e know, wouldn't it?" He flung
the question at his friend. "A sixpenny wire--even a cable wouldn't have
ruined her, would it? And it would have been much less brutal than to
let me come home expecting to find a blushing bride waiting for me!"

"I expect she ... she thought you'd see it in the papers," said Barry
rather lamely. "Although it was kept pretty quiet here there were
paragraphs about it, of course, and she may have supposed you would see
them."

"Hardly the thing to leave it to chance," said Owen drily. "After all,
when one gets out of an invitation to dinner, one generally sends an
excuse; but ..." he broke off, and his eyes blazed suddenly "... look
here, Barry, you know, and I know, that this woman has played a low-down
trick on me. I thought her--well, no matter what I thought her--but
anyway I know her now for what she is. And I'll be infinitely obliged to
you if you'll be good enough to drop the subject now and for evermore."

"I say, old chap, I'm awfully sorry----"

Barry's impulsive speech got no further, for the other raised his hand
to cut it short.

"All right, Barry, we'll take it all as said. Henceforth no such person
as Miss Rees--I mean Lady Saxonby--exists for me; and if you'll remember
that it will make things easier for us both."

"Very well, Owen." Barry felt emboldened to light a cigarette; and then,
with a tactlessness born of mental discomfort, he asked a blundering
question. "What shall you do now, old man? Have another shot at big game
for a bit, or what?"

"Another shot--I say, Barry, why on earth should I go back the moment
I've got home? Oh, I see!" He smiled cynically. "You mean town won't be
very pleasant for a bit? Well, I daresay it won't, but thank God no one
will dare to say much to me!" His jaw squared itself rather
aggressively. "But I don't intend to quit. On the contrary, my firm
intention is to remain here, do some good work, and, incidentally,
marry."

Barry swung round and faced him, openly surprised.

"Marry? But--whom?"

"Oh, I don't know ... at the moment; but someone. You look astonished,
Barry! Why shouldn't I marry? Ah, I see! You think because one woman's
turned me down no one else will care to risk her happiness with me!
Well, of course my value is considerably depreciated, no doubt; but
after all, men are in the minority, and I daresay I'll be able to find
some girl to take pity on me!"

"Don't talk like that, Owen!" Barry spoke hastily, and his b