I should like to keep lots of animals,
+horses and dogs and chickens. Do you know"--he half turned to
+her--"I've always had a fancy for great Danes--you can't keep 'em in
+town, only in the country. Some people I once stayed with down in
+Lincoln had a couple--ripping dogs they were--almost as big as ponies,
+and they used to let the kids play with them and pull them about. Old
+Lancing had a boy, you know--a ripping little kid of five--a real
+sport he was, too--Uncle Micky he used to call me." Micky chuckled
+reminiscently. "It must be jolly fine to have a youngster of your own
+like that," he added.
+
+This was a new Micky, indeed! Esther watched him with fascinated eyes.
+She had not known that he was fond of children; she had taken it for
+granted that men hardly ever were. She supposed drearily that she had
+got that idea from Raymond. He had always said he would not stand
+"kids." It was odd that, though Micky had used the same word, it had
+sounded somehow quite different when he said it.
+
+Micky raised his eyes suddenly. "What are you thinking about?" he
+asked.
+
+She shook her head; her lip quivered a little.
+
+Micky half rose to go to her, when the two men who owned the second
+car came back into the room again. Micky turned on his heel.
+
+"I suppose we ought to be getting on," he said constrainedly. "I'll go
+and start up; you stay here."
+
+He went out, leaving Esther by the fire.
+
+Her thoughts were a little confused. What had he been going to say,
+she wondered. It seemed hardly possible that she had really had that
+little glimpse of the other Micky whom she had never seen before; the
+Micky who was not at all a man about town, but just an ordinary person
+who thought it must be fine to have a home in the country and lots of
+roses and a little son of his own.
+
+The two men behind her were talking together; one of them was laughing
+a good deal in a sneering way.
+
+"She must be a fool, you know," he said drily. "I'm surprised at any
+woman being caught like that. It was only her money he was after, of
+course."
+
+"I've never seen her myself," the other said disinterestedly--he
+sounded rather bored--"and I only know him slightly. You met them in
+Paris, you say?"
+
+"Yes--last week." There was the sound of a match being struck and a
+little pause while he puffed at a cigarette.
+
+Esther turned in her chair; it was odd how the mention of Paris always
+seemed to grip her heart. She looked at the two men, but they were
+both strangers to her.
+
+"Perhaps he won't really marry her," the elder one said yawning.
+"There's many a slip you know, and from what I know of Raymond
+Ashton----" He shrugged his shoulders eloquently.
+
+The girl by the fire sat very still. She was staring at the two men
+with piteous grey eyes; she felt as if all the blood in her body had
+ebbed to her heart, where it was hammering enough to kill her.
+
+Like some one in a dream she heard the laugh the other man gave----
+
+"Not marry her! My dear boy, he must! It's his last chance, and he
+knows it! He's up to his neck in debt and borrowed money. As a matter
+of fact, I shouldn't be at all surprised if Tubby Clare's little widow
+hasn't already changed her name for Raymond Ashton's."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Outside in the road Micky suddenly started up the engine of his car.
+The dull throb, throb, came faintly to Esther as she sat there as
+motionless as if she had been carved in stone.
+
+The little vibrant noise sounded like the beating of some one's heart,
+she thought dully; she found herself listening to it subconsciously.
+
+The two men behind her had moved out to the doorway; she could still
+hear them talking and laughing together. Something within her urged
+her to get up and follow them to tell them that she had heard what
+they said, to tell them that it was all a lie--a shameful lie. But she
+could not move.
+
+She told herself that if she kept quite still for a few moments she
+would wake and find that she had just dreamed it all. She stared hard
+into the glowing fire, trying to believe that it was all part of her
+dream, that it was not real warmth which she felt on her face at all,
+that those leaping flames were only pictures of her imagination, that
+even if she thrust her hand into them they would not burn her, but
+would just melt away into the silence around like phantoms.
+
+The phantom lover! June's half-mocking words beat dully against her
+brain. June had always hated Raymond; she would be glad if this thing
+were true.
+
+She suddenly realised that she was shivering in every limb. With an
+effort she dragged her chair closer to the fire. She put out her hands
+to the flames....
+
+"Good heavens! what are you doing?" said Micky's voice at her
+shoulder. She had not heard him come into the room; it was only when
+he bent and caught her hand back from the flames that she realised
+what she had been going to do. She looked up at him with a sick
+smile.
+
+"I thought it wouldn't burn," she said stupidly.
+
+A flash of alarm crept into his eyes; she looked so white.
+
+He kept her hand in his holding it firmly.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked gently.
+
+There was something so kind in his voice that for a moment she felt as
+if she would have given her soul to have been able to lean her head
+against his shoulder and sob out the truth; all she had just heard and
+all the miserable hope and fear that had tortured her for the past few
+weeks.
+
+"What is it?" Micky said again anxiously.
+
+She dragged her hand free of his; she remembered that he, too, had
+hated Raymond, that he, too, would be glad when he knew of this
+nightmare that had suddenly swooped down upon her.
+
+She rose to her feet, holding fast to the chair-back to steady
+herself.
+
+"There isn't anything the matter; but I should like to go home--I'm
+tired, that's all; I'm only tired."
+
+She moved away to the door. The cold air beating on her face gave her
+a grip of herself again. She stood for a moment looking down the
+deserted street, her hands clenched.
+
+It was only for a little while, just until they got back to Enmore,
+that she had got to keep up appearances, and then--then....
+
+A sudden wave of tragedy swept through her soul; oh, it could not be
+true! It was some other man of whom they had been speaking, some other
+Raymond!
+
+She heard Micky laughing with the landlady as he paid for the coffee
+and buns, and she felt that she hated him for not guessing how she
+suffered. She walked down to where the little car stood waiting. If
+only he would be quick and take her back; she could do nothing till
+she got back to Enmore, and each moment was so precious.
+
+It seemed an eternity until Micky joined her. He avoided looking at
+her, though he bent and wrapped the rug carefully over her knees
+before he took his seat.
+
+The other car with its two occupants had vanished down the road some
+minutes since; only a small cloud of grey dust on the horizon showed
+which way they had gone.
+
+Micky drove back faster than he had come. Once or twice he looked down
+at Esther with an anxious pucker between his eyes.
+
+What had happened in those few minutes to make this sudden change? he
+wondered.
+
+She had been happy and smiling enough this morning; now all that he
+could see of her face, half hidden in the big upstand collar of the
+coat he had given her, were two piteous blue eyes staring steadily
+ahead of her down the road.
+
+They had gone some miles almost silently when he felt that he could
+bear it no longer. He stopped the car almost savagely and turned in
+his seat.
+
+"What's the matter? What have I done now?" he asked roughly. "You
+weren't like this when we came out. If I've done anything to annoy
+you...."
+
+She forced herself to laugh. It would be the last straw if she broke
+down now.
+
+"How absurd!" she said in a high-pitched voice. "Nothing is the
+matter. I'm tired, that's all; I shall be glad to get home."
+
+He was not satisfied.
+
+"You're not telling me the truth," he said. His mind searched
+anxiously back to the short time they had stayed in the inn. What
+could have happened? They had seen nobody there except the two men
+with the racing car.
+
+"Those two fellows who came in--they didn't annoy you, or anything
+like that, when I was out of the room?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"Of course not; they never spoke to me."
+
+"If you won't tell me what I've done, how can I hope to put things
+right?" he said.
+
+It was always like this, he told himself savagely; one little step
+onward and a dozen back. He did not speak again till they got home.
+
+Esther got out of the car without waiting for him, and went on into
+the house.
+
+After a moment Micky followed.
+
+Esther was in the hall; she turned to him impatiently.
+
+"Every one is out," she said. "Miss Dearling and June are both out."
+
+There was a sort of strain in her voice which Micky could not
+understand. She looked as if she had had some bad shock, and yet what
+could have happened? He had not left her for more than a few minutes.
+
+"Very well, I won't wait," he said formally. He spoke curtly; he felt
+sore enough; he raised his hat stiffly and turned away.
+
+He looked back once at the little house. He thought perhaps Esther
+might be standing at the door in case he should turn, but the door was
+shut, and it was impossible for him to guess that upstairs in the room
+over the porch Esther had shut and locked the door and was pacing up
+and down the room, her hands pressed hard against her eyes,
+sobbing--great tearless sobs that seemed to rend her very heart.
+
+"It's not true--it's not true," she said over and over again under her
+breath. "It's not true--it's not true...."
+
+The striking of a church clock in the village seemed to rouse her.
+June would be back soon, and Miss Dearling.
+
+She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief; they felt hot and burning.
+She looked at herself anxiously in the little mirror--such a white
+face; she turned away impatiently.
+
+Twelve o'clock; there was a train up to town at half-past, she knew.
+The confusion in her brain seemed to have passed all at once; she felt
+quite calm and clear.
+
+She would go to Paris--she would see Raymond, and hear from his own
+lips what a lie it was. She ought to have gone before. She had been a
+fool to listen to Micky; of course he would not wish her to go.
+
+She put a few things into a bag. She took the last letter she had
+had from Raymond, and kissed it before thrusting it back into her
+dress; she scribbled a pencil note to June and fastened it to the
+pincushion.
+
+With the little suit-case in her hand she went downstairs and out into
+the street.
+
+There was nobody about, and she almost ran to the station. The porter
+who had witnessed her meeting yesterday with Micky stared at her
+wonderingly.
+
+The London train was due now, he told her. She'd have to hurry.... She
+was gone before he finished his slow speech.
+
+She found an empty carriage and got in, sitting as far away from the
+door as possible in case any one should come along the platform and
+recognize her. It was only when the train started away that she leaned
+back and closed her eyes.
+
+"I am going to Paris; I can't live without him any longer. Please
+don't worry." Over and over she found herself repeating these words in
+her brain. She wondered where she had heard them and what they really
+meant.
+
+"I am going to Paris; I can't live without him any longer."
+
+They were true anyway. She was going to Paris because she felt she
+could no longer live without Raymond.
+
+She opened her eyes with a little gasp; they were her own words. She
+remembered that she had written them in the note she had left on the
+pincushion for June.
+
+Poor June! She would be angry. And Micky.... A little throb touched
+her heart. She had not been very kind to Micky. She hoped he would
+soon forget her. Her eyes closed again.
+
+How long did it take to get to Paris? She had not the least idea. She
+had not got much money with her; she tried to remember how much, but
+somehow her brain refused to act; she took out her purse and tipped
+its contents into her lap. She started to count it, but after a moment
+she gave it up with a helpless feeling and put it all back again.
+
+"Tubby Clare's little widow...." Who was Tubby Clare? she wondered.
+She laughed foolishly. What a name!
+
+But he had left his widow a great deal of money, and money was
+everything nowadays. Nobody could be happy without money; Raymond had
+told her that months ago; a man with money has the whole world at his
+feet, so he had said.
+
+She thought of Micky--he was one of the richest men in London, and yet
+he was not happy. She had never thought that he looked happy; she
+wondered if it was really because he loved her.
+
+She wished she could stop thinking. She was so tired, she wanted to
+sleep; but the wheel of thought went on and on in her brain.
+
+The miles seemed to crawl by. Soon the fields and open country were
+left behind; the houses were closer together; presently they crowded
+one another, almost jostling each other out of the way, it seemed.
+
+What an ugly place London was. She sat up with a little shiver.
+Strange how cold she felt, and yet her head was burning hot.
+
+Would this journey never end? Surely they had been travelling for days
+and days already.
+
+The train stopped with a jerk.
+
+"Paddington ... all change--all change...."
+
+Esther stumbled to her feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Micky had just reached the unpretentious inn in the village where he
+had taken a room, when he was hailed from across the road by June; a
+very cheerful looking June, in a business-like coat and skirt of rough
+tweed, and carrying a walking-stick, which she proceeded to wave at
+him vigorously.
+
+"Back so soon!" She came across to where he stood by the car, and
+looked at his despondent face. "Not another row?" she demanded
+tersely.
+
+Micky frowned.
+
+"No--merely a sort of frigid silence this time," he said savagely,
+then he laughed. "It's no use, June, I may as well throw up the
+sponge. I seem to put my foot in it whatever I do."
+
+June drew a pattern in the mud at her feet.
+
+"Well, what have you done?" she asked. "Esther was all right this
+morning, and quite pleased to be going with you. I certainly never
+expected to see either of you till this afternoon. Where did you go?"
+
+Micky shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, some little one-eyed place. We stopped at an inn and had some
+coffee, and that seemed to finish it."
+
+"What, the coffee?" asked June with a twinkle.
+
+Micky turned away.
+
+"If you're going to make a joke of everything----" he said with
+dignity.
+
+She laid her hand on his arm.
+
+"I'm sorry, old boy. But you do explain things so badly, you know. You
+had coffee at the inn, yes--and then----"
+
+"I went outside to start up the engine, and when I came back she
+seemed to have utterly changed. She even looked different and she
+hardly spoke all the way home."
+
+"It must be your imagination."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"No, it isn't; and when we got home she went indoors without even
+saying good-bye--confound her!" he added in savage parenthesis.
+
+"Oh, Micky!" said June reproachfully.
+
+He coloured.
+
+"I didn't mean that, but I'm so fed-up with everything----" He leaned
+his elbow on the side of the car and looked away from her down the
+road. "I think I'll get back to town this afternoon," he said after a
+moment. "I was a fool to come at all."
+
+June looked at him silently.
+
+"Well, what are you thinking?" he asked.
+
+She roused herself and answered briskly.
+
+"I think you want your lunch, that's what I think, and I'm going to
+take you back with me to have some. Aunt Mary is expecting you----"
+Her queer eyes twinkled. "Micky, she's quite made up her mind that
+you've come down here after me."
+
+Micky laughed ruefully.
+
+"It would be a dashed sight better for me if I had," he said.
+
+He moved to the door of the car.
+
+"Jump in, and I'll drive you back. I'm not sure that I shall stay to
+lunch, though----" he added darkly.
+
+"Oh yes, you will," June said. "And when you see Esther you'll find
+that it was just imagination on your part--why, only coming down in
+the train the other morning she agreed with me that you were a perfect
+darling--she did, on my word of honour!"
+
+When they reached the house Micky meekly followed June into the hall.
+
+"The table's laid," she informed him. "I'll just go and take off my
+hat and find Esther and Aunt Mary. Go in, Micky."
+
+Micky took off his hat and coat and obeyed.
+
+He looked several sizes too large for the little dining-room as he
+walked over to the fire and stood with his back to it; he looked round
+the room appreciatively.
+
+This was a real home, he thought with sudden wistfulness in spite of
+its small rooms and general atmosphere of a bygone decade; a man could
+be very happy here with a woman he cared for.
+
+"Micky--Micky----" called June urgently. She came clattering down the
+stairs anyhow--she burst into the room, she thrust a scrap of paper
+into his hand.
+
+"She's gone--she's gone! Oh, what fools we've been! I told you what it
+would be. I knew she'd find out sooner or later. Oh, why didn't you
+let me tell her?--I begged you to let me. It's not my fault. I warned
+you what it would be--oh dear! oh dear!" and June fell into a sobbing
+heap on the uncomfortable horsehair couch behind her.
+
+Micky stood clutching the paper and staring at her; it was some
+minutes before he could find his voice, then he went over to where she
+lay, put his hand on her shoulder, and shook her almost roughly.
+
+"What are you talking about, June? For heaven's sake sit up and behave
+like a rational woman. Who's gone? What do you mean?"
+
+She raised her tear-stained face.
+
+"Read it! read it! Oh, Micky, you have been a fool!" she said
+furiously. "It's all your fault. I knew what would happen----"
+
+"Oh, for heaven's sake shut up," said Micky.
+
+He had unfolded the paper, and there was a moment's tragic silence as
+he read the three lines Esther had scribbled.
+
+"I have gone to Paris; I can't live without him any longer. Please
+don't worry about me...."
+
+Twice his lips moved, but no words would come, then he broke out in a
+strangled voice--
+
+"It's a joke--of course it is. She's done it to frighten us. Why, I--I
+only left her here half-an-hour ago--it can't be more. It's a
+joke--of--of course it is ... June...."
+
+"A queer sort of joke," said June sobbing. "Poor darling! and a nice
+sort of reception she'll get when she reaches Paris with that cad
+there...."
+
+"She'll never find him; she doesn't know where he is," Micky said
+hoarsely. There was a stunned look in his eyes--he took a step towards
+the door and came back again as if he did not know what to do.
+
+June was drying her eyes and shedding more tears and drying them
+again; she looked at Micky angrily.
+
+"Of course she'll find him," she said tartly. "She knows his address;
+the brute's written to her dozens of times, and she's written to him
+as well...." Her eyes searched his face with a sort of contempt.
+
+"Well, what are you going to do now you've made such a glorious hash
+of everything?" she demanded.
+
+Micky passed a hand across his eyes.
+
+"I don't know. I'm trying to think. She can't have been gone long. She
+may still be in the village." He dragged out his watch. "There may not
+have been a train up to London--"
+
+"Yes, there was; the twelve-twenty----" The eyes of both of them
+turned to the clock, and Micky gave a smothered groan.
+
+"She must have gone by that. I must follow her, of course."
+
+June bounced up.
+
+"I'll come with you; I'll put on my hat again----" She made a dive for
+the door, but Micky caught her arm and stopped her.
+
+"You can't; I can't take you with me. Be sensible, June--I'll find her
+and bring her back----"
+
+She looked up at him stormily.
+
+"She's my friend, and it's all your fault she's got into this mess. I
+told you not to interfere, and you wouldn't listen----"
+
+It was a woman all over to rave at him now, but Micky took it
+patiently.
+
+"Very well, it's my fault, and as it's my fault it's up to me to try
+and put things right. Don't waste time arguing--if I'm to catch her
+before she leaves England...."
+
+June burst into fresh tears and sobs.
+
+"You won't be able to; she'll get over there and have to bear it all
+alone.... Oh, Micky, I almost hate you when I think what we've
+done...."
+
+Micky went out of the room; he went down to the road and mechanically
+started up the car; he was getting into his seat when June followed
+and called to him--
+
+"You haven't got your coat or cap, Micky."
+
+He came back; he hoisted himself into his coat, and turned away again;
+June caught his hand.
+
+"I didn't mean to be a beast, Micky----"
+
+He gave her fingers a squeeze.
+
+"I know; it's all right; but don't keep me, there's a dear."
+
+But she still clung to him.
+
+"You'll bring her back safely, Micky--promise."
