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Updated: May 6, 2025
In as few words as possible, Ralph told of the disappearance of Avery's money from the collection box, and the discovery he had made at the post-office. When he had finished, Mr. Windom shook his head gravely. "You are making a very serious charge, Ralph," he said, "and on very slight provocation. At sixteen one is apt to jump at hasty conclusions. Take the advice of sober sixty, my boy.
"I saw him in town two nights ago. I've been up there for a day or two with Dick, but he has rejoined now. It's been embarkation leave. They're off directly." Off! Avery's heart gave a single hard throb and stood still. She looked at Ina wordlessly. The shop in which they stood suddenly lost all form and sound. It seemed to float round her in nebulous billows. "Good gracious!" said Ina.
Avery's eyes followed him, watching narrowly as the two men met. Lennox Tudor, she saw, offered his hand, and after the briefest pause, Piers took it. They came back slowly side by side. Again, unobtrusively, Jeanie rose. Tudor caught sight of her almost before he saw Avery. "Hullo!" he said. "What are you doing here?"
Avery's face was pale, but there was a faint smile at her lips. She met Piers' look without a tremor. She even drew slightly nearer to him; and he, instantly responding, slipped a swift hand through her arm. Olive, sternly judicial, stood regarding them in silence, for perhaps a score of seconds. And then, still undismayed, she withdrew her forces in good order from the field.
Compared with his pessimistic absorption in himself, Avery's suicide and Krafft's departure touched him lightly. For the girl, he had never cared. As soon, though, as he heard that Krafft had disappeared, he turned out his pockets for the scrap of paper Heinz had given him that evening in the cafe. But it threw no light on what had happened.
"But surely it was the cry of your heart, darling," urged Mrs. Lorimer tremulously. "And do you know poor lad he looks so ill, so miserable." But Avery's face was turned away. "I can't help it," she said. "I can't possibly see him again. I feel as if as if there were a curse upon us both, and that is why the baby died. Oh yes, morbid, I know; perhaps wrong. But I have been steeped in sin.
Gracie's fingers tightened convulsively upon Avery's hand, and she turned as white as the table-cloth. Mr. Lorimer, however, looked over her head as if she did not exist, and addressed Avery. "Mrs. Denys, be so good as to spare me two minutes in the study!" he said with extreme formality. "Certainly," Avery made quiet reply. "I will come to you before I go back to Mrs. Lorimer."
"You threw that in my teeth before. I don't know why." His tone baffled her. She could not tell whether he spoke in jest or earnest. She refrained from answering him, and in the silence that followed he lifted the shutter away from the hut entrance and looked inside. Avery's basket of purchases lay at his feet. He picked it up. "Come along!
"Oh, Avery, I can't let you in. I'm sorry. Victor's here." Something a small, indignant spirit sprang up within her in response. "Send Victor away!" she said. "I want to come in." "I shall be late if I do," he made answer. "I'm horribly late as it is." But for once Avery's habitual docility was in abeyance. "Send Victor away!" she reiterated.
There was actual pathos in the declaration. Again the fleeting dimple hovered near Avery's mouth. "Please don't take my opinion for granted in that way!" she said. "I have hardly had time to form one yet." "Then I may ask my question?" said Piers. She turned steady grey eyes upon him. "Yes; you may." Piers' face was perfectly serious. "Are you really married?" he asked.
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