ule he had said too much, and Cassandra,
superb in her dignity and severity, had refused to hear another word,
and threatened an immediate return to her home. His agitation, after an
evening spent between the two women, was extreme. Moreover, he could not
help suspecting that Ralph was wandering near the Hilberys' house, at
this hour, for reasons connected with Katharine. There was probably some
understanding between them--not that anything of the kind mattered
to him now. He was convinced that he had never cared for any one save
Cassandra, and Katharine's future was no concern of his. Aloud, he said,
shortly, that he was very tired and wished to find a cab. But on Sunday
night, on the Embankment, cabs were hard to come by, and Rodney found
himself constrained to walk some distance, at any rate, in Denham's
company. Denham maintained his silence. Rodney's irritation lapsed. He
found the silence oddly suggestive of the good masculine qualities which
he much respected, and had at this moment great reason to need. After
the mystery, difficulty, and uncertainty of dealing with the other sex,
intercourse with one's own is apt to have a composing and even ennobling
influence, since plain speaking is possible and subterfuges of no avail.
Rodney, too, was much in need of a confidant; Katharine, despite her
promises of help, had failed him at the critical moment; she had
gone off with Denham; she was, perhaps, tormenting Denham as she had
tormented him. How grave and stable he seemed, speaking little, and
walking firmly, compared with what Rodney knew of his own torments and
indecisions! He began to cast about for some way of telling the story of
his relations with Katharine and Cassandra that would not lower him in
Denham's eyes. It then occurred to him that, perhaps, Katharine herself
had confided in Denham; they had something in common; it was likely that
they had discussed him that very afternoon. The desire to discover
what they had said of him now came uppermost in his mind. He recalled
Katharine's laugh; he remembered that she had gone, laughing, to walk
with Denham.

"Did you stay long after we'd left?" he asked abruptly.

"No. We went back to my house."

This seemed to confirm Rodney's belief that he had been discussed. He
turned over the unpalatable idea for a while, in silence.

"Women are incomprehensible creatures, Denham!" he then exclaimed.

"Um," said Denham, who seemed to himself possessed of complete
under