ng dress! Poor Paddy, you're so
Irish, aren't you? Please don't be an idiot!"

She went on towards the door of the box, and he followed after her.
"Cecily!" he said.

"Not to-night," she answered. "I want to be introduced to that nice
girl, Mary Graham, and I really must congratulate Gilbert ... I suppose
he's here ... it's such a clever play!"

She opened the door of the box and went in, and, hesitating for a
moment, he went after her.

4

She stayed in the box, sitting between Mrs. Graham and Mary, until the
end of the play. The curtain had gone down to applause and laughter and
had been raised again and a third and fourth time, and then the audience
had demanded that the author should appear. Somewhere in the gallery,
they could hear the faint groan of the man who attends all first nights
and groans on principle. "I'd like to punch that chap's jaw!" Ninian
muttered, glancing up at the gallery indignantly. There was more
applause and a louder and more insistent shout of "Author! Author!" and
the curtain went up, and Gilbert, very nervous and very pale, came on to
the stage and bowed. Then, after another curtain call, the lights were
lowered and the audience began to disperse.

There was to be a supper party at the Carlton, because the Carlton was
nearer to the Pall Mall than the Savoy, and Sir Geoffrey Mundane and
Mrs. Michael Gordon had accepted Gilbert's invitation to join them.
"It'll cost a hell of a lot," Gilbert said to Henry, "but what's money
for? When I die, they'll put on my tombstone, '_He was born in debt, he
lived in debt, he died in debt, and he didn't care a damn. So be it!_'
He extended his invitation to Jimphy and Lady Cecily.

"You didn't come to Jimphy's birthday party," she objected.

"Didn't I?" he replied. "Well, both of you come to my party ... that'll
make up for it!"

Gilbert did not appear to be affected by Cecily's presence. He had
greeted her naturally, behaving to her in as friendly a way as he would
have behaved if she had been Mrs. Graham. Henry, remembering the scene
on the Embankment, had difficulty in understanding Gilbert's easy
manner. Had he been in Gilbert's place, he knew that he would have been
awkward, constrained, tongue-tied. Undoubtedly, Gilbert had _savoir
faire_. So, too, had Cecily. Her look of irritation with Henry had
disappeared as she entered the box. He, following after her, had been
nervous and self-conscious, feeling that the flushed look on his face