"Then you must give orders to the servants," Phipps insisted. "I don't need to suggest to you, Dredlinton," he went on, "what means you should use to make your wife obey you, but there are means, and if you're not the man to realise them, I'm very much surprised in you. I will begin with a concrete case. Your wife, together with that fellow Wilshaw and Miss Baldwin, have accepted an invitation from Wingate to dine and go to a theatre to-morrow night. You must see that your wife does not go." "Very well," Dredlinton promised, "I'll manage it somehow." "See that you do," Phipps enjoined earnestly. "Your wife is one of those misguided women with a strong sense of duty. Unless you behave like a damn fool, you can reestablish some measure of control over her. Do so. There are certain circumstances," he went on, his face wrinkled a little with emotion, his voice deep and earnest, "there are certain circumstances, Dredlinton, under which I might be inclined to behave towards you with great generosity. I leave you to guess what those circumstances are. I will show you the way later on." Dredlinton felt hope stir once more through his shocked and terrified senses. He lit a cigarette with fingers which had ceased to tremble, leaned a little back in his place and stared at his companion curiously. "Phipps," he asked, "what the devil do you and this fellow Wingate see in my wife?" "What a man like you would never look for," was the harsh reply. CHAPTER XII "Throw your coat down anywhere, Miss Baldwin," Wingate invited, as he ushered that young lady into his rooms soon after eleven o'clock on the following evening. "Now what can I give you? There are some sandwiches here--ham and pâté-de-foie-gras, I think. Whisky and soda or some hock?" "A pâté sandwich and some plain soda water, please," Sarah replied, taking off the long motoring coat which concealed her evening clothes. "I have been fined for everything except disorderly driving--daren't risk that. Thanks!" she went on. "What ripping sandwiches! And quite a good play, wasn't it?" "I am glad you enjoyed it." "It was a swindle Josephine not turning up," Sarah continued, as she stretched herself out in Wingate's easy-chair. "Domestic ructions again, I suppose. How I do hate that husband of hers!" "It was disappointing," he admitted. There was a brief pause, during which Sarah finished her sandwiches and lit a cigarette. "Wilshaw seems to be having a little trouble with the outside porter," her host remarked presently. "It must cost him at least half a sovereign every time I leave the cab," Sarah sighed. "How much do you make a week out of your driving, if it isn't too personal a question?" he enquired. "It depends upon how much Jimmy's got." "Is he your only client, then?" "He very seldom gives me a chance of another. Once or twice I've refused to be engaged by the day, but he sends his man around to the garage and I find him sitting in the cab when I arrive."