all 'such kind of people' from his house. They met, however, pretty frequently in society, and though May, in obedience to Lord Forestfield's wishes, restricted her conversation with her old friend to ordinary conventionalities, Eardley saw from her manner that she was unhappy, and soon gathered from general gossip that she was ill-treated. He had seen so many affairs of this kind, that when the gossip further informed him that Lady Forestfield was avenging herself, the kind-hearted artist was thoroughly sorry, but very little surprised. '_Tu l'as voulu, Georges Dandin_,' he muttered to himself with a shrug, as the purveyor of scandal left his studio to proceed further on his self-imposed generous mission. 'I guessed it would come to that, and there is no use in my attempting to stop this stream of poached filth which floods the middle street, which that rascal who has just left is assiduously helping in its course;' but he did what he could to stem the current nevertheless, and there were some people who hesitated to believe the stories whispered against Lady Forestfield's fair fame, simply because Frank Eardley declared them to be false. He told all this in his simple quiet manner to his friend as they sat over their bottle of claret in the calm evening. 'I have not seen Lady Forestfield since the smash,' he said, 'though, of course, I would do anything in the world I could to be of service to her. But,' he added, looking steadily at Uffington, 'I don't believe, Nugent, in interference in such matters, at all events by men. I am delighted to think that she has Eleanor Irvine with her. A straightforward right-thinking girl like that, whatever the Mrs. Grundys may choose to say, cannot come to any grief herself in keeping up her old friendship with this poor lady, while she may be the means of doing her an infinity of good; but a man who sought to take up any position in the matter would only compromise Lady Forestfield and himself; and is far better out of the scrape. Don't you think so?' 'Yes,' said Sir Nugent; 'it depends a good deal on the kind of assistance intended, and upon the manner in which it is proffered; but I think upon the whole you are right. Now let us go.'