ying his capture. He did
not talk very much to Beatrice, but it was obvious that he was at every
moment enjoying her presence, her attention; when she listened earnestly
he caught her earnestness and it seemed to help him; when she laughed,
in her characteristic delicate way,--her laugh seemed almost wholly of
the mind,--he beamed with a joy that was touching in a man of his type
because it was so unself-conscious. His affection for Beatrice had
performed the miracle of drawing him out of the prison of awareness in
which such men as he dwell. To-night he was actually unobservant. Dion
knew this by the changed expression of his eyes. Even Beatrice he was
not observing; he was just feeling what she was, how she was. For once
he had passed beyond the narrow portals and had left satire far behind
him.

When Beatrice got up to go to the drawing-room he opened the door for
her. She blushed faintly as she went out. When the door was shut, and
the three men were alone, Bruce Evelin said to Dion:

"Will you mind if Daventry and I talk a little shop to-night?"

"Of course not. But would you rather I went up and kept Beattie
company?"

"No; stay till you're bored, or till you think Beatrice is bored. Let us
light up."

He walked slowly, with his gently precise gait, to a cigar cabinet,
opened it, and told the young men to help themselves.

"And now for the Clarke case," he said.

"Is that the name of the woman from Constantinople?" asked Dion.

"Yes, Mrs. Beadon Clarke," said Daventry. "But she hates the Beadon and
never uses it. Beadon Clarke's trying to divorce her, and I'm on her
side. She's staying with Mrs. Chetwinde. Esme Darlington, who's an old
friend of hers, thinks her too unconventional for a diplomatist's wife."

Bruce Evelin had lighted his cigar.

"We mustn't forget that our friend Darlington has always run tame rather
than wild," he remarked, with a touch of dry satire. "And now, Daventry,
let us go through the main facts of the case, without, of course,
telling any professional secrets."

And he began to outline the Clarke case, which subsequently made a great
sensation in London.

It appeared that Mrs. Clarke had come first to him in her difficulty,
and had tried hard to persuade him to emerge from his retirement and to
lead for her defense. He had been determined in refusal, and had advised
her to get Sir John Addington, with Daventry as junior. This she had
done. Now Bruce Evelin was carefully "pu