Part 21 (1/2)
”Faith----” But she only shook her head, and he turned and went out of the room, shutting the door behind him....
There followed a terrible week of scenes and tears and defiance and pleading; Forrester suffered every emotion by turn at her hands. He tried indifference, firmness, kindness,--they all failed him, and the only way left to him--brute force--he would not try.
And then one evening as Peg was walking home from the factory, deeply engrossed in the last chapter of a new novelette, someone spoke her name.
”Miss Fraser!” She looked up, startled, dragging herself from the ardent words of the Honourable Fitzmaurice Arlington, to find the Beggar Man beside her.
”You!” she said blankly. Then with quick suspicion, ”Is Faith ill?”
”Yes--no! At least ... Oh, G.o.d only knows.” He laughed mirthlessly.
”I've come to ask if your offer is still open,” he went on bitterly. ”I mean--will you come and stay with us in my flat? Live with us if you like. Anything, if you'll only come. Will you?”
Peg stuffed the novelette into a pocket; the story of the Honourable Fitzmaurice Arlington suddenly paled beside this real-life romance.
A beatific smile overspread her handsome face.
”Will I come?” she echoed. ”Well, I should say so!”
CHAPTER VIII
By bringing Peg Fraser to the flat the Beggar Man acknowledged his defeat.
If he had not been so sure of Faith's hatred he might have tried harder to overcome her prejudices, but he felt that hatred was an active force through which success was impossible.
He said as much to Mr. Shawyer.
”I've been a fool, I know! I suppose the whole thing was bound to be a failure from the start, but she seemed to like me....” He shrugged his shoulders. ”What's the best thing to do?” he asked.
Mr. Shawyer hesitated. He was disappointed over this marriage himself.
He admired Forrester intensely, and had looked to him to carry through successfully a thing which he was sure must have failed dismally in the hands of a weaker man.
”She'll change her mind,” he said after a moment. ”Women always do if you give them time. Her mother's death was a great shock to her, of course.”
”I've made every allowance for that.”
”Then taking her sisters away so soon....” said Mr. Shawyer tentatively.
Forrester made an angry gesture.
”I did it for the best. She knows that, and it will prove for the best.
How in G.o.d's name was she going to look after them and provide for them?”
”I know all that, but perhaps if you had left them with her for a little longer....”
Forrester frowned.
”The longer they had been together the harder the parting would have seemed. However, it's done, and I'm not going to undo it. Have you found out anything yet about this story of her father?”