The World, the Flesh, and the Devil. 5
tance, he saw the form and face he was seeking—a tall, dark
woman, with proudly poised head and splendid eyes, who walked
with leisurely step, and tossed her parasol to and fro with a move¬
ment eminently expressive of ennui.
She was walking with a young man who was supposed to be a
fast ascending star in the heaven of literature—a young man who
was something of a journalist, and something of a poet, who wrote
short stories in the magazines, was believed to contribute to Punch,
and was said to have written a three-volume novel. But however
brilhantly this young gentleman may have been talking, Edith
Champion had evidently had enough of him, for at sight of
Hillersdon her face lighted up, and she held out her hand in eager
welcome.
They clasped hands, and he turned back and walked on hei
right in silence, while the journalist prattled on her left. Presently
they met another trio of a mother and daughters, and the journalist
was absorbed and swept along by this female brood, leaving Mrs.
Champion and Hillersdon tete-a-tete.
" I thought you were not coming," she said.
" Did you doubt I should be here after you had told me I should
see you ? I want to see as much of you as possible to-day."
" Why to-day more than all other days ? "
" Because it is my last day in town,"
" What, you are leaving so soon ? Before Goodwood ? "
" I don't care two straws for Goodwood,"
" Nor do I. But why bury one's self in the country or at some
German bath too early in the year? Autumn is always long
enough. One need not anticipate it. Is your doctor sending you
away ? Are you going for your cure ? "
"Yes, I am going for my cure."
" Where ? "
" Immerschlafenbad," he answered, inventing a name on the
instant,
" I never heard of the place. One of those new springs whicli
doctors are always developing, no doubt. Every fashionable
l)hysician has his particular fad in the way of a watering-place.
And you are really going to-mon-ow ? "
" To-morrow I shall be gone,"
"How shall I live without you?" she sighed, with the prettiest
skin-deep sentiment, which wounded him almost more than her
disdain could have done, " At least I must have all your society
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