"A ring!" she cried, fearfully. "On that finger--!"
"Oh, hush, dear! I--I'm quite safe. Believe me, Maggy."
"But what does it mean? You wouldn't wear a ring on that finger if--"
"Maggy, darling, it means that I'm going to be married."
Maggy sat up the better to look at her. One glance at Alexandra's clear, illumined face told her that in some wondrously blest way her future had been happily arranged. All thought of her own disaster temporarily vanished in the joy she felt for the safety of her friend.
"That's all right," she said with a sigh of relief. "Lexie ... have you got anything to eat?"
Although she had eaten nothing since breakfast that morning, a few biscuits and the remainder of Mrs. Bell's brandy sufficed Maggy.
"Now I'll go," she said, getting up. "I was in a fearful state about you, but now that everything has turned out so splendidly I feel quite all right again. Bless your sweet face, Lexie. I'd like to kiss you only I'm such a bad creature." Her lips trembled.
"Nonsense! Then I'll kiss you." Alexandra did so. "You're not going to-night, Maggy. You've got to stay here with me. We'll tuck in together. Here's a nightie."
"Tuck in--with you!" Maggy repeated. "But, Lexie--I'm not--like you."
"Nothing that's happened can make any difference between us, Maggy. Try and forget you ever left me. Get undressed, dear."
Very soon they were lying together in the little bed in the darkness. Alexandra did not talk. She wanted Maggy to get to sleep. It was so evident that she needed it. Half-an-hour passed in silence. A whisper from Maggy broke it.
"May I have your hand to hold, Lexie? I feel so lonely."
"You poor pet!" Alexandra's hand sought hers.
"I don't think anything ever will help. I'm done for, Lexie."
"You won't always feel like that," was the consoling rejoinder.
"I tried to kill myself to-day," she said abruptly. "But the stuff only made me sick. That's why I wasn't at the theater. I should be dead by now if it had worked properly."
"Yes, I did. How could I go on living? It's not worth it. Alone again: a room like this without even you to make it bearable ... or men. I won't do that. I went to the bad for love. I won't do it out of habit."
"Don't be so despondent. You won't have to live alone, dear. You shall leave the stage and be with me."