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his chin and a cap drawn down to his brows. His face is white and his jaws are set determinedly. Howā€”how have you got in? He produces a bunch of keys and grimly displays a latch-key. Ohā€”ohā€”ā€”! Pulling off his cap, Jeyes advances to the table in the centre, glaring at Farncombe. Lily closes the door sharply and also advances, speaking volubly to Farncombe as she comes forward. Captain Jeyes is in the habit of bringing me home from the theatre after my work; and a long while ago I gave him a latch-key to carry on his key-ring, so that he could let me into my house whenever Iā€™d forgotten my own key. He hasnā€™t the slightest right to use it at any other time; nobody knows that better than he does. Itā€™s a confounded liberty! To Jeyes, hotly. What are you doing here at all at this hour of the morning?

Jeyes.

After an expressive glance at Farncombe. An odd question, in the circumstances.

Lily.

Answer me!

Jeyes.

Keeping an eye on you.

Lily.

Spying on me!

Jeyes.

On youā€” jerking his head towards Farncombe andā€”ā€”

Lily.

How dare you!

Jeyes.

Iā€™ve been at it all night.

Lily.

All night!

Jeyes.

Yes; I was in the theatre while you were supping and dancing.

Lily.

You were!

Jeyes.

I meant to be there. You did your best to stop itā€”ā€”

Lily.

Thatā€™s a lie!

Jeyes.

So that you could enjoy yourself thoroughlyā€” glancing at Farncombe again withā€”ā€”

Lily.

A lie!

Jeyes.

I didnā€™t leave till past three. You andā€” with another motion of the head towards Farncombe had just had your fifth dance together, and they were hauling you round the building.

Lily.

Where were you? Whoā€”ā€”?

Jeyes.

Excuse me; thatā€™s my business. Then I went back to Jermyn Street, and it suddenly struck me Iā€™d like to see how your escort was composed.

Lily.

Youā€™ve been watching outside?

Jeyes.

Since a quarter-to-fourā€”under the portico at the corner.

Lily.

Contemptuously. Youā€”ā€”!

Jeyes.

Yes, but, by God, I wasnā€™t quite prepared for this!

Lily.

This!

Jeyes.

Cramming his cap into his overcoat-pocket and coming to Farncombe. What the hellā€™s your game? Youā€™ve got some accommodating friends, both of you, in that blackguard Roper and that slut Jimmie Birch!

Lily.

Ohā€”! Approaching Jeyes with clenched fists. Ah, you curā€”ā€”!

Farncombe.

Holding up his hand to her appealingly. Miss Parradellā€”ā€”!

Lily.

To Jeyes. You cur! Motherā€™s been told that Lord Farncombeā€™s with me. I sent Jimmie up to tell her.

Jeyes.

Where is your mother?

Lily.

In bed, of course.

Jeyes.

Snoring! Ha, ha, ha! Faugh, thereā€™s an ugly name, my girl, for such mothers as yours!

Lily.

Ahā€”! Raising her fist. Ah-h-h-hā€”ā€”!

Farncombe.

Miss Parradellā€”ā€”!

Lily.

Restraining herself with difficulty and pacing the room. Oh, the cur! The cur! The cur!

Farncombe.

To Jeyes, looking at him steadily. Captain Jeyesā€”ā€”

Lily.

The low cur!

Farncombe.

Captain Jeyes, do you happen to know where I lodge?

Jeyes.

No; I donā€™t know where your sty is.

Farncombe.

St. Jamesā€™s Placeā€”forty-seven. I shall be in at twelve oā€™clock. Picking up his hat and overcoat. From the tone this gentleman adopts, Miss Parradell, I assume that he considers himself entitled to concern himself in your affairs. Moving over to the left where Lily joins him. Perhaps it will make it easier for you if Iā€”ā€”

Lily.

Clutching his arm. Ah, Iā€™m so indignant, Eddie! Iā€”Iā€”Iā€”ā€”!

Jeyes.

Eddie! Eddie!

Lily.

