But they were all anxious to see a comedy about which every one was talking; they were certain that they would be amused by it; and there was some discussion whether Agnes should be taken. Agnes instantly withdrew from the discussion. She did not care to go, she felt she was not wanted, and she even suspected that she would not like the play. So it was just as well that she was not going. But after dinner it was decided that she was to go. Lord Chadwick was with them; Agnes had never seen him more attentive to her mother, and Mr. St. Clare was absorbed in Lilian. She had, Agnes heard her mother say, succeeded in making him so jealous that he had asked her to marry him. But Mrs. Lahens did not think that Lilian would marry him; nowadays girls in society did not often marry their lovers; they knew that the qualities that charm in a lover are out of place in a husband. Agnes sat in the back of the box and wondered why Lilian's refusal to marry St. Clare had made no difference in his affection, nor in hers; they seemed as intimate as ever, and Agnes could hear them planning a _rendezvous_. Lilian was going south, but St. Clare was to meet her in Paris. Agnes wondered--a thought she did not like crossed her mind; she put it instantly aside and bent her attention on the play. There was a great deal in it that she did not understand, or that she only understood vaguely. She did seem to wish to understand it. But the others listened greedily, as well they might, for the conversation on the stage was like the conversation in the Grosvenor Street drawing-room, as like as if a phonograph was repeating it. 'I should not make such a fuss if I heard that my dear Major had---' Agnes did not hear the rest of the sentence. 'If I were to revenge myself on you, Lilian.' 'You had better not.... Besides, there is nothing to revenge.' 'Isn't there,' said St. Clare, and his face grew suddenly grave. 'You are my first and you'll be my last,' Agnes heard her whisper, and she saw St. Clare look at her incredulously. 'You don't believe me. Well, I don't care what you believe,' and she turned her back on him and listened to the play.