Part 35 (2/2)
”Because it is judicious not to offend him,” she said. ”One girl did, and within a week she was discharged.”
”But such truckling to a greasy, oily-mouthed tailor's dummy is simply nauseating,” I cried fiercely. ”Do you mean to say that you actually have to smile and be amiable to this man--perhaps even to flirt with him--in order to save yourself from being driven to death?”
”Certainly!” she answered, quite frankly.
”And who is this man?” I inquired, perhaps a trifle harshly.
”The man with whom you saw me on that night when you followed me from Aldersgate Street,” she responded.
”That tall, thin man!” I cried, amazed. ”The man who was your lover!”
She nodded, and her eyes were again downcast.
I sat staring at her in amazement. I had never thought of that.
”What's his name?” I asked quickly.
”Henry Hibbert.”
”And he is shop-walker at your place?”
”Certainly.”
”Why didn't you tell me this before, when I asked you?” I inquired.
”Because I had no desire that you should sneer at me for walking out with a man of that kind,” she responded. ”But now that it is all past, I can fearlessly tell you the truth.”
”But what made you take up with him?” I asked, eager now to at least penetrate some portion of the mystery, for I recollected that night in the Park, when I had overheard this man Hibbert's strange conversation with Aline.
”I really don't know what caused me to entertain any regard for him,”
she answered.
”How did it come about?”
”We were introduced one night in the Monico. I somehow thought him pleasant and well-mannered, and, I don't know how it was, but I found myself thinking always of him. We met several times, but then I did not know what he was. I had no idea that he was a shop-walker. It was because of my foolish infatuation, I suppose, that I cast aside your love. But from that moment my regret increased, until I could bear the separation no longer, and I came to-night to seek your forgiveness.”
”But what knowledge of this man had you before that night in the cafe?”
I inquired. ”Who introduced you?”
”A girl friend. I knew nothing of him before, and have since come to the conclusion that she knew him but slightly.”
”Then was he, at this time, engaged in the shop in the Holloway Road?”
I asked, feeling that this fact should be at once cleared up.
”I think so.”
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