"I don't know what Arthur would say if I proposed it. He never lets
anybody go near him when he's writing."

"I see; like all geniuses, he's dangerous on the loose." Was Lady
Dunstable's smile just touched with sarcasm? "Well!--has the success of
the lectures surprised you?"

Doris pondered.

"No," she said at last, "not really. I always thought Arthur had it in
him."

"But you hardly expected such a run--such an excitement!"

"I don't know," said Doris, coolly. "I think I did--sometimes. The
question is how long it will last."

She looked, smiling, at her interrogator.

The gentleman with the whiskers stooped across the table.

"Oh, nothing lasts in this world. But that of course is what makes a
good time so good."

Doris turned towards him--demurring--for the sake of conversation. "I
never could understand how Cinderella enjoyed the ball."

"For thinking of the clock?" laughed Sir Luke. "No, no!--you can't mean
that. It's the expectation of the clock that doubles the pleasure. Of
course you agree, Rachel!"--he turned to her--"else why did you read me