th me; I've got some business to see to and you'd only be a
nuisance." She gave his hand a squeeze. "Good-bye, and thanks ever so
much Micky. You'll write to me--or wire?"

"As soon as there is anything to report."

He raised his hat and turned away, and June dived across the road,
perilously near to a motor-omnibus, clutching her samples jealously to
her heart.

"It'll be all right now," she told herself, with a sense of comfort.
"Everything's always all right as soon as Micky gets hold of it."

A soliloquy which made it seem all the more curious that she should
have hesitated to trust herself to him for life. Perhaps, as she had
told Esther, she cared too much for him to take the risk for them
both. He had told her candidly that he did not care for her as a man
should care for the woman he marries.

"And he makes a ripping friend! Ripping!" she told herself as she
scurried along to interview another beauty specialist about the
"swindle," as Micky politely called it.

CHAPTER VII

Micky went straight home when he left June. What he had heard about
Esther had disturbed him very much. He loathed to think that she was
unhappy.

The question was, how best to help her, and quickly. He was thankful
she had made a friend of June. June was one of the best, the loyalest
pal a man could ever have.

But, as June had said, Esther was too proud to take help unless it was
most tactfully offered. He racked his brains in vain. It was a
sickening thought that, with all his wealth, he could give her
nothing. Even the few paltry pounds she had unconsciously taken from
him would have been indignantly rejected had she known who was the
donor.

With sudden impulse he sat down and wrote to her. After all, she had
accepted his friendship; there was no reason on earth why he should
not write and ask to be allowed to see her again. He wrote most
carefully lest she should discover some likeness to the letter he had
written to replace Ashton's.

Might he take her out to dinner one night? Any night would suit him.
And did she like theatres? He had a friend who sometimes gave him a
couple of seats for a show. He would arrange for any night she liked
to mention.

He thought that was a neat stroke of diplomacy--of course, she would
not think he could afford to buy seats, and anyway it was true that he
had a friend who often gave him boxes and things--he would have to be
careful that Phillips did not send along a box this time