"Miss West, may I see you home?"
Before she could speak, could do more than look, Prosper Gael had
jumped in, the door slammed, the car began its whirr, and they were
gliding through the crowded, brilliant streets.
Joan had bent forward and was rocking to and fro.
"He called me 'Joan,'" she gasped over and over. "He called me
'Joan.'"
"That was Pierre?" Prosper had been forewarned by Jasper and had
planned his part.
She kept on rocking, holding her hands on either side of her face.
"I must go away. If I see him again I shall die. I could never do that
another time. O God! His hand touched me. He called me 'Joan' ... I
must go...."
Prosper did not touch her, but his voice, very friendly, very calm,
had an instantaneous effect. "I will take you away."
She laughed shakily. "Again?" she asked, and shamed him into silence.
But after a while he began very reasonably, very patiently: "I can take you away so that you need not be put through this
unnecessary pain. I can arrange it with Morena. If Pierre sees you
often enough, he will be sure to recognize you. Joan, I did not
deserve that 'again' and you know it. I am a changed man. If you don't
know that now I have the heart of--of devotion, of service, toward
you, you are indeed a blind and stupid woman. But you do know it. You
must."
She sat silent beside him, the long and slender hand between her face
and him.
"I can take you away," he went on presently, "and keep you from Pierre
until he has given up his search and has gone West again. And I can
take you at once--in a day or two. Your understudy can fill the part.
This engagement is almost at an end. I can make it up to Morena. After
all, if we go, we shall be doing Betty and him a service."
Joan flung out her hands recklessly. "Oh," she cried, "what does it
matter? Of course I'll go. I'd run into the sea to escape Pierre--"
She leaned back against the cushioned seat, rolled her head a little
from side to side like a person in pain. "Take me away," she repeated.
"I believe that if I stay I shall go mad. I'll go anywhere--with any
one. Only take me away."