began.

He saw her leaning forward eagerly to watch the stage, and presently he
heard her laughing at some piece of wit in the play: a clear, joyful
laugh; and as she laughed, she turned for a few moments and gazed into
the darkened theatre. Her beautiful eyes seemed to him to be shining
stars, and he imagined that she was looking straight at him. He smiled
at her, and then jeered at himself. "Of course, she can't see me," he
said.

He tried to interest himself in the traffic of the stage, but his
thoughts continually wandered to the woman in the box above him.

"She's the loveliest woman I've ever seen," he said to himself.

THE FIFTH CHAPTER

1

She turned to greet them as they entered the box. "Come and sit beside
me, Gilbert!" she said. "Mr. Quinn ... oh, you don't know Jimphy, do
you?" She introduced Henry to her husband who mumbled "How do!" in a
sulky voice, and stood against the wall of the box twisting his
moustache. The shyness which had enveloped Henry in the vestibule of the
theatre still clung about him, and he felt awkward and tongue-tied. Lord
Jasper Jayne did not help Henry to get rid of his shyness. There was a
"Who-the-devil-are-you?" look about him that made easy conversation
impossible and any conversation difficult. Lady Cecily was chatting to
Gilbert as if she had been saving up all her conversation for a month
past exclusively for his ears; and Henry could hear a recurrent
phrase.... "But, Gilbert, it's ages since you've been to see me, and you
know I like you to come!..." that jangled his temper and made him feel
savage towards his friend....

He made an effort to be chatty with Lord Jasper. "How do you like the
play?" he said, as pleasantly as he could, for it was not easy to be
chatty with Lord Jasper, whose coarse, flat features roused a sensation
of repulsion in Henry.

"I don't like it," he replied. "Rotten twaddle!"

"Oh!" Henry exclaimed.

There did not appear to be anything more to say, nor did Lord Jasper
seem anxious to continue the conversation; but just when it appeared
that the effort to be pleasantly chatty was likely to be abortive, Lord
Jasper suddenly walked towards the door of the box. "Come and have a
drink!" he said.

Henry did not wish to go and have a drink, and he paused irresolutely
until Lady Cecily suddenly leant forward and said with a laugh, "Yes, do
go with Jimphy, Mr. Quinn. Gilbert and I have such a lot to say to each
other, and Jimphy's not i