If he went round to the box and made sure if it were Ashton, perhaps that would be the best way; he could manage to give him the tip then to keep out of the way. He half rose in his seat, but Esther moved at once, laying her fingers on his arm.
"Oh, don't go--don't leave me here," she said tremulously.
It was not the man himself she wanted, but his presence somehow gave her a feeling of confidence; if, indeed, it was Raymond up there in the box. She tried to argue herself out of the fancy; he would have let her know if he had come to London--surely she would have been the first to whom he would have come; she was mad to ever think the man up there in the background could be Raymond.
But the conviction was there in her mind.
"It is he--I know it's he," something in her heart was saying over and over again obstinately.
The rest of the play seemed endless; she rose with a quick breath of thankfulness when it was over.
"You are in a hurry," June said. "Haven't you enjoyed it?"
"Yes, oh yes, but it's hot--I want to get out."
Micky was deliberately being as slow as he could--he blocked the way out obstinately; the stalls were almost empty when at last they left them.
"Micky--is--Esther ill? Look how white she is."
Esther was some little way ahead of them; she seemed to be trying to get out as quickly as possible.
"It's too hot for her, poor darling!" June said. "Micky----"
"It's not that," he said, "but Ashton was up in that box with his mother, and she saw him."
"Micky----" He silenced her with a frown. He followed Esther as quickly as he could, but she was outside in the cold night air before he overtook her. There was a crowd here too--rows of cars and carriages outside, and women in thin evening frocks and furs shivering in the cold wind.
Micky drew Esther's hand through his arm.
"We shall find our cab this way, I think," he said evenly.
He had seen Mrs. Ashton only a few yards away, and he dreaded every moment that Esther would see her, and see, too, who was with her.
A sudden block in the crowd momentarily hindered them, and in that second a man's light laugh rang out above the noise and chatter of voices.
Micky felt the girl beside him give a convulsive start. She tried to drag her fingers from his, but he held them fast.