PR 6011 R?.' :t I'd? 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIFGO 
 
 3 1822 01106 0712
 
 UBRARY 
 
 SAN DIEGO
 
 3 1822 01106 0712 
 
 GOij
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 Pigs in Clover 
 
 The Heart of a Child 
 
 Baccarat 
 
 Let the Roof Fall In 
 
 Dr. Phillips 
 
 A Babe in Bohemia 
 
 The Sphinx's Lawyer 
 
 An Incompleat Etonian
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK DANBY 
 
 ULCL- 
 
 METHUEN & CO. LTD. 
 
 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. 
 
 LONDON
 
 First Published in igi2 
 
 Copyright, London, igi2, by Methuen &' Co. Ltd. 
 and New York, U.S.A., by The Macmillan Co.
 
 Never a careworn wife but shows, 
 
 If a joy suffuse her, 
 Something beautiful to those 
 
 Patient to peruse her. 
 Some one charm the world unknows 
 
 Precious to a muser, 
 Haply what, ere years were foes 
 
 Moved her mate to choose her.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 FROM the tower of St. Chrysostom on the Hill the 
 wedding bells pealed gaily. It was a squat stone 
 church, of early Victorian architecture, admirably suited to 
 the congregation from Fitzjohn's Avenue and its vicinity, 
 that was just now converging from every point of the com- 
 pass to the interesting ceremony the bells proclaimed. The 
 porch that was neither Gothic nor Norman, but had a re- 
 miniscence of either, was somewhat concealed by an awning. 
 A strip of carpet, Hke the coat of a soldier who has never been 
 under fire, seemed redly expectant of the coming fusillade of 
 rice. Two constables now guarded its immaculate surface; 
 busying themselves in keeping back half a dozen stragglers, 
 women with babies, errand boys, and other typical idlers to 
 whom the spectacle of the streets presents itself as a per- 
 petual free entertainment, an irresistible beguilement from 
 labour. 
 
 Soon after the bells had begun to peal and the foot 
 passengers to arrive, carriage after carriage pulled up before 
 the strip of red carpet, and from yellow-wheeled coupes, private 
 carriages with hired horses, hansoms and taxi-cabs, issued 
 fashionable young ladies from Maida Vale and Carlton Hill, 
 from Hamilton Terrace and Abbey Road. The young ladies 
 were accompanied by portly mammas, in suitable bonnets 
 and lavender gloves ; by papas who had either hurried back 
 from the city under urgent entreaty, or had missed the office 
 altogether for this one eventful occasion ; by uncles whose 
 I
 
 2 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 frockcoats and buttonholes were as prominent as their alder- 
 manic paunches. 
 
 It was all to do honour to that great man, Amos Juxton, 
 who this day was giving his only daughter in marriage to 
 young Dennis Passiful, the parson's adopted son, the orphaned 
 youngster for whom he, and so many of the worshippers at 
 St. Chrysostom, had put their hands into their pockets nearly 
 two-and-twenty years ago. 
 
 Amos Juxton was easily the richest man in the district. 
 He was also the most important ; not because he had the 
 largest, grandest, most extensive and expensive of the bloated 
 overgrown villas that have procured for Fitzjohn's Avenue the 
 designation of the " Fifth Avenue " of North West London ; 
 not because he owned more motors, had a bigger garden, 
 and a more elaborate estabhshment than any other London 
 plutocrat who was content outside Mayfair; but because he 
 was a man with a striking personality, of whom any neighbour- 
 hood might well be proud ; a self-made man, whose business 
 was philanthropy and whose philanthropy was business. 
 
 Amos Juxton was the author of the "Away With House- 
 keeping " advertisements, " No More Use For Kitchen Stoves," 
 "The Emancipation of Women At Last," and other legends 
 equally intoxicating to the feminine middle-class mind. These 
 legends are familiar to us all ; their great author is hardly less 
 well known. Every hoarding that proclaims the advantages 
 of "Juxton's Limited" exhibits the features of its founder. 
 Through full pages, heavily leaded, in all the great dailies, 
 through reiterated pictorial insistence in all the Illustrated 
 Weeklies, through Sky Signs, Transparencies and Floating 
 Balloons, we have learnt to appreciate the universal blessings 
 conferred by "Juxton's Limited." "Pure Cooked Food Hot 
 and Hot. Three Daily Meals For Small Annual Subscription." 
 
 But it is as superfluous now to dwell on what Juxton's has 
 done for women, as it would be to point out the value of the 
 railway system. In essentials, of course, it is but the principle 
 of the New Journalism applied to gastronomy. Breakfast, 
 lunch, and dinner, tea, tiffin, and supper, hot and strong and
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 3 
 
 frequent, as many editions, in fact, per day as one liked to 
 pay for, are delivered at the front door with the punctuaHty of the 
 post. The viands, varied and appetising, arrive in the well- 
 known Juxton Brown Ware. Personal tastes are consulted. 
 Some, as it were, are supplied with the gastronomic equivalent 
 of " The Times " ; substantial and expensive, with dessert extra, 
 like the Book Club. Others content themselves with " Daily 
 Mail" or "Express" meals, spicy, but only sufficient for the 
 appetite, without unnecessary garnish, or ' literary leader 
 writing ' as Amos Juxton's circulars put it. 
 
 For Amos is really a man of imagination. He has not only 
 made the nebulous schemes of a Communal Kitchen, long 
 floating in the air, into a practical factor of daily life, but has 
 so enlarged and extended its scope, that now the Communal 
 kitchens, to quote again from his advertisements, include a 
 complete Communal establishment. For the Agency that 
 Amos has brought into being will clean the house, engage 
 serrants or relieve one from the necessity of keeping any ; 
 wet-nurse or bottle-feed the babies, wheel them out in per- 
 ambulators or trot them in the Park, educate and clothe them. 
 It was really Amos Juxton who made Female Suffrage prac- 
 ticable. It is even now one of his proudest boasts that all 
 the leaders of the movement were among the first customers 
 of "Juxton's." 
 
 The marriage of the only daughter of a man so distinguished 
 was naturally an event of almost national importance. And it 
 was not surprising, therefore, to find the air vibrating with 
 expectancy, the crowd constantly increasing, eager heads 
 craning, and eyes straining to see the entry into the church of 
 the bride leaning on her father's arm. 
 
 Amos would be sure to make his entry effective. Mean- 
 while the bells continued to peal, and in the pews 
 one heard the buzzing talk concentre on bride and bride 
 groom. The bridegroom was already in evidence, very nervous 
 apparently, as is the way with bridegrooms, and paler than 
 his habit. He was walkmg about restlessly, now conversing 
 with young Ted Juxton, his brother-in-law that was to
 
 4 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 be, the only son of the great man ; now coming forward to 
 welcome one or the other of his friends ; finally settling down 
 in the front pew beside the two old maids, dressed alike in 
 grey satin, sisters of the Vicar, the Misses Paighton, It was 
 they who had mothered his orphaned babyhood, and 
 shepherded all his youth. 
 
 Dennis Passiful, the bridegroom of the day, was the son 
 of their love, the child of their many prayers. He knew what 
 he owed them, but no sense of obligation weighed upon him. 
 If they loved him, he loved them little less, matching their 
 simplicity with his own. 
 
 And now at a word from Agatha, in sight of those gaily- 
 dressed and curious wedding-guests, they all three knelt down, 
 hiding their faces. In a few minutes Dennis was to meet his 
 bride ; he was nervous and excited, and the two old maids 
 in deep sympathy with him. To spend those few intervening 
 minutes in prayer seemed natural and fitting, and Ursula as 
 well as Agatha, as he knelt between them, put up an earnest 
 supplication for his happiness. But if he prayed, it was not 
 for his own happiness, or Mabel's, only for strength to meet 
 whatever came. Since the morning some misgivings had 
 shaken him. 
 
 A little thrill ran through the church at the sight of those 
 three on their knees. Who was it that had said this was only 
 a marriage of convenience, that Amos Juxton's money was 
 needed in Dennis Passiful's business ? Whoever said it might 
 well feel ashamed. Not so do bridegrooms act when they are 
 consummating a business transaction, nor are their faces as 
 the face of young Passiful when he rose from his knees, nor 
 have their eyes the same light in them. 
 
 This young bridegroom was worthy to be looked at, and when 
 the old maids moved tremulously to let him pass, every girl, 
 wife, and widow took advantage of the opportunity. In stature 
 something over six feet, perfectly proportioned, as those who had 
 so often seen him in flannels at the Cricket Club could testify, 
 his square chin showed strength, his ears lay flat to his well- 
 poised head, the close cut hair that no amount of brushing could
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 5 
 
 deprive of its tendency to curl, was golden above his broad 
 brow, above the expectant eyes. He was barely four-and- 
 twenty, little more than a boy in years, and really only a boy 
 at heart, in his ignorance of the world, and unsophisticated 
 way of thought. 
 
 The bells pealed out more loudly and joyously, heralding 
 the tardy arrival of the bride. The Reverend Stewart Paighton, 
 surpliced, with his attendant curate, took their places at the altar 
 rail. Young Ted Juxton, a natural bungler, but one of good 
 intention, first told Dennis he must go down the aisle to meet 
 Mabel, and then hurriedly recalled his instructions and said he 
 must wait where he was. The bells ceased, and the solemn 
 notes of the organ seemed a fitting accompaniment for Amos 
 Juxton, as he came through the church door, with his daughter 
 on his arm. 
 
 Mabel was veiled in Brussels lace, her downcast head 
 crowned in orange blossoms. Amos, short and immensely 
 stout, his benignant expression accentuated by his double 
 chin, was almost a procession in himself. He strutted 
 up the aisle with full knowledge of the impression he was 
 producing — he almost forgot Mabel, who could scarcely keep 
 up with him. He held his head well up, thinking the organ 
 accompaniment to his progress eminently fitting ; remember- 
 ing his banking account and all his benefactions to humanity. 
 His fair scant hair was parted in the middle, and the blue 
 eyes beamed with portly self-satisfaction. Poor Mabel, 
 bewildered at her position, glad of her veil, uncertain of her 
 conduct, was a mere appendage to his consequence. In 
 truth she did not look the bride for the magnificent speci- 
 men of young English manhood awaiting her at the altar. 
 
 Even in her wedding-dress, and through the filmy lace that 
 softened and enshrouded her, one could see that she was lean, 
 and her back a little rounded ; that her face and hair matched 
 in a dead level of dun; that she had neither style, nor 
 presence, nor beauty ; that she looked every day of her six- 
 and-twenty years, and had no grace nor compensating charm. 
 But she was Amos Juxton's only daughter, and Amos Juxton
 
 6 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 was worth a million if he was worth a penny. No one who 
 saw him walk up the aisle could doubt it. It was said in the 
 pews, but it also exuded from his complacent countenance. No 
 man who had made less than a million could wear such a look. 
 The bells were silent and the deep notes of the organ 
 welcomed Amos Juxton fittingly as he took his stand beside 
 his daughter at the altar. On the other side his son gave the 
 bridegroom the support of his presence. Many people com- 
 mented on the strangeness of young Ted being best man, for 
 young Ted was married. But then Amos Juxton was a law 
 in himself, and this was not the moment to quarrel with his 
 decrees. 
 
 The Reverend Stewart Paighton began the Service. Dennis 
 Passiful was his adopted son. Orphaned and without means, 
 the Vicar had laboured to collect a fund for his education, 
 completing the good work by giving him a home. There was 
 hardly a man in that congregation who had failed to respond 
 to an appeal for which each had seen the occasion. They 
 had all been repaid, not only in money, but in satisfaction ; 
 this marriage was the coping stone to their effort. 
 
 " Dearly beloved^ we are gathered together here in the 
 
 " sight of God and i?i the face of this congregation to Join to- 
 
 '■'■ gether this Alan and this Woman in holy Matrimony . . ." 
 Dennis's father and mother had died within a week of each 
 other of diphtheria ; their lovely little romance had its quick 
 climax. For Dennis, then an infant, there had been no 
 inheritance but the wisdom of the love in which he had been 
 conceived. And into this he had not yet come, although it 
 was his own wedding day. 
 
 The Vicar's low, impressive voice went on intoning : 
 
 " And therefore is not by a?iy to be enterprised, nor taken 
 
 ^^ in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wanto?ily, to satisfy nien^s 
 
 " carnal lusts and appetites. . . ." 
 Dennis was ready with his responses, not lightly, but 
 solemnly, as his adopted father had behoved him that morn- 
 ing, and with an ever increasing fear of the responsibilities 
 he was undertaking.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 7 
 
 The Vicar was celibate, but he had a deep sense of what 
 was required of a married man. He was not given to ex- 
 hortation in private life, but the talk he had had with Dennis 
 that morning was in the nature of an exhortation, and as 
 Dennis said his responses he was full of what had been so 
 gravely said to him. 
 
 " Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her, 
 ''''in sickness and in health ; and, forsaking all other, keep 
 " thee only unto her, so lofig as ye both shall live 1 " 
 He almost wished that Mr. Paighton had not left it until 
 his wedding morning; this solemn, earnest talk. He could 
 not shake off the impression it had made upon him, the insti- 
 tution of marriage seemed like an enveloping cloud in which 
 the bride was a little lost, her personality a little shrunk. 
 
 " With this Ring I thee wed, ivith my body I thee 
 "worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow ; 
 "'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 "Holy Ghost r 
 The organ crashed out its "Amen." 
 
 He would cherish her ; he never before had possessed any- 
 thing entirely of his own. Adopted relations were, after all, 
 not the same as real ones. Yet her father had cared for her 
 less, and less well than the family at the Vicarage had cared 
 for him. Now it was his turn to do something for somebody, 
 to prove his active Christianity. Mabel had been unhappy, 
 lonely, a little neglected. He would make up to her for it all ; 
 he was sure he could make her happy. 
 
 " Let us Fray. O Eierfial God, Creator and Freserver 
 "of all 7nankind, Giver of all spiritual grace, the Author 
 "of everlasting life; Send thy blessing upon these thy 
 " servants, this man and this womafi, whom we bless in thy 
 "Name; that, as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully to- 
 " gether, so these persons may surely perform and keep the 
 "vow and covenant betwixt them fnade, {whereof this Ring 
 "given and received is a toketi and pledge^ and may ever 
 " remain in perfect love and peace together, and live accord- 
 " ing to thy laws, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
 
 8 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 It was all over. They were man and wife. It was rather 
 bewildering, but the melody of the Wedding March as it 
 swelled full-toned from the organ, made it -exhilarating; so 
 did the congratulations of the friends who went with them 
 into the vestry to sign the marriage register. Amos Juxton 
 was not only a procession, he was almost a crowd, filling 
 the small room. Dennis was merely an individual beside 
 him, notwithstanding his six feet and the width of his 
 shoulders. But Amos weighed sixteen stone, at least so he 
 affirmed ; it might have been eighteen. 
 
 "Went off without a hitch," Amos said, not addressing any- 
 one in particular, but the company in general. " No one can 
 touch Juxton's at this sort of thing. Now you'll all come 
 back to the house and see what sort of a spread we've got 
 for you." He kissed his daughter, but that was rather per- 
 functory. His son and he were not on kissing terms. Ted 
 was a fool, and in a general way Amos had little toleration 
 for fools. But he nodded affably to him, for the occasion 
 was one on which to eschew criticism. 
 
 "You'd best drive back with me," he said to him. 
 
 " And Fanny ? " asked Ted, whose young wife was also in 
 the vestry. 
 
 " Fanny ! Oh, I didn't see Fanny 1 " Amos saw her now ; 
 she made a pretty little moue at him. 
 
 "Well, you ought to have seen me," she pouted, moving 
 nearer to him, very conscious of her wedding finery ; asking 
 for admiration. 
 
 Amos was not averse from giving it. He thought Fanny a 
 very pretty and attractive young woman. He had opposed 
 Ted's marriage, now nearly a year old, but Fanny herself, 
 although she had neither money nor position, had reconciled 
 him to it. She paid him numberless little attentions, and 
 deferred to his opinions. Amos seemed to preen all his 
 feathers when Fanny was with him, as a peacock spreads his 
 tail in the sun. Amos had no doubt Fanny admired him 
 immensely. Fanny had the same impression about her father- 
 in-law. They were to know each other better one day. Mean-
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 9 
 
 while it was almost a flirtation between them. Ted and Mabel, 
 who were never quite at ease with their father, marvelled at 
 the lightness with which Fanny treated him. Ted thought 
 it was part of the general wonder of her. Mabel often wished 
 that she had the same gift or knack of interesting and pleasing 
 him. She would have loved her father had she found a 
 chink in his complacency where love might lodge. Fanny 
 played the spoilt little daughter to him quite bewitchingly. 
 Now she was pretending to sulk because he had not noticed 
 her. And it was Fanny who hung on his arm when they left 
 the vestry. 
 
 In the vestry also was the Honourable Cosmo Merritt, 
 younger son of the well known Liberal peer. Lord Lough- 
 borough, Cosmo, whose allowance of three hundred 
 a year was usually in arrears, and who supplemented it in 
 various ways, had been Ted's coach in his ill-fated days at 
 Cambridge. He knew how Uttle his father could do for him, 
 and indeed it was impossible to be for any length of time in 
 Lord Loughborough's company without hearing him bewail 
 his poverty, and the expensiveness of his family. Cosmo now 
 was wooing journalism, literature. Fleet Street generally, and 
 Amos spoke quite affably to him, although there had been a 
 time when he thought his fees exorbitant, and the results 
 inadequate. 
 
 " I daresay you'll be giving quite a fine account of this affair 
 in your paper ? " Amos said to Cosmo, over his shoulder, as 
 he was signing the register. "Women like reading about 
 weddings." Amos was a great believer in a fair and liberal 
 press. "You're coming on to the house, I hope," he said. 
 " We'll show you how we do things." 
 
 "I've no doubt the public interest will be enormous," 
 answered Cosmo with seriousness. He was a critic and not 
 a reporter, but the great advertiser knew of only one use for 
 newspaper men. 
 
 Amos had a moment's pause over that seriousness ; he looked 
 to see if the face agreed with the words. But the face of 
 Cosmo Merritt was quite expressionless, and Amos went on :
 
 lo JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " There's room for you in the carriage. We'd best be going 
 before we get a crowd in front of us. Come along, Ted, 
 hurry up." For Ted was now somewhat laboriously adding 
 his signature below his father's. " See you later, Paighton, I 
 hope," he threw behind him to the clergyman, as he began to 
 work his way out. 
 
 " Is it not customary to let the bride and bridegroom go 
 first ? " Cosmo queried blandly. 
 
 Cosmo Merritt, ever since he had been engaged to coach 
 Ted for his " Little go " had been interested in Amos Juxton ; 
 and now the interest was deepening. If the world was 
 Cosmo Merritt's oyster, he had begun to think it possible 
 that Juxton's was the pearl ; only the necessary mode of 
 extraction was not yet quite clear. Ted had conceived for 
 him a violent friendship, a species of hero-worship. He was 
 conscious of having been extraordinarily tolerant of Ted. 
 Ted's marriage had been a surprise to him, but Fanny, with 
 whom his acquaintance was but recent, certainly added some 
 zest to the position. 
 
 It was not without difficulty that the bride and bridegroom 
 were permitted to precede Amos. But there is an etiquette 
 about these things, and the Master of the Ceremonies, from 
 Juxton's, was at the door of the Church to order it. First on 
 the line was the carriage for the bride and bridegroom. 
 
 Dennis handed Mabel in, and followed quickly ; the strains 
 of the Wedding March, being played now for the second time, 
 were still ringing in his ears, stunning him a little ; that was 
 all he heard as the carriage started. Mr. Amos Juxton, 
 his son, and daughter-in-law were slow and impressive on 
 the steps of the Church, and in their progress down the red 
 carpet. Cosmo Merritt was rather puzzling to the Master of 
 the Ceremonies, but with a wave of his hand, and the magic 
 word " Press " Amos explained, and secured him. After the 
 family, the guests could get away in any order they pleased ; 
 the reception in Fitzjohn's Avenue should not rightly begin 
 until half an hour later. The procedure was very much the 
 same as Juxton's pursued at funerals.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 "\X 7"ENT off without a hitch," said Amos to Cosmo 
 
 V V Merritt when they were seated in the carriage. 
 " You noticed that ? " 
 
 "Did you expect any impediment would arise?" Cosmo 
 enquired with apparent curiosity. 
 
 "Impediment? You mean confusion. Well there often is 
 confusion and muddlement at an affair of this sort. Ted now, 
 he mightn't have been able to find the ring ; it would have 
 been like Ted to have lost the ring. But we thought of that ; 
 my man handed it to him when he came into the Church, and 
 saw that he put it in his right-hand waistcoat pocket." 
 
 " I shouldn't have forgotten it," said Ted sullenly. There 
 were times when Ted Juxton resented his father's attitude 
 towards him. Ever since his marriage to Fanny he had 
 resented it. That was a year ago. When his father had 
 at last consented to his marriage it was on the grounds that 
 Fanny was 'clever' and would 'push him on.' If she was 
 clever there seemed no reason why his father should always be 
 rubbing it in that he was not. She was quite ready enough to 
 see it for herself, Ted thought. 
 
 Fanny talked to Amos all the way from St. Chrysostom's to 
 Fitzjohn's Hall, Fitzjohn's Avenue ; ' prattled ' would perhaps 
 be a better word, although it was anything but artless. Fanny 
 was quite young, and, being the daughter of a publican, prided 
 herself, above everything, upon being 'ladylike.' She was 
 \didy-like, but it was only a distant resemblance. She was not 
 tall, and Ted thought she had a springy walk ; that was her 
 own description, and he accepted it ; but it was rather jerky 
 than springy, owing to her spine being a little out of the
 
 12 JOSEPH IX JEOPARDY 
 
 perpendicular. It had to be admitted that Fanny's spine was 
 not quite straight, and that in many particulars she resembled 
 her spine. In the carriage she praised aU Amos's arrange- 
 ments, thought the screen of lilies charming, the mass of 
 palms wonderfully effective, the bride's bouquet a marvel of 
 bloom. She thanked him prettily for her own flowers, and 
 said how well they matched her dress. 
 
