," Lord Henry murmured. "It is the motto of
decadence. It means that the moment the Union Jack is unfurled, the
voice of criticism, the intellect, and the first principles of justice
and honest self-analysis, must be stifled."

"Hullo! there's a streak of blue in the sky, and there's 'The Fastness'
_en bloc_!" cried Denis, very much relieved at the sight of his master's
car bearing all Mrs. Delarayne's household.

Everybody went on to the terrace to meet them, and one by one, the
ladies, with Stephen in the rear, came up the steps in their
mackintoshes.

Lord Henry noticed how amply Leonetta's frame filled her smart
rain-coat, and yet how sylph-like she appeared by the side of the rather
more heavy Jewess.

"Let's go for a walk!" she cried, as she greeted the men.

"Yes!" sang Cleopatra, Vanessa, Stephen, and Guy in chorus.

Denis, wishing the invitation had not been so general, endeavoured to
get Leonetta to speak to him for a moment alone, but she sedulously
thwarted his manoeuvres.

"I'm dead!" exclaimed Mrs. Delarayne. "The dance was too much for me. If
anybody killed me now they couldn't justly be charged with taking human
life. Don't ask me to stir till lunch."

The younger people, including the Tribes, therefore agreed to defy the
weather and to walk to Sandlewood and back before luncheon, and, in a
few minutes the whole party was ready: Lord Henry with Cleopatra, Agatha
and Stephen in the van, Leonetta and Vanessa with Denis and Mr. Tribe
next, and Mrs. Tribe and Guy Tyrrell in the rear.

Nothing of very great interest happened on the walk to Sandlewood, and
common subjects of conversation sped backwards and forwards in snatches,
from the front to the rear of the party, interrupted only by laughter
and occasional barely audible comments, which were intended for the
benefit of only one section.

As usual Cleopatra and Lord Henry found it extremely difficult to rise
above the barest platitudes in their talk to each other, and Agatha was
astonished at the emptiness of their conversation. It was partly owing
to this fact that Lord Henry would occasionally start a subject, like a
wave, rolling back over the heads of those behind him, so that the acute
embarrassment that he and Cleopatra felt in each other's presence might
be slightly relieved by the unconscious participation of the others in
their _tete-a-tete_.

Cleopatra was perfectly well now, and appeared supremely happy. But she
still kept her eyes