It was unfortunate, too, for Bruce, that he felt it incumbent on him to keep it from Vincy; and not to speak of the affair at all was a real sacrifice on Vincy's part, also. For they would both have enjoyed discussing it, while Goldthorpe, the only human being in whom Bruce ever really confided, was not only bored but incredulous. He considered Bruce not only tedious to the verge of imbecility, but unreliable beyond the pardonable point of inaccuracy. In fact, Bruce was his ideal of the most wearisome of liars and the most untruthful of bores; and here was poor Vincy dying to hear all about his old friend, Mavis (he never knew even whether she had mentioned his name), ready to revel, with his peculiar humour, in every detail of the strange romance, particularly to enjoy her sudden desertion of Bruce for an unmarried commercial traveller who had fallen in love with her on board.--And yet, it had to be withheld! Bruce felt it would be disloyal, and he had the decency to be ashamed to speak of his escapade to an intimate friend of his wife. * * * * * Bruce complained very much of the dullness of the early autumn in London without Aylmer. This sudden mania for long journeys on Aylmer's part was a most annoying hobby. He would never get such a pleasant friend as Aylmer again. Aylmer was his hero. 'Why do you think he's gone away?' he rather irritatingly persisted. 'I haven't the slightest idea.' 'Do you know, Edith, it has sometimes occurred to me that if--that, well--well, you know what I mean--if things had turned out differently, and you had done as I asked you--' 'Well?' 'Why, I have a sort of idea,' he looked away, 'that Aylmer might--well, might have proposed to you!' 'Oh! _What_ an extraordinary idea!' 'But he never did show any sign whatever, I suppose of--well, of--being more interested in you than he ought to have been?' 'Good heavens, no!' 'Oh, of course, I know that--you're not his style. You liked him very much, didn't you, Edith?...' 'I like him very much now.' 'However, I doubt if you ever quite appreciated him. He's so full of ability; such an intellectual chap! Aylmer is more a man's man. _I_ miss him, of course. He was a very great friend of mine. And he didn't ever at all, in the least--seem to--' 'Seem to what?' 'It would have been a very unfair advantage to take of my absence if he had,' continued Bruce. 'Oh!' 'But he was incapable of it, of course.' 'Of course.' 'He _never_ showed any special interest, then, beyond--' 'Never.' 'I was right, I suppose, as usual. You never appreciated him; he was not the sort of man a woman _would_ appreciate ... But he's a great loss to me, Edith. I need a man who can understand--Intellectual sympathy--' * * * * * 'Mr Vincy!' announced the servant. Vincy had not lost his extraordinary gift for turning up at the right moment. He was more welcome than ever now.