"Who is that nice girl in the box?" she asked, as he sat down in Jimphy's seat. "She sat beside you...." "Oh, Ninian's sister," he replied. "Mary Graham." "She's very pretty, isn't she?" "Yes...." He would have said more, but it suddenly struck him as comical that Lady Cecily should speak of Mary almost in the words that Mary had used when she spoke of Lady Cecily. He looked up at the box and saw that Mary was talking to her mother, and something in her attitude sent a pang through his heart. "I _do_ love Mary," he said to himself, "but somehow ... somehow I love Cecily too!" Lady Cecily was speaking to him and he turned to listen. "I want you to introduce me to Ninian's sister," she said. "Yes," he answered reluctantly, though he could not have said why he was reluctant to introduce her to Mary. "After the next act," she went on, and he nodded his head. Then Jimphy returned, and Henry got up and left her, and hurried back to the box. The second act had begun when he reached it, and he tiptoed to his seat and sat down in silence. Mary looked round at him, smiling, and then looked back at the stage, and again he felt that odd reluctance to bring Lady Cecily and her together. 3 At the end of the second act, he turned to Mary and said, "Lady Cecily wants to be introduced to you. I said I'd bring her here after this act!" "Do," Mary answered. As he walked towards the door of the box, he remembered Gilbert and he bent towards him and said quietly, "Oh, Gilbert, I'm going to fetch Lady Cecily. She wants to talk to Mary!..." "Righto!" Gilbert replied, without looking up. Henry hesitated. "You ... you don't mind, do you?" he said, and then wished that he had remained silent. "Mind!" Gilbert looked up. "Why should I mind?" "I thought perhaps ... but of course if you don't mind, that's all right!" He hurried out of the box, feeling that he had intruded into private places. He had intended to be considerate and had achieved only the appearance of prying. "That's like me!" he thought, as he descended the stairs that led to the stalls. "I wonder why it is that I'm full of sympathy and understanding and tact in my books, and such a clumsy fool in life!" He entered the stalls, and as he did so, Lady Cecily rose to join him. Jimphy had already gone to the bar. He held the curtain for her and she passed through. "Isn't it clever?" she said, speaking of the play, and he nodded his head. The passage leading up from the stalls was full of chattering people, but when they reached the narrow corridor which led to the box, there was no one about.... "Cecily!" he said in a low voice. "Yes, Paddy!" she answered, looking back over her shoulder. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her towards him. "Some one will see you," she said. "No, they won't," he replied, "and I don't care...." He kissed her ardently. "My dear!" he murmured with his lips on hers. She pushed him from her. "You _are_ a fool," she said. "I couldn't help it!"