+
+Micky turned away without answering.
+
+"... I can't live without him any longer...."
+
+In spite of everything, that was how she still felt about the brute.
+
+When he got to the station he found there was no train to town for a
+couple of hours; he asked a sleepy porter an agitated question.
+
+"Did you see a young lady go by the twelve-twenty--one of the young
+ladies staying with Miss Dearling. Oh, for heaven's sake hurry up and
+answer, man!"
+
+The man scratched an unshaven chin with irritating consideration.
+
+"Yes, I seen her," he said at last. "She came in running--caught the
+train to London--she...."
+
+But Micky had gone; he would have to drive to town, he decided. If
+Esther had got to know the truth, better hear it from him than from
+that brute.
+
+He drove off at breakneck speed. It seemed miles and miles to London;
+no matter how much of the winding road he covered, it unfolded again
+before his eyes, and mercilessly again.
+
+He went straight to Charing Cross; he left the car in the yard and
+dashed in to inquire about trains; he searched a time-table; 12.59--3
+o'clock--4.5 ... he looked up at the clock--three minutes past four
+now. Micky dashed across the big hall to a gate where a signboard said
+"Dover Express"; he had no ticket; he pushed by the protesting
+inspector; the guard was waving his flag; some one grabbed at Micky
+and missed as he flung himself breathless and panting into the last
+coach of the moving train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+Micky sat for a few moments breathless and exhausted before he pulled
+himself together, and taking off his hat wiped his hot forehead.
+
+The train was gathering speed; he let down the window with a run and
+looked out; the station was out of sight altogether; they were
+crossing the bridge under which the silent Thames flowed sluggishly.
+
+A breath of cold air touched his hot face and he shivered suddenly and
+drew the window up once more.
+
+Something had driven his thoughts back to his first meeting with
+Esther, to the cold silence of the night, and the hard desperation of
+her voice as she said--
+
+"I didn't mean to go home any more--I shouldn't have ever gone home
+again if I hadn't met you...."
+
+If she got to Paris before he saw her she would feel like this again.
+Micky groaned.
+
+Fortunately he had the carriage to himself, but it was a third-class
+compartment, and not a corridor carriage. He cursed his luck here; if
+there had been a corridor he could have gone the length of the train
+and seen if Esther were on it. As it was, he would have to wait till
+they reached Dover, and even then perhaps he would never find her.
+
+He tried to calm himself with the conviction that everything would be
+all right, but in his heart he was despairing; if he found Esther and
+brought her back she would hate him for the rest of his life.
+
+What had happened to make her rush off like this? He could not
+imagine. She had seemed so happy only that morning. What could account
+for the tragedy that seemed to breathe in every word of that little
+note she had left for June?
+
+He took it from his pocket and read it again. It gave no hint of what
+had prompted this sudden flight. He wrote out a couple of telegrams to
+dispatch from Dover--one for June, and another for Driver.
+
+He wished he had got Driver with him. There was a sort of security in
+the man's stolidness.
+
+He realised that he was without luggage, and that he had not much
+money. Supposing he had to go on to Paris, what the dickens was he
+going to do?
+
+When the train ran into Dover he got to his feet with a sigh of
+relief. Quickly as he was out of the train a great many passengers had
+left it before him. He started at a run down the platform. He stared
+at every woman he met, hoping it would be Esther. The crowd was
+getting thick; he had to push his way unceremoniously past people;
+porters with luggage trucks jostled him; he began to lose his
+temper--he was just answering with great heat a man who had cynically
+asked "who he was shoving," when some one touched his arm.
+
+"Micky...."
+
+For a moment Micky's heart beat up in his throat; he turned quickly
+and found himself looking down into the brown eyes of Marie Deland.
+
+If she had hoped for anything better, it must have been a shock to her
+to see the bitter disappointment in Micky's face. He stammered out
+that he had not expected to see her, that he was in a deuce of a
+hurry; he hoped she would forgive him, but--
+
+"Micky, by all that's wonderful!" said another voice, and there was
+Marie's father, the good-natured old man who had pretended to agree
+with his wife when she raved against Micky for the cavalier way in
+which he had treated his daughter, but who in his heart had indulged
+in a quiet chuckle, thinking that Micky had been rather clever to
+escape from the toils at the eleventh hour.
+
+He shook hands with Micky heartily enough; he, at any rate, had no
+grudge against him. He asked Micky a hundred questions.
+
+"Are you going over, my boy? Come with us. I've got a reserved
+carriage on the Paris express. Delighted to see you. Marie and I are
+just off for a little holiday by ourselves."
+
+He touched his daughter's arm. "Ask him to join us, my dear."
+
+Micky did his best to answer civilly; he was in the deuce of a hurry,
+he said again; he had got to meet a friend but had missed her in the
+crowd.
+
+"I came off in the deuce of a hurry," he said. He was chafing bitterly
+at this enforced delay; each moment was so precious.
+
+Marie touched her father's arm.
+
+"We are only keeping Mr. Mellowes, Daddy...." Something in her voice
+made Micky's eyes smart. It was hard luck that for the second time he
+was forced to humiliate her. He stammered out incoherently that he
+hoped they would forgive him, but he was in such a deuce of a
+hurry.... He went off abruptly.
+
+Everybody was off the train now, and many people were already on the
+boat. Micky remembered that he had no ticket; he entered into a hot
+argument with an official, who listened to him skeptically, and took
+as long as possible to make out the ticket; even when Micky had paid
+he still looked suspicious.
+
+The gangway was still down; Micky went on board and stood as close to
+it as he could, scanning the face of each passer.
+
+Esther was not amongst them.
+
+"Stand away there--stand away...."
+
+Micky was pushed aside, and a couple of brawny seamen hauled the
+gangway on to the harbour. The gap of green water was widening slowly
+between the pier and the ship's side. Micky felt as if he were being
+exiled. Supposing she was not on the boat?
+
+He turned away and searched the crowded deck. The boat was full, and
+most of the people were women, but there was nobody who looked in the
+very least like Esther.
+
+She would be wearing the fur coat, he was sure--the coat he had given
+her!
+
+One or two people stared at him curiously. Once he came across Marie
+and her father on the leeward side of the boat. For decency's sake he
+had to stop. He made an inane remark on the weather and said he
+thought they were going to have a smooth crossing.
+
+Marie's brown eyes lifted to his.
+
+"You haven't met your friend?" she said quietly.
+
+Micky had a horrible conviction that she had not believed that he had
+any one to meet. He coloured in confusion as he answered--
+
+"No--no. I'm sorry to say I haven't."
+
+She moved away leaving him with her father. The old man slipped a hand
+through Micky's arm.
+
+"Don't notice her, my boy; women are queer cattle--and I expect she's
+a little sore with you still."
+
+Micky wished it was possible to jump overboard. He found the old man's
+friendliness more insufferable than the look of reproach in Marie's
+eyes. As soon as he could he got away; he went down the companion-way
+and wandered round despondently.
+
+If Esther were on the boat she must have seen him and was deliberately
+keeping out of his way; he glanced in at the open door of the ladies'
+cabin as he passed.
+
+Several pessimistic souls who had already made up their minds to be
+ill, although the sea was like a mill-pond, had arranged themselves on
+the couches, with pillows under their heads; as Micky passed the cabin
+some one slammed the door smartly in his face.
+
+He went upon deck again and stood looking out to sea, with the wind
+stinging his face.
+
+It was getting dark rapidly; the lights of Dover twinkled through the
+greyness. Micky stood and watched till they could no longer be seen.
+He was chilled to the bone in spite of his warm coat; he turned the
+collar up round his throat and thrust his hands deeply into his
+pockets.
+
+His fingers came in contact with the telegrams he had written in the
+train and forgotten to send. He swore under his breath.
+
+He kept out of the Delands' way when they reached Calais; he was first
+off the boat; he stood in the darkness trembling with excitement.
+
+There were all sorts of people pouring past him--men, women, and
+children. They all seemed happy and eager--a couple of Frenchmen
+standing near him chattered incessantly; Micky moistened his dry lips;
+there was a little nerve throbbing in his temple.
+
+Supposing he never saw her again! His hands clenched deep in his
+pockets ... supposing he never met the half-shy glance of her grey
+eyes--supposing he never heard her voice any more--or her laugh....
+
+The sweat broke out on his forehead. For a moment he closed his eyes
+with a sick feeling of hopelessness, and when he opened them again he
+saw Esther standing there not half a dozen paces from him.
+
+The glare from a huge arc lamp shone full on her slim figure and
+golden hair.
+
+She was looking round her in a scared, apprehensive way as if not
+knowing where to go.
+
+A wave of such utter relief swept through Micky's very soul that for a
+moment it almost turned him faint.
+
+She was quite alone, but as Micky watched her he saw a French porter
+in a blue blouse go up to her and start chattering away, pointing to
+the small suit-case she carried and gesticulating violently. Esther
+shook her head--Micky remembered that she knew no French--but the man
+persisted, and she shook her head again in a frightened sort of way.
+
+Micky covered the distance between them in a couple of strides.
+
+"Esther...." he said, in a queer, choked sort of voice.
+
+She turned with a stifled scream, and a most unwilling relief swept
+her face.
+
+"Oh, Micky!" she said breathlessly. She put out her hand as if to grip
+his arm, then drew it away, moving back.
+
+"How did you come here ... oh, how dare you follow me...?" she said
+passionately.
+
+Micky took her arm very gently.
+
+"We found your note," he said. "I had to come ... June said...." Then
+suddenly his calmness broke "Oh, thank God I found you--thank God!" he
+said hoarsely.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+Esther seemed arrested by the emotion in Micky's voice.
+
+She stood looking up at him with wide eyes and parted lips, then
+suddenly she broke out again--
+
+"I don't know what you mean. I'll never forgive June if she sent you
+after me. I'm going to Paris. I'm not a child to be followed and
+looked after like this.... Let me go."
+
+Micky released her arm at once. When he spoke his voice was quiet and
+rather stern.
+
+"Please don't make a scene. I have followed you for your own sake. I
+know I can't stop you from going to Paris. I'm not going to try. All I
+do ask you is that you will let me speak to you. If what I have to say
+is useless, I give you my word of honour that I will leave you here
+and let you go on to Paris alone."
+
+She looked at him with stormy eyes.
+
+"I don't believe it--it isn't the first time you've lied to me...."
+she broke off breathlessly. Micky turned pale, but he answered evenly
+enough--
+
+"You're quite justified in saying that; I'm not going to try and deny
+it. But we can't stand here all night--people are beginning to stare
+at us...."
+
+"I don't care----" but she dropped her voice a little, and when Micky
+made a slight movement forward she followed.
+
+It was cold on the quay--there was a fresh wind blowing, and Esther
+shivered.
+
+"There's a restaurant place here," Micky said. "I want a meal if you
+don't; I haven't had anything since breakfast."
+
+He found a table and ordered a meal, but he knew he should not be able
+to eat a thing.
+
+"I don't want anything to eat," Esther said. She sat sideways in her
+chair away from the table; there was a pitiable look of strain in her
+face; she still gripped her suit-case tightly. When Micky asked her to
+be allowed to put it down for her she turned on him almost fiercely.
+
+"Leave me alone--oh, leave me alone!"
+
+The French garcon eyed them both interestedly. Any one far less keen
+of perception than he was could have seen that there was tragedy of
+some kind between this pretty, frail-looking girl and the tall man in
+the big coat.
+
+"You said you were hungry, but you're not eating anything," Esther
+broke out irritably. "How much longer are you going to make me sit
+here? I want to catch a train to Paris to-night."
+
+"There are no trains, except slow ones," Micky told her; "the express
+has gone half an hour ago. I can find you rooms in a hotel close by
+for the night...." His eyes met hers across the table, and he broke
+out, "Esther, for God's sake let me explain things to you. You've all
+your life before you; to-morrow, if you wish it, I'll go away and
+never see you again. But I can't let you go now without telling you
+the truth. I ought to have told you before--it was for your own sake I
+tried to keep it back...."
+
+Her grey eyes searched his face disbelievingly.
+
+"If you've anything to say against Mr. Ashton," she said, "I refuse to
+listen. I shouldn't believe anything you say, for one thing. Why, you
+don't even know his name--unless June has told you," she added
+breathlessly.
+
+"June has told me nothing, but I know, all the same. I knew the first
+night I ever met you--when I left you and went back to my rooms, he
+was there waiting for me...."
+
+She half turned, leaning across the table, and her eyes were like
+fire.
+
+"He was there--who was there?" she asked shrilly.
+
+"Ashton--Raymond Ashton," Micky answered.
+
+There was a tragic silence, then Esther rose to her feet; she stood
+looking dazedly round her in a helpless sort of way.
+
+Micky called for the bill--without waiting for his change he followed
+Esther out into the darkness. She offered no resistance when he drew
+her hand through his arm. He did not know what on earth to do with
+her; if he took her to an hotel it would mean leaving her, and she
+would probably go away in the night. They went back to the station,
+and Micky found a waiting-room with a roaring fire; he dragged one of
+the uncomfortable wooden benches close to it and made Esther sit down;
+he closed the door and came back to her.
+
+There was so much he wanted to say, and for the life of him he did not
+know how to begin. She sat there so silently; she seemed to have
+forgotten his presence altogether.
+
+Micky looked at her, and suddenly he broke out--
+
+"Esther, speak to me--say something--for heaven's sake----"
+
+She moved in a curiously heavy sort of way, as if it were an effort;
+she raised her eyes to his agitated face.
+
+"This morning--was it only this morning?--it seems so long ago." She
+stopped for a moment, then went on again slowly. "When we were at that
+inn in the village--those men with the car--I heard them talking...."
+She stopped again.
+
+"Yes," said Micky.
+
+She frowned as if his monosyllable had interrupted her train of
+thought. She went on presently--
+
+"They were talking about Paris--and Raymond." And now she raised her
+eyes. "If you say that it was true what I heard them say, I will kill
+you," she said with sudden passion. "It's a lie--just a lie to hurt
+me, to hurt me more than I've been hurt already." She stopped,
+panting. "It's a lie--say it's a lie," she drove the words at him.
+
+Micky sat down beside her.
+
+"If they said that Ashton had been married in Paris to Mrs. Clare it
+was the truth," he said.
+
+He marvelled at the steadiness of his voice. He felt sick with shame
+at the part he was having to play. He went on incoherently--
+
+"I knew it before you ever went to Enmore--it was in the London
+papers. I was afraid you would see it. I persuaded June to get you
+down into the country. I suppose I was a fool. I ought to have known
+it was only putting things off."
+
+He looked at her and quickly away again.
+
+"Forget him, Esther, for God's sake. He never cared for you; he isn't
+worth a thought."
+
+She rose to her feet, pushing the hair back from her face as if she
+were distraught.
+
+"How dare you say such things to me?" she said in an odd, choked
+voice. "You always hated him--you and June. Do you think I'm going to
+believe you? Do you think I could believe you for a moment when I have
+his letters--when he has shown me in so many ways how he cares?... I
+don't care what you say--I don't care if the whole world were to tell
+me it was true--I'll never believe it till he tells me himself...."
+Her breath came gaspingly; she looked at Micky's white face with
+passionate hatred in her eyes.
+
+"How do I know it isn't all a made-up story?" she asked him hoarsely.
+
+She hardly knew what she was saying; she leaned her arms on the
+mantelshelf and hid her face in them.
+
+Micky let her alone; he got up and began pacing up and down the room.
+
+He deserved everything she had said; it was all his fault that she had
+got this to bear. With the best intentions in the world he had proved
+himself a blundering fool.
+
+Esther raised her head; she had not shed a tear, but her face was
+white and desolate.
+
+She walked past him to the door.
+
+"I'm going on to Paris to-night," she said. "Nothing you can say will
+stop me--nothing."
+
+"Very well, then I will come with you."
+
+She did not answer; she fumbled helplessly with the door handle. Micky
+came forward to open it for her, and their hands touched. A little
+flame of red rushed to his face; he put his shoulders to the door.
+
+"You can't go like this," he said stammering. "How can I let you go
+like this? Whatever I've done, I haven't deserved that you should
+think as badly of me as you do. It was because I cared for you so
+much--I tried to save you pain ... perhaps it isn't any excuse, but
+it's the truth.... I'd give my very soul if I could undo what's gone,
+if I could save you from this."
+
+She was not looking at him, but the cold contempt in her face stung
+him.
+
+"You may despise me," he broke out again jaggedly. "But it's the truth
+I've told you.... Ashton never cared for you; that night at my
+rooms...." He stopped, he did not want to tell her, but somehow there
+was a compelling force within him that drove the words to his lips.
+
+"He told me he'd had to break with you--that he was going away from
+London because of you. He said he must marry a woman with money--it's
+the truth, if I never speak again. He never cared for you, Esther--he
+was never fit to kiss the ground you walk on. He wanted to be rid of
+you--he----"
+
+Micky stopped; Esther had given a little strangled cry, half-sob,
+half-moan, like some animal in mortal pain; for the moment she saw the
+world red; hardly knowing what she did, she lifted her hand and struck
+Micky across his white face.
+
+"Oh, you liar--you liar," she said. The words were a hoarse whisper,
+her voice was almost gone.
+
+She fell away from him, shaking in every limb; she dropped into a
+chair hiding her face.
+
+Micky stood like a man turned to stone. She had not hurt him
+physically, though there was a red flush where she had struck him, but
+he felt as if the blow had fallen on his aching heart and his love for
+her.
+
+It seemed a long time before either of them moved or spoke, then
+Esther dragged herself to her feet.
+
+"Please let me pass," she said in a whisper, and Micky stood aside
+without a word.
+
+He followed her out and inquired for a train; there was a slow one at
+ten-fifty they told him. He put Esther into a carriage and got a rug
+for her and a cushion. He knew she had had nothing to eat, and he
+ordered a basket to be made up at the refreshment-room. When he came
+back she was sitting in a corner with her eyes closed. She had taken
+off her hat, and her golden hair was tumbled about her face. She took
+no notice when he put the rug over her; she did not even open her eyes
+when the train started.
+
+Micky sat down in the opposite corner. He felt more tired than he had
+ever done in all his life, and yet he knew that he could not sleep;
+his brain seemed as if it would never rest again. He sat with face
+averted from the girl in the corner, looking out into the darkness.
+
+It seemed strange to realise that he had made this same journey dozens
+of times before. He felt that it was all strange and distasteful to
+him. The chattering voices of the French porters and the whistle of
+the engines sounded new and quaint as if he had never heard them
+before. It seemed an eternity before the train started slowly away.
