"I have known
him for years, and I know that he is exceedingly unselfish, and that
he would do a ridiculously generous thing to serve a friend, and that
a better-intentioned fellow does not breathe in the world. But he is
at times, I admit, very thoughtless and inconsiderate."

"That sort of good-nature," said Mrs. Lorraine in her gentlest voice,
"is very good in its way, but rather uncertain. So long as it shines
in one direction, it is all right and quite trustworthy, for you
want a hard brush to brush sunlight off a wall. But when the sunlight
shifts, you know--"

"The wall is left in the cold. Well," said Ingram, "I am afraid it
is impossible for me to dictate to you what you ought to do. I do not
wish to draw you into any interference between husband and wife,
or even to let Mr. Lavender know that you think he is not treating
Shei--Mrs. Lavender--properly. But if you were to hint to him that
he ought to pay some attention to her--that he should not be going
everywhere as if he were a young bachelor in chambers; if you would
discourage his coming to see you without bringing her also, and so
forth--surely he would see what you mean. Perhaps I ask too much of
you, but I had intended to ask more. The fact is, Mrs. Kavanagh, I had
done your daughter the injustice of supposing--"

"I thought we had agreed to say no more about that," said Mrs.
Lorraine quickly, and Ingram was silent.

Half an hour thereafter he was walking back through Holland Park,
through the warm light of an autumn afternoon. The place seemed much
changed since he had seen it a couple of hours before. The double
curve of big houses had a more friendly and hospitable look: the very
air seemed to be more genial and comfortable since he had driven up
here in the hansom.

Perhaps Mr. Ingram was at this moment a little more perturbed, pleased
and bewildered than he would have liked to confess. He had discovered
a great deal in these two hours, been much surprised and fascinated,
and had come away fairly stupefied with the result of his mission.
He had indeed been successful: Lavender would now find a different
welcome awaiting him in the house in which he had been spending nearly
all his time, to the neglect of his wife. But the fact is, that as
Edward Ingram went rapidly over in his own mind everything that had
occurred since his entrance into that house, as he anxiously recalled
the remarks made to him, the tone and looks accompanying them, and his