JUNE did not know in which direction the bus was going. And
when the conductor came for her fare, which he did as soon as the
vehicle began to move, she was quite at a loss for a destination. There
was nothing for it but to draw a bow at a venture. She asked for Oxford
Circus, the only nodal point of the metropolis, besides Charing Cross,
with which she was familiar. By a rare piece of luck, Oxford Circus was
included in its route, and what remained of the shilling the girl at
the teashop had given her was sufficient to get her there, and leave
four pence in hand.
Alighting at Oxford Circus, she stood under a lamp to consider what she
should do now. There was nowhere she could go, there was not one friend
to whom she could turn. Battered and spent in body and spirit by all
that had happened to her during the last few hours she was now in a
flux of terror to which she dare not yield.
At first she thought of seeking advice of a policeman, but it would
have been extremely difficult just then to tell her strange story. Its
complications were many and fantastic; besides, and she trembled at the
idea, it was by no means clear that she would be able to establish her
claim to the Van Roon in the eye of the law.
Still, something would have to be done. She must find a home of some
kind not only for her treasure, but for herself. Feeling desperately
in need of help, she decided as a preliminary measure to spend three of
her four remaining pence on a cup of tea. She had a vague hope that in
that magic beverage inspiration might lurk.
The hope, as it chanced, was not vain. Near by was an A.B.C. shop; and
she had hardly sat down at one of its marble-topped tables when, by an
association of ideas, her mysterious acquaintance, Mr. Adolph Keller,
sprang again into her mind. He had given her his address. Alas, the
slip of paper on which it was written was in her purse, but she had a
particularly good memory, and by raking it fiercely she was able to
recall the fact that his place of domicile was Haliburton Studios,
Manning Square.
She did not like trusting any man on an acquaintance so slight,
especially as it had come about in so odd a fashion, but Mr. Keller
had shown himself very friendly, and there was no one else to whom she
could turn. Sipping her cup of tea, in slow and grateful weariness, she
began to develop this idea. Horse sense, Mr. Boultby had always said,
was her long suit; therefore she well understood the peril of taking a
comparative stranger into her confidence. But very cogently she put to
herself the question: What else could she do?
Of sundry policemen, who were very obliging, June asked the way to
Manning Square. It was in Soho, not so very far from Oxford Circus, as
she remembered Mr. Keller saying, and, in spite of a local fog which
had come on in the last twenty minutes, the police were so helpful that
she had no great difficulty in getting there. During the short journey
her mind was much engaged in settling just what she would and would
not say to Mr. Keller. She decided that as far as might be practicable
she would leave the picture out of the case. It might not be possible
to exclude it, but at any rate she would begin by offering to sit to
him as a model, in accordance with his suggestion; and with that the
pretext of her visit she would see if she could get him to lend her a
little money to tide over immediate needs.
By the time she had come to Manning Square it was a few minutes past
seven. Two complete circuits had to be made of this dingy, ill-smelling
gap in the heart of Soho, before she came upon Haliburton Studios,
which were not in the Square itself, but in a dismal by-street
debouching from it. The tall block of buildings which comprised the
studios was equally dismal, and as June entered a vestibule that shewed
no light, she felt a sudden chill strike at her heart.
This, however, was not a moment to quail. It was a case, if ever there
was one, of any port in a storm. The hazard of her errand fell upon
her like a pall, but the knowledge that she had only a penny left with
which to obtain a night’s lodging was a veritable barb in the flesh.
Try as she would she could not recall the number of Mr. Keller’s
studio; nor was the information to be found upon the walls of the
vestibule which she was not able to see. But while she stood at
the foot of a winding flight of stone steps, striving to meet the
difficulty which faced her now, she heard someone coming down. At the
sound she went back to the door by which she had entered, where a lamp
contending feebly against the fog, would enable her to see anyone who
passed out of the flats.
The person who did so proved to be one of June’s own sex, a youngish
woman whose fur coat seemed to accentuate a note of tawdry and
flamboyant finery. Even in the semi-darkness June could see that her
face was rouged.
She had no illusion as to the kind of person she addressed:
“You want Mr. Keller’s studio?” The woman peered into June’s face in a
manner which she felt to be decidedly objectionable. “It’s the second
door on the first landing.” The tone, offhand, and more than a little
contemptuous, was like a blow in the face.