The young man succumbed to her blandishments, and Mrs. Matthews piloted Philip to a corner of the shop where she annexed a couple of chairs.
"This is a funny place for a private conversation!" she remarked, "but I'm not going to lose such a chance now I've got it. Fancy our meeting like this; what a piece of luck! Now listen to me and answer my questions." She scrutinised him closely. "You look struck all of a heap!"
"I feel it," said Philip briefly.
"Why? because you want to hear news of Stella, or because you don't?"
"Because it's the one thing in the world I wish for," he answered, his heart beating fast.
Her face cleared. "That's all right; one step forward! Now tell me—do you know why Stella never answered your letter?"
"There could be only one reason. I told her in my letter that if I did not hear from her I should understand." He fixed his eyes on a stuffed salmon in a glass case, he could not bring himself to meet Mrs. Matthews' inquisitive gaze.
"You silly fool!" said Stella's friend vigorously. "Couldn't you have guessed that she must have had some desperate reason?"
"I thought——"