Out of her sphere - University Library

BEATEY LA YTON'S PROMISE. 181
Have n't I hurried here at your bidding,
without even knowing that it was a friend
of my own in whom you were interested ?
Do n't you know that I'd stop here at any
cost— at any sacrifice to myself, even if the
person in whose behalf you wished me to
exert myself was an utter stranger to me ?
I do n't really see that you've suffered so
much at my hands."
'' Suffered," said Beatey, with a little *
curl of her pretty, wilful mouth — and
what a pity it was the night was so dark
that he could not see it—and a slight shrug
of her shoulders. '' Well, I have n't
suffered, because I thought it would all
come right in the end : but I should like to
know how long it is since you first cared
for me, and in everything hut words have,
in one way or another, contrived to let me
know it."
*' Long enough for me to have a very
lively idea of the torments of Tantalus,"