“I enjoy it very much when I am well started, and see all the dear little faces looking at me; but I hate it beforehand, and am, oh, so frightened and nervous! And I love getting the money. I paid a coal-bill yesterday with my very own earnings, and I never enjoyed anything more in all my life!”
He pressed his lips together and was silent, and when he spoke again it was to start an entirely new subject.
“How are you going home to-night?”
“In a four-wheeler. I shall get the man to whistle for one presently.”
“Alone?”
“Of course. I am a working woman, Mr Merrilies; I have to take care of myself.”
“Well, there is no need to-night, at any rate. I shall go with you and see you safely home. If you won’t let me come inside, I shall sit on the box. It is for you to decide.”
The pale, disconcerted glance which the girl turned on him in reply would have depressed a more confident lover than himself; for the suggestion had awakened Hope to the danger of her position, and filled her tender conscience with dread lest she had already been disloyal to her vow. How much she would have enjoyed the prolonged tête-à-tête can be well imagined, but there were half-a-dozen reasons which made it unadvisable. Mrs Welsby would naturally prefer her brother to remain until the end of the evening; it would be discourteous to accept his escort and still refuse an invitation to the flat; yet such an invitation once granted might mean unlimited suffering in the future! Hope was still hesitating over a reply, when a reprieve came in the shape of a summons from her hostess, who beckoned to her brother from the doorway, and cried pleadingly, “Ralph, can you possibly go upstairs? The conjurer wants to begin, and the children are scrambling over the chairs in the most hopeless fashion. Do go to the rescue, like a good fellow.”
The “good fellow’s” expression was the reverse of amiable as he prepared to obey. A low “I’ll see you later, then; that is settled,” reached Hope’s ears; then Mrs Welsby rustled forward and took possession of the vacant seat.
In the five minutes’ conversation which followed Mrs Welsby was all that was gracious and charming, but Hope had an uncomfortable conviction that she was not altogether pleased with the tête-à-tête which she had interrupted, and that she herself was being very closely scrutinised. And then came an unexpected blow. After the usual compliments, and a promise to recommend the entertainment to her friends, Mrs Welsby said blandly: