"Oh! I understood--what was the reason, then?" he asked.
Jimmy turned away. He found the other man"s eyes somehow disconcerting.
"She"s married already," he said in a stifled voice. "I--I always knew she had been married, of course. She made no secret of it. He--the brute--left her years ago; but last week--well, he turned up again. . . . She--we--we had always believed he was dead."
There was a little silence. Sangster was no longer looking at Jimmy; he was staring into the fire. Presently he began to whistle softly.
Jimmy rounded on him.
"Oh, shut up!" he said irritably.
Sangster stopped at once. After a moment:
"And the--er--husband!" he submitted dryly. "You"ve--you"ve seen him, of course."
"No, I haven"t. If I did--if I did, I"d break every bone in his infernal carcase," said Jimmy Challoner, between his teeth.
He stared down at his friend with defiant, eyes as he spoke.
Sangster said "Humph!" again. Then: "Well, there"s as good fish in the sea as any that were caught," he said cheerily. "Look at it philosophically, old son."
Jimmy kicked a footstool out of his way. He walked over to the window, and stood for a moment with his back turned. Presently:
"If anyone asks you, you might as well tell them the truth," he said jerkily. "I--don"t let them think that brute Mortlake----"
He broke off.
"I"ll tell "em the truth," said Sangster.
He leaned over the fire, poking it vigorously.
"What are you doing to-night, Jimmy?" he asked, "I"m at a loose end----"
Jimmy turned.
"I"m taking some people to the theatre--old friends! Met them quite by chance the other night. Haven"t you heard me speak of them--the Wyatts?"
"By Jove, yes!" Sangster dropped the poker unceremoniously. "People from Upton House. You used to be full of them when I first knew you, and that"s how many years ago, Jimmy?"
"The Lord only knows!" said Jimmy dispiritedly. "Well, I"ve got a box for a show to-night, and asked them to come. Christine"s dead nuts on theatres. Remember Christine?"
"I remember the name. Old sweetheart of yours, wasn"t she?"
"When we were kids."
"Oh, like that, is it? Well, ask me to come along too."
"My dear fellow--come by all means."
Jimmy was rather pleased at the suggestion. "You"ll like Mrs.
Wyatt--she"s one of the best."
"And--Christine?"
"Oh she"s all right; but she"s only a child still," said Jimmy Challoner with all the lordly superiority of half a dozen years.
CHAPTER V
SANGSTER TAKES A HAND
"And so you and Jimmy were children together," said Arthur Sangster.
The curtain had just fallen on the first act, and the lights turned up suddenly in the theatre had revealed Christine"s face to him a little flushed and dreamy.
Sangster looked at her smilingly. Jimmy had called her a child; but he had not said how sweet a child she was, he thought, as his eyes rested on her dainty profile and parted lips.
She seemed to wake from dreaming at the sound of his voice. She gave a little sigh, and leaned back in her chair.
"Yes," she said. "We used to play together when we were children."
"Such a long, long time ago," said Sangster, half mockingly, half in earnest.
She nodded seriously.
"It seems ages and ages," she said. She looked past him to where Jimmy sat talking to her mother. He might have sat next to her, she thought wistfully. Mr. Sangster was very nice, but--she caught a little sigh between her lips.
"Jimmy has told me so much about you," Sangster said. "I almost feel as if I have known you for years."
"Has he?" That pleased her, at all events. Her brown eyes shone as she looked at him. "What did he tell you?" she asked, interestedly.
Sangster laughed.
"Oh, all about Upton House, and the fine time you used to have there; all about the dogs, and an old horse named Judas."
She laughed too, now.
"Judas--he died last year. He was so old, and nearly blind; but he always knew my step and came to the gate." Her voice sounded wistful.
"Jimmy used to ride him round the field, standing up on his back," she went on eagerly. "Jimmy could ride anything."
"Jimmy is a very wonderful person," said Sangster gravely.
She looked rather puzzled.
"Do you mean that?" she asked. "Or are you--are you joking?"
He felt suddenly ashamed.