hment. Men like
Dick sifted other men with a narrow mesh. A good many of those whom a
woman might accept and even admire, if left to herself, would not pass
through it. Certainly Mackenzie wouldn't. She would have had to suffer
for running away, but she would suffer far more for running away with "a
bounder." And what made it harder was that, although she didn't know it
yet, in the trying battle that had just been waged over her, the sieve
of her own perceptions had narrowed, and Mackenzie, now, would not have
passed through that. She would presently be effectually punished there,
if Dick and the rest should leave her alone entirely.

Dick suddenly realised that he was ravenously desirous of a cigarette,
and having lit one and inhaled a few draughts of smoke, felt the
atmosphere lighter.

"By Jove, that was a tussle," he said. "He's a dangerous fellow, that.
You'll thank me, some day, Cicely, for getting you away from him."

"You didn't get me away," said Cicely. "You had nothing whatever to do
with it."

"Eh?" said Dick.

"If you had been just a little kind I would have come with you the
moment you came into the room. I was longing for some one from home. You
made it the hardest thing in the world for me to come. If I had stayed
with him it would have been your fault. I'll never forgive you for the
way you treated me, Dick. And you may do what you like to me now, and
father may do what he likes. Nothing can be worse than that."

She poured out her words hurriedly, and only the restraint that comes
with a seat in a hansom cab within full view of the populace of Camden
Town prevented her bursting into hysterical tears.

Dick would rather have ridden up to the mouth of a cannon than drive
through crowded streets with a woman making a scene, so he said, "Oh,
for God's sake keep quiet now," and kept quiet himself, with something
to think about.

Presently he said, "No one knows at home yet that you aren't with
Muriel. You've got me to thank for that, at any rate."

Cicely blushed with her sudden great relief, but went pale again
directly. "I wrote to mother," she said. "She would get the letter early
this morning."

"I've got the letter in my pocket," said Dick. "She hasn't seen it."

"You opened my letter to mother!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, I did, and lucky for you too. It was how we found you."

She let that pass. It was of no interest to her then to learn by what
chance they had found her. "Then do you real