incoherently at the Club, and, strangest of all, to answer
questions THAT WERE NEVER ASKED! This was so awkward in that
Branch of the Civil Department of which he was a high official--
where the rule was exactly the reverse--that he was presently
invalided on full pay! Then he disappeared. Clever people said it
was because the Department was afraid he had still much to answer
for; stupid people simply envied him.

Mrs. Awksby, whom everybody knew had been the cause of breaking off
the match, was now wild to know the reason of Sparkley's
retirement. She attacked heaven and earth, and even went a step
higher--to the Viceroy. At the vice-regal ball I saw, behind the
curtains of a window, her rolling violet-blue eyes with a singular
glitter in them. It was the reflection of the Viceroy's star,
although the rest of his Excellency was hidden in the curtain. I
heard him saying, "Come now! really, now, you are--you know you
are!" in reply to her cooing questioning. Then she made a dash at
me and captured me.

"What did you hear?"

"Nothing I should not have heard."

"Don't be like all the other men--you silly boy!" she answered. "I
was only trying to find out something about Sparkley. And I will
find it out too," she said, clinching her thin little hand. "And
what's more," she added, turning on me suddenly, "YOU shall help
me!"

"I?" I said in surprise.