Arcadia Street, and go off to the world you know and understand. But you will leave her behind." Again there was a pause between the two men, and again the younger one strode about impatiently, and again the elder one stood still, watching him. At last Gilbert came back to where Simon Quarle was standing. [55] [55] "I beg your pardon if I spoke hastily just now," he said. "I had no right to do that, because no man would speak as you have done unless he was her friend." "Thank you," said the other simply. "Anything else?" "I want to help her—I want to lift her out of this slum in which she lives—make some of her dreams come true. I am rich; I can do many things secretly without her knowledge." "You are young; would you marry her?" "My dear sir—she's a child. Besides—I——" "Besides—you belong to another world," broke in Quarle mockingly. "Get back over your wall, my friend, and leave her alone. Much better leave her to her dreams and her fancies, even if they are never to be realized, than shatter them as you would shatter them. Get back over your wall." "You don't understand, and I don't suppose you ever will," exclaimed Gilbert quickly. "But I shall find a way to help her yet." "Perhaps—perhaps," said Simon Quarle, nodding his head slowly. "But for the present get back over your wall!" [56] [56] CHAPTER IV THE PRINCESS GOES TO DINNER THAT absurd business of climbing the wall again had to be got over, and was safely accomplished; to do him justice, Mr. Simon Quarle refrained from watching Gilbert's departure, and so took away one pang at least. The last vision Gilbert had of him was as he dropped over into the other garden, and, looking back, saw the old man standing with his hands clasped behind his back, and his bent shoulders turned towards where Gilbert had disappeared, and his eyes fixed upon the opposite wall. But whatever resolution Gilbert Byfield may have formed to help the girl,
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