her re-opening the subject pointed to an already existing indecision. But her final answer, when it came, was not in the least what he expected.
' And I refuse finally to help you,' she said. ' If you wish, I will discuss the dresses.'
Bilton would never have made himself so successful a career as he had had he not possessed to a very high degree the power of concentrating his mind on one thing, to the complete exclusion of other preoccupations, and for the next half-hour no cloud of what had happened crossed in his mind the very clear sky of the new play's prospects. He was able to give his whole and complete attention to it, until between them they had settled what he desired to settle. Then, since, like all other days, it was a busy day with him, he rose.
' Good-bye, Dorothy,' he said, ' and don't overdo it.'
Once again she wavered.
' And do you forgive me?' she asked.
' Not in the least. But I don't imagine you care.'
' But I do care.'
He drew on his gloves with great precision.
' I beg your pardon; if you really cared you would do as I ask,' he said. ' Good-bye. I shall be at the theatre this evening.'
She let him go without further words, and, in spite of the heat, he walked briskly down Fifth Avenue. He was not a forgiving man, and though he would not put himself out to revenge himself on anyone, since he had more lucrative ways of employing his time and energies, he was perfectly ready, even anxious, to do her an ill-turn if he had the opportunity. And certainly it seemed to him that there was a handle ready to his grasping when he remembered the torn note from Bertie Keynes which he had picked up in the grate. How exactly to use it he did not at present see, but it seemed to him an asset.
