Evie reached home, her little brain charged with conflicting emotions. Her relief at meeting the man again, the happiness that meeting had brought, her resentment at Sault's unwarranted interference, her hurt from Christina's supposed duplicity and breach of confidence, each contended for domination and each in turn triumphed. "I have given up Ronnie and I am not going to meet him again," she said as she entered the room. She was without finesse and Christina, instantly alert, was not impressed. "This is very sudden. What has happened?" "I've given him up!" Evie slammed her hat down on a rickety dressing-table. She had no intention of letting the matter rest there. Her annoyance with Sault must be expressed. "If a girl cannot have a friendship without her own sister and her sister's beastly friends making up all sorts of beastly stories about her and breaking their sacred word, too, by telling beastly people about their private affairs, then she'd better give up having friendships," she said a trifle incoherently. "I want to sort that out," said Christina, frowning, "the only thing I'm perfectly sure about is that somebody is beastly. Do you mean that people have been talking about you and your--Ronnie?" Evie glowered at her. "You know--you know!" she blurted tremulously. "You and Sault between you, trying to interfere in my--interfering in my affairs." "Oh," said Christina, "is that all?" "Is that all! Don't you think it enough, parting Ronnie and I? Breaking my heart, that is what you're doing!" she wailed. "I'll never speak to Sault again. The old murderer--that's what he is, a murderer! I'm going to tell mother and have him chucked out of the house. We're not safe. Some night he'll come along with a knife and cut our throats. A nigger murderer," she screamed. "He may be good enough to be your fancy man, but he's not good enough for me!" "Open the window and tell the street all about it," suggested Christina. "You'll get an audience in no time. Go along! Open the window! They would love to hear. Every woman in this street screams her trouble sooner or later. The woman across the road was shouting 'murder' all last night. Be fashionable, Evie. Ronnie would love to know that you made a hit in Walter Street." Evie was weeping now. "You're horrible and vulgar, and I wish I was dead! You've--you've parted Ronnie and I--you and Sault!" "I don't think so," said Christina quietly, "my impression is that you are saying what Ronnie told you to say." "I swear--" began Evie. "Don't swear, Evie, screech. It is more convincing. Ronnie told you to say that you had given him up. What did Ambrose Sault do?" "He went to a friend of Ronnie's with a lot of lies--about me and Ronnie. And you must have told him, Christina. It was mean, mean, mean of you!"