ter
the "jilting." French had tried to help him, only to find that he was no
more a match for the lady than the rest of the world.

As to the call and the invitation, he agreed heartily that a person of
delicacy would have omitted them. The Fairmile marriage, it was
generally rumoured, had broken down hopelessly.

"Faults on both sides, of course. Fairmile is and always was an
unscrupulous beggar! He left Eton just as you came, but I remember him
well."

Roger began a sentence to the effect that if Fairmile had no scruples of
his own, Chloe would scarcely have taught him any; but he checked
himself abruptly in the middle, and the two men passed to other topics.
French began to talk of East London, and the parish he was to have
there. Roger, indifferent at first, did not remain so. He did not
profess, indeed, any enthusiasm of humanity; but French found in him new
curiosities. That children should starve, and slave, and suffer--_that_
moved him. He was, at any rate, for hanging the parents.

* * * * *

The day of the Upcott visit came, and, in spite of all recalcitrance,
Roger was made to mount the motor beside his wife. Lady Barnes had
entirely refused to go, and Mr. and Mrs. French had departed that
morning for Eton.

As the thing was inevitable, Roger's male philosophy came to his aid.
Better laugh and have done with it. So that, as he and Daphne sped along
the autumn lanes, he talked about anything and everything. He expressed,
for instance, his friendly admiration for Elsie French.

"She's just the wife for old Herbert--and, by George, she's in love with
him!"

"A great deal too much in love with him!" said Daphne, sharply. The day
was chilly, with a strong east wind blowing, and Daphne's small figure
and face were enveloped in a marvellous wrap, compounded in equal
proportions of Russian sables and white cloth. It had not long arrived
from Woerth, and Roger had allowed himself some jibes as to its probable
cost. Daphne's "simplicity," the pose of her girlhood, was in fact
breaking down in all directions. The arrogant spending instinct had
gained upon the moderating and self-restraining instinct. The results
often made Barnes uncomfortable. But he was inarticulate, and easily
intimidated--by Daphne. With regard to Mrs. French, however, he took up
the cudgels at once. Why shouldn't Elsie adore her man, if it pleased
her? Old Herbert was worth it.

Women, said Daphne, should