Adrien Leroy | Page 9

we won't turn you out to-night," he promised.
"To-morrow, we will see what can be done to make your road softer in
future."
She did not understand half his words; but as with an almost womanly
tenderness he placed a silken cushion beneath her head, she nestled
down, smiling into his eyes with the gratitude of a child that neither
questions nor doubts. To her he appeared like a being from another
world--a world or which she had scarcely dared to dream, and her eyes
were eloquent.
Adrien Leroy stood for a little while watching her, till her gentle
breathing showed him she had fallen asleep.
"A beautiful child," he said under his breath. "She will be a still more
beautiful woman." He sighed. "Poor little thing! Rich and poor, young
and old, how soon the world's poison reaches us!" Then, throwing a
tiger-skin over the slender body, he turned out the lights and left the
room. Summoning Norgate, he gave instructions that his nocturnal
visitor should not be disturbed in the morning by the housekeeper, but
should be allowed to sleep on. Then he made his way to his own room,
not long before the dawn broke.
He had befriended this young human thing as he would have rescued a
wounded bird, and with as little thought for the consequences; yet the
day was to come when he should look back on this action as one
inspired, in very truth, by his guardian angel.

CHAPTER IV
The sun had risen cold and bright when Adrien Leroy awoke, and his
first question was for the child, Jessica. But here a surprise awaited him,
for the bird had flown. Norgate and the housekeeper had found the
room tenantless. For some inexplicable reasons of her own she must
have stolen noiselessly out while the other occupants of the flat were
still sleeping.
Adrien made no comment, but proceeded to undergo the labours of the
toilet. A cold bath is an excellent tonic; and when Leroy entered the
dining-room his calm face bore no traces of his comparatively sleepless
night. He sat down to breakfast, waited on by the attentive Norgate, and
turned over the heap of letters which lay beside his plate. During his
leisured meal he opened them. They were principally invitations,
though a few of them were bills--big sums, many of them, for horses,
dinner-parties, supper-parties, jewellery, flowers--all the
hundred-and-one trifles which were as necessary to a man in his
position as light and air.
With a gesture of weariness, he pushed the pile from him, and throwing
them carelessly into the drawer of a buhl cabinet, left them until such
time as Jasper Vermont could attend to them.
"Where do I dine to-night?" he asked presently.
"At the Marquis of Heathcotes', sir--at eight," replied Norgate, who
knew his master's engagements better than did the young man himself.
Leroy nodded absently.
"Order the new motor for four o'clock. I want to see how it goes."
"Yes, sir." The confidential servant coughed and looked slightly
embarrassed. "I may mention, sir, that Perrier has sent in his account
for the costumes made for the Fancy Dress Carnival at Prince's."

"Refer him to Mr. Vermont," was the calm reply. "I have sir, several
times, but he wants to see you personally. It's a matter of discount----"
"Send him to Mr. Vermont. I know nothing of his bill or his discount.
Surely you know that, Norgate," Leroy interrupted impatiently.
The discreet Norgate retreated silently; and ten minutes later Leroy
started for his morning canter in the Row. Here, meeting and chatting
with his numerous friends, the morning passed quickly enough; and
when Leroy returned to his chambers again, Norgate was putting the
finishing touches to the table already set for lunch.
"Covers for four?" said his master, as he entered the room. "Who is
coming?"
"Mr. Shelton, Lord Standon, and Mr. Paxhorn, sir."
"Ah, yes, to be sure," replied the host, who had completely forgotten
the invitation. "I thought it was for to-morrow."
The loud hoot of a motor outside told him that his visitors were arriving;
and in another moment the door was flung open, and Mortimer Shelton,
followed by Lord Standon, entered the room.
"Well, Leroy, old man," exclaimed the former cheerily, as they shook
hands, "you look as fresh as if you had awoke with the dawn!"
"Nothing new in that," said Lord Standon, laughing. "Nothing upsets
Leroy."
"Except a bad dinner," murmured Algernon Paxhorn, the fourth
member of the party, who had just entered the room. He was the latest
literary lion, and a fast friend--in more senses than one--of Adrien and
the members of his set.
With jest and laughter they took their places at the table.
"Well, how's the steeplechase going?" asked Leroy, turning to Shelton.
"What do you think