And then, unable to express what she felt, what she thought, any better than he had done, she turned abruptly away and sat down again.

There was silence for a few moments, and then she heard the door close. 
Looking round, she saw that he had left the room.

CHAPTER VI.

The little stone passage.

Queenie kept Dudley’s half-confessed secret to herself for the whole of that day.  She was hoping against hope that he would change his mind again and speak to Doreen himself.  Since there must be a definite and final breach, she thought it would be better for the principals themselves to come to an understanding, without the intervention of outsiders.  She would have told him so, but she got no further opportunity of speaking to him alone.

The day passed uncomfortably for everybody, although the only person who gave vent to his feelings by open ill-temper was Mr. Wedmore, who was waiting for the promised explanation which Dudley never attempted to give.  And before dinner-time that evening the young barrister returned to town.

Mr. Wedmore, who had been out shooting with Doctor Haselden, was furious, on returning home, to learn of Dudley’s departure.

“He has left a note for you, papa, in the study,” said Doreen, who was, perhaps, a little paler than usual, but who gave no other outward sign of her feelings.

Her father went into the study, after a glance at his daughter, and read the letter.  It was not a very long one.  Following the lines of his guarded confession to Queenie, Dudley expressed the sorrow he felt at having to give up the hopes he had had of being something more than the mere old friend he had been for so many years.  He had thought it better, at the last, to say this on paper instead of by word of mouth, and he ended by expressing the deep gratitude he should always feel for the kindness shown to him by Mr. Wedmore and all his family during the happiest period of his life.

Mr. Wedmore read this letter with little astonishment.  It was, in fact, what he had been prepared to hear.  He read it to his wife, who cried a great deal, but acquiesced in her husband’s desire that Dudley should drop not only out of the ranks of their intimate friends, but even, as much as possible, out of their conversation.

“Let us do our best,” said he, “to make Doreen forget him.”

Mr. Wedmore showed the letter also to Doctor Haselden, who, perhaps, from pure love of contradiction, persisted in maintaining that the letter confessed nothing, and that the cause of the young man’s withdrawal was, in all probability, quite different from what Mr. Wedmore supposed.  The two gentlemen had quite a wrangle over the matter, at the end of which each was settled more firmly in his own opinion than before.

When they went upstairs for the night, Doreen came to Queenie’s room and demanded to know what her younger sister and Dudley had been talking about so earnestly in the breakfast-room that morning.