"Oh!" This, grimly. "And I suppose you thought I ’d also forgotten to put down that tailor chap, Sillitoe?" So it was all out! Sillitoe must have been chattering. Denry remembered that the classic established tailor of the town, Hatterton, whose trade Sillitoe was filching, was a particular friend of Mr. Duncalf’s. He saw the whole thing. "Well?" persisted Mr. Duncalf, after a judicious silence from Denry. Denry, sheltered in the castle of his silence, was not to be tempted out. "I suppose you rather fancy yourself, dancing with your betters?" growled Mr. Duncalf, menacingly. "Yes," said Denry. "Do _you_?" He had not meant to say it. The question slipped out of his mouth. He had recently formed the habit of retorting swiftly upon people who put queries to him: "Yes, are _you_?" or "No, do _you_?" The trick of speech had been enormously effective with Sillitoe, for instance, and with the Countess. He was in process of acquiring renown for it. Certainly it was effective now. Mr. Duncalf’s dance with the Countess had come to an ignominious conclusion in the middle, Mr. Duncalf preferring to dance on skirts rather than on the floor—and the fact was notorious. "You can take a week’s notice," said Mr. Duncalf pompously. It was no argument. But employers are so unscrupulous in an altercation. "Oh, very well!" said Denry; and to himself he said: "Something _must_ turn up, now." He felt dizzy, at being thus thrown upon the world—he who had been meditating the propriety of getting himself elected to the stylish and newly-established Sports Club at Hillport! He felt enraged, for Mr. Duncalf had only been venting on Denry the annoyance induced on him by Mrs. Codleyn. But it is remarkable that he was not depressed at all. No! he went about with songs and whistling, though he had no prospects except starvation or living on his mother. He traversed the streets in his grand, new manner, and his thoughts ran: "What on earth can I do to live up to my reputation?" However he possessed intact the five-pound note won from Harold Etches in the matter of the dance. II