ferred that I
possess--"It"!!--. And how would that translate itself to a mind like
Alathea's?--It might mean nothing to her--It probably would not. The
only times I have ever seen any feeling at all in her for me were when
she thought she had destroyed a wounded man's interest in a harmless
hobby--and felt remorse--And the freezing reserve which showed when she
handed me the cheque-book--and the perturbation and contempt when I was
rude about the child.--At other times she has shown a blank
indifference--or a momentary consciousness that there was admiration in
my eye for her.

Now what do I get out of the iciness over Suzette's cheque?

Two possibilities--.

One--that she is more prudish than one of her literary cultivation, and
worldly knowledge is likely to be, so that she strongly disapproves of
a man having a "_petite amie_"--or--

Two--that she has sensed that I love her and was affronted at the
discovery that at the same time I had a--friend?--

The second possibility gives me hope, and so I fear to entertain a
belief in it--but taken coldly it seems the most likely.--Now if she had
_not_ been affronted at this stage, would she have gone on believing I
loved her, and so eventually have shown some reciprocity?

It is just possible--.

And as it is, will that same instinct which is in the subconscious mind
of all women--and men too for the matter of that--which makes them want
to fight to retain or retake what was theirs, influence her now
unconsciously to feel some, even contemptuous, interest in me? This also
is possible--.

If only fate brings her to me again--. That is where one is done--when
absence cuts threads.

To-morrow it will be Monday--a whole week since I received her telegram.

I shall go up to Paris in the morning if I hear nothing and go myself to
the Hotel de Courville to try and obtain a trace of her--if that is
impossible I will write to the Duchesse.--

* * * * *

_Reservoirs--Night:_

As I wrote the last words--a note was brought to me by Burton--someone
had left at the Hotel.

"Dear Sir Nicholas--(it ran)

I am very sorry I have been unable to come out to
do my work--but my brother died last Tuesday, and
I have been extremely occupied--I will be at Versailles
at eleven on Thursday as usual.

Yours truly,
A. Sharp."

*