 Fanny was in pink, vieux rose, she called it, and it made her 
 complexion look yellowish. The corsage was trimmed with 
 coral beads, and as she talked she played with a string of them 
 that depended from her throat At this period of her career 
 she had no colour in her cheeks, they had the pallor that goes 
 with red hair, the colotu" of her eyes was indefinite, her nose too 
 wide at the root and the mouth fiat and ill tempered. But 
 when Fanny smiled, and she smiled often, it was wonderful to 
 see how her face lit up and altered : how gleams of malice or 
 humour irradiated her eyes, and the prettiest possible set of 
 teeth redeemed the flat mouth. To-day the red hair had 
 evidently been carefully waved under the pink hat, over- 
 feathered, very large, but not large enough to conceal that 
 Fanny still wore the hall mark of Suburbia, a hair net ! 
 Fanny had developed very much since her marriage, and 
 had begun to talk of '• keeping up her position," but she still 
 dung to her hair net, and her fondness for feathers and beads. 
 
 "VMien Fanny had praised the decoration of the Church and 
 Amos's arrangements, she began to discuss the guests and 
 their clothes. And there it seemed nothing had completely 
 pleased her. This one was gaudy, and the other one dowdy ; 
 pretty girls excited her dislike, popular ones her utmost 
 contempt. Ted thought she was rather hard on Miss Jones, 
 for instance, who dressed from Paris, and was by way of being 
 the beauty of Hampstead. But Miss Jones was Fanny's pet 
 aversion — had not Ted once admired her fine skin, bright 
 eyes and gaiety? Fanny had not finished half she had to 
 say in dispraise of Miss Jones when the carriage arrived at 
 Fitzjohn's Hall. 
 
 Here there were more palms and lilies, a band played on
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 13 
 
 the landing. Amos called it the rz tziirjs--i f cor, bat no one 
 knew why. On the ri^t of the hall W3s the dining-room, 
 irfiere a buffet along the whole length of the fioor — and everv 
 owe who knew Amos knew rn.it- it was rhirty-foor feet — was 
 set out with good things, the immense wedding-cske rnafring 
 an appropriate centre. On the left of tie hall was the 
 drawing-room, and there Mabel was already seated, mider a 
 canopy of flowers, with Dennis, still a little unhke hirnself^ 
 standing beside h^. It had been arranged that so they 
 should receive the wedding guests. But Amos soon re^eved 
 them of the trouble. He had taken up his position at the 
 door, under the great white bell of wedding flowers with the 
 orange for clapper, and there he welcomed old friends and 
 new, acquaintances, strangers, and intimates. 
 
 " Very pleased to see you, Tm sure: ver- r'-i of you to 
 come. Have you had anything to take? ^'- — :-rre"s p.enty 
 there. Juxton's don't sdnu If I expect three hun-dred people 
 I dont order for two hundred and eighty, and take the odds 
 of some of them not ruming up. Thars good enough for 
 otir customers, but it's not good enough for me. And 5: — e 
 of youll have brought your friends. I daresay. Quite r^z:. 
 Mrs. Gwatkin, glad to know your niece, any relatioa of y; its 
 is welcome. Shell like to see the house, IVe no doubt. The 
 presents are in the billiard room. Ted wiU show 3roa wh^e 
 the billiard room is — that is if you can find him. Hell b€ 
 near the champagne by now, that's his mark. Arf how do 
 jiw do ? . . . 
 
 It was seldom Tuxton's gave anything away except in the 
 way of advertisement, or in the cause of philanthropy, where 
 advertisement followed as a matter of course. Amos made 
 the most of this occasion. 
 
 By the time the guests had escaped to the spot where 
 ^[abel was awaiting their congratularons. his e:^jansiveness 
 had almost overwhelmed their capaciLy of expression. Sail 
 the women kissed Mabel, the men shock hands witii Dennis, 
 and said the same thing over and over again ; the stream of 
 it seemed unending.
 
 14 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " Don't you wish it was over ? " the boy said to his bride. 
 
 "Oh, I'm sure it's very kind of them all. Some of them 
 have come quite a long way. There are the Summers now, 
 from Clapham, I do wish I could remember whether they sent 
 the lamp shades or the tea cosy." 
 
 Mabel was really enjoying herself; she had never been the 
 centre of attraction before. She tried to say the right thing 
 to everybody. 
 
 Cosmo, with his expressionless face and his monocle, stood 
 listening to Amos for some time, when the enjoyment palled 
 he moved leisurely over to Fanny's side. 
 
 There had been passages, although passages is perhaps 
 hardly the right word, between Ted's wife and Mabel's new 
 husband. Fanny had shown that handsome young cricketer 
 a certain amount of favour, and had betrayed a disposition to 
 show him more. But Dennis was slow to appreciate it, he 
 had in fact rather resented her amiabihty. Ever since he had 
 been grown up, if anything a little before, he had known that 
 women and girls had a ' beastly habit of making themselves 
 cheap.' From Ted's fiancee the beastliness of it was accentu- 
 ated, and he had been unable to conceal his feelings. Fanny 
 would not easily forget what happened when she "tried to be 
 nice " to Dennis Passiful. Fanny had always her own way of 
 phrasing her own conduct. 
 
 " The bridegroom does not look exactly exhilarated. I 
 trust your father-in-law has not failed in liberality?" Cosmo 
 began, with the easy insolence that characterized him. Fanny 
 had perched herself on the edge of the fender seat, and in her 
 attitude one could notice the little error in her spine, that her 
 shoulders were certainly rounded, and that the expression of 
 her face was unamiable. 
 
 Fanny, although she was supposed to be very fond of 
 Mabel, whom she habitually spoke of either as " Poor Mabel " 
 or " Poor old Mabel," was nevertheless jealous of seeing her 
 surrounded, at hearing more comments on the white satin 
 wedding dress and the real Brussels veil, than on her own vieux 
 r^5^ costume. "Juxton's" kept this Brussels veil to lend to
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 15 
 
 all their most expensive brides ; Fanny knew it, but it failed 
 to solace her. 
 
 " Mr. Juxton has been very liberal," she said in the detached 
 and oft'-hand way she thought was good form. She was not 
 quite definite as to what her behaviour should be towards 
 Mr. Merritt. He had been Ted's tutor, which is of course 
 a degrading occupation ; and Fanny was not quite sure of 
 the social position of a journalist. She did not yet know 
 more than this about him, and, although she saw that he 
 was already attracted by her, she had not by any means 
 made up her mind as to what measure of encouragement 
 she would give him. Notwithstanding that incident with 
 Dennis, Fanny had no doubt she was practically irresistible, 
 and she did not care to waste her favours. Her natural 
 irritation at Miss Jones' toilette and at the attention Mabel 
 was receiving, made her inclined to snub this imperturbable 
 gentleman with the familiar manners. Her attitude amused 
 Cosmo Merritt so much that he sat down on the fender stool 
 beside her, and went on talking. 
 
 " Tell me something about the bride and bridegroom," he 
 persisted, "there is an interesting incongruity of age and type. 
 Who is he ? " 
 
 " His father was an artist," Fanny answered in an off-hand 
 manner. 
 
 "So I should have suspected." 
 
 Cosmo surveyed Dennis's proportions, from the distance, 
 with admiration not unmixed with envy. He himself was less 
 than five feet ten, and the charm of his pallor was somewhat 
 diminished by his tendency to embonpoint. 
 
 " Praxiteles himself could have fashioned nothing better. 
 I want to know more about the bridegroom's father. Did 
 he work only in human clay, did the gods of Hampstead 
 bow down and worship? Where did the Vicar come in ? I 
 understood Ted to say that the bridegroom was his adopted 
 son." 
 
 Fanny had never heard of Praxiteles. And she did not like 
 too much consequence being attributed to Mabel's husband.
 
 1 6 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " They lived in quite a small way," she said hastily. 
 
 "Splendid," he answered inconsequently. He began to 
 think Fanny might prove as amusing as her father-in-law. 
 Had not the Vicar come up to them at the moment there 
 is no saying how Fanny would have decided to treat Cosmo 
 Merritt. But the Vicar came into the drawing-room at this 
 moment, and straight to where they were sitting, 
 
 '• I thought I saw you m Church," he said to Cosmo, 
 holding out a cordial hand, " but I was not sure. How is 
 your Mother, your dear Mother? I know I have been 
 remiss in my enquiries. And Mervyn, tell me about Mervyn, 
 and Van. Van is still at Denham, I suppose ? " 
 
 Quite a number of questions and intimate answers followed, 
 Fanny thus becoming aware of several things that altered her 
 mental attitude towards her companion. 
 
 Before the Vicar moved off again, claimed by some 
 exuberant parishioner, Fanny, for instance, knew that Cosmo 
 Merritt's mother was Lady Loughborough, and that she had 
 been injured in a hunting accident. Fanny's acquaintance 
 with the Peerage was limited, and all she knew of hunting 
 was through skipped pages of Mrs. Kennard's novels. She 
 looked at Cosmo Merritt now with new eyes, the eyes she 
 kept for Amos, and for other men she wished to captivate. 
 
 " You want to know all about the bride and bridegroom," 
 she said, smiling at him, " I was just going to tell you when 
 Mr. Paighton interrupted us. Tilabel is . . . well, just Mabel. 
 I don't suppose you want to know anything more about her? 
 Dennis is a sort of parish orphan. Nobody knows anything 
 about his people, where they came from, or why they came 
 here. The Vicar called upon them when they first came 
 into their little house, and he heard that Mr. Passiful painted 
 pictures, and wanted to give drawing lessons. Somebody 
 said his wife had been his pupil, and that he had run 
 away with her, and changed his name. But nobody knew for 
 certain, because the very day after the Vicar called, Mr, 
 Passiful was taken ill ; he died within the week. He asked 
 Mr. Paighton to look after his wife and child."
 
 JOSEPH IX JEOPARDY 17 
 
 Fanny had the story quite pat, it was common property 
 in Hampstead. 
 
 " But it was diphtheria he had, and it was before the days 
 of anti-toxin, and the wife died too. There was no one left 
 but the baby; no papers, no letters, nor anything. Mr. 
 Paighton advertised, but nothing happened. Of course in 
 the ordinary way the baby might have been sent to the 
 Workhouse." Fanny liked saying that, it belittled Mabel's 
 marriage, and made the fuss they were all making about her 
 ridiculous, " But the Vicar had taken an extraordinary fancy 
 to the people, and wouldn't hear of it. He made a house to 
 house collection ; and then he preached a charity sermon." 
 She paused for breath. 
 
 " Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these ? " queried 
 Cosmo, with a whimsical smile ; he had an attractive smile, 
 and since Fanny had heard who he was she found his eyes 
 were rather nice, and she did not mind the wrinkles round 
 them. He had beautiful white hands; Ted's hands were 
 horribly rough and coarse. His attention to her this after- 
 noon was really a feather in her cap. 
 
 "There was nearly a thousand pounds collected," she 
 finished, putting her coral beads into her mouth, and looking 
 at him as if she were a child who had just finished saying 
 her piece, and expected to be patted on the head and praised 
 for her performance. 
 
 "A thousand pounds!" said Cosmo. "Mr. Paighton 
 must indeed have been very eloquent. And then what 
 happened? Did a millionaire relative turn up?" 
 
 He seemed to be regarding her with admiration. She 
 had always been told she had a lively manner. Fanny 
 felt that she was really becoming quite attracted by the 
 Hon. Cosmo Merritt. She wondered if he would be Lord 
 Loughborough when his father died — and how old his father 
 was. It was all so exciting she nearly lost her self-pos- 
 session, but remembered in time that she must continue to 
 be ladylike. 
 
 " Go on telling me about it. I like the way you relate the
 
 I8 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 story, it makes me suspect you have literary talent. You 
 must be very careful not to use it." 
 
 " Not use it? " Fanny smiled in surprise. 
 
 Cosmo was beginning to think she was quite pretty. Of 
 course she was an underbred little thing, but her teeth and 
 hair and spiteful tongue redeemed her. The wooing of 
 women being an art upon which he prided himself, Fanny 
 became every instant more sure of the effect she was producing. 
 
 "Certainly you must not use it. Women w^ho write, or 
 even read seriously, are mere contortionists, strained and 
 twisted out of their natural and becoming ignorance. You 
 are much too pretty to pose for being intelligent, if it be 
 true, look upon it as a misfortune, hide it as you would 
 any other deformity. Now tell me the end of the story." 
 
 "There isn't exactly an end, unless you call this wedding 
 the end. The money was meant to keep and educate him. 
 But the two old maids, the Vicar's sisters, had taken the 
 baby into the Vicarage when the parents died, before the 
 money was collected, and they couldn't make up their minds 
 to part with him. I believe by that time they had come to 
 believe he was their baby." 
 
 Fanny smiled again, and Cosmo looked at her appreciatively. 
 That very nearly made her blush, she did not know why. " So 
 it was decided it was all to go on his education, and the 
 Vicarage was to be his home. He became quite the son 
 of the house. He got into the Eleven at Harrow, and made 
 a hundred at Lord's twice in the match." 
 
 " So he is that Passiful," exclaimed Cosmo. He remembered 
 the match, and the sensational batting. 
 
 "He was to have gone on to Oxford. But until he was 
 eighteen he had never heard he was brought up by charity. 
 When the Vicar told him all about himself, he wouldn't go ; 
 he was mad to begin to make money, be self-supporting." 
 
 " Quixotic ! " 
 
 " He wanted to be independent. My father-in-law offered 
 him a position at Juxton's, but he preferred to go to a man 
 named Abinger, who had a picture gallery in Bond Street.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 19 
 
 When Mr. Abinger died two years ago, he left the Bond 
 Street Gallery and the good-will to Dennis. But he had 
 not enough money to run the business. That's how he and 
 Mabel came together," she finished, maliciously. 
 
 Mrs. Ted was sometimes untruthful by accident, and 
 sometimes by design. In this instance one may give her 
 the benefit of the doubt. 
 
 " He doesn't look like a young fellow who would marry for 
 money," Cosmo said reflectively. He had no illusions about 
 Fanny, and only credited her story carelessly. But there 
 seemed no obvious motive for this marriage except the one 
 she had given him. Looking at the bride again, Cosmo saw 
 that she was flat chested, and certainly a year or two older than 
 her husband ; she did not seem to have any features at all, so 
 indeterminate were they under her wreath of orange blossoms. 
 
 Cosmo Merritt's interest in women was rather physicological 
 than physiological. He made a study of morbid conditions. 
 Mabel was only interesting through her accidental combination 
 with this fine young man; and Cosmo's long connection 
 with Cambridge made him interested always in young men. 
 Fanny was perhaps better worth his immediate attention. 
 For nearly half-an-hour, therefore, whilst the stream of people 
 was increasing, the room, over-full already with flowers and 
 ornaments, growing hotter, and the air more exhausted, Fanny 
 listened to epigrams she hardly understood, and to enigmatic 
 compliments that fed her ready vanity. She grew more and 
 more pleased with her new conquest. And Cosmo, too, 
 found himself less bored than might have been anticipated, 
 for he recognised that Fanny's coldness of temperament, of 
 which poor Ted had already dropped a hint, was combined 
 with vanity so inordinate that under skilful handling it would 
 take upon itself the hue of sensuality, or any other chameleon 
 colour her egotism might think becoming. 
 
 Cosmo, in that half hour, definitely made up his mind 
 that if Juxton's was his oyster, Fanny was the most succulent 
 morsel of it he had yet encountered. But, then, for he was 
 given to editing even his thoughts, and cultivated a certain
 
 20 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 preciosity of expression, he dropped the oyster metaphor. 
 Fanny, for many reasons, was not edible, not for him, in 
 any case. And he knew already, too, that her species was 
 mammalian, and not oviparous. She purred when her fur 
 was stroked the right way. But that the kitten in her would 
 become a cat, would scratch and spit, and erect its little 
 furry tail, he had also no doubt. Cosmo knew, for instance, 
 that poor Ted was all over scratches. Even now there was 
 hardly a sound place in his sensitiveness, and he had been 
 married but a year. Cosmo, personally, was not a man who 
 would mind a scratch or two, and he knew how to make 
 Fanny purr under his hand. 
 
 " I suppose I ought to go and see after Ted," she said 
 presently, but remaining seated. Fanny was never quick in 
 her movements. " He should be showing the presents, but 
 he is much more likely to be in the dining-room sampling 
 the champagne." 
 
 "You and your father-in-law always speak of Ted as if 
 he were a drunkard. I wonder why? I have never seen 
 him the worse for drink." 
 
 " He is so weak." She spoke of him contemptuously. 
 "He could be led into any sort of mischief." 
 
 " Poor Ted ! " said Cosmo under his breath, when he 
 followed her into the dining-room. 
 
 Now indeed the house was filled to its utmost capacity. 
 More and more people were constantly arriving, and none 
 were leaving. 
 
 "There's Ted," he said, catching a glimpse of him in the 
 distance. Ted was coming out of the dining-room, and it was 
 true that his face was flushed, and he had a glass of champagne 
 in his hand. Fanny's expression was one of distaste, she had 
 no smile of welcome for him. 
 
 " I was coming to look for you," he began, perhaps a little un- 
 steadily, ignoring her companion, and the indifferent people 
 about them. " The buffet, and all in there reminded me of this 
 time last year." He did lower his voice a little, but it was 
 obvious he had only one objective ; to say something to
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 21 
 
 Fanny. If he had been drinking he was certainly not 
 drunk. 
 
 "This time last year, Fan, it was we who were just off. 
 And I brought you out a glass of champagne as you came 
 down the stairs in your travelling things . . . don't you 
 remember ? " 
 
 He recollected the smile she had given him then, and 
 how he had felt about her. Poor fellow ! He had fallen 
 headlong in love with her when yet but a boy, and he was 
 still in the abyss. But everything had gone wrong between 
 them, they seemed to have begun to quarrel before their 
 honeymoon was over ; he knew he was hasty and over- 
 sensitive, not good enough for her. It had come to him in the 
 dining-room that now was the moment to admit his faults, to 
 remind her of their days of happiness. He had a desperate, 
 overmastering desire to make one more attempt to get things 
 right between them. 
 
 "You remember how jolly we were when we went off 
 together?" His eyes interrogated her, they were unhappy 
 eyes, soft and seeking, like a dog's, incongruous in his 
 coarse face. Fanny made a gesture of repulsion, rejecting 
 the proffered glass. She threw a little appealing look to 
 Cosmo as if to draw his attention to Ted's unsteadiness, 
 and the awkwardness of his interruption. 
 
 " I don't particularly want to remember it," she said coldly. 
 " What have you been doing with yourself, your face is quite 
 red ? " If her smile was pretty her laugh was only malicious. 
 " Your hair is all rough, as if the maids had been touzling it." 
 
 He could not bear ridicule, and she had often been able to 
 check scene or explanation in some such way as this. But 
 for the moment his absorption in what he had to say over- 
 mastered the sensitiveness and the incoherence that was part 
 of him and of his love. He did lower his voice, but that 
 was all the heed he paid to her remonstrance. She tried to 
 get away from him, to pass into the room, but he held her 
 arm. Over and over again her coldness had baffled and hurt 
 him, but now he was aflame with reminiscence. He took no
 
 22 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 heed of Cosmo, who, after all, was his friend, and knew some- 
 thing of his unhappiness ; nor of the guests who were all 
 about them. 
 
 "Let's begin all over again. Fan. I don't care for you a 
 bit less than I did this time last year when we were going off, 
 and I was so mad about you. I know I'm bad tempered, but 
 Fan . . ." 
 
 She would not listen to him, wanted to shake him off. 
 
 "You looked so wonderful! You're just as pretty as you 
 were then, prettier if anything." 
 
 "I wish you wouldn't make yourself so ridiculous." Her 
 voice was low, too, but vibrant with annoyance. She divined 
 a smile on Cosmo's inexpressive face, and the curiosity of the 
 people about them. 
 
 " Touch the glass with your lips, that's what you did then, 
 and I drank it off." 
 
 The easiest, the only way to rid herself of him seemed to be 
 to do what he asked, but she could not do it graciously. She 
 put her lips to the glass, making a wry face over it. But he 
 did not release her arm as he gulped down the rest. 
 
 "Here's luck to us both, and no more trouble. Let me 
 have a kiss, no one is noticing. We're going to begin all 
 over again." But this was too much, her pallor took on 
 a flush, it came underneath the skin in patches, and was 
 unbecoming. 
 
 "Not if you make a fool of yourself now before everybody. 
 Go away, go and fetch Mabel, it's time she came to cut the 
 cake." There was neither tenderness nor responsiveness in 
 her, nothing but physical repugnance and the fear lest she 
 should be made to look ridiculous. 
 
 "Don't snub me, for God's sake don't snub me 
 again." 
 
 " Leave go my arm, don't make a fool of yourself." 
 
 " You'll give me another chance. Darling ! " 
 
 " Everybody is looking at us." 
 
 "No they're not, they're only thinking of themselves." 
 She turned away from him, shrugging her shoulders.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 23 
 
 " Don't be hard, Fan, you used not to be so hard upon me 
 then," he urged. 
 
 "Oh, wait until we get home." She flung him a half 
 promise — anything to rid herself of the grasp on her arm, his 
 hot breath and pleading eyes. And now people came between 
 them : Mabel, preceded by her father and followed by Dennis, 
 was leaving the drawing-room. 
 
 " We must see her cut the cake," she said hastily. " Father 
 is going to make a speech." 
 
