Dudley turned away, muttering something under his breath. But the next moment he faced her again.
"And you are waiting to take my answer back?"
"Mrs. Higgs said there would be no answer."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"To see whether there is one or not."
"And you"re going straight back with it to your granny, whatever it is?"
asked Dudley, with the same sharp tone of cross-examination.
"No. I am not going back to her. But I shall give the message to some one who is."
There was another pause, longer than any of the previous ones. Then Dudley said, shortly:
"You need not wait here any longer. I am going to see her myself."
Carrie had got upon her feet in the automatic manner she had maintained throughout the interview.
"Going to the wharf, are you?" she said, with the first sign of human interest she had shown. "Oh, very well."
There was something noticeable in her tone, something which made Max suspicious and anxious on his friend"s account. He came round the table with rapid steps, touched Dudley"s shoulder, and said, in a low voice:
"I"ll go with you!"
At the sound of his voice Carrie started violently, and looked up at Max, staring with eyes full of wonder and something very like delight.
The rigidity with which she had held herself, the automatic manner, the hard, off-hand tone, all disappeared at once; and it was a new, a transformed Carrie, the fascinating, wayward, irresistible girl he had remembered, who gave him a smile and a nod, as she said, in a voice full of the old charm he remembered:
"You! Is it you?" Then, breathlessly, with a change to anxiety in her voice: "And are you going, too?"
"Yes. I"m going with my friend," said Max, as he came forward and held out a hand, into which she put hers very shyly; "from what I remember of my visit to your place, I think two visitors are better than one."
"I don"t know whether granny will think so," said Carrie, still in the same altered voice.
She was shy, modest, charming. All her femininity had returned, and both the young men felt the influence of the change.
Dudley, who had instinctively stepped back to make way for his friend, was watching them both with surprise and uneasiness.
"We must risk Mrs. Higgs"s displeasure," said Max, dryly, "unless, indeed, Dudley," and he turned to his friend, "you will give up this expedition altogether, as I strongly advise."
But Dudley had made up his mind. He did not want Max to go with him, but he was resolved to go to the wharf. And his friend"s heart failed within him at the news.
"Don"t you think it would be advisable to get a policeman to accompany you?" he hazarded in a low voice.
But Dudley started violently at the suggestion.
"Policeman!" repeated he in a louder tone than Max had used. "Good heavens, no!"
Max, looking round, saw that Carrie had overheard; but she betrayed no emotion at the suggestion, even if she felt any.
Dudley pulled out his watch.
"I have an appointment for this evening," said he; "I must get out of it. Max, if you persist in going with me to the wharf, you"re a fool.
When your friends are doing well, you should stick to them; when they have got into a mess, you should have appointments elsewhere." Although he spoke cynically, there was underneath his scoffing tone a strain of tenderness. He turned quickly to the girl at this point, as if afraid of betraying more feeling than he had intended to do. "You"ve delivered your message," said he, sharply, "now you can go."
But Carrie lingered. Looking shyly at Max, she said in a low voice:
"Have you made up your mind that you will go with him?"
"Yes," said Max.
"All right," nodded Carrie. "Then I"ll go, too."
Dudley looked down at the girl with an impatient frown on his face.
"Supposing we don"t want you?" said he, dryly.
"You will," she answered briefly, without even looking at him.
Dudley considered for a moment, and then said shortly:
"All right. We may as well keep an eye on you."
Carrie laughed, and then remained silent. As for Max, he was struck with an odd likeness between the girl"s dry, short manner of speaking to Dudley and Dudley"s manner of speaking to her.
At that moment there was an interruption in the shape of the waiter from a neighboring restaurant, who came in with the dinner Dudley had ordered for himself.
"I shan"t want it now," said Dudley, as the man put down the covered dishes on the table.
"Why, surely you"re not in such a hurry that you haven"t time to dine?"
said Max.
Dudley made an impatient gesture.
"I can get a biscuit somewhere, if I want it. I can"t eat just now."
"Let me eat your dinner for you, then," said Max. "I"ve had none. And if I"m to go rambling all over the town to look after you, I shall want something to keep me going."
"All right," said Dudley. "I"m to come back here for you, then?"
And he took up his overcoat. Max began to help him on with it.
"Come in here a moment," said Dudley, in the same dry, abrupt manner as before; "I want to speak to you."
Max followed him into the ante-room, and Dudley shut the sitting-room door.
"That girl," said he, with, a frown--"where did you pick her up? At the wharf?"