"'It must be the heat,' said Macassar, knocking down a flower-pot in his attempt to open the window a little wider. 'O dear, what have I done?' said he. 'I think I'd better go.' "'Never mind the flower-pot,' said Crinoline, looking up through her tears. 'Oh! oh! oh! oh! me. Oh! my heart.' "Macassar looked at his watch. He had only forty-five minutes left for everything. The expense of a cab would, to be sure, be nothing if he were successful; but then, what chance was there of that? "'Can I do anything for you in the Strand?' said he. 'I must be at my office at three.' "'In the Strand!' she screeched. 'What could he do for me in the Strand? Heartless--heartless--heartless! Well, go--go--go to your office, Mr. Macassar; your heart is there, I know. It is always there. Go--don't let me stand between you and your duties--between you and Sir Gregory. Oh! how I hate that man! Go! why should I wish to prevent you? Of course I have no such wish. To me it is quite indifferent; only, mamma will be so sorry to miss you. You don't know how mamma loves you. She loves you almost as a son. But go--go; pray go!' "And then Crinoline looked at him. Oh! how she looked at him! It was as though all the goddesses of heaven were inviting him to come and eat ambrosia with them on a rosy-tinted cloud. All the goddesses, did we say? No, but one goddess, the most beautiful of them all. His heart beat violently against his ribs, and he felt that he was almost man enough for anything. Instinctively his hand went again to his waistcoat pocket. "'You shan't look at your watch so often,' said she, putting up her delicate hand and stopping his. 'There, I'll look at it for you. It's only just two, and you needn't go to your office for this hour;' and as she squeezed it back into his pocket, he felt her fingers pressing against his heart, and felt her hair--done all _à l'impératrice_--in sweet contact with his cheek. 'There, I shall hold it there,' said she, 'so that you shan't look at it again.' "'Will you stay till I bid you go?' said Crinoline. "Macassar declared that he did not care a straw for the senior clerk, or for Sir Gregory either. He would stay there for ever, he said. "'What! for ever in mamma's drawing-room?' said Crinoline, opening wide her lovely eyes with surprise. "'For ever near to you,' said Macassar. "'Oh, Mr. Macassar,' said Crinoline, dropping her hand from his waistcoat, and looking bashfully towards the ground, 'what can you mean?'