. . . No. Of course she couldn’t. She didn’t know. You can’t know if you’ve no experience. But you might guess a little. Enough to see that it isn’t fair to let a girl as innocent as I was be married. It’s worse than unfair; it’s cruel and wicked. Girls ought to be told. Just as soon as possible. So that you can get used to it—the idea of it—and know what you’ve got to face. It isn’t surprising that things went wrong. My honeymoon ... I don’t know how I bore that. I must have been dazed. Numb. Then when I came home the numbness wore off. It was as if I’d had an awful blow and the bruise took some time before it showed itself. It was my nerves, I think. In pieces. All the little silly things that made me cross. The Tyrells. Stephen being late for meals. Idiotic things. That was nerves. Then the row. That finished it. It was just as well that happened. It made me realise. If I’d gone on much longer something worse might have happened. It was awful, but it put an end to it. Put an end to everything. Spoiled Stephen’s life. Mine was spoiled before that. Spoiled before I’d begun to live. I’ve nothing now. Only a typewriter. And I might have had—oh, I might have had so much!” Her gaze fell from the roof-tops opposite. Tears came, and rolled unheeded down her cheeks.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The weeks dragged by, it seemed to Elizabeth, inch by inch. By June with the aid of Mr. Hengist she had obtained a small clientele for whom she typed. That was interesting sometimes, sometimes instructive, and occasionally dull. One man sent her magazine stories, very illegibly written. Elizabeth was amused by the series that came from his pen. They were called “The Adventures of Colin Cardew,” and there seemed to be no reason why they should ever come to an end. Elizabeth followed Colin into Chinatown, where he escaped death by two inches, or into a gang of gentlemen-crooks where he escaped death by one inch, and watched with a cynical eye his efforts to win the heart of a perverse lady who rejoiced in the name of Griselda Gordon. Colin became a part of Elizabeth’s life. She told her family or Mr. Hengist that Colin has got himself into another mess. I really don’t see how he can escape this time. But of course he will.” Miss Arden thought it all very silly, and said so. Mr. Hengist said, “Thank God she’s learning to be silly!” which Miss Arden thought sillier than ever.

Another man sent Elizabeth articles on abstruse subjects. He wrote very neatly, which was just as well, for he filled his pages with archaeological names. Elizabeth was appalled at first, but she grew accustomed to it.