Mr. Wilkins therefore, desiring to assist Lady Caroline out of this situation by swiftly applied tact, said with much heartiness: “It is most proper, Briggs, that you should be thanked. You will please allow me to add my expressions of indebtedness, and those of my wife, to Lady Caroline’s. We ought to have proposed a vote of thanks to you at dinner. You should have been toasted. There certainly ought to have been some—” But Briggs took no notice of him whatever; he simply continued to look at Lady Caroline as though she were the first woman he had ever seen. Neither, Mr. Wilkins observed, did Lady Caroline take any notice of him; she too continued to look at Briggs, and with that odd air of almost appeal. Most unwise. Most. Lotty, on the other hand, took too much notice of him, choosing this moment when Lady Caroline needed special support and protection to get up off the wall and put her arm through his and draw him away. “I want to tell you something, Mellersh,” said Lotty at this juncture, getting up. “Presently,” said Mr. Wilkins, waving her aside. “No—now,” said Lotty; and she drew him away. He went with extreme reluctance. Briggs should be given no rope at all—not an inch. “Well—what is it?” he asked impatiently, as she led him towards the house. Lady Caroline ought not to be left like that, exposed to annoyance. “Oh, but she isn’t,” Lotty assured him, just as if he had said this aloud, which he certainly had not. “Caroline is perfectly all right.” “Not at all all right. That young Briggs is—” “Of course he is. What did you expect? Let’s go indoors to the fire and Mrs. Fisher. She’s all by herself.” “I cannot,” said Mr. Wilkins, trying to draw back, “leave Lady Caroline alone in the garden.” “Don’t be silly, Mellersh—she isn’t alone. Besides, I want to tell you something.” “Well tell me, then.” “Indoors.” With a reluctance that increased at every step Mr. Wilkins was taken farther and farther away from Lady Caroline. He believed in his wife now and trusted her, but on this occasion he thought she was making a terrible mistake. In the drawing-room sat Mrs. Fisher by the fire, and it certainly was to Mr. Wilkins, who preferred rooms and fires after dark to gardens and moonlight, more agreeable to be in there than out-of-doors if he could have brought Lady Caroline safely in with him. As it was, he went in with extreme reluctance.