de.
I'm sure his wife looks much too good for him," she added generously.

Wingate's nerves were all on edge. He glanced at his watch and rose
regretfully to his feet.

"I am afraid," he said, as he led the way towards the exit, "that I must
go back to work. Thank you so much for coming and taking pity upon a
lonely man, Miss Lane."

"You can have all that sort of pity you like," she whispered.

"Then I shall certainly make demands upon it," he assured her, as they
parted at the door.

He found himself presently back in the cool and pleasantly austere
surroundings of his sitting room and threw himself into an easy-chair
drawn up in front of the wide-flung windows. A strong breeze, against
which a flight of seagulls leaned, was stirring the trees in the
Embankment Gardens and ruffling the surface of the water. The pall of
smoke eastward seemed here and there cloven by a wind-swept avenue of
clearer spaces. He felt a sudden and passionate distaste for his recent
environment,--the faint perfume which had crept out from the girl's hair
and face as she had leaned towards him, the brushing of her clothes
against his, the daring exposure of silk stocking, the continual
flirtatious appeal of her eyes and lips. He felt himself in revolt
against even that faint instinct of toleration which her prettiness and
at times subtle advances had kindled in him. He let his thoughts rest
upon the more wonderful things which smouldered in his brain and leaped
like fire through his veins when he dared to think of them. The room
seemed suddenly purified, made fit for her presence.

"I am sure that Mr. Wingate will see me if he is alone," he heard a
familiar voice say.

He sprang to his feet, realising in those few moments into what paradise
his thoughts had been climbing, and greeted Lady Dredlinton.

Josephine accepted the easy-chair which he wheeled up for her and glanced
around the room critically.

"Just what I expected," she murmured. "A nice healthy man's room, without
too much furniture, and with plenty of books. You are wondering why I
came, of course."

"I am too content with the good fortune which brought you to find time
for wonder," he replied.

"You'll laugh at me when I tell you," she warned him.

"You needn't tell me at all unless you like. You are here. That is
enough for me."

She shook her head.

"I am putting myself in the confessional," she declared. "I was leaving
the place with a disagreeable taste in m