It's not that. Mr. Errington doesn't like me."
Jerry stared at her reflectively.
"That couldn't be true," he said at last, with conviction.
"I don't know that I like him--very much--either," pursued Diana.
"You would if you really knew him," said the boy eagerly. "He's one of
the very best."
"He's rather a mysterious person, don't you think?"
Jerry regarded her very straightly.
"Oh, well," he returned bluntly, "every man's a right to have his own
private affairs."
Then there _was_ something!
Diana felt her heart beat a little faster. She had thrown out the
remark as the merest feeler, and now his own secretary, the man who
must be nearer to him than any other, had given what was tantamount to
an acknowledgment of the fact that Errington's life held some secret.
"Anyway"--Jerry was speaking again--"_I've_ got good reason to be
grateful to him. I was on my uppers when he happened along--and
without any prospect of re-soling. I'd played the fool at Monte Carlo,
and, like a brick, he offered me the job of private secretary, and I've
been with him ever since. I'd no references, either--he just took me
on trust."
"That was very kind of him," said Diana slowly.
"Kind! There isn't one man in a hundred who'll give a chance like that
to a young ass that's played the goat as I did."
"No," agreed Diana. "But," she added, rather low, "he isn't always
kind.
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