ou've as much right to be here as I have."

"Yes, but under the circumstances, it mightn't have been perfectly
fair to you. See?"

"My dear Spinky, it's perfectly fair to me; but is it--you won't mind
me suggesting it--is it perfectly fair to yourself?"

Spinks sat silent for a minute, laying his hand upon the place of,
thought, as if trying to take that idea in. "Yes," he said
deliberately. "That's all right. In fact, nothing else will do my
business. It sounds queer; but that's the only way to get her out of
my head. You see, when I see her I don't think about her; but when I
don't see her I can't think of anything else."

Rickman was interested. It struck him that latterly he had been
affected in precisely the opposite way. It was curious to compare
young Sidney's sensations with his own. He forgot all about the man in
Baker Street.

"I don't mean to say I shall ever get over it. When a man goes through
this sort of business it leaves its mark on him somewhere." And indeed
it seemed to have stamped an expression of permanent foolishness on
Spinks's comely face.

Rickman smiled even while he sympathized. "Yes, I daresay. I'm sorry,
old man; but if I were you I wouldn't be too down in the mouth. It's
not worth it--I mean; after all, there are other things besides women
in the world. It wouldn't be a bad place even if there weren't any
women in it. Life is good," said the engaged man. "You had better
dress for dinner." He could give no richer consolation without seeming
to depreciate the unique value of Flossie. As for Spinks's present
determination, he thought it decidedly risky for Spinks; but if Spinks
enjoyed balancing himself in this way on the edge of perdition it was
no business of his.

As it happened, the event seemed to prove that Spinks knew very well
what he was about. The callow youth had evidently hit on the right
treatment for his own disease. In one point, however, his modesty had
deceived him. His presence was far from being a matter of indifference
to Flossie. A rejected lover is useful in so many ways. It may be a
triumph to make one man supremely happy; but the effect is
considerably heightened if you have at the same time made another man
supremely wretched. Flossie found that the spectacle of young Sidney's
dejection restored all its first fresh piquancy to her engagement. At
Tavistock Place he more than justified his existence. True, he did not
remain depressed for very long, and there wa