Ye see, miss," added the man, with a certain rough consideration for her disappointment, "that's mebbe why he clean forgot to leave a message." Mrs.Barker turned away, and ascended the stairs.

Selfishness is quick to recognize selfishness, and she saw in a flash the reason of Van Loo's abandonment of her.

Some fear of discovery had alarmed him; perhaps Steptoe knew her husband; perhaps he had heard of Mrs.Horncastle's possession of the sitting-room; perhaps--for she had not seen him since their playful struggle at the door--he had recognized the woman who was there, and the selfish coward had run away.

Yes; Mrs.Horncastle was right: she had been only a miserable dupe.
Her cheeks blazed as she entered the room she had just quitted, and threw herself in a chair by the window.

She bit her lip as she remembered how for the last three months she had been slowly yielding to Van Loo's cautious but insinuating solicitation, from a flirtation in the San Francisco hotel to a clandestine meeting in the street; from a ride in the suburbs to a supper in a fast restaurant after the theatre.
Other women did it who were fashionable and rich, as Van Loo had pointed out to her.