it's good, it's quiet; interesting people go there; we'll make two
more. How about that?"

"It'll do excellently."

"We shall probably get a balcony table if all those downstairs are
booked."

As Rokeby said, they were in time for a balcony table, and he ordered
dinner and wine before recurring to his former question.

"What was all the mystery about No. 30?"

"I don't call it a mystery; it was just a very ordinary domestic
proposition; I didn't want them to be interrupted this evening,
because, you see--you will laugh--"

"No, I swear I won't; do tell me."

"Marie wants to ask for a perambulator."

"'Him'?"

"Yes, him. Who's always 'him' to the household--the husband, the
tyrant, the terror. Ugh!"

"Oh, come, Miss Winter. Osborn Kerr--I've known him for years; there's
nothing of the tyrant and the terror about him. Why this embroidery of
the sad tale?"