After luncheon she walked to the King's Road and sat with Winifred, in the hope that Kent would look in on his way upstairs. She wanted to take counsel with him. His sturdy common sense would help her. She did not confide her vague scheme to Winifred, because Winifred would have called her a darling, and put her arms round her neck, and made her feel as if she were meditating something peculiarly noble. So she waited for Kent's sobering presence. He came in at his customary hour, bearing a paper bag of peaches which he had brought for Winifred. He had carried them from some distance through the streets, and there were little wet stains on the paper. But when the fruit was put on a plate beside the bread and butter on a flap of the wickerwork afternoon tea table it looked fresh and inviting. This sudden return of their old intimacy was delightful to all three of them, and they chatted during tea as if nothing had happened to break it. Then Clytie propounded her case, and they formed themselves into a committee to consider it. “I don't like social experiments,” said Kent. “It's constituting one's self a Providence without Providence's resources. If one bit of the machinery fails, the whole thing is apt to go wrong.” “But I don't want to experiment!” cried Clytie. “It's quite wicked of you to say so.” “How can it be otherwise?” asked Kent. “You want to put an industrial school boy of the most unconventional type and upbringing into the most caste-bound, conventional profession under the sun. It's like putting a bit of metallic sodium into water. A pretty experiment, though rather common; but the result is an explosion.” “But he must be trained and made a gentleman first,” cried Winifred, coming to Clytie's assistance. “Of course,” said Clytie. “Should he ever be able to get into the army, he will be by that time quite a different being to what he is now.” “Then you'll have to give him a rigid, conventional training, and so spoil him,” said Kent. “It wouldn't spoil him to learn to speak the Queen's English and the use of his knife and, fork,” said Clytie a little defiantly. “He'd have to learn more than that. Besides, how is he to be taught?” “That's what I've come to you for advice about.” Kent mused for a moment and stroked his beard. “Are you very much bent upon this?” he asked. “Yes.” “Then I can only see one way.” “Well--and that?” “Adopt him,” said Kent. “An industrial school boy can be run by a committee--the experiment is not very dangerous, but a conventional gentleman must have conventional references.” His first words struck the chord she had shrunk from striking herself. It was the formulated suggestion of a vague desire. She was silent for a little. Then Winifred in response to a business summons went out on to the landing, and Kent and Clytie were left alone. “I am afraid I have been too downright and have hurt you,” he said concernedly. She shook her head and glanced at him smilingly.