 There was no time for more. Already Amos had taken up 
 his position at the buffet, Mabel was fumbling with the knife 
 which the man from Juxton's had handed her ceremoniously. 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen: — " 
 
 The voice commanded attention, silencing Ted, who fell 
 back as Fanny pressed forward. There were cross-currents, 
 some wanted to hear the speech and pushed their way to the 
 front; some wanted to avoid it and tried to escape. In 
 the confusion Fanny and Ted were safely separated, Cosmo 
 instinctively helping the manoeuvres. Out of breath they 
 leaned against the wall, hearing, above the chink of the 
 glasses and the buzz of the voices, Amos delivering himself 
 to his guests : 
 
 " Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm glad to see you all here . . " 
 He dwelt on the pleasures of hospitality, then had glasses 
 primed, and came to the point of his discourse. "There's 
 something I want to tell you, a coincidence that I think you'll 
 agree with me is worth chronicling. You've not only been 
 celebrating the wedding of my daughter, but the silver-wedding 
 day of me and my business ! Five-and-twenty years ago I 
 began to see what it was you all of you wanted . ." 
 
 Amos had been in a subordinate position at Messrs. Bonner 
 & Lands' in those days. He was not at all ashamed of it. It 
 was then the great idea struck him that it was not only 
 catering for entertainments people needed, they wanted to be 
 relieved of the burden of servants and household cares. 
 
 They had heard all this and much self-glorification at Ted's 
 wedding, they had to listen to it again now.
 
 -24 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " When I became a widower, it was Juxton's stepped in to 
 take care of my house. It was Juxton's, too, that brought up 
 both my children ! " 
 
 Cosmo's eyes went from unattractive Mabel, slipping away 
 to change into her travelling dress, to unhappy Ted, flushed 
 and awkward; and he wondered at the pride in Amos's 
 voice. Then his eyes met Fanny's, and they seemed to read 
 each other's thoughts ; her smile was ready for him. 
 
 Amos spoke for nearly twenty minutes. The wedding 
 guests, eating and drinking, paid him a perfunctory but 
 sufficient attention. Before Mabel came downstairs again 
 Mr. Paighton had sought out Dennis, and his sisters were 
 finding the opportunity for a tearful embrace. 
 
 " God bless you, my dear, dear boy." 
 
 " We cannot bear to part with you, the Vicarage will not be 
 home without you. But Mabel is so good." 
 
 Mr. Paighton waited until his sisters had done. Then he 
 too had his last word. 
 
 " My boy, I hope this is for your happiness ? " 
 
 There was wistfulness in his voice. He, too, had had no 
 misgivings until to-day. Mabel was a little older than Dennis, 
 but she had always been affectionate and gentle, punctual in 
 her Church attendances. His sisters liked her. He had no 
 grounds for the doubt that suddenly assailed him. He had 
 always hoped for an early marriage for Dennis. 
 
 The Vicar of St. Chrysostom deemed himself a man of the 
 world, he was conscious of tolerance, and wide sympathies. 
 He knew there were temptations of the flesh, and had always 
 prayed that Dennis might be saved from them. There was 
 one whole summer in which he had been full of anxiety. 
 Dennis had played a great deal of cricket, spending a week 
 liere, and a week there, with teams from his Club and others. 
 Mr. Paighton had surmised, or heard, of loose talk, and 
 become indefinitely uneasy. Not with the fear that Dennis 
 had fallen, or would fall. Dennis remained pure in heart, or 
 so the Vicar thought and hoped. But his ideals seemed to be 
 getting a little blurred, and his speech freer. His mind appeared
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 25 
 
 attuned to adventure, and he spoke lightly about matters that 
 merited different treatment. It occurred to the Vicar that 
 when cricket teams arrived at country places, barmaids, 
 chambermaids and shop girls took too active an interest in 
 them. Dennis talked of moonlight meetings, and laughed a 
 little at the difficulties there had been to keep the men together 
 after play. 
 
 When this marriage was suggested it seemed God's answer 
 to prayers. 
 
 " It will be for your happiness, I am sure." 
 
 Dennis was sure of it, too, he said. 
 
 Then Mabel came downstairs in a flutter of nervousness, 
 or fear lest something had been forgotten, or some one 
 neglected. There was a rustle of dresses in the crowded hall. 
 Rice and slippers were thrown, and Amos's voice was heard 
 again : 
 
 " Don't spare the rice, there's plenty of it in the house, 
 there's confetti too, or I'll know the reason why. Have 
 at them . . ." 
 
 Dennis was conscious of Ted's rough cordial handshake, 
 and his, " Good luck to you, old fellow." 
 
 Now Mabel was by his side in the brown travelling dress. 
 He had a strange new sense of proprietorship in her. 
 
 The motor was waiting for them. He handed Mabel in, 
 then followed quickly. He was anxious to get away, glad it 
 was all over, feeling unwontedly irritable, or impatient, and 
 with a sense of unreality about him. 
 
 The chauffeur sounded his horn, there was a last chorus of 
 " Good-byes," a last shower of rice rattled against the back of 
 the car. They were off.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 " /'~\H, I do believe I've forgotten my handbag. Do stop 
 
 V_^ him, Dennis, we must go back." 
 
 " It's all right, here it is, I've got it." 
 
 " So you have, I was in such a fright. It gave me quite a 
 turn. I didn't know what I should have done without it. 
 Wasn't it foolish of me ? I wish you'd see if any of the rice has 
 stuck in my dress. I wish there was a brush in this car. 
 Some of the cars have nice little fittings, mirrors and brushes ; 
 you've seen them, haven't you? Father took quite a lot of 
 trouble about them." 
 
 " You can shake yourself out when you get to the station ; 
 it will be dusk by then, and no one will notice." 
 
 "But the stations are all so brilliantly lit up, it would be 
 so dreadful if people knew we were a newly married couple ! " 
 
 It was on the tip of Dennis's tongue to ask why. He had 
 a sort of idea he would like the people at the station to know 
 he was a newly married man, to look at him, and see a 
 difference. But Mabel was obviously nervous, and a little 
 overwrought ; one could not expect logic from her under the 
 circumstances. 
 
 It seemed to Dennis already that there was a sense of 
 flatness and sameness about the whole adventure, if indeed 
 being married and going away on your honeymoon were an 
 adventure at all, and not an ordinary, commonplace, every- 
 day affair. Just at the moment it seemed less exciting than a 
 cricket tour. Up to now a cricket tour had been the most 
 exhilarating experience of Dennis's uneventful life. It was 
 undertaken in company with such a lot of cheery young fellows, 
 
 bent on enjoyment, full of spirits, eminently companionable. 
 
 26
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 27 
 
 He almost caught himself wishing that this was the beginning 
 of a cricket week, and not of a honeymoon. Remorsefully he 
 took Mabel's hand in his : 
 
 " It's going to be very jolly, isn't it ? " he said. 
 
 " I do think everything went off well," Mabel answered. 
 
 If it had gone off well, nevertheless the effect was something 
 like that of a damp squib. 
 
 " Did you like Fanny's dress ? It came from Peter 
 Robinson's, one of their newest Paris models. Father gave 
 it to her, but he thought it dear, he hadn't meant it to cost 
 so much. But of course it was very stylish. Oh dear, I do 
 believe, after all, I forgot to say good-bye to Fanny ! How 
 vexing ! I must write to her directly we get to Bournemouth. 
 Do try and remind me, Fanny is so sensitive." 
 
 She had left her hand in his, she had even given it a gentle 
 pressure. She had always thought Dennis Passiful such a 
 nice young man. And he had been so kind and sympathetic 
 when Roddy Ainsworth went to Australia. If Dennis, in the 
 motor on the way to the station, was thinking of his cricket 
 weeks, Mabel was not without her own little regretful 
 remembrance of how Roddy Ainsworth had once talked to 
 her of going " on tour " with a first class concert company. 
 Mabel was not imaginative, but she had thought what it would 
 be like to go on tour with Roddy, to continue to practise his 
 singing with him, and play his accompaniments. As she 
 thought of this she pressed Dennis's hand more warmly, 
 and answered his " Isn't this jolly ? " with : 
 
 " I'm sure it's very nice to be going away together 
 like this. I've never been to Bournemouth before. People 
 say it's much prettier than Eastbourne." Mabel meant to 
 make Dennis a good wife. She was loyalty itself, and now 
 that they were married she would have no interest but his. 
 The retrospective glance at Roddy and the concert tour was 
 over before it had begun. 
 
 Arrived at the station there was luggage to be seen to, 
 the chauffeur to be tipped, a porter to be found, a carriage 
 secured. Mabel counted her trunk and her dressing-bag,
 
 28 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 hat-box, and hold-all, several times, and she begged Dennis 
 to make sure that it was the right train, and not on any 
 account to lose sight of his portmanteau. She was very 
 flustered, and, not content with Dennis's assurance, she 
 interrogated a guard and was just about to repeat her 
 enquiries to a pleasant faced young naval cadet, whom she 
 mistook for a railway porter, when the whistle sounded. 
 Then she scrambled into the nearest carriage, it was not the 
 one Dennis had secured, but "anything is better than 
 missing the train," she exclaimed excitedly. Dennis had to 
 rush to recover his hand luggage. When he lifted the 
 bag to the rail above her head, her nervousness increased, 
 and she begged him to be more careful. She was so afraid 
 it would topple on to her head. She had heard of such cases, 
 she said. 
 
 He had to find room for all the rugs and the wraps on the 
 seats and on the floor, apologising to one amused fellow- 
 traveller, who quickly realised the position. It took quite a 
 long time before they settled down, opposite each other, in 
 corner seats, and by then Margaret Lemon had noted that 
 the bridegroom with the nervous bride was tall and attractive 
 in his long travelling coat ; that his voice was well-bred and 
 properly modulated. Of course they ought to] have had a 
 carriage to themselves, but on the whole she was glad they 
 had not. 
 
 " Will you have the rug over your knees ? " Dennis asked 
 Mabel. He meant to take good care of her. Roddy 
 Ainsworth, who, before he had gone on the stage, had been 
 a ' lob ' bowler, and rather a friend of his, had behaved like 
 a cad to poor Mabel ; her father had always been absorbed 
 in business, and Ted taken up with Fanny. Mabel had 
 never had a good time. Dennis's young solicitude was 
 all for her physical comfort ; all his intentions were 
 admirable. 
 
 "Yes, please, I should like the rug. I wish you could 
 have got me a foot-warmer; my feet do get so cold travelling. 
 But it was such a rush to get away, wasn't it ? "
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 29 
 
 Then she began again to discuss the wedding details ; he 
 listened and responded, whilst their fellow-traveller from the 
 opposite corner speculated curiously about them. The couple 
 were so incongruous, so obviously newly married, and so 
 incredibly ill-matched. Dennis would have attracted any 
 woman's eye ; his grace and his good looks were alike 
 remarkable. Mabel had plaintive blue eyes, but the rest of 
 her features were indistinctive. She managed to look dowdy 
 in new clothes. She bought kid gloves because she had dis- 
 covered that they wore better than suede, and square-toed 
 boots with flat heels because " they were so much more useful." 
 That she suffered from cold feet was as obvious as that her 
 circulation was generally defective. One would be apt to 
 suspect her of chilblains. The interested observer in the 
 corner felt sure about it. 
 
 When they had talked about the wedding, the presents, 
 and the guests for half an hour, and had begun to relapse 
 into occasional silences, Margaret Lemon offered them 
 illustrated papers. This was the first time Mabel was 
 conscious that she and Dennis were not alone. She said 
 hurriedly that " the carriage was so badly lighted it would 
 be difficult to read," then to Dennis she added, that she 
 thought she would " sleep a little." Mrs. Lemon opened one 
 of the rejected papers, and Mabel settled herself for her nap. 
 
 Dennis gazed into the night that was coming so quickly ; 
 it was as if darkness was pursuing the train. He heard the 
 rushing noise, the shriek and throb of the engine, presently 
 he lost himself in following them. The shriek and throb 
 receded into the distance, touching his consciousness but 
 dimly. Now he was back again with Mr. Paighton in the 
 study, the earnest cadenced voice was going through the 
 Marriage Service with him, explaining the Church's view of 
 Marriage. First one, and then another phrase drifted back 
 to him. But one came again and again, ^'■Forsaking all 
 others^ 
 
 He roused himself with a start, he did not want to sleep. 
 What soft dark eyes the woman in the corner had ; she was
 
 30 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 watching Mabel as she slept, watching her curiously. He 
 too looked at Mabel. How tired she looked, quite worn out. 
 Now his eyes met the curious ones, and he found himself 
 flushing. " Forsaking all others.^'' 
 
 "Do you know what time we get to Boscombe?" their 
 fellow passenger asked him. She had determined to make 
 him speak to her. Why not? His bride slept, it was too 
 dark to read, and they had at least another hour and a half 
 before them. Margaret Lemon, who by a strange coincidence 
 was with Dennis and Mabel in these first moments of their 
 honeymoon, was at this time only at the beginning of her 
 career. But already humanity was her happy hunting ground, 
 and in the city of Prague wherefrom she rode, convention 
 erects no fences. 
 
 " Do you know when we get to Boscombe ? " 
 
 " I'm afraid I don't. In about another hour, I should 
 think." 
 
 " A very slow train, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Is it ? It's always slow being in a train." Dennis spoke 
 his thoughts aloud. He was quite ready to talk; it was 
 absurd to be feeling bored, or unwontedly depressed. 
 
 "You don't care for travelling? " 
 
 " I haven't done much. Only cricket tours and that sort 
 of thing." He was very ingenuous and flushed easily. That 
 this was a distinctive journey he felt should be obvious to 
 her. 
 
 " Not so pleasantly accompanied," she said easily. 
 
 " You guessed, then ? " 
 
 " It wasn't very difficult." 
 
 " My wife," he said the words, new words to him, and the 
 surprise made him repeat them. " My wife is awfully tired. 
 It went on so many hours, the reception, I mean ; you heard 
 us talking about it ? " 
 
 "Yes, I heard you talking about it. To-morrow I suppose 
 I shall read about it in the papers. Next week your portraits 
 will be in these," she pointed to the illustrated weeklies, of 
 which already she had offered them the use.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 31 
 
 " I say, you do travel with a pile of them, don't you ? " 
 She laughed at that. 
 
 "Many of my friends are writers, and I like to see what 
 they have to say." 
 
 " It must be awfully jolly to be able to write." 
 
 " Not so very," Margaret answered drily. " Like all other 
 professions it has its drawbacks. Do you know any literary 
 people ? " she asked him. She wanted to make him talk. 
 
 " I don't know any lady writers. I know one fellow who 
 writes, Cosmo Merritt, he was at our wedding. A great pal of 
 my brother-in-law." 
 
 "Cosmo! So you know Cosmo! Now you are not by 
 any chance Ted Juxton. No, of course you're not, Ted has 
 been married some time. You must be . . ." 
 
 " I am Dennis Passiful, Ted's brother-in-law. Do you 
 know Ted, then ? " 
 
 " No, only about him. But I am interested in you all, in 
 Juxton's generally. Won't you come over and sit in this 
 corner, opposite me ? Then we can talk without waking your 
 wife. Now, tell me, how came you to marry so young ? You 
 look a mere boy. Cosmo is one of my best friends, he and 
 Lord Loughborough. You know Lord Loughborough, I 
 suppose, Cosmo's father ? They are such a clever family. I 
 saw him just before I left town this afternoon." 
 
 She did not blush, she had lost the habit of it before she 
 was two-and-twenty, and had passed the ordeal of the Divorce 
 Court. " Lord Loughborough does not get on very well 
 with his children. Cosmo wants understanding. One has to 
 explain father and son to each other. They are both unusual 
 in a different way. Don't you think so ? And now that Lady 
 Diana is married, and his wife dying . . . Did you say you 
 did know Lord Loughborough ? " 
 
 " An unusually tall man, clean shaven, very bald, with a red 
 face ? He is interested in enamels, isn't he ? I think I've 
 seen him at Christie's." 
 
 "Christie's!" She was surprised at that. "What took 
 you there? I can't connect cricketing with Christie's."
 
 32 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 She liked to see his colour come and go, she liked his 
 young ingenuousness. She was a woman of thirty, not 
 beautiful, but eminently attractive, experienced in life, clever, 
 rather unique in her class. She thought it would be easy to 
 turn Dennis inside out, and afterwards she could discuss him 
 with Cosmo, whom she really knew as intimately as she 
 represented, better, perhaps, if the whole truth had been known. 
 Cosmo had told her all about the Juxtons, for instance. In 
 any case the lamps were so low it was impossible to read, and 
 conversing with any casual stranger was better than not 
 talking at all. 
 
 Margaret Lemon, a lady of ill-defined, but well understood, 
 position, had no use for conventionality, and no regard at all 
 for what this fine young man would think of her for plunging 
 into conversation with him. All her life was on unconven- 
 tional lines. The situation appealed to her sense of humour, 
 and perhaps to her other senses. As a conversationalist she 
 had often dealt with a wedding journey. As a woman she 
 had only been present at one before this, and then it was as a 
 principal. But it was a good many years ago, and she liked 
 reviving her emotions, analysing his. 
 
 "Tell me why you go to Christie's ? " she repeated. 
 
 " I go on business. I'm a picture dealer." 
 
 " A picture dealer ! " she exclaimed. She thought that no 
 one in the world ever looked the part less. " But what can 
 a boy like you know about pictures ? " 
 
 That nettled him a little. 
 
 " I am supposed to be something of a judge," he said, a 
 little offended. 
 
 " What School ? Eighteenth Century English, of course." 
 
 " What makes you say that ? " 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 "Never mind. But tell me more about yourself. How 
 did it happen, how did it come about? Your wedding, I 
 mean ; you are so young and so . . ." but she did not finish 
 this sentence. " You need not mind talking to me, I have 
 an incurable interest in humanity ; it is my only hobby."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 33 
 
 She tried to draw him out about his marriage, but drew 
 comparatively blank. Yet he, too, preferred to talk than to 
 do nothing. He was not a good traveller, sitting still in a 
 cramped space made him want to get up and kick. But with 
 Dennis Passiful, talking was only surface work ; he had not 
 Margaret Lemon's communicativeness. His armoury against 
 her inquisitiveness, a personal trait that she excused on 
 literary grounds, was the armoury the Celt has always against 
 the Semite. Margaret Lemon's Semiticism showed in her soft 
 curious eyes, her dark untidy hair and familiar manner. There 
 were a score of things she wanted to know, now that she had 
 succeeded in identifying Dennis Passiful. Cosmo had told her 
 much about the Juxtons, about Amos the ineffable, the 
 wonderful ; about young Ted whom he had tried to coach at 
 Cambridge, but who had proved uncoachable ; and about the 
 great inheritance that would one day be his. 
 
 She had no interest at all in the Indian cricketers, an 
 alternative topic Dennis offered her, and she really could not 
 condescend to talk about pictures to him. She had an 
 instinct he would admire Lawrence. If he would not fill in 
 for her the sJcetch Cosmo had given of the Juxtons, then she 
 wanted to know how he felt about his marriage. Margaret 
 Lemon's indecorousness went right through her, like a stain ; 
 her life, her speech, the direction of her thoughts all showed 
 it. But her indecorousness was concealed by what her men 
 friends called her " charm " ; in the same way as her untidy 
 hair, and careless dress covered a personal fastidiousness that 
 was expressed in her slender well kept hands. Dennis noticed 
 the left one was ungloved, and that on the forefinger there 
 was a fine old ring of emerald and Brazilian diamonds, but 
 there was no wedding ring. 
 
 Dennis's simplicity, or obtuseness, baffled her curiosity. He 
 may have had emotions, but she got no clue to them. She 
 therefore told him a great deal about herself, mostly ficti- 
 tious, and he found her quite interesting. He had never 
 met any one like her, women of the Margaret Lemon t)pe 
 are not to be found in Hampstead Vicarages. But at the 
 3
 
 34 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 end of the journey she knew Uttle more about him than she 
 had at the beginning. He had been married that morning, 
 and was now on his honeymoon journey, he dealt in pictures, 
 more recently in other works of art. He played cricket in his 
 leisure hours. He modestly left out the important item that 
 he was a County player. Perhaps he concluded she must 
 know it. He had a deep-rooted idea that the composition of 
 county teams was a thing all people knew. His baffling 
 candour forced her to her lures. Presently she started talking 
 of sex problems. He had heard the phrase from Fanny, but 
 was vague about its meanings. From that she drifted easily 
 to marriage, and its limitations. If he had irritated her by 
 his reticence, she succeeded in making him uncomfortable 
 by her want of it. 
 
 It was a mere incident, the meeting of these two, but one 
 not to be without sequel. 
 
 " It seems rather a pity you have rushed so prematurely 
 into marriage," was one of the things she said to him. " A 
 few misogynists with a talent for friendship have made a 
 success of it. But only when they have been united to 
 women without temperament. For the rest it is only im- 
 prisonment ; a life sentence. Iron barred doors, battlemented 
 towers, but damp and circumscribed by the historic moat ; at 
 the best a tangled garden, walled in, broken glass along the 
 top of the wall. Yet one gets out sometimes." There was a 
 smile in her dark eyes, as if of the memory of escapades. 
 "But not without hurt, never without hurt," she added, 
 genuinely. 
 
 " Imprisonment," he repeated uncomfortably, perhaps a 
 little stupidly ; it was such an unaccountable thing for her 
 to say. 
 
 "What else?' she went on, coolly, interested in the effect 
 she was producing. " At the best a married man is a prisoner 
 of honour, on parole as it were. I suppose, though, it never 
 struck you this way. You will Hve in the same house, or 
 flat, with your fellow prisoner, the servants as warders, 
 watchful, and occasionally insolent ; tied down to specific
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 35 
 
 times for meals, the same meals, for I suppose you'll feed from 
 Juxton's ? " she laughed a little maliciously. " Skilly ! hot and 
 hot," she quoted. 
 
 "But you, everybody, is tied in the same way; living 
 in one place, having one's meals regularly . . ." It was 
 absurd that her words should make him uncomfortable, there 
 was no sense in them. 
 
 " No, no, no. The whole world is for the unattached, 
 the free, the wanderers." 
 
 He was, of course, no match for her in argument, and 
 an element of impishness, half humour, and half mere mis- 
 chievousness made her go on to draw a picture in luminous 
 outline, not clear, but attractive, of what an unmarried man 
 might do. Her talk had a certain stimulative quality, yet he 
 hardly enjoyed it, and now and again he glanced uncom- 
 fortably at Mabel, hoping she would not wake up. But she 
 slept, and Margaret talked, until the train slowed down at 
 Parkstone. 
 
