"If we do, Heaven help the whiting!"

CHAPTER XV

"Of course, we're behaving shockingly, all three of us!" Philippa declared, as she sipped her champagne and leaned back in her seat.

"You mean by coming to a place like this?" Lessingham queried, looking around the crowded restaurant. "We are not, in that case, the only sinners."

"I didn't mean the mere fact of being here," Philippa explained, "but being here with you."

"I forgot," he said gloomily, "that I was such a black sheep."

"Don't be silly," she admonished. "You're nothing of the sort. But, of course, we are skating on rather thin ice. If I had Henry to consider in any way, if he had any sort of a career, perhaps I should be more careful. As it is, I think I feel a little reckless lately. Dreymarsh has got upon my nerves. The things that I thought most of in life seem to have crumbled away."

"Ought I to be sorry?" he asked. "I am not."

"But why are you so unsympathetic?"

"Because I am waiting by your side to rebuild," he whispered.

A tall, bronzed young soldier with his arm in a sling, stopped before their table, and Helen, after a moment's protest and a glance at Philippa, moved away with him to the little s.p.a.ce reserved for the dancers.

"What a chaperon I am!" Philippa sighed. "I scarcely know anything about the young man except his name and that he was in d.i.c.k's regiment."

"I did not hear it," Lessingham observed, "but I feel deeply grateful to him. It is so seldom that I have a chance to talk to you alone like this."

"It seems incredible that we have talked so long," Philippa said, glancing at the watch upon her wrist. "I really feel now that I know all about you--your school days, your college days, and your soldiering. You have been very frank, haven't you?"

"I have nothing to conceal--from you," he replied. "If there is anything more you want to know--"

"There is nothing," she interrupted uneasily.

"Perhaps you are wise," he reflected, "and yet some day, you know, you will have to hear it all, over and over again."

"I will not be made love to in a restaurant," she declared firmly.

"You are so particular as to localities," he complained. "You could not see your way clear, I suppose, to suggest what you would consider a suitable environment?"

Philippa looked at him for a moment very earnestly.

"Ah, don't let us play at things we neither of us feel!" she begged.

"And there is some one there who wants to speak to you."

Lessingham looked up into the face of the man who had paused before their table, as one might look into the face of unexpected death. He remained perfectly still, but the slight colour seemed slowly to be drawn from his cheeks. Yet the newcomer himself seemed in no way terrifying. He was tall and largely built, clean-shaven, and with the humourous mouth of an Irishman or an American. Neither was there anything threatening in his speech.

"Glad to run up against you, Lessingham," he said, holding out his hand.

"Gay crowd here tonight, isn't it?"

"Very," Lessingham answered, speaking very much like a man in a dream.

"Lady Cranston, will you permit me to introduce my friend--Mr. Hayter."

Philippa was immediately gracious, and a few moments pa.s.sed in trivial conversation. Then Mr. Hayter prepared to depart.

"I must be joining my friends," he observed. "Look in and see me sometime, Lessingham--Number 72, Milan Court. You know what a nightbird I am. Perhaps you will call and have a final drink with me when you have finished here."

"I shall be very glad," Lessingham promised.

Mr. Hayter pa.s.sed on, a man, apparently, of many acquaintances, to judge by his interrupted progress. Lady Cranston looked at her companion. She was puzzled.

"Is that a recent acquaintance," she asked, "as he addressed you by the name of Lessingham?"

"Yes," was the quiet reply.

"You don't wish to talk about him?"

"No!"

Helen and her partner returned, a few moments later, and the little party presently broke up. Lessingham drove the two women to their hotel in Dover Street.

"We've had a most delightful evening," Philippa a.s.sured him, as they said good night. "You are coming round to see us in the morning, aren't you?"

"If I may," Lessingham a.s.sented.

Helen found her way into Philippa's room, later on that night. She had nerved herself for a very thankless task.

"May I sit down for a few moments?" she asked, a little nervously. "Your fire is so much better than mine."

Philippa glanced at her friend through the looking-gla.s.s before which she was brushing her hair, and made a little grimace. She felt a forewarning of what was coming.

"Of course, dear," she replied. "Have you enjoyed your evening?"

"Very much, in a way," was the somewhat hesitating reply. "Of course, nothing really counts until d.i.c.k comes back, but it is nice to talk with some one who knows him."

"Agreeable conversation," Philippa remarked didactically, "is one of the greatest pleasures in life."

"You find Mr. Lessingham very interesting, don't you?" Helen asked.

Philippa finished arranging her hair to her satisfaction and drew up an easy-chair opposite her visitor's.

"So you want to talk with me about Mr. Lessingham, do you?"

"I suppose you know that he's in love with you?" Helen began.

"I hope he is a little, my dear," was the smiling reply. "I'm sure I've tried my best."

"Won't you talk seriously?" Helen pleaded.