e and Lissa walked away to the circus. On her little hall table, as
Victoria went into her house, she found a note scrawled in pencil on
some of her own notepaper. It was from Betty. It said that Farwell had
been stricken down by a sudden illness and was sinking fast. His address
followed.

CHAPTER X

IN a bed sitting-room at the top of an old house off the Waterloo Road
three women were watching by the bedside of a man. One was dressed in
rusty black; she was pale faced, crowned with light hair; the other,
shifting uneasily from one foot to the other, was middle-aged and very
stout; her breast rolled like a billow in her half buttoned bodice. The
third was beautiful, all in black, her sumptuous neck and shoulders
bare. None of them moved for a moment. Then the beautiful woman threw
back her cloak and her long jade earrings tinkled. The face on the
pillow turned and opened its eyes.

'Victoria,' said a faint voice.

'Yes . . . are you better?' Victoria bent over the bed. The face was
copper coloured; every bone seemed to start out. She could hardly
recognise Farwell's rough hewn features.

'Not yet . . . soon,' said Farwell. He closed his eyes once more.

'What is it, Betty?' whispered Victoria.

'I don't know . . . hemorrhage they say.'

'It's all up mum,' whispered the landlady in Victoria's ear. 'Been ill
two days only. Doctor said he wouldn't come again.'

Victoria bent over the bed once more. She could feel the eyes of the
landlady probing her personality.

'Can't you do something?' she asked savagely.

'Nothing.' Farwell opened his eyes again and faintly smiled. 'And what's
the good, Victoria?'

Victoria threw herself on her knees by the side of the bed. 'Oh, you
musn't!' she whispered. 'You . . . the world can't spare you!'

'Oh, yes . . . it can . . . you know . . . the world is like men . . .
it spends everything on luxuries . . . it can't afford necessaries.'

Victoria smiled and felt as if she were going to choke. The last
paradox.

'Are you in pain?' she asked.

'No, not just now. . . . I shall be, soon. Let me speak while I can.'
His voice grew firmer suddenly.

'I have asked you to come so that you may be the last thing I see; you,
the fairest. I love you.'

Not one of the three women moved.

'I have not spoken before, because when I could speak we were slaves.
Now you are free and I a slave. It is too late, so it is time for me to
speak. For I cannot influence you.'

Far