e.

"I am afraid I am rather out of practice," he said, "but I shall be
delighted to do my best."

CHAPTER XIV

Sir Henry was obviously not in the best of tempers. For a mild-mannered
and easy-going man, his expression was scarcely normal.

"That fellow was making love to you," he said bluntly, as soon as the
door was closed behind Lessingham.

Philippa looked up at her husband with an air of pleasant candour.

"He was doing it very nicely, too," she admitted.

"You mean to say that you let him?"

"I listened to what he had to say," she confessed. "It didn't occur to
you, I suppose," her husband remarked, with somewhat strained sarcasm,
"that you were another man's wife?"

"I am doing my best to forget that fact," Philippa reminded him.

"I see! And he is to help you?"

"Possibly."

Sir Henry's irritation was fast merging into anger.

"I shall turn the fellow out of the house," he declared.

Philippa shrugged her shoulders.

"Why don't you?"

He seated himself on the couch by his wife's side. "Look here, Philippa,
don't let's wrangle," he begged. "I'm afraid you'll have to make up your
mind to see a good deal less of your friend Lessingham, anyway."

Philippa's brows were knitted. She was conscious of a vague uneasiness.

"Really? And why?"

"For one thing," her husband explained, "because I don't intend to have
him hanging about my house during my absence."

"The best way to prevent that would be not to go away," Philippa
suggested.

"Well, in all probability," he announced guardedly, "I am not going away
again--at least not just yet."

Philippa's manner suddenly changed. She laid down her work. Her hand
rested lightly upon her husband's shoulder.

"You mean that you are going to give up those horrible fishing
excursions of yours?"

"For the present I am," he assured her.

"And are you going to do something--some work, I mean?" she asked
breathlessly.

"For the immediate present I am going to stay at home and look after
you," he replied.

Philippa's face fell. Her manner became notably colder.

"You are very wise," she declared. "Mr. Lessingham is a most fascinating
person. We are all half in love with him--even Helen."

"The fellow must have a way with him," Sir Henry conceded grudgingly.
"As a rule the people here are not over-keen on strangers, unless they
have immediate connections in the neighbourhood. Even Griffiths, who
since they made him Commandant, is a man of many