Mr. Fisher, who had been, she should
say, a man originally tenacious of habits, had quite soon after
marriage got out of this one.

However, Mr. Wilkins, snatching off his hat on seeing her,
instantly threw the cigar away. He threw it into the water a great jar
of arum lilies presumably contain, and Mrs. Fisher, aware of the value
men attach to their newly-lit cigars, could not but be impressed by
this immediate and magnificent amende honorable.

But the cigar did not reach the water. It got caught in the lilies,
and smoked on by itself among them, a strange and depraved-looking
object.

"Where are you going to, my prett--" began Mr. Wilkins, advancing
towards Mrs. Fisher; but he broke off just in time.

Was it morning spirits impelling him to address Mrs. Fisher in
the terms of a nursery rhyme? He wasn't even aware that he knew the
thing. Most strange. What could have put it, at such a moment, into
his self-possessed head? He felt great respect for Mrs. Fisher, and
would not for the world have insulted her by addressing her as a maid,
pretty or otherwise. He wished to stand well with her. She was a
woman of parts, and also, he suspected, of property. At breakfast they
had been most pleasant together, and he had been struck by her apparent
intimacy with well-known persons. Victorians, of course; but it was
restful to talk about them after the strain of his brother-in-law's
Georgian parties on Hampstead Heath. He and she were getting on
famously, he felt. She already showed all the symptoms of presently
wishing to become a client. Not for the world would he offend her.
He turned a little cold at the narrowness of his escape.

She had not, however, noticed.

"You are going out," he said very politely, all readiness should
she confirm his assumption to accompany her.

"I want to find Lady Caroline," said Mrs. Fisher, going towards
the glass door leading into the top garden.

"An agreeable quest," remarked Mr. Wilkins, "May I assist in the
search? Allow me--" he added, opening the door for her.

"She usually sits over in that corner behind the bushes," said
Mrs. Fisher. "And I don't know about it being an agreeable quest. She
has been letting the bills run up in the most terrible fashion, and
needs a good scolding."

"Lady Caroline?" said Mr. Wilkins, unable to follow such an
attitude. "What has Lady Caroline, if I may inquire, to do with the
bills here?"

"The housekeeping was left to her,