you
should understand me better. I handed the whole affair over to Nevin,
and to you that seems like ennui, I know. But it does not mean that; it
simply means that as a hopeless man of business I appoint another to do
what I know myself incapable of doing. Once I am committed to the
production of a book, Don, I cease to exist outside its pages. I live
and move and have my being in it. But please don't misunderstand.
Anything within my power to do for Flamby I will do gladly. I only
learned to-day of her second bereavement. Don, we must protect her from
the fate which so often befalls girls in such circumstances."

"My dear Paul, in accusing me of misjudging _you_, you are misjudging
_me_. If I don't understand you nobody does. My offer to release you
from the bargain is not to be understood as a reproach; it is a
confession. I am a man utterly devoid of common sense, one to whom
reason is a stranger and moderation an enemy. I am a funny joke. I
should be obliged if you would sell me to _Punch_."

"You puzzle me."

"I puzzle myself. Don Courtier is a conundrum with which I struggle
night and morning. In brief, Paul, I have been shopping with Flamby."

"With Flamby? Then she is in London?"

"She arrived yesterday morning, a most pathetic little picture in black.
I wish you could have seen her, Paul; then you might understand and
condone."

The vertical wrinkle between Paul's brows grew darker. His mind was a
playground of conflicting thoughts. When he spoke he did so almost
automatically. "She has never had a chance, Don. God knows I am eager to
help her."

"But I cannot permit it. To put the matter in a nutshell, I have already
spent roughly a hundred and twenty pounds in this worthy cause!"

Paul laughed outright. "My dear fellow, what are a hundred and twenty
pounds in the scale against your life? You are worth more to me than
sixty pounds!"

"This is only the beginning. Having beguiled her into an extravagant
mode of expenditure, from motives of self-protection I have been forced
to plunge deeper into the mire of deception. I have informed her that
she is to refer all tradespeople to Nevin. Quite innocently she may let
us in for any amount of money!"

Paul put his hands upon Don's shoulders, laughing more loudly than ever.
"I don't know to what extent your service has depleted your exchequer,
and how far you can afford to pursue the Quixotic, but for my own part
all I have is at your disposal--and at Fla