"Yes, of course I told him," he said, staring at his boots; "but he had made up his mind to go abroad; and--and, 'pon my soul, I think it's the best thing he could do." She looked down on him with a face still showing trouble and doubt. "But--but, Percy, he hadn't any money; he admitted as much to me. And I couldn't give him any." "That's all right," he said, clearing his throat. "I--I saw to that. I couldn't give him much, unfortunately; but I scraped together all I'd got. It will leave us pretty short of coin for a bit, Miriam." She went to him quickly, put her arm round his shoulder, and, bending, kissed him. "You did! That was good of you; it was like you, Percy--after all that he has done, and the trouble he might have got you into. I'm glad you gave him all you'd got; and I don't mind running short." Her cheeks were wet and wetted his; he drew his hand across his face with barely-concealed impatience and annoyance. "That's all right," he said. "Of course, I had to do the best I could for him, poor devil! for the sake of--of old times. I didn't forget that you were once fond of him--well, rather taken with him; that you were old friends. Look here, Miriam, we don't want to harp upon this affair; it's a beastly bad business, and the sooner we forget it the better. For Heaven's sake, let's drop it here and now. I shan't refer to it, shan't mention Derrick Dene's name again; and don't you. Just push that tray over, will you? I've had a deuced unpleasant scene with him, I can tell you; and it's upset me deucedly. But there!" he added, with a jerk of the head, as he mixed a stiff soda and whisky, "there's an end of him, so far as we're concerned. What?" CHAPTER V Celia lay awake half the night, and was up and dressed early in the morning, waiting for the cry of "Pipers! Daily Pipers!" and when the newsboy came bounding up the steps she almost sprang out on him in her eagerness and anxiety. "Give me--which of the papers has the best police news?" she asked, trying to speak casually. "Oh, the _Wire_, o' course," replied the boy, promptly; "they don't let nothing escape them, you bet, miss!" She bought the halfpenny paper and eagerly scanned its columns, forgetting that there could be no report of the case until the appearance before the magistrate; but the absence of any mention of an arrest, following the message which the old gentleman had given her, confirmed her relief and encouraged her. Notwithstanding, she found it almost impossible to eat; but she drank a cup of tea, gathered her papers together, and went down to the Museum. For the first time she found her work difficult; for she could not dismiss the young man and his tragic fate from her mind. Staring at the blank paper, she went over all the details of the strange scene, and, standing out from them all, was the expression in his face, in his eyes, as he had paused at the bend of the stairs and looked at her.