+
+He leaned back and closed his eyes; his head was splitting, and he was
+cold and hungry.
+
+He must have dozed for a few minutes, for he was roused by a little
+choking sound of sobbing. He opened his eyes--he was awake at once--he
+looked across at Esther. She was lying huddled up, with her face
+turned against the dirty cushions of the carriage, sobbing her heart
+out.
+
+Micky looked at her in miserable indecision. Then he got up
+impulsively, and sat down opposite to where Esther was huddled.
+
+He stretched out his hand and took hers.
+
+"Don't cry--don't; I can't bear it," he said hoarsely. He raised her
+hand to his lips. She had taken off her gloves and her fingers felt
+like ice. He chafed them gently between his own. She still wore the
+cheap little ring which Ashton had given her months ago.
+
+She let her hand lie passively in his. Perhaps she was too miserable
+to remember that it was Micky, and only realised that there was
+something kind and comforting in his touch. Presently her sobs
+quieted. She wiped the tears from her face and brushed back her
+disordered hair.
+
+Micky got up and took down the supper basket he had managed to get at
+the station. There was a small thermos of hot coffee. He poured some
+out and made her drink it. If he had expected her to refuse he was
+agreeably disappointed. She obeyed apathetically; she even ate some
+sandwiches.
+
+Micky was ravenous himself, but he would not touch a thing till she
+had finished.
+
+"You'd be much more comfortable if you put your feet up on the seat
+and tried to sleep," he said presently. "You can have my coat as well
+as the rug. Your hands are like ice."
+
+He took off his coat as he spoke and laid it over her.
+
+"I'm afraid we've got a long journey yet," he said ruefully. "If you
+could get some sleep."
+
+She turned her head away and closed her eyes.
+
+She looked very young and appealing in the depressing light of the
+carriage.
+
+Micky sat looking at her in silence. She cared so little for him that
+she had even forgotten her anger against him; nothing he could do or
+say really mattered to her, she was not sufficiently interested in him
+to even trouble to hate him for long.
+
+He wondered what June was thinking, and Miss Dearling! He wished from
+the depths of his soul that he had remembered to send those wires.
+There was his car, too--he had left that in the yard at Charing
+Cross--what the dickens would become of it?--not that it mattered
+much, he was too miserable to be seriously concerned about anything.
+
+Some minutes passed, but Esther did not move. Micky spoke her name
+once softly--
+
+"Esther...." But she did not answer; he leaned over and touched her
+hand, but she did not stir; in spite of what she had said she was
+asleep.
+
+Micky gave a sigh of relief. He drew his coat and the rug more closely
+around her; he was very cold himself, but that did not trouble him; he
+finished the contents of the supper basket before he went back to his
+own corner.
+
+The train rumbled on through the night; it dragged into many little
+stations and stopped jerkily, but Esther did not wake.
+
+Once when she moved and the rug slipped, Micky rose and quietly
+replaced it. He was very tired himself, but his brain would not allow
+him to sleep; he felt as if he were living through years during these
+long hours.
+
+He sat looking at Esther with wistful eyes. Why was it that people
+never fell in love with the right people? he asked himself vaguely. He
+could have made her so happy.
+
+He closed his eyes for a moment, then dragged them open again. He must
+not go to sleep, whatever happened. He sat up stiffly.
+
+Presently he lifted a corner of the blind. The sky looked a little
+lighter, as if dawn were not far away. He looked at his watch. Nearly
+two!
+
+A sudden impulse came to him to wake Esther and make her listen now to
+what he had to say. The time was getting short, and there was so much
+to tell her and explain.
+
+He rose and bent over her, but she did not move, and he went back
+again to his corner.
+
+He let the window down a little way, hoping the cold night air would
+help to keep him awake. The minutes seemed to drag, though in reality
+only a quarter of an hour had passed when Esther woke with a little
+smothered cry.
+
+Micky was on his feet in an instant.
+
+"It's all right--there's nothing to be afraid of--you've been
+asleep."
+
+She rubbed her eyes childishly with her knuckles; she stared at him
+for a moment unrecognisingly, then, as memory returned, she shrank
+back into her corner.
+
+Micky picked up the rug and coat that had slithered to the floor; he
+waited a few moments till he saw that she was quite awake before he
+spoke, then he said gently--
+
+"I hope you feel better. We shall soon be in now. Are you warm
+enough?"
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+"We shall be into Paris very soon," he said again; "and there is a
+great deal I want to say to you first. Will you listen to me if I try
+to explain?"
+
+She met his eyes unflinchingly.
+
+"There is only one man who can possibly explain anything to me," she
+said then, "and he is not you."
+
+Micky lost his temper; he was cold and tired and hungry, and at that
+moment she seemed the most unreasonable of mortals.
+
+"I shall not allow you to see Ashton, if you mean Ashton," he said
+roughly. "The man isn't fit for you to think about. He's married, you
+know that ... Esther, for your own sake----"
+
+She had turned her face away and was looking out into the darkness;
+she seemed not to be listening.
+
+Micky went on urgently.
+
+"I blame myself. I always meant to tell you before things had gone as
+far as this. I shall never forgive myself for not having done so. I've
+behaved like a cad, but my only excuse is that I loved you; I wanted
+to spare you unnecessary pain----" He was no longer stammering and
+self-conscious, his voice was firm and steady. "I suppose I was a fool
+to imagine that I could ever make you care for me; I suppose it was
+conceit that led me to think I could ever cut out this ... this
+phantom lover of yours----" He laughed mirthlessly.
+
+"Esther, let me take you back home; it's no use seeing Ashton--it only
+means humiliation and pain for you."
+
+Her lips moved, but no words came.
+
+"Let me take you home to June," he went on. "She will tell you that
+what I say is only the truth. She knows him--she...."
+
+She spoke then.
+
+"She always hated him; it isn't likely she would wish me to marry
+him." She bit her lip. "Oh, it's no use saying any more," she broke
+out wildly after a moment. "I'm going to see him--I can't bear it if I
+don't see him--just once! I've got to hear the truth----"
+
+"I've told you the truth," he repeated doggedly. "It's no interest to
+me to try and prevent you from seeing him. I know I've done for
+whatever chance I had with you. Oh, for heaven's sake believe that
+it's only for your sake I want to take you back!"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+In her heart she found it impossible to believe him; she thought
+of the letters she had received from Raymond, the money--the
+presents--why even this coat she wore had come from him; she felt
+that she could laugh at this man opposite to her. A little smile
+curved her lips; a contemptuous smile it seemed to Micky.
+
+For the first time the injustice of it all seemed to strike him; for
+him who had done his best she had nothing but dislike and contempt,
+but for the man who had left her with a brutal letter of farewell, who
+had thrown her over because she had no money, she had endless faith
+and trust, and love!
+
+He broke out in his agitation.
+
+"I've tried to spare you--I've done my best, but you won't let me ...
+I've kept back the truth, but now you'll have to hear it if nothing
+else will keep you from him. He's never given you a thought since he
+left London--he imagines that you've forgotten him. It was he you saw
+at the Comedy Theatre that night when June and I were with you. He
+didn't even trouble to let you know that he was in London--that's how
+he cares for you--this man you refuse to believe one word against
+..." His eyes flamed as they met hers.
+
+She was staring at him now; her face was white and incredulous.
+
+"If you--if you think I'm going to believe that----" she began, in a
+high, unnatural voice. She stopped; she seemed to realise all at once
+that he was speaking the truth. She leaned towards him. Her breath
+came in broken gasps.
+
+"Those letters!" she said shrilly. "Whose letters? They were from
+him--they were from him--weren't they from him?" she asked hoarsely.
+
+"No," said Micky doggedly.
+
+Better to hurt her now, he told himself, than to let her go on to
+worse pain and humiliation.
+
+There was a tragic silence; then she asked again, in a whisper--
+
+"Then who--who wrote them?"
+
+A wave of crimson flooded Micky's white face. He dropped his head in
+his hands as if he could not bear to meet her eyes.
+
+"I did," he said brokenly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+A long moment of silence followed Micky's broken confession. He dared
+not look at Esther, though she was staring at him, staring hard, with
+a curious sort of wonderment in her grey eyes. Then all at once she
+began to laugh, a laugh which held no real mirth, only incredulity.
+
+Micky raised his head sharply.
+
+For a second they stared at one another; then Micky said hoarsely--
+
+"You don't believe me"; and then again, more slowly: "You mean that
+you--don't believe--me?"
+
+He half rose to his feet.
+
+"Esther, I implore you."
+
+She moved back from him.
+
+"It was clever of you--to think of such an excuse," she said
+unevenly.
+
+"It's the truth; I swear it if I never speak again. I know now that I
+must have been out of my mind to attempt such a thing, but it has only
+seemed impossible since you showed me how little you thought of me. I
+wrote those letters--every one of them. I----"
+
+In the excitement of the moment neither of them had noticed that the
+train had reached its destination and was slowly stopping.
+
+A voluble porter had already wrenched open the door and was imploring
+monsieur to accept his services; it was impossible to say any more to
+Esther.
+
+Micky followed her out on to the platform; he felt that the last shred
+of his patience and tenderness had been killed.
+
+She did not believe him--whatever he said she would never believe him;
+it was useless to waste his breath; he might as well give up and let
+her go her own way; perhaps a sharp lesson would teach her better and
+more quickly than all his love had been able to do.
+
+He was dispirited and hungry, and hunger alone makes a man angry. He
+looked at the girl for whose sake he had raced all these miles of
+wild-goose chase, and a boorish longing to hurt her, to let her suffer
+rose in his heart.
+
+Let her go to Ashton and see for herself the sort of man he was.
+
+He spoke with savage impulse.
+
+"I won't bother you with my unwelcome company any longer. You will be
+able to get breakfast in the restaurant, and you will find that most
+people here understand English.... Good-bye----"
+
+Esther gave a little gasp--
+
+"You're not going to leave me?"
+
+The hardness of his eyes did not soften.
+
+"You are not trying to tell me that you wish me to stay, surely?" he
+submitted drily.
+
+She raised her head.
+
+"Certainly not; after all, it's your own fault you came."
+
+He did not answer, perhaps he could not trust himself; he raised his
+hat and turned away unseeingly, and Esther clutched her suit-case
+tightly and walked away with her head in the air, trying to look as if
+she knew every inch of the Gare St. Lazare and had been there
+thousands of times before.
+
+But her heart was beating up in her throat, and she would have given a
+great deal, had it been compatible with dignity, to rush after him and
+beg him to stay.
+
+She wandered out of the station, not knowing where to go, Raymond
+seemed to have faded into the background; she only thought of him
+subconsciously; it was the figure of Micky Mellowes that worried
+her--she could not forget him.
+
+Supposing he had really written those letters? "But he didn't," she
+told herself in an agony. "I know he didn't."
+
+She took one of the letters from her suit-case and stared at the
+handwriting--Raymond's writing. The whole thing was too preposterous.
+
+She did not know what she meant to do, or where she meant to go; it no
+longer seemed that she had come here for any specific purpose.
+
+The early morning greyness and chilliness had faded; the sun had risen
+and cleared away the mists.
+
+She found herself in some gardens where an elderly man was feeding
+sparrows; she sat down on a bench and watched him.
+
+It seemed years ago that she went down to Enmore with June--since she
+sat in the little inn with Micky and heard those two men talking.
+
+The hot blood beat into her cheeks as she remembered something that
+for the moment she had forgotten--that Raymond Ashton was married!
+
+The man gave the sparrows his last crumbs and went away. The little
+brown birds came hopping to Esther's feet, looking up at her with
+bright, eager eyes, as if expecting her to supply a further meal.
+
+The sun faded and went in, and a few drops of rain came pattering
+down. She rose and began to walk on slowly. The light suit-case seemed
+to have grown heavy since yesterday.
+
+At the back of her mind was the frightened knowledge that she was
+alone in Paris; that she had nobody to turn to now that Micky had
+deserted her; but as yet it was only in the background. Raymond was
+somewhere, perhaps quite close; but she no longer felt that she wanted
+to go to him.
+
+Further on she found another bench sheltered under some trees and sat
+down again; she opened the suit-case and took out a bundle of Micky's
+letters ... Micky's! No, Raymond's.... Oh, whose letters were they?
+
+She opened the one that had been written from the hotel in Paris. Its
+fond words seemed to take on a new meaning....
+
+"Some day, if all that I wish for comes true, I will tell you the many
+things you would not let me say when we were last together...."
+
+The one sentence caught her eye. She wondered that she had never
+before thought how unlike Raymond this was. Why was it she had not
+realised before that Raymond could never have written this?
+
+Somewhere in the distance a church clock chimed; Esther found herself
+mechanically counting the bells--nine, ten, eleven! All those hours
+since Micky had left her at the station.
+
+She was cold and hungry, but it did not seem to matter; she felt there
+was a great, unanswered question in her mind which she must settle.
+
+She rose and walked on again; she turned out of the gardens and found
+herself in a street of shops. People looked at her curiously.
+
+Hardly knowing that she did so, she stopped and looked in at a
+jeweller's window; there were trays of precious stones. She felt her
+own ring beneath the glove--she had worn it so long now, she wondered
+how she would feel when she had to take it off. Of course, she could
+not go on wearing it if Raymond was really married.
+
+Micky had once gone into a pond on a bitter night to save a kitten
+from drowning; she wondered what made her remember that.
+
+The man who could save a drowning kitten would never hurt a woman so
+that she could hardly think or feel; June had claimed for Micky that
+he was the best man in the world.
+
+"But I don't believe in him--I don't believe anything he says," Esther
+told herself feverishly; she moved on again away from the trays of
+flashing diamonds.
+
+Two girls passing her were chattering in French--Esther looked after
+them vaguely.
+
+This was really Paris--this rather noisy, confusing place; the Paris
+she had longed to see.
+
+A man passing stared at her, half stopped, went on again, then turned,
+paused irresolutely, and finally came back.
+
+He walked quickly till he drew abreast with her, and there was a
+curious eagerness in his face as he stooped a little to look down at
+hers; then he gave an exclamation of sheer amazement.
+
+"Lallie! Good heavens! What in the world are you doing here?"
+
+It was Raymond Ashton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+And so the dream had come true after all, and she and Raymond were
+together in Paris.
+
+As she looked up into his handsome face it seemed to Esther that all
+the past hours of grief were as if they had never really existed; he
+was smiling down at her in the same old way; the very tone of his
+voice awoke forgotten memories in her heart; she felt as if a gnawing
+pain which had allowed her no rest had suddenly been lulled to sleep.
+
+"I thought it must be you," Raymond was saying nervously. "And yet I
+could not be sure. Somehow I never thought of you and Paris as being
+in any way compatible, and yet----" He broke off; it had been on the
+tip of his tongue to say that she had never looked sweeter or more
+desirable.
+
+His overwhelming conceit suddenly woke the wish in his heart to know
+if she still cared, or if she had forgotten him, and a little flush
+crossed his face and his eyes grew tender as they met the tragedy of
+hers; he looked hastily round.
+
+"We can't talk here. Will you come to a cafe? There is so much I
+should like to say to you. When did you come over? What are you doing
+here?"
+
+They were walking slowly along, the man's head bent ardently towards
+her.
+
+He had once told Micky that this girl was the only woman he had ever
+loved, and perhaps it was right--as he accounted love.
+
+He took her to a cafe--one where there would be nobody likely to
+recognise him; he ordered coffee and biscuits.
+
+"Now we can talk undisturbed," he said; he moved his chair closer to
+Esther's--he laid his hand on hers.
+
+She did not move or try to evade his touch; she just looked down at
+his hand for a moment and then up at the handsome face which had for
+so long meant all the world to her.
+
+"I never thought we should meet again here of all places," he said in
+his soft voice. "How long ago does it seem to you since we said
+good-bye?"
+
+She could not answer, but the thought floated through her mind that
+they never had said good-bye, that he had just walked out of her life
+and stayed away until this moment, when fate had thrown them
+together.
+
+"If you knew how often I have thought about you," he said.
+
+"Did you get my letter, Lallie? The one I wrote on New Year's Eve--and
+the money? I sent you some money."
+
+A swift flush dyed her cheeks; she raised her eyes.
+
+That had been his letter then, after all--Micky had lied to her; she
+caught her breath on a little gasp.
+
+"Yes," she said faintly. "Yes--yes, I got it--thank you."
+
+"I've often thought since that I might have written you a kinder
+letter," he said after a moment. "But everything had gone wrong
+then--the mater cut up rough--and I was up to my eyes in debt. It was
+the best thing for both of us to put an end to it, don't you think it
+was? You used to say that you wouldn't mind being poor, but in the end
+you'd have hated it as much as I should." He paused as if expecting
+her to speak, but she was plucking at the blue-and-white fringe of the
+tablecloth with nervous fingers.
+
+What did he mean--that he might have written her a kinder letter--when
+she always remembered it as one of the dearest she had ever received?
+
+He went on again--
+
+"It hurt me more than you'll ever know." There was a sort of
+self-satisfaction in his voice. "It took me a long time to forget you,
+Lallie, and then, just as I was beginning, I saw you at the
+theatre--in the stalls ... with Mellowes." His brows met above his
+handsome eyes. "Mellowes wasn't long picking you up," he added
+jealously.
+
+Her lip quivered, but she did not raise her eyes.
+
+"You saw me, too, didn't you?" he persisted. "I know you did, because
+Mellowes came round afterwards and cursed me to all eternity." He
+laughed. "I should have made a point of seeing you the next day if it
+hadn't been for his confounded interference," he went on. "He told me
+to get out of London and leave you alone." He bent towards her a
+little. "What is Mellowes to you?" he asked her deliberately.
+
+She raised her eyes now, and somehow it seemed as if, in the last few
+moments, the man she had known and loved had changed into a
+stranger--some one whom she had never seen before, whom she hoped
+never to see again.
+
+She forced her lips to smile; she felt at that moment she would die
+rather than let him see how she was suffering, or guess how she had
+suffered in the past.
+
+"He's been kind to me," she said voicelessly. "That's all."
+
+Raymond made a little, inarticulate sound.
+
+"He's got me to thank for ever getting to know you," he said. "I gave
+him your address and asked him to take you out a bit if he fancied
+it.... I asked him to be kind to you."
+
+The hands in her lap twitched convulsively.
