Still on that mission to find Jimmy, Anthony Ditchburn haunted likely
spots for a day or two, but with no success. He came in to report his
want of progress each day, and each day came at the same time; moreover,
he stayed, and smoked as late or later than they would have him. When he
had gone on the last occasion, Moira hit upon a simpler plan to find her
old friend, and adopted it. She wrote to him at the office of that
paper Anthony Ditchburn had brought--wrote a little tender, girlish,
friendly note, that should strike at once at Jimmy's heart. For the
wonder of it was that Jimmy was not like an ordinary person at all; he
could be found in this great world of London through the actual medium
of the printed press.
There came a letter back to her in a surprisingly short space of time.
It was headed with the address of the house in that little court off
Holborn; was written in a scrawl that was almost boyish, and seemed to
speak as Jimmy might have spoken.
"MY DEAR, DEAR MOIRA,
"Yes, of course I am 'your own special Jimmy' as you delightfully
phrase it; and of course I am delighted to hear about you. We
mustn't lose sight of each other again--and you must come soon and
see me. What a lot we shall have to talk about! Your note doesn't
say very much about you, or what you are doing; it seems strange to
think you must be grown a woman. I shall have a lot to tell you
when we meet; thanks for all the nice things you say about my work.
"Ever yours,
"JIMMY."
That was sufficiently wonderful; in that at least she had triumphed over
them all; she had found Jimmy. Had she looked a little deeper into the
letter she might have read that note of hesitation in it; that half
suggestion that they were to meet at some future time, and not now, in
the first flush of their finding each other. But she did not think of
that; she saw only that Jimmy--Jimmy who was already in her eyes great
and famous--was near at hand, and wanted to see her. She would go to him
without delay.
In that, as may be guessed, was something of the old passionate, jealous
Moira, eager to be the first with all with whom she came in
contact--eager to stand first in their hearts. She had found Jimmy; she
would be the first to drag him out into the light of day, and to show
her friends how she had triumphed. She would take Jimmy by the hand and
draw him again amongst them all. She set off on the very morning of the
day that had brought her the letter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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