Adrien Leroy | Page 7

folded arms and his
inevitable, but significant, smile on his face.

CHAPTER III
The night was bitterly cold; but, disdaining a taxi for so short a distance,
Leroy buttoned up his coat and strode swiftly along towards his
chambers in Jermyn Court, W. As he turned the corner of the square, he
stumbled sharply over the slight figure of a girl, crouched near one of
the doorsteps, and, with his habitual courtesy, he stopped to see if any
harm had been done.
"Have I hurt you?" he asked gently, placing his hand on her shoulder.
At his touch the girl started up with a cry of distress; and, as the shawl
fell back from her head, Leroy was almost startled by the vivid
freshness of her beauty.

"Oh," she exclaimed in terrified accents, "I wasn't doing any harm! I
will move on--I--I was only resting." Then, as she saw the kindly face
looking into hers, she subsided into silence.
She was quite young, not more than about sixteen, and so slenderly
formed as to appear almost a child. Her features were clear-cut as a
cameo and she had a slightly foreign air. Her eyes were brown, but as
the light of the gas-lamp fell full on her upturned face, they showed so
dark and velvety as almost to appear black, while masses of dark hair
clustered in heavy waves round her forehead.
Unconsciously Leroy raised his hat as he repeated his question. She
shook her head at him as he bent over her, but made no reply.
"How is it you are out on such a night as this?" he asked. "Have you no
home? Where do you live?"
"Cracknell Court, Soho," she replied, in tones singularly free from any
trace of Cockney accent.
"With your parents?" queried Leroy, feeling for some money.
"No," said the girl, her red lips quivering for a moment. "Haven't got
any--only Johann and Martha--and they don't care."
"Who is Johann?" said Leroy, with an encouraging smile.
"I don't know," she answered listlessly. "He's Johann Wilfer, that's all."
"Why have you run away, then?"
"Johann came home drunk and beat me--so I ran out."
She pushed back her ragged shawl and held up her arm, on which
bruises showed up cruelly distinct. Leroy uttered an exclamation of
anger.
"You poor child!" he said almost tenderly. "What can I do for you? If I
give you money----"

"Johann will take it and make me beg for more," she interrupted; and
Leroy withdrew his hand from his pocket, fearing this to be but too
true.
"Will you go home, if I take you?" he began.
The girl shook her head, and dragged the old shawl closer round her
shivering body.
"Not till morning," she said decidedly. "I shall be all right then."
"But you'll freeze to death here!"
She laughed harshly.
"I wish I was dead," she said, with an earnestness that made Leroy's
heart ache, as he thought of her extreme youth and saw the bitter
despair in the great dark eyes.
He drew himself up sharply as if he had decided on his course of
action.
"I cannot leave you here," he said quietly, "and money is of no use to
you to-night. Will you come with me?" He held out his hand as he
spoke, and, without a word, the girl rose wearily and laid her own cold
one in his. They proceeded thus, in silence, for the length of the square;
but Leroy soon saw that, whether, from cold or from hunger, the girl's
steps were growing feebler and more uncertain. Without further ado, he
picked her up in his arms, wrapping her shawl more warmly round her.
"We are nearly there," he said reassuringly, "and you are as light as a
feather."
She lay back, perfectly content, her head pressed against his broad
shoulder, her dark eyes closed trustfully.
Adrien Leroy hurried on, for the wind cut with the force of a knife; but
his face was very thoughtful as he approached his chambers.

"What else can I do?" he asked himself. "She is such an innocent child.
Can I take her to my rooms without injury to her poor shred of
reputation? Yet no houses are open at this hour, and I cannot hand her
over to that drunken brute. There's no help for it!"
It evidently never occurred to him to turn back and deliver her into the
charge of Miss Lester. Indeed, he thought that would have been greater
cruelty than to have left her in the streets.
Having reached the block of buildings in which were his own rooms,
Adrien walked up the stairs and opened a door on the first floor. In the
hall a light was burning, held by a statuette of white marble; and Leroy,
after gently