was cut short by the entrance of
Wyndham himself, followed by the rest.

Mr. Flaxman Reed was the first to take the empty seat by Audrey's side.
He remembered the talk he had with her at Oxford--that talk which had
provoked Wyndham's sarcastic comments. Himself a strange compound of
intellectual subtilty and broad simplicity of character, he had taken
Audrey's utterances in good faith. She had spoken to him of spiritual
things, in one of those moments of self-revelation which, he knew well,
come suddenly to those--especially to women--whose inner life is
troubled. But this was not the atmosphere to revive such themes in. He
had no part in Audrey's and in Wyndham's world,--the world which cared
nothing for the principles he represented, those two great ideals which
he served in his spirit and his body--the unity of the Church and the
celibacy of the priesthood. But Audrey interested him. He had first met,
last seen her, during a spiritual and intellectual crisis. He had stood
alone then, severed from those dearest to him by troubled seas of
controversy; and a word, a look, had passed which showed that she, this
woman, sympathised with him. It was enough; there still clung to her the
grave and tender associations of that time.

To-night the woman was unable to give him her whole-hearted attention.
Audrey was disturbed and preoccupied. Ted was lounging at the back of
her chair, hanging on her words; Wyndham and Miss Armstrong were sitting
on the other side of her, and she felt herself straining every nerve to
catch what they were saying.

"Yes," said Miss Armstrong in the tone of a proud parent, "'Through Fire
to Moloch' was my first. In that book I threw down the gauntlet to
Society. It shrugged its shoulders and took no notice. My second, 'Sour
Grapes,' was a back-hander in its face. It shrieked that time, but it
read 'Sour Grapes.'"

"Which at once increased the demand for 'Through Fire to Moloch.' I
congratulate you."

Miss Armstrong ignored the impertinent parenthesis. "The critics abused
me, but I expected that. They are men, and it was the men I exposed----"

Knowles, who was standing near, smiled, and blushed when he caught
himself smiling. Wyndham laughed frankly at his confusion, and Audrey
grew hot and cold by turns. What was the dreadful joke those two had
about Miss Armstrong? She leaned back and looked up at Ted sweetly.

"Ted, I should like to introduce you to Mr. Knowles. He'll tell you all
about t