ther. I can't talk yet--I've loved her for years--can't think what
she's done it for. I'm going to write short stories. I shall start this
afternoon. She declares there may be something in me."

As soon as he had left, Tilliard burst in, white with agitation, and
crying, "Did you see my awful faux pas--about the horsewhip? What shall
I do? I must call on Elliot. Or had I better write?"

"Miss Pembroke will not mind," said Ansell gravely. "She is
unconventional." He knelt in an arm-chair and hid his face in the back.

"It was like a bomb," said Tilliard.

"It was meant to be."

"I do feel a fool. What must she think?"

"Never mind, Tilliard. You've not been as big a fool as myself. At all
events, you told her he must be horsewhipped."

Tilliard hummed a little tune. He hated anything nasty, and there was
nastiness in Ansell. "What did you tell her?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"What do you think of it?"

"I think: Damn those women."

"Ah, yes. One hates one's friends to get engaged. It makes one feel so
old: I think that is one of the reasons. The brother just above me has
lately married, and my sister was quite sick about it, though the thing
was suitable in every way."

"Damn THESE women, then," said Ansell, bouncing round in the chair.
"Damn these particular women."

"They looked and spoke like ladies."

"Exactly. Their diplomacy was ladylike. Their lies were ladylike.
They've caught Elliot in a most ladylike way. I saw it all during the
one moment we were natural. Generally we were clattering after the
married one, whom--like a fool--I took for a fool. But for one moment we
were natural, and during that moment Miss Pembroke told a lie, and made
Rickie believe it was the truth."

"What did she say?"

"She said `we see' instead of 'I see.'"

Tilliard burst into laughter. This jaundiced young philosopher, with his
kinky view of life, was too much for him.

"She said 'we see,'" repeated Ansell, "instead of 'I see,' and she made
him believe that it was the truth. She caught him and makes him believe
that he caught her. She came to see me and makes him think that it is
his idea. That is what I mean when I say that she is a lady."

"You are too subtle for me. My dull eyes could only see two happy
people."

"I never said they weren't happy."

"Then, my dear Ansell, why are you so cut up? It's beastly when a friend
marries,--and I grant he's rather young,--but I should say it's the best
thing for him. A