“Precisely what I did,” Lady Cynthia declared. “The only trouble was that my partner had had enough of me before the evening was over, and deposited me once more in Grosvenor Square. It is really very humiliating,” she went on meditatively, “how every one always returns me.” “You talk such nonsense, Cynthia!” Lady Torrington exclaimed, a little pettishly. “However, you found your way home all right?” “Quite safely, thank you. I was going to write you a note this afternoon. I went away on an impulse. All I can say is that I am sorry. Do forgive me.” “Certainly!” was the somewhat chilly reply. “Somehow or other, you seem to have earned the right to do exactly as you choose. Some of my young men whom you had promised to dance with, were disappointed, but after all, I suppose that doesn't matter.” “Not much,” Lady Cynthia assented sweetly. “I think a few disappointments are good for most of the young men of to-day.” “What did you do last night, Cynthia?” Margaret asked her presently, when Lady Torrington had passed on. “I eloped with your father,” Lady Cynthia confessed, smiling across at Sir Timothy. “We went for a little drive together and I had a most amusing time. The only trouble was, as I have been complaining to that tiresome woman, he brought me home again.” “But where did you go to?” Margaret persisted. “It was an errand of charity,” Sir Timothy declared. “It sounds very mysterious,” Francis observed. “Is that all we are to be told?” “I am afraid,” Sir Timothy complained, “that very few people sympathise with my hobbies or my prosecution of them. That is why such little incidents as last night's generally remain undisclosed. If you really wish to know what happened,” he went on, after a moment's pause, “I will tell you. As you know, I have a great many friends amongst the boxing fraternity, and I happened to hear of a man down in the East End who has made himself a terror to the whole community in which he lives. I took Peter Fields, my gymnasium instructor, down to the East End last night, and Peter Fields--dealt with him.” “There was a fight?” Margaret exclaimed, with a little shudder. “There was a fight,” Sir Timothy repeated, “if you can call it such. Fields gave him some part of the punishment he deserved.” “And you were there, Cynthia?” “I left Lady Cynthia in the car,” Sir Timothy explained. “She most improperly bribed my chauffeur to lend her his coat and hat, and followed me.” “You actually saw the fight, then?” Francis asked. “I did,” Lady Cynthia admitted. “I saw it from the beginning to the end.” Margaret looked across the table curiously. It seemed to her that her friend had turned a little paler. “Did you like it?” she asked simply. Lady Cynthia was silent for a moment. She glanced at Sir Timothy. He, too, was waiting for her answer with evident interest.