d,
and tells of things that I don't want to. Nicholas, however, will have
him."

And at the thought of her husband's tyranny, Mrs. Manhattan shrugged her
shoulders and gazed complacently in her lap.

"Laura, I don't believe your dinner was a failure."

"Well, not exactly a failure perhaps, but it is always upsetting to have
people at the last moment send word that they can't come. It is not only
upsetting, it's dangerous. It takes the flavor of the soup away. It
makes everything taste bad." And as Mrs. Manhattan said this she glared
at Eden with the ferocity of an irritated Madonna. "Now tell me," she
continued, "what was the matter with you?"

"Really, Laura, it was nothing. I can't tell you." She hesitated a
second and into the corners of her exquisite mouth there passed a smile.
"I saw my husband in a cab with--with----"

"A woman?"

Eden stared at her friend with the astonishment of a gomeril at a
contortionist. The smile left her lips.

"Did you see him too?" she asked.

"Why, no, you little simpleton, I didn't see him; but I haven't got a
husband of my own for nothing."

"Do you mean that your husband deceives you?"

"Deceives me? no, not a bit of it. He only thinks he does. Is that what
has been the matter with you?"

"Laura----"

"And was it because you caught your husband in a cab that you couldn't
come to dinner? But, heavens and earth! if other women were to act like
you no one would even dare to attempt to entertain. As it is," Mrs.
Manhattan grumbled to herself, "the Mayor ought to pass an ordinance on
the subject. He has little enough to do in return for his double
lamp-posts."

"No, Laura, how absurd you are!" Eden exclaimed. "John was detained on
business."

"Ah! I see." And Mrs. Manhattan looked at her in a gingerly fashion out
of the corner of one eye.

"Yes, he sent me word that he was detained on business and for me to
send word to you."

"That was most thoughtful of him. And it was after you got the note that
the cab episode occurred?"

"No, it was just before."

"Yes, yes, I can understand." Mrs. Manhattan paused a moment. To anyone
else save Eden the pause would have been significant. "H'm," she went
on, "business may mean other men's money, or it may mean other men's
wives. I do hope, though, you were sensible enough not to mention
anything about the lady and the cab."

"Oh, but indeed, I did. He explained the whole thing at once."

"From the cab window?"

"When he