It struck eight o'clock. The maid had set the table in the dining-room, and had laid a cover for the strange lady, who did not seem disposed to leave. She now came to announce that the meal was served. "Will you stay and dine with me?" asked Lilly, somewhat against her will. At last Mrs. Jula woke up. She neither accepted nor declined, but arose and disengaged her flaming hat from her dark curls. "I'm crazy, am I not?" she said, and the foolish, seductive smile blossomed about her lips again. Drawing a breath of relief, Lilly opened the door to the dining-room. The table gleamed with snowy damask, strewn with leaves of light formed by the pierced shade of the hanging lamp. The gaily coloured dishes, which Lilly had bought cheap at a sale, were a copy of an old Strasburg pattern. The knives and forks as well as the set of casters and the sugar tongs were of the finest plate, to be distinguished from real silver only by the mark. When Richard stayed for the evening meal, he should find everything as shining and substantial as at his mother's. Mrs. Jula burst into raptures. "Oh, how beautiful your place is. How dear! How charming! Am I not right in saying you were born to be a married woman? You ought to see my rubbish at home. What's the use? If my red-head has spoiled his stomach in a restaurant on larded lamb kidneys or turkey _aux truffes_, the next day I have to prepare gruel and toast and I serve it to him directly from the pot. What's the use of making a lot of fuss and setting a table?" "Thank the Lord!" thought Lilly. "She's herself again." The meal was modest enough--various cold cuts with roasted potatoes, and the remnants of a pastry for dessert. But Mrs. Jula ate as if such delights had not been spread before her for years. And she had to know exactly where Lilly got her supplies. Lilly informed her accurately. For the sake of cheapness, she said, she got her cold meats from a man in the country, whose address she would be glad to give Mrs. Jula. "I divined it immediately," said Mrs. Jula, softly, her eyes staring meditatively. After a pause she added more softly: "That's just the way it was there." "There--where?" asked Lilly. "Why, in my home." Suddenly Mrs. Jula threw her napkin on the table, jumped from her seat, and stepped to the open window, wringing her hands and pressing them to her forehead. "I'm going to ruin! I'm going to ruin! I'm going to ruin!" she moaned out into the night. "What's the matter?" faltered Lilly in fright, and also jumped up. "I want to go back to my husband. I want to go back to my husband. He's a cross old piece, I know. And it's death to live with him. It's true, it's true! But I do want to go back to him. I'm going to ruin here. I'm going to ruin here." Lilly stepped behind her and stroked her neck.