+
+"If I'd had one tenth of his beastly money," Raymond said then
+savagely, "we shouldn't be sitting here now as if we were strangers--as
+if ... Lallie--do you remember the good time we used to have----"
+
+"I remember everything." He bent closer.
+
+"I never cared for any woman in all my life but you. It's cursed hard
+luck." He sighed. "You know I'm married?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"Oh yes!" The words came stiffly.
+
+His eyes searched her white face jealously.
+
+"You don't seem to care. I've often wondered if you knew--and if you
+minded!" He sat staring before him, and there was a little smile in
+his eyes. "We do things in style now, I can tell you," he said with
+sudden change of voice. "She's as rich as you please, and she likes to
+spend her money." Another silence.
+
+"I hope you'll be happy," Esther said faintly.
+
+Afterwards she wondered what made her say it, seeing that she did not
+care in the very least if he were happy or not; why should she care?
+This man was a stranger to her.
+
+He laughed ruefully.
+
+"Oh, I suppose we shall," he said. "She's not a bad sort, and she lets
+me alone...." He roused himself suddenly and bent closer to her.
+"Lallie--you'll let me see you again. There's no reason why we can't
+be--friends--just because I'm married----" He tried to take her hand,
+but now she repulsed him, though very gently.
+
+"You're not going to be a little prude?" he said in a whisper. "I can
+give you the time of your life if you'll let me. I've plenty of money
+now----"
+
+"Your wife's money," said Esther with stiff lips.
+
+He looked annoyed.
+
+"If you like to put it that way--but she doesn't mind--she's too fond
+of me to mind how much I spend ... Lallie----" She hated to hear that
+name, because once she had loved it.
+
+She closed her eyes for a moment with a little sick shudder.
+
+"Are you faint?" he asked anxiously. "I suppose it is warm in here.
+Take your coat off! Jove! that's a fine coat----" He ran an
+appreciative hand down the soft fur sleeve; a sudden suspicion
+crept into his eyes. "Who gave you that?" he asked sharply. "Not
+Mellowes----?"
+
+"No--at least...." She could not go on. Micky had given it to her, she
+knew, but she would have bitten her tongue through rather than have
+told this man.
+
+It had been Micky all the time--Micky....
+
+She thrust the thought of him from her; she did not want to think of
+him now. There would be plenty of time later on; plenty of time when
+she had shaken off the last rag of the past.
+
+"It cost a pretty penny, whoever bought it," he said sulkily. "What
+else has he given you? If you can take presents from him you can't
+refuse to let me see you sometimes, and after all--you did love me
+once.... Esther, do you remember the way you cried that last day?"
+
+"Yes," she said mechanically, "I remember; I remember everything."
+
+"You loved me well enough then," he reminded her moodily. "You didn't
+behave like an iceberg then, Lallie, and I'm not really changed; I'm
+the same man I was--I care for you just as much----"
+
+"You're married!" she said.
+
+She felt as if she had so much time mapped out before her during which
+she must put up with this man's society; as if each moment were
+another inch torn in the rags of disillusionment which had got to be
+destroyed thoroughly before she could ever hope to gather up the
+broken threads of her life again.
+
+He laughed at her reminder.
+
+"I'm not the only married man who sometimes forgets that he is no
+longer a bachelor," he said detestably.
+
+He laid an arm familiarly along the back of her chair. He touched her
+chin with his fingers.
+
+She moved back, the hot blood rushing riotously over her face. She was
+white no longer; she looked like a marble Galatea suddenly brought to
+life.
+
+Raymond Ashton laughed, well pleased. He was confident that he had not
+lost his power over her. For the moment his appalling vanity blinded
+him to the fact that it was not love in her eyes, but scorn.
+
+"What are you thinking, Lallie?" he asked her.
+
+She sat very straight and stiff in her chair.
+
+"I am thinking," she said, "how impossible it seems that I can ever
+have thought that I cared for you." Her voice was low but very clear,
+and he heard each word distinctly. "I am thinking that you are the
+most contemptible thing I have ever met in my life--I am thinking how
+sorry I am for the woman who is your wife."
+
+She pushed back her chair and rose.
+
+"Would you like to hear any more of my thoughts?" she asked.
+
+Ashton had risen too; there was a look of bewildered amazement in his
+face; he tried to laugh. Even now he thought she was joking.
+
+"Lallie--" he said hoarsely. He half held his hand to her. "Lallie--"
+he said again--but the cold contempt of her face struck the appeal
+from her lips.
+
+He drew himself up with a poor attempt at dignity.
+
+"So virtue is to be the order of the day, is it?" he said sneeringly.
+"Very well----" His eyes flamed as they rested on her face. "It
+makes one wonder why you are here--in Paris--alone!" he said
+insultingly--"If you are alone."
+
+There was a little point of silence. For a moment Esther scanned his
+handsome face as if she were trying to remember what it was she had
+ever loved in him--his eyes!--but they were so cruel and insolent--his
+lips ... she shuddered, realising that in all her life she could
+never undo the memory of his kisses--then she pulled herself together
+with a great effort and turned away.
+
+He followed. His amazement had gone now--he was merely furiously
+angry--his face was crimson--he caught her arm in a grip that hurt.
+
+"My God, you're not going like this," he said furiously. "It's only a
+few weeks ago that you were crying round my neck and begging me not to
+throw you over. Oh, that hurts, does it?" he said as she winced. "I
+dare say you'd like all that wiped out and forgotten. But I've got a
+few letters to remember you by--a few letters that would hardly make
+pleasant reading for the next man who is fool enough to waste his time
+on you--and I promise you I'll send them along if it's Mellowes or any
+other man----"
+
+She raised triumphant eyes to his face.
+
+"He wouldn't read them," she said passionately. "Send them if you
+like; but he wouldn't read them----" She was not conscious of the
+admission in her words--she only knew that the knowledge that Micky
+was there somewhere in the background gave her the strength to defy
+Ashton.
+
+She saw the sudden fury that filled his eyes.
+
+"Then--then you admit that it's Mellowes," he stammered. "That it's he
+who has taken my place--who has cut me out----" His voice changed to a
+sort of threat.
+
+"I might have know what he meant to do. I might have guessed. Wait
+till I see him--wait till I get back to London."
+
+Esther smiled--a little smile of security and confidence.
+
+"There is no need to wait," she said quietly. "Mr. Mellowes is here in
+Paris with me, if you wish to see him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+Ashton echoed Esther's words hoarsely.
+
+"Here! With you! in Paris!... Micky----"
+
+A wave of bitterest jealousy surged through him. He fell back a step,
+struck dumb by the force of his emotions, and Esther fled away from
+him down the street.
+
+She seemed to have awakened all at once to her true position. She was
+alone, with only a few shillings in her pocket and in a strange city.
+
+She was tired to death. She felt as if her limbs would give way
+beneath her. The driver of a fiacre looked at her and drew his horse
+to the kerb.
+
+Esther nodded; she threw her suit-case on to the seat and clambered in
+after it.
+
+But where to go? The old blinding fear of her loneliness rushed back.
+Where could she go?
+
+Then she suddenly remembered the hotel from which Micky had written to
+her. She would go there. It would be somewhere at least to sleep and
+rest.
+
+It was only a little drive to the hotel; she wished it had been
+longer.
+
+A commissionaire came forward, and said something in French. She
+looked up at him, but his face seemed all indistinct and unreal. She
+tried to answer, but her own voice sounded as if it were miles away.
+
+They were in the small, rather dreary lounge. Esther passed a hand
+across her eyes. She must conquer this absurd weakness. She forced
+herself to remember that she was alone, but she felt as if she had no
+will-power left.
+
+A door in front of her opened suddenly, and a man came into the
+lounge.
+
+When he saw Esther he stopped. The hot colour rushed to his face. He
+seemed to be waiting for some sign from her. For a moment their eyes
+met; then, hardly knowing what she did, Esther held out her hand.
+
+"Oh, please," she said faintly, "oh, please tell me--what I am to
+do?"
+
+But for the next few minutes she was past remembering anything, though
+she never really lost consciousness. She only knew that everything was
+all right now Micky was here--and the sheer relief the knowledge
+brought with it for the time threw her into a sort of apathy.
+
+Some one took off her hat and the big fur coat that had grown so
+heavy; some one had bathed her face and unlaced her shoes, and now
+Micky stood there looking down at her with eyes that hurt, though they
+smiled.
+
+"I've told them to bring lunch in here," he went on. "You'll like it
+better than the public room--and I haven't had mine yet."
+
+Esther looked up at him.
+
+"And can we--can we go back to London to-day?" she asked.
+
+"We can go any time you like," he said.
+
+He felt he had aged years during that morning. No sooner had Esther
+got out of his sight at the station than he was beside himself with
+remorse for having allowed her to go; he had spent the whole morning
+wandering about looking for her. He had been to this hotel a dozen
+times; he had only just come in again when she followed.
+
+The relief of having her safely in his charge once more was almost
+more than he could bear. He walked over to the door, then stopped and
+looked back at her.
+
+"You won't ... you won't run away from me again, will you?" he asked.
+For the first time there was real emotion in his voice.
+
+Esther had been sitting looking into the fire; she raised her head
+now.
+
+"Don't go," she said tremulously. "Please don't go. I want to speak to
+you."
+
+He flushed crimson, he tried to make some excuse.
+
+"Another time.... You're tired. I'll come back presently. You ought to
+get some rest if we're to go back to-night."
+
+"No," she said. "It must be now."
+
+He shut the door, but he kept as far away from her as possible,
+standing over by the window that looked into the dreary winter
+garden.
+
+There was something implacable about his tall figure.
+
+"Oh, won't you come here?" she said.
+
+He obeyed at once. He rested an elbow on the mantelshelf and kept his
+eyes fixed on the fire.
+
+There as a little silence, then Esther said, almost in a whisper:
+
+"I want to beg your pardon. I hope you will--will try and forgive
+me."
+
+Micky did not move.
+
+She struggled on:
+
+"I've seen ... Mr. Ashton." Somehow she could not bring herself to
+speak of him by his Christian name.
+
+"And I know--I know--that I've been--been a fool."
+
+Her voice broke. She gripped the arms of the chair hard to keep
+herself from breaking down.
+
+Micky forced himself to speak.
+
+"I'm glad you've seen him--as you wished it," he said jerkily. "But as
+hoping I will forgive you, there's nothing to forgive--it's all the
+other way on. I behaved like--like a cad--it's for you to forgive
+me."
+
+He smiled faintly.
+
+"And now we've both said the right thing I'll go and see about that
+train," he said.
+
+But again she stopped him.
+
+"I don't want you to go--I want to talk to you. I want ... oh, I don't
+know what I do want!" she finished, with a sob.
+
+"You're tired out," Micky said calmly, though he looked anything but
+calm, "and I'm going to bully you and insist that you rest. I'll come
+back presently...."
+
+He went away quickly, as if he were afraid of being kept against his
+will but outside the door he stood still for a moment with his hand
+over his eyes before he pulled himself together and went on.
+
+Esther listened to his departing steps with a sinking at her heart.
+
+What had she hoped for? She hardly knew, but she felt as if she had
+made an overture of friendship that had been kindly but decidedly
+refused.
+
+Her cheeks burned. It was not what she had expected.
+
+It seemed an eternity till Micky came back again.
+
+"There's a train in half an hour," he told her. "We can get back to
+town very comfortably. I've wired to June to meet us. She probably
+came up from Enmore yesterday."
+
+June! Esther had almost forgotten June.
+
+"You ought to be getting ready if we are to catch that train," Micky
+said. "Would you rather stay till to-morrow? I'm afraid the journey
+will tire you dreadfully."
+
+She rose hurriedly.
+
+"No, no--oh no, I'd much rather go!"
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+Micky had reserved a carriage.
+
+"I think I will go in a smoker," he said. He put some magazines
+and a box of chocolates on the seat; he avoided looking at her.
+"It's a corridor train so I'll come and see that you are all right
+occasionally--if I may."
+
+She did not answer; she felt a little chill of disappointment. He had
+not asked a single question about Raymond, and now he was suggesting
+that they travel the long journey separately.
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"Will you be all right?" he asked awkwardly.
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+He went away, and presently the train started. Esther looked out of
+the window and watched the city as it was rapidly left behind.
+
+"I never want to see it again," was the thought in her heart. "I wish
+I never had seen it."
+
+She felt like a naughty child who has run away from home and is being
+ignominiously brought back.
+
+Last night seemed like some fevered dream; Raymond Ashton some man of
+whom she had read in a book or seen in a play.
+
+A phantom lover!--he had not even been that, and once she had wished
+to die because she had got to be separated from him.
+
+Her eyes fell on her hand--she still wore his ring.
+
+With sudden passion she dragged it from her finger; she let the window
+down with a run and flung the ring far out into the grey evening. It
+was the end of a dream; the final uprooting of an illusion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+Esther slept through the long journey fitfully--she was mentally and
+physically exhausted. She was only thoroughly aroused by people out in
+the corridor moving about collecting bags and baggage.
+
+She opened her eyes with a confused feeling--the train was slackening
+speed, and Micky stood in the doorway.
+
+"We are nearly in," he said.
+
+The train was almost at a standstill.
+
+"Calais! Calais!"
+
+Esther rose to her feet--her limbs were trembling, and her head ached
+dully.
+
+Micky took her suit-case from the rack.
+
+"You'd better fasten your coat," he said casually. "It will be cold on
+the boat."
+
+She looked at him half fearfully. Was this the same man who had
+followed her from Enmore with such passionate haste and eagerness? He
+was perfectly undisturbed now at all events, he seemed even to avoid
+looking at her.
+
+When they got on board he found her a chair on the leeside of the
+boat.
+
+"Are you a good sailor?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know. I've never been any distance until yesterday."
+
+"You'd better stay here; it's preferable to that stuffy cabin."
+
+But he left her alone almost the whole time, though she knew that he
+walked up and down close to where she sat. She could see the glow of
+his cigar through the darkness and hear the slow sound of his steps.
+
+She tried to think things over quietly as she sat there, but
+everything seemed so unreal, and most of all the fact that Micky had
+once professed to love her.
+
+In the train he left her to herself till they reached London. He was
+sure she "did not want to be bothered," he said, and he was going to
+smoke.
+
+Esther felt a little pang of disappointment. It seemed a long time
+till the train steamed fussily into Charing Cross; and the old weary
+feeling of loneliness had settled again upon her heart by the time
+Micky came to the door of the carriage.
+
+"June is sure to be somewhere about," he said laconically. "Will you
+stay here while I see if I can find her?"
+
+She took a hurried step forward.
+
+"No, I'll come with you."
+
+She felt afraid of June's kindly quizzical eyes; June who knew why she
+had run away to Paris, and what had been awaiting her there.
+
+She touched Micky's arm--the eyes she raised to his face were
+troubled.
+
+"When shall I see you again?" she asked falteringly.
+
+He half smiled.
+
+"Why do you want to see me again?" he questioned gravely. "You can
+have no use for me--after this!"
+
+Esther flushed painfully. Through the crowd she saw June pushing
+towards them. This was the last moment she would have with Micky, she
+knew, and in a flash something seemed to tell her what this man had
+meant to her during the last two terrible days.
+
+"Oh," she said tremblingly, "if you only would let me thank you."
+
+Micky laughed harshly--
+
+"I hate thanks," he said.
+
+June was upon them; she seized Esther and kissed her rapturously.
+
+"You darling! You'll never know how glad I am to see you. I've been
+here for hours. Aren't you dead tired? Micky, she looks worn out."
+
+"Does she?" said Micky.
+
+He was dead beat himself; he looked round vacantly.
+
+"I wired Driver--I thought he'd be here...."
+
+"Here, sir," said a voice at his elbow, and there was Driver, stolid
+and impenetrable as ever.
+
+Micky was unfeignedly glad to see the little man; for almost the
+first time in his life he realised that sometimes dullness and
+short-sightedness are a blessing in disguise. Apparently to
+Driver there was nothing odd in this mad rush over to Paris; his
+expressionless eyes saw the untidiness of his master' toilet without
+changing.
+
+"I've brought the car, sir," he said.
+
+"Good man; get me a taxi, then. You must take the car down to your
+rooms," Micky said to June. "No, don't argue; I insist----"
+
+He put the two girls into the car; he did not look at Esther, though
+he squeezed June's hand when he said good-bye.
+
+"Let me know if you get back all right; I shall see you soon."
+
+He raised his hat, stood aside, and the car started forward.
+
+June looked at Esther with a sort of shyness. It seemed as if years
+must have passed since they were down at Enmore.
+
+The car had rolled out of the station and into the heart of London
+before either of them spoke; then Esther said, stiltedly:
+
+"It was kind of you to come."
+
+June flushed.
+
+"It wasn't kind at all," she said bluntly. "You're my friends, or, at
+least, you were, and, as for Micky--well, I love him."
+
+There was a sort of defiance in her voice. She had seen the tired,
+strained look in Micky's face, and she was nearer being angry with
+Esther than she had ever been, but she turned and took her hand.
+
+"Somehow I never thought I should see you again," she said, with real
+emotion. "I haven't slept a wink since you went away."
+
+"You're much too good to me," Esther said. "Everyone is much too good
+to me."
+
+"I think Micky is, certainly," June agreed exasperatedly. "The man's a
+perfect fool to run about like he does after a woman who doesn't care
+two hoots about him.... There! now I oughtn't to have said that.
+Esther, if you're crying...."
+
+Esther had covered her face with her hands.
+
+"I'm not crying," she said in a stifled voice. "But I'm so ashamed. I
+don't know what you must think of me--it's so--so humiliating."
+
+"It's nothing of the kind," June declared. "The only mistake you've
+made is to put your money on the wrong man, if you'll excuse the
+expression. Raymond Ashton was always an outsider.... There! I won't
+say another word. You've come home, and that's all that matters."
+
+It was only when they were safely up in the room with the mauve
+cushions that she flung her hat down on the sofa and drew a long
+breath.
+
+"Well, I never thought we should be here together again," she said
+tragically. "It seemed like the end of everything when I found your
+note on the pincushion. I don't know what I should have done if it
+hadn't been for Micky."
+
+"I don't know what I should have done either," Esther said. She met
+June's eyes and flushed crimson. "I've been horrid about him, I know,"
+she added bravely. "And now I'm sorry."
+
+June said "Humph." She sat for a moment staring at the floor, then she
+got up and searched for the inevitable cigarettes.
