"Read it! read it! Oh, Micky, you have been a fool!" she said furiously. "It's all your fault. I knew what would happen----"
"Oh, for heaven's sake shut up," said Micky.
He had unfolded the paper, and there was a moment's tragic silence as he read the three lines Esther had scribbled.
"I have gone to Paris; I can't live without him any longer. Please don't worry about me...."
Twice his lips moved, but no words would come, then he broke out in a strangled voice--
"It's a joke--of course it is. She's done it to frighten us. Why, I--I only left her here half-an-hour ago--it can't be more. It's a joke--of--of course it is ... June...."
"A queer sort of joke," said June sobbing. "Poor darling! and a nice sort of reception she'll get when she reaches Paris with that cad there...."
"She'll never find him; she doesn't know where he is," Micky said hoarsely. There was a stunned look in his eyes--he took a step towards the door and came back again as if he did not know what to do.
June was drying her eyes and shedding more tears and drying them again; she looked at Micky angrily.
"Of course she'll find him," she said tartly. "She knows his address; the brute's written to her dozens of times, and she's written to him as well...." Her eyes searched his face with a sort of contempt.
"Well, what are you going to do now you've made such a glorious hash of everything?" she demanded.
"I don't know. I'm trying to think. She can't have been gone long. She may still be in the village." He dragged out his watch. "There may not have been a train up to London--"
"Yes, there was; the twelve-twenty----" The eyes of both of them turned to the clock, and Micky gave a smothered groan.
"She must have gone by that. I must follow her, of course."
"I'll come with you; I'll put on my hat again----" She made a dive for the door, but Micky caught her arm and stopped her.
"You can't; I can't take you with me. Be sensible, June--I'll find her and bring her back----"
"She's my friend, and it's all your fault she's got into this mess. I told you not to interfere, and you wouldn't listen----"
It was a woman all over to rave at him now, but Micky took it patiently.
"Very well, it's my fault, and as it's my fault it's up to me to try and put things right. Don't waste time arguing--if I'm to catch her before she leaves England...."