Then she came back into the sitting-room, sat down in
the chair, took up the evening paper of yesterday and began to read, with
eyes that gleamed under frowning brows, about "Foreign Affairs" and
"Bimetallism."
And that night the evening refrain of Cuckoo's life did not follow the
verse of her day.
She sat there all alone.
It was her way--the only way she could devise--of beginning to fight the
battle for Julian.
She did not stay at home with any thought of purifying herself by the
action. Another day she might go out as usual. But Julian had once asked
her not to go. She had gone then. Now she obeyed him, and the obedience
seemed to bring him a little nearer to her.
CHAPTER X
THE DOCTOR DRIVES OUT WITH THE LADY OF THE FEATHERS
Some days later Cuckoo received a telegram from Harley Street. It came in
the morning, and ran as follows:
"Call here to-day if possible. Important. Levillier."
Cuckoo read it, trembling. In her early days telegrams came often to her
door--"Meet me at Verrey's, four-thirty"; "Piccadilly Circus, five
o'clock to-day." Such messages flickered through her youth, forming
gradually a legend of her life. But this summons from the doctor at the
same time frightened her and braced her heart.
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