domain, to perch on
the arm of his chair and rub her face against his coat. His presence
could drive away the vague feeling of uneasiness, his hands could win
her back to placid contentment or wake in her the restless passionate
desire which she judged to be love.

It had been on one of these occasions that, running to find Gilbert, she
had flung open the door of his smoking-room and got well inside before
she discovered that he had some men with him. Gilbert lifted his head
with a frown, that she noticed, while the guests struggled to their
feet. There was a little silence while they all looked at her, then,
with a muttered excuse, she retreated, closing the door behind her. But
before it quite shut she heard one of the men laugh and say:

"Hulloa, Stanning, so that is the secret of our bachelor flat is it?
thought you had been lying very low this last two months."

She did not catch Gilbert's reply, she only knew that the sense of shame
which had been but a fleeting vision before had suddenly taken sharp,
strong hold of her. She stood almost as it were battling against tears.

That evening across their small dining-table, after the waiter from the
restaurant downstairs had served the coffee and left them, she spoke to
Gilbert, crumbling her bread with nervous fingers, finding it difficult
to meet his eyes.

"Those men," she said, "who were here this afternoon, what do they
think of me? I mean," she flushed quickly, "what do they think I am?"

"Think you are," Gilbert repeated, "my dear girl, I suppose they could
see you were a woman."

"I mean, had you told them, did they know about us?"

"Silly kid," he smiled at her indulgently, "the world is not so
fearfully interested in our doings."

"No, but they are your friends," the hazel eyes meeting his held some
wistful question. "Wouldn't they wonder, doesn't it seem funny that they
shouldn't be my friends too?"

Gilbert rose, conscious of a little impatience. The strange thing was
that since the very commencement of their life together his conscience
had not been as easy as he would have liked to have had it. Joan's ideas
had been so ridiculously simple and straightforward, she was almost a
child, he had discovered, in her knowledge and thoughts. Not that he was
a person to pay much attention to principles when they came in contact
with his desires, only it annoyed and irritated him to find she could
waken an undreamt of conscience in this way. He shook off th