After several demoralised cotillions had withstood the shock of his absence, and a dozen or more functions had become temporarily disorganised because he declined to occupy himself with their success; and after a number of hostesses had filled in his place at dinner, at theatres, at week-ends, on yachts and coaches; and after an unprecedented defiance of two summonses to the hazardous presence of Mrs. Sprowl, he obeyed a third subpœna, and presented himself with an air of cheerful confidence that instantly enraged her. The old lady lay abed with nothing more compromising than a toothache; Quarren was conducted to the inner shrine; she glared at him hideously from her pillows; and for one moment he felt seriously inclined to run. "Where have you been?" she wheezed. "Nowhere in particu----" "I know damn well you've been nowhere," she burst out. "Molly Wycherly's dance went to pieces because she was fool enough to trust things to you. Do you know who led? That great oaf, Barent Van Dyne! He led like a trick elephant, too!" Quarren looked politely distressed. "And there are a dozen hostesses perfectly furious with you," continued the old lady, pounding the pillows with a fat arm--"parties of all sorts spoiled, idiocies committed, dinners either commonplace or blank failures--what the devil possesses you to behave this way?" "I'm tired," he said, politely. "What!" He smiled: "Oh, the place suits, Mrs. Sprowl; I haven't any complaint; and the work and wages are easy; and it's comfortable below-stairs. But--I'm just tired." "What are you talking about?" "I'm talking _about_ my employers, and I'm talking _like_ the social upper-servant that I am--or was. I'm merely giving a respectable warning; that is the airy purport of my discourse, Mrs. Sprowl." "Do you know what you're saying?" "Yes, I think so," he said, wearily. "Well, then, what the devil _are_ you saying?" "Merely that I've dropped out of service to engage in trade." "You can't!" she yelled, sitting up in bed so suddenly that her unquiet tooth took the opportunity to assert itself. She clapped a pudgy hand to her cheek, squinting furiously at Quarren: "You _can't_ drop out," she shouted. "Don't you ever want to amount to anything?" "Yes, I do. That's why I'm doing it." "Don't act like a fool! Haven't you any ambition?" "That also is why," he said pleasantly. "I am ambitious to be out of livery and see what my own kind will do to me." "Well, you'll see!" she threatened--"you'll see what we'll do to you----" "_You're_ not my kind. I always supposed you were, but you all knew better from the day I took service with you----" "Ricky!"