Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/187



LEASE may I come and talk to you while you finish breakfast?"

Beresford had almost concluded his own meal when Lola entered the room, the ever faithful Mr. Byles in attendance. Later he had stepped across to her table.

"I started this morning feeling like a boy scout," he continued; "like several boy scouts, I might say," he added, as he dropped into the chair to which she motioned him.

"A boy scout!" She looked up from a piece of toast she was buttering.

"I simply yearned to make every one happy. I was most aggressively eupeptic."

"Is that why you came over to talk to me?" she enquired without looking up from her plate. "I'm always doing good deeds for you," he said reproachfully.

Her eyes questioned him.

"I keep from you the Thirty-Nine Articles."

She smiled and nodded.

"One morning," he continued, "you will look across at my table and see my chair empty." 183