The Red Rat’s Daughter

nd dodged his way in and out of the traffic through Kensington Gore and the High Street. By the time they reached the t

et which was his destination, all his confidence vanished, and he became as nervo

if I can see the houses, much less the numbers. Forty-three may be here,

,” said Browne. “I’l

ut it is quite certain that when he did get down he handed the driver half-a-sovereign. With the characteristic honest

dding, with fine cynicism, “Put it into

ty “Thank ye, sir; good-night,”

o. 43,” sa

ilding standing back from the street, and boasted a small garden in front. The door was placed at the side. He approached it and rang the bell. A moment later he found himself standing face to face with the girl he had rescued on the Gieranger Fjord seven months before.

usual with him. But before he had finished speaking she had uttered a little exclama

eed, for not recognising you. You must think me

” the young man replied. “I could not re

ossibly have heard of me! I thought myself so insignificant tha

have discredited a State secret. Then he made haste to add, “I ca

r forgotten it,” she answered. “

ut I don’t know why I should keep you standi

accordingly followed her into the la

chair by the fire. “It is so cold and foggy ou

yet, on this occasion, so little was he responsible for

English or the Russian way? Here is a teapot, and here a samova

n in the mere swish of her skirts as she moved about the room, and a pleasure that he had never known before in the movement of her slender hands above the tray. And when, their tea finished, she brought him a case of cigarettes, and bade him smoke if he cared to, it might very well have been said that that studio contained the happiest man in England. Outside, they could hear the steady patter of the rain, and the rattle of traffic reached them from the High Street; but inside there was a silence of a Norwegian fjord, and the memory of one hour that never could be effaced from their recollections as long as they both should live. Under the influence of the tea, and with the assistance of the cigarette, which she insisted he should smoke, Browne gradually recovered his presence of mind. One thing, however, puzzled him. He remembere

ernstein and I have our lodgings in the Warwick Road. I hope you did not

. He was wise enough, however, not to say so. He changed the conversation, therefore, by informing her that he had

colour as she spoke. “You do not know, perhaps, why I say this. But I

e given utterance to that foolish speech. He apologised immediat

amily are supposed to be very dangerous persons. I do not think, with one exception, we are more so than our neighbours; but, as the law now s

side him, trembled in its saucer. Unable to trust himself any further in that direction, he talked of London, of the weather, of anything that occurred to him; curiously enough, however, he did not mention his proposed departure for the Mediterranean on the morrow. In his heart he had an uneasy feeling that he ha

and I should be sitting here like this! I had no idea, when we ba

t he failed to add why he was so sure. “Is

be here some weeks; we may be only a few

stein?” he said,

kes our arrangements. You ha

e that he was at all interested; now, however, since it appeared that madame contr

continued to chat; then Bro

f I were to call upon you again

he answered, with charming frankness

dea so magnificent, so delightful,

u and Madame Bernstein amuse yourselves in the eveni

have never been inside a the

you to one,” he answered. “I might write to Madame Bernstein

nd I know that I should enjoy it immens

” he said gratefully. “Then I will arrange

nd held out her little hand

air. It was a good suggestion, that one about the theatre, he said to himself, and he would take care that they enjoyed themselves. He would endeavour to obtain the best box at the opera; they were playing Lohengrin at the time, he remembered. He would send one of his own carriages to meet them, and it should take them home again. Then a still more brilliant idea occurred to him.

an escort. By Jove! Jimmy called me mad, did he? Well, I’ll be rev