ught a moment. Then he went on: "You may have
heard, perhaps, about the dance that little American, Mrs. Newhaven, is
getting up at the Grafton Galleries for _Deaf and Dumb Dogs and Cats_.
No? Well, every one is going, and they're arranging to have, by way of
novelty, Quadrilles of different nationalities. Romer and his wife are
to dance in the Egyptian Quadrille, and he asked me to take her to the
British Museum to look round and see if we could find some inspiration
for Egyptian costumes that wouldn't be too impossible. But when we got
there, we suddenly remembered the awful story about one of the mummies
being unlucky, so we went into the Print Room and remained there."

De Freyne paused.

"Of course, if that is all--if my son knows of your going, and even
asked you to go, there's nothing more to be said ... though I think it
very foolish, and I don't approve of any of that sort of thing at all."

"What, not of Egyptian quadrilles, Mrs. Wyburn?" asked Harry, with
surprised innocence and in a coaxing voice. "Why, I'm sure it will be
frightfully harmless--in fact, very invigorating to the mind. It's not
as though the dresses were becoming! We saw the most hideous things at
the Museum. We met Lady Totness, who was dragging a wretched little boy
about--I suppose as a punishment for something."

Mrs. Wyburn smiled slightly. She began to feel rather inclined to relent
at the implication that Lady Totness was hideous.

"There you really are wrong, Mr. de Freyne. The boy was taken there as a
treat."

"A _treat_! For whom? For him? What a strange idea--I mean, to think it
could be a treat to go anywhere with her, Mrs. Wyburn."

"It is, rather," she acknowledged.

"Well, then, if that is really all that was troubling you, I do hope
you're happy now?"

He said this with one of his subtle, insinuating changes of tone that
were always so effective. Musicians will understand when I say it was
like a change from the common chord in the minor to the dominant in the
major. It was partly from force of habit, partly because he really
wished to win Mrs. Wyburn over.

"Of course, now you've given the explanation it's, _so far_, all right.
You'll have a cup of tea with me, won't you?"

"I should enjoy it particularly. Let me ring." After a minute or two she
said--

"But perhaps I might venture to suggest it might be better--more
prudent--if you were to go about a little less with Valentia?... Of
course, I quite see now that