in, suddenly became ascetic again. After making
certain that all the people of the house had finished, he, therefore,
abruptly rose to his feet, knocked upon the table with the handle of a
knife, and muttered a rapid and unintelligible High Church grace. The
effect of this was astonishing. A tableau ensued, in which the mouths of
all the performers were seen to be wide open for at least half a minute,
while spoons full of pudding, or fruit, were lifted towards them, and
the round eyes above them were focussed with a concentration of complete
surprise and agitation upon the intermittent clergyman, who had sat down
again, and was speaking to Mrs. Windsor about chasubles. Then, as at a
signal, all the spoons, still full, were pensively returned to the
plates, and an audible sigh stole softly round the room. The gates of
Paradise were swinging to.

Mrs. Windsor rose, and said, as she went out, to Mr. Amarinth--

"Do teach them your catch now. We will go into the garden. If only they
had on their nightgowns? It is such a disappointment."

In the garden, which was rather dark, for the moon had not yet fully
risen, Lady Locke found Lord Reggie standing by her side with Tommy, who
had formed a passionate attachment to him, and showed it violently both
in words and deeds.

"Let us sit down here," he said, drawing forward a chair for her. "Esme
wants me to hear his music from a distance. Tommy, you go in and sing.
We want to listen to you."

Tommy ran off excitedly.

Lady Locke and Lord Reggie sat down silently. A few yards away Mrs.
Windsor, Madame Valtesi, and Mr. Smith formed a heterogeneous and
singularly inappropriate group. Through the lighted windows of the
drawing-room a multitude of bobbing small heads might be discerned, and
the large form of Esme Amarinth in the act of reciting the words of his
catch.

Lord Reggie looked at Lady Locke, and sighed softly.

"Why are beautiful things so sad?" he said. "This night is like some
exquisite dark youth full of sorrow. If you listen, you can hear the
murmur of his grief in the wind. It is as if he had shed tears, and
known renunciations."

"We all know renunciations," she answered. "And they are sad, but they
are great too. We are often greatest when we give something up."

"I think renunciations are foolish," he said. "I only once gave up a
pleasure, and the remembrance of it has haunted me like a grey ghost
ever since. Why do people think it an act of holiness to