She woke from her reverie with a start when Micky rose and said he must be going. "And don't you be so long before you come and see me again," June said in her downright way. "And don't go without that sample, Micky--it will go in your pocket quite easily." She darted off to her room to fetch it, and Micky moved a step nearer to Esther. "You have had good news?" he said. She looked up startled. Micky's eyes flamed. "That being so, of course, it is useless for me to ask if you have changed your mind yet?" he said again. Esther gave a stifled cry. "Are you trying to insult me?" she asked under her breath. He half smiled. "I am, if it's an insult to ask you to marry me." There was no time for more. June came back then with her hands full of samples, which she proceeded to stuff into Micky's pocket. He submitted laughingly. "Supposing I get run over!" he said resignedly. "People will think I've been robbing a beauty shop." "It will be a fine advertisement for me, anyway," June declared. "Can't you see all the halfpenny papers coming out with great headlines? Tragic Death of a Young Millionaire! Pockets Stuffed with June Mason's Skin Food!" She laughed merrily. "That would be worth something, eh, Micky?" "Heartless woman!" he answered. He turned to Esther. "Good-bye, Miss Shepstone." Esther was glad that he did not offer to shake hands with her; she was glad that June went to see him off. As soon as the door had closed on them she took her letter out again; she pressed the paper to her lips. It was worth waiting for, worth the heartache and disappointment; she closed her eyes for a moment and thought of Raymond Ashton. How she must have misjudged him in the past. It did not seem true now that they had ever quarrelled, or parted in anger; that she had ever been so unhappy that she did not want to live.... June came running up the stairs; she was singing cheerily; Esther smiled as she listened ... it must be wonderful to be always as happy and light-hearted as June. "Well, dreamer?" said June. She shut the door with a little slam and came over to where her friend sat. "A penny for your thoughts." She looked at Esther's flushed face in the firelight. "And so everything is all right after all, eh?" she asked. Esther nodded. "And I'm not really going to Mrs. Ashton's after all," she said with a sort of shamefaced delight. "Only I didn't want to say so in front of Mr. Mellowes.... Oh, aren't you glad?" she asked anxiously. "My dear, of course I am!" said June heartily. "But for the life of me I can't understand how it is that this man of yours has got such an influence over you. He's only got to hold up his little finger and you're on your knees. I'm beginning to think he must be a kind of wonder after all." Esther did not answer for a moment. "No," she said. "He isn't at all wonderful, really, except to me, and--and I love him, you see," she added shyly. "I suppose every man is wonderful to the woman who loves him."