"Jimmy!"
Challoner pulled up short. He would have avoided them had it been at all possible.
Mortlake! she had gone with that brute, whilst he--he answered Mrs.
Wyatt mechanically.
"Thanks--thanks very much. I was going to walk, but if you will be so kind as to give me a lift."
He really hardly knew what he was saying. He took off his hat and pa.s.sed a hand dazedly across his forehead before he climbed into the taxi and found himself sitting beside Christine.
He forced himself to try to make conversation. "Well, and how did you enjoy the play?"
It was a ghastly effort to talk. He wondered if they would notice how strange his manner was.
"Immensely," Mrs. Wyatt told him. "I"ve heard so much about Cynthia Farrow, but never seen her before. She certainly is splendid."
"She"s the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," said Christine.
Challoner shot her a grateful look. Most women were cats and never had a word of praise for one of their own s.e.x. He felt slightly comforted.
"If you"ve nothing better to do, Jimmy," said Mrs. Wyatt, "won"t you come back to the hotel and have some supper with us? We are only up in town for a fortnight. Do come if you can."
Challoner said he would be delighted. He was very young in some ways.
He had not the smallest intention of calling on Cynthia that night. He wished savagely that she could know what he was doing; know that in spite of everything he was not breaking his heart for her.
She was with that brute Mortlake; well, he was not going to spend the next hour or two alone with only his thoughts for company.
He wondered where Cynthia had gone, and if she had known all along that Mortlake was calling for her. He ground his teeth.
The two women were talking together. They did not seem to notice his silence. Christine"s voice reminded him a little of Cynthia"s; a sudden revulsion of feeling flooded his heart.
Poor darling! all this was not her fault. No doubt she was just as miserable as he. He longed to go to her. He wished he had not accepted the Wyatts" invitation. He felt that it was heartless of him to have done so. He would have excused himself even now if the taxi had not already started.
Mrs. Wyatt turned to him. "I suppose you are very fond of theatres?"
"Yes--no--yes, I mean; I go to heaps." He wondered if his reply sounded very foolish and absent-minded. He rushed on to cover it.
"I"ve seen this particular play a dozen times; it"s a great favourite of mine. I--I"m very keen on it."
"I think it is lovely," said Christine dreamily.
She was leaning back beside him in the corner. He could only see her white-gloved hands clasped in the lap of her frock.
"You must let me take you to some," he said. He had a rotten feeling that if he stopped talking for a minute he would make a fool of himself. "I often get pa.s.ses for first nights and things," he rambled on.
Christine sat up. "Do you! oh, how lovely! I should love to go!
Jimmy, do you--do you know any people on the stage--actors and actresses?"
"I know some--yes. I know quite a lot."
"Not Miss Farrow, I suppose?" she questioned eagerly.
"Yes--yes, I do," said Challoner.
She gave a little cry of delight. "Oh, I wish I could meet her--she"s so beautiful."
Challoner could not answer. He would have given worlds had it been possible to stop the cab and rush away; but he knew he had got to go through with it now, and presently he found himself following Mrs.
Wyatt and Christine through the hall of the hotel at which they were staying.
"It"s quite like old times, isn"t it?" he said with an effort. "Quite like the dear old days at Upton House. Don"t I wish we could have them again."
"The house is still there," said Mrs. Wyatt laughing. "Perhaps you will come down again some day."
Challoner did not think it likely. There would be something very painful in going back to the scene of those days, he thought. He was so much changed from the light-hearted youngster who had chased Christine round the garden and pulled her hair because she would not kiss him.
He looked at her with reminiscent eyes. There was a little flush in her pale cheeks. She looked more like the child-sweetheart he had so nearly forgotten.
Mrs. Wyatt had moved away. He and Christine were alone. "I used to kiss you in those days, didn"t I?" he asked, looking at her. He felt miserable and reckless.
She looked up at him with serious eyes. "Yes," she said almost inaudibly.
Something in her face stirred an old emotion in Jimmy Challoner"s heart. This girl had been his first love, and a man never really forgets his first love; he leaned nearer to her.
"Christine, do you--do you wish we could have those days over again?"
he asked.
A little quiver crossed her face. For a moment the beautiful brown eyes lit up radiantly. For a moment she was something better than just merely pretty.
He waited eagerly for her answer. His pride, if nothing deeper, had been seriously wounded that night. The tremulous happiness in this girl"s face was like a gentle touch on a hurt.
"Do you--do you wish it?" he asked again.
"Yes," said Christine softly. "Yes, if you do."
CHAPTER II
JILTED!
It was late when Jimmy got home to his rooms; he was horribly tired, and his head ached vilely, but he never slept a wink all night.
The fact that Cynthia"s husband was alive did not hurt him nearly so much as the fact that Cynthia had avoided him that evening and left the theatre with Mortlake. Jimmy hated Mortlake. The brute had such piles of money, whilst he--even the insufficient income which was always mortgaged weeks before the quarterly cheque fell due, only came to him from his brother. At any moment the Great Horatio might cut up rough and stop supplies.
Jimmy was up and dressed earlier than ever before in his life. He went out and bought some of the most expensive roses he could find in the shops. He took them himself to Cynthia Farrow"s flat and scribbled a note begging her to see him if only for a moment.
The answer came back verbally. Miss Farrow sent her love and best thanks but she was very tired and her head ached--would he call again in the afternoon?