 "But of course marriage does not appear to you at the 
 moment as it does to me. You are in love, and the prison 
 door turns on oiled hinges." 
 
 Was he in love ? That was not at all the way he would 
 have described his feeling for Mabel. But he gave her no 
 satisfaction of exclamation or contradiction, and now the train 
 was already in the station. 
 
 "Well, anyway, we've had a nice talk. And your wife 
 is just waking up. We shall meet again one day, I have no 
 doubt, and then you will tell me what you think of my analogy." 
 
 Mrs. Lemon was very nice to Mabel when she woke, 
 ofiering smelling salts and Eau de Cologne, for Mabel 
 admitted a headache. But Mabel was much less responsive 
 than Dennis. Mabel was rather afraid of "picking up 
 acquaintances in railway carriages." Margaret saw the 
 unformulated phrase in her expression when she politely 
 rejected the smelling salts and the scent. Recognising it, 
 she explained about Cosmo Merritt, and her friendship with 
 his father all over again. But Mabel had no interest in
 
 36 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Cosmo, she rather distrusted him in a mild way, looking 
 upon Ted's failure to pass his " Little go " as having been 
 due to some carelessness or failure of duty on Mr. Merritt's 
 part. Mrs. Lemon could not admit herself snubbed by the 
 insignificant bride in the ill-made brown clothes, but she 
 certainly could not imagine herself encouraged. 
 
 " You were rather short with her, weren't you ? " Dennis 
 asked Mabel, after they had collected their belongings and 
 were in the fly on the way to the hotel. "She seemed rather 
 a nice woman, no side on." 
 
 " Oh dear, I hope I wasn't rude ! But I am so afraid of 
 promiscuous acquaintances ; you never know to what it 
 leads." 
 
 "It couldn't lead to anything we didn't want." 
 
 "You never know." 
 
 They drove almost in silence to the hotel. Dennis had 
 hardly begun to think, it was almost the only exercise at 
 which he had never tried his hand. Tennis, racquets, golf, 
 football, had all at one time or another engrossed him, but 
 thinking was not in his line. 
 
 Yet uncomfortably often in the week that followed 
 Margaret Lemon's words recurred to him, that Marriage 
 was imprisonment, that the wedding service was his parole 
 d'honneur. 
 
 Mabel was awfully good ; be was always repeating that to 
 himself. She said she was going to share all his pursuits. 
 Hitherto she had not been greatly concerned with athletics ', 
 but now she listened to his cricket talk, and often said how 
 interesting it all was. She went with him to the Municipal 
 Golf Course, where he began to give her lessons. But here 
 she proved herself hopelessly, pathetically awkward ; her 
 unaccustomed hands fumbled, and never by any chance 
 accomplished that for which she strove; when she tried to 
 drive she tore up the ground far oftener than she hit the ball, 
 and her putting, after the most patient tuition, was a tragedy 
 of impotence. 
 
 " Oh dear, if it hasn't g me right off the green ! I'm afraid
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 37 
 
 I must have hit it too hard. Isn't it an unusually small hole? 
 I don't seem to remember the last was so difficult." But the 
 next, and the one after, elicited almost the same remarks. 
 Mabel's vocabulary was lin)ited. "Fancy that," and "dear 
 me," were large ingredients in her conversation. 
 
 Croquet and tennis fared no better than golf. Mabel was 
 simply powerless and paralysed before a ball of any size or 
 shape or colour. There was no doubt at all about it; she 
 tried very hard, and very conscientiously to profit by the 
 teaching she received, but in the end both she and Dennis 
 had to admit that she had no aptitude for games. She was 
 a good walker in a flat-footed determined way, but then Dennis 
 hated walking; he needed an objective for his exercise. She 
 urged him to find some one in the hotel with whom to play, 
 she was really quite unselfish, and anxious he should enjoy his 
 holiday. He did have a round of golf one day with a scratch 
 player who was short of a partner, but his efforts to teach 
 Mabel had put him off his game, and he was disgusted with 
 the poor figure he cut. He couldn't "hit a ball" he told 
 Mabel on his return, and she replied : 
 
 " Oh dear, I'm so sorry ! I thought it was quite easy to hit 
 them if you don't mind where they go." 
 
 She was very nice about it, nevertheless, and urged him to 
 try again. But he had no heart for it. He said he did not 
 like leaving her alone. She thought that very kind ; so like 
 him. 
 
 Before the fortnight was up they had nothing left to say to 
 each other. He knew everything she would say before the 
 words came out. It was impossible to find fault with her, she 
 was so obviously intent on filling her new role of wifedom 
 satisfactorily. She even deferred to his opinion although he 
 was younger than herself. They were not intimate enough 
 to quarrel, and the sense of duty that governed both of them 
 was an ever-present factor in their relations. She would not 
 have married at all if she had not felt she would make a good 
 and dutiful wife ; she had prayed about it, and both Ursula 
 and Agatha had talked a great deal to her about Dennis.
 
 38 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 She felt that she knew all his ways. In looking forward 
 to her marriage half the pleasure of it had been that she 
 would really have house-wifely rather than wifely things to 
 do. Juxton's had been the bane of her girlhood, keeping her 
 from her privileges. Now she counted his clothes when she 
 sent them to the wash, and looked through them scrupulously 
 on their return, searching for holes in the socks and for buttons 
 off the underwear. The old ladies at the Vicarage had pre- 
 sumably done these things for him too, but he had never heard 
 anything about them. He was surprised at the prominence 
 they assumed. 
 
 Mabel began in the morning at breakfast to wonder if the 
 washerwoman would call ; her conversation trickled on about 
 the number and variety of articles he was sending until the 
 chambermaid announced the advent of the laundry cart. If 
 Dennis had to run up to his bedroom for anything he found 
 the clothes strewn all over the bedroom floor. He hated that, 
 somehow. When they were once discarded he did not want 
 to see his underclothes again, until, clean and folded, he found 
 them in his drawer. It was to that he had been used. Now 
 his soiled linen seemed to permeate his days. She was 
 awkward and unaccustomed in her new duties, but happy 
 and very conscientious over them. 
 
 " Dennis, do you remember if you have had five clean 
 shirts since Saturday ? I've counted them over three times, 
 but I can't make them any less. And did I tell you those new 
 socks of yours are going into holes so fast ? I do wish I could 
 get better darning thread here, but the shops are really very 
 poor. They've torn quite a hole out of one of your pyjamas 
 at the laundry. I believe it is a steam laundry, although they 
 assured me it was all done by hand. And oh, Dennis, I do 
 wish you'd come upstairs with me after breakfast, I believe 
 they've sent you some one else's vest, or else it must have 
 shrunk, it looks so much smaller than the others and it has a 
 different name sewn in it. But that may be only a trick . . ." 
 
 One night, it was shortly before they were returning to town, 
 and he was restless with the anticipation of it, he had a very
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 39 
 
 vivid dream. He was not used to dreaming, and the experience 
 was as unpleasant as it was new. 
 
 He dreamed that the bed upon which he was lying was hard, 
 and too short for his feet ; he was cold, and for covering there 
 was nothing but a thin, rough blanket, in which in his sleep he 
 was trying vainly to enwrap himself. Now he was gazing at 
 the light, it came dimly from one small window, high up in 
 the wall, closed. No air came through it, and there was no 
 air in the cell. The walls were whitewashed, and the floor 
 stone-paved. The cold and the airlessness, a sudden access 
 of fear, made him try to rise, but something held him where 
 he lay. His breath came painfully, with difficulty, and he 
 •heard the sound of his own heart beating. He was chained, 
 fettered, he heard the clank of iron, felt it on his cold feet : 
 the clammy sweat broke out on his forehead. For he was not 
 alone in his cell, some wretch, some malefactor, imprisoned 
 with him, was breathing loud and coarsely by his side; he 
 heard it distinctly, heard nothing so plainly. The knowledge 
 that in his degradation he was not alone was worse than the 
 cold, and the fetid air, and the fetters. There they lay, side 
 by side, their flesh almost touching. And his crept as he tried 
 to release himself, to get clear of this presence that made 
 more fetid the air, and for which he had so unutterable a 
 loathing. He made another frantic effort to rise, but there 
 was a dreadful sense of suffocation upon him, and the frantic 
 struggle left him where he was. Perhaps he lost consciousness 
 for a minute, but was ever conscious of the wretched hopeless- 
 ness of his condition. Now there was some one else at the 
 door of the cell, staring at him through the grating, and the 
 humiliation of it was unspeakable. He heard the uplifted 
 bars, the clanking of heavy keys, the grating as one turned in 
 the lock. 
 
 "Oh dear, I'm afraid Pve overslept myself! There's the 
 chambermaid at the door with the hot water. I told her to 
 call us at eight. All the clothes are on the floor — I feel quite 
 chilly . . ." 
 
 Dennis was glad to be awake. This dream had been so
 
 40 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 vivid that he carried the sense of it about with him all day ; 
 there was little to distract his mind from it. 
 
 That day Mabel was full of lamentation over a lost sock. 
 The third time she spoke of it an acute and unreasoning access 
 of irritability made him exclaim, " What the devil does it 
 matter?" But he was almost immediately sorry, for, after all, 
 there was really nothing else to occupy either of them. 
 
 "It is so tiresome . . ." 
 
 Tiresome was one of Mabel's favourite words, and already 
 it seemed to exemplify her. By the time the lost sock 
 tragedy had been forgotten, the end of the honeymoon was 
 in sight, and " packing " became the next subject to assume 
 unnatural proportions. First he was told that he was not to 
 bother at all about putting his things together ; she would 
 pack for him. Then it appeared that she had spent the 
 whole morning " going over " her own clothes, and had no 
 time to see to his, but would do it in the afternoon. He went 
 out for a walk while she rested from her exertions. At tea 
 time, in the hall of the hotel, he heard about it again, and 
 that the feat of putting three or four suits and some under- 
 wear into a portmanteau had not yet been accomplished, 
 but he "wasn't to worry." In the end, everything, having 
 been talked over about half a dozen times, was actually done 
 at least twice. Mabel had forgotten to leave out his or her 
 own sleeping things, and, of course, they were at the bottom 
 of the boxes, the contents of which had to be tumbled out 
 on to the floor before they went to bed. This, too, she 
 found very " tiresome," but secretly enjoyed it, and the 
 consequence it gave her. 
 
 They had arranged to spend their last day in Christchurch. 
 During the drive they were silent, Mabel full of her un- 
 accustomed duties, and Dennis unwontedly depressed. Mabel 
 attributed Dennis's depression to the fact that the end of 
 their holiday was so near ; and she said once, sympathetically, 
 that she wished she were able to help him in his business. 
 But once in the Priory he began to recover his spirits. The 
 grace and spaciousness, the wonderful groins and hatchet
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 41 
 
 work, held and uplifted him, the screen filled his eyes, and 
 for the moment the haunting dream of cell and whitewashed 
 walls faded into dimness and unreality. 
 
 But Mabel knew as little of hatchet work as she did of 
 golf, and all her exclamations were at the cleanliness of the 
 place. 
 
 "Fancy keeping as white as this all these years!" The 
 Flaxman group interested her chiefly because of the clothes. 
 
 " What funny shaped trousers ! I suppose they are what 
 were called pantaloons." 
 
 Quite soon she found the Priory chilly, and thought that 
 it was time for them to be going ; they might get a cup of 
 •tea somewhere, at a confectioner's, or at the station before 
 the train started. During tea the inevitable wash figured 
 again, and she confided to him that they were, after all, 
 returning to London without a certain article of her wardrobe 
 the nature of which she was too modest to mention. 
 
 In after years Dennis's memory of Christchurch Priory, and 
 of all his honeymoon, had the washerwoman in the foreground 
 of the picture with Mabel only as her mouthpiece.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 MABEL, saying apologetically, that sight seeing was so 
 very tiring, slept in the train going home, as she had 
 slept in the train coming down. But this time there was no 
 Margaret L mon to talk to Dennis, and he had only his 
 thoughts for company. They took him backwards. Already 
 when he had stood in the Priory before the monument to 
 Shelley, the far finer one he had seen at Oxford came back 
 to him, and memories revived of all that followed his visit 
 there. Now, in the train going home from his honeymoon, 
 he went over it all again. 
 
 He had gone up to Oxford with Mr. Paighton and two or 
 three young Harrovians. They had anxiety about their 
 examination; but he had none, and indeed there was no 
 cause. It was at the hotel the evening after the examination 
 that the blow fell which shattered his hopes, and altered all his 
 life. Again he saw the dingy sitting-room at the Bull, and 
 himself, rushing in, ' cocky ' and confident, full of the questions, 
 and the little difficulty they had caused him, expectant of his 
 adopted father's praise. Mr. Paighton had been standing by 
 the mantelpiece, and had listened to him with tender interest, 
 and an encouraging smile. Then came a short pause, a little 
 cough. Dennis had been impatient already of something 
 hesitant in the manner with which his news was met ; he 
 knew he had done well. 
 
 "My dear boy, there is no doubt you have got through, 
 and well through. And now there is something I think you 
 ought to know. ." 
 
 He had been the son of the Vicarage, he knew he was the 
 
 adopted son, further than that his thoughts had not wandered. 
 
 42
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 43 
 
 He had taken everything for granted. Now he heard he was 
 a beneficiary of the whole parish. 
 
 How his young pride had sickened at hearing that he had 
 been educated and brought up by charity ! The collection 
 that had been made for him, and of which Mr. Paighton 
 spoke so calmly, seemed an unspeakable degradation. He 
 knew at once that not one shilling more of the money must 
 be spent. He would not go to College. Charity ! The 
 Collection ! Even now, in the rumbling train, with Mabel 
 opposite and his future assured, his cheeks grew hot at the 
 memory of his emotions on that day. 
 
 Mr. Paighton had at first been surprised, shocked, disap- 
 pointed at the way he took the news. It was Dennis's pride 
 that had become inflamed, and surely pride was a sinful 
 thing. 
 
 Dennis could not argue, but he knew that nothing would 
 induce him to reconsider his first quick decision. Oxford 
 and itis dignity were not for him. If he had known earlier he 
 might have tried for a Scholarship. But he was not going 
 to live on charity any longer. When the clergyman realised 
 the mental attitude he prayed both for and with the boy. To 
 Dennis, then, all his triumphs in School and on the cricket 
 field seemed but fresh humiliations. He had been entitled 
 to none of the things he had taken as a right. Now he 
 wanted to get out of Oxford quickly ; he had meant to be so 
 happy there. 
 
 Amos Juxton and Abe Abinger had been joint Trustees 
 with Mr. Paighton of the Fund. Neither of them were 
 college men. Mr. Paighton called them into consultation 
 when he found himself powerless to persuade Dennis that it 
 was his duty to take full advantage of his opportunities, and 
 to spend his three years at Oxford ; but naturally, perhaps, 
 they neither of them saw eye to eye with him in his first 
 distress. They thought that Dennis's decision showed the 
 right spirit. That they should even think so was a fresh shock 
 to Mr. Paighton, but one that brought him presently to see 
 that the very sin for which he was rebuking the boy was one
 
 44 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 he himself was committing. He had been proud of his adopted 
 son, of Dennis's Harrow successes, of his cricket, the dawning 
 scholarship, his awakening intelligence and promise. He 
 wanted to see him cut a figure in his own old College ; 
 dreaming perhaps of undergraduate days revived, saunterings 
 in quadrangle arm in arm with his son and pupil. He, too, 
 had to bear the pang of renunciation. Now it seemed that 
 it had been his own self-glorification that he was seeking. 
 He had thought to mould Dennis's mind, but it was not akin 
 to his, it was more independent. The Reverend Stewart 
 Paighton thought charity beautiful, and successful begging 
 but a leaf in his chaplet. Yet because his lowliness of spirit 
 came from prayer and was not wholly natural to him, the little 
 soreness and strain between him and his adopted son was 
 only a question of days. Then he began to understand and 
 sympathise. 
 
 Amos offered a seat in the counting house at Juxton's, 
 and a commencing salary of twenty-five shillings a week. 
 Amos admitted it was a very handsome amount, but he said 
 he had no doubt Dennis would soon be worth it. As for 
 the fifty pounds he had given all those years ago, he never 
 had wanted nor expected them back. But if Dennis thought 
 he ought to repay the debt, he, Amos Juxton, could not say 
 that he disagreed with him. It would have stuck in his gizzard 
 to know he had been brought up by charity, and for his part 
 he never had held with keeping it from the boy. Abe 
 Abinger, shrewder in some ways than the great Amos, and 
 recognising suffering when he saw it, as he did now, in the 
 boy's strained eyes and pale face, had less to say, although 
 perhaps it was more to the point. 
 
 " Nobody expects their money back, it was a free gift, not a 
 loan. But it is easy to understand that you want to repay 
 it. In any case the question of the University can surely 
 wait a year or two, there is no hurry about it. Keep an open 
 mind. It has all come too suddenly, too much as a shock. 
 Don't do anything hastily. Come and see me and talk things 
 over."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY - 45 
 
 Mr. Abinger had to hurry away then ; he usually had an 
 important appointment when Amos Juxton was about. 
 
 Dennis sought Mr. Abinger the very next day. He was 
 still feeling miserable and humiliated, and very uncertain of 
 his plans. To go as clerk to Juxton's was horrible ; yet he 
 had not wavered in his desire to earn money, to make him- 
 self independent. Mr. Abinger had headed the subscription 
 list with a hundred pounds, and Dennis wanted to tell him 
 that he looked upon him as his first and largest creditor. 
 Mr. Abinger might advise him, help him to make money. . . . 
 
 But Mr. Abinger would not let him stammer out any of the 
 things he had come to say. He offered the boy a whisky and 
 soda, and a cigar, and said he was very glad to see him ; it 
 was "good of him to look him up." Dennis was not yet 
 nineteen, and it soothed him a little to be treated as a man. 
 The whisky and soda certainly did him good. Presently he 
 found that his attention was being directed to the pictures on 
 the walls ; Mr. Abinger had a well known collection. Dennis 
 was asked his opinion of this or the other. The pictures, the 
 room full of rare and beautiful things, Mr. Abinger's absorption 
 in them, and the way he took it for granted that the boy had 
 the same tastes, all had their effect. It was only when the 
 visit had lasted over an hour that his host said : 
 
 " Your father was an artist, and if he had lived long enough 
 would have made a great name. Those few months he was 
 here I bought all the work he did. It was chiefly sketches 
 of the Heath, and I could have sold them over and over again. 
 But I kept them for you, in case when you grew up you cared 
 for such things. Now do you care for such things, that's the 
 question ? Have you an eye or only a stomach ? If you have 
 the first, come to me in Bond Street, otherwise, take Juxton's 
 offer." 
 
 It seemed to Dennis that he had always loved beautiful 
 things, and when the portfolio of his father's sketches was put 
 into his hand by Abe Abinger the sting of his dependence 
 was all at once assuaged. Here was an inheritance of which 
 he might well be proud. His father's pictures saved his self-
 
 46 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 esteem, gave him a place in the world. Abe and he understood 
 one another quite quickly, although one was sixty, and the 
 other a youngster. 
 
 Dennis refused Amos Juxton's offer. He heard that Amos 
 thought it very foolish of him, and said that he would have 
 pushed him on, and that he might have been Manager of a 
 Depot by the time he was thirty. Dennis went instead to 
 the Gallery in Bond Street, where he very soon justified him- 
 self. He had an eye, taste, above all, industry, a real desire 
 to be of use to his employer, and worthy of the large salary 
 and commission that Abe gave him long before he could 
 possibly have been worth it. 
 
 No University could have done more for the slow growing 
 mind of the big schoolboy than the old Jew with his know- 
 ledge of the arts of all ages, his love of literature, and wide 
 culture. Because Dennis was an instinctive athlete, with a 
 strong body and a keen eye, he would have spent Jiis days at 
 Oxford earning ' blues ' and playing games. In the Gallery 
 in Bond Street he received his education, his character 
 imperceptibly developing with his intelligence. 
 
 Within three or four years of his leaving Harrow all the 
 subscriptions had been repaid, and Dennis found himself 
 happier than had seemed possible when he heard the story of 
 his childhood. If, nevertheless, he sometimes regretted Oxford, 
 it was chiefly because of the Varsity matches. When, how- 
 ever, he had been invited to play for Middlesex, and Mr. 
 Abinger had made everything easy for him by arranging that 
 his work throughout the summer should be done in the days 
 when the County made no call upon him, in the early mornings, 
 or late evenings ; when, too, " The Grasshoppers " showed 
 their appreciation of his prowess by making him a member, 
 he became, externally at least, very like other young men, 
 forgetting what had seemed to set him apart. 
 
 Both Mr. Abinger and Mr. Paighton were content with 
 him. It was the time when Mr. Paighton was beginning to 
 be absorbed with his own private doubts and troubles. They 
 loomed so large, they seemed so great, that they left no room
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 47 
 
 for minor matters. Even Dennis became a minor matter 
 when Mr. Paighton's offices weighed upon him, and his soul 
 was torn with doubt. 
 
 Dennis might have suffered from this withdrawal of interest, 
 if his character had not already been formed. As a boy he had 
 been a good, clean, straight-forward lad, a credit to his school, 
 invaluable in his house, sincere, if silent, in his faith. As a 
 young man he altered very little. He was quite ungrateful for 
 any favours shown him by the ladies. Mr. Paighton had been 
 wrong in thinking him moved at all by the temptation to 
 which his undeniable good looks exposed him. He had a 
 high standard of feminine conduct, and the old ladies at the 
 Vicarage were the exemplification of it. The sirens who lured 
 his fellow cricketers from the simple life were the antitheses 
 of Ursula and Agatha. And one or two unforgettable in- 
 cidents that had followed the irregularities of his friends had 
 inspired him with something not unlike fear, confirming in 
 him an asceticism that was not entirely priggish, nor yet 
 perhaps quite temperamental, but the result of training, and 
 perhaps of instinct. He was so much younger than his years. 
 He was very much occupied, too, having the leeways of his 
 education to make up. Abe may be said to have literally 
 taught him to read. The summer may have been given up to 
 cricket, but the winter saw him studying history under Abe's 
 guidance, learning the inseparability of the arts from progress, 
 and of one art from another, acquiring culture insensibly, 
 expanding his mind. 
 
