"I'm not done yet, anyway," he told himself. "After all--let the best man win."
He felt that he had decided a question of great importance as he went back to his rooms; it was a pleasant surprise to find Driver there; Micky beamed.
The man took Micky's hat and coat, and turned to go.
"Everything all right?" he asked, with a touch of anxiety.
"Yes, sir, and had it weighed...." There was a little pause.
"Is that all?" Micky asked. "Nothing else happened?"
"I should have got in this morning, sir, but we had a rough crossing, and I was ill----"
"Yes, sir--I met Mr. Ashton in Paris. He seemed very surprised to see me there without you, sir."
Micky's face changed; he had not counted on this.
"Good Lord!" he said. "You didn't tell him you----?"
"I never tell anybody anything, sir," he said woodenly.
"Alone at the hotel, but I saw him out driving twice with the same lady, sir."
"You saw him out twice--driving with the same lady?" Micky echoed the man's words vaguely. "All right--you can go."
"Thank you, sir." Driver departed, closing the door noiselessly.
Ashton had soon found consolation, Micky thought savagely. He wondered what Esther would say if she could know. What was Driver thinking about it all? Driver was safe as the Bank of England; but, all the same, it was not altogether pleasant to feel that he had had to give himself away to his valet.
He looked up at the clock. Past nine! So there would not be another post in to-night.
Esther had not answered his note, and two whole days had elapsed.
Micky began pacing the room. Why had she so suddenly thrown him over, he wondered miserably.
He could not imagine what he had done to offend her.
He hardly knew how the days had passed since New Year's Eve. He had not visited any of his old haunts or seen any of his friends. It almost seemed as if he had opened the book of a new life and forgotten about the old.
She might have answered his letter. Dash it all! he wasn't just a bounder who had spoken to her for his own amusement. He kicked a hassock out of his way and went to bed.
If he didn't hear in the morning, he would risk it and go round to see her. At the worst she could only have the door shut in his face....
"And even then----" he told his reflection in the mirror fiercely, as he struggled with a stud. "Even then I'm not done--and I'll show her that I'm not...."