Turning upon Jeyes in a fury. Yes, you cadā€”Eddie, Eddie, Eddie! You cad! You sneak! You idler! You waster! Iā€™ve stood it long enough. This is the last straw! Iā€™ve done with you! Iā€™m sick to death of you! How Iā€™ve tolerated you all these years is a mystery to me! After this, get out of my sight and never show yourself to me again!

Jeyes.

Grasping her wrist, fiercely. Lilyā€”ā€”!

Lily.

Wrenching herself free. What! Losing control over herself utterly. Youā€™ll spy on me, will you, you shabby loafer! Youā€™ll peep at me while Iā€™m eating my supper, and count the dances I choose to give that boy over there, will you! And then youā€™ll break into my house, and insult my friends behind their backs, and insinuate foul things against my poor old motherā€”you damned coward!ā€”and against me, pointing to Farncombe and him! Why, youā€™re not fit to black his boots, and you never wereā€”neverā€”youā€”youā€”you scum! Here! Taking Farncombeā€™s note from her bosom and thrusting it at Jeyes. Read that! Sitting in the arm-chair by the centre table. Read it! Read it! Read it! Jeyes reads to himself. Out loud!

Jeyes.

Mumbling. ā€œDear Miss Parradell. Will you allow meā€”ā€”?ā€

Lily.

Louder!

Jeyes.

ā€œWill you allow me to remain behind for a few minutes with Miss Jimmie after the others have gone? I know I am presuming a lot, but I cannot leave you till I have asked you the most important question a man can put to a woman. Farncombe.ā€

Lily.

Breathless. Written hereā€”on my note-paperā€”while I was out of the room! It came on me like a thunder-clap! Ah! Ah! Ah! Jeyes sits upon the settee, staring at the carpet. And Morrie Cooling and Lal will tell you that I hadnā€™t a notion that Lord Farncombe was to be at the supper last night, or any of the boys; not a notion. I blackguarded ā€™em both for deceiving me, and causing me to deceive you. Taking the scent-atomizer from the table and spraying her face with it. Now! What have you to say now! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Jeyes.

Huskily. Whyā€”why the devil did you let Jimmie go? Why did you let her go? It was knowing that you and Farncombe were alone thatā€”that made meā€”ā€”

Lily.

Oh, if Iā€™d suspected that a private detective was hovering around, Iā€™d have kept the whole lot of my friends! As it was, Jimmie was looking dead, andā€”! in disdain. Pah!

There is a pause and then Jeyes sits upright and draws his hand wearily across his eyes.

Jeyes.

To Lily. Well, Iā€”I beg your pardon. Lily continues to spray herself energetically. Iā€™m not so completely scum as not to see that I ought to beg your pardon. Humbly. I beg your pardon.

Lily.

Softening by degrees. Youā€”you drive me mad sometimesā€”positively frantic!

Jeyes.

Partly to himself. Mad! To Farncombe. And you, Farncombeā€”I hope youā€™ll accept my apologies. I offer them unreservedly.

Farncombe bows, somewhat stiffly.

Lily.

To Jeyes, protruding her lower lip. Iā€”I didnā€™t mean half I said, Nicko; I didnā€™t mean half of it. Eyeing Farncombe askance as she replaces the atomizer. And Iā€”Iā€™m ashamed of myself for losing my self-control as I did. There is another pause and then Jeyes gets to his feet and silently returns the note to Lily. She looks up at him piteously and puts the note back into her bosom. Then he takes out his key-ring, removes the latch key from it, and throws the key on to the table. Having done this, he drags his cap from his pocket and makes for the door on the left. As he passes Lily, she rises and gently plucks at his sleeve. Nickoā€”Nickoā€”ā€”

Jeyes.

In a thick voice. Eh?

Lily.

Wonā€™t youā€”wonā€™t you give Lord Farncombeā€”some explanationā€”ā€”?

Jeyes.

Explanationā€”ā€”?

Lily.

Of the sort of terms weā€™ve been on, you and I, Heā€”he must beā€”rather puzzledā€” turning away to the table. Oh, itā€™s due to you as well as to me!

Jeyes.

Dully. Just as you please. With a hard laugh. Ho, ho! Yes, perhaps it is due to me that he should learn a little more about me than heā€™s been able to gather from personal observationā€”and from your eloquent but summary description. Under his breath, screwing up his cap. Idlerā€”wasterā€”loaferā€”ā€”!

