hours. I have you to thank for what has happened. Yet you come to me,
you hold out your hand. You must forgive me--I am afraid I am dull."

"No," she replied, "you are not dull. Your feelings towards me are
obvious and very natural. Mine towards you I am not so sure of. It is
not because I did not understand you that I came here to-night. It is
because I did not understand myself. May I go on?"

"Why not?" he answered. "I am at your service."

"From the days of my boarding-school," she continued, "I have known
only one Mabel. In her girlhood she had all that she could get out of
life and turned everything she could to her own ends. A marriage was
arranged for her--you see, I was half a Jewess and my husband was half
a Jew, and things are done like that with us. The marriage opened the
door to a fresh set of ambitions. For the last few years I have trodden
a well-worn path. It was I who advised my husband to refuse a
baronetcy. It was I who won his first election. I see that my
photographs are in all the illustrated papers, that his speeches are
properly recorded, that my visiting list moves within the correct
limits. These things have spelt life. To the fulfillment of my
husband's ambitions there was one obstacle. That obstacle was you. In
life one schemes. It was my husband's wish that I should make myself
agreeable to you, even to the extent of a flirtation."

She raised her eyes.

"Your obedience to your husband is most touching," he said.

"It is true, I suppose," she went on, "that we have flirted. I looked