"I must go--it maddens me
to see you the affianced bride of that devil."
He rose to go, but had hardly gained his feet, when his strength
utterly failed and he collapsed. Gladys helped him into a chair, and
then flew for some brandy. In the hall, she met her aunt, who had just
returned from an afternoon call. In a few words she explained what had
happened.
"Poor young man," Miss Templeton said. "I thought he looked very ill
the last time I saw him. And he came here solely to benefit you! Well,
you have a good deal to answer for, and your face is not only your own
misfortune, but other people's too. But it will never do for your
father to see Mr. Davenport. He went off in a very bad temper this
morning, and if he comes back and finds him here, there'll be a
scene."
Miss Templeton and Gladys consulted together for some minutes, and
then decided to send for a taxi and have Shiel conveyed back to his
rooms, Miss Templeton accompanying him.
Miss Templeton knew that Shiel was poor, but like most people who have
lived in comfortable surroundings all their lives, she had no idea of
what poverty was like--the poverty of a seven-and-sixpenny a week room
in a back street; and when she saw it she nearly swooned.
"Why this is a slum!" she ejaculated as the taxi stopped next door to
a fried fish shop in a narrow street swarming with children sucking
bread and jam, and rolling each other over in the gutters.
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