ughtiness.

He stood looking at her a moment. There was a brisk step along the
corridor.

"Oh, I beg your Ladyship's pardon. I didn't know your Ladyship had come
upstairs." It was Cecily's maid.

"In about twenty minutes," said Harry with a nod. Slowly Cecily followed
the maid inside.

After he had washed his hands Harry rejoined his friends. They were
still sitting in the hall with an air of expectancy.

"You've told her?" cried Mina. "Oh, yes, Mr Neeld has told me
everything."

"Well, I've mentioned the bare fact----" Neeld began.

"Yes, yes, that's the only thing that matters. You've told her, Harry?"
The last two days made him "Harry" and her "Mina."

"No, I had a chance and I--funked it," said Harry, slow in speech and
slow in smile. "She asked me into her room. Well, I wouldn't go."

He laughed as he spoke, laughed rather scornfully.

"It's rather absurd. I shall be all right after dinner," he added,
laughing still. "Or would you like to do the job for me, Mina?"

The Imp shook her head with immense determination. "I'll throw myself
into the Blent if you like," she said.

"What about you, Mr Neeld?"

"My dear friend, oh, my dear friend!" Undisguised panic took
possession of Mr Neeld. He tried to cover it by saying sternly,
"This--er--preposterous position is entirely your own fault, you know.
You have acted----"

"Yes, I know," nodded Harry, not impatiently but with a sombre assent.
He roused himself the next moment, saying, "Well, somebody's got to bell
the cat, you know."

"Really it's not my business," protested Neeld and Mina in one breath,
both laughing nervously.

"You like the fun, but you don't want any of the work," remarked Harry.

That was true, true to their disgrace. They both felt the reproach. How
were they better than the rest of the neighborhood, who were content to
gossip and gape and take the fortunes of the Tristrams as mere matter
for their own entertainment?

"I've made you look ashamed of yourselves now," he laughed. "Well, I
must do the thing myself, I suppose. What a pity Miss Swinkerton isn't
here!"

Cecily came down. She passed Harry with a rather distant air and took
Neeld's arm.

"They say dinner's ready," said she. "Mina, will you come with Harry?"

Harry sank into the chair opposite Cecily--and opposite the picture of
Addie Tristram on the wall. "Well, somehow I've managed to get back
here," said he.

The shadow had passed from Cecily's face. She looked