e it _all_ your own way, did
you, Sophy?

SOPHY.

I'll thank you to be less familiar. Let me out.

QUEX.

Not I.

SOPHY.

You let me out directly.

QUEX.

[_Pointing a finger at her._] You'll gain nothing by raging, my good
girl. Ha! now you appreciate the curiously awkward position in which
you have placed yourself.

SOPHY.

I've placed myself in no--

QUEX.

Oh, come, come! Taking me at my blackest, I'm not quite the kind of man
that a young woman who prides herself upon her respectability desires to
be mixed up with in this fashion.

SOPHY.

Mixed up with!

QUEX.

Well--[_stretching out his arms_] here we are, you know.

SOPHY.

Here we are!

QUEX.

You and I, dear Sophy. [_Putting his leg over the arm of his chair._]
Now just sit down--

SOPHY.

I sha'n't.

QUEX.

While I picture to you what will happen in the morning.

SOPHY.

In the morning?

QUEX.

In a few hours' time. In the first place, you will be called in your
room. You won't be there.

SOPHY.

Won't I!

QUEX.

No. You won't be there. A little later my man will come to _my_ room. I
sha'n't be there. At about the same hour, her Grace will require your
attendance. Where will _you_ be? She will then, naturally, desire to
return to her own apartments. You are intelligent enough, I fancy, to
imagine the rest. [_After a brief pause, she breaks into a peal of soft,
derisive laughter._] I am deeply flattered by your enjoyment of the
prospect.

SOPHY.

Ha, ha, ha! why, you must take me for a fool!

QUEX.

Why?

SOPHY.

Why, can't you see that our being found together like this, here or
anywhere, would do for _you_ as well as for me?

QUEX.

[_Rising._] Of course I see it. [_Advancing to her._] But, my dear
Sophy, _I_ am already done for. _You_ provide for that. And so, if I
have to part with my last shred of character, I will lose it in
association with a woman of your class rather than with a lady whom I,
with the rest of the world, hold in the highest esteem.

SOPHY.

[_After a pause._] Ho! oh, indeed?

QUEX.

Yes. Yes, indeed.

SOPHY.

[_With a shade less confidence._] Ha, ha! if your lordship thinks to
frighten me, you've got hold of the wrong customer. Ha, ha, ha! two or
three things you haven't reckoned for, I can assure you. Here's one--I
told Miss Muriel exactly what I heard, between you and your Duchess, in
the garden this evening.

QUEX.

[_Grinding his teeth._] You did! [_Inv