"Go and ring up again, there's a dear chap," he said. His voice was
hoarse. "Ring up the hotel for me, will you? She may have come
back. . . . Oh, I hope to God she has," he added brokenly.

Sangster rose at once. He held out his hand.

"I'm so sorry, Jimmy. I'd give anything--anything----" he stopped.
"But it's all right, you see," he added cheerily, struck by the despair
in his friend's face. "She'll be back there by now. We're both
getting scared about nothing. . . . I'll ring up."

He walked over to the desk where Jimmy's 'phone stood. There was a
moment of suspense as he rang and gave the number.

Jimmy had begun his restless pacing once more. His hands were deep
thrust in his trousers pockets, his head bent. His heart seemed to be
hammering in his throat as he tried not to listen to what Sangster was
saying--tried not to hear.

"Yes. . . . Challoner--Mrs. Challoner. I only wondered if she had
returned. . . . Not yet--oh. . . . Yes. . . . A wire. . . .
Yes. . . ."

There was a little silence; a tragic silence it seemed to Jimmy. He
was standing still now. He felt as if his limbs had lost all power of
movement. His eyes were fixed on Sangster's averted face. After a
moment Sangster hung up the receiver.

He did not turn at once; when, at last, he moved, it was very slowly.
He went across to Jimmy and laid a hand on his arm. "She's not there,
old man; but . . . but there's a wire from her--she wired to the
manager. . . ." He paused. He looked away from the agony in Jimmy's
eyes. He tried twice to find his voice before he could go on, then:

"She--she's not coming back to-night," he said. "The--the wire was
sent from--from Oxford . . ."

And now the silence was like the silence of death. Sangster held his
breath. He could feel the sudden rigidness of Jimmy Challoner's arm
beneath his hand.

Then Jimmy turned away and dropped into a chair by the table. He fell
forward with his face hidden in his outstretched arms.

"Oh, my God!" he said in a hoarse whisper.

It was so useless to try and offer any consolation. Sangster stood
looking at him with a suspicious moisture in his honest eyes.
Christine--little Christine! His heart felt as if it were breaking as
he thought of her--of her love for Jimmy--of the first days of their
engagement. And now it was in vain that he tried to remember that
Jimmy was to blame for it all. He tried to harden his heart against
him; but, someh