The door of the room opened before she reached the landing, and June came out.
“I knew it was you,” she said. “Poor soul! how tired you sound. Another day of miserable failure, I suppose. Never mind, come and sit down in the warm, and you’ll soon forget it.”
Esther laughed rather shamefacedly.
“It’s been a day of success, strange to relate,” she said. “But I’m tired, dead tired––I must have walked miles.” She suddenly remembered Micky; she looked round with––a quick suspicion. “Have you been alone all the afternoon?” she asked.
“Yes, quite alone,” June laughed. “Who did you expect to find here, pray?” she demanded.
“Nobody––I only wondered if you had had any visitors.”
“I might have known it wasn’t the truth that he was coming here,” she told herself vexedly.
“Well, and what about the success?” June asked; she was sitting on the hearthrug stroking Charlie. “You don’t mean to say that the old dear at the agency really had something to offer you this time?”
Esther nodded.