The Tempting of Tavernake | Page 5

"We don't want any of
her sort here--not those who've got things of value about them. I bet she
didn't leave America for nothing."
A little gray-haired lady, who had not as yet spoken, and who very
seldom took part in any discussion at all, looked up from her knitting.
She was desperately poor but she had charitable instincts.
"I wonder what made her want to steal," she remarked quietly.
"A born thief," Mrs. Fitzgerald declared with conviction,--"a real bad
lot. One of your sly-looking ones, I call her."
The little lady sighed.
"When I was better off," she continued, "I used to help at a soup
kitchen in Poplar. I have never forgotten a certain look we used to see
occasionally in the faces of some of the men and women. I found out
what it meant--it was hunger. Once or twice lately I have passed the
girl who has just gone out, upon the stairs, and she almost frightened
me. She had just the same look in her eyes. I noticed it yesterday--it
was just before dinner, too -- but she never came down."

"She paid so much for her room and extra for meals," Mrs. Lawrence
said thoughtfully. "She never would have a meal unless she paid for it
at the time. To tell you the truth, I was feeling a bit uneasy about her.
She hasn't been in the diningroom for two days, and from what they tell
me there's no signs of her having eaten anything in her room. As for
getting anything out, why should she? It would be cheaper for her here
than anywhere, if she'd got any money at all."
There was an uncomfortable silence. The little old lady with the
knitting looked down the street into the sultry darkness which had
swallowed up the girl.
"I wonder whether Mr. Tavernake knows anything about her," some
one suggested.
But Tavernake was not in the room.
CHAPTER II
A TETE-A-TETE SUPPER
Tavernake caught her up in New Oxford Street and fell at once into
step with her. He wasted no time whatever upon preliminaries.
"I should be glad," he said, "if you would tell me your name."
Her first glance at him was fierce enough to have terrified a different
sort of man. Upon Tavernake it had absolutely no effect.
"You need not unless you like, of course," he went on, "but I wish to
talk to you for a few moments and I thought that it would be more
convenient if I addressed you by name. I do not remember to have
heard it mentioned at Blenheim House, and Mrs. Lawrence, as you
know, does not introduce her guests."
By this time they had walked a score or so of paces together. The girl,
after her first furious glance, had taken absolutely no notice of him
except to quicken her pace a little. Tavernake remained by her side,

however, showing not the slightest sense of embarrassment or
annoyance. He seemed perfectly content to wait and he had not in the
least the appearance of a man who could be easily shaken off. From a
fit of furious anger she passed suddenly and without warning to a state
of half hysterical amusement.
"You are a foolish, absurd person," she declared. "Please go away. I do
not wish you to walk with me."
Tavernake remained imperturbable. She remembered suddenly his
intervention on her behalf.
"If you insist upon knowing," she said, "my name at Blenheim House
was Beatrice Burnay. I am much obliged to you for what you did for
me there, but that is finished. I do not wish to have any conversation
with you, and I absolutely object to your company. Please leave me at
once."
"I am sorry," he answered, "but that is not possible."
"Not possible?" she repeated, wonderingly.
He shook his head.
"You have no money, you have eaten no dinner, and I do not believe
that you have any idea where you are going," he declared, deliberately.
Her face was once more dark with anger.
"Even if that were the truth," she insisted, "tell me what concern it is of
yours? Your reminding me of these facts is simply an impertinence."
"I am sorry that you look upon it in that light," he remarked, still
without the least sign of discomposure. "We will, if you do not mind,
waive the discussion for the moment. Do you prefer a small restaurant
or a corner in a big one? There is music at Frascati's but there are not so
many people in the smaller ones."
She turned half around upon the pavement and looked at him

steadfastly. His personality was at last beginning to interest her. His
square jaw and measured speech were indices of a character at least
unusual. She recognized certain