"Why do you ask?" said Mr. Clendon. "Forgive me, you have not yet
mentioned her name."
"I don't know it," said Derrick; "but I may say that I am a friend of
hers. I have every reason to be, for she did me a great service. One
moment, sir"--as Mr. Clendon opened his lips--"this must seem rather
extraordinary to you, but I am sure that she would be glad to see me."
Mr. Clendon's eyes seemed to pierce Derrick through and through; then,
removing his gaze, as if he were satisfied, Mr. Clendon said: "The name of the young lady is Grant--Celia Grant; she is not now living
in the Buildings."
Derrick's eyes dropped, and he drew a long breath; his disappointment
was so obvious that Mr. Clendon said: "Is your business with Miss Grant one of importance, may I ask?"
"The greatest importance--to me," said Derrick, who felt somehow
inspired to confidence; there was something in this old man's manner and
attitude, in the low, rhythmic voice, that harmonized with Derrick's
mood and influenced him in a fashion strange and puzzling.
"I am afraid I can't tell you the whole--well, you may call it 'story';
but I may say that I am deeply indebted to Miss Grant, and that I am
very desirous of paying that debt--no; I can't do that!--but of seeing
her and telling her that her kindness, her goodness, to me were not
thrown away."
"An amiable sentiment," said Mr. Clendon, with dignified simplicity. "No
doubt, Miss Grant would be glad to hear it from your lips; but she is
not here, she has gone."
"I am sorry, sir," said Derrick, rising, and the genuineness of his
assertion was attested by the deep sigh which accompanied it. "I don't
like to ask you----" he hesitated--"but you would be rendering me a very
great service, greater than you can imagine, if you would, if you could,
tell me where to find her."
There was a silence. Mr. Clendon sat perfectly immovable; but his eyes
were searching Derrick's face, and the young man stood meeting the gaze
honestly, candidly, unshrinkingly.
"I do not know whether I should be doing right in giving you Miss
Grant's address," said Mr. Clendon at last. "But I will admit that I am
tempted to do so."
"If you would----" began Derrick; but Mr. Clendon stopped him with an
upraised hand.
"You say that you are a friend of Miss Grant's--I seem to remember you,
though I have only seen you at a distance, and then indistinctly. Are
you not the young man who lived in the flat opposite hers?"