crutiny of her rings.

"Of course I mean it," she said in the same quiet but utterly
unanswerable way. "You have no idea what Lord Henry means to me. He's
literally the only young man in London who does not treat me as if I
were a creature of mediaeval antiquity."

Sir Joseph crestfallen sank back again hopelessly into the cushions.

Mrs. Delarayne proceeded to explain that owing to the meddlesomeness of
some officious busybody on the Executive Council of the Society for
Anthropological Research--an old maid she felt certain--Lord Henry
Highbarn had been invited to go to Central China as the Society's
plenipotentiary, in order to investigate the reasons of China's
practical immunity from lunacy and nervous diseases of all kinds. Lord
Henry had accepted the honour and was leaving in three months' time. She
then picked up the newspaper, and read aloud the concluding paragraph of
the article on the subject:

"His departure from this country will be a severe blow to
the hundreds of nervous invalids who annually benefit from
his skill at his Sanatorium in Kent, and the world of
science will find it difficult to replace him. It appears
that Lord Henry has one or two ardent disciples who will be
in a position to carry on his great work, but a leading
London specialist, Dr. David Melhado, declared to our
representative to-day, that without the guidance of Lord
Henry's brilliant and original genius, it is doubtful
whether any of his pupils will ever dare to treat the more
obscure nervous cases on their master's drastic and
unprecedented lines."

"There now!" she cried, crumpling up the paper and throwing it away.
"You see what that means. It means that women like myself are once more
to be condemned to the dangerous misunderstanding to which we were
exposed before Lord Henry came on the scene. And we certainly can't
survive it."

Sir Joseph surveyed his companion's robust figure and healthy
countenance for some seconds, and an incredulous smile gradually spread
over his flushed and puffy features. "Surely there can't be very much
wrong with you--is there?" he dared to suggest for once.

Mrs. Delarayne's eyes suddenly flashed with fire, and she cowed him by a
single glance. "Don't talk of things you understand so little," she
snapped. "Lord Henry must at all costs be induced to remain in
England,--that's your job. He must not go. And anyhow China is such a
ridi