Laetitia had arrived before she left. Roger had taken charge of it, and invested it so favorably, that it threatened to double itself before ever Laetitia entered the school, laughingly he told Sheilah one day.
It became a source of constant joy to Roger to be able to help Sheilah a little materially. He wished it might be more. But he mustn't arouse her suspicions. She would never take money from him, even as a loan. She wasn't suspicious in the least, and as long as he kept his hands off her, he considered his deception perfectly ethical. But one night his hands strayed—his arms too. It wasn't premeditated. It just happened. Perhaps it had to happen.
It was after the theater one night in late March. He had never taken Sheilah to the theater before. There was a play that came to town which he wanted her to see, and to see with him. There was a beautiful moonlight scene in it between two lovers. Roger asked Felix too. They all went together.
Roger fully expected to say good-night to Sheilah at the door of the waiting Ford outside the theater. But the Ford wouldn't start. Felix didn't know what the matter was with the car. He couldn't say how long it would take him to fix it. It was late and raining. The result was, Roger took Sheilah home in his car which was just around the corner.
He was terribly conscious of her, seated in the low seat of the car beside him, the rain-splashed wind-