"I'll get off. If I talk till Doomsday nothing can be done." He turned to the door. "Good-night." he said gruffly.
273 Feathers held out his hand, but Chris would not see it, and he went out, shutting the door hard behind him.
Feathers stood at the window and listened to his steps dying away down the street. It was the end of their friendship, he knew, and the knowledge cut him to the heart.
He sat up all night, trying to make some sort of order out of his tangled thoughts. He would never see Marie again! He would write to her and explain.
But he knew she would be unconvinced by a letter, and, after all, what could he say that he would give her back her lost happiness, poor child!
He waited till ten o'clock the following morning and rang Chris on the 'phone.
The servant who answered it said that Mr. Lawless had gone out. "And—Mrs. Lawless?" Feathers asked.
"She has gone out, too—for the day," she said.
"With—with her husband?"
"Oh, no, sir!"