y had arranged the other evening to
dine there again--and without Beryl Van Tuyn this time! If so, the
intervention at the telephone must have seemed an ironic stroke to them
both.

For a moment Miss Van Tuyn's injured vanity made her feel as if they
were involved in a plot directed against her and her happiness, as if
they had both behaved abominably to her. She had always been so charming
to Lady Sellingworth, had always praised her, had taken her part, had
even had quite a cult for her! It was very disgusting. It showed Miss
Van Tuyn how right she had been in generally cultivating men instead
of women. For, of course, Craven could not get out of things with an
experienced rusee woman of the world like Adela Sellingworth. Women of
that type always knew how to "corner" a man, especially if he were young
and had decent instincts. Poor Craven!

But at the telephone Miss Van Tuyn had felt that Craven was glad to be
engaged that evening, that he was looking forward to something.

After sitting still for a few minutes, always with the tell-tale line in
her forehead, Miss Van Tuyn got up with an air of purpose. She went to a
door at the end of the sitting-room, opened it, crossed a lobby, opened
double doors, and entered a bedroom in which a large, mild-looking
woman, with square cheeks, chestnut-coloured smooth hair, large,
chestnut-coloured eyes under badly painted eyebrows, and a mouth with
teeth that suggested a very kind and well-meaning rabbit, was lying
in bed with a cup and a pot of camomile tea beside her, and Bourget's
"_Mensonges_" in her hand. This was Fanny Cronin, originally from
Philadelphia, but now largely French in a simple and unpretending way.
The painted eyebrows must not be taken as evidence against her. They
were the only artificiality of which Miss Cronin was guilty; and as an
unkind fate had absolutely denied her any eyebrows of her own, she had
conceived it only decent to supply their place.

"I've got back to '_Mensonges_,' Beryl," she said, as she saw Miss Van
Tuyn. "After all, there's nothing like it. It bites right into one, even
on a third reading."

"Dear old Fanny! I'm so glad you're being bitten into. I know how you
love it, and I'm not going to disturb you. I only came to tell you that
I'm going out this evening, and may possibly come back late."

"I hope you will enjoy yourself, dear, and meet pleasant people."

Miss Cronin was thoroughly well trained, and seldom asked any questions