+
+"You ought to go to bed," she said in her most matter-of-fact tone.
+"Where did you sleep last night?"
+
+"Nowhere--at least--we were in the train all night. I did sleep a
+little, but...."
+
+June took her by the shoulders.
+
+"Off you go to bed, and don't argue. I've had a fire put in your room,
+and Charlie is there with a new bow on. I'll come and tuck you up when
+you're ready, and...."
+
+But Esther refused to move.
+
+"I couldn't sleep if I went to bed. I want to tell you about--about
+what's happened...." She paused breathlessly, but June was not going
+to help her.
+
+"I don't want to hear anything," she said flatly. She looked at Esther
+and saw the tears in the younger girl's eyes. She put an arm round
+her, drawing her down to the sofa.
+
+"Tell me all about it, then," she said. "I'm just--just longing to
+know."
+
+"But there isn't much to tell, except----" Esther held out her left
+hand. "I'm not engaged any more," she said with a faint attempt to
+laugh. "He--Mr. Ashton--is married...."
+
+"I know--Micky told me before we went to Enmore. I hope he's married a
+vixen who'll lead him an awful dance. It would serve her right to let
+her know the sort of man he is--to let her know the sort of letters
+he's been writing to you--to show him up properly."
+
+Esther hid her face in the mauve cushions.
+
+"Oh, but he has never written to me," she said chokingly. "I've never
+had a letter from him since he went away, and that was on New Year's
+Eve. It's all been a mistake--a sham ... he never cared for me--he
+never really wanted me...."
+
+June threw away the cigarette and tried to raise Esther.
+
+"What are you talking about? He did write to you--you told me yourself
+that he wrote beautiful letters--he sent you that money--Esther! what
+do you mean?"
+
+Esther looked up; for a moment June caught a glimpse of misty, shamed
+eyes.
+
+"They weren't from him: those letters--the money never came from him,"
+she said in a stifled voice.
+
+"What! My good child, have you gone out of your mind?"
+
+June was a hundred miles from guessing the truth. "If he didn't write
+them, then who in the world did?" she demanded crisply. "And if he
+didn't send the money, who in the wide world...."
+
+She caught her breath on a sudden illuminating thought.
+
+"Esther ... not--not--Micky!"
+
+"Yes." It was the smallest whisper, and it was followed by a tragic
+silence; then June got up and began walking aimlessly about the room;
+she felt as if she had been robbed of all breath.
+
+Twice she turned and looked at Esther's huddled figure, then she went
+back, laid a hand on her arm and said in an odd, gentle voice that was
+strangely unlike her own brisk tones:
+
+"And do you mean to say that you don't just think him the finest man
+in all the world?"
+
+Esther sat up with sudden passion.
+
+"I didn't think of him at all--it was like having a knife turned in my
+heart when I knew," she said wildly. "Oh, you can't understand if
+you've never cared for anybody what it feels like to know that you've
+been made a fool of. When he told me I felt that I hated him--there
+didn't seem anything fine or good in what he had done; I only knew
+that I'd been played with, made fun of...." She stopped, sobbing
+desperately, but for once June attempted no consolation. She was
+looking at Micky's portrait on the shelf, and there was a wonderful
+tenderness in her queer eyes.
+
+"Who told you?" she asked then. "Who told you that it was Micky?"
+
+"He did--he only told me when he knew why I was going to Paris--he
+told me in the train. It's been from Mr. Mellowes all along--the money
+I've had every week--my clothes--this coat ... he's been paying for my
+food, and for me to live here...." She raised her eyes to June's face.
+"Did you know?" she asked shakily. "He said you didn't, but
+somehow...."
+
+June rounded on her angrily.
+
+"If Micky said that I didn't, that ought to be good enough," she said
+curtly. "And of course, I didn't know--if I had, I should have told
+him that he was a fool to waste his time and money on a girl who
+thought nothing of him," she added flatly. Her voice changed all at
+once. "Oh, isn't he just splendid!" she said emotionally. "I don't
+understand it in the very least, why he has done it, or how he managed
+it, or anything, but I think it's the finest thing in all the
+world----" Esther turned away.
+
+"I knew him before we met here--he wanted to tell you, but I asked him
+not to----" She stopped and dragged on again.
+
+"I met him on New Year's Eve--I was so miserable--there seemed nothing
+to live for, and he was kind and so ... so ... I told him a little of
+what was wrong, and I suppose he guessed the rest."
+
+"And when he went to Paris that time it was all for your sake, and it
+was for your sake he kept coming here--oh!"--June rose to her feet
+with a gesture of intolerance--"if you don't just adore the ground he
+walks on," she said, "you ought to, and that's all I've got to say."
+
+Esther made no answer; she was looking into the fire with eyes that as
+yet saw only the ruins of a dream that had been so beautiful, the
+rapidly receding shadow of the man whom she had once made a giant
+figure in her life.
+
+"I never want to care for any one again," she said presently in a hard
+voice. "You told me once that people were happier if they didn't love,
+and I think you were right."
+
+"I was an idiot to ever say such a thing," June cried in a rage. "And
+you're a bigger idiot if you pretend to think I was right. There's
+nothing better in the whole world than being loved----" Her face
+flushed like a rose. "If Micky had cared for me even a quarter as well
+as he does for you I would have married him, and that's the truth,"
+she declared. "It was only because I knew he hadn't anything except
+friendship to offer me that I knew it wasn't fair...." She tried to
+cover the seriousness of her words with a laugh. She lit another
+cigarette. "And now, having got rid of my heroics, let's talk sense,"
+she added more calmly. "But you ought to go to bed. You look worn out.
+You'll be a wreck in the morning."
+
+"I don't want to go to bed. I have such a lot to tell you. I shall
+have to leave here, of course; I haven't got any money. I must try and
+find a post. I thought of asking Eldred's to take me back; there might
+be a vacancy now...." But her voice sounded weary and hopeless.
+
+June swooped down on her.
+
+"You poor tired baby, come along to bed and don't worry any more.
+You've got me whatever happens, and if the worst comes to the worst
+there's always June Mason's wonderful skin food for both of us to live
+on."
+
+They went upstairs together.
+
+"There's nothing like sunshine to put you on good terms with
+yourself," she said philosophically. "Whenever I'm in the dumps or
+feel that I'm looking particularly plain, I put on my best hat and go
+out in the sunshine, and I assure you I'm a good-looking woman when I
+come home again."
+
+"You're always better than good-looking," Esther told her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+June tucked Esther up in bed and replenished the fire. She turned out
+the gas, leaving the room fire-lit.
+
+"June," Esther said timidly. "What did your aunt think? What did she
+say--when--when----"
+
+"She said we must go back and finish our visit another time--she took
+a great fancy to you."
+
+"You're saying that to please me."
+
+"I'm not! honest Injun!" June heard the tears in Esther's voice; she
+bent and kissed her gently.
+
+"Now, not another word! I refuse to answer another question! Pleasant
+dreams--or better still, no dreams at all." She went away, and shut
+her door behind her.
+
+Esther lay awake for a long time watching the firelight on the walls
+and ceiling, and thinking of what had happened.
+
+It seemed impossible that she had even really seen and spoken to
+Raymond Ashton; impossible that instead of loving him desperately, she
+could only shudder at the memory of him.
+
+The tears forced their way to her eyes, and scorched her cheeks. But
+for Micky, where might she not have been now?--and he had refused to
+even let her thank him. Her heart was filled with a new humility. At
+best her words would be so poor--like beggars in the palace of his
+generosity.
+
+But she would see him again soon--she comforted herself with the
+assurance. In spite of his changed manner and apparent indifference,
+she was sure she would see him again. Micky--as June had said of
+him--never failed!
+
+It was her last thought as she fell asleep, that she would surely see
+him the next day.
+
+But Micky did not come!
+
+Esther rested till lunch time, after which June insisted on a walk.
+
+"The sun's shining, and it's wicked to stay indoors," she declared;
+she marched Esther about for half an hour.
+
+Esther had been so sure that Micky would come. She glanced up at the
+clock, and then at Micky's photograph--but to-day he seemed to be
+looking past her into the room to where June was bustling about, and
+she gave a little sigh.
+
+The evening dragged away.
+
+"What are you thinking about?" June asked once abruptly. "You look so
+sad, don't look sad, my dear! there's lots of happy days to come
+yet--happier days than you've ever had."
+
+Esther was only half listening. It was too late for Micky to come now
+was the thought in her mind. Supposing he never came again?
+
+She cried herself to sleep that night. When she woke it was late in
+the morning, and June had had her breakfast and gone out.
+
+She came in while Esther was dressing. She looked very pleased and
+alert.
+
+"Business, my child!" she said enthusiastically. "Such a duck of an
+American! and Micky's introduction! Mr. George P. Rochester!--isn't it
+a lovely name? He's going to establish me firmly in little old New
+York, as he calls it, and make my fortune. I'm going out to lunch with
+him at one o'clock, and you're coming too!--Oh, yes you _are_!" as
+Esther shook her head. "I've told him all about you already." Esther
+laughed.
+
+"You must have got on very fast," she said. "And anyway I'm not going
+to play odd-man-out."
+
+June made a little grimace.
+
+"I telephoned Micky and asked him to come and make a fourth," she
+admitted.
+
+Esther flushed. She looked up eagerly:
+
+"And--and is he coming?"
+
+June shook her head.
+
+"No, he isn't," she said with overdone indifference. "He said he'd got
+an engagement already, but between you and me and the doorpost," she
+added darkly, "I don't believe it! I think he just didn't _want_ to
+come."
+
+"Oh," said Esther faintly. "I expect he has a good many engagements,"
+she added after a moment.
+
+June said "Humph!" She recalled the curt manner of Micky's refusal,
+and wondered if there had been a more serious rupture between himself
+and Esther than she was ever likely to hear about.
+
+"So we shall have to make up our minds to enjoy ourselves without his
+distinguished company," she said airly. "I dare say we shall be able
+to manage quite nicely. Esther, aren't you going to wear your fur
+coat?"
+
+"My fur coat!" said Esther rather unsteadily. "It's not mine."
+
+She was taking from the wardrobe the shabby jacket she had worn the
+first night she met Micky; it looked more shabby and unsmart than
+ever, but she was going to wear it whatever happened.
+
+She was smarting with humiliation. She had offered Micky her little
+olive branch when they parted two days ago at Charing Cross, and this
+is how he had accepted it!
+
+"If he's trying to pay me out, I suppose it's only what I deserve,"
+she thought miserably, and yet it did not seem like Micky to
+deliberately try or wish to hurt or humiliate any one.
+
+She did her best to push the shadow aside. She tried to laugh and talk
+with June as they went off to meet Mr. George P. Rochester.
+
+He was a big, bluff man, with a hand-clasp like the grip of a bear,
+and a twang that could be cut with a knife.
+
+They lunched at a restaurant which she had never even heard of, though
+June seemed quite at home. There were several people at other tables,
+whom June knew, and Esther felt very out of it all, and unhappy.
+
+It was a good thing she had refused to marry Micky, she thought with a
+sort of anger. She knew none of his friends and nothing of the life to
+which he had always been accustomed. She did not realise that it was
+the knowledge of her shabby coat that was affecting her spirits more
+keenly than anything.
+
+June's clothes were not new, but they had an unmistakable "cut" about
+them, and Rochester was exceedingly well dressed.
+
+He talked to June a great deal. Once or twice he tried to draw Esther
+into the conversation, but, seeing that she wished to be let alone, he
+soon gave up the attempt.
+
+He was certainly a most friendly person--one would have thought that
+he and June had known one another for years. Before lunch was ended he
+had invited himself to tea for the following afternoon.
+
+"That's Yankee push if you like!" June said when he had gone. "Give me
+a Yankee every time to make things go!" She looked at Esther
+excitedly. "Do you know," she said, "I've a great mind to try and
+persuade that man to come into partnership with me."
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should say he'd suggest it himself if you give him another day or
+two," she said drily. She wandered listlessly round the room.
+
+"I shall have to leave here at the end of the week," she said
+suddenly. "It's impossible to go on living here, and letting you pay
+my rent and my food bill. I owe you more than I can ever repay
+already."
+
+"If you talk like that I'll--I'll kill you!" said June in a rage. "You
+don't understand what friendship means. Micky had tried to teach you,
+and so have I, and all you do is to throw it back in our faces.... O
+Esther, don't!..."
+
+Esther had turned away and covered her face with her hands.
+
+"I know you think I'm ungrateful and horrid," she said brokenly. "But
+how would you like to be in my position? I haven't a shilling of my
+own in the world--the things I've been wearing since I came here are
+paid for by ... by ... oh, you know! I hate to look at that fur coat
+and my new frock. You talk to me about being proud and obstinate;
+well, I can't help it, you must go on thinking it, that's all; I'd
+rather die than take anything more from any one. I kept myself before,
+and I will again...."
+
+"I didn't mean to hurt you--I'm a perfect beast," June declared in
+remorse. "But it does seem such a shame."
+
+Esther raised a flushed face.
+
+"We can't all have money and be independent," she said hardily. "But I
+think you might try and understand how I feel about it."
+
+"I only know that I'm dying to help you, and you won't let me," June
+said grumpily. "Lord! where is my cigarette case? I shall swear or do
+something worse if I can't smoke."
+
+She went out of the room, and Esther heard her go clattering up the
+stairs. There were tears in her eyes now, but she brushed them angrily
+away; after all, what was there to cry for! It was only that she had
+got to go back to where she had left off that New Year's Eve when she
+first met Micky; everything was just as it had been then, save that
+she was the poorer now by the loss of a dream.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+
+June's friendship with Mr. George P. Rochester grew apace.
+
+"Micky's introductions are _always_ a success," she told Esther. "And
+Micky likes him too--awfully! Mr. Rochester is round at Micky's rooms
+nearly every night. They're _ever_ such pals!"
+
+"Are they?" said Esther. The mention of Micky's name always seemed to
+make her heart quiver. She wondered if June knew why he never came to
+the house now, and what she thought about it all.
+
+In her own mind she was sure that Micky had cast her off, and the
+knowledge left her with a sense of desolation.
+
+She never spoke of him unless June did so first, and she tried never
+to think of him. But Micky was a personality not to be lightly
+dismissed from memory, and he haunted her thoughts waking and
+sleeping.
+
+"If I could only get some work," she told herself, "it would be
+better. It's so dreadful having nothing to do."
+
+She had applied to Eldred's unsuccessfully--she had climbed the narrow
+stairs of the agency a dozen times only to be met with rebuff.
+
+"You refused an excellent post I offered to you," she was told icily.
+"I am not likely to be able to find you such another."
+
+June coaxed her into helping with the "swindle."
+
+"If you don't I'll have to pay some one else to do it," she declared.
+"And oh, Esther, _don't_ be so proud!"
+
+So Esther gave in. She filled the little mauve pots with the profound
+skin food and fastened on lids and labels till her head swam.
+
+Sometimes Mr. George P. Rochester came to help--at least he called it
+"help"--but he did very little actual work, as he was always too busy
+looking at June and talking to her.
+
+"Has he suggested the partnership yet?" Esther asked one night.
+
+June flushed rosily.
+
+"Don't be absurd," she answered, and something in her voice woke a
+little note of fear in Esther's heart.
+
+Was she to lose June too? Was there to be nothing left to her in all
+the world? Her hands shook as she went on mechanically filling the row
+of little mauve pots.
+
+"Esther," said June suddenly, "how long is it since you saw Micky?"
+
+There was a little pause, then Esther said constrainedly. "I've never
+seen him since--since we came back from Paris."
+
+She waited a moment.
+
+"Why?" she asked with an effort.
+
+June kept her eyes bent on her work.
+
+"Because I haven't seen him myself for nearly a week," she said
+slowly. "And I hear--I hear that he's running round with that Deland
+girl again."
+
+She did not dare to look up as she spoke, and she went on quickly, "Of
+course it may only be gossip--but George--Mr. Rochester----" she
+hurriedly corrected herself, "tells me that Micky took him to their
+house to dinner last night."
+
+Silence. June filled pots at random, wildly, then Esther spoke.
+
+"I've done eight dozen," she said. "Do you think that is enough to go
+on with?"
+
+June raised her eyes guiltily, then suddenly she pushed the laden tray
+from her and ran round to Esther.
+
+"Oh," she said impulsively, "if only--only you could have made
+yourself care for him."
+
+She put her arms round the younger girl's unresponsive figure.
+
+"I want you to be happy too, so badly," she went on earnestly. "I
+didn't mean to tell you yet, but I must somehow. George--Mr.
+Rochester----" she broke off, laughing and crying together.
+
+"The man's a perfect disgrace," she protested, "I told him so, too!
+I've only known him three weeks, and--and----" she raised tear-drowned
+eyes to Esther's face. "What can you do when a man that size kisses
+you?" she demanded.
+
+Esther had to laugh.
+
+"Why, do what you did," she said. "Kiss him in return."
+
+June wiped her eyes and laughed, and shed more tears.
+
+"I never meant to marry any one," she said angrily. "But the dreadful
+creature seems to want me so desperately badly. I'm really utterly
+miserable, only----"
+
+"O June!" said Esther.
+
+"So I am! At least!"--June looked up and suddenly laughed. "I'm not,"
+she said. "I'm a wicked liar! but oh, such a gloriously happy, wicked
+liar!"
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+"And it's all entirely due to me," Micky said when June rang him up
+the following morning to tell him the news.
+
+"I introduced you! What do I get out of it all I should like to
+know?"
+
+His voice was playful, but June took him seriously.
+
+"O Micky! if you could only be as happy as I am," she said eagerly.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"If wishes were horses, my dear----" he said sententiously. "But don't
+worry about me, I'm all right."
+
+"Then, will you come to dinner to-night? No, _not_ at the boarding
+house! We'll go to the Savoy--just to celebrate! We four!"
+
+"We _four!_" said Micky sharply.
+
+"Yes--I shall bring Esther, of course."
+
+There was the smallest possible pause, then Micky said:
+
+"I'm sorry, but I've another engagement. I promised the Delands to go
+with them to the Hoopers' dance."
+
+June said "_Hang_ the Delands," and rang off in a huff.
+
+Micky hung up the receiver and turned away. He was sorry to disappoint
+June, and yet he had no smallest intention of meeting Esther. If she
+had wanted him she would have sent a note or a message--but she did
+not want him! More than once she had said that she hated him--it was
+time to learn that she meant what she said. Micky's pride had got the
+upper hand at last, and he would rather have died now than make the
+smallest overture to the girl at whose feet he had once been willing
+to grovel.
