"That you must do as you like, of course. But if you elect to see him, for goodness' sake don't refer to it." "Refer to it!" Margaret exclaimed. "Refer to what?" "The vestal whom we saw this afternoon." "I don't understand." Indulgently Mrs. Austen motioned. "It is hardly proper that you should." Margaret winced and coloured. "Your insinuation is horrible." Cheerfully Mrs. Austen smiled. Margaret's start, her heightened colour, her visible annoyance, these things comforted her. A grandee of Spain warmed his hands at the auto-da-fe. There are people just like him. There are people that take comfort in another's distress. Mrs. Austen did not know that she resembled them. She had nothing but Margaret's welfare in view. Nothing but that and her own. Her own though came first. She raised the fan. "My dear, you misjudge me. I always said that he is a good young man and I stick to it. He is good, far too good, too good to be true." With that, lowering the fan, she produced a trump. "Downstairs, a moment ago, he told me so." Margaret gasped. "He told you--he told you----" "Precisely. That is just what he did tell me." Margaret straightened. "I don't believe it." Mrs. Austen waved at her. "Oh, I don't mean that he has deceived you. He has done nothing of the kind. It is you who have deceived yourself. That was to be expected. At your age I deceived myself quite as thoroughly. I thought your father a conquering hero and he was merely a bore. But he pointed a moral, though he adorned no tale. He married to settle down. That is this young man's idea and I must give him credit for the fact that while he has not deceived you, he did deceive me. I thought him a tedious person; whereas, not a bit of it. He is exceedingly lively. If he keeps it up, his wife will be blessed among women. But that is just it. He won't keep it up. He swore he would not and I believe him. He has turned over a new leaf. I can't cry over it, but it is really too bad." Margaret, who had straightened, stiffened. "If I believed a word of what you tell me, I would forgive him entirely." Mrs. Austen, unprepared for that, leaned forward. "My dear, I had no idea you were so sensible." "I would forgive entirely," Margaret continued. "But I would never see him again." How good that tasted! Mrs. Austen swallowed it contentedly. "Of course you will see him. You are not going blind, I suppose. But when you do see him, it will be only decent of you to ignore the matter which is not a fit subject for you to discuss." Margaret, who had straightened and stiffened, now was rigid. "I certainly shall ignore it. It is not worth talking about."