The tambourine, he insisted, he could have explained by
saying he put up his hand to catch it and protect his head directly
Smithers moved. But the pneumatic glove there was no explaining. He
had made a chance for her to secure it when he had pretended to
faint. It was rubbish to say anyone could have been looking on the
table then--rubbish.
Beside that significant wreck of a pen stood a little carriage clock
in a case, and this suddenly lifted a slender voice and announced
_five_. She turned round on her stool and sat staring at the
clock. She smiled with the corners of her mouth down. "Home," she
said, "and begin again. It's like battledore and shuttlecock....
"I _was_ silly....
"I suppose I've brought it on myself. I ought to have picked it up, I
suppose. I had time....
"Cheats ... just cheats.
"I never thought I should see him again....
"He was ashamed, of course.... He had his own friends."
For a space she sat still, staring blankly before her. She sighed,
rubbed a knuckle in a reddened eye, rose.
She went into the hall, where her hat, transfixed by a couple of
hat-pins, hung above her jacket, assumed these garments, and let
herself out into the cold grey street.
She had hardly gone twenty yards from Lagune's door before she became
aware of a man overtaking her and walking beside her.
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