n his clothes. There was a sense of broken ice; they
felt at once intimate and indulgent; almost they felt to him as nurses
do--as those feel who have assisted either patients or young children
at their baths. They were acquainted with Mr. Wilkins's legs.

What Mrs. Fisher said to him that morning in her first shock will
never be known, but what Mr. Wilkins said to her in reply, when
reminded by what she was saying of his condition, was so handsome in
its apology, so proper in its confusion, that she had ended by being
quite sorry for him and completely placated. After all, it was an
accident, and nobody could help accidents. And when she saw him next
at dinner, dressed, polished, spotless as to linen and sleek as to
hair, she felt this singular sensation of a secret understanding with
him and, added to it, of a kind of almost personal pride in his
appearance, now that he was dressed, which presently extended in some
subtle way to an almost personal pride in everything he said.

There was no doubt whatever in Mrs. Fisher's mind that a man was
infinitely preferable as a companion to a woman. Mr. Wilkins's
presence and conversation at once raised the standard of the
dinner-table from that of a bear garden--yes, a bear garden--to
that of a civilized social gathering. He talked as men talk, about
interesting subjects, and, though most courteous to Lady Caroline,
showed no traces of dissolving into simpers and idiocy whenever he
addressed her. He was, indeed, precisely as courteous to Mrs. Fisher
herself; and when for the first time at that table politics were
introduced, he listened to her with the proper seriousness on her
exhibiting a desire to speak, and treated her opinions with the
attention they deserved. He appeared to think much as she did about
Lloyd George, and in regard to literature he was equally sound. In
fact there was real conversation, and he liked nuts. How he could
have married Mrs. Wilkins was a mystery.

Lotty, for her part, looked on with round eyes. She had expected
Mellersh to take at least two days before he got to this stage, but the
San Salvatore spell had worked instantly. It was not only that he was
pleasant at dinner, for she had always seen him pleasant at dinners
with other people, but he had been pleasant all day privately--so
pleasant that he had complimented her on her looks while she was
brushing out her hair, and kissed her. Kissed her! And it was neither
good-morning no