Miss Jenny whispered. 'Were you always on the stage?'
'No,' said Jim. 'Ten years ago I was at the 'Varsity. You wouldn't have thought it, would you?'
'Oh, indeed, I'
'Oh no, you wouldn't! I had forgotten it myself until—until I saw you! No, it was the common savage you liked, not the ex-gentleman; and by liking him you have saved him! My angel! My good angel! For your sake I'll be the man I was once, so help me God!'
The girl blushed crimson in the moonlight, and Jim liked her the better for it. The poor fellow little dreamt how much she had to blush for.
'I'm the prodigal son of rather a well-known parent,' Jim went on. 'You can see his name in any English newspaper. It is the parable all through so far, minus the happy ending. That's what you and I are going to bring about.'
'You mean that you are disinherited! What was it you did?'
Inquisitiveness was innate in Miss Jenny;
