telegram? She expected him, the next thing, to go into the corner and
make up one of his telegrams--half a dozen of them--on purpose to prolong
his presence. She had so completely stopped looking at him that she
could only guess his movements--guess even where his eyes rested. Finally
she saw him make a dash that might have been toward the nook where the
forms were hung; and at this she suddenly felt that she couldn't keep it
up. The counter-clerk had just taken a telegram from a slavey, and, to
give herself something to cover her, she snatched it out of his hand. The
gesture was so violent that he gave her in return an odd look, and she
also perceived that Mr. Buckton noticed it. The latter personage, with a
quick stare at her, appeared for an instant to wonder whether his
snatching it in _his_ turn mightn't be the thing she would least like,
and she anticipated this practical criticism by the frankest glare she
had ever given him. It sufficed: this time it paralysed him; and she
sought with her trophy the refuge of the sounder.




CHAPTER XXI


It was repeated the next day; it went on for three days; and at the end
of that time she knew what to think. When, at the beginning, she had
emerged from her temporary shelter Captain Everard had quitted the shop;
and he had not come again that evening, as it had struck her he possibly
might--might all the more easily that there were numberless persons who
came, morning and afternoon, numberless times, so that he wouldn't
necessarily have attracted attention. The second day it was different
and yet on the whole worse. His access to her had become possible--she