Here the butler hesitated an instant and added: "And he said for me to try to remember three letters I was to mention--said you would understand."
"Yes, sir, three letters--I did remember 'em, too, because they happened to be the initials of a young woman I--h'm! Q. E. D., sir."
"Q. E. D.?" I said, puzzled and miserable. "What's Q. E. D.?" And then an idea startled me.
"Oh I _say_, you mean--er--P. D. Q.--eh, Wilkes?" It sounded like Jack!
But he seemed sure he didn't; insisted on Q. E. D. When he had withdrawn, I sat there a moment, swallowing hard. By Jove, when a chap has had the hardest blow of his life, and that, too, from his best friend, it's devilish hard to come up smiling. I took a deep breath and tried to pull myself together. I knew, of course, it was all over--everything; it was all over, just as everything was beginning with me. For I knew my life never had been worth a whoop before. Why, by Jove, I never even noticed how beautiful were the trees and the sunshine through the leaves until the last two days! But I _had_ seen it, because _she_ had seen it! And now--now it was all dull and flat and dead again, and all the world was gray! Ever been there--eh?
I climbed heavily to my feet, for I knew, after all, he was acting devilish considerately as _he_ saw things, and I must just have the decency to do as he said--and then go. I couldn't explain, of course. Mustn't try to do that--so dashed clumsy, I would only complicate it for her. No, I--By Jove, I suddenly felt sick. Sat there, doubled forward, my head between my hands, as the butler retired, softly closing the door behind him.
Presently I pulled myself together. Jenkins, as he helped me dress, eyed me in a frightened way, his face kind of pale and greenish. Neither of us said a word, but I knew I had _his_ sympathy, poor fellow--and it helped! Then, with the parcel in my hand, I marched slowly down the stairs, forgetting even some instructions I should have given Jenkins.
She was there in the living-room--she and the frump. And when I saw her dear face and realized what disaster had come between us, I felt things whirling around me like a jolly what's-its-name and dropped my hand on a chair-back hard, until I could stiffen and smile up. But, by Jove, she was on!