 Abe might have helped him to a quicker knowledge of the 
 world, the knowledge that was destined to come to him later. 
 But before the time had come for warning, Abe had been 
 stricken past speech. He dropped down dead in the street 
 one day, suddenly, without an hour's illness. It seemed, 
 however, that he had not been in ignorance of his danger; 
 the inquest established that he had had valvular disease for 
 years. All his affairs were in order, his will but recently made. 
 He left Dennis the freehold of the Gallery, and the good-will 
 of the business, his stock-in-trade. The rest went to charity ;
 
 48 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 it came out that he had no near relations, no one dependent 
 on him. He had always taken an interest in the boy ; there 
 was no one to complain because he had made him his heir. 
 
 Death is appalling in so sudden a form, and Dennis was 
 greatly shaken by Abe's death. His responsibilities weighed 
 on him, too, and fear lest he should be unfit to bear them. 
 Already customers were shaking their heads over his youth 
 and inexperience, advising him to put up the stock to auction, 
 and let the Gallery. Abe had had a great reputation in the 
 art world. Dennis's was still in the making. Mr. Paighton, 
 he could see, agreed with the old customers. 
 
 But Mr. Paighton had altered much since Dennis had 
 declined Oxford and justified himself in so doing. Imper- 
 ceptibly Dennis had grown more intimate with his employer, 
 had drifted a little apart from his adopted father. Whatever 
 absorbed Mr. Paighton through the time of spiritual crisis he 
 was passing, was as yet hidden from his family. The effect 
 was to set him apart from them. 
 
 There was a cloud over the Vicarage, and nothing 
 but gloom in the Gallery. Dennis, uncertain of the future, 
 and self-distrustful, found Amos Juxton unexpectedly sym- 
 pathetic. Amos, when he heard the contents of Abe 
 Abinger's will, thought young Passiful had done very well for 
 himself, very well indeed. And he let him see that he thought 
 so, which, as Dennis hardly understood the source of the 
 congratulations, proved helpful, almost exhilarating. 
 
 " I couldn't have done as well for you as you have done for 
 yourself," was a handsome and ungrudging admission that 
 Dennis had been well advised m going to Bond Street instead 
 of to Juxton's. In some curious way Amos, nevertheless, 
 took a full share of the credit of Dennis's good fortune. He 
 was proud of the boy, and took to reading the cricket reports 
 with an ignorant appreciation of his prowess. Amos asked 
 Ted why he did not play cricket, and lost no opportunity to 
 point out that it had not interfered with Dennis's '' chances." 
 Dennis had the run of Fitzjohn's Hall, and, in a way, he 
 and Ted were friends. It was after the abortive attempt to
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 49 
 
 pass his "Little go." Ted was established at Juxton's now, 
 hating it, but there seemed nothing else for which he was 
 better fitted. Amos, encouraging Dennis to pull himself 
 together, to take advantage of his opportunities, used him as 
 a stalking horse for attacks on Ted. Ted had no business 
 aptitude, loafed, was unsatisfactory in every respect ; in truth 
 it was wayward Fanny that absorbed him, although that only 
 transpired later. Amos made light of the difficulties before 
 Dennis when the Gallery and the business became his. 
 
 " Before I was your age, my boy . . ." prefaced many an 
 anecdote of successful trading. Dennis was encouraged to 
 come often to Fitzjohn's Hall, perhaps as an example to Ted, 
 perhaps with some view to what followed. There the billiard 
 table, and Ted, and Amos's interest in his affairs, helped him 
 gradually to forget his troubles. Mabel, too, was kind, and 
 always told him she was sure he would get on all right. He 
 did not quite know how his engagement came about, never- 
 theless. It was after Ted had had permission to pursue his 
 wooing openly, when Amos had arrived at the conclusion 
 that nothing but matrimony could cure him of his infatuation, 
 when he had seen his proposed daughter-in-law, and been 
 duly captivated by her smiles. It was the capture of Ted's 
 father in those pre-matrimonial days that had set the coping 
 stone on Fanny's vanity. 
 
 Dennis thought, indeed everybody thought, that Mabel was 
 going to marry Roddy Ainsworth. The engagement had 
 never been announced, and it was understood Amos was in 
 ignorance of the affair. For Roddy was in no position to 
 marry. He was the son of the local dentist, and next door 
 neighbour to the Juxtons before Amos made a fortune, and 
 moved into the big house. He and Mr. Ainsworth had been 
 widowed almost at the same time. Their children had been 
 brought up together. Roddy had tried his hand at one 
 occupation and then another, sticking to nothing long. His 
 father too, like Ted's, was almost in despair of his ever becom- 
 ing self-supporting. It was Mabel who found out that Roddy 
 had a voice, who gave him his first encouragement to cultivate 
 4
 
 50 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 it, who was never tired of playing his accompaniments and 
 practising with him. 
 
 To sing for a Uving seemed an easy way out of his diffi- 
 culties in finding a career. There was some question of Grand 
 Opera, but the Concert platform was more easily attainable. 
 Mabel thought Roddy was capable of Oratorio. The blow 
 came when that eminent impresario, Jabez Fowler, had been 
 induced to give him a hearing. Mr. Jabez Fowler not only 
 gave him a hearing, but offered him an "engagement." Not 
 in Oratorio, nor on a Concert platform, but in Musical 
 Comedy. Mr. Fowler was not as well known then as he has 
 since become. But he had just secured the Colonial rights of 
 " The Rickshaw." Everybody thought it was quite a fine 
 chance for young Ainsworth. He would get stage experience, 
 and his voice would strengthen. Whatever the argument Roddy 
 easily succumbed to it. He was in such haste to be off that 
 he only just remembered to say good-bye to Mabel ; certainly 
 he had no serious thought about his attentions to her. Quite 
 the contrary. He talked of being away for some years, of all 
 he should see and do. He did not even ask Mabel to write 
 to him. When she suggested it, as one who clings to a spar 
 in shipwreck, he cast her back into the waves of desolation by 
 saying he did not suppose he should have a fixed address. 
 It is not given to a young and selfish man with the artistic 
 temperament to realise how he can fill a plain girl's dreams, 
 and Mabel was cruelly conscious now that they had little 
 foundation. 
 
 It was the arrangements for Ted's marriage that brought 
 things to a head. She was so miserable, she would be so 
 lonely. . . And Dennis, too, was lonely. They used to talk 
 of art together, much that Abe Abinger had taught him he 
 transferred to Mabel, never knowing how Httle she could 
 understand it. Whilst Ted was courting Fanny, he and 
 Mabel would sit together in the long winter evenings. He 
 would talk of Blake, and she respond with Beethoven. 
 Neither quite understood the language the other was talking, 
 but it was better than sitting alone. If it had been summer
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 51 
 
 it would never have come about, for Dennis would have been 
 playing cricket. But there was nothing to do ; it got dark so 
 early that there was no time for golf : and he could not take 
 days off, as he used, now that there was no one but himself in 
 Bond Street. Perhaps he overrated his loneliness, and his 
 responsibilities ; but then Mabel was very sympathetic, and he 
 had no one else upon whom to pour his confidences. Neither 
 had she. She did not put into words why she was so un- 
 happy. It could not be only Ted's marriage, for Ted had 
 long been absorbed in Fanny. Roddy went away before 
 Ted's marriage. 
 
 Dennis, knowing very little about it, made up his mind that 
 Roddy must have behaved like a cad. He formed his con- 
 clusions on Mabel's reddened eyelids and dejected air. A 
 word he tried to say had for response a hurried embarrassed 
 answer that " it was all a mistake ; there had been no reason 
 to suppose . . ." And then a rush of tears had made him 
 feel he had been a brute. It also inspired him with a desire 
 to make amends for his brutality, to comfort her; she was 
 such a gentle creature, it was cruel to have hurt her. Roddy 
 was a member of "The Grasshoppers," and that seemed to 
 make it worse, to make it more directly Dennis's concern. 
 He had no more thought of Amos's millions, or Mabel's dot, 
 than a gentleman has of gate money when he goes out as a 
 twelfth man to field in an emergency. Roddy had ' chucked ' ; 
 and he, Dennis, was on the ground. That represented his 
 mental attitude. It was Amos who took prompt possession of 
 the situation when he found Dennis drying Mabel's tears, 
 mumbling out some incoherent words of comfort, and about 
 there being " other fellows." Amos thought women ought to 
 marry, and that his single daughter was a reproach to his 
 domestic management, and to Juxton's. 
 
 " So that's how it is . . . well, well ! " and a general expres- 
 sion of satisfaction put the young people in a position from 
 which it was difficult to extricate themselves without "giving 
 Roddy away " ; which was of course an impossibility. And 
 after all, as he told himself, he and Mabel were both so jolly
 
 52 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 miserable that they couldn't be worse off together. He liked 
 Mabel better than any of the girls he knew, and far better than 
 those who had thrust their attentions upon him. It must be 
 remembered his social circle was Hampstead and not Mayfair. 
 He did not like forward girls nor fast, not even athletic ones 
 who pushed themselves where they were not wanted. 
 
 Mabel did a great deal of Church work, and the Miss 
 Paightons were very fond of her. They were astonished to 
 hear that she and Dennis cared for each other, but they were 
 wonderfully ready to believe it. They were old maids, and 
 loved a romance, the prospect of a wedding agitated them 
 delightfully. Every one was astonished, but under the impetus 
 of Amos's direct methods, Juxton's had the situation in hand 
 in a trice, had sent out the announcements, and submitted 
 a plan for the wedding almost before Dennis realised to what 
 his comforting of Mabel, and condemnation of Roddy, had 
 committed him. 
 
 Nevertheless, he had little misgiving until his wedding day. 
 Mabel needed some one to take care of her, Ainsworth had 
 behaved badly to her, she had always been awfully nice to 
 him. . . 
 
 And he admitted to himself now that he had liked the idea 
 of being a married man, of having a home of his own. The 
 shock of Abe's death had stricken him beyond his cognizance. 
 The alteration in Mr. Paighton's manner was something not 
 to be put into words, its very mystery added apprehension to 
 its chill. He seemed to have retreated into himself, to have 
 become inaccessible, as one apart from humanity. 
 
 The announcement of the engagement had restored Mr. 
 Paighton to something of the old manner, the old cordiality. 
 He had expressed satisfaction both about it and the fact that 
 Dennis would have a life companion. 
 
 "I shall officiate at your wedding ; after that . . ." 
 
 He had not said what he would do after that, but his 
 expression had been melancholy. Dennis was glad to get 
 away from mystery and melancholy. He had been interested, 
 too, in the house Amos promptly bought for them. There
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 53 
 
 was enough ground for a full sized tennis court. Dennis 
 thought he could manage a putting green as well, it was really 
 an uncommon garden, the biggest in the Terrace. At the 
 Vicarage there had been trees and flower beds, but no lawn. 
 
 Mabel was very good about the garden. She said that she 
 did not care at all for flower beds. 
 
 It was to this house they were coming back. 
 
 When Mabel woke up, and said : 
 
 " Oh dear, we must be nearly in London ! I wonder if 
 father got servants for us, and if he'll meet us at the station. 
 Is my hat straight, Dennis ? I believe I've been asleep. 
 You did count the luggage, didn't you ? " his married life had 
 begun in earnest. It was for him to see what they would 
 make of it. 
 
 The woman in the train, the woman they had met going 
 down, could have known little about marriage. It was 
 nothing like imprisonment ; it was just giving a fellow some- 
 thing of his own to care about, some one to work for.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 HAMILTON TERRACE is to be found in the St. John's 
 Wood district of West London, Two rows of 
 handsome villa houses, each in its own garden, lie behind the 
 trees that are planted at regular intervals along the Terrace. 
 There is a sense of seclusion, of comfortable middle-class 
 luxury about the place. It is some distance from tube or 
 omnibus ; there is no cab stand. Either the inhabitants have 
 their own conveyances, or are in no hurry to get to places of 
 business, or entertainment ; there is a leisurely air amid the 
 greenery. 
 
 At the top of the Terrace is a substantial church, the coping 
 stone to its respectability. 
 
 Here, five years after their marriage, Dennis Passiful and 
 his wife were to be found, living out their ordered days. They 
 had altered very little, the chronicle of those five years is 
 practically without incident. Dennis, under the clever 
 counselling of his father-in-law, and with the assistance of a 
 partner who did three fourths of the work for one sixth of 
 the profits, had greatly increased his business prestige, and 
 added considerably to his capital. He might almost be called 
 a rich man. The firm had not confined its dealings to pictures. 
 There had been one notable transaction in tapestry, and the 
 much talked of acquisition and sale of the famous Fragonards. 
 The partner, Mr. Dolland, was a man of fifty who had been in the 
 curiosity trade for a quarter of a century. If he had understood 
 that Mr. Passiful was a cricketer first, and only a man of 
 business afterwards, he soon realised his mistake. Abe Abinger 
 had been a good teacher, and Dennis had profited by his 
 lessons. He had a fine and cultivated eye, and a conscien- 
 
 54
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 55 
 
 tiousness that kept his playtime within bounds. The 
 Middlesex Committee, too, showed an accommodating spirit, 
 and did not call upon him more often than was necessary. 
 He played at Lord's and the Oval, but stood down when it 
 was a question of the North of England, or the Midlands. He 
 was thus enabled to put in a couple of hours at the Gallery 
 before play began, and often dashed back again to Bond Street 
 after stumps were drawn. And this dual personality of his 
 had certain advantages. For some reason or other, and his 
 conduct was always in accordance with the tradition, it came 
 to be understood that Dennis Passiful was a gentleman. 
 Certainly the Bond Street Gallery had an ever extending 
 clientUe of collectors who liked to feel they were dealing with 
 one of themselves, who talked batting and bowling averages 
 in the intervals of bargaining for a Corot or criticising a Mauve, 
 giving a certain unique tone and flavour to the business. The 
 word " gentleman " has divers meanings. In Dennis Passiful's 
 case it might be taken to include that he was a man of honour, 
 a man of taste, and a man of good manners, in addition to 
 being what is generally understood as a " sportsman." 
 
 But in many ways Dennis had failed to take advantage of 
 his reputation and position. His social world was still neither 
 Belgravia nor Mayfair. In the winter he played a great deal 
 of golf; not at St. Andrews or North Berwick, but at Sunning- 
 dale or Stoke Poges. The lawn behind the house was laid out 
 for clock golf, and his handicap was 4. Golf was, as yet, only 
 secondary with him to cricket. 
 
 The greater part of his leisure was spent with that eminent 
 Cricket Club, "The Grasshoppers." It was his habit in the 
 summer months to take the tube straight from Bond Street to 
 Hendon, where he kept a change of clothes. There, in the 
 field sacred to the Club, he would practise at the nets, bowl 
 to some budding Fry, discuss the affairs of the Club, be at his 
 best and happiest. His married life, like his business, was 
 external to him. Here, he was himself, a big schoolboy to 
 whom games represented life. With " The Grasshoppers " his 
 position was unassailable. He was on the Committee, he
 
 56 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 captained the annual cricket week, and arranged many of 
 their outside matches. He was affectionately and generally 
 spoken of as "The Skipper." 
 
 "The Grasshoppers," take them all in all, were a very decent 
 set of fellows, many of them cracks from the Universities, and 
 there were one or two veteran County players. At the Club 
 Dennis's wealth was perhaps a Httle exaggerated. He had 
 subscribed a thousand pounds to the fund for purchasing the 
 freehold of the Club ground. It was quite the custom of the 
 members to come to him when they were in need, to borrow 
 from him, and forget to pay him back. Perhaps he had come 
 to look on " The Grasshoppers " as his own ; certainly he had 
 an esprit de corps about it, a sense of pride in its achievements. 
 One season when "The Grasshoppers" had beaten in succes- 
 sion the " Zingari," the " Eccentrics " and the " Ramblers," he 
 held his head very high, and when they ended up a two day 
 match by beating a fine M.C.C. team at Lord's, he spoke of 
 the affair with absolute arrogant humility. This was the year 
 his own average was at its best. He had expected to have 
 been chosen for " The Gentlemen and Players " ; and a not un- 
 reasonable disappointment for the second time in this expecta- 
 tion may have been responsible for a certain restlessness and 
 impatience with his happy circumstances, of which he became 
 conscious in the early autumn. The change, however, may 
 have dated from the straining of a hgature in his leg at the 
 end of August. It was now quite cured, but it had seemed to 
 alter his outlook a little, acted as a sort of warning that his 
 boyhood's days were over. To contemplate his life without 
 the athletic exercise that formed so large a part of it was 
 difficult. 
 
 To the slight restlessness that he experienced every now 
 and then, his adopted father's late actions may have contri- 
 buted. 
 
 It had been Dennis's habit, ever since his marriage, to go 
 regularly with Mabel to the church where they were married, 
 St. Chrysostom-on-the-Hill. But when Mr. Paighton startled 
 and humiliated them all by becoming a convert to Romanism
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 57 
 
 and giving up his charge, religion ceased to have a very definite 
 influence upon Dennis. He, himself, was staunch to his faith, 
 although he could not argue or reason about it. He was glad 
 when Mr. Paighton entered a brotherhood and was removed 
 from the scene. Argument ceased then, and Dennis could 
 solace himself with a deep silent sympathy with Ursula and 
 Agatha. He never varied in his loving attention to them. 
 He seemed to realise how much he and his staunchness 
 represented. He visited them at least once a week, and deferred 
 to many of their old-fashioned prejudices. It was for their 
 sake, although he never said so, that he still attended morning 
 service on Sunday, going afterwards nearly every week of his 
 Hfe to the little house in Church Row, Hampstead, where they 
 mitigated their unhappiness with charity. 
 
 Mabel, too, had leanings in these five years to Unitarianism, 
 Theosophy, and the Roman Catholic Church ; she had such a 
 completely open mind. At this moment, for instance, Christian 
 Science was absorbing her, and she talked its balderdash with 
 the particular species of feeble emphasis that had become her 
 note. 
 
 "It is so nice to think there is no matter, only mind," 
 she told her husband. And Dennis was, as always, glad she 
 had a new interest. He had no desire to confute Mrs. Eddy's 
 inconsistencies nor argue with her new recruit. Mabel had to 
 have hobbies. Dennis had learnt to be grateful when they did 
 not interfere with any of his. There had been a time when she 
 had babbled about cricket, watched him practising, attended 
 every match. Another phase had been when she interested 
 herself in his business pursuits, asked innumerable questions 
 about schools of painting, begged him to meet her at the 
 National Gallery, or the Tate, explain Turner, or defend 
 Rubens. She had never been able to distinguish Von Seghers 
 from Rembrandt, nor to remember that Van Dyck and Van 
 Eyk were the names of two distinct artists. This had bored 
 him inexpressibly. When she began to take painting lessons 
 he breathed a sigh of relief. He did not foresee how soon she 
 would consider herself competent, and begin to decorate the
 
 58 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 house with her work. In truth Mabel had as little eye for 
 colour as Dennis had ear for music. 
 
 The trouble was that her marriage had not relieved her, as 
 she had hoped, of the burden of Juxton's Ltd. An incident 
 in the early days of her marriage had left her under the 
 impression that her father would be offended, hurt, if she kept 
 house without the aid of that eminent firm. Mabel would 
 never willingly hurt either her father's, or anybody's feelings. 
 Therefore, although housekeeping would have given her all 
 the outlet she needed, she abandoned the happiness of it 
 without a murmur and filled her days as best she could. The 
 piano was associated in her mind with the happiest and most 
 painful experience of her girlhood, experience it was her duty 
 as Dennis's wife to forget entirely. She practised intermit- 
 tently, and never when Dennis was in the house, an omission 
 he hardly understood, a delicacy of mind that could hold no 
 meaning for him. He had no retrospective, nor other jealousy 
 of Roddy Ainsworth. He had far rather she had practised 
 twelve hours a day than donned a painting apron, and produced 
 masterpieces of still life in velvet and satin and other material, 
 with which she decorated the house, and for which she was 
 constantly asking his admiration. 
 
 Dennis, nevertheless, and notwithstanding the slight restless- 
 ness that had supervened on the damaged ligature, was quite 
 satisfied, and comparatively happy in his marriage. Mabel 
 was little different from what he had expected, a little more 
 fidgety and less competent than Ursula and Agatha, but of 
 the same school. 
 
 Certainly Mabel considered their married conditions were 
 ideal. The wash question reappeared weekly for a short time 
 after their home-coming. Perhaps it was that, and Dennis's 
 half humorous comment upon it, that had led to Amos's 
 exhibition of feeling upon the matter, and the final decision 
 that Juxton's should take over the entire housekeeping, leaving 
 Mabel with complete leisure. Amos was proud of her music 
 and her newly acquired painting. He said that he had often 
 thought of taking up painting himself. He had no opinion at
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 59 
 
 all of her housekeeping talents, and certainly no idea that in 
 taking over the Hamilton Terrace household he was stifling 
 a genius, relegating a mute inglorious Milton of the Kitchen 
 to an eternal silence. 
 
 Dennis had become used to his meals being served to him 
 in pipkins of the famous " Juxton " yellow ware. It was not 
 the meals that weighed on him so much as the difficulty of 
 keeping up a conversation with Mabel whilst they were in 
 progress, or feigning an interest in the small beer, of which she 
 had such an unending supply. There were intervals of silence 
 between them, during which Dennis's conscience reproached 
 him. " Now I've talked quite enough, it's your turn now " 
 was an observation that invariably reduced him to dumbness. 
 He ought to find things to say to her. 
 
