"How could you be to blame, Miss Moore?" asked Mrs. Fielding. Juliet turned towards her. "Because Robin and I are friends," she explained simply. "He came here to look for me, and Jack ordered him off. That was the origin of the trouble. And so--" she smiled--"Mr. Green tells me it was my fault." "He would," commented Mrs. Fielding. She turned with the words as if Green's proximity were an offence to her, and walked away to the window at the further end of the room. In the slightly strained pause that followed, Juliet bent to fondle Columbus who was sitting pressed against her and her book slid from her lap to the ground. Green stooped swiftly and picked it up. "What is it? May I look?" She held out her hand for it. "It is _Marionettes_,--Dene Strange's latest. Mrs. Fielding lent it to me." He kept the book in his hand. "I thought you said you wouldn't read any more of that man's stuff." She knitted her brows a little. "Did I say so? I don't remember." He looked down at her keenly. "You said you hated the man and his work." She began to smile. "Well, I do--in certain moods. But I've got to read him all the same. Everyone does." "Surely you don't follow the crowd!" he said. She laughed--her sweet, low laugh. "Surely I do! I'm one of them." He made a sharp gesture. "That's just what you are not. I say, Miss Moore, don't read this book! It won't do you any good, and it'll make you very angry. You'll call it cynical, insincere, cold-blooded. It will hurt your feelings horribly." "I don't think so," said Juliet. "You forget,--I am no longer--a marionette. I have come to life." Again she held out her hand for the book. He gave it to her reluctantly. "Don't read it!" he said. She shook her head, still smiling. "No, Mr. Green, I'm not going to let you censor my reading. I will tell you what I think of it next time we meet." "Don't!" he said again very earnestly. But Juliet would not yield. She stooped again over Columbus and fondled his ear. Green stood looking down at her, his dark face somewhat grim, his eyes extremely bright. "I believe he's cross with us, Christopher," murmured Juliet. "Never mind, old thing! We shall get over it if he doesn't. Being cross always hurts oneself the most. We're--never cross, are we, Christopher? We please ourselves and we please each other--always." Columbus grunted appreciatively and leaned harder against her. He liked to be included in the conversation. Green suddenly bent and pulled the other ear. "You're a jolly lucky chap, Columbus," he said. "I'll change places with you any day in the week." Columbus smiled at him indulgently, and edged his nose onto his mistress's knee. He knew his position was secure. "Don't you listen to him, Christopher!" said Juliet. "He wouldn't be in your place two minutes. If I dared to thwart him in anything, he'd turn and rend me." "He wouldn't," said Green decidedly. "Anyone else--perhaps, but his mistress--never."