hink of nothing else to say. He had considered the possibility
often and had imagined to himself what he would do and say. He had
suffered agonies when he thought of the despair he would suffer, he had
thought of suicide, of the mad passion of anger that would seize him; but
perhaps he had too completely anticipated the emotion he would experience,
so that now he felt merely exhausted. He felt as one does in a serious
illness when the vitality is so low that one is indifferent to the issue
and wants only to be left alone.

"You see, I'm getting on," she said. "I'm twenty-four and it's time I
settled down."

He was silent. He looked at the patronne sitting behind the counter, and
his eye dwelt on a red feather one of the diners wore in her hat. Mildred
was nettled.

"You might congratulate me," she said.

"I might, mightn't I? I can hardly believe it's true. I've dreamt it so
often. It rather tickles me that I should have been so jolly glad that you
asked me to take you out to dinner. Whom are you going to marry?"

"Miller," she answered, with a slight blush.

"Miller?" cried Philip, astounded. "But you've not seen him for months."

"He came in to lunch one day last week and asked me then. He's earning
very good money. He makes seven pounds a week now and he's got prospects."

Philip was silent again. He remembered that she had always liked Miller;
he amused her; there was in his foreign birth an exotic charm which she
felt unconsciously.

"I suppose it was inevitable," he said at last. "You were bound to accept
the highest bidder. When are you going to marry?"

"On Saturday next. I have given notice."

Philip felt a sudden pang.

"As soon as that?"

"We're going to be married at a registry office. Emil prefers it."

Philip felt dreadfully tired. He wanted to get away from her. He thought
he would go straight to bed. He called for the bill.

"I'll put you in a cab and send you down to Victoria. I daresay you won't
have to wait long for a train."

"Won't you come with me?"

"I think I'd rather not if you don't mind."

"It's just as you please," she answered haughtily. "I suppose I shall see
you at tea-time tomorrow?"

"No, I think we'd better make a full stop now. I don't see why I should go
on making myself unhappy. I've paid the cab."

He nodded to her and forced a smile on his lips, then jumped on a 'bus and
made his way home. He smoked a pipe before he went to bed, but he could
hardly keep his