e this old London of yours wake up.'

'But if there's a scandal....?'

'There shan't be.... And if there is: well ... well...'

Freeland in his turn began to weep. Clara seemed to him so pathetic,
so innocent, so oblivious of all the hard facts of the world. She was
like a wild bird, flying in ecstasy, flying higher and higher in the
pain of her song. Indeed she was a most touching sight lying there in
her innocence, full of faith, conscious of danger, busy with wary
thoughts, but so eager, vital, and confident that all her belief in
Charles and her love for him were based in the deeper and stronger
forces of life.... She was roused to battle, and she was profoundly
aware that the law and the other devices of society were contrived
wholly to frustrate those deeper, stronger forces.... Freeland's
sentimental sympathy seemed to her in her happy morning mood weak and
irrelevant, yet charming and pathetic. He regarded her as a little
girl and was entirely unconscious of all the passionate knowledge in
her which moved so far and so swiftly beyond his capacity.

'Anything either of us can do,' he said, 'we shall do, always.' He
stooped and took her in his arms and kissed her, and large tears fell
upon her cheek. Tears came easily to these people: to Clara they came
not. Indeed she rather exulted in her peril, which destroyed for her
once and for all the superficiality of the life into which she had
plunged in order to help Charles to conquer his kingdom, which was
worlds away from this world of law and pretence, of spurious emotions
and easy tears.

'I can't think how Charles could have done it,' said Freeland, drying
his eyes.

'I made him,' said Clara, her eyes dancing with fun and mischief.

VI

BIRDS AND FISHES

For the time being it seemed that the superfluous Kitty had disappeared
from the scene. She made no sign, and no attempt was made to trace
her. Clara knew perfectly well that she was somewhere in the West End,
but in that small crowded area it was possible to avoid meeting.
People quickly fell into a groove and lived between a certain theatre,
a certain restaurant, and home, and the light theatre was almost
completely severed from the theatre which took itself so seriously.
The legitimate stage had nothing to do with the bastard frivolity of
the houses whose appeal was based on lingerie, pretty faces, and
shapely limbs.

As for Charles, he was once again oblivious. He visited Clara