and came to Mrs.
Clarke's table.

"May I sit down and talk to you for a little?" he said, with a manner
that testified to their intimacy. "My guest has deserted me."

"Yes, do. Tell the waiter to bring the rest of your dinner here."

"But I have finished."

"Light your cigar then."

"If you don't mind."

They talked for a few minutes about the things of every day and the
little world they both lived in on the Bosporus; then Mrs. Clarke said:

"I met a friend from England unexpectedly to-day."

"Did you?"

"A man called Dion Leith."

"Dion Leith?" repeated Vane.

He looked at her earnestly.

"Now wait a moment!"

His large, cool blue eyes became meditative.

"It's on the edge of my mind who that is, and yet I can't remember. I
don't know him, but I'm sure I know of him."

"He fought in the South African War."

Suddenly Vane leaned forward. He was frowning.

"I've got it! He fought, came back with the D.C.M., and only a few days
afterwards killed his only child, a son, out shooting. I remember the
whole thing now, the inquest at which he was entirely exonerated and the
rumors about his wife. She's a beautiful woman, they say."

"Very beautiful."

"She took it very badly, didn't she?"

"What do you mean by very badly?"

"Didn't she bear very hard on him?"

"She couldn't endure to see him, or to have him near her. Is that very
wonderful?"

"You stand up for her then?"

"She was first and foremost a mother."

"Do you know," Vane said rather dryly, "you are the only woman I
never hear speak against other women. But when the whole thing was an
accident?"

"We can't always be quite fair, or quite reasonable, when a terrible
shock comes to us."

"It's a problem, a terrible problem of the affections," Vane said. "Had
she loved her husband? Do you know?"

"I know that he loved her very much," said Mrs. Clarke. "He is here
under an assumed name."

Vane looked openly surprised and even, for a moment, rather disdainful.

"But then----" He paused.

"Why did I give him away?"

"Well--yes."

"Because I wish to force him to face things fully and squarely. It's his
only chance."

"Won't he be angry?"

"But I don't mind that."

"You've had a reason in telling me," said Vane quietly. "What is it?"

"Come up to my sitting-room. We'll have coffee there."

"Willingly. I feel your spell even when you're weaving it for another
man's sake."

Mrs. Clarke did not reject the compliment. She on