‘Oh,’ said Claudia, ‘it would be sweet to think you cared so much if I could only believe you.’
‘Believe me? cried Paul. ‘Oh, Claudia!’
And then he choked, and could say no more.
But Claudia, whose self-possession was less disturbed than his, heard a footstep on the staircase, and whispered an eager warning to him just in time. He shot back into his seat, and feigned to be busy with his accounts and his orderly little pile of money. Miss Belmont stooped at the table, and when Mr. Berry entered he found her initialling the pay-sheet. She looked up with a sweet smile, nodded a greeting to him, inspected the contents of the envelope, transferred them to her purse, and moved to the door; then she turned.
‘Oh, Mr. Armstrong, would you mind taking the trouble to run down to my lodgings when you have got through with this? I have something very particular to ask you, if you don’t mind. You know where I’m staying? Thank you so much. Good-afternoon.’
She was gone, and everything was gone. Paul made a mechanical effort to get through his business.
‘I say, young Armstrong,’ cried Mr. Berry, ‘you’re woolgathering; you’ve given me an extra fiver, or has old Darco found out what I’m worth at last?’
‘My mistake,’ said Paul; ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve got a beastly headache; I can’t think or see.’
‘Hair of the dog?’ suggested Mr. Berry. ‘Hi! Chips, old sonnie’—he was bawling down the staircase—’ catch ‘Oh, butter-fingers! There it is, just behind you. Half-a-crown. Just nip across, will you? Two Scotches and a split. Take a pull at your own tap while you’re there, and look slippy. Armstrong, dear boy, you’re looking very chalky. Don’t overdo it, dear boy, whatever you do. In my youth I never did apply hot and rebellious liquors to the blood. I take to ‘em very kindly now, but I never began till thirty. A man’s a seasoned cask at thirty.’
Paul let him talk, and was glad enough not to be further noticed. He sat with his head in his hands and stared at the table, and tried to realize what life would be without Claudia. It looked wholly vacant and intolerable.