There was full reason on her side for this. Unable to accept
conditions as Janet would have had her take them--the abandoning of
one master for the service of another--she knew that so long as Traill
kept her by his side without a word of agreement, his honour as the
gentleman she always knew him to be would remain as binding as any
sanction of the Church.
On this evening, then, when he returned from his visit in Sloane
Street, they went together to the little restaurant in Soho where
they had taken their first dinner together.
There was Berthe and Marie--there was Madame--there was
Alexandre--all still working together with the precious regularity
of the Dutch clock.
"Bon soir, monsieur--bon soir, madame." Not an inflection was
changed, not a note was altered. The firm hand of necessity had wound
them up day after day, all those three years, and they had ticked
together and tocked together to the swing of the pendulum of fortune
ever since.
"I shall always love this place," said Sally cheerfully, as they sat
down at the same table--_sous l'escalier_.
"Why?"
"Because you first brought me here." She stretched her hand across
the table and lovingly touched his fingers.
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