o my wife. And Miss Boyd and I have discussed Art and the
Immortality of the Soul with the gravity due to such topics.'

He held out his hand, and Susie took it. She had a horror of scenes, and,
though this encounter was as unexpected as it was disagreeable, she felt
it needful to behave naturally. She shook hands with Margaret.

'How disappointing!' cried their host. 'I was hoping to give Miss Boyd
something quite new in the way of magicians, and behold! she knows all
about him.'

'If she did, I'm quite sure she wouldn't speak to me,' said Oliver, with
a bantering smile.

They went into the supper-room.

'Now, how shall we sit?' said Arbuthnot, glancing round the table.

Oliver looked at Arthur, and his eyes twinkled.

'You must really let my wife and Mr Burdon be together. They haven't seen
one another for so long that I'm sure they have no end of things to talk
about.' He chuckled to himself. 'And pray give me Miss Boyd, so that she
can abuse me to her heart's content.'

This arrangement thoroughly suited the gay specialist, for he was able to
put the beautiful actress on one side of him and the charming American on
the other. He rubbed his hands.

'I feel that we're going to have a delightful supper.'

Oliver laughed boisterously. He took, as was his habit, the whole
conversation upon himself, and Susie was obliged to confess that he
was at his best. There was a grotesque drollery about him that was very
diverting, and it was almost impossible to resist him. He ate and drank
with tremendous appetite. Susie thanked her stars at that moment that she
was a woman who knew by long practice how to conceal her feelings, for
Arthur, overcome with dismay at the meeting, sat in stony silence. But
she talked gaily. She chaffed Oliver as though he were an old friend, and
laughed vivaciously. She noticed meanwhile that Haddo, more extravagantly
dressed than usual, had managed to get an odd fantasy into his evening
clothes: he wore knee-breeches, which in itself was enough to excite
attention; but his frilled shirt, his velvet collar, and oddly-cut satin
waistcoat gave him the appearance of a comic Frenchman. Now that she
was able to examine him more closely, she saw that in the last six months
he was grown much balder; and the shiny whiteness of his naked crown
contrasted oddly with the redness of his face. He was stouter, too, and
the fat hung in heavy folds under his chin; his paunch was preposterous.
The vivacity o