The Second Latchkey | Page 6

"Was this table taken in his name or yours? Or, perhaps--but no, I'm
sure you're not!"
"Sure I'm not what?"
"Married. You're a girl. Your eyes haven't got any experience of life in
them."
Annesley looked down; and when she looked down her face was very
sweet. She had long, curved brown lashes a shade or two darker than
her hair.
"I'm not married," she said, rather stiffly. "I thought a table had been
engaged in the name of Mr. Smith, but there was a misunderstanding.
The head waiter put me at this table in case Mr. Smith should come.
I've given him up now, and was going away when----"
"When you took pity on a nameless man. But it seems indicated that he
should be Mr. Smith, unless you have any objection!"
"No, I have none. You'd better take the name, as I mentioned it to the
waiter."
"And the first name?"
"I don't know. The initial I gave was N."
"Very well, I choose Nelson. Where do we live?"
Annesley stared, frightened.
"Forgive me," the man said. "I ought to have explained what I meant
before asking you that, or put the question another way. Will you go on
as you've begun, and trust me farther, by letting me drive with you to
your home, if necessary, in case of being followed? At worst, I'll need
to beg no more than to stand inside your front door for a few minutes if
we're watched, and--but I see that this time I have passed the limit. I'm

expecting too much! How do you know but I may be a thief or a
murderer?"
"I hadn't thought of such a thing," Annesley stammered. "I was only
thinking--it isn't my house. It doesn't even belong to my people. I live
with an old lady, Mrs. Ellsworth. I hope she'll be in bed when I get
back, and the servants, too. I have a key because--because I told a fib
about the place where I was going, and consequently Mrs. Ellsworth
approved. If she hadn't approved, I shouldn't have been allowed out. I
could let you stand inside the door. But if any one followed us to the
house, and saw the number, he could look in the directory, and find out
that it belonged to Mrs. Ellsworth, not Mr. Smith."
"He couldn't have a directory in his pocket! By the time he got hold of
one and could make any use of his knowledge, I'd be far away."
"Yes, I suppose you would," Annesley thought aloud, and a little voice
seemed to add sharply in her ear: "Far away out of my life."
This brought to her memory what she had in her excitement forgotten:
the adventure she had come out to meet had faded into thin air! The
unexpected one which had so startlingly taken its place would end
to-night, and she would be left to the dreary existence from which she
had tried to break free.
She was like a pebble that had succeeded in riding out to sea on a wave,
only to be washed back into its old place on the shore. The thought that,
after all, she had no change to look forward to, gave the girl a
passionate desire to make the most of this one living hour among many
that were born dead.
"Mrs. Ellsworth's house," she said, "is 22-A, Torrington Square."
"Thank you." Only these two words he spoke, but the eager dark eyes
seemed to add praise and blessings for her confidence.
"My name is Annesley Grayle," she volunteered, as if to prove to the
man and to herself how far she trusted him; also perhaps as a bid for his

name in payment of that trust. So at least he must have understood, for
he said: "If I don't tell you mine, it's for your own protection. I'm not
ashamed of it; but it's better that you shouldn't know--that if you heard
it suddenly, it should be strange to you, just like any other name. Don't
you see I'm right?"
"I dare say you are."
"Then we'll leave it at that. But we can't go on pretending to study this
menu for ever! You came to dine with Mr. Smith. You'll dine with his
understudy instead. You'll let me order dinner? It's part of the
programme."
"Very well," Annesley agreed.
The man nodded to the head-waiter, who had been interested in the
little drama indirectly stage-managed by him. Instead of sending a
subordinate, he came himself to take the order. With wonderful
promptness, considering that Mr. Smith's thoughts had not been near
the menu under his eyes, several dishes were chosen and a wine
selected.
"Madame is glad now that I persuaded her not to go?" the waiter could
not resist, and Annesley