as if he had not been.

Mr. Tatham was dining out that night, which was a good thing for him to
distract his thoughts from this problem, which he could only torment
himself about and could not solve; and there was an evening party at the
same house--one of those quieter, less-frequented parties which are,
people in London tell you, so much more agreeable than in the crowd of
the season. It was a curious kind of coincidence that at this little
assembly, which might have been thought not at all in her way, he met
Lady Mariamne, accompanied by her daughter, again. It was not in her
way, being a judge's house, where frivolity, though it had a certain
place, was not the first element. But then when there are few things to
choose from, people must not be too particular, and those who cannot
have society absolutely of their own choosing, are bound, as in other
cases of necessity, to take what they can get. And then Dolly liked to
hear people talking of things which she did not understand. When Lady
Mariamne saw that John Tatham was there she gave a little shriek of
satisfaction, and rushed at him as if they had been the dearest friends
in the world. "So delighted to see you _again_," she cried, giving
everybody around the idea of the most intimate relationship. "It was the
most wonderful good fortune that I got my Toto home in safety, poor
darling; for you know, Mr. Tatham, you would not give him any tea, and
Dolly, who is quite unnatural, pitched him into the carriage and simply
sat upon him--sat upon him, Mr. Tatham! before I could interfere. Oh,
you do not know half the trials a woman has to go through! And now
please take me to have some coffee or something, and let us finish the
conversation we were having when Dolly made me go away."

John could not refuse his arm, nor his services in respect to the
coffee, but he was mute on the subject on which his companion was bent.
He tried to divert her attention by some questions on the subject of
Dolly instead.

"Dolly! oh, yes, she's a girl of the period, don't you know--not what a
girl of the period used to be in _our_ day, Mr. Tatham, when those nasty
newspaper people wrote us down. Look at her talking to those two men,
and laying down the law. Now, we never laid down the law; we knew best
about things in our sphere--dress, and the drawing-room, and what people
were doing in society. But Dolly would tell you how to manage your next
great case, Mr. Tatham, or she could give