’I wish to tell you that I bear no malice for what you did.  I recognize the justice of your anger.’

Arthur did not answer at all.  Haddo hesitated a moment, while his eyes rested on them quietly.  To Susie it seemed that they flickered with the shadow of a smile.  She watched him with bewildered astonishment.

He reached for his hat, bowed again, and went.

8

Susie could not persuade herself that Haddo’s regret was sincere.  The humility of it aroused her suspicion.  She could not get out of her mind the ugly slyness of that smile which succeeded on his face the first passionate look of deadly hatred.  Her fancy suggested various dark means whereby Oliver Haddo might take vengeance on his enemy, and she was at pains to warn Arthur.  But he only laughed.

‘The man’s a funk,’ he said.  ’Do you think if he’d had anything in him at all he would have let me kick him without trying to defend himself?’

Haddo’s cowardice increased the disgust with which Arthur regarded him.  He was amused by Susie’s trepidation.

’What on earth do you suppose he can do?  He can’t drop a brickbat on my head.  If he shoots me he’ll get his head cut off, and he won’t be such an ass as to risk that!’

Margaret was glad that the incident had relieved them of Oliver’s society.  She met him in the street a couple of days later, and since he took off his hat in the French fashion without waiting for her to acknowledge him, she was able to make her cut more pointed.

She began to discuss with Arthur the date of their marriage.  It seemed to her that she had got out of Paris all it could give her, and she wished to begin a new life.  Her love for Arthur appeared on a sudden more urgent, and she was filled with delight at the thought of the happiness she would give him.

A day or two later Susie received a telegram.  It ran as follows: 

Please meet me at the Gare du Nord, 2:40.

Nancy Clerk

It was an old friend, who was apparently arriving in Paris that afternoon.  A photograph of her, with a bold signature, stood on the chimney-piece, and Susie gave it an inquisitive glance.  She had not seen Nancy for so long that it surprised her to receive this urgent message.

‘What a bore it is!’ she said.  ‘I suppose I must go.’

They meant to have tea on the other side of the river, but the journey to the station was so long that it would not be worth Susie’s while to come back in the interval; and they arranged therefore to meet at the house to which they were invited.  Susie started a little before two.

Margaret had a class that afternoon and set out two or three minutes later.  As she walked through the courtyard she started nervously, for Oliver Haddo passed slowly by.  He did not seem to see her.  Suddenly he stopped, put his hand to his heart, and fell heavily to the ground.  The concierge, the only person at hand, ran forward with a cry.  She knelt down and, looking round with terror, caught sight of Margaret.