How easy it is for a woman to hurt the man she knows is in love with her! And the Girl had hurt me more than I was willing to confess even to myself. She had implied that I had carelessly broken an engagement.
Soon there came a gentle tapping. Certainly the young woman had abundant pluck. I approached the door quickly, and flung it open.
The Girl herself stood on the threshold, and we stared at each other with bewildered eyes!
II
She was the most exquisite creature in all the wide world; and here she was, within reach of my hungry arms!
"You?" she cried, stepping back, one hand at her throat and the other against the jamb of the door.
Dumb as ever was Lot's wife (after the turning-point in her career), I stood and stared and admired. A woman would instantly have noticed the beauty of her sables, but I was a man to whom such details were inconsequent.
"I did not expect ... that is, only the number of the apartment was given," she stammered. "I...." Then her slender figure straightened, and with an effort she subdued the fright and dismay which had evidently seized her. "Have you Mr. Chittenden's hat?"
"Mr. Chittenden's hat?" I repeated, with a tingling in my throat similar to that when you hit your elbow smartly on a corner. "Mr. Chittenden's hat?"
"Yes; he is so thoughtless that I dared not trust him to search for it alone. Have you got it?"