er they pulled her
back into her chair. She was still screaming loudly, and the noise of
the beerhall, hitherto scattered and variable in pitch, concentrated in
a low murmur of interest. Round about them in the alcove the neighbors
began to listen: the girl who had been arguing so passionately with the
cold-eyed man stopped and stared; the partially drunk and bearded man
collapsed into a glassy indifference, while his charmer no longer winked
over her shoulder at the spectators of her wooing; the four offensive
youths gaped like landed trout; even the blotchy-faced man ceased to
look at his watch and confined himself to sucking steadily his teeth.

It seemed probable, Michael thought, that there was going to be rather a
nasty row. Dolly would not listen to persuasion from him or her friend.
She was going to attack that Florrie; she was going to mark that Florrie
for life with a glass; she was going to let her see if she could come it
over Doll Wearne. It would take more than Florrie to do that; yes, more
than half-a-dozen Florries, it would.

The manager of the Orange had been warned, and he was already edging his
way slowly toward the table. The friends of Florrie were using their
best efforts to remove her from the temptation to retaliate. Though she
declared loudly that nothing would make her quit the Orange, and
certainly that Dolly less than anybody, she did suffer herself to be
coaxed away.

Dolly, when she found her rival had retreated, burst into tears again
and was immediately surrounded by a crowd of inquisitive sympathizers,
which made her utterly hysterical. Michael, without knowing quite how it
had happened, found that he was involved in the fortunes and enmities
and friendships of a complete society. He found himself explaining to
several bystanders the wrong which Dolly had been compelled to endure at
the hands of Hungarian Dave. It was extraordinary how suddenly this
absurd intrigue of the underworld came to seem tremendously important.
He felt that all his sense of proportion was rapidly disappearing. In
the middle of an excited justification of Dolly's tears he was aware
that he and his surroundings and his attitude were to himself
incredible. He was positively in a nightmare, and a prey to the
inconsequence of dreams. Or was all his life until this moment a dream,
and was this reality? One fact alone presented itself clearly, which was
the necessity to see the miserable Dolly safely through the rest