ng will be to keep it from the knowledge of Henry."

"I'm not ashamed of my part in it!" She turned indignantly upon the
red-faced man; his mouth was again furnished with the productions of the
dentist, but he scowled in an alarming way. "What did you mean by it?
Was this a dodge of yours, or of hers?"

"I simply, and by the merest chance," he complained to his sister,
"happened to touch her near the shoulder, and you saw for yourself how
she treated me. I shall go off and get a drink, and leave you both to
clear it up as best you can. Serves her right!" He repeated this remark
several times, with additions, as he stamped out of the room.

"My brother," said Lady Douglass, "is peculiar in his manners."

"I haven't met his sort before."

"But I wonder you did not know better than to trust yourself with him.
Fortunately, you can rely upon me to say nothing about the affair. It
would have been very unlucky if someone else had happened to come to the
door."

"I don't particularly like being under any sort of obligation to you."

"We won't say anything more about it," ordered the other. "I have an
enormous objection to a scandal."

"You're not alone in that respect," she retorted.

"And we will of course avoid all references to Wormwood Scrubbs."

"I don't know what you mean by that!"

The tennis folk, after they had replayed their games over the tea-table,
left; Gertie was quiet, and her cousin inquired anxiously whether
anything had occurred. Clarence urged her to keep up courage, declaring
she had managed admirably up to the present.

"I feel as though there's thunder in the air," she said.

"There isn't," he assured her; "not a trace of it. It's a beautiful day.
And," with enthusiasm, "Mary tells me she doesn't mind waiting until I
make three hundred a year."

"Lucky boy!" she remarked absently.

They were still out on the lawn, and Henry had made a suggestion that
they should all play golf-croquet when Rutley came to clear the table.
Lady Douglass gave an instruction aside. "Very well, my lady," said
Rutley; "it shall be seen to first thing in the morning. If we could
only find the key I'd manage it myself." Henry asked whether anything
was missing; his sister-in-law replied that it was nothing of
importance--nothing that he need trouble about. Henry had quite enough
to occupy his mind, and he must please allow her to take charge of some
of the domestic anxieties.

"Rather unusual," said