" she said, gasping
with relief at this providential escape.

Mr. Fitzroy in his turn flushed. He had an obstinate chin and the cares
of stage-management had already traced a line right across his smooth
forehead. It deepened to a furrow as he leaned forward out of his low
wicker chair, clutching the pair of dogskin gloves which he held in his
hand.

"Oh, come, I say now, Mrs. Stewart!" and his voice and eye were
surprisingly stern for one so young. "That's not playing fair. You
promised me you'd see me through this show, and you know as well as I
do, Mrs. Shaw can no more act than those fire-irons."

"But I--" Milly was about to say "I've never acted in my life"--when she
remembered that she knew less than any one in her acquaintance what she
had or had not done in that recent life which was not hers. "I shouldn't
act Galatea at all well," she substituted lamely; "and I shouldn't look
the part nearly as well as Mrs. Shaw will."

"Excuse me, Mrs. Stewart, but I'm certain you're simply cut out for it
all round, and you told me the other day you were particularly anxious
to play it. You promised you'd stick to me through thick and thin and
not care a twopenny--I mean a straw--what Jim Morrison and Mrs. Shaw--"

In the stress of conversation they had neither of them noticed the
tinkle of the front-door bell. Now the door of the room, narrow and in
the thickness of an enormous wall, was thrown open and Mrs. Shaw was
announced.

Fitzroy, forgetful of manners in his excitement, stooped forward and
gripping Milly's arm almost hissed:

"Remember! You've promised me."

The words filled Milly with misery. That any one should be able to
accuse her of breaking a promise, however unreal her responsibility for
it, was horrible to her.

Mrs. Shaw entered, no longer the seraph of twenty months ago. She had
latterly put off the aesthetic raiment she had worn with such peculiar
grace, and her dress and coiffure were quite in the fashion of the
hour. The transformation somewhat shocked Milly, who could never help
feeling a slight austere prejudice against fashionably dressed woman.
Then, considering how little she knew Mrs. Shaw, it was embarrassing to
be kissed by her.

"It's odd I should find you here, Mr. Fitzroy," said Mrs. Shaw, settling
her rustling skirts on a chintzy chair. "I've just come to talk to Mrs.
Stewart about the acting. I'm so sorry there's been a misunderstanding
about it."

Her tone was civil but determ