.

"I'm going on to Paris to-night," she said. "Nothing you can say will
stop me--nothing."

"Very well, then I will come with you."

She did not answer; she fumbled helplessly with the door handle. Micky
came forward to open it for her, and their hands touched. A little
flame of red rushed to his face; he put his shoulders to the door.

"You can't go like this," he said stammering. "How can I let you go
like this? Whatever I've done, I haven't deserved that you should
think as badly of me as you do. It was because I cared for you so
much--I tried to save you pain ... perhaps it isn't any excuse, but
it's the truth.... I'd give my very soul if I could undo what's gone,
if I could save you from this."

She was not looking at him, but the cold contempt in her face stung
him.

"You may despise me," he broke out again jaggedly. "But it's the truth
I've told you.... Ashton never cared for you; that night at my
rooms...." He stopped, he did not want to tell her, but somehow there
was a compelling force within him that drove the words to his lips.

"He told me he'd had to break with you--that he was going away from
London because of you. He said he must marry a woman with money--it's
the truth, if I never speak again. He never cared for you, Esther--he
was never fit to kiss the ground you walk on. He wanted to be rid of
you--he----"

Micky stopped; Esther had given a little strangled cry, half-sob,
half-moan, like some animal in mortal pain; for the moment she saw the
world red; hardly knowing what she did, she lifted her hand and struck
Micky across his white face.

"Oh, you liar--you liar," she said. The words were a hoarse whisper,
her voice was almost gone.

She fell away from him, shaking in every limb; she dropped into a
chair hiding her face.

Micky stood like a man turned to stone. She had not hurt him
physically, though there was a red flush where she had struck him, but
he felt as if the blow had fallen on his aching heart and his love for
her.

It seemed a long time before either of them moved or spoke, then
Esther dragged herself to her feet.

"Please let me pass," she said in a whisper, and Micky stood aside
without a word.

He followed her out and inquired for a train; there was a slow one at
ten-fifty they told him. He put Esther into a carriage and got a rug
for her and a cushion. He knew she had had nothing to eat, and he
ordered a basket to be made up at the refreshment-room. When he came