 The house, to an observant eye, would have quickly shown 
 the presence of two diverse personalities. It had been fur- 
 nished by Juxton's, and was Amos's wedding-present to them, 
 Amos's ideas in furniture ran to suites. There were fumed 
 oak chairs, table, and sideboard, in the dining-room ; inlaid 
 mahogany wardrobes in the bedrooms ; gilt occasional chairs, 
 ormolu mirrors, plush curtains, and Cinquecento cabinets in the 
 drawing-room. There was there also a " suite " of two sofas, four 
 large chairs, and a three-seated invention upon which no visitor 
 sat, because, if he had, his back would have been turned upon 
 every one else. All these were elaborately upholstered in a 
 material known as satin damask, of which the colouring was 
 brilliantly indistinct, and the design inextricably complicated. 
 The drawing-room alone had cost Amos nearly five hundred 
 pounds. There were grapes in relief on the cabinets, and for 
 some inexplicable reason the name of Louis Quatorze had been 
 attached to the whole decorative effect. The panels of the 
 walls were hung with the same brocade that covered the chairs. 
 But Mabel had not been able to resist adding half a dozen 
 terra cotta plaques upon which she had painted fruits and 
 flowers, and a few water colours of which the frames were the 
 better part. 
 
 The Ubrary had escaped Amos. Mr, Paighton had thought
 
 6o JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Dennis would like room there for the treasures of his boyhood, 
 for his school prizes and trophies, a bureau that had been in- 
 tended for Oxford, a few personal possessions of his parents. 
 The room was happily a large one, on the ground floor, giving 
 on to the garden. The bureau was undoubtedly Chippendale, 
 and there was a writing table to complement it, half a dozen 
 chairs of various designs showed the master's hand, a low 
 bookcase ran along one side of the room, on it were a few rare 
 pieces of Hawthorne, and above it were the sketches of the 
 Heath. Over the mantelpiece hung a fancy picture of Dennis's 
 mother as Ceres ; obviously it had been a labour of love, and 
 there were passages in it that were immature. The background 
 and sky, the whole atmosphere, might have been by Corot ; 
 the figure was somewhat feeble. Dennis knew that his father 
 was a landscapist, but he cherished the portrait of his mother 
 nevertheless. The Hawthorne on the bookcase worried Mabel 
 a good deal. 
 
 " What a pity there are no pairs, no two pieces alike," Mabel 
 said frequently, whenever she came into the room in fact. 
 Dennis had grown accustomed to the remark, and the other 
 one about the absence of a mirror, window curtains, or drapery. 
 He received them with the silence that was becoming habitual 
 with him, but nevertheless it came to be recognised that this 
 was his room, and that neither vases from the neighbouring 
 bazaars, nor pictures, nor plaques from her studio would be 
 welcome. For Mabel had her studio on the top floor, with a 
 skylight, where she worked industriously in all the intervals of 
 her spiritual upheavals. She often wondered audibly what 
 Dennis did in his, and questioned him about it. That 
 " sharing his pursuits " idea of hers was the bugbear of his 
 life. As a matter of fact, since his accident, he had begun to 
 take an interest in architectural drawings. He kept them 
 concealed in his desk, he would not have let her see them 
 for the world. He knew how bad they were. 
 
 This morning, after nearly Ave years of married life, Dennis, 
 first down to breakfast as usual, found himself wondering who 
 first invented window curtains. He had a distinct desire to
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 6i 
 
 curse the man or woman who was responsible, but was 
 restrained by a knowledge of the folly of such a proceeding. 
 The dining-room was quite a large room that should have 
 been irradiated by the autumn sun. Lace and muslin, flat 
 against the windows, chilled its ardour, long curtains, draped 
 to conceal the indelicacies of the leafless trees, made a further 
 barrier, the final and most successful effort being in the 
 red plush hangings and wide embroidered pelmet, which 
 toned, so Dennis had been given to understand, with the 
 Turkey carpet. 
 
 Breakfast had not yet arrived, but the fumed oak sideboard 
 was arrayed for its reception with a lace-edged cloth. The 
 table, in addition to the " Juxton " napery in the " Entente 
 Cordiale" design, was further embellished by a table centre 
 of green satin on which Mabel had painted violet convolvuli ; 
 it also boasted an epergne heaped with oranges, apples, and 
 almond nuts. "Juxton's" supplied so much dessert a day. 
 The epergne was the cornucopia that was never empty. It 
 graced breakfast, lunch and dinner, and stood all day long 
 in silent testimony to the liberality of the firm. Fruit for 
 breakfast was comparatively unknown in middle-class circles 
 before Juxton's undertook the catering. 
 
 Dennis tried to get a glimpse of the day through the vitrage 
 on the windows. But the tapes, top and bottom, held firmly, 
 and he left the barricaded window with a movement of im- 
 patience. Dennis's expression was different from what it had 
 been five years ago, his figure no less erect and graceful, although 
 he had perhaps broadened a little. But that became him, he 
 looked more of a man, erect, upright, as if he had been drilled. 
 It was the bloom that had gone from eyes and skin, the one 
 had lost their light, and the other its colour ; his good looks 
 were not exactly impaired, but they were dulled. The gold 
 of the crisp hair had no burnish, the lines of the fine head 
 were the same, but the clean shaven face showed a little hard, 
 his lips seemed thinner. On his wedding day his expression 
 had been that of the idealist, it glowed with youth and hope 
 and all the promise of the world, sunlight on a waving field
 
 62 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 of corn would well have described the play of it, to-day shadow 
 in stubble would have expressed it better. 
 
 Mabel came down punctually, she prided herself on her 
 punctuality. 
 
 " It struck the half hour as I was crossing the hall," she 
 said, triumphantly. " I was so afraid I should be late." She 
 said the same thing nearly every morning, varying it sometimes, 
 however, with a doubt as to the correctness of the clock. " I 
 wonder what they have got for us this morning ? " 
 
 " You might almost know by this time," Dennis answered. 
 " Being Tuesday, it's scrambled eggs and grilled herrings, with 
 honey instead of marmalade." 
 
 " Oh dear ! Yes, so it is. What a memory you have, to be 
 sure." 
 
 Dennis could have told her more. He could have told her 
 that presently she would say that she wished herrings had not 
 so many bones, and that it would be nice if they could serve 
 breakfast a Httle hotter. But he abstained ; it was abstinence, 
 perhaps, that was responsible for the hardening of the lines of 
 the young face. 
 
 Mabel had altered less than he. She was still drab, but 
 perhaps her shoulders were a little more rounded; and her 
 inappropriate dress of shepherd's plaid, with green cloth 
 facings, did nothing to improve matters. She looked every 
 day of her thirty odd years. 
 
 They lived simply, well within their large means. The one 
 taste they shared in common was love of the luxury of giving. 
 Money matters w^ere never discussed in the house. It was 
 obvious that Mabel did not spend her allowance of ;^iooo 
 a year on dress. There was no need for Dennis to stint 
 himself when a comrade or a club was in need. 
 
 The covered tray, one solid piece of block tin, was brought 
 in by the uniformed porter, and the parlourmaid followed to 
 unload it. The twin coffee and milk pots, sugar basin and 
 toast rack, were all in white china, and they, as well as the 
 cups, saucers and plates, had the legend "Juxton's" upon 
 them in gold. It was generally considered very tasteful. A
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 63 
 
 brown covered dish held the scrambled eggs, and a tin one 
 contained the herrings ; the latter dish, as well as the whole 
 tray on which the meal had arrived, had an ingenious double 
 bottom to hold hot water. 
 
 These communal meals had grown extraordinarily mono- 
 tonous to Dennis, yet he had never attempted to alter the 
 conditions under which he lived. Mabel, thinking she was 
 thus gratifying both her father and husband, sometimes said 
 disingenuously how nice it was that she had no housekeeping 
 to do, and was free for her books, and painting, and social 
 duties. 
 
 Mabel's social duties deserve a chapter to themselves. The 
 Jones' and Smiths, the Browns and Robinsons of Hampstead 
 and Highgate, St. John's Wood and Maida Vale, and other 
 outlying parts had all their separate Mondays or Tuesdays, 
 Wednesdays or Fridays; and Mabel neglected none of them. 
 Round and round, like a squirrel in a cage, she trotted to 
 their houses. She, of course, had her own " at home " day, 
 once every fortnight, when she sat in the Louis Quatorze 
 drawing-room dispensing Juxton's rout cakes and cucumber 
 sandwiches, adding to it art, or church, or local gossip, as 
 mild as the refreshments. Gossip was never ill-natured in 
 Mabel's drawing-room. Her outlook may have been limited, 
 but her blue short-sighted eyes saw nothing of the evil in 
 the world. 
 
 This morning over breakfast she was as usual full of con- 
 versation, and Dennis less than ever disposed to it. He 
 would so much rather have read his newspaper. But he 
 did not want to be unkind, so " The Sportsman " lay 
 unopened beside his plate, and although he was longing to 
 read it, he drank his tepid coffee, and ate his eggs to this 
 accompaniment : 
 
 " Mary hasn't been well these two days. I wonder if you 
 noticed how she has been limping. Dr. Lauder says she has 
 a white knee. At first he said it was what they call a house- 
 maid's knee. But when I told him she was parlourmaid, he 
 gave it the other name, he is so quick. But it's very tiresome."
 
 64 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Then came the desire for the alteration in the anatomy of the 
 herrings for which Dennis had been unconsciously waiting ; it 
 fell on his bruised intelligence like the pain of a blow. But 
 he had braced himself to meet it. After that there was more 
 about Mary's knee, and details of treatment, which seemed to 
 bring the smell of arnica into the room, and make the com- 
 munal breakfast more unpalatable. But Mabel did not notice 
 his distaste. They had dined out last night and she had had 
 no opportunity to unfold her budget of news. She always had 
 a budget of news, domestic or mildly social, with which she 
 deemed it her duty to entertain her husband at meal times. 
 It did not seem " quite right " that their meals should be silent 
 ones. 
 
 " Oh, and I forgot to tell you. I saw Fanny yesterday ; she 
 is so full of her new house. I do wish you could find time to 
 go with me one afternoon to see it. Fanny, I am sure, would 
 take it as a great compliment if you would, although she did 
 not say anything about it. I'm sure it's just to your taste; 
 she was telling me about it, it is all so original ! There are 
 no blinds, and all the ceilings are painted black. There is 
 gold paper on the walls and the electric light comes through 
 Japanese lanterns. It's quite oriental ; I think I shall paint 
 her a screen, just a peacock ; it would look nice on looking- 
 glass. Don't you think it would be nice on looking-glass ? I 
 could fix it with ' turps.' Mr. Merritt is helping her with the 
 house, he has chosen everything for her." 
 
 " Are Ted and Fanny getting on any better ? " Dennis asked 
 as he finished his breakfast, and lit a cigarette. "Ted looks 
 miserable. Your father says he doesn't work; takes no 
 interest in the business." 
 
 " I think it will come all right, I do hope so. Fanny says 
 Ted is so violent." 
 
 "Ted never finds fault with Fanny, does he?" said Dennis 
 drily, opening his paper, but without much hope of being able 
 to read it. 
 
 " He is really quite devoted to her ; it is all such a pity. If 
 only Ted were a little more intellectual." Dennis had at
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 6$ 
 
 last opened his paper, and was rapidly scanning the columns 
 that interested him. 
 
 " Intellectual ! But Fanny is one of the most ignorant 
 young women I have ever met in my life." 
 
 " Oh no, Dennis ! I've heard you say that before, but 
 really I think you misjudge her. I do think sometimes you 
 are a little hard on Fanny. She often says you don't like her, 
 but, of course, that isn't true. She may not have had much 
 education, and it is true that she never reads, or hardly ever, 
 but she gets up so late that she hasn't time. And she so often 
 has headaches, she really isn't very strong. But Mr. Merritt 
 says she is more than intelligent. He told Father so, and ke 
 really is very clever. And he is good to Ted. Ted says he has 
 always been good to him, as if it was his fault, or the fault of 
 the coaching, that poor Ted did not get into Cambridge, and 
 had to go into business." 
 
 Mabel had not the gift of lucid speaking, but Dennis under- 
 stood what had been told to her, and what she wished to 
 convey to him. He could finish his paper when he got to 
 the office. He must listen to what she had to say, he left 
 her so many hours alone. 
 
 " It is such an advantage for them both to see so much of 
 Mr. Merritt. When he and Fanny have had a tiff he just 
 smoothes things over, or takes Ted out with him. He has 
 introduced him quite lately to his great friend, such a charming 
 woman, a Mrs. Margaret Lemon. And he is going to make 
 Fanny join a Bridge Club. She has been having lessons. 
 He says she and Ted see too much of each other." 
 
 Dennis's time of release was near at hand. Already he had 
 risen, and was at the door, when Mabel's next observation 
 arrested him. 
 
 " There is some talk of Mr, Merritt living with them for a time. 
 Grosvenor Street is so convenient for his Club. His father 
 has a house in Curzon Street, but it is often shut up. Fanny 
 says she is quite content to do without a drawing-room if Ted 
 would like Mr. Merritt to live with them. He could have his 
 own bedroom and sitting-room, if she gave up the drawing- 
 5
 
 66 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 room. He might lend it to her on ' at home ' days ! " Mabel 
 added, very pleased with herself for the after-thought ; it made 
 everything so much simpler. It was rather dreadful to think 
 of Fanny having no drawing-room, although, of course, just 
 now she had no regular " at home " day. Fanny knew so few 
 people. Women did not care for Fanny, nor she for them. 
 "He could easily lend them the drawing-room once a fort- 
 night, or once a month if he lived with them," she repeated. 
 
 " Live with them ! Good Lord ! " 
 
 " Of course he would pay something, and Fanny is a little 
 extravagant, but then she was not brought up like other girls. 
 It would be nice for Ted to have a man in the house to talk 
 to. I must say Fanny spoke most considerately about Ted. 
 She says she knows his life is uncongenial." 
 
 "And what does your father think about this scheme of 
 Cosmo Merritt sharing Ted's home ? " 
 
 Dennis was really a little startled, uncertain what to say. 
 He knew the quality of Mabel's mind, and how incapable she 
 was of realising evil. But Amos, surely Amos would see that 
 it would be a mistake. Already Hampstead was gossiping 
 about the trio. Dennis forgot to reckon with Amos's vanity, to 
 which Cosmo had laid a slow successful siege. 
 
 " Oh father ! Father thinks it quite a good idea. He says 
 Fanny and Ted might get into quite a nice set. Lord Lough- 
 borough would be coming in and out when he was in London. 
 And this Mrs. Lemon, who is Mr. Merritt's most intimate friend, 
 knows so many literary people. Father is thinking of writing 
 something himself. He is full of ideas. It is only just setting 
 them down, and Mr. Merritt would help him in that ; a sort of 
 collaboration you know. Father says he is sure any one could 
 write who liked, and the business is so well organised now that 
 it runs it>elf. He has more leisure now than he has had for 
 years ; he thought of taking up painting a little while ago. Oh 
 dear, here's the man for the things already ! " Mabel was more 
 leisurely over her meals than Dennis, and her talk took up time. 
 
 " You will come and see the house one afternoon, won't you ? 
 It isn't five minutes from the Gallery."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 6^ 
 
 " I'm fearfully busy just now." He looked it, and as if he 
 wanted to be off. 
 
 " I know. You do work so hard." She was as sympathetic 
 as was compatible with helping Juxton's man to gather 
 together the breakfast things. " I told Father so, and he said 
 he wished Ted had half your energy. Don't go. I know 
 there was something more I wanted to say to you." 
 
 But he escaped the rest for the moment. He was at the 
 hall door when she called out : 
 
 " Oh ! And will you be home to dinner ? " She asked the 
 same question every day, although it was only during the 
 cricket season that he failed to present himself for the evening 
 meal. 
 
 Walking down to business this morning with the pressure 
 of her presence removed, he found himself wondering about 
 married life generally, and whether his was really, in essentials, 
 the same as that of other men. Certainly Ted's was different. 
 Poor Ted ! He had married for love, he had been mad about 
 Fanny. Now their quarrels formed a favourite subject of 
 conversation for all their friends. Only Mabel seemed unable 
 to grasp how badly Ted's wife treated him, or how their 
 friends talked about what was already recognised as a niaison 
 a trois. If Cosmo Merritt took up his abode under their roof 
 the talk would be doubled and redoubled. 
 
 It was horrible to see how Ted suffered under Fanny's 
 tongue ; how he lost his self-control, and made scenes at all 
 times and places. There was no doubt Cosmo Merritt did 
 act as a sort of buffer between them. Ted appealed to him 
 sometimes ; and publicly, at least, he always supported Ted. 
 But the whole thing was a nightmare. 
 
 If Dennis was not very exhilarated at the moment with his 
 own marriage, when he compared it with Ted's he felt he was 
 ungrateful. Mabel's tongue had no rasping qualities. She 
 had neither coquetry, nor malice. 
 
 He could not shake off his sympathy for Ted as he walked 
 down the Edgware Road and turned into Oxford Street. Ted 
 was not clever, nor an amusing companion, was inclined to
 
 68 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 moroseness, and unequal in temper. But Fanny I Fanny 
 was enough to make any fellow morose and uneven in temper. 
 Ted was so straight. Of course she lied to him constantly, 
 ran him into debt, treated him with contemptuous indifference. 
 Dennis resented his father-in-law's indulgence towards Ted's 
 wife, and Mabel's blindness to her real character. This 
 morning's news seemed to make matters worse than ever. He 
 wondered how long they would all be before they found 
 her out. 
 
 Ted and his affairs lasted him until he got to Oxford Street. 
 Crossing the road, a passing motor, going too quickly, splashed 
 him with mud, and gave an even more dingy turn to his 
 reflections. Life looked sordid this morning. He tried to 
 recover himself by conjuring up a visual memory of a red 
 lacquer cabinet, Chinese or Queen Arme, to be sold at 
 Christie's at the end of the week. 
 
 The detail of the cabinet helped him until he got to his 
 office, where he found Mr. Murray Straus awaiting him. Mr. 
 Straus had a shop for the sale of works of art, a little lower 
 down the street He was a bearded man, genial and 
 insincere. It appeared he was waiting for Mr. Passiful in 
 order to talk about the weather, and the disgraceful state of 
 the streets, the outrage of permitting motor buses to go down 
 Bond Street whilst the road was up, and the news from 
 Morocco in the morning paper. It was only just as he was 
 going, and Dennis had been wondering for five minutes what 
 was in the post and when he should get to his letters, for 
 Mr. Dolland was away, that Mr. Straus said casually : 
 
 "What about that lacquer cabinet? I saw you standing 
 quite a long time before it yesterday at Christie's. You're not 
 going in for it by any chance ? " 
 
 He criticised and belittled it, pointing out that one of the 
 mounts was very doubtful, and that incised lac was not 
 really fashionable. But when Dennis defended the cabinet, 
 and said he intended bidding for it, Mr. Straus came to the 
 object of his visit, and suggested Dennis should join "the 
 School." Mr. Straus was full of bonhomie and desire to do
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 69 
 
 Dennis a good turn. It was not everybody that he would 
 "take in" with him. And he told of a fine chasuble that had 
 been " protected," when one solitary bid of five pounds had 
 secured the lot. Afterwards it had been put up at their own 
 private auction, and Clayton had gone to four hundred pounds 
 for it. " The School " had made over forty pounds each. 
 He told of other similar transactions, all very casually, but 
 Dennis was sufficiently cognisant of the trade to know that he 
 was anxious there should be no competition for the cabinet. 
 
 Dennis disliked these combinations; "knock outs" they 
 were called. He thought them unfair to the vendor and to 
 the auctioneer. When he said so, Mr. Straus became less 
 genial. He wished Mr. Passiful a curt "good-morning." He 
 said he thought he'd find it a mistake to have the trade 
 against him. One could do a man a bad as well as a good 
 turn in business. Mr. Passiful was still young. . . Dennis 
 ignored the implication, saw him out, trying to talk pleasantly 
 about general matters. But when he was alone he reviewed 
 the incident and found it beastly. He thought everything 
 was " pretty beastly " this morning. The housemaid's white 
 knee, Mabel's green plaid dress, Ted's married life, and 
 Cosmo Merritt's strange inclusion in it, seemed all part to him 
 of the general disillusionment of life. 
 
 The depression lingered with him during the early morning, 
 it made talking to customers a weariness, and his normal 
 pleasure in the beautiful things with which he surrounded 
 himself in the Galleries begin to pall. He saw where Lawrence 
 was merely pretty, and Raeburn hard, disliked the newly 
 acquired Opie with which he had been in love but yesterday, 
 and knew that the pale and faded portrait by Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds for which he had refused two thousand five hundred 
 pounds was not worth more than the canvas upon which it 
 was painted. Yesterday he had been proud of his little 
 exhibition, to-day he was ashamed of it. There was no 
 doubt that the much belauded Eighteenth Century School of 
 English Art was not comparable with the Dutch or the French 
 renaissance.
 
 70 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 He thought that prices were already too high, and that a 
 slump was at hand. He remembered things Mr. Abinger had 
 taught him, when Claude was unsaleable and Millet un- 
 appreciated; he determined to alter the whole policy of the 
 Gallery, and concentrate on Matsys. He thought other 
 absurd things ; but then he was worried with Ted's affairs. 
 He liked Ted. 
 
 It was now that Roddy Ainsworth's card was brought to 
 him, and it took him quite a few minutes to remember why 
 the name was familiar. 
 
 " He would like to see you himself, sir," the man waited 
 respectfully. " He says you are old friends, and I was to tell 
 you it was business as well as pleasure." 
 
 Roddy Ainsworth ! Roddy Ainsworth ? Of course, the 
 best lob bowler they ever had in the Club . . . that was 
 the first thought. They would be short of a slow bowler 
 next season, there was no promising youngster. . . Then 
 he remembered about Roddy and Mabel. But had they ever 
 been engaged? He had long since begun to believe it 
 possible that Mabel might have deceived herself. 
 
 Yet at first he told the man to say he was too busy, he 
 could not see Mr. Ainsworth : Mr. Jones would attend to him. 
 For that was what Mr. Abinger used to do with a new 
 customer, or one for whom he had no mind. But then 
 Dennis hesitated. He used to like Roddy, he might be 
 useful to the Club. In the end he walked into the Gallery, 
 where Roddy, hardly altered at all, greeted him with a 
 cordiality that had obviously no arriere petisee. 
 
