"Dr. Nestley," she said, softly touching him on the shoulder, "I want to speak to you."
He turned sullenly round, though the touch of her gloved hand sent a thrill through his frame, and Una recoiled with an exclamation of pity as she saw what a wreck he was. His face, formerly so fresh-coloured, was now grey and thin, his eyes bleared with dark circles under them, while his nervous lips and shaking hands showed how deeply he had been drinking. Even in his clothes she saw a change, for they were carelessly put on, his linen was dirty and his tie arranged in a slovenly manner--altogether he looked like a man who had entirely lost his self-respect and cared neither for his health nor appearance.
Nestley saw the expression on her face and laughed, a hollow mirthless laugh, which seemed quite in keeping with his wretched appearance.
"You are looking at your work, Miss Challoner," he said bitterly, "well, I hope you are satisfied."
"You have no right to speak to me in such a manner, sir," she said haughtily, looking at him with a proud cold face. "Do not ascribe your own folly to any fault of mine--that is both weak and unmanly."
The wretched creature before her drooped his head before the severe gaze of her eyes.
"You would not marry me," he said weakly, "you would not save me from myself."
"Am I to go through the world saving men from their own passions?" she returned scornfully. "Shame upon you, Dr. Nestley, to take refuge behind such a weak defence. Surely because a woman refuses to marry a man he ought not to lower himself as you have done, and then lay the blame on her instead of himself--you ought to make an end of this folly."
"Just what I was thinking," he muttered, glancing at the river. She instinctively guessed what the glance meant, and looked at him, saying:
"Would you add suicide to the rest of your follies?--that is a coward's refuge and one not worthy of a clever man like you. Come, Doctor Nestley," she continued, laying a kind hand on his shoulder, "be advised by me. Give up this mad love of drink which is lowering you to the level of the brutes, and go back to your home--then amid your old companions you will soon forget that I ever existed."
"Never! Never!" he said in a broken voice.