ure you'd like her, and she'd come like a shot. Then I'd
get Daisy Vane--she's all right. They don't know anything, and wouldn't
care if they did. Besides, you could call yourself what you liked."

"Thank you," Wingrave said. "I am afraid I did not make myself quite
clear. I was not thinking of play fellows. I was thinking of the men and
women of my own order. Shall I put the matter quite clearly? Can I take
my place in society under my own name, renew my old friendships and
build up new ones? Can I do this even at the risk of a few difficulties
at first? I am not a sensitive man. I am prepared for the usual number
of disagreeable incidents. But can I win my way through?"

With his back against the wall, Rocke displayed more courage. Besides,
what was the use of mincing matters with a man who had all the
appearance of a human automaton, who never flinched or changed color,
and whose passions seemed dried up and withered things?

"I am afraid not, Sir Wingrave," he said. "I should not recommend you to
try, at any rate for the present."

"Give me your reasons," was the cool response.

"I will do so with pleasure," Rocke answered. "About the time of the
trial and immediately afterwards, there was a certain amount of
sympathy for you. People felt that you must have received a good deal of
provocation, and there were several unexplained incidents which told
in your favor. Today, I should think that the feeling amongst those
who remember the affair at all is rather the other way. You heard, I
believe, that Lady Ruth married Lumley Barrington?"

"Yes."

"Barrington has been very successful at the Bar, and they say that he
is certain of a judgeship before long. His wife has backed him up well,
they have entertained lavishly, and today I should think that she is one
of the most popular hostesses in London. In her earlier days, I used to
hear that she was one of the very fast hunting set--that was the time
when you knew her. I can assure you that if ever that was true, she is
a completely altered woman today. She is patroness of half a dozen great
charitable schemes, she writes very clever articles in the Reviews on
the Betterment of the Poor Question, and royalty itself visits at her
house."

"I see," Wingrave said drily. "I was not aware of these changes."

"If ever," Mr. Rocke continued, "people were inclined to look a little
askance at her, that has all gone by. Today she is one of the last women
in the world of who