s for Robin, he gives me the cold shudders every time I see him."

"Poor Robin!" said Juliet again. "I think he feels his deformity
very much."

"Of course he does! He ought to be in a home among his own kind. It would
be far better for everyone concerned. Frankly, the Green family
exasperate me," declared Mrs. Fielding. "I can put up with Jack. He's
such a smart, good-looking boy, and he can drive like the devil. But I've
no use for the other two, and never shall have. I think Green's a humbug.
Is he going to join your picnic-party on the shore?"

"He hasn't been invited," said Juliet.

"Oh, you won't find he needs much encouragement. As Dene Strange puts it,
he is always hovering on the outside edge of every circle and ready to
squeeze in at the very first opportunity."

"I should imagine my circle is hardly important enough to attract anyone
in that way," remarked Juliet. "Strange is very caustic. I am not sure I
like him much."

"Oh, I enjoy him," said Mrs. Fielding. "He is so brilliant. He always
gets right there. You have never met him, I suppose?"

Juliet shook her head. "Not under that name, anyway. They say he is a
barrister. But I haven't much sympathy with a man who hides behind a
pseudonym, have you? It looks as if he hasn't the courage of his
opinions."

"I shouldn't think anyone ever accused Dene Strange of lack of courage,"
said Mrs. Fielding. "I read all he writes. He is so intensely clever."

"Some people think he's a woman," said Juliet.

"Oh, I don't believe that. Neither do you. No woman ever had a brain like
that. It's quite Napoleonic. I'd give a good deal to meet him."

"And be horribly disappointed," said Juliet.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because lions always are disappointing when they're hunted down. The
ones that roar are quite insufferable, and the ones that don't are
just banal."

Mrs. Fielding looked at her with interest for the first time. "You've
seen a good deal of life," she remarked.

"Oh, no!" said Juliet lightly. "But enough to realize that the torch of
genius burns best in dark places. Perhaps Strange is right after
all--from his own point of view at least. That lion-hunting business is
so revolting."

"You speak as one who knows," said Mrs. Fielding.

Juliet smiled. "I have watched from the outside edge, as Dene Strange
puts it. I expect you have heard of the Farringmores, haven't you? I am
distantly related to them. I was brought up with Lady Joanna. So I know