were saying?"

"I was saying," said Luke gaily, "that I hoped you enjoyed your visit
to the Dammoth Circus with Mr. Dag Moomshaw."

"Port never did agree with you," said Mabel. "You shouldn't take it."
She resumed her book.

Luke tried the second of the pleasant sentences.

"Dagshaw always seems to me to be one of those masterful men who
sooner or later----"

He ducked his head just in time, and the book which Mabel had thrown
knocked over the vase of flowers behind him.

"If you can't let me read in peace," she said, "at any rate, you
shan't sneer at my friends. You're always doing it, and everybody
notices it. I simply can't understand you. You're like nothing on
earth. What have you done with that love-letter of yours?"

"Oh, come," he said, "I've had no love letter."

"You silly liar; I mean the letter from your Lady Tyburn. Have you
been kissing it?"

"Really, Mabel, this is absurd. I might as well ask you if you have
been kissing the Mammoth Circus."

"I'm going to bed," said Mabel abruptly. "I'm absolutely fed up with
you. I'm sick to death of you. I hate you. And I despise you."

She went out and slammed the door violently. Four more vases went
over, and three pictures fell.

Luke went over to the open window and looked out into the cool night.
At the house opposite a girl was singing very beautifully "The End of
a Perfect Day."

CHAPTER V

As he sat in his office on the following Thursday morning, the whistle
of the speaking-tube sounded shrilly and interrupted him in the act of
composition. He went angrily to the tube.

"What do you want to interrupt me for," he called, "when you know I'm
busy? What the devil do you want, anyway?"

"I want you, Lukie," said a gentle voice in reply.

"Come up at once," he said. "Awfully sorry. Frightfully glad you've
come. If there's a chance of making a mistake within a hundred miles
of me, I seldom miss it."

Lady Tyburn came radiantly into the room, drawing off her gloves.

"Nasty shock for you, isn't it?" she said. She held out both hands to
him. "Will you ... will you help yourself?"

"Thanks," he said, as he clasped them warmly. "I will have some of
each."

After a minute or two she withdrew her hands and sat down.

"Has that dirty dog given you a partnership yet?" she asked.

"Diggle? Not yet. I ask him from time to time. He always seems too
busy to talk about it at any length. It's wonderful to see you here,
Jona."

"You got my l