."

The one sentence caught her eye. She wondered that she had never
before thought how unlike Raymond this was. Why was it she had not
realised before that Raymond could never have written this?

Somewhere in the distance a church clock chimed; Esther found herself
mechanically counting the bells--nine, ten, eleven! All those hours
since Micky had left her at the station.

She was cold and hungry, but it did not seem to matter; she felt there
was a great, unanswered question in her mind which she must settle.

She rose and walked on again; she turned out of the gardens and found
herself in a street of shops. People looked at her curiously.

Hardly knowing that she did so, she stopped and looked in at a
jeweller's window; there were trays of precious stones. She felt her
own ring beneath the glove--she had worn it so long now, she wondered
how she would feel when she had to take it off. Of course, she could
not go on wearing it if Raymond was really married.

Micky had once gone into a pond on a bitter night to save a kitten
from drowning; she wondered what made her remember that.

The man who could save a drowning kitten would never hurt a woman so
that she could hardly think or feel; June had claimed for Micky that
he was the best man in the world.

"But I don't believe in him--I don't believe anything he says," Esther
told herself feverishly; she moved on again away from the trays of
flashing diamonds.

Two girls passing her were chattering in French--Esther looked after
them vaguely.

This was really Paris--this rather noisy, confusing place; the Paris
she had longed to see.

A man passing stared at her, half stopped, went on again, then turned,
paused irresolutely, and finally came back.

He walked quickly till he drew abreast with her, and there was a
curious eagerness in his face as he stooped a little to look down at
hers; then he gave an exclamation of sheer amazement.

"Lallie! Good heavens! What in the world are you doing here?"

It was Raymond Ashton.

CHAPTER XXX

And so the dream had come true after all, and she and Raymond were
together in Paris.

As she looked up into his handsome face it seemed to Esther that all
the past hours of grief were as if they had never really existed; he
was smiling down at her in the same old way; the very tone of his
voice awoke forgotten memories in her heart; she felt as if a gnawing
pain which had allowed her no rest had suddenly been lulled