ia--or Mrs. Cosham, or any other of your aunts
or uncles should be shown in and find us alone together. You know what
they're saying about us already."

Cassandra was equally stricken by the sight of William's agitation, and
appalled by the prospect of his desertion.

"We might hide," she exclaimed wildly, glancing at the curtain which
separated the room with the relics.

"I refuse entirely to get under the table," said William sarcastically.

She saw that he was losing his temper with the difficulties of the
situation. Her instinct told her that an appeal to his affection, at
this moment, would be extremely ill-judged. She controlled herself, sat
down, poured out a fresh cup of tea, and sipped it quietly. This natural
action, arguing complete self-mastery, and showing her in one of those
feminine attitudes which William found adorable, did more than any
argument to compose his agitation. It appealed to his chivalry. He
accepted a cup. Next she asked for a slice of cake. By the time the cake
was eaten and the tea drunk the personal question had lapsed, and they
were discussing poetry. Insensibly they turned from the question of
dramatic poetry in general, to the particular example which reposed
in William's pocket, and when the maid came in to clear away the
tea-things, William had asked permission to read a short passage aloud,
"unless it bored her?"

Cassandra bent her head in silence, but she showed a little of what she
felt in her eyes, and thus fortified, William felt confident that it
would take more than Mrs. Milvain herself to rout him from his position.
He read aloud.

Meanwhile Katharine walked rapidly along the street. If called upon to
explain her impulsive action in leaving the tea-table, she could have
traced it to no better cause than that William had glanced at Cassandra;
Cassandra at William. Yet, because they had glanced, her position was
impossible. If one forgot to pour out a cup of tea they rushed to the
conclusion that she was engaged to Ralph Denham. She knew that in half
an hour or so the door would open, and Ralph Denham would appear.
She could not sit there and contemplate seeing him with William's and
Cassandra's eyes upon them, judging their exact degree of intimacy, so
that they might fix the wedding-day. She promptly decided that she
would meet Ralph out of doors; she still had time to reach Lincoln's Inn
Fields before he left his office. She hailed a cab, and bade it take her
to a s