 " Hullo, old chap ! It's good to see you again. And 
 how's the Club, and all the old brigade ? " He could not but 
 respond in the same tone. He was surprised at his own 
 cordiality. 
 
 " I only got home yesterday. I asked which was the 
 Abinger Gallery and heard it was yours now. Rather a good 
 thing, isn't it ? I suppose the old man's dead ? It doesn't 
 seem like five years that I've been away." 
 
 " Is it five years ! "
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 71 
 
 " More or less. I've been all over the place. We toured 
 America ; but since then I've been to Australia, South 
 Africa, I don't know where." 
 
 " Touring ? " Dennis was momentarily puzzled by the word : 
 no team he knew of had that sort of roving commission. 
 
 " In Musical Comedy, Max Herbert's parts. You read the 
 papers, don't you ? " 
 
 Ainsworth was evidently annoyed that Dennis did not 
 recognise his consequence. 
 
 " Considering I've sung in every decent musical play that 
 has been produced for the last five years, and that except 
 in London, perhaps, I'm as well known as the Statue of 
 Liberty, it's ridiculous to pretend you don't know what I've 
 been doing." 
 
 Dennis apologised. When he looked at him he recognised 
 it was the actor and not the cricketer with whom he was 
 making fresh acquaintance, and that the alteration he had not 
 noticed was nevertheless there. Ainsworth had always been 
 a handsome fellow, now his good looks had become sharpened, 
 accentuated, he wore them, as it were, with ostentation. His 
 hair was a little longer than that of ordinary men, and his soft 
 felt hat had a rakish air. His talk, his laugh, his gestures 
 were all obvious, his roving eye asked shopmen and customers 
 to note he was there. He had the air of expecting applause, a 
 self-consciousness that demanded it. 
 
 When he had talked a little about the Club and a great 
 deal about himself, he came to the real object of his visit. 
 He seemed to expect that Dennis would take him out to 
 lunch. He recollected to call him " Skipper," and reminded 
 him how he had kept his end up when Dennis was making his 
 first century against the "Zingari." Roddy wanted something 
 of Dennis and he was not without tact in approaching him. 
 
 They lunched at the Ritz. Roddy said he had heard 
 it was the best food in London. It was not until he had 
 succeeded in satisfying a most histrionic appetite, and was 
 enjoying black coffee, Kummell, and the big Upmann with 
 which Dennis had supplied him, that he opened his business.
 
 72 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " I sent you in word jt was business I wanted to see you 
 about ; though it comes second to friendship, old fellow." 
 Roddy had a touch of sentiment in him. "To me you'll 
 always be ' The Skipper,' I often thought of you out there. 
 Well, the fact is, I want you to help me." 
 
 By now Dennis had no doubt of it, he had had so much 
 experience. But he was not averse ; perhaps he Hked to be 
 leaned upon, consulted. He did not smoke cigars in the 
 middle of the day, but he lit a Lucana cigarette, and leaned 
 back prepared to listen. 
 
 " I've got an option on a play, one of the best musical 
 plays ever written. Ever heard of ' Charles Auchester ' ? 
 It's a dramatised version of ' Charles Auchester.' 
 ' Seraphino ' might have been written for me. Of course 
 they've made him a singer instead of an instrumentalist." 
 He paused, obviously to think how well " Seraphino " suited 
 him. " What's the good of a play if you haven't got a 
 theatre? Amos Juxton is made of money, isn't he? 
 Mabel and I were awfully good friends. . You married 
 Mabel, didn't you? That's really what made me come to you 
 first. And she could influence her father, too. He's got 
 money to burn. He used to talk about having a theatre in 
 the old days, and giving the people pure plays. Nothing 
 could be purer than ' Charles Auchester.' Now, old fellow, 
 for old sakes' sake, and because it's a good thing — mind, I 
 wouldn't put either of you into it if I didn't know it was a 
 good thing — will you help me to get up a little Syndicate? 
 I've heard of a theatre ; the ' Kemble ' will be vacant by the 
 end of the month. I've got friends, I've got three thousand 
 pounds promised. I only want another seven thousand. Of 
 course it's an expensive production." 
 
 He was a little breathless, and very eager. He added 
 argument to argument, was overwhelmingly persuasive and 
 persistent. For at first Dennis was w^holly negative. He was 
 sure Amos would not think of putting money into a theatrical 
 Syndicate. He, himself, would be extremely averse to such 
 a speculation. Roddy started to expatiate upon what a lot of
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 73 
 
 fun there was hanging to it ; about the stage door entree, little 
 suppers with chorus girls. When he saw that he was on the 
 wrong tack, for Dennis sat quite silent when such suggestions 
 were being made, and gave him no encouragemen<, he went 
 easily back to the other argument, and showed what a lot of 
 money there was in Musical Comedy, particularly when, as in 
 this case, they had hold of such a really fine thing. 
 
 "The music is perfectly wonderful. It's by a new man, 
 and it's going to make a sensation. There's a concerted piece 
 for four in the first act which will make all London sit up. 
 It's great I tell you, great." 
 
 Dennis took a lot of persuading. The room, that had 
 been full when they entered, grew slowly emptier; table 
 after table was deserted, and their waiter stood a little way 
 off, obviously expectant of Dennis's request for the bill. It 
 was almost three o'clock before Dennis, still somewhat 
 reluctant, had been persuaded to sound Amos, had even 
 promised if Amos " came in," he would take a small share. 
 
 "And you'll never regret it. Skipper, you'll never regret it." 
 Roddy was quite flushed and enthusiastic, one would have 
 thought he had the whole of the seven thousand in hand. 
 " When will you see him ; we mustn't let the grass grow under 
 our feet. I ought to set about negotiating with the theatre 
 people at once. Tell Mabel all about it, won't you ? It was 
 Mabel first found out about my voice. Good old Mabel ! 
 I suppose she hasn't altered. I was always awfully fond of 
 Mabel. I'd like to see her again. Where do you hang out ? " 
 
 When Dennis succeeded in getting rid of him, he was 
 surprised how far he had allowed himself to go. He seemed 
 to be committed to the whole mad scheme. It was a mad 
 scheme. What did he or his father-in-law know about 
 theatrical Syndicates ? Amos had many interests, many irons 
 in the fire, but as far as he knew none of them were theatrical. 
 
 Yet, as the day wore on, as the influence of Roddy's 
 presence and personality vanished, he did not find himself 
 more, but less, unwilling to do what had been asked of 
 him. It was something new; his life had got into a rut,
 
 74 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 stagnant. Then he caught himself wondering what Mabel 
 would say when she heard that Roddy Ainsworth was back 
 in England. She could hardly exclaim, " How tiresome ! " 
 Yet her vocabulary was so limited, he found it difficult to 
 conjure up another phrase from her lips. But perhaps she 
 would ejaculate, " How nice ! " 
 
 Had Mabel altered, he wondered ? It seemed to him she 
 had always been just the same, and always would be. She 
 was so good, no one could find fault with her ; unselfish, 
 without guile. It was hateful that in the foreground of his 
 mind a word should linger. Was she a bore? Did she 
 bore him ? He really wondered what Roddy would think of 
 her, and she of Roddy.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 DENNIS, after Roddy had left him, made another inspec- 
 tion of the red lacquer cabinet at Christie's, saw a 
 doubtful Gainsborough, and an undoubted Teniers, quite one 
 of the finest things that had been in an auction room for 
 ^any years. Yet, for the moment, as he went down the 
 steps of Christie's, and passed into King Street, his interest 
 in them both seemed subordinate to his interest in Roddy 
 Ainsworth, and life generally. He had grown too much 
 absorbed in things, to the exclusion of people, he reflected. 
 If Roddy Ainsworth took a theatre, if Amos Juxton had a 
 share in it, if he himself went into the Syndicate, as Roddy 
 had suggested, what a change might come in his monotonous 
 days ! He felt his pulses quicken, and to steady them, as 
 he walked, he took mental stock of his banking account. 
 There was no reason he should not have a little speculation 
 in a theatrical Syndicate, particularly if his father-in-law was 
 in it too. Amos had many irons in the fire, Juxton's gave 
 him endless scope. Dennis had often put money into 
 commercial undertakings on Amos's advice, and there was 
 no doubt his own fortune had grown in consequence. Capital 
 was what had been needed successfully to carry on the 
 Gallery, and Mabel's dot had supplied it. But that was five 
 years ago. There were no longer any difficulties, and it was 
 understood in the trade that the Juxton millions were behind 
 Dennis Passiful. He had done well in every way, and his 
 fine credit had a substantial cash backing. 
 
 From a purely pecuniary point of view, those five years 
 of his marriage had been five fruitful years. It had been 
 under Amos's advice and with Mr. Dolland's co-operation 
 
 75
 
 ^6 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 that he had added antique furniture, tapestry and works of 
 art to his deaHngs in pictures. "There was room in the 
 Galleries," the "opportunities for acquiring and selling the 
 one were generally opportunities of selling and acquiring the 
 other." Amos hammered home his arguments by examples 
 from his own experiences. Amos, for instance, using many 
 cigars in his business, found it advantageous to become a 
 shareholder in the business of a Havana importer. Besides 
 manufacturing their own cigarettes, Juxton's participated in 
 the profits of many brands that the firm supplied. So with 
 wine, and whisky, and other commodities. He had often 
 spoken of catering for the refreshment bars of theatres, and 
 talked of going in for it. The more Dennis considered, the 
 more probable it appeared that Amos might be willing to 
 finance a season at the " Kemble " Theatre, if the bars were 
 free. He had no hesitation in going to him about it. He 
 and his father-in-law were on very good terms ; and he knew 
 where to find him at this hour. 
 
 Dennis caught Amos just as he was leaving his office. He 
 had a man with him, another waiting, and had hardly a 
 moment to spare. But he spared his son-in-law the half 
 minute. 
 
 "Theatrical Syndicate! Well, well, what will you be 
 thinking of next? Why not, my boy, why not? Grist to 
 the mill, it's all grist to the mill. As a matter of fact it 
 might suit me quite well. The ' Kemble ' did you say ? A 
 new play? Never mind about the play, the theatre's the 
 thing. I'll tell you why afterwards. I'll come round this 
 evening and talk it over. I'm up to my neck now. No, 
 not to dinner, Merritt is dining with me. I'll be round 
 about half past nine. Excuse me, I must rush away 
 now." 
 
 Dennis got home in time to dress for dinner. He would 
 have liked a bath, and half an hour to himself. He wanted 
 to marshal Roddy's arguments, and prepare them for Amos ; 
 he had to tell Mabel that Roddy had returned. But solitude 
 and leisure were not for him. He ran up to his dressing-
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY tj 
 
 room, and had hardly taken his coat off before there came 
 that perfunctory rap tap at the door. 
 
 "I suppose I can come in. I heard the street door shut, 
 and I knew it must be you. I've got so much to tell you. 
 I'll sit with you whilst you're dressing. I had such a crowded 
 afternoon. The Cheltons came, and the Barrels, all the 
 way from Canonbury, and the Lindsays. . . ." 
 
 Never had he found her emphasis so flat and unnecessary, 
 the string of names she reeled off, and her observations about 
 them, so futile. And she was so anxious to be of use. She 
 wanted to get him another towel, to put in his studs, to help him 
 with his boots ; it was Mabel's way to talk about doing things, 
 instead of doing them. Juxton's intervention had deprived her 
 of her domestic faculties. She had the desire to be of service, 
 but her capacity was as flaccid as an unused muscle. But 
 that was also perhaps a little Dennis's fault, he hated having 
 things done for him, he negatived all her offers, abruptly, 
 curtly. She was not at all offended, she sat by the dressing- 
 table, just where she was most in his way, and went on talking : 
 
 *' Fanny promised to come, but she never came until nearly 
 six o'clock. Then it was all so unlucky. Fanny has just 
 joined a Bridge Club, Crockford's it is called ; it is quite 
 close to the new house. She was telling us how smart it 
 was, and about the Committee, all Countesses and Duchesses, 
 and I don't know what, when Ethel Jones came in. You 
 know how she and Fanny can't bear each other, although 
 I'm sure I don't know why, Ethel is such a nice girl. . . . 
 Well, to bring her into the conversation I said : 
 
 " ' Mrs. Ted is telling us about Crockford's, she has just 
 been made a member, it's all so interesting.' Then up 
 answered Ethel Jones in that bright way she has : 
 
 '"Oh, Crockford's! My Mother is one of the original 
 members. Lady Slater founded it, and she put Mother up, 
 but Lady Slater left a long time ago, and then all the Com- 
 mittee resigned. It has gone down very much since then. 
 The man who was the Club wine-merchant, is now the Chairman 
 of the Club ! He was never paid for the wine he sent in, but
 
 78 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 he has been paid now. They are always sending round the hat, 
 just to keep the Club going. I often go and fetch Mother, if I'm 
 in the West End, but there are a dreadful lot of people there now. 
 Anybody can get in who can pay, or promise, a subscription.' " 
 
 Mabel went on to say that she thought it such a pity that 
 Miss Jones had come m just then. She was in such a lovely 
 dress too, red chiffon over painted mauve charmeuse, and a 
 large hat from Paris, which made it worse. It appeared that 
 Fanny hardly stayed a minute after that, and Mabel had so 
 wanted to ask about Ted, and the new house, and everything. 
 
 " Why did the dress make it worse ? " Dennis asked, he 
 was recovering his jeopardised temper, had finished the struggle 
 with his tie, and was nearly ready to go downstairs. He rarely 
 followed Mabel's talk very closely, but this seemed more in- 
 consequent than usual. 
 
 "Well you know, Dennis, Fanny is a little strange about 
 such things. She thinks girls ought not to dress too 
 well. She says one never knows who pays for their clothes." 
 Mabel brought out Fanny's spiteful innuendo so innocently, 
 it was obvious the inference of it had completely missed 
 her. She wound up a little lamely by repeating, "And Fanny 
 never has liked Miss Jones." 
 
 "Nor any other good-lookmg, smart, or amiable young 
 woman," Dennis finished, with a final glance at the looking- 
 glass, and a pat to the obstinate necktie. 
 
 "You are so prejudiced against Fanny," she murmured, 
 following him downstairs. " You know you are, Dennis." 
 
 "And always shall be until I see Ted looking a little 
 happier, and not as he does now, like a man under torture. 
 I told you so this morning." 
 
 " Oh ! But you don't think really that Fanny is a bad wife ? 
 She always says she is sorry for Ted. He has so few hobbies, 
 she never minds if he wants to go out. He is very morose 
 at home, I'm afraid. Fanny says she is almost frightened 
 of him." 
 
 "There are many ways of being a bad wife," Dennis 
 answered shortly. He was beginning seriously to dislike
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 79 
 
 Fanny, but could hardly give Mabel chapter and verse for his 
 alteration of feeling. "Ted wants sympathy, not criticism." 
 
 That Ted wanted more than that from his wife and got 
 less, was known to everybody, apparently, but Ted's sister, 
 and Ted's father. If she were subtly, and continually, cruel 
 to him, his humility still found excuses for her, and his love 
 and loyalty held. Dennis suspected more than he knew, and 
 if he despised Ted for his weakness, he was always sorry for 
 him. 
 
 There was a great similarity about the Juxton meals, dinner 
 resembling breakfast in the service, and luke-warm abundance. 
 
 Mabel's evening dress was brown, with a tucker of blue lace 
 and some trimming of the same. It was new, and had been 
 worn in the afternoon with the ' neck filled in.' Mabel told 
 him that, after she had finished for the fourteenth time the 
 story of the lady who said she always had to have flat fish for 
 dinner because her rooms were so low. Mabel thought this 
 the best story she had ever heard, and Dennis sat through it 
 every time Juxton's supplied soles. Then she came back 
 again to Miss Jones. 
 
 " Oh ! And I forgot to tell you, she says she shall go in 
 to Crockford's just to see how Fanny gets on. I don't think 
 that was quite nice of her, do you ? And Mrs. Smithers 
 asked her to come to dinner afterwards, and tell them about 
 it. She doesn't like Fanny either. I can't think why so 
 many people don't like Fanny. She had quite a rude letter 
 the other day from a Mrs. Walker. And only because Mr. 
 Walker had been to see her three or four times. Fanny 
 thought he would be so congenial to Ted. . ." 
 
 The dining-room was a shade closer and less stimulatmg in 
 the evening than it had been in the morning. Mabel was a 
 martyr to neuralgia, and open windows were a signal for its 
 onset. Dennis had struggled in the first year or two of his 
 marriage to persuade her of the advantages of fresh air. But 
 the attitude of her mind toward it was ever hesitant and 
 uncertain ; there is litde doubt that her very anxiety to fall in 
 with his views helped to bring about the result she dreaded.
 
 8o JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 That was why they had so soon decided on separate bedrooms. 
 Dennis slept with his windows wide open, no blinds. Mabel 
 liked the windows fastened up, and everything quite dark. It 
 was due perhaps partly to Mabel's idiosyncrasies that the 
 dinner was always reminiscent of breakfast, and breakfast of 
 dinner. Mary's ideas of the amount of airing a room required, 
 were limited by the knowledge of the amount of dust an open 
 window encouraged. 
 
 The same Uveried porter had brought in the same block tin 
 tray, and in the same ware were served soup and fish, entree 
 and roast. They all arrived together, and were ranged upon 
 the sideboard. The hot water dishes were supposed to keep 
 them in a state of suspended animation ; " ready for eating " 
 was Amos's phrase. Mary's white knee had necessitated her 
 attendance at the hospital. The porter put the soup and 
 plates on the table. 
 
 " It will be so nice, we can wait upon ourselves," Mabel 
 said when she had given the necessary explanation. And she 
 jumped up before the soup was finished to make sure the fish 
 was not being spoiled, forgetting where to find the plates, 
 bringing the wrong ones, and dessert knives instead of those 
 intended for fish, making a great clatter with dishes, and 
 generally displaying an awkwardness in domestic service, that, 
 combined with the atmosphere, made it difficult for Dennis to 
 conceal his impatience. He would so much rather, in Mary's 
 absence, have allowed the porter to remain, as he suggested — 
 for Juxton's were used to emergencies with servants — or even 
 to have gone without dinner at all. Mabel could do nothing 
 without talking about it, handle nothing without spilling a 
 part of it. But always her intentions were admirable, and 
 she said, after the uncomfortable dinner was over, how much 
 she enjoyed waiting on Dennis. 
 
 During the bustle and confusion her attempts had brought 
 about, it was impossible to bring out his news. Mabel was 
 never a restful person. Sofas and easy chairs lured her in 
 vain. She found needle-work " fidgety," and rarely read a 
 book sufficiently interesting to lose herself in it. She also
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 8i 
 
 had a suspicion that reading was another name for "idling." 
 Dennis would often try and read in the morning-room after 
 dinner, but was never safe from his wife's interruptions. She 
 meant well, she thought it part of her duty to talk to her 
 husband in the evening, the "only time they were together," 
 and her attempts at sprighiliness, the purpose of which was so 
 clear, vexed him by the knowledge that he resented rather 
 than appreciated her efforts. 
 
 To-night, when she had finished fidgetting with the dinner 
 things that Juxton's man would have done equally well if she 
 had left them alone, she announced that she knew what he 
 wanted, and was going to fetch it for him. And she trotted 
 off, heedless of his remonstrance, to return to the morning- 
 room with a stale pipe he had long ago discarded, and some 
 tobacco which she spilled out of the pouch. 
 
 " I haven't smoked that pipe for years. I wish you wouldn't 
 mess about," he began, rising from his easy chair to take 
 them from her. But he failed to finish his sentence, for her 
 face fell when she realised she had not pleased him. 
 
 " Oh dear, how tiresome ! I've brought you the wrong 
 pipe." And then she went down on her hands and knees 
 in an endeavour to gather up the tobacco that had escaped 
 from the pouch. It was at that inappropriate moment he 
 chose to say : 
 
 " I saw some one you know to-day." 
 
 "Some one I know, dear me! And who could that be? 
 It couldn't have been father, could it ? He hasn't been in this 
 week." 
 
 Dennis, filling his pipe, not the one she had brought- him, 
 but his own immediate favourite that had been lying -on the 
 mantelpiece, was careful not to watch his wife's face : 
 
 " Roddy Ainsworth," he said, carelessly, as he struck a 
 match. He became conscious of a sudden silence, and a 
 sudden stillness. Mabel was habitually neither silent nor 
 still. So he went on talking. The pipe didn't draw well, 
 and he had to keep his eyes, and attention, on it. 
 
 "I daresay you remember him. One of the best lob 
 6
 
 82 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 bowlers the Club ever had; I must try and get him to join 
 again. He came into the Gallery this afternoon. He has 
 been abroad all these years. He asked after you." 
 
 It was impossible to associate romance or deep feeling with 
 Mabel, gentle, conscientious Mabel. Yet Dennis at this 
 moment was conscious of the same desire to put his arms 
 about her, to comfort her, that he had felt five years before, 
 when it had proved so fatal. She had not spoken, but he 
 felt rather than heard, the catch in her voice, her struggle for 
 self-control, her desire to speak naturally. Now he took a 
 hurried glance at her, and her strange unusual flush re- 
 proached him ; he looked away again, quickly, ashamed of 
 having seen it. Poor Mabel ! But how ridiculous ! He 
 remembered one or two of Roddy's anecdotes of his ex- 
 periences, and he felt a rising disgust, difficult to analyse, 
 at the sentiment called love. That Mabel had not forgotten 
 Roddy Ainsworth, that she still cared for the fellow could 
 not arouse in him any feeling approaching jealousy ; his 
 attitude towards Mabel made such a thing impossible. He 
 was sorry for her, and a little disgusted ; that was all. 
 
 " He wants your father to put up money for a theatre for 
 him. He wants to go into management here, with a musical 
 play he has brought back with him. He seems to have 
 been very successful in the Colonies. I saw your father 
 about it, for a moment, on my way home, he is coming 
 round presently to talk it over. That fellow Merritt is dining 
 with him." 
 
