Page:Rowland--The closing net.djvu/310



night seemed darker than ever when I went into the street; but, let me tell you, it wasn't any blacker than my own feelings. There seemed mighty little left but to skip the country and to go somewhere else and make a fresh start, this time on the level; but the very thought of that was hateful. To begin with, I couldn't stomach the idea of being chased out by Chu-Chu with a gang of Ivan's apaches at his heels. Then, there was the business that I'd got so well started. And then there was the biggest thing of all—the wish to win back what I'd lost in Edith's eyes! Don't make the mistake of thinking for a second that I was in love with Edith—my feeling toward her was the sort a child might have for an angel. The distance between us was too great to admit of anything else.

There were other reasons, too. I had an awful warm spot inside me for Rosalie, and I wanted to see her often and be free to be with her. The remembrance of her bare arms round my neck and her tear-stained face against mine set me all aglow. I realised that I was on the verge of falling in love with Rosalie. And there was my life in town, and the clubs and theatres and cafés and spins over the road—no, sir; to tell the truth, I almost regretted for an instant that I hadn't taken Ivan up on his offer. I knew, however, that things would never 290