people to be kind--just a word, and it's done. Thank you," said she, as
he took her cup from her and placed it on the table; and then, before
she left him, she ventured to say, with a charming modesty, "I'm sure
you will forgive me, Mr. Mangan, but if I were to send you a copy of the
book, might I hope that you would find ten minutes to glance over it?"

"I am certain I shall read it with very great interest," said he; and
that was strictly true, for this Lady Adela Cunyngham completely puzzled
him; she seemed so extraordinary a combination of a clever woman of the
world and an awful fool.

And Lionel? Well, he had got introduced to Miss Gabrielle Grey, whom he
found to be a very quiet, shy, pensive sort of creature, not posing as a
distinguished person at all. He dared not talk to her of her books, for
he did not even know the names of them; but he let her understand that
he knew she was an authoress, and it seemed to please her to know that
her fame had penetrated into the mysterious regions behind the
footlights. She began to question him, in a timid sort of way, about his
experiences--whether stage-fright was difficult to get over--whether he
thought that the immediate and enthusiastic approbation of the public
was a beneficial stimulant--whether the continuous excitement of the
emotional nature tended to render it callous, or, on the other hand,
more sensitive and sympathetic--and so forth. Was she dimly looking
forward to the conquest of a new domain, where the young ladies of the
rectory and the vicarage might be induced fearfully to follow her? But
Lionel did not linger long in that drawing-room. He got Maurice Mangan
away as soon as he could; they slipped out unobserved--especially as
there were plenty of new-comers now arriving. When they had passed down
through the back garden to the gate, the one lit a cigarette, and the
other a pipe; and together they wended their way towards Kensington
Road and Piccadilly.

"Why," said Mangan, "I shall have quite a favorable report to carry down
to Winstead. I did not see you treated with any of that unwholesome
adulation I have heard so much of!"

"I am almost a stranger in the house now," Lionel said, briefly.

"Why?"

"Oh, various circumstances, of late."

"They did not even ask you to sing," his friend said, in accents of some
surprise.

"They dared not. Didn't you see that most of the people were strangers?
How could Lady Adela be sure that she was not woun