Part 36 (1/2)
”Are you absolutely certain?”
”No, I'm not. Why do you ask?”
”Because,” I answered reflectively, ”because it is strange that you should have taken an engagement at the very shop where he was employed.”
”It was he who gave me the introduction there,” she said. ”Only when I got there and commenced work did I find to my surprise that the man who had interested himself on my behalf was actually the shop-walker. He saw the look of surprise upon my face, and laughed heartily over it.”
”Did you never seek to inquire how long previously he had been employed there?”
”No. It never occurred to me to do so,” she answered.
”But you can discover now easily enough, I suppose?”
”Of course I can,” she replied. ”But why are you so anxious to know?”
”I have a reason for desiring to know the exact date on which he entered the firm's employ,” I said. ”You will find it out for me at once, won't you?”
”If you wish.”
”Then let me know by letter as soon as you possibly can,” I urged quickly.
”But you need not be jealous of him, Clifton,” she said, seeking to rea.s.sure me. With her woman's quick instinct she saw that my anger had been raised against him.
”How can I help being annoyed?” I said. ”The facts seem quite plain that he first took service with this firm, and then most probably obtained the dismissal of one of the girls in order to make a vacancy for you. He was in love with you, I suppose,” I added, rather harshly.
”Love was never mentioned between us,” she declared. ”We merely went out and about together, and in business he used to chat and joke with me. But as for love--”
And she laughed scornfully, without concluding her sentence.
”And the other girls were jealous of you--eh?”
She laughed.
”I suppose they were,” she answered.
”Was this man--Hibbert was his name?--an experienced shop-walker?”
”I think so,” she replied. ”But he was disliked on account of his harshness and his constant fining of everybody.”
”Except you.”
”Yes,” she laughed. ”I generally managed to escape.”
She noticed the hard look in my face, as I pondered over the strange fact. That this man who was such an intimate acquaintance of Aline's was actually shop-walker where Muriel was employed added to the mystery considerably, rather than decreasing it.
”Why need we discuss him now?” she asked. ”It is all over.”
”But your acquaintance with this man who has evidently striven to win your love must still continue if you remain where you are,” I said in a tone of annoyance.
”No,” she replied. ”It is already at an end.”