summoned back on business, and I really wasn't sorry on the whole. I did
rather regret missing all the fun."

Archie laughed.

"Hereford must be doing dark deeds then," he said, "of which he keeps
the rest of the world in complete ignorance. The markets are dead flat
just now--nothing doing whatever. It's enough to make you tear your
hair."

"Really!" said Nina. "He gave me to understant that it was something
urgent."

And then she became suddenly silent, meeting Archie's eyes, and aware of
the surprise he was too much of a gentleman to express. With a cold
feeling of dissatisfaction she turned from the subject.

"It's very nice to be back again among my friends," she said. "Can't you
come and dine to-morrow and go to the theatre afterwards?"

Archie considered a moment, and she knew that when he answered he was
cancelling other engagements.

"Thanks, I shall be delighted!" he said, "if I shan't be _de trop_."

There was a touch of mockery in Nina's smile.

"We shall probably be alone," she said. "My husband's business keeps him
late in the City. We have been home a week, and he has only managed to
dine with me once."

"Isn't he here to-night?" asked Archie.

She shook her head.

"What an infernal shame!" he exclaimed impulsively. "Oh, I beg your
pardon! That was a slip."

But Nina laid her hand on his sleeve.

"You needn't apologize," she said, in a low voice. "One can't have
everything. If you marry--an outsider--for his money, you have to pay
the penalty."

Archie looked at her with further indiscretion upon the tip of his
tongue. But he thought twice and kept it back.

"I say, you know," he said awkwardly, "I--I'm sorry."

"Thank you," she said gently. "Well, you will come to-morrow?"

"Of course," he said. "What theatre shall we go to? I'll bring the
tickets with me."

The conversation drifted away into indifferent topics and presently they
parted. Nina was almost gay of heart as she drove homeward that night.
She had begun to feel her loneliness very keenly, and Archie's society
promised to be of value.

Her husband was waiting for her when she returned. As she entered her
own sitting-room, he started up abruptly from an arm-chair as if her
entrance had suddenly roused him from sleep. She was considerably
surprised to see him there, for he had never before intruded without her
permission.

He glanced at the clock, but made no comment upon the lateness of the
hour.

"I hope you have