Ninian who was describing the accident which had
happened when the _Gigantic_ started on her first trip to America. "She
jolly near sank a cruiser," he was saying as Henry moved away from the
bar. "That was the second accident. The first time, she broke from her
moorings...."

He pushed his way through the crowd of drinking and gossiping men, and
entered the stalls. Lady Cecily saw him coming, and she beckoned to him.

"Who is that nice girl in the box?" she asked, as he sat down in
Jimphy's seat. "She sat beside you...."

"Oh, Ninian's sister," he replied. "Mary Graham."

"She's very pretty, isn't she?"

"Yes...."

He would have said more, but it suddenly struck him as comical that Lady
Cecily should speak of Mary almost in the words that Mary had used when
she spoke of Lady Cecily. He looked up at the box and saw that Mary was
talking to her mother, and something in her attitude sent a pang through
his heart.

"I _do_ love Mary," he said to himself, "but somehow ... somehow I love
Cecily too!"

Lady Cecily was speaking to him and he turned to listen.

"I want you to introduce me to Ninian's sister," she said.

"Yes," he answered reluctantly, though he could not have said why he was
reluctant to introduce her to Mary.

"After the next act," she went on, and he nodded his head.

Then Jimphy returned, and Henry got up and left her, and hurried back to
the box. The second act had begun when he reached it, and he tiptoed to
his seat and sat down in silence. Mary looked round at him, smiling, and
then looked back at the stage, and again he felt that odd reluctance to
bring Lady Cecily and her together.

3

At the end of the second act, he turned to Mary and said, "Lady Cecily
wants to be introduced to you. I said I'd bring her here after this
act!"

"Do," Mary answered.

As he walked towards the door of the box, he remembered Gilbert and he
bent towards him and said quietly, "Oh, Gilbert, I'm going to fetch Lady
Cecily. She wants to talk to Mary!..."

"Righto!" Gilbert replied, without looking up.

Henry hesitated. "You ... you don't mind, do you?" he said, and then
wished that he had remained silent.

"Mind!" Gilbert looked up. "Why should I mind?"

"I thought perhaps ... but of course if you don't mind, that's all
right!"

He hurried out of the box, feeling that he had intruded into private
places. He had intended to be considerate and had achieved only the
appearance of prying. "That's lik