to be done with a job which seemed to her ridiculous.

_Chapter XII_

_The End of the Gala_

Godfrey Wilson waited until Mr. Graham had departed, then strolled
slowly along the promenade towards Caroline. He had no real objection
to anyone knowing that he spoke to her, but preferred to say a
necessary word or two about the type-writing machine when Miss Ethel
and her party were not there. This is what he told himself as he went
along the path to the place where she stood with another girl, watching
the dancing.

All the same it was something deeper than argument which informed his
movements--something stronger than common sense. It was a stirring of
the insatiable curiosity of the human being who has begun to be
sexually interested in another. Though not exactly coarse-fibred, he
was so far removed from anything attenuated as almost to be so. He
only thought of himself.

He wanted to know what she was thinking of him, whether she liked him
more or less than when they last met. And yet in spite of that he
believed himself to be quite honest when he assured his conscience that
he only wanted to say something about a paper carrier which had not
worked well. For instinct is such a wonderful hand at camouflage that
he believed quite honestly--despite previous experience--that he wanted
nothing more. For the most wonderful thing about this kind of
deception is that the same old trick may seem new time after time.
Just as a healthy woman forgets what she has gone through on having her
child, so a very virile man will forget--in a way--what he has
experienced in pursuit of a girl.

At any rate, Godfrey Wilson was not at all conscious of going over old
ground; though when he approached Caroline saying rather formally,
"Good evening, Miss Raby. I just wanted to ask you if that paper
carrier was working satisfactorily now----" he could not quite ignore
the suggestion of a giggle in the attitude of Caroline's companion, who
moved away at once with some murmur about finding a cousin. The "Two's
company and three's none!" in her tone spoke as plainly as that.
Wilson felt annoyed by it.

"Oh well, that was all I wanted to know," he said when she had given
the information, and he spoke rather loudly and distinctly, so that
anyone near might hear.

But as Caroline at once moved away to follow her friend, he suddenly
felt that he wanted to say something more.

"The Gala has not been a very gay affair, has it