"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?"