May Turberville nudged Betty, and Lance stared open-mouthed at the courage of Mabel. He would do a good deal for the Leighton girls, but he barred that particular cake. An electric feeling of comprehension ran round the company. They seemed to know that Mabel was about to taste her own cake and give a large slice to Mr. Meredith. They made little airy remarks to one another in order to keep the conversation going, so that Mabel might not detect by some sudden pause that every one was watching her. One heard Julia Gardiner say in an intense manner to Harry Somerton that the begonias at Mrs. Somerton’s were a "perfect dream." And Harry answered that for his part he liked football better. Even Mr. Leighton noticed the trend of things, and stopped discussing higher morality with Aunt Katharine. Mabel seemed to take an interminable time. She gave Mr. Meredith a large piece, and insisted besides on serving him with an unwieldy lump of pink icing containing a large scrawly "e" from the last syllable of Cuthbert’s name. "E--aw," brayed Lance gently, and Betty exploded into a long series of helpless giggles. "What a baby you are, Lance," said Mabel, amiably laughing. She bit daintily at the walnut cake. Mr. Meredith bit largely. There was an enormous pause while they waited to see what he would do. Cuthbert and Ronald Martin were near, aimlessly handing trifle and fruit salad. Mr. Meredith helped with one hand to pass a cup. "You know, Leighton," he said, "I have a great friend, he was one of your year--Vincent Hope--do you remember him?" Cuthbert stared. One mouthful was gone and Mr. Meredith was cheerfully gulping another. "What a digestion the man has," he thought, and next was plunged politely in reminiscent conversation regarding his College days. Mabel sat crunching quite happily at the despised walnut cake. Lance approached her timidly. "For Heaven’s sake," he said, "give me a large cup of coffee for the ostrich. The man will die if he isn’t helped." "Who on earth do you mean, Lance?" asked Mabel innocently. "Meredith. Don’t you see he has eaten the cake." Mabel looked conscience-stricken. Her own slice had not dwindled much. "It is rather chucky-stoney, isn’t it?" she asked anxiously. "It’s terrific," said Lance sagely. Mabel looked quite crushed for a moment, so crushed that even Lance’s mischievous heart relented. "Never mind, Mabel," he comforted her. "If Meredith can do that much for you without a shudder, he will do anything. It’s a splendid test." A golden maxim of Mrs. Leighton’s flashed into Mabel’s mind, "You never know a man till he has been tried." It made her smile to think that already they might be supposed to be getting to know Mr. Meredith because of her villainous cake. "The piece we tested wasn’t so bad," she explained to Lance, quite forgetting that she had skimmed that quantity in order to get plenty of chopped walnuts into the "real" cake.