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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
+
+
+
+
+_"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
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