n her, and she dragged the quilt from
the bed, and wrapped it round her small figure till she looked like a
mummy.

There was a long silence, then Esther raised her eyes to June's
anxious face.

Her own was quite colourless, and her grey eyes looked dazed.

"Will you--will you--read it?" she said faintly. "Please--I want you
to--I ... somehow I feel as if I'm dreaming."

But June at any rate was wide awake. It only took her two minutes to
read Micky's passionate appeal; the next she was laughing and crying
together, and hugging Esther boisterously.

"Oh, isn't he the most wonderful man? Don't you love him? Don't you
just adore him? Oh, if you're going to break his heart after all this,
I'll _never_ forgive you!... Why, my George isn't in it with Micky,
poor darling!"--she shook Esther in her excitement--"What are you made
of, that you can't see what a king he is? I don't believe there's any
blood in your veins at all," she declared indignantly. "You haven't
got a heart.... Oh, Esther darling! I didn't mean it--I--oh, I'm such
an idiot!..."

And the two girls clasped each other and cried together.

"And now if this ridiculous midnight scene is ended," June said
presently, sniffing her tears away, "let's talk sense. I'll go and see
Micky in the morning and explain everything. He knows what I am--he
won't be at all surprised--oh, I'm so glad--so more than glad.... Oh,
Esther, _why_ do you hide your face?"

"Because I'm so ashamed," Esther said in a stifled voice. "I'm not
worth loving--I've ... oh, you don't _know_ how I've treated him!"

June was silent for a minute, then she said gently--

"But Micky will forget all that--Micky never remembered a mean thing
against anybody in his life." She forced Esther to look at her. "Tell
me one thing, and then I'll go and leave you in peace," she coaxed.
"Do you--do you ... _you_ know?"

But in this instance, at least, a verbal answer was not necessary.

June kissed her rapturously.

"Oh, you darling," she said. She blew out the candle, and sped down to
her own room again like a ghost in the moonlight.

* * * * *

"Was there anything else you was wanting, sir?" Driver inquired
stolidly. He stood on the platform looking in at the first-class
compartment where Micky sat alone in durance vile, waiting for the
train to start.

He frowned, and pulled his soft hat further down over his eyes as he
answered--

"No, nothing....