Alpha Book

Is it so very dreadful? Have I offended
you? . . . I did not suppose that men cared about conventions."
"But--why on earth--did you come?" he repeated. "Are you in trouble?"
"I seem to be now," she said with a tremulous laugh; "you are
frightening me to death, Captain Selwyn."
Still dazed, he found the first chair at hand and dragged it toward her.
She hesitated at the offer; then: "Thank you," she said, passing before
him. She laid her hand on the chair, looked a moment at him, and sank
into it.
Resting there, her pale cheek against her muff, she smiled at him, and
every nerve in him quivered with pity.
"World without end; amen," she said. "Let the judgment of man pass."
"The judgment of this man passes very gently," he said, looking down at
her. "What brings you here, Mrs. Ruthven?"
"Will you believe me?"
"Yes."
"Then--it is simply the desire of the friendless for a friend. Nothing
else--nothing more subtle, nothing of effrontery; n-nothing worse.


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