His cigar had gone out again, and he re-lit it. The clock on the mantelpiece struck twelve with a silvery clang, and almost at the same instant he heard the rustle of a silk gown and a light footstep,--the door opened, and his wife appeared. "Are you busy?" she enquired--"May I come in?" He rose, with the stately old-fashioned courtesy habitual to him. "By all means come in!" he said--"You have returned early?" "Yes." She loosened her rich evening cloak, lined with ermine, and let it fall on the back of the chair in which she seated herself--"It was a boresome affair,--there were recitations and music which I hate--so I came away. You are reading?" "Not now"--and he closed the volume on the table beside him--"But I HAVE been reading--that amazing book by the young girl we met at the Deanshires' last night--Ena Armitage. It's really a fine piece of work." She was silent. "You didn't take to her, I'm afraid?" he went on--"Yet she seemed a charming, modest little person. Perhaps she was not quite what you expected?" Lady Blythe gave a sudden harsh laugh. "You are right! She certainly was not what I expected! Is the door well shut?" Surprised at her look and manner, he went to see. "The door is quite closed," he said, rather stiffly. "One would think we were talking secrets--and we never do!" "No!" she rejoined, looking at him curiously--"We never do. We are model husband and wife, having nothing to conceal!" He took up his cigar which he had laid down for a minute, and with careful minuteness flicked off the ash. "You have something to tell me," he remarked, quietly--"Pray go on, and don't let me interrupt you. Do you object to my smoking?" "Not in the least." He stood with his back to the fireplace, a tall, stately figure of a man, and looked at her expectantly,--she meanwhile reclined in a cushioned chair with the folds of her ermine falling about her, like a queen of languorous luxury. "I suppose," she began--"hardly anything in the social life of our day would very much surprise or shock you--?" "Very little, certainly!" he answered, smiling coldly--"I have lived a long time, and am not easily surprised!" "Not even if it concerned some one you know?" His fine open brow knitted itself in a momentary line of puzzled consideration. "Some one I know?" he repeated--"Well, I should certainly be very sorry to hear anything of a scandalous nature connected with the girl we saw last night--she looked too young and too innocent--" "Innocent--oh yes!" and Lady Blythe again laughed that harsh laugh of suppressed hysterical excitement--"She is innocent enough!" "Pardon! I thought you were about to speak of her, as you said she was not what you expected--" He paused,--startled by the haggard and desperate expression of her face.