This was a serious suggestion, but Tucker could think of no better way to meet it than to raise his eyebrows; and Crane went off whistling to dress for dinner. He whistled not only going upstairs, but he whistled in his bath and while he was shaving. The sound annoyed Tucker in the next room. "It almost seems," he thought, "as if he were glad to see the woman again on any terms." And yet, he, Tucker, knew that she considered Crane quite a commonplace young man--not at all like a hero in the third act. The way Crane had taken his suggestions was distressing. Tucker did not feel that he thoroughly understood what was in the younger man's mind. His first intention to tell Mrs. Falkener nothing began to fade. It would have been all very well if Burton had been sensible and had been willing to send the cook away and he, Tucker, had been able to engage her, to ignore the whole matter to Mrs. Falkener. Indeed, it would have been hard to explain it. But, of course, if Burton was going to be obstinate about it, Mrs. Falkener's aid might be absolutely necessary. "After all," he thought, "candor is the best policy among friends." He dressed quickly and was not mistaken in his belief that Mrs. Falkener would have done the same. She was waiting for him in the drawing-room. They had a clear fifteen minutes before dinner. "Now tell me, my dear Solon," she said, "just what you think of the situation." "I think badly of it." "Yes," said Mrs. Falkener, not yet quite appreciating the seriousness of his tone. "I do, myself. That idiotic housemaid, Lily--I could have told him that name would never do--hooked me twice wrong, and left my daughter's dirty boots on top of her best tea-gown." "Ah, if incompetence were all we had to complain of!" "The cook?" "Is perfection, as far as cooking goes. But in other respects--Really, my dear Mrs. Falkener, I am in doubt whether you should let your daughter stay in this house--at least, until Burton comes to his senses." "You must tell me just what you mean." Tucker decided to tell the story reluctantly. "Why, it happened this afternoon, Burton was away with his horses, and quite by accident I came upon his pretty cook in the arms of a strange young man, a person vastly her social superior, one of the young landholders of the neighborhood, I should say. Seemed to assume the most confident right to be in Burton's kitchen--a man he may know in the hunting field, may have to dinner to-morrow. I don't know who he is, but certainly a gentleman." "How very unpleasant," said Mrs. Falkener. "Did the woman take in that you had detected her?" "Yes, and seemed quite unabashed." "And now I suppose you are hesitating whether or not to tell Burton?" Tucker was naturally cautious. "And what would you advise?" "It is your duty to tell him at once, and get such a person out of the house." "You think if I told him, he would dismiss her?" "I am confident he would, unless--" "Unless?"