Ensued a further orgy of whispering: Lord Arthur, his solicitor and Sir Martin on one side: Brunton, Lady Hermione and Sir Peter on the other. Behind him, Ronnie heard Lady Cynthia's muffled staccato, "I say, she isn't going to settle, is she?" and Miss Elizabeth Cattistock's "If she does, I win my bet." Now the K.C.'s withdrew from their clients; drew together, still whispering; drew away from each other; whispered with their clients again; and returned to conference. "I'm afraid it's a wash-out, Cavendish," the leader managed to convey behind his hand as Sir Martin Duckworth rose to address the court. His lordship and the jury, announced Sir Martin, would not--he was delighted to say--be further troubled with this--er--very painful case. His client had agreed to terms, the financial aspect of which--with his lordship's permission--Sir Martin did not think it necessary to disclose. Did he understand, interrupted Mr. Justice Malory, that the action would be withdrawn? Brunton took up the cue. "_My_ client," boomed Brunton, "has consented to withdraw her action; not that she feels her case in any way weakened, but because--acting on your Lordship's advice, and, if I may be allowed to say so, on my own--she has, at the very earnest solicitation of her husband, decided," the K.C.'s voice dropped to its point, "to return to him." Lady Cynthia's audible "Well, I'm damned!" a little rustle of mannerly applause, and a beam from Mr. Justice Mallory marked the ending of Ellerson _v._ Ellerson--a happy ending, as it seemed to Lady Hermione's junior counsel. 6 But Hector Brunton thought otherwise. Recently it had seemed to him as though Aliette might relent. Ever since her return from Devonshire he had been conscious of some subtle, incomprehensible change in her. Therefore it piqued his pride to find her, on his return from court, not even vaguely interested in the newspaper reports of his speech--more especially as that speech was quoted almost verbatim under the heading: "K.C. says woman is not man's property." "We ought to have fought the thing out," he told her. "That's what I said to Cavendish." Aliette's face did not betray her, but her heart--the heart which had almost persuaded itself of cure--dropped two telltale beats. "Clever chap, young Cavendish," went on the K.C. "I'd like to have him to dinner one evening." With a thoughtful "Why not take him to the club, Hector?" the K.C.'s wife went upstairs to dress. CHAPTER IV 1