When I am up in town, I am generally content with looking up a few friends, or playing bridge at the club. I never have been a theatre-goer.
"I wonder," she asked, as they seated themselves at a small round table in the restaurant which he had chosen, - "I wonder why every now and then you look so serious.""I didn't know that I did," he answered. "We've had thundering hard times lately in business, though. I suppose that makes a man look thoughtful.""Poor Mr. Laverick," she murmured softly. "Are things any better now?""Much better.""Then you have nothing really to bother you?" she persisted.
"I suppose we all have something," he replied, suddenly grave.
"Why do you ask that?"
She leaned across the table. In the shaded light, her oval face with its little halo of deep brown hair seemed to him as though it might have belonged to some old miniature. She was delightful, like Watteau-work upon a piece of priceless porcelain - delightful when the lights played in her eyes and the smile quivered at the corner of her lips. Just now, however, she became very much in earnest.
"I will tell you why I ask that question," she said. "I cannot help worrying still about Arthur. You know you admitted last night that he had done something. You saw how terribly frightened he was this morning, and how he kept on looking around as though he were afraid that he would see somebody whom he wished to avoid.
Oh! I don't want to worry you," she went on, "but I feel so terrified sometimes. I feel that he must have done something - bad.
It was not an ordinary business trouble which took the life out of him so completely.""It was not," Laverick admitted at once. "He has done something, Ibelieve, quite foolish; but the matter is in my hands to arrange, and I think you can assure yourself that nothing will come of it.""Did you tell him so this morning?" she asked eagerly.
"I did not," he answered. "I told him nothing. For many reasons it was better to keep him ignorant. He and I might not have seen things the same way, and I am sure that what I am doing is for the best. If I were you, Miss Leneveu, I think I wouldn't worry any more. Soon you will hear from your brother that he is safe in New York, and I think I can promise you that the trouble will never come to anything serious.""Why have you been so kind to him?" she asked timidly. "From what he said, I do not think that he was very useful to you, and, indeed, you and he are so different."Laverick was silent for a moment.
"To be honest," he said, "I think that I should not have taken so much trouble for his sake alone. You see," he continued, smiling, "you are rather a delightful young person, and you were very anxious, weren't you?"Her hand came across the table - an impulsive little gesture, which he nevertheless found perfectly natural and delightful. He took it into his, and would have raised the fingers to his lips but for the waiters who were hovering around.
"You are so kind," she said, "and I am so fortunate. I think that I wanted a friend.""You poor child," he answered, "I should think you did. You are not drinking your wine."She shook her head.
"Do you mind?" she asked. "A very little gets into my head because I take it so seldom, and the manager is cross if one makes the least bit of a mistake. Besides, I do not think that I like to drink wine. If one does not take it at all, there is an excuse for never having anything when the girls ask you."He nodded sympathetically.
"I believe you are quite right," he said; "in a general way, at any rate. Well, I will drink by myself to your brother's safe arrival in New York. Are you ready?"She glanced at the clock.
"I must be there in a quarter of an hour," she told him.
"I will drive you to the theatre," he said, "and then go round and fetch my ticket."As he waited for her in the reception hall of the restaurant, he took an evening paper from the stall. A brief paragraph at once attracted his attention.
Murder in the City. - We understand that very important information has come into the hands of the police. An ARREST is expected to-night or to-morrow at the latest.
He crushed the paper in his hand and threw it on one side. It was the usual sort of thing. There was nothing they could have found out - nothing, he told himself.