e was something I wanted to say to you," she began, "but
somehow or other I forgot when I met you. My husband was very much
struck with Helen's improved spirits. Don't you think that we had better
tell him, when he returns, that we had heard from Major Felstead?"

Lessingham agreed.

"Just let him think that your letters came by post in the ordinary way,"
he advised. "I shouldn't imagine, from what I have seen of your husband,
that he is a suspicious person, but it is just possible that he might
have associated them with me if you had mentioned them the other night.
When is he coming back?"

"I never know," Philippa answered with a sigh. "Perhaps to-night,
perhaps in a week. It depends upon what sport he is having. You are not
smoking."

Lessingham lit a cigarette.

"I find your husband," he said quietly, "rather an interesting type. We
have no one like that in Germany. He almost puzzles me."

Philippa glanced up to find her companion's dark eyes fixed upon her.

"There is very little about Henry that need puzzle any one," she
complained bitterly. "He is just an overgrown, spoilt child, devoted to
amusements, and following his fancy wherever it leads him. Why do
you look at me, Mr. Lessingham, as though you thought I was keeping
something back? I am not, I can assure you."

"Perhaps I was wondering," he confessed, "how you really felt towards a
husband whose outlook was so unnatural."

She looked down at her intertwined fingers.

"Do you know," she said softly, "I feel, somehow or other, although we
have known one another such a short time, as though we were friends,
and yet that is a question which I could not answer. A woman must always
have some secrets, you know."

"A man may try sometimes to preserve his," he sighed, "but a woman is
clever enough, as a rule, to dig them out."

A faint tinge of colour stole into her cheeks. She welcomed Helen's
approach almost eagerly.

"A woman must first feel the will," she murmured, without glancing at
him. "Helen, do you think we dare ask Mr. Lessingham to come and dine?"

"Please do not discourage such a delightful suggestion," Lessingham
begged eagerly.

"I haven't the least idea of doing so," Helen laughed, "so long as I may
have--say just ten minutes to talk about Dick."

"It is a bargain," he promised.

"We shall be quite alone," Philippa warned him, "unless Henry arrives."

"It is the great attraction of your invitation," he confessed.

"At eight o'