He went over to her and tried to take her hand. "Do forgive me; I beg of you to forgive me--I'm a clumsy idiot--but you don't know how hurt I've felt about being turned down in this way." "It's absurd to feel hurt--I haven't turned you down; I wish you wouldn't keep saying that I have. Why I--I hardly know you," she added with a little angry laugh. Micky turned away; he stood staring down into the fire; neither of them spoke again till June returned. She carried a tray of cakes and hot toast; she set it down with a thump on the round table by the fire. "I coaxed it out of Mrs. Elders," she explained breathlessly. "I generally keep some cake up here myself, but I haven't got a bit to-day. Esther, fetch the cloth, there's a dear; and, Micky, you put the kettle on--I have filled it." She bustled about, talking the whole time; if she noticed the constraint between the other two she said nothing till tea was ready, and she sat down amongst the mauve cushions with a breathless sigh. "Now we're going to be cosy. Well, and how have you two been getting on? Micky, I've told Esther so much about you, she's sick to death of the sound of your name." "I never said so," Esther protested quickly. "Have some cake," Micky said; he deposited a slice on June's plate and adroitly changed the subject. He was furiously angry; he had not believed that Esther had it in her to turn on him as she had done. But the more she snubbed him, the more determined he was not to be snubbed. As he sat there stirring his tea and listening to June's chatter he was watching Esther all the time. She had taken off her coat now. He wondered if it was the coat his money had bought her; it was not half good enough, anyway. He thought of the furs and expensive gloves which Marie Deland wore, and he longed to be able to give some to this little girl who sat there with such angry defiance in her eyes. He realised that this pride of hers was going to be the hardest barrier of all between them. She could not forgive him because he was a rich man and had pretended to be poor; she could not forget that he had paid for her dinner and a saucer of milk for the cat. He looked down to where Charlie sat blinking in the firelight, and a little smile crossed his face. He wondered if perhaps some day soon she would offer to repay him for that night--if she would insist on doing so, as she had insisted on paying her share of everything with June. "More tea?" June demanded across the table, and Micky said, "Oh--er--yes, thanks," hurriedly. As long as the meal was unfinished Esther would have to stay in the room, he thought; she could not very well leave before; but in this he was mistaken, for Esther put her cup down almost at once and looked at June. "Will you think me very rude if I run away?" she asked. "I've got to see Mrs. Elders and tell her I am staying on--I think she has been trying to let my room."