"I do whatever you bid me, Gerald. I have no friend in the world but you."
She had spoken these words many times, and no appeal could have been more plaintive. The pity of it was that every time she uttered them her voice had grown fainter.
"Wait here for me, Emilia. I will not be gone long. If anyone speaks to you do not answer them."
"You will come back to me, Gerald?"
"Yes, surely, my darling."
He was fated not to succeed. His lame explanations, his stumbling words, his references to "a young lady in an unfortunate position," his statement that it would be rendering him a personal obligation, ensured failure. The lady manager of the hotel shook her head, and said she could not accommodate his friend "under such circumstances," adding that she was surprised he should ask her to do so.
He rejoined Emilia, whose fingers tightened upon his arm as she murmured:
"You have come back!"
They had not walked fifty yards before her strength gave way. Again she fainted, and but for his support would have fallen to the ground. Hailing a passing cab he, with the assistance of the driver, lifted her into it, and gave the man instructions to drive to his house. With a covert smile the man mounted to his box, and drove in the given direction.
The house in which Gerald lived was that his parents had occupied. He had been loth to leave it until the arrival of his half-brother Leonard, when he had decided to discuss their future movements with him. He had had a sincere affection for Leonard, and relied greatly upon his judgment. Most of the servants had been dismissed; only two remained, a housekeeper and a maid, and these attended to the young gentleman's wants. They were in the habit of retiring early to bed; Gerald had a latchkey with which he let himself in when he came home late. Thus, in the present emergency, a certain privacy was ensured.