Hilary Vance, very broad, very thick, very round, with a fine, rebellious mop of tow-coloured hair, which had fallen forward so as nearly to hide his big, simple eyes, opened the door to him. At the sight of his visitor a spacious round smile spread over his spacious face; and he welcomed him with an effusive enthusiasm. At his christening the good fairy had given to the Honourable John Ruffin a very lively interest in his fellow-creatures and a considerable power of observation with which to gratify it. He was used to the splendid expansiveness of Hilary Vance; but it seemed to him that to-day he was boiling with an added exuberance; and that curiosity was aroused. He took up a chair and hammered its back on the floor so that the dust fell off the seat, sat down astride it, and, bending forward a little, proceeded to observe the artist with very keen eyes. Hilary Vance, who was very busy, fell to work again, and after his manner, grew grandiloquent about the pleasures of the day before, which he had spent in the country. Soon it grew clear to the Honourable John Ruffin that his friend had swollen with the insolent happiness so hateful to the Fates, and he said: "You seem to be uncommonly cheerful, Vance. What's the matter?" Hilary Vance looked at him gravely, drew himself upright in his chair, laid down his pencil, and said in a tone of solemnity calculated to awaken the deepest respect and awe: "Ruffin, I have found a woman--a WOMAN!" The quality of the Honourable John Ruffin's gaze changed; his eyes rested on the face of his friend with a caressing, almost cherishing, delight. "Isn't it becoming rather a habit?" he said blandly. "I don't know what you mean," said Hilary Vance with splendid dignity. "But this is different. This is a WOMAN!" His face filled with an expression of the finest beatitude. "They so often are," said the Honourable John Ruffin. "Does James know about her?" At the sound of the name of the mentor and friend who had rescued him from so many difficulties, something of guilt mingled with the beatitude on Hilary Vance's face, and he said in a less assured tone: "James is in Scotland." The Honourable John Ruffin sprang from his chair with a briskness which made Hilary Vance himself jump, and cried in a tone of the liveliest commiseration and dismay: "Good Heavens! Then you're lost--lost!" "What do you mean?" said Hilary Vance quite sharply. "I mean that your case is hopeless," said the Honourable John Ruffin in a less excited tone. "_James_ is in Scotland; _I'm_ off to Buda-Pesth; and _you_ have found a WOMAN--probably THE WOMAN." "I don't know what you mean," said Hilary Vance, frowning. "That's the worst of it! That's why it's so hopeless!" said the Honourable John Ruffin in a tone of deep depression. "What do you mean?" cried Hilary Vance in sudden bellow.