+
+Driver came to the door:
+
+"A parcel, sir. Shall I bring it in?"
+
+Micky answered absently:
+
+"All right."
+
+Driver went out of the room. After a moment he came back with a square
+box which he set down on the table.
+
+"Shall I open it, sir?" he asked, as Micky did not speak.
+
+Micky started.
+
+"Yes; oh, yes--open it. What the dickens is it? I haven't ordered
+anything."
+
+Driver said that he did not know--that it had been left by a
+messenger. He untied the knotted string with neat precision, and
+rolled it into a ball before he removed the paper.
+
+Micky walked up to the table and lifted the lid with faint curiosity.
+
+"A fur coat," he said blankly. "A fur----" He stopped. For a moment he
+stood staring down into the box, then he let the lid fall over it
+again.
+
+"All right--you can go," he said.
+
+Driver walked to the door stoically, and Micky went back to the fire.
+
+So she would not even keep the fur coat! She cared so little for him
+that she must needs send back his paltry gifts. What a fool he was to
+care--what a fool!
+
+Driver, coming back for a moment, stopped petrified in the doorway.
+Micky was standing by the mantelpiece with his face buried in his
+arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+
+It was late that night when Micky turned up at the Delands'. He had
+taken extravagant pains with his toilet, lingering over it as long as
+possible. Ever since the arrival of that parcel from Esther, he had
+been trying to make up his mind to take the irrevocable step, and ask
+Marie Deland to be his wife. He was miserably sure that she would
+accept him, miserably sure that he was already forgiven for the past.
+
+He kept on persuading himself that it was the one and only thing left
+to him to do. He tried to believe that once the affair was settled, he
+would find some sort of happiness. After all, what did it matter whom
+he married if it could not be Esther?
+
+He looked pale but determined when he walked into the Delands'
+drawing-room and found Marie there alone. She turned to greet him with
+a little eager movement that was somehow comforting.
+
+Here, at any rate, was some one who really cared for him and was glad
+to see him. He took the hand she held out and, bending, kissed it.
+
+She caught her breath on a little sound that was almost a sob, but she
+checked it instantly and tried to laugh.
+
+"This is almost like old times," she said.
+
+"Quite like old times," Micky answered recklessly. "We've just turned
+the pages back again and gone on where we left off, that's all."
+
+He looked at her and tried to forget everything else. She was pretty
+and dainty enough to satisfy the most exciting man, and she loved him!
+To a man who is disappointed and unhappy there is great consolation in
+the knowledge that to one person at least he counts before anything
+else in the world.
+
+She looked up at him, and impulsively he took a step towards her;
+another moment and Micky would have sealed his fate, had not Mrs.
+Deland pushed open the door and walked into the room.
+
+It had not been any effort for her to forgive Micky for his cavalier
+treatment of her daughter. For the last week she had been busy telling
+every one that Marie and Micky had made up their quarrel--"entirely
+Marie's fault it was, you know," and so on.
+
+"You are going to give me half your dances at least," Micky said, when
+they reached the Hoopers'. He took the card from Marie's hand and
+filled in his own initials recklessly against the numbers.
+
+She laughed tremulously; she was too happy to think of anything but
+the present; she had got Micky again, and that was all she cared
+about.
+
+"Good-evening!" said a voice at her side, and, turning, she found
+Raymond Ashton at her elbow.
+
+Marie did not care particularly for Ashton. She greeted him rather
+coldly.
+
+"So you're back in town," she said. "And your wife?"
+
+"Not here to-night," he answered. "She has a bad cold, so I persuaded
+her to stay at home. May I have a dance?"
+
+She gave him her card reluctantly. She would have liked to have
+refused, but she thought Micky would be annoyed; she did not know that
+he and this man were friends no longer.
+
+She saw him glance at Micky's many initials on her card, saw the half
+ironical smile he gave as he looked at her.
+
+"Mellowes is back, then?" he said.
+
+"Yes--he came with us to-night."
+
+"Really! I thought----" he paused eloquently.
+
+Marie flushed, she knew quite well what he meant; that he must have
+known how Micky had once deserted her.
+
+"I understood that Mellowes was in Paris."
+
+Ashton went on calmly.
+
+"At least I was told so by an ... acquaintance of mine--who was
+staying there with him."
+
+Marie's eyes dilated.
+
+"Father and I crossed by the same boat as he did," she said with an
+effort. "He was alone then----"
+
+Ashton laughed detestably. "Ah, but not afterwards," he said--then
+checked himself. "But I forgot. I must not tell tales out of school,
+only as every one seems to have learned of his _penchant_ for the
+little lady from Eldred's"--he laughed lightly.
+
+Marie stood staring down the long ballroom. The colour slowly
+faded from her cheeks, leaving her as white as her frock. She looked
+at Ashton, intent on a crease in his glove, and she broke out
+stammering:
+
+"How dare you say such a thing! I don't believe you--in Paris--Micky----"
+
+He raised his brows with assumed surprise.
+
+"I'm sorry--perhaps I should not have spoken--but I thought every one
+knew----"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders. "Of course it may be a mistake, but I
+happen to know the lady in question slightly--through Mellowes--and it
+was she who told me.... I am sorry if my carelessness has pained
+you--excuse me, I am engaged for this dance."
+
+He bowed and left her standing there, white and dazed.
+
+"I don't believe it! I don't," she told herself despairingly, and yet
+in her heart something told her that, for once at least, Ashton had
+spoken the truth.
+
+"Our dance, I think," said Micky beside her.
+
+She laid her hand on his arm mechanically; they went the round of the
+room once, then Micky, glancing down, saw how white she was and how
+her head drooped towards his shoulder.
+
+He tightened his arm a little--he swept her skilfully out of the crowd
+and into a small anteroom; he put her into a chair and bent over her
+in concern.
+
+"You are not well--what can I do? Can I get you anything?"
+
+For a moment she did not speak, then all at once she rose to her feet;
+she clutched Micky by both arms; he could feel how her hands shook;
+there was heartbroken tragedy in her brown eyes as she looked into his
+face. For once she had forgotten her pride and the indifference into
+which she had been drilled for twenty years; she was no longer Marie
+Deland, a sought-after and courted beauty; she was just an unhappy,
+jealous woman.
+
+"It isn't true, Micky, is it?" she entreated him; her voice was only a
+broken whisper. "Tell me--oh, please, please, tell me. You don't care
+for her, do you?--it isn't true, is it?"
+
+She forgot that he did not know of what she was speaking; it seemed as
+if everybody in the world must know of this tragedy that had desolated
+her life.
+
+"I can't bear it any longer--it's no use.... I've borne all I can....
+O Micky ... Micky."
+
+He forced her hands from his arms; he put her back into the chair and
+sat beside her; he hated to see the white despair of her face.
+
+"You're ill--upset.... It's all right--everything is all right. You're
+not to worry any more.... Everything is all right."
+
+At that moment he would have given his soul could he have truthfully
+said that he wanted her for his wife. He cursed himself for a cur and
+a coward, but somehow he could not force the words to his lips.
+
+She lay back against the cushions, hiding her face.
+
+There was a tragic moment of silence. Out in the ballroom a noisy
+one-step was in boisterous progress; there was a great deal of
+laughter and chattering; the little anteroom seemed as if it must be
+in another world.
+
+Micky got up. He walked across the room and shut the door. There was a
+hard look about his mouth. For an instant he stood staring down at the
+floor irresolutely, then he came back to Marie. He bent over her, but
+he did not touch her.
+
+He spoke her name gently.
+
+"Marie."
+
+She did not raise her head.
+
+"I want to speak to you," he said huskily.
+
+She looked up then. Her face was flashed and quivering, and the brown
+eyes that for a moment met his own were full of an unutterable grief
+and shame.
+
+"Oh," she said in a broken whisper. "If you'd just go away--and leave
+me to myself."
+
+Micky did not answer. The impossibility of ever going back now struck
+him to the soul. This was the end, the very end--he had burned his
+boats and bidden good-bye to the woman he loved for ever.
+
+Then all his natural chivalry rose in his heart. Hitherto it had been
+only of himself that he had thought, but now ... his eyes softened as
+they rested on the girl's bowed head; he stooped and took her hand,
+held it fast in his steady grip.
+
+"Will you marry me?" he said very gently.
+
+And, oh, the long time before she answered! It seemed to Micky that he
+lived through years as he stood there with the rattling tune of the
+one-step in his ears and Marie's tragic figure before his eyes. Was
+she never going to speak?
+
+Then she sat up very stiff and straight--there were tears scorching
+her flushed cheeks, and her eyes seemed to burn.
+
+"Will I--will I--marry you?" she echoed, as if not understanding.
+
+Her voice rose a little.
+
+"Then it isn't true ... it can't be true--what he said?"
+
+"What did he say? Who are you talking about? What do you mean?"
+
+She began to sob; quiet, tearless sobs that seemed to bring no relief
+with them.
+
+"Raymond Ashton--he told me--here! just now--that you...." She
+stopped, catching her breath at the change in Micky's face; it no
+longer looked tender--his eyes were fierce.
+
+"Ashton! What has he said?" His voice was roughly insistent.
+
+"He told me that you--you were in Paris--a week or two ago--with a
+girl from Eldred's."
+
+"It's a lie!" The words escaped Micky before he could check them; his
+first thought was to defend Esther. "It's an infernal lie!" he said
+again violently.
+
+It turned him cold to think of all that the brute must have implied.
+
+The tears were frozen on Marie's cheeks--her hands were clasped
+together in her lap.
+
+When at last she found her voice it was strained and cracked.
+
+"... that she told him you were there with her...." Her brown eyes
+searched his face as if they were trying to read his very soul. "If
+it's a lie," she said shrilly, "it's she who is lying--she told
+Raymond Ashton that she was there with you."
+
+"She told him...."
+
+For a moment Micky stood like a man turned to stone. Was this the
+truth?--that Esther had told Ashton....
+
+He looked again at Marie.
+
+"When did Ashton tell you this?"
+
+"To-night--not a moment ago--he is here."
+
+"Here!" Then to how many more people had he told the same distorted
+story?
+
+The blood beat into Micky's face; it seemed to hammer maddeningly
+against his temples. Nothing counted but the fact that Esther's name
+was being bandied about on the lips of the creature. To stop him--to
+stop his lying tongue was the one thought in Micky's mind; he saw the
+whole world red as he tore open the door of the silent room and strode
+out into the corridor.
+
+The noisy ragtime had ceased, but a storm of deafening applause and
+cries of "Encore!" filled the ballroom.
+
+An elderly man cannoned into Micky, and stopped short with a laughing
+apology.
+
+"Hullo, Mellowes--not dancing--what the deuce is the matter?" he asked
+with sudden change of voice.
+
+Micky passed a shaking hand across his mouth--
+
+"Nothing ... where's Ashton--have you seen Ashton?"
+
+"I've just left him; he isn't dancing either. Can't think what's
+happened to you youngsters to-day. When I was your age...." He broke
+off, realising that Micky was not listening. "Ashton's in the
+smoking-room," he said uneasily.
+
+Micky went on; his hands were clenched, his teeth set.
+
+The smoking-room door was half ajar; he could see that there were
+several men there. There was a clink of glasses and the sound of
+voices talking in a rather subdued way.
+
+Micky paused. He knew that if Ashton were there it would mean a scene,
+and a scene in any one else's house.... The thought snapped at the
+sound of his own name.
+
+"Mellowes! Well, you do surprise me." There was a chuckle. "Always
+thought he was one of the good boys.... It just shows that you never
+know a man till you find him out. Rather an error of judgment to
+choose Paris, eh? Who did you say she was?"
+
+"A girl from Eldred's--pretty little thing. I knew her before he did.
+As a matter of fact, it was only when I cooled off...."
+
+That was Ashton's voice; Micky could not see him, but he could picture
+vividly the eloquent shrug, the meaning smile with which he finished
+his incomplete sentence.
+
+The hot blood died down, leaving him cool and alert. He pushed the
+door wide and walked into the room.
+
+The group of men by the fireplace scattered; some one coughed
+deprecatingly; some one else seized upon a siphon and began filling an
+already full glass recklessly.
+
+Nobody spoke.
+
+Micky kicked the door to behind him, shutting it with a slam.
+
+His eyes went straight to Ashton--a pale Ashton, trying to smile
+unconcernedly and brazen the situation out.
+
+"I'll give you two minutes in which to apologise," Micky said in a
+voice of steel. "Two minutes in which to retract the damned lies
+you've just been saying in this room--or--or I'll thrash you within an
+inch of your life."
+
+In the silence following one could have heard a pin drop. Every one
+looked at Ashton. Micky took out his watch.
+
+It seemed an eternity before Ashton spoke.
+
+"If you've been listening----" he began blustering.
+
+He moistened his dry lips.
+
+"What I said is the truth," he broke out spluttering. "You were in
+Paris with...." But the name was never spoken--Micky's clenched fist
+shot out and struck him right in the mouth.
+
+In a moment the room was in an uproar; half a dozen men rushed at
+Micky and pinned his arms.
+
+"Mellowes--for God's sake--if Hooper comes in...."
+
+Ashton had staggered back against the wall; his mouth was cut and
+bleeding; he was swearing horribly.
+
+Micky was crimson in the face; the veins stood out like cords on his
+forehead; he was straining every nerve to free himself from his
+captors.
+
+"Apologise!" he gasped. "Apologise, you dammed cad!"
+
+Ashton laughed savagely.
+
+"Apologise! What for? It's the truth, and you know it. Apologise! I'll
+repeat it.... I say that you were in Paris three weeks ago with Esther
+Shepstone, one of the girls from Eldred's...."
+
+Micky suddenly stopped struggling, but his breath came in deep gasps
+as he spoke. He looked round at the faces of the other men.
+
+"I know most of you--here," he said in a laboured voice. "And most of
+you know me--and you know that I'm not a damned liar like Ashton; and
+I know that you'll believe me--believe me--when I tell you that the
+lady who was with me in--in Paris--three weeks ago--is my wife ...
+we've been married some time--and it is solely by her wish that it has
+been kept a secret."
+
+If Micky had dropped a bomb in the room it could hardly have created
+more consternation. The incredulity on the faces of the men around him
+would have been amusing to an onlooker, but to Micky the whole thing
+was tragedy.
+
+He had brought Esther to this with his blundering quixotism; he was
+nearly beside himself with remorse.
+
+If he had been free he would have half killed Ashton. His hands ached
+to get at him; to take him by his lying throat and choke the breath
+from his body.
+
+He looked at the men around him with passionate eyes.
+
+"I've never given any of you cause to doubt my word yet," he said
+hoarsely. "And I'm sure you'll agree with me that this man should be
+made to retract what he said and apologise."
+
+"Certainly--he ought to apologise. It's disgraceful--infernally
+disgraceful," said a man who had been listening to Ashton's story
+eagerly enough a moment ago.
+
+"What do you say, gentlemen?"
+
+There was a chorus of assent. The men who had been holding Micky's
+arms let him go.
+
+Ashton backed a step away.
+
+His face was livid, his eyes furious, but he knew that there was no
+other course open to him; nobody in the room had any sympathy with him
+now.
+
+"I apologise," he said savagely. "I didn't know that--the--lady--Mellowes
+had married--the lady."
+
+His tone added that even now he did not believe it; he edged away to
+the door and disappeared.
+
+Micky dropped into a chair; he looked thoroughly done up. Some one
+pushed a glass of whisky across to him. There was an uncomfortable
+silence. Perhaps they were all feeling guilty; perhaps they all
+remembered with what relish they had listened to this spicy bit of
+scandal.
+
+"Never could stand Ashton," some one said presently, in gruff
+abasement. "Worm--the man is!--perfect outsider!"
+
+There were several grunts of assent; the sympathy was decidedly with
+Micky.
+
+After a moment he rose to his feet.
+
+"I suppose an apology is due from me too," he said; he spoke with
+difficulty. "But I think any of you--in the same circumstances----"
+
+He waited a moment.
+
+"Quite right--certainly.... Should have done the same myself."
+
+Micky smiled faintly.
+
+"And I am sure you won't let this go any further--for--for my wife's
+sake," he added.
+
+They pressed round him, shaking him by the hand and reassuring him.
+Micky took it for what it was worth. He knew that those of them who
+were married men would go straight home and tell their wives of the
+scene at Hoopers', and he knew how speedily the story would spread.
+
+He got away as soon as he could and left the house.
+
+He never gave Marie another thought, till he found himself out in the
+street and walking away through the fresh spring night.
+
+He took off his hat and let the air blow on his hot forehead; his hand
+still trembled with excitement.
+
+He tried to think, but his thoughts would not come clearly. When he
+got back to his rooms he asked Driver for a stiff brandy. The man
+looked at his master diffidently, and asked if anything were the
+matter.
+
+Micky laughed.
+
+"Why? Do I look as if there is?" He glanced at himself in the mirror.
+His face was very white.
+
+"No, there's nothing the matter. I'm tired, that's all."
+
+Driver turned to the door, but Micky called him back.
+
+"You've been with me a good many years, Driver," he said.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And you've been a faithful servant."
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+The man's stolidness did not change a fraction.
+
+Micky took a gulp at the brandy.
+
+"If you were to hear that I'm married, you wouldn't be surprised,
+would you?" he asked with a rush.
+
+Driver stood immovable.
+
+"Not in the least, sir."
+
+"You would even say that you knew that I've been married some weeks,
+wouldn't you?"
+
+"I should, sir."
+
+"Good--you may go."
+
+"Thank you, sir, and good-night."
+
+"Good-night," said Micky.
+
+And now, what was to be done now?
+
+When he left this room three hours ago it had been with the
+determination to put the past behind him for ever, and what had he
+done? Only walked more deeply into his quixotism and seriously
+compromised the woman he loved.
+
+He had said that she was his wife. It gave him a little thrill to
+remember that a dozen of his acquaintances had heard him say it, and
+were probably even now spreading the story of his marriage far and
+wide.
+
+He paced up and down the room. He had failed all round; even love and
+desperate desire had not been able to help him.
+
+He thought suddenly of June; June who, with all her bluntness, had a
+great heart and a deep understanding.
+
+She would not want explanations; she would know why he had done it,
+and sympathise.
+
+But June was obviously not the one concerned. It was not to June that
+he must confess.
+
+The clock in his room struck twelve; too late to do anything to-night.