Lily.

Penitently. Nicko!

Jeyes.

To Farncombe, quietly. Oh, itā€™s a true bill, Farncombe. And yet, a very few years backā€”she wonā€™t dispute itā€”I was one of the smartest chaps going, good at my job, with prospects as rosy as any manā€™s in my regiment. There wasnā€™t a cloud the size of your hand, apparently, in my particular bit of sky at the time I speak of; not a speck! Then I met this young lady, andā€” pointing to the box-ottoman well, since weā€™re in for itā€”ā€”!

Farncombe.

Oh, Captain Jeyesā€”ā€”

Jeyes.

No, no; she wishes you to understand the exact nature of the friendship between her and me. Iā€™m obeying instructions. Farncombe sits on the ottoman, nursing his hat and overcoat. Then Jeyes sits in the arm-chair by the centre table, first turning the chair so that it faces Farncombe. Farncombe, I was under thirty, and still a subaltern, when I made Miss Parradellā€™s acquaintance. Like most of my pals, I was spending my nights, whenever I could get away from Aldershot, in the stalls at the Pandoraā€”much the same as youā€™ve been doing recently, and as a certain class of young manā€™ll go on doing as long as the Pandora, and similar shops, continue to flourish. Ha! How honoured we felt, we men, in those days, at knowing some of the Pandora girls, and having the privilege of supping ā€™em and standing ā€™em dinner on Sunday evenings! If theyā€™d been royal princesses we couldnā€™t have been more elated. With a gesture. Donā€™t jump at conclusions. It generally ended there, or with our running into debt at a jewellerā€™s. We were young, they were beautifulā€”or we thought ā€™em so; but the majority of us werenā€™t vicious, any more than the majority of the girls wereā€”though many of ā€™em were mighty calculating. It would have been better for us men if all the girls had been wicked; the glamour, the infatuation, the folly, would have been sooner over, and one of us at least would have had a different tale to tell.

Jeyes pauses, gazing at the floor, Farncombe moves impatiently on the ottoman and Lily seats herself upon the settee.

Lily.

Plaintively. Nickoā€”Nickoā€”I merely wanted you toā€”ā€”

Jeyes.

Rousing himself and speaking to Lily over his shoulder. Who was it introduced us?

Lily.

Miss Du Caneā€”Aggie Du Cane.

Jeyes.

Agnes Du Cane. Sheā€™s gone under. To Lily. Outside Buckleyā€™s oyster-bar, wasnā€™t it?

Lily.

Not outside; in the parlour.

Jeyes.

To Farncombe. Lily had only lately come to the Pandoraā€”a pale-faced slip of a thing. To Lily. Eighteen, werenā€™t you?

Lily.

Nodding. Eighteen.

Jeyes.

I confess I wasnā€™t overwhelmingly attracted by her at first; she was so unlike the rest. Laughing bitterly. Ha, ha, ha!

Lily.

Weakly. Ha, ha, ha! Wasnā€™t I dowdy!

Jeyes.

But she was humble, and naĆÆve, and confiding; and my vanity was tickled by her delight at the little treats I gave her, and by her gratitude for a tuppeny-haā€™penny present or two. Nobody, I believe, with any pretensions to being a gentleman, had paid her much attention before I arrived on the scene.

Lily.

In a murmur. No; nobody.

Jeyes.

I didnā€™t find out that I was in love with herā€”you guess itā€™s a love story, donā€™t you?ā€”ā€”

Farncombe.

Delicately. My dear Captain Jeyesā€”ā€”

Jeyes.

I didnā€™t find out that I was neck and heels in love with her until nearly a year afterwards, when my regiment went to the Curragh. That did itā€”separation! What I suffered in that hole, thinking of her, starving for her! In less than three months I was in London again, on leave, and in my old stall at the Pandora. But even then, Farncombe, I hadnā€™t your pluck.

Farncombe.

Pluck?

Jeyes.

The pluck to snap my fingers at the world and propose marriage to a Pandora girl. Besides, my mother was alive then, andā€” abruptly, with a wild look would you like to know what she

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