"Sit
down, if you have a few minutes to spare."
I said it was for a talk that I had come; and there, in the dark
room, lighted only by the street lamp without, she told me all.
And at the end she dropped her head on her bare arms; and I turned
away and looked out of the window for a while.
"I feel so ridiculous," she said, rising and coming towards me. "I
sit here all the evening dressed like this. I'm afraid I don't act
my part very well; but, fortunately, dear Billy never was much of a
judge of art, and it is good enough for him. I tell him the most
awful lies about what everybody has said to me, and what I've said
to everybody, and how my gowns were admired. What do you think of
this one?"
For answer I took the privilege of a friend.
"I'm glad you think well of me," she said. "Billy has such a high
opinion of you. You will hear some funny tales. I'm glad you
know."
I had to leave London again, and Billy died before I returned. I
heard that she had to be fetched from a ball, and was only just in
time to touch his lips before they were cold. But her friends
excused her by saying that the end had come very suddenly.
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