Page:Bailey - Call Mr Fortune (Dutton, 1921).djvu/59

48 from Flora. A sullen voice, "You can come in," and in Reggie went.

May Weston was a squalid sight. Her natural prettiness, the prettiness of fresh youth, the bloom of pink and white, the grace of full, soft line had all gone from her. She lay a shapeless heap on her bed, her evening dress still on and all crushed and crumpled and awry, her yellow hair half down and tousled, her face of a bluish pallor.

"What do you want?" She stared at Reggie heavily.

"Well, this won't do, will it?" Reggie smiled cheerfully and sat down beside the bed. "So why are you like this?"

"Haven't you heard?" she cried.

"I've heard and seen," Reggie said. "I can't do any more there. But perhaps I can here." He began to feel her pulse.

"I'm not ill."

"Well, you never know." He let her wrist go and bent over her. "Sleep rather sound, don't you?"

"Oh!" She shuddered. "Why do you look at me like that?"

Reggie bent suddenly closer, and as suddenly sat up again. Then he laughed. "Like what, my dear?"

She stared at him and her lip quivered. "You—you! Oh, do you think I can be mad?"

Reggie shook his head. "Let's begin quite at the beginning. Let's preserve absolute calm. You