Could I marry him, I wonder, even
if there were no Gladys Martin? It is doubtful! Yet I believe I could.
But what is the good of conceiving impossibilities! There is a Gladys
Martin--and--I can never have Shiel. The only question I have to
settle is--Shall she have him? Shall I marry Kelson so that Martin can
marry Shiel?"
Lilian Rosenberg turned this question over in her mind for a whole day
and night, sometimes arriving at one decision, sometimes at another.
In the end--very elaborately dressed, and looking daintier than she
had ever done in her life, she waylaid Kelson and asked him to have
tea with her.
Any pretty face, accentuated by all the allurements of a large
mushroom hat and hobble skirt, was enough for Kelson; but when that
face belonged to the one girl for whom, above all other girls, he had
a colossal weakness, he simply could not feast his eyes enough on it.
"Have tea with you? Of course I will," he said. "But we must be
careful. Hamar is about. If you walk on up the Haymarket, I'll follow
in a taxi, and pick you up, directly I get to a safe distance."
"I see you are as much in awe of Mr. Hamar as ever," Lilian Rosenberg
laughed. "I'm not! I've found him out--he's all talk. But do as you
will--get your taxi and I'll walk on--we'll have tea in my new flat."
Kelson was so delighted he hardly knew if he stood on his head or his
heels. "You are prettier than ever," he said, as the taxi-door shut
and they sped away.
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