When Alexander returned to his hotel — he shook Mainhall at the door of the theatre — he had some

When Alexander returned to his hotel — he shook Mainhall at the door of the theatre — he had some supper brought up to his room, and it was late before he went to bed. He had not thought of Hilda Burgoyne for years; indeed, he had almost forgotten her. He had last written to her from Canada, after he first met Winifred, telling her that everything was changed with him — that he had met a woman whom he would marry if he could; if he could not, then all the more was everything changed for him. Hilda had never replied to his letter. He felt guilty and unhappy about her for a time, but after Winifred promised to marry him he really forgot Hilda altogether. When he wrote her that everything was changed for him,jordan 11, he was telling the truth. After he met Winifred Pemberton he seemed to himself like a different man. One night when he and Winifred were sitting together on the bridge, he told her that things had happened while he was studying abroad that he was sorry for, — one thing in particular, — and he asked her whether she thought she ought to know about them. She considered a moment and then said “No, I think not, though I am glad you ask me. You see, one can’t be jealous about things in general; but about particular, definite, personal things,” — here she had thrown her hands up to his shoulders with a quick, impulsive gesture — “oh, about those I should be very jealous. I should torture myself — I couldn’t help it.” After that it was easy to forget, actually to forget. He wondered to-night, as he poured his wine, how many times he had thought of Hilda in the last ten years. He had been in London more or less, but he had never happened to hear of her. “All the same,” he lifted his glass, “here’s to you, little Hilda. You’ve made things come your way, and I never thought you’d do it.
“Of course,” he reflected, “she always had that combination of something homely and sensible, and something utterly wild and daft. But I never thought she’d do anything. She hadn’t much ambition then, and she was too fond of trifles. She must care about the theatre a great deal more than she used to. Perhaps she has me to thank for something, after all. Sometimes a little jolt like that does one good. She was a daft, generous little thing. I’m glad she’s held her own since. After all, we were awfully young. It was youth and poverty and proximity, and everything was young and kindly,retro jordans. I shouldn’t wonder if she could laugh about it with me now. I shouldn’t wonder — But they’ve probably spoiled her, so that she’d be tiresome if one met her again,chanel classic bags.”
Bartley smiled and yawned and went to bed.
Chapter 3
The next evening Alexander dined alone at a club, and at about nine o’clock he dropped in at the Duke of York’s. The house was sold out and he stood through the second act. When he returned to his hotel he examined the new directory, and found Miss Burgoyne’s address still given as off Bedford Square, though at a new number. He remembered that, in so far as she had been brought up at all, she had been brought up in Bloomsbury. Her father and mother played in the provinces most of the year, and she was left a great deal in the care of an old aunt who was crippled by rheumatism and who had had to leave the stage altogether. In the days when Alexander knew her, Hilda always managed to have a lodging of some sort about Bedford Square, because she clung tenaciously to such scraps and shreds of memories as were connected with it. The mummy room of the British Museum had been one of the chief delights of her childhood. That forbidding pile was the goal of her truant fancy, and she was sometimes taken there for a treat, as other children are taken to the theatre,cheap jordans. It was long since Alexander had thought of any of these things, but now they came back to him quite fresh, and had a significance they did not have when they were first told him in his restless twenties. So she was still in the old neighborhood, near Bedford Square. The new number probably meant increased prosperity. He hoped so. He would like to know that she was snugly settled. He looked at his watch. It was a quarter past ten; she would not be home for a good two hours yet, and he might as well walk over and have a look at the place. He remembered the shortest way.