“Was this man—Hibbert was his name?—an experienced shop-walker?”
“I think so,” she replied. “But he was disliked on account of his harshness and his constant fining of everybody.”
“Except you.”
“Yes,” she laughed. “I generally managed to escape.”
She noticed the hard look in my face, as I pondered over the strange fact. That this man who was such an intimate acquaintance of Aline’s was actually shop-walker where Muriel was employed added to the mystery considerably, rather than decreasing it.
“Why need we discuss him now?” she asked. “It is all over.”
“But your acquaintance with this man who has evidently striven to win your love must still continue if you remain where you are,” I said in a tone of annoyance.
“No,” she replied. “It is already at an end.”
“But he’s your shop-walker. If you have refused to go out with him, in future he’ll undoubtedly vent his spiteful wrath upon you.”
“Oh no, he won’t,” she laughed.