"A moment ago I told you not to tell him you'd been here. Now I want you to tell him. He may even be expecting it. You see we have spoken of it, he and I."
Evie Jeffries seemed about to say something, but "Just one moment," said Louie quietly——
She placed the picture against the wall again, face outwards. She did not display it as a taunt now; it had served its turn. As if Evie's looks had cheapened it, she no longer wanted it. She stood looking at it.
"It was the last time I sat," she murmured to herself.
Even that pale shadow of a bridal was to be taken from her.
Well, let it go.
This time it was her own foot that kicked the canvas aside; then like a flash she turned—Louie at her deadliest.
"I suppose you're aware you've lost him, whether he knows it yet or not?" she demanded truculently.
Again she was grateful to Evie that she stiffened up against her. Evie smiled.
"Oh, that way—'whether he knows it or not'—nobody minds that kind of losing! That wasn't what you were trying to make me believe a few minutes ago. Thank you very much for the tea, not forgetting the advice," she went on, "and if I might return the compliment, I should like to give you a piece of advice too. You say you could get married if you like; I'd jump at that if I were you! You see, there's your boy. Quite a well-behaved little fellow he seems—quite a superior child—and now that I've seen for myself, I'm perfectly satisfied, thank you!"