“You’ll have a bad half-hour with Dudley,” Dick remarked to Hal, with enjoyment. “He is sure to hear of it somewhere.” “Quite sure,” resignedly; “but if it were a bad two hours it would still have been worth it. It reminds me of the old days at school, Lorraine, when we used to get into scrapes on purpose, if the fun made it worth while.” There was no gayer supper party in the Savoy that night, and the champagne paid for with the proceeds of “Baby’s Boredom” proved none the less vivifying for the insipidity of its source. Dick insisted upon reciting his doggerel, and Quin was not only much toasted as “Lady Bounce”, but carried kicking round the room by the giant, because in a moment of forgetfulness he used a swear-word, which they all insisted was a reflecton upon the conversation of his illustrious aunt. Lorraine, in most amusing form herself, laughed until she was tired out, and wondered why she was not bored. She asked the question of Alymer Hermon, who was privileged to see her home, while Dick returned with Hal, and Quin beat a hasty retreat to get rid of his disguise. “After all, you are only boys,” she said, with a little smile, “and I’m... well, I’m Lorraine Vivian.” The giant gazed thoughtfully out of the brougham window a moment, and from her corner Lorraine looked long, and a little sadly, at the finely modelled head and profile. “Perhaps,” he said at length, “a great many people you meet make a special effort to please you, and try to make an impression on you. We being all so young, and just nobodies, realise the uselessness of wasting our efforts, and are merely natural.” She smiled in the shadow, and glanced away from him with the sadness deepening. “I feel tonight I should like to be one of you—so young and just nobody. It would be a pleasant change.” “I don’t think you would like it at all.” He looked at her with a slightly puzzled air. “Only the other day you were speaking to me of achievement and ambition. You seemed to care so much. You must be glad.” “Oh yes, yes,” wearily; “but it isn’t enough by itself. There is something I have missed, and tonight I feel that it might outweight all the rest—something to do with being young, and careless, and fresh, and just nobody.” Still looking at her with slightly puzzled, very kindly eyes, he answered simply, “I’m so sorry.” She seemed to shrink away suddenly into her corner. The very simplicity of his sympathy, and the quiet, natural friendliness in his face, stirred some strange chord in her heart with a swift, unaccountable ache. He looked so big and strong and splendid there in the shadow, with his freshness and his charm; and she felt very brain-fagged and world-weary; and without in the least knowing why, or what led up to the desire, she wanted to feel his arms about her, and his freshness soothing her spirit.