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At the same time I must confess that one of them, Miss Lalage Beresford, displayed the greatest determination and absolutely declined to give me a promise that the publication of the magazine would be discontinued, except on conditions which I could not possibly consider.
May, too, would probably be pleased when she came to look at the matter in the right light, because, as he told himself with a cynical little smile, it would prove that the Lalage episode was definitely at an end.
I myself would be responsible for them, and would, if necessary, answer for their safety with my head. He departed, doubtful and ill content. He was probably satisfied that I was capable of looking after Laiage, but he dreaded the effect of her example on the rest of his flock. They too might escape. "This," said Lalage, leading me up to the other girl, who wore a pink dress, "is Hilda.
Hilda trotted it out of a small bag which she carried attached to her waist by a chain. I opened it and read aloud: "Memorandum of an agreement made this tenth day of February between the Members of the A.S.P.L., hereinafter called the Speakers, of the one part, and Joseph P. Titherington, election agent, of the other." "I call that rather good," said Lalage.
"Lalage hasn't confided in me," she said, "but she has told Miss Battersby " "Ah!" I said, "Miss Battersby is so wonderfully sympathetic. Anybody would confide in her." "She told Miss Battersby," my mother went on, "that she was studying the situation and looking into the law of the matter." "Let her stick to that," said Thormanby. "Are Hilda and Selby-Harrison down here?" I asked.
It was called, as I might have guessed, the Anti-Cat. The table of contents promised the following reading matter: 1. Poetry A Farewell. To be recited in her presence. The Ignominy of Having a Governess. Prize Competition for the Best Insult Story. "You can enter for that if you like," said Lalage, who had been following my eyes down the page.
"I know you will write nice books for Lalage, by and by; because you're very, very clever" she had said so more than once, when he had seemed to be losing heart over his work in the Record office. And now he had written the book in which Lalage had had no part.
Jimmy stammered a little over his explanations, but Lalage put things more plainly. "He will seldom be here; in fact I do not think he will ever actually need the room," she said. "But it will be an address for his letters, and you will know what to say if there are any inquiries. What would be your terms?" Mrs. Fagin looked at Jimmy, as if to get his measure.
All the old memories seemed to have lost their bitterness. The women in the streets had not the slightest kinship with Lalage. His jealousy of the past had vanished, the hateful thoughts which had once gone nigh to driving him mad had lost all their power, and now the only thing in his mind was the fear that the new Lalage, which was the real Lalage, would not risk joining her life to his again.
"Do you love me?" he repeated. "I like you better, much better, than anyone else I ever met," and with that he had to be content. "I know someone who will let you a room, just as an address, in case those horrid sisters of yours make inquiries." Lalage turned round suddenly from the looking-glass, her hands still busy with her hair. "Who is she? Where does she live?"