'I'm sorry to say,' said Mrs Griffith, with some asperity, feeling the doubt almost an affront to her--'I'm sorry to say that I _know_ they're real.' The ladies coughed discreetly, scenting a little scandalous mystery which they must get out of Mrs Griffith at another opportunity. 'My nephew James says she earns at least thirty or forty pounds a week.' Miss Reed sighed at the thought of such depravity. 'It's very sad,' she remarked, 'to think of such things happening to a fellow-creature.'... * * * * * 'But what I can't understand,' said Mrs Gray, next morning, at the breakfast-table, 'is how she got into such a position. We all know that at one time she was to be seen in--well, in a very questionable place, at an hour which left no doubt about her--her means of livelihood. I must say I thought she was quite lost.'... 'Oh, well, I can tell you that easily enough,' replied her nephew. 'She's being kept by Sir Somebody Something, and he's running the show for her.' 'James, I wish you would be more careful about your language. It's not necessary to call a spade a spade, and you can surely find a less objectionable expression to explain the relationship between the persons.... Don't you remember his name?' 'No; I heard it, but I've really forgotten.' 'I see in this week's _Tercanbury Times_ that there's a Sir Herbert Ously-Farrowham staying at the "George" just now.' 'That's it. Sir Herbert Ously-Farrowham.' 'How sad! I'll look him out in Burke.' She took down the reference book, which was kept beside the clergy list. 'Dear me, he's only twenty-nine.... And he's got a house in Cavendish Square and a house in the country. He must be very well-to-do; and he belongs to the Junior Carlton and two other clubs.... And he's got a sister who's married to Lord Edward Lake.' Mrs Gray closed the book and held it with a finger to mark the place, like a Bible. 'It's very sad to think of the dissipation of so many members of the aristocracy. It sets such a bad example to the lower classes.' X They showed old Griffith a portrait of Daisy in her theatrical costume. 'Has she come to that?' he said. He looked at it a moment, then savagely tore it in pieces and flung it in the fire.