eing amused at things not intrinsically
humorous, and manners that he had tried, fortunately with imperfect
success, to model on those of a prize-fighter. Ayre liked him for what
he was, while shuddering at what he tried to be.

"I didn't come on that account at all," he said, "I came to look after
some business."

"Get out!" said the Earl pleasantly; "do you think I don't know you?"

Ayre allowed himself to yield in silence. His motives were a little
mixed; and, anyhow, it was not at the moment desirable to explain them.
His vindication would wait.

In the afternoon he paid his call on Mrs. Welman. She was delighted to
see him, not only as a man of social repute, but also because the good
lady was in no little distress of mind. The arrangement between Kate and
Eugene was, as a family arrangement, above perfection. Mrs. Welman was
not rich, and like people who are not rich, she highly esteemed riches;
like most women, she looked with favor on Eugene; the fact of Kate
having some money seemed to her, as it does to most people, a reason for
her marrying somebody who had more, instead of aiding in the beneficent
work of a more equal distribution of wealth. But Kate was undeniably
willful. She treated her engagement, indeed, as an absolutely binding
and unbreakable tie--a fact so conclusively accomplished that it could
almost be ignored. But she received any suggestion of a possible excess
in her graciousness toward Haddington and her acceptance of his society,
as at once a folly and an insult; and as she was of age and paid half
the bills, all means of suasion were conspicuously lacking. Mrs. Welman
was in a position exactly the reverse of the pleasant one; she had
responsibility without power. It is true her responsibility was mainly
a figment of her own brain, but its burden upon her was none the less
heavy for that.

It must be admitted that Ayre's dealings with her were wanting in
candor. Under the guise of family friendship, he led her on to open her
mind to him. He extracted from her detailed accounts of long excursions
into the outskirts of the forest, of numberless walks in the shady
paths, of an expedition to the races (where perfect solitude can always
be obtained), and of many other diversions which Kate and Haddington had
enjoyed together, while she was left to knit "clouds" and chew
reflections in the Kurhaus garden. All this, Ayre recognized, with
lively but suppressed satisfaction, was not as it should