“A man who would try his hand at that kind of thing might do it again,” self-argued the groom; and Reid was not one who cared to be shot at if he could help it.
So Henderson left Stourton, and having arrived in town, he went for the night to an hotel, and the next morning drove in the direction of the address which he had received from Mrs. Temple. And Fate actually favored him, for quitting his cab before he reached Pembridge Terrace, he walked up the terrace, and after passing Miss Webster’s house for a few yards he turned back again, and as he did so he saw, in a moment, descending the steps in front of the house a figure and face that he only remembered too well.
It was May Churchill, and closely following her came the prim, neat form of Miss Eliza Webster. They opened the garden gate and then went on the street, and Henderson was so near them that had May turned her head she must have recognized him. But she was smiling and talking to Miss Eliza, and never looked back, but Henderson distinctly saw the face that had cost him so dear. He paused a minute or two, and then slowly followed the two ladies before him. They went on to Westbourne Grove, and into a large bonnet and hat shop at the corner of the street. Henderson lingered outside at a little distance from the shop, and after waiting about a quarter of an hour May and Miss Eliza once more appeared, and turned their footsteps homeward. Again Henderson followed them, his heart throbbing violently and his eyes never leaving May’s form. They went straight back to the address Mrs. Temple had given him, and Henderson now knew Mrs. Temple’s surmise had been correct. John Temple had persuaded her to leave her home, and had hidden her away, and Henderson could scarcely suppress the passionate rage that swelled in his breast when he thought of it.
He was tempted to go on; to speak to May, and heap reproach on her head. But he knew he had no right to do this. She might be John Temple’s wife, for anything he knew, and what good could his hard words do? None, he felt. He might, he would, punish John Temple, but what could he do to the girl? With a curse between his bitten lips he turned away, and walking back to the shop he had seen May and Miss Webster enter and leave, he went in under the pretense of buying a bonnet for his mother.
“I want a bonnet for an old lady,” he said to a pretty, smiling shopwoman, adding immediately afterward: “Who were the two ladies who have just been here—I saw them go out—a young lady and an old one?”
The pretty shopgirl smiled pertly, and instantly understood the motive of the purchase of the bonnet for “an old lady,” by this handsome young man.
“You mean Mrs. John, I suppose, sir?” she said. “She is a very handsome young lady, and it is astonishing how many gentlemen admire her and ask about her, but she is certainly very pretty.”
“And does she live near here?” inquired Henderson.
“She lives in Pembridge Terrace with the Misses Webster. She is a newly-married lady, but I believe her husband is a good deal away. She is a customer of ours, and is often in the shop.”