him as he took his seat to dine _solus_ at the _Albion_.
The dining-room, I should tell you, was fairly full. Usual
ruck of people: sort of too-English; English you see at
_tables-d'hote_ and nowhere else in the world, with an
end-of-season preponderance of females who stay to look after
the British chaplain a little longer than he needs, or to
gratify some obscure puritan pride in seeing everybody out, or
because there's a bargain to be squeezed with the management to
the last ounce, or peradventure because they've planned a series
of cheap visits at home for our beautiful summer and one or two
of the Idle Rich have remembered to be less idle than they were
last year, and more restive.

"To do him credit--and it makes me hopeful for him--Farrell has a
certain instinct of self-preservation. Let us never forget that
he is a widower. Amid these Amazons he had fenced a bachelor
table. I walked up to it straight and said, with a glance
around, 'Farrell, you're lonely.'

"He passed a hand over his forehead and murmured, 'Oh, for God's
sake--don't drive me like this! . . .'

"'Nonsense,' said I. 'Forget it, man. Look around you and say
if there's one of these spinsters you'd rather have for
companion. Don't raise your voice. You started in admirable
key. . . . Let's keep to it and understand one another.
I'm dining with you. If you like, we'll toss up later for who
pays: but I'm dining with you. I promise not to hurt you
to-night, if that helps conviviality.'

"'It does,' said he in a queer way. 'Let's talk.'

"'Well then,' said I confidentially. 'You're a solid man.
You've made your way in the world, and I suppose the sort of
success you've won implies some grit. . . . What makes you
afraid of me, Farrell?'

"He drank some wine and stared down on the table-cloth, knitting
his brows. 'Well,' he answered, 'I might tell you it's because
you're mad.'

"'That's nonsense,' I assured him.

"'Oh, is it?' said he. 'I'd like to be sure it is.'

"'My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time," I quoted.
'Feel it, Farrell.'

"I stretched out my wrist. He started back as though it had been
a snake.

"'On the whole you're right,' said I, drawing back my hand
slowly, watching his eyes. 'If they saw you feeling my p