That sense returned upon her now as she stood timidly by the door through which she had come, watching the beams of an April sun, almost as shy as herself, weave an aureole for him. Here was the god of her dreams; she who lately had known no god and who long ago had taught herself to despise all forms of dreaming.
At last he turned and saw her.
"You!" He sprang towards her with an eager cry.
Brilliant stage management. But by fate's perversity, the players, somehow, were not quite equal to their parts. June's shy timidity communicated itself at once to this sensitive plant. There was not a ghost of a reason why he should not have taken her in his arms, for he had come to love her tenderly. The act had been devised for him, the deed expected, but this young man was less wise in some things than in others. Deep as he could look into hidden mysteries, there was certainly one mystery whose heart he could not read.
June's odd confusion summoned a mistaken chivalry. Broken in spirit, poor soul, by what she had been through, she could no longer defend herself; he must be, therefore, very gentle. It would have been easier to tackle the Miss June of New Cross Street, the rather imperious and sharp-tongued niece of his late employer, than this quivering storm-beaten flower.
With all his genius it was to be feared he would always be a Sawney.
"How are you getting on Miss June?" he said lamely. "You look very thin, but you've got quite a colour."
Something of the gawklike New Cross Street manner, which compared ill with Miss Babraham's tact and finesse was in this greeting. Phœbus Apollo took a
