Annie, looking on from afar, felt more and more dreadful each moment. Rupert was undoubtedly trying to be agreeable to Belle for a purpose. Annie knew her brother quite sufficiently well to be certain that Belle’s manners, her attachment to the classics, her whole style, would be the very last that Rupert, in easier moments of his career, would have deigned to notice.
At last, soon after ten o’clock, he took his leave. In the meantime he had learned, not only all that Belle could tell him of her own college life, but also the darling hope of the future. The little wooden box which contained the eighty-nine pounds odd was pointed out to Rupert.
He nodded to Annie as he left the room. She followed him into the hall.
“Well, how did I get on?” he inquired.
“I don’t understand you,” answered Annie; “you frighten me dreadfully.”
“What a little goose you are. Well, I’m coming again. I shall come to-morrow or next day. Be sure
you follow up the impression I have made with the fair Belle.” Then he made a grimace, kissed Annie lightly on her forehead, and left the house.
She went to bed feeling intensely uncomfortable. By the first post in the morning she received a letter. It was from Rupert, and ran as follows:
“My Dear Annie:
“For the desperate, only desperate devices. I am desperate. I have made up my mind. The fair and delightful Miss Belle shall be my deliverer. I want you and she to meet me in the Broad Walk in Regent’s Park between four and five this afternoon. I mean boldly to secure forty pounds out of her wooden box. She herself shall give it to me. While I am talking to her you must be engaged in another way. Excellent! Get the good mamma to come too. You and the mamma can walk behind, the fascinating Belle and I in front. I foretell that I can twist my fair Belle round my little finger. Help me now, Annie, as you value your brother’s future. You perceive how nobly I take the matter out of your hands. Miss Belle Acheson has her sphere in life, but it is not what she thinks. It is not to open a hostel for idiotic women who think themselves learned, but to help Rupert Colchester in his hour of need.
“Your Affectionate Brother.”
Annie read this letter twice. At each perusal her sense of dismay grew greater. The worst of it was, too, that Rupert had given no address. She could not write in reply, or send him a telegram, or do anything to stop him. He would walk in the Broad Walk in Regent’s Park that afternoon, and if Annie and Belle did not appear would go boldly to the house in Newbolt Square. Annie felt