Fleda, downstairs, learned soon enough what this was. It was simply that, as he announced the moment he stood before her, he was now all right. When she asked him what he meant by that state he replied that he meant he could practically regard himself henceforth as a free man: he had had at West Kensington, as soon as they got into the street, such a horrid scene with Mrs. Brigstock. "Then he's as big a donkey as his mother! But you know you must account for their delay," Mrs. Gereth remarked.!

"You must sit down, then, till I go," said Fleda. "We must find a bench." CHAPTER II

"Oh, that's what I should call it!" Fleda laughed, to her own surprise. Fleda hesitated; he held her fast. "No. Anything is better than that." "Not Mr. Gereth, I mean—nor his wife?"