+The memory of Marie returned--Marie as she had looked when he found
+her in the drawing-room that night; as she had looked when he had left
+her in the little anteroom at the Hoopers' and gone out with murder in
+his heart to find Ashton.
+
+He stopped dead in his pacing.
+
+"Oh, you cad--you cad!" he said with a groan.
+
+Life was an intolerable, purposeless thing. He sat down at his desk
+and leaned his head in his hands. His whole life seemed to spell
+failure. With sudden impulse he seized a pen and began to write.
+
+For the first few moments he hardly knew what he wrote. It was only
+when he reached the end of the first page that he seemed to realise
+with a start what he had done. He looked back at the written lines
+with something of a shock. There was no beginning to the letter, no
+date or address; it simply started off as if the pen had been guided
+by some influence outside himself, some desperate need.
+
+  "I don't know what you will think when you get this letter. I am
+  writing it because to-night I think I am half mad. I love you so
+  much; there seems nothing in the whole world that counts any more
+  now that I am beginning to understand that I can never have you.
+  Esther, I ask you on my knees to listen to what I have to say. I
+  have tried to keep away from you, to forget you; I've tried to put
+  you out of my heart and persuade myself that I do not care--but
+  it's no use. I love you; I know you care something for me, but I
+  shall love you always. To-night I have done an unpardonable thing
+  for your sake. I explain things so badly. I can only hope that you
+  will understand and try to make some excuse for me. Some one knows
+  we were together in Paris--I need not tell you who. To-night, at a
+  house where I was, he had told several people that you and I had
+  been to Paris together...."
+
+Micky had gone on writing rapidly--he seemed to have lost himself in a
+sea of eloquence; his heart was pleading with the woman he loved
+through the poor medium of a sheet of unaddressed paper.
+
+  "It nearly drove me mad to hear you spoken of by him. There was a
+  scene, and I knocked him down ... you will hate me for this, but I
+  would have killed him if they had let me. I told them afterwards
+  that you were my wife--try and understand how I have suffered all
+  these weeks--I told them that we had been married some time, and
+  that it had been kept secret by your own wish. It's only now, when
+  I am more alone and can think clearly, that I see what I have
+  done. You don't care for me, and I have compromised you even more
+  than that man did by his lying insinuations. Tell me what I am to
+  do--anything, anything in the world. My whole life is yours to do
+  with as you will. Be my wife, dear, be my wife...."
+
+For a moment the pen faltered, but Micky went on again with an
+effort.
+
+  "I will stay in London twenty-four hours for your answer, and
+  then, if I don't hear...."
+
+The pen faltered again, and this time finally stopped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+
+"The question is," said June critically, looking out of the window to
+the street where a fine drizzle of rain was falling, "does one, or
+does one not, wear one's best hat to go out and meet the one and only
+man one has ever loved?" She turned round and looked at Esther with a
+little nod. "That's grammar, though you may not think it, my dear,"
+she said.
+
+Esther laughed.
+
+"I should say one does wear one's best hat," she said decidedly.
+"Especially seeing what a very charming hat it is."
+
+She leaned her elbows on the table and looked at June admiringly. "How
+long is it since you saw the great and only?" she asked.
+
+June did some rapid counting on her white fingers.
+
+"Nineteen hours exactly," she said. "But it seems like ninety! I
+nearly died with joy when his note came at breakfast time----" She
+looked at Esther wistfully. "You don't know how lovely it is to have
+some one of your very own," she said with unwonted sentimentality.
+
+Esther averted her eyes.
+
+"I envy you," she said quietly. "But you'll be late if you stand
+rhapsodising here--be off!"
+
+June bent and kissed her.
+
+"I shan't be long--he's only asked me for lunch...."
+
+Esther smiled.
+
+"I have known lunches that lasted till tea-time," she said. "When
+there has been a great deal to talk about."
+
+June went downstairs singing. During the last few days she had, as she
+would have expressed it, begun to discover herself all over again.
+Certainly the world had utterly changed, and was more like a fairy
+city than a place where it rained a great deal and where buses and
+taxicabs splashed pedestrians with mud.
+
+Lydia met her at the foot of the stairs; she smiled at sight of the
+new hat.
+
+"I was just coming up, Miss June," she said. "There's a letter for
+Miss Shepstone."
+
+June held out her hand.
+
+"I'll take it, and save you the trouble----" She became conscious all
+at once of the girl's admiring eyes, and blushed.
+
+"Do you like my hat, Lydia?" She turned round for inspection.
+
+Lydia admired enthusiastically, as she admired everything of June's,
+and forgetful of everything but the moment, June thrust the letter for
+Esther into her coat pocket and went out blissfully into the rain to
+meet George Rochester.
+
+George was ardent; he went into rhapsodies over the hat; he forgot to
+eat his most excellent lunch, and hardly took his eyes off June.
+
+"It's all so much waste of time this being engaged," he said with
+pretended annoyance. "Why don't we do the trick and get married? What
+are we waiting for? I'll take you to the States for a wedding trip."
+
+June laughed, and protested blushingly that it was much too soon.
+
+"I haven't thought about it," she declared, not quite truthfully.
+"There's tons of things to see to first. What about my business and
+Esther?"
+
+"Leave the one to look after the other," he said promptly.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I couldn't--I should hate to leave Esther alone; if only she could be
+married too?"
+
+"Well--find her a husband. What about Mellowes?" he suggested
+jokingly.
+
+June's face sobered.
+
+"Oh--Micky!" she said. She was not sure if she was justified in
+telling Rochester that Micky had once cared for Esther. "I thought he
+was practically engaged to Marie Deland," she said doubtfully.
+
+Rochester gave an exclamation.
+
+"That reminds me," he said. "There seems to have been a bit of a row
+at the Hoopers' dance last night.... I wasn't there--but I heard some
+fellows at the club talking it over just now. Do you know a man named
+Ashton?"
+
+June sniffed inelegantly.
+
+"Do I not!"
+
+"Well, if you don't like him, you'll be pleased to hear that Micky
+knocked him into the middle of next week," Rochester said calmly.
+
+June's eyes gleamed.
+
+"Never! Well, I'm delighted to hear it! What was it about?"
+
+Rochester shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, they were gossiping about some woman, as far as I could make
+out--a woman Micky had been rather friendly with, from what I
+gathered--they didn't mention her name, but----" he hesitated. "They
+spoke of her as a girl from ... I've forgotten the name, but I think
+it was a petticoat shop----"
+
+"Eldred's?" said June sharply.
+
+"Yes, that was it! What do you know about it?"
+
+"Nothing--go on! What were they saying?"
+
+"That she'd been to Paris with Mellowes, and Mellowes overheard it,
+and there was a bit of a fight, and Mellowes said that the girl was
+his wife...."
+
+June gasped.
+
+"_What_!"
+
+Rochester looked rather uncomfortable.
+
+"It's only club talk," he said deprecatingly. "Dare say it's all
+lies."
+
+June pushed back her chair; her brain was in a whirl; she stared at
+Rochester with dazed eyes.
+
+"Of course you're mad, quite mad," she said calmly.
+
+"Or I am! which is it?... My dear man, the girl Micky went to Paris
+with was Esther! _my_ Esther Shepstone! and here you are trying to
+tell me that she and Micky are _married_!" She burst into hysterical
+laughter.
+
+"I'm not trying to tell you," he protested injuredly. "It's only
+what I heard; and any way, if Mellowes went to Paris with Miss
+Shepstone----"
+
+He broke off before the anger in June's eyes.
+
+"If you speak about Esther in that tone of voice again, I shall hate
+you for ever," she said furiously. "If you must know the truth, I'll
+tell it to you, and another time just don't judge people till you've
+heard both sides of the question," and she promptly proceeded to tell
+him the whole story of her meeting with Esther, and all that had
+happened since.
+
+Rochester listened quietly, but when she had finished, he said--
+
+"Micky ought to have finished that skunk last night. If he cares for
+Miss Shepstone...."
+
+"Oh but I don't think he does now," June struck in sadly. "He hasn't
+been near her since they came back from Paris, and every one says that
+Marie Deland----" she broke off.
+
+"And when Miss Shepstone gets to hear what happened last night?"
+Rochester asked drily.
+
+"Oh, but she won't--she doesn't know anybody who would tell her except
+you or me," June said positively. "And of course she must _never_
+know. She never liked Micky, though _why_!..." She shrugged her
+shoulders. "Have you seen him to-day?" she asked.
+
+"No--I'm going to this evening."
+
+"But you won't let him know what I've told you? promise me!"
+
+"Is it likely that I should? Men don't gossip."
+
+"Oh, don't they?" June answered tartly. "I wouldn't trust one of them,
+not even you," she added with a melting smile.
+
+In spite of her promise to Esther, it was past tea-time when she got
+back home; she threw her hat and coat down anywhere and poked up the
+fire.
+
+"Haven't you had tea? What have you been doing all day?" she demanded
+crisply. "You _haven't_ had tea!--Good gracious, I'll make some at
+once; I had some with George, but I'm quite ready for some more. My
+word! what a difference a man can make in one's life," she said,
+suddenly grave. "And to think that I ever talked piffle about not
+wanting to get married."
+
+She bustled round the room singing blithely; she was brimful of
+happiness. "You needn't be surprised to hear that I'm going to be
+married quite soon," she said with elaborate carelessness. "Lord!
+won't people have forty fits? Except for Micky, my crowd don't know
+I'm engaged yet. I'm going to take George home to see them on Sunday.
+I've discovered that he's fourth cousin, about ninety times removed,
+to a baronet, so, perhaps, that will put them all in a good temper
+with him. My people do love titles! Give them a lord, or something,
+and it doesn't matter what else he is, or isn't.... You're not
+listening, Esther."
+
+"I am. I heard every word you said."
+
+Esther was sitting by the fire with Charlie curled up in her lap; her
+face looked very sad and thoughtful. So she was to lose June quite
+soon!--her lips trembled; what was there left for her in all the
+world? It almost seemed as if time had stood still for a moment, and
+then suddenly rushed her back again with breathless speed, to leave
+her bereft of hope and happiness, as she had been before she met
+Micky.
+
+Charlie had been her only friend then. Was he all that was to remain
+to her now?
+
+June watched her across the room.
+
+"What are you thinking about?" she asked suddenly; but Esther only
+shook her head.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+For two days Micky Mellowes never left his rooms, and hardly ate a
+thing, and for once in his life Driver permitted a spark of anxiety to
+creep into his dull eyes. He was sure that his master was ill; he
+tried tempting dishes and alluring cocktails, but Micky refused them
+all.
+
+"My good man, I'm not an invalid," he protested irritably.
+
+He hated it, because he knew his agitation was apparent; he tried to
+settle to read, but whenever a bell rang through the house he started
+up with racing pulses.
+
+She must have got his letter, he knew. If there was any hope for him
+at all she would write at once or send for him. His nerves began to
+wear to rags.
+
+Sometimes his hopes soared to the skies, to drop to zero again. Once
+in a fit of despondency he told Driver to pack his bag, as they would
+be leaving early in the morning.
+
+"Yes, sir--where shall we be going, sir?" Driver asked stoically.
+
+Micky swore.
+
+"You do ask such damned silly questions," he complained irritably.
+
+An hour later, when he found Driver packing, he called him a fool, and
+told him to unpack at once.
+
+And so the days dragged away.
+
+"Any more posts to-night?" Micky asked jerkily, on the second day.
+
+Driver eyed the clock.
+
+"There should be one at nine, sir."
+
+But nine came, and half-past, and no post.
+
+"Is it too late for the post now, Driver?" Micky asked feverishly,
+when it was nearly ten.
+
+"The post went by, sir," was the answer. "I was down at the door and
+saw the postman pass."
+
+Micky went back to his chair. It was all he could expect, he told
+himself--there had been no answer to his letter: there never would be
+an answer now.
+
+When Driver came into the room again, Micky said without looking up--
+
+"Pack that bag again, there's a good fellow, will you?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Driver imperturbably.
+
+He hesitated, then asked--
+
+"And--er--where did you say we should be going, sir?"
+
+"I didn't say," said Micky. "And I don't care--on the Continent--anywhere
+you like--look up some hotels...."
+
+One place was as good as another, he argued, as he sat and watched
+Driver pack. Wherever he went he was going to be infernally miserable,
+so what did it matter?
+
+When Driver stoically inquired how long he expected to be away, Micky
+answered violently that he was never coming back if he could help it;
+he said he hated London--he said he was sick to death of his flat and
+wanted a change.
+
+"I shan't come back till the autumn anyway," he declared recklessly.
+
+"Very good, sir," was the stolid reply. Driver knew his master; he
+could remember another occasion when Micky had left London in a rage
+never to return, and ten days had seen him back again.
+
+Certainly this was rather a different case from that other; this time
+there was a woman behind it. Driver knew this perfectly well, though
+beyond the posting of letters and the buying of the fur coat he had
+had no firsthand evidence.
+
+But he kept his thoughts to himself and packed shirts and socks and
+coats by the score, as if to keep up the belief that they were really
+going for months, instead of the day which were the limit he
+prescribed in his own mind.
+
+When Rochester called later on in the evening, Micky was almost rude
+to him. The American looked so unfeignedly happy that it got on
+Micky's nerves; but George P. Rochester was difficult to snub; he
+looked on at the packing with childlike amazement.
+
+"It's a sudden idea of yours, this flitting!" he submitted mildly.
+Micky did not answer.
+
+"Hope you'll be back in time for my wedding, Sonnie," Rochester said
+again.
+
+Micky flushed crimson; there was something rather pathetic about him
+at that moment.
+
+"Oh, I'll be back all right," he said shortly.
+
+Rochester laughed.
+
+"You won't have to stay away long then," he said significantly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+
+Esther woke from a troubled sleep that night, to find June standing
+beside her. Pale moonlight shone into the room from half-drawn blinds,
+filling it with an eerie light, as Esther started up trembling and
+frightened.
+
+"What is it? is anything the matter? Oh, I thought you were a ghost!"
+She clutched at June with both hands. "Oh, is anything the matter?"
+she asked again.
+
+June laughed nervously; she found matches and lit a candle, then she
+came back to Esther and thrust something into her hands.
+
+"You'll never forgive me," she said. "But I've had it in my coat
+pocket for two days...." She pushed her dark hair back from her
+forehead tragically. "Lydia gave it to me for you the day I went out
+in my best hat to meet George, and I was such a selfish, conceited pig
+that he put everything else out of my head, and I forgot all about it
+till just now, when I was lying awake thinking ... and then ... oh,
+Esther, it's from Micky!"
+
+Esther looked down at the crumpled envelope--
+
+"From--Micky?..." she said. She was only half awake; she made a very
+fair picture there with her long hair tumbling about her shoulders,
+and her face a little flushed and startled.
+
+June turned to the door.
+
+"I'll go away--you don't want me.... I'll go----" but Esther caught
+her hand.
+
+"No--no.... Wait! please wait!"
+
+"Very well--but I'm half frozen...." June looked plaintively at
+Esther, but Esther had forgotten her, and she dragged the quilt from
+the bed, and wrapped it round her small figure till she looked like a
+mummy.
+
+There was a long silence, then Esther raised her eyes to June's
+anxious face.
+
+Her own was quite colourless, and her grey eyes looked dazed.
+
+"Will you--will you--read it?" she said faintly. "Please--I want you
+to--I ... somehow I feel as if I'm dreaming."
+
+But June at any rate was wide awake. It only took her two minutes to
+read Micky's passionate appeal; the next she was laughing and crying
+together, and hugging Esther boisterously.
+
+"Oh, isn't he the most wonderful man? Don't you love him? Don't you
+just adore him? Oh, if you're going to break his heart after all this,
+I'll _never_ forgive you!... Why, my George isn't in it with Micky,
+poor darling!"--she shook Esther in her excitement--"What are you made
+of, that you can't see what a king he is? I don't believe there's any
+blood in your veins at all," she declared indignantly. "You haven't
+got a heart.... Oh, Esther darling! I didn't mean it--I--oh, I'm such
+an idiot!..."
+
+And the two girls clasped each other and cried together.
+
+"And now if this ridiculous midnight scene is ended," June said
+presently, sniffing her tears away, "let's talk sense. I'll go and see
+Micky in the morning and explain everything. He knows what I am--he
+won't be at all surprised--oh, I'm so glad--so more than glad.... Oh,
+Esther, _why_ do you hide your face?"
+
+"Because I'm so ashamed," Esther said in a stifled voice. "I'm not
+worth loving--I've ... oh, you don't _know_ how I've treated him!"
+
+June was silent for a minute, then she said gently--
+
+"But Micky will forget all that--Micky never remembered a mean thing
+against anybody in his life." She forced Esther to look at her. "Tell
+me one thing, and then I'll go and leave you in peace," she coaxed.
+"Do you--do you ... _you_ know?"
+
+But in this instance, at least, a verbal answer was not necessary.
+
+June kissed her rapturously.
+
+"Oh, you darling," she said. She blew out the candle, and sped down to
+her own room again like a ghost in the moonlight.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Was there anything else you was wanting, sir?" Driver inquired
+stolidly. He stood on the platform looking in at the first-class
+compartment where Micky sat alone in durance vile, waiting for the
+train to start.
+
+He frowned, and pulled his soft hat further down over his eyes as he
+answered--
+
+"No, nothing.... I'll see you at Dover."
+
+There were many people on the platform; in the next carriage a pretty
+girl was seeing a man off--looking up at him as he stood on the
+footboard with eyes that told their story eloquently.
+
+Micky looked at her enviously. He would have given his right hand if
+there had been some one there to see him off with just that expression
+in her eyes--the right some one, of course. He turned away from the
+window with an uncomfortable lump in his throat.
+
+He had nothing in the world but his confounded money, and a lot of
+good that was to him! It could not buy happiness.
+
+The guard came down the platform--
+
+"Take your seats--take your seats...."
+
+A girl and a man pushed past him. The girl was staring eagerly in at
+all the windows as she passed. When she saw Micky she gave a little
+cry of relief.
+
+"Here he is--Micky! Micky!"
+
+Micky started to his feet.
+
+"June!" he said. For a moment he thought something must have
+happened--something was wrong--Esther!... her name was trembling on
+his lips, but June rushed on impetuously before he had time to speak
+it.
+
+"We thought we'd come and see you off--George told me you were going,
+and I guessed you'd be on this train.... I'm so glad we found
+you--it's rotten seeing oneself off, isn't it?..."
