"Don't mind," said Robin. "I'll tell you anything. It was--Jack." He
suddenly turned to her fully with blazing eyes. "I--hate--Jack!" he said
very emphatically.
"Jack! But who is Jack? Oh, I remember!" Juliet abruptly recalled the
young chauffeur at the churchyard gate. "He is your other brother, isn't
he? I'd forgotten him."
"He's--a beast!" said Robin. "I hate him."
His look challenged reproof. Juliet wisely made none. "Isn't he kind to
you?" she said.
"It wasn't that!" blurted out Robin. "It--it--was what he
said--about--about--" He suddenly stopped, closed his lips and sat
savagely biting them.
"About what?" asked Juliet, bewildered.
Robin sat mute.
"I should forget it if I were you," she said sensibly. "People often do
and say things they don't mean. It doesn't pay to be too sensitive. Let's
forget it, shall we?"
"I can't," said Robin. "Dicky's angry." He paused, then continued with an
effort. "He said I wasn't to come here, said--said he'd punish me if I
did. He called me back, and I wouldn't go. He--" He suddenly broke off,
and crept close to her like a frightened dog--"he's coming now!" he
whispered.
The catch of the gate had clicked, and Columbus who had accepted Robin
without question, bustled forward to investigate.
He came back almost immediately, wearing a satisfied look, and as he
settled down again by Juliet's side, Green appeared on the path that led
to the apple-trees.
Robin pressed closer to Juliet. She could feel him trembling.
Instinctively she laid her hand upon him as Green drew near.
"Have you come to see me or to look for Robin?" she said.
Green's look was enigmatical. It comprehended them both at a single
glance. She wondered if he were really angry, but if so, he had himself
under complete control.
"I have brought you a box of cigarettes to go on with, Miss Moore," he
said, and produced his offering with a smile.
"How very kind of you!" said Juliet. She sat up with a quick flush of
embarrassment. "How did you manage to get them so soon? You must have had
them by you."
"I had," said Green. "But I can spare you these with pleasure. It's awful
to be without a smoke, isn't it?"
Juliet smiled. "These will last me for ages. I am being very economical
now. Please will you tell me how much they are?"
"Half-a-crown," he said.
"Oh, please!" she protested. "Let us be honest!"
"Exactly," he said. "It's all they cost me. I get them through a friend."
"But perhaps your friend wouldn't care for me to have them at that
price," objected Juliet.
"Yes, he would. It's all right," Green dismissed the matter with an
airiness that was curiously final. "Don't bother about paying me now,
please! I'd rather have it later. Robin, get up!"
He addressed his young brother so suddenly and so peremptorily that
Juliet was momentarily startled. Then very swiftly she intervened.
"Mr. Green, please, don't--be angry with Robin!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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