"I think you ought to withdraw what you have said, and apologise to Mrs. Witt." "In fact, you think I was wrong to speak at all?" "I think I should have waited till I had proof; and then, perhaps----" "Everybody seems to think me an ass." "Not _that_, George; but a little--well--reckless." "I shan't withdraw it." "Not if you get no proof?" George shirked this pointed question, and, as the interview was really less soothing than he had expected, took an early opportunity of escaping. Mr. Espion came back, and asked why Neston had gone away looking so sulky. Isabel smiled and said Mr. Neston was vexed with her. Could anybody be vexed with Miss Bourne? asked Mr. Espion, and added, "But Neston is rather crotchety, isn't he?" "Why do you say that?" asked Isabel. "Oh, I don't know. Well, the fact is, I was talking to Tommy Myles at the Cancan----" "Where, Mr. Espion?" "At the theatre, and he told me Neston had got some maggot in his head----" "I don't think he ought to say that." But need we listen longer? And whose fault was it--Neaera's, or George's, or Isabel's, or Tommy's, or Mr. Espion's? That became the question afterwards, when Lord Tottlebury was face to face with the violated compact,--and with next day's issue of the _Bull's-eye_. CHAPTER V. THE FIRST PARAGRAPH--AND OTHERS. Under pressure of circumstances men very often do what they have declared they cannot possibly do; it happens with private individuals no less than with political parties. George declared he could not possibly go to Peckton before Saturday; but he was so disgusted with his position, that he threw all other engagements to the winds, and started early on Thursday morning, determined not to face his friends again without attempting to prove his words. Old Dawkins was dead, but the clerk was, and the policeman might be, alive; and, on his return to town, he could see Jennings, the clerk's son, who had settled down to conveyancing in Lincoln's Inn, and try to refresh his memory with materials gathered on the spot. For George had already seen Mr. Jennings, and Mr. Jennings remembered nothing about it--it was not his first brief,--but was willing to try to recall the matter if George would get him the details and let him see a picture of the person wanted--a request George did not wish to comply with at the moment.