+
+Rochester came up laughing and red in the face; he took off his hat
+and mopped his hot forehead.
+
+"I can't keep pace with her, she's like a whirlwind," he said
+whimsically. "She raced me off here before I could say a word."
+
+"It's kind of you to come," Micky said.
+
+He was pleased to see them; he felt decidedly less ill-tempered than
+he had done a moment ago. He looked down at June's radiant face, and a
+little doubt went through his heart.
+
+He was in that dangerous state through which so many men have to pass
+when the woman they love will have none of them. If Marie Deland had
+happened to turn up then, he would have asked for forgiveness and have
+married her offhand and regretted it the next day; and now, as he
+looked at June, he wondered if he had been a fool not to properly
+appreciate her. He felt a vague twinge of jealousy, realising that the
+days were gone for ever when he had been the most wonderful man in all
+the world to her.
+
+He had never loved her save in a brotherly way, and he did not love
+her now, but at heart men are all dogs in the manger, and it was some
+such feeling that filled Micky's heart as he leaned out of the window
+and looked at this girl.
+
+"I hope you'll have a good time," she said cheerily. "Have you got
+anything to read?"
+
+"I shan't want anything--I'm not in a reading mood."
+
+Micky was longing to ask about Esther, but pride prevented him.
+
+The guard was blowing his whistle; doors were slamming; June gripped
+Micky's hand.
+
+"Be a good boy, and have a good time," she said. There was a furious
+excitement in her eyes.
+
+He made a grimace.
+
+"I'm not expecting to have a good time," he answered.
+
+The train was slowly moving; June ran a few steps to keep up with it.
+Micky blurted out his question at last--
+
+"Miss Shepstone ... Esther ... is she all right, June?"
+
+June smiled.
+
+"Oh, she's first rate," she said airily. "She's gone away for a
+holiday.... Good-bye." She fell back laughing and waving her hand.
+
+Micky kept his head out of the window till a cloud of smoke from the
+engine blown backwards shut out all sight of her, then he drew in,
+dragging the window up with a slam.
+
+Gone away for a holiday, had she?--well--it was nothing to him. He
+turned round to go back to his seat in the corner then stopping dead,
+staring as if he had seen a ghost; for Esther was sitting there just
+behind him, looking up at him with scared eyes.
+
+For a moment Micky did not move; he was like a man turned to stone.
+Then the blood rushed to his face in a crimson tide; he broke out into
+stammering speech--
+
+"You ... you ... what ... what ... I thought...." He swayed forward a
+little and caught her hands. "You are real--I thought ... I thought I
+was just imagining it all; I thought.... Oh, wait a moment...." He sat
+down and leaned his head in his hands.
+
+He felt sure that he must be mad or dreaming--the world had turned
+upside down and pitched his thoughts into chaos; he was sure that when
+next he looked Esther would no longer be there--he dreaded having to
+raise his eyes.
+
+Esther stretched a timid hand to him; her voice shook as she said--
+
+"Oh, I thought ... I thought perhaps you'd be glad to see me--just ...
+just a little--glad...."
+
+"Glad!" Micky echoed the word with almost a shout. He got up and went
+over to her; he looked down at her with an agony of doubt and fear in
+his eyes.
+
+"Why have you come?" he asked hoarsely. "If this is only a joke--if
+it's any nonsense of June's ... by God, it's the cruellest joke you
+could have played on me.... I--I...."
+
+Esther covered her face with her hands.
+
+"If that's all you've got to say to me," she began tremblingly.
+
+"Esther...."
+
+He drew her hands down; he forced her to look at him; for a long
+moment his eyes searched her face disbelievingly, not daring to
+hope....
+
+Her cheeks flamed, but she met his eyes bravely.
+
+Micky drew a long breath; he passed a hand across his eyes as if to
+waken himself.
+
+Then all at once he seemed to realise that this was in very truth the
+woman he wanted sitting beside him; that she was here and for his
+sake; that he was alone and unhappy no longer; and that after all the
+weeks of hunger and restlessness he had got his heart's desire.
+
+He looked down at her tremulous face with eyes of passionate
+tenderness.
+
+"Is this my wife?" he asked hoarsely, and Esther answered--
+
+"If you still want me."
+
+"Want you!" Micky caught her to him. "Haven't I always wanted
+you?..."
+
+Fortunately the train was not very full, and the corridor immediately
+outside their carriage was deserted, or somebody might have had a very
+interesting demonstration of how to kiss a woman who had refused for
+months to be kissed.
+
+Micky was like a boy in his happiness. He looked years younger than
+the gloomy man who had dismissed Driver ten minutes since. He could
+not take his eyes from Esther--he could not believe in his own
+happiness even while he was engulfed in it. His arm was round her,
+regardless of chance wanderers in the corridor--he held her hand to
+his lips and kissed it passionately.
+
+"What have you done with ... that other ring you used to wear?" he
+asked jealously.
+
+She turned her face away.
+
+"I threw it out of the window when we came back from Paris," she told
+him.
+
+"I'll give you another. I'm going to give you everything you want
+now."
+
+"You've been too good to me already," she said. "I can never repay
+you."
+
+"You've given me yourself. There is nothing else in the world that I
+want."
+
+He laughed happily.
+
+He bent his head towards her.
+
+"Esther ... when did you ... when did you first ... think that you
+liked me ... just a little?"
+
+Her head dropped; he could not see her face.
+
+"I don't know," she said in a whisper.
+
+"In Paris," he urged, "or before? Tell me."
+
+"I think it was in Paris--after ... after I saw ... Raymond! You were
+so kind ... so different."
+
+He laughed ruefully.
+
+"I was nearer hating you then than ever in my life."
+
+He saw the colour creep into her face. "You've told me ever so many
+times that you hated me," he went on quickly, "but you never told me
+that you ... loved me, Esther!"
+
+He waited, but she did not look at him.
+
+Then suddenly she took his hand in both of hers; she bent her head and
+kissed it with a sort of passionate gratitude that brought a mist to
+Micky's eyes. He seemed to see her all at once as he had first seen
+her that New Year's Eve; alone, unhappy--with nobody to care what she
+did, or what became of her.
+
+"You're so much, much too good for me," she said brokenly. "You've
+done everything for me, and I've done nothing for you--I haven't
+even been ... nice! I can't tell you what I feel about it all--I only
+know that--just lately--you've--you've made everything seem so
+different--since you wrote me that letter--it makes me feel in my
+heart that it's always really been you--always you, and never ...
+never any one else."
+
+"Darling," said Micky huskily. "And perhaps--some day--do you ... do
+you ... think ... you could ever care for me more than ... than you
+cared for ... that other fellow, confound him!" he added fiercely.
+
+She looked up at him and smiled.
+
+"I think," she said slowly, "that I only ... only really began to care
+for--him--when he went away--and when those letters began to come; and
+so you see--it was always you, because it was you who wrote them."
+
+"It was a rotten thing to do, but I wanted to help you."
+
+"You did help me ... and--Micky...."
+
+"Darling...."
+
+"My fur coat ... can I--will you give it back to me?"
+
+"I'll give you everything in the world if you'll say you love me...."
+
+"I do--I...."
+
+"Say it then," he urged gently.
+
+For a moment she did not answer; she was still a little afraid of him;
+she still felt something of pride and constraint between them; though
+she knew it was for her to sweep away the last barrier.
+
+She looked up at him, the sensitive colour rushing to her face.
+
+"I love you," she said softly. "Oh, Micky, some one will see----"
+
+But Micky only laughed.
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+The train was running on to Dover Harbour before Micky realised it; he
+looked at Esther with pretended dismay in his happy eyes.
+
+"And pray, what am I to do with you, madame? Do you realise that I'm
+going to Paris?"
+
+"I know----" She laughed. "I'm going there too--of course, if you'd
+like to travel in a different train to me...."
+
+She was a very different Esther from the pale, frightened-looking girl
+who had said good-bye to June at Victoria. Her eyes were dancing now,
+and her face was radiant. Micky regarded her with proud satisfaction.
+
+"You look years younger and prettier already," he said. "And that's
+after only an hour or two of my wonderful society; so what you'll look
+like when we've been married for years and years...."
+
+He stopped, and a sudden emotion filled his face.
+
+"What shall we do, love of mine?" he asked tenderly, "Shall we go on,
+or shall we go back?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I don't mind--either way, I'm afraid you'll have to pay for me," she
+told him saucily. "June rushed me off so, I forgot my purse--Mr.
+Rochester got me a ticket, but...."
+
+"We'll go on," said Micky hurriedly. The train was almost at a
+standstill. "You said you hated Paris--but you won't hate it with me.
+We'll get married as soon as we get there--I'll take you everywhere."
+
+Her eyes fell.
+
+"I haven't any nice clothes--I only brought a small case; I never
+thought you ... you...." She stopped, stammering.
+
+"Paris is full of clothes," he told her. "We'll stay just long enough
+to buy what you want, and then we'll go south. Esther, you've never
+seen the south of France in springtime, have you? I'll take you there
+for our honeymoon."
+
+She drew back a little.
+
+"But, Micky--there's June--what will she say--what will she think?"
+
+"She'll think that you've behaved sensibly--at last!" he answered
+audaciously. "June knew she wouldn't see either of us again for some
+time when we left her at Victoria--June is a most discerning woman."
+
+"She's a dear," said Esther warmly. "I owe all my happiness to her."
+
+Micky pretended to look offended.
+
+"I was under the delusion that you owed it to me," he said with
+dignity.
+
+"To you!" Her face changed wonderfully; she bent her head and kissed
+the sleeve of his coat.
+
+"I can't talk about what I owe you--it's just--everything!"
+
+Micky drew himself up a dignified inch.
+
+"I'm beginning to think I'm a very wonderful man, do you know?" he
+said, addressing some imaginary person.
+
+Driver appeared at the door. He hesitated for just the faintest
+possible moment when he saw Esther, but his face was as stolid as
+ever.
+
+Micky rose to the occasion, though he turned rather red.
+
+"Driver," he said, "let me introduce you to my wife----"
+
+Driver touched a respectful forelock; if he felt surprise he did not
+show it.
+
+He took Esther's suit-case down from the rack.
+
+"Was you--was you wanting to send a wire, sir?" he asked stolidly.
+
+Micky looked at the girl beside him.
+
+"Send June one from Paris," she said. "I don't know what she'll
+say----"
+
+But June might have been expecting the wire, judging from the calm way
+in which she received it; she showed it to Rochester as if it were
+nothing out of the way; she looked over his shoulder as he read it.
+
+  "Married in Paris this morning. Love from Mr. and Mrs. Micky."
+
+She laughed and met Rochester's eyes; there seemed to be an inquiry in
+his. June hesitated a moment, then she nodded.
+
+And forty-eight hours later Micky and Esther read her reply just as
+they were leaving for the flower-fields of France--
+
+  "Married in London this morning--June and George."
+
+"Some people have no originality," Micky complained in pretended
+disgust.
+
+"But if they're half as happy as _we_ are," Esther said shyly.
+
+Micky looked scornfully sceptical.
+
+"Oh well! if you're going to expect the impossible...." he submitted.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
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+CASEY RYAN
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+SKYRIDER
+
+STARR OF THE DESERT
+
+THUNDER BIRD, THE
+
+TRAIL OF THE WHITE MULE, THE
+
+UPHILL CLIMB, THE
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+ZANE GREY'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+TO THE LAST MAN
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER
+
+THE MAN OF THE FOREST
+
+THE DESERT OF WHEAT
+
+THE U. P. TRAIL
+
+WILDFIRE
+
+THE BORDER LEGION
+
+THE RAINBOW TRAIL
+
+THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT
+
+RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
+
+THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS
+
+THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN
+
+THE LONE STAR RANGER
+
+DESERT GOLD
+
+BETTY ZANE
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS
+
+The life story of "Buffalo Bill" by his sister Helen Cody Wetmore,
+with Foreword and conclusion by Zane Grey.
+
+ZANE GREY'S BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+KEN WARD IN THE JUNGLE
+
+THE YOUNG LION HUNTER
+
+THE YOUNG FORESTER
+
+THE YOUNG PITCHER
+
+THE SHORT STOP
+
+THE RED-HEADED OUTFIELD AND OTHER BASEBALL STORIES
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+ETHEL M. DELL'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+THE LAMP IN THE DESERT
+
+The scene of this splendid story is laid in India and tells of the
+lamp of love that continues to shine through all sorts of tribulations
+to final happiness.
+
+GREATHEART
+
+The story of a cripple whose deformed body conceals a noble soul.
+
+THE HUNDREDTH CHANCE
+
+A hero who worked to win even when there was only "a hundredth
+chance."
+
+THE SWINDLER
+
+The story of a "bad man's" soul revealed by a woman's faith.
+
+THE TIDAL WAVE
+
+Tales of love and of women who learned to know the true from the
+false.
+
+THE SAFETY CURTAIN
+
+A very vivid love story of India. The volume also contains four other
+long stories of equal interest.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+"STORM COUNTRY" BOOKS BY
+
+GRACE MILLER WHITE
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+JUDY OF ROGUES' HARBOR
+
+Judy's untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things, her faith in
+life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess. Her faith and sincerity
+catch at your heart strings. This book has all of the mystery and
+tense action of the other Storm Country books.
+
+TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY
+
+It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary Pickford made
+her reputation as a motion picture actress. How love acts upon a
+temperament such as hers--a temperament that makes a woman an angel or
+an outcast, according to the character of the man she loves--is the
+theme of the story.
+
+THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY
+
+The sequel to "Tess of the Storm Country," with the same wild
+background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters--tempestuous,
+passionate, brooding. Tess learns the "secret" of her birth and finds
+happiness and love through her boundless faith in life.
+
+FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING
+
+A haunting story with its scene laid near the country familiar to
+readers of "Tess of the Storm Country."
+
+ROSE O' PARADISE
+
+"Jinny" Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate
+yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe Grandoken, a
+crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her romance is full of power
+and glory and tenderness.
+
+_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE NOVELS OF
+
+MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+DANGEROUS DAYS.
+
+A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and
+stirring appeal.
+
+THE AMAZING INTERLUDE.
+
+Illustrations by The Kinneys.
+
+The story of a great love which cannot be pictured--an interlude--amazing,
+romantic.
+
+LOVE STORIES.
+
+This book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love
+affairs--sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.
+
+"K." Illustrated.
+
+K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where
+beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse. The
+joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and
+sympathetic appreciation.
+
+THE MAN IN LOWER TEN.
+
+Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.
+
+An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death of the
+"Man in Lower Ten."
+
+WHEN A MAN MARRIES.
+
+Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.
+
+A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that his
+aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the family
+income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the young man met
+the situation is entertainingly told.
+
+THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph.
+
+The occupants of "Sunnyside" find the dead body of Arnold Armstrong on
+the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank failure is
+announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of absorbing
+interest.
+
+THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.)
+
+Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly
+realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young ambitious
+doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together with
+world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their love and
+slender means.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+RUBY M. AYRE'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+RICHARD CHATTERTON
+
+A fascinating story in which love and jealousy play strange tricks
+with women's souls.
+
+A BACHELOR HUSBAND
+
+Can a woman love two men at the same time?
+
+In its solving of this particular variety of triangle "A Bachelor
+Husband" will particularly interest, and strangely enough, without one
+shock to the most conventional minded.
+
+THE SCAR
+
+With fine comprehension and insight the author shows a terrific
+contrast between the woman whose love was of the flesh and one whose
+love was of the spirit.
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF BARRY WICKLOW
+
+Here is a man and woman who, marrying for love, yet try to build their
+wedded life upon a gospel of hate for each other and yet win back to a
+greater love for each other in the end.
+
+THE UPHILL ROAD
+
+The heroine of this story was a consort of thieves. The man was fine,
+clean, fresh from the West. It is a story of strength and passion.
+
+WINDS OF THE WORLD
+
+Jill, a poor little typist, marries the great Henry Sturgess and
+inherits millions, but not happiness. Then at last--but we must leave
+that to Ruby M. Ayres to tell you as only she can.
+
+THE SECOND HONEYMOON
+
+In this story the author has produced a book which no one who has
+loved or hopes to love can afford to miss. The story fairly leaps from
+climax to climax.
+
+THE PHANTOM LOVER
+
+Have you not often heard of someone being in love with love rather
+than the person they believed the object of their affections? That was
+Esther! But she passes through the crisis into a deep and profound
+love.
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+JACKSON GREGORY'S NOVELS
+
+May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list
+
+THE EVERLASTING WHISPER
+
+The story of a strong man's struggle against savage nature and
+humanity, and of a beautiful girl's regeneration from a spoiled child
+of wealth into a courageous strong-willed woman.
+
+DESERT VALLEY
+
+A college professor sets out with his daughter to find gold. They meet
+a rancher who loses his heart, and become involved in a feud. An
+intensely exciting story.
+
+MAN TO MAN
+
+Encircled with enemies, distrusted, Steve defends his rights. How he
+won his game and the girl he loved is the story filled with breathless
+situations.
+
+THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN
+
+Dr. Virginia Page is forced to go with the sheriff on a night journey
+into the strongholds of a lawless band. Thrills and excitement sweep
+the reader along to the end.
+
+JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCH
+
+Judith Sanford part owner of a cattle ranch realizes she is being
+robbed by her foreman. How, with the help of Bud Lee, she checkmates
+Trevor's scheme makes fascinating reading.
+
+THE SHORT CUT
+
+Wayne is suspected of killing his brother after a violent quarrel.
+Financial complications, villains, a horse-race and beautiful Wanda,
+all go to make up a thrilling romance.
+
+THE JOYOUS TROUBLE MAKER
+
+A reporter sets up housekeeping close to Beatrice's Ranch much to her
+chagrin. There is "another man" who complicates matters, but all turns
+out as it should in this tale of romance and adventure.
+
+SIX FEET FOUR
+
+Beatrice Waverly is robbed of $5,000 and suspicion fastens upon Buck
+Thornton, but she soon realizes he is not guilty. Intensely exciting,
+here is a real story of the Great Far West.
+
+WOLF BREED
+
+No Luck Drennan had grown hard through loss of faith in men he had
+trusted. A woman hater and sharp of tongue, he finds a match in Ygerne
+whose clever fencing wins the admiration and love of the "Lone Wolf."
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom Lover, by Ruby M. Ayres
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM LOVER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 30286.txt or 30286.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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