Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/278

 had been responsible. The sudden reaction had unbalanced him. Little had been said of the coincidence of two letters failing to reach her. Both had felt instinctively that the responsibility lay with Mrs. Crisp.

"Please—please don't be angry with me," she said, and a moment later she had slipped from her chair and was kneeling beside him. The touch of her seemed to reawaken him from his trance. With a swift movement he caught and crushed her to him.

"Don't, for God's sake, Lola, don't. You Oh, my dear." He bent down and kissed her passionately.

With a little sound of content she clung to him. Suddenly he became rigid. "Don't you see that it's utterly—that it's quite impossible—it's"

"Don't you think you might get to like me in—in time," she enquired archly.

"Lola, don't you understand? I've nothing, literally nothing to offer you. If Drewitt doesn't turn up, I can't even pay for the lunch. I haven't the price of a cab-fare. I had my pocket-book stolen last night. I only discovered it this morning. I'm down, down and out," he concluded with something of a sob in his voice.

"And yet you could buy me those wonderful flowers," she said.

She leaned forward and buried her face in the carnations. Beresford watched her. Everything was coming back to him. Slowly the realization was being forced upon him that Fate was really taking