The luncheon bell rang. Miss Phaeton, whip and
twine in hand, walked into the house. Archie followed her, saying as he
passed that he hoped I shouldn't find it warm. I went on shifting the
flower pots. They were very heavy. I broke two, but I went on. Presently
Dolly put up her parasol and came out from the shade to watch me. She
stood there for a moment or two. Then, she said:

"Well, do you think you'd like it, Mr. Carter?"

"Wait till I've finished," said I, waving my hand.

Another ten minutes saw the end of my task. Panting and hot I sought
the shade, and flung myself onto my deck chair again. I also lit a
cigarette.

"I think they looked better on the other side, after all," said Dolly
meditatively.

"Of course you do," said I urbanely. "You needn't tell me that"

"Perhaps you'd like to move them back," she suggested.

"No," said I. "I've done enough to create the impression."

"And how did you like it?"

"It was," said I, "in its way a pleasant enough illusion." And I
shrugged my shoulders, and blew a ring of smoke.

To my very considerable gratification, Dolly's tone manifested some
annoyance as she asked:

"Why do you say, 'in its way'?"

"Because, in spite of the momentary pleasure I gained from feeling
myself a married man, I could not banish the idea that we should not
permanently suit one another."

"Oh, you thought that?" said Dolly, smiling again.

"I must confess it," said I. "The fault, I know, would be mine."

"I'm sure of that," said Dolly.

"But the fact is that I can't exist in too high altitudes. The
rarefaction of the moral atmosphere--"

"Please don't use all those long words."

"Well, then, to put it plainly," said I, with a pleasant smile, "I felt
all the time that Mrs. Hilary would be too good for me."

It is not very often that it falls to my humble lot to startle Lady
Mickleham out of her composure. But at this point she sat up quite
straight in her chair; her cheek flushed, and her eyelids ceased to
droop in indolent insouciance.

"Mrs. Hilary!" she said. "What has Mrs. Hilary--?

"I really thought you understood," said I, "the object of my
experiment."

Dolly glanced at me. I believe that my expression was absolutely
innocent--and I am, of course sure that hers expressed mere surprise.

"I thought," she said, after a pause, "that you were thinking of Nellie
Phaeton."

"Oh, I see," cried I smiling. "A natural mistake, to be sure."

"She thought so too," pur