y weeks are past. How
about that cheque to Farnham and Company last week? Farnham's say they
never got it, but I hear it's come back through the bank with a queer
endorsement upon it."

Dredlinton caught at the tablecloth. The malicious gleam in his eyes gave
way to a look of positive fear.

"I can't remember--anything here--without any books," he muttered.
"Tell me what it is you want, Phipps? I am ready to do any thing--you
know that."

"Your wife's friendship with this fellow Wingate has got to be nipped in
the bud," Phipps declared.

"Yes, but how?" Dredlinton demanded. "Josephine and I aren't anything to
one another any more--you know that. She goes her own way."

"She lives in your house," Phipps said. "You remain her husband nominally
and you have therefore a certain amount of authority. You must forbid her
to receive Wingate."

"I'll forbid her, all right," Dredlinton assented, "but I won't guarantee
that she'll obey."

"Then you must give orders to the servants," Phipps insisted. "I don't
need to suggest to you, Dredlinton," he went on, "what means you should
use to make your wife obey you, but there are means, and if you're not
the man to realise them, I'm very much surprised in you. I will begin
with a concrete case. Your wife, together with that fellow Wilshaw and
Miss Baldwin, have accepted an invitation from Wingate to dine and go to
a theatre to-morrow night. You must see that your wife does not go."

"Very well," Dredlinton promised, "I'll manage it somehow."

"See that you do," Phipps enjoined earnestly. "Your wife is one of those
misguided women with a strong sense of duty. Unless you behave like a
damn fool, you can reestablish some measure of control over her. Do so.
There are certain circumstances," he went on, his face wrinkled a little
with emotion, his voice deep and earnest, "there are certain
circumstances, Dredlinton, under which I might be inclined to behave
towards you with great generosity. I leave you to guess what those
circumstances are. I will show you the way later on."

Dredlinton felt hope stir once more through his shocked and terrified
senses. He lit a cigarette with fingers which had ceased to tremble,
leaned a little back in his place and stared at his companion curiously.

"Phipps," he asked, "what the devil do you and this fellow Wingate see
in my wife?"

"What a man like you would never look for," was the harsh reply.

CHAPTER XII

"Throw your coat do