gloom of the doorway. Mr Bethany's first scrutiny was timid and
courteous, but beneath it he tried to be keen, and himself
hastened round the table almost at a trot, to obtain, as
delicately as possible, a closer view. But Lawford, having shut
the door behind him, had gone straight to the fire and seated
himself, leaning his face in his hands. Mr Bethany smiled
faintly, waved his hand almost as if in blessing, but certainly
in peace, and tapped Mrs Lawford into the chair upon the other
side. But he himself remained standing.

'Mrs Lawford has, I declare, been telling family secrets,' he
began, and paused, peering. But there, you will forgive an old
friend's intrusion--this little confidence about a change, my
dear fellow--about a ramble and a change?' He sat down, put up
his kind little puckered face and peered again at Lawford, and
then very hastily at his wife. But all her attention was centred
on the bowed figure opposite to her. Lawford responded to this
cautious advance without raising his head.

'You do not wish me to repeat all that my wife tells me she has
told you?'

'Dear me, no,' said Mr Bethany cheerfully, 'I wish nothing,
nothing, old friend. You must not burden yourself with me. If I
may be of any help, here I am.... Oh, no, no....' he paused, with
blinking eyes, but wits still shrewd and alert. Why doesn't the
man raise his head? he thought. A mere domestic dispute!

'I thought,' he went on ruminatingly, 'I thought on Tuesday, yes,
on Tuesday, that you weren't looking quite the thing. Indeed, I