 Dennis's pipe drew badly. Mabel's flush had faded, and 
 she looked pale. 
 
 " He asked after me ? " she said, her voice a little strained 
 and unsteady. 
 
 "Who, Roddy? Oh, yes! He wanted to come and see 
 you, told me to tell you he hadn't forgotten how good you 
 were over his accompaniments." 
 
 Dennis's disgust left him as he noted the flutter of her 
 pulses, divined the uneven beating of her heart. What rot 
 it all was ! Yet he was sorry for her, and a little curious.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 83 
 
 Could Mabel feel deeply, and how deeply was she feeling? 
 Dennis had sat through many confidences, in his time ; 
 despising nevertheless the weakness that prompted them. 
 And despising, was yet vaguely sorry in that he had never 
 experienced the emotion of which they told. It seemed so 
 impossible to him to feel as Ted did, as apparently Mabel 
 did. Poor old Mabel ! Did she want to see Roddy ? What 
 would happen ? Surely she would note his theatricality, his 
 perpetual egotism. 
 
 '* I suppose now you are sorry you married me ? " came out 
 involuntarily. To that at least Mabel would utter no clichd ; 
 there could be none of her phrases that fitted the occasion. 
 But in that he wronged her. 
 
 " Oh, Dennis, how can you say such things ! I'm sure 
 we've always been very happy together." 
 
 Dennis laughed. 
 
 " Of course, I was only joking. You'd got over it before 
 we were married, hadn't you ? " 
 
 "What nonsense ! Got over it? I don't know what you're 
 talking about." 
 
 If her lips trembled her speech was unchanged. 
 
 "We were good friends. Roddy and I were very good 
 friends ..." 
 
 "Only friends?" 
 
 Dennis had flung himself again into the easy chair. He 
 thought a little banter would be the best way to restore 
 her calm. "I thought it was more than that. I seem to 
 remember ..." 
 
 " Oh ! I do wish you wouldn't talk so," she said, quite 
 breathless, "it was nothing, nothing at all. You oughtn't to 
 remember, . . . there was nothing to remember ..." 
 
 Of course he did not want to distress her, and it was obvious 
 she was becoming distressed. 
 
 "Well, he wants to come and see you, that's all. He 
 asked me where we lived. He hasn't altered much, only 
 he's become quite the professional actor, talks nothing but 
 shop, wears his hair long ! "
 
 84 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 He reached out for " Gwilt's Dictionary of Architecture " 
 which was within reach of his arm. He even found his place 
 and read a line or two, before he heard the door closing softly 
 behind him. She had gone out of the room. He read on 
 for a little time, but with a growing sense of impatience. He 
 supposed it was his duty to go after her, to see what she was 
 doing. He was feeling a little remorseful, yet he could not 
 help feeling also that it was more than a little ridiculous. 
 Love and Mabel ! How absurd ! They had been married 
 five years ! Surely long enough for her to have forgotten 
 "that blighter." He was impatient of her folly, even as he 
 moved his long legs reluctantly from the chair and went off 
 to find her. 
 
 Her bedroom door was locked, and when he called out to 
 know if anything was wrong, her voice came to him muffled 
 and almost incoherent. He made out that she said her 
 neuralgia was very bad, it had come on suddenly. She hoped 
 he didn't mind, but she had gone to bed. 
 
 He was glad that no further demand was to be made upon 
 his tact, or his sympathy, glad to be alone for once, able 
 to read on without interruption, and without his conscience 
 reproaching him for his unsociability, for being so poor a 
 companion to her. But the impatience and the phrase " it is 
 all such rot " came between him and " Shadows in Scio- 
 graphy." And then he caught himself wondering about love, 
 and other fellows' lives, and was more restless than ever, until 
 Amos Juxton was announced, filling in the background and 
 the foreground, and the whole picture. 
 
 As he talked to Mabel's father, he was once again sorry for 
 Mabel. She had no one's consideration. Amos was so 
 entirely self-sufficient, and self-sufficing. He not only filled 
 the room when he entered, he filled the house. He asked 
 after Mabel, of course, but he seemed to think it of no 
 consequence that she had gone to bed with neuralgia. He 
 brushed it aside, saying vaguely she " ought to take more 
 exercise." 
 
 " Now about that theatrical Syndicate. Yes, whisky and
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 85 
 
 soda. I'll mix it myself, please. And one of those Upmanns. 
 I've got a match. You were saying . . ." 
 
 And he made himself comfortable in the chair on the 
 other side of the fireplace, preparing to talk, affecting to 
 listen. 
 
 For some inexplicable reason Dennis's sympathy with 
 Mabel and resentment of her father's indifference to her 
 absence, made him desirous that Roddy should have his 
 chance. He determined he would try and give him a 
 helping hand. If Mabel liked him, why shouldn't he do him 
 a good turn ? 
 
 He put Roddy's case very carefully before Amos, and Amos 
 spotted the weak points in it at once. Amos was used to 
 dealing with plausible tales. 
 
 " We've only got his word about the play, and we've only 
 got his word for his own successes, and fine voice. Who 
 has heard him here? Who's putting up the other three 
 thousand ? What sort of press notices has he got } " 
 
 "Very fine Colonial, and American notices, he says." 
 
 " I daresay. But that's very little good to us." 
 
 Yet even whilst he was pouring out cold water, and find- 
 ing every reason why he should neither finance the actor, nor 
 his play, Dennis became conscious that Amos was bringing 
 forward objections only that they should be overthrown. He 
 was not really negativing the proposition, he was only altering 
 its provisions. It became obvious to Dennis that his father- 
 in-law was very much attracted by the thought of seeing 
 himself as the lessee of a theatre. This was what Amos saw 
 himself, not merely as a shareholder in a Syndicate. 
 
 " The ' Kemble ' now, he told you the ' Kemble ' was 
 vacant, did he ? What's the rent of it, or could it be bought 
 outright ? I should have to find that out ; whether one could 
 buy. I'd rather buy, that is if I went in for it at all. About 
 young Ainsworth? I recollect his father well, a very good 
 dentist but no business ability, no business ability at all. He 
 stopped these. . . ." Amos opened his mouth and champed 
 his teeth together to show how serviceable they were. " That's
 
 S6 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 ten years ago, and I've never had pain nor ache, and only 
 three eighteen altogether. If I go into this affair, young 
 Ainsworth mustn't expect it's only to put up his play. What 
 did you say was the name of the play ? ' Charles Auchester ' ! 
 Well, that's not a very taking name. There's nothing very 
 clever about that. 'The Girl from the Orchestra' would be 
 better. I know what they want, Dennis, my boy, I've always 
 known what the public want, that's the secret of my 
 success . ." 
 
 Amos grew more and more mellow, and confidential. This 
 was no new idea to him, he told Dennis, this idea of taking 
 a theatre, and running it himself. He didn't say the 
 'Kemble' would suit him, and he didn't say it wouldn't. A 
 great deal depended on whether the bars were free. As for 
 young Ainsworth, the dentist's son, he would have a look at 
 the play, and he'd have to hear him sing. Amos really seemed 
 to swell with complacency as he figured himself as a dramatic 
 critic, musical expert, connoisseur of plays. 
 
 It only gradually became clear to Dennis Passiful that it 
 was another man's game he was playing, that it had been 
 Cosmo Merritt's clever fingers that had moulded Amos 
 Juxton's plastic vanity until it had taken this form. Cosmo 
 had obviously been working on him for many months to this 
 end. Roddy Ainsworth, and " Charles Auchester," and 
 the " Kemble " theatre, were all extraneous to the real 
 issue. 
 
 " It's curious your coming to me to-day about taking the 
 'Kemble' theatre. As you say, I've had it in my mind 
 some time. What a fuss they make about this writing, my 
 boy ! Now I'll tell you something nobody else knows, not a 
 soul. I've written a book myself. What do you think of that ? 
 And it will be published next month. That takes your breath 
 away, doesn't it? 'The Tale and the Typewriter'; that's 
 something like a title. It was Merritt put me up to it. I 
 must say he's a clever fellow. I never thought anything at 
 all about the story I told him, until he came to me with it 
 written out. It was just something that happened in the
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 87 
 
 ordinary way of business, a trade secret got from a type- 
 writing girl, by a man who has had wind of it, and made 
 love to her on purpose. Merritt had just written in a few 
 characters, but it is my story, there was no doubt about that ; 
 it was as plain as a pike-staff. And she had red hair, though I 
 don't recollect telling him so. It's coming out under both 
 our names ; that's only fair. ' By Amos Juxton and Cosmo 
 Merritt.' And now I'm coming to the point. He says there's 
 a play in it, a fine play. He was talking to-night about the 
 difficulty of getting a West End Manager to put up a play by 
 a new author. I said I didn't think that would hold good 
 with an advertiser like me. I could see about the notices. 
 You know what I spend a year on the newspapers. But he 
 said that wasn't the point, there were vested interests. I'm 
 coming to it, don't hurry me . . . 
 
 " Well ! I'm not going to anybody hat in hand. If I 
 write a play, my boy, I can put up the play." For by now 
 he thought he had not only written the story, but the play 
 that grew out of it. "And I'll engage what actors and 
 what actresses I please. Always supposing the bars are free. 
 There's money in it, boy, take my word for it, there's money 
 in a well-managed theatre. Those failures we see are all due 
 to the actor-manager element. A man sees himself strutting 
 about in a part. He doesn't stop to think what sort of a play 
 it is." 
 
 It was a little discouraging to find how very subordinate 
 Roddy and " Charles Auchester " had become. With infinite 
 difficulty at last Dennis got some sort of promise from Amos 
 that if he took the " Kemble," and he liked the play, and 
 thought well of Roddy's voice, he might put up " Charles 
 Auchester" as a stop gap, until "The Tale and the Type- 
 writer " was ready. 
 
 " But, mind you, don't let him run away with the idea that 
 salaries are going to swamp the profits. If I go in for a thing 
 it's got to pay .... God bless me ! It's twelve o'clock. Here 
 have I been talking away and forgetting the time. You find 
 out about the bars for me, or I'll talk it over with Merritt.
 
 88 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 He'll be on the telephone in a day or two. He's going to 
 share expenses with Ted in that new house of his in Grosvenor 
 Street. What the boy wants with a West End house at that 
 rent, I can't imagine . . ." 
 
 But Dennis could see Amos was rather pleased at the figure 
 his son was going to cut, and that he had so much enterprise. 
 
 "He don't earn his income, and if he did his income 
 wouldn't cover his expenses. He's always overdrawn. But 
 she^s got her head screwed on the right way. It was her idea 
 that Merritt should keep house with them. Lord Loughborough 
 has just come up to London for the parliamentary season. 
 His son is the other side in politics, they don't hit it off any 
 too well. He's been a widower now for more than a year ; he 
 don't want a grown up son living with him, disagreeing with 
 him most of the time. He's got his widowed daughter there, 
 and she's a handful by all accounts. But she'll call, they'll 
 both call. I'm not a snob, Dennis, but there is something in 
 Society when you've got money, and can afford it. I don't say 
 Ted can, but /can. . . ." 
 
 Dennis was conscious of a sudden sense of fatigue. It was 
 his father-in-law's habit to drop in once or twice a week like 
 this, to see his daughter, and talk about himself. But Mabel 
 was a good audience, and Dennis could often lose himself in 
 his own thoughts whilst they talked. Amos had prolonged 
 the seance to-night, and Dennis was conscious of nothing now 
 but the desire that he would finish saying good-night, and go. 
 Yet an uneasy sense of duty forced him unwillingly to the 
 words. 
 
 "Do you think it wise, sir, do you think it quite wise that 
 Merritt should go to Grosvenor Street? People might talk, 
 might say . . ." 
 
 "That my name has no right on the title page?" Amos 
 laughed. " Good of you to warn me, boy, you needn't have 
 been afraid to bring it out," for he had noted Dennis's 
 hesitation. "Let 'em, that's all. Let 'em. I'm prepared. 
 I've got documentary evidence, I wrote a bit of it down. . . ." 
 
 " I was not thinking of that. . . ."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 89 
 
 But Amos was too full of himself and his schemes to press 
 for what he had been thinking. And Dennis was tired, and a 
 little uncertain of his ground. 
 
 When Amos had left he was glad he had said nothing, glad 
 too that he had done his best for Roddy. He wondered as he 
 locked up and put out the lights, and went up to his room, 
 whether Mabel had fallen asleep, or was lying awake wishing 
 she was still free, that she had never been married; if she were 
 thinking of Roddy Ainsworth. And somehow the thought 
 made him uncomfortable. He had meant to do so much for 
 Mabel. His last waking thought was how Httle she had become 
 to him, how little he had given her except tolerance.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 NEVERTHELESS Dennis must be acquitted of pure 
 Quixotism. His life was at the moment unsatisfactory. 
 For two consecutive years he had expected to be chosen for 
 " The Gentlemen and Players." Now he thought seriously of 
 giving up first-class cricket. He needed fresh interests, some- 
 thing to prevent him becoming introspective; there was a 
 long winter before him. The M.CC. were sending a team out 
 to South Africa ; and he wished he had been going with them. 
 Privately, and in a way that made it possible, he had helped 
 towards the expenses. Three of his best friends at the Club 
 were going, and he knew he should miss them ; they were 
 all golfers. Small, who was captaining them, played scratch, 
 and was always available on Sunday. He knew he would 
 miss Small ; and would have a *' rotten " autumn. 
 
 He did not want to spend his days in criticising Mabel's 
 ways, in being impatient of them. Roddy Ainsworth and the 
 theatrical atmosphere generally might supply a new stimulus 
 to them ail. Dennis had an instinct he was living in a narrow 
 and contracted area. At present it was only instinct, but 
 reason was behind it. The world of the theatre has a certain 
 glamour and illusion for those who know nothing of it from 
 behind the footlights. Dennis had a sense of excitement over 
 the matter, a feeling that it would lead to something, to some 
 change ; they were all stagnating. 
 
 But there was no stagnation where Roddy was concerned. 
 Dennis had no time to get out the figures, and Amos had had 
 no opportunity of communicating with Cosmo Merritt, before 
 Roddy turned up again in Bond Street to urge his case, and 
 
 the necessity for quick action. 
 
 90
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 91 
 
 " I tell you, Dennis, this play is going to draw all London. 
 There are three big scenes. I suppose you know the book ? 
 The first is at the Academy with all the girls in their white 
 dresses, and Seraphino, you know I play Seraphino, is singing 
 for them. We've changed him, of course, from violinist and 
 conductor into a vocalist. One of the papers said my voice 
 was like an organ. Without swank I think I may say he's 
 right. But you shall hear me yourself. There is a fine scene 
 when the dying girl sings her swan song, and Seraphino from 
 outside her balcony takes up the refrain. There's a dash of 
 Romeo and Juliet about it, perhaps, but the music wakes it 
 up ; makes it new. Then there's the masked ball at the villa ; 
 moonlight and all that sort of thing ; it wants a bit of stage 
 managing I can tell you. When will Amos decide ? Hadn't I 
 better open negotiations with the theatre people ? " 
 
 It was difficult to make Roddy believe that Dennis had any 
 more pressing business to occupy him. 
 
 " I did see Amos yesterday," he admitted, somewhat reluct- 
 antly. And as he expected, Roddy was eager to hear what 
 had been said. He not only took hope from what Dennis told 
 him, he was exultant with certainty as soon as he heard Amos 
 was not absolutely averse to the idea of leasing or buying 
 the " Kemble." 
 
 " You take as many shares as he'll let you have. I tell you 
 it's going to be a big thing. Musical Comedy has about had 
 its day, and serious drama, Ibsen, Shaw, and that sort of 
 high-falutin won't catch the same audience. Sentiment is what 
 they want, or melodrama. Sentiment set to music is a * cert ' ; 
 and that's what this is. There's no comic element, nothing 
 vulgar. Only let Amos say the word. I'll get together the 
 prettiest girls in London for the chorus. My scene with Maria 
 will flood the place with tears." 
 
 He brought all sorts of people into the Gallery to answer 
 questions, or to give details. Mr. Dolland grew quite im- 
 patient of them, and of the atmosphere they imported. Roddy 
 said he wasn't good at figures himself but " Mr. Hart " or 
 "Mr. Nathan" or "Mr. Herman," as the case might be,
 
 92 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 would tell Dennis what he wanted to know, or what Amos 
 wanted to know. Dennis ascertained the ground rent of the 
 " Kemble," and the multifarious interests that were involved, 
 under what conditions the bars would be free, and who had to 
 be bought out, or " taken in." The cost of the production 
 was worked out, and a tentative salary list produced. Roddy 
 did nothing himself, except talk ; but he knew the right people, 
 the practical people ; he was sure about that, extravagantly 
 eulogising to their faces each new importation. They never 
 contradicted him, these geniuses of the under world. The 
 whole machinery could be set in motion if the motive power 
 were there, the motive power being Amos Juxton's money. 
 Certainly before the week was out, carried a little off his feet 
 by the other's impetuosity, Dennis was beginning to look upon 
 the production of "Charles Auchester" as one of the things 
 that was sure to happen. A slight hitch, however, in the 
 negotiations for the theatre gave opportune pause. It should 
 have been free at the end of the run of "Moonrise"; and 
 " Moonrise " had looked like rising on a frost within a week 
 of the opening. That is what Roddy had meant when he said 
 the theatre was in the market. But theatrical events had once 
 more surprised critics and box office, the piece had caught on 
 to a certain extent, sufficiently anyway to warrant a limited 
 extension of the lease to the present occupier. 
 
 " It's only a flash in the pan, it's not real business, only 
 stalls and dress circle. It's Connie Lander drawing them. 
 Connie Lander will come to us when we're ready. I played 
 with her two years ago in ' Frisco.' . . ." 
 
 But there was no doubt Roddy was disappointed and a little 
 cast down at the delay. He had taken for granted that the 
 money would be forthcoming, and that the theatre was not was 
 a blow. He came every day to the Bond Street Gallery, 
 making Dennis his confidant, incidentally exhibiting himself 
 as the supreme egoist. 
 
 "I shall have to find something, temporarily. I hate 
 sponging on you." 
 
 If he hated it, he disguised his feehng very well, accepting
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 93 
 
 daily lunch, borrowing a tenner, or twenty-five, going to 
 Dennis's tailor for his clothes, and to Dennis's hatter, making 
 free with his name and credit. 
 
 He told Dennis stories of women, boasted a little of his 
 own successes. Dennis did not appreciate these stories, thought 
 many of them abominable in fact. Yet imperceptibly they 
 affected him, keeping him interested, stirring in him some 
 emotion for which he had no name. He never approved, but 
 he always listened. He forgot about the red lacquer cabinet, 
 which changed hands without his intervention, and went for 
 a song. He neglected Christie's, and the masterpieces on the 
 walls of his Gallery received no addition, whilst day after day 
 he sat in his office, listening to Roddy's amorous and other 
 adventures, becoming intimately acquainted with the affairs of 
 the " Kemble " theatre, even going out to lunch at Roddy's 
 invitation with the very Connie Lander who was responsible 
 for the strange feverish popularity of " Moonrise." 
 
 It was Roddy's lunch party, Dennis had never taken an 
 actress out to lunch. Connie became very fascinated by 
 Dennis before the meal was over, and in the manner of ladies 
 of her profession, with a dash of American accent to excuse 
 her boldness, she suggested he should ask her to supper one 
 evening. The supper party actually took place, for Roddy 
 had been enthusiastic at the suggestion, adding himself to the 
 party as a matter of course. He took all the trouble of it off 
 Dennis's hands. Connie brought a friend on the eventful 
 occasion, with peroxide hair, and large ingenuous blue eyes. 
 That made a partie carrce, and Dennis was amazed at the 
 amount of champagne the ladies absorbed, and at the liveliness 
 of tlieir conversation. 
 
 Nevertheless he found himself yawning before the evening 
 was over, and was quite glad that a paternal government 
 decreed that no one should sup after twelve o'clock. There 
 was so much of the talk that he did not understand, or in 
 which he took no interest. Afterwards he knew he should 
 have made himself aware of all the parts Connie Lander had 
 ever played, and been able to answer intelligently when she
 
 94 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 questioned him as to how he thought this or that had 'gone,' 
 how she looked as "Thais," or "Zenda, the Pride of the 
 Pyramids," and whether her songs had suited her. She was 
 certainly disappointed in him. She told Roddy afterwards that 
 his friend " didn't seem to have much gumption, there was no 
 go in him." Roddy admitted Dennis had the reputation in 
 the Club of being somewhat of a prig, but " a good fellow for 
 all that," he added : " one of the best." 
 
 There was another lunch party, and tea in Miss Lander's 
 flat, but Connie made no progress with her wooing. Dennis 
 may have been interested, but he was certainly not enter- 
 prising. He was really experimenting with himself, and the 
 experiment proved a failure. He thought her vulgar and 
 meretricious ; in the end he thought worse of her than that. 
 
 It had been a strange bewildering week, but Mabel had 
 gained by it, gained decidedly in comparison. Each even- 
 ing he went home meaning to tell her all about it and that 
 he was seeing Roddy Ainsworth daily, principally he meant to 
 tell her that he was seeing Roddy Ainsworth daily. But there 
 never seemed to be an opening. 
 
 Mabel complained more than usual about her neuralgia, 
 and seemed nervously to avoid conversation with him, talking 
 sometimes spasmodically and inconsequently about her paint- 
 ing or household matters, but with unusual intervals of silence. 
 She looked ill, and Dennis was sorry for her; believing she 
 was suffering. He could criticise, but could not analyse. 
 Everything seemed suddenly to have altered in his way of 
 regarding life, and to have become complex instead of simple. 
 He began to wonder sometimes if marriage had been more 
 satisfying to Mabel than to himself, to doubt it. He thought 
 he detected something apologetic in her manner and feeble 
 vehemence of interpolated talk. Now he wanted her to meet 
 Roddy, anticipating her disillusionment. He had a spasm of 
 self-reproach after the termination of his short-lived acquaint- 
 ance with Connie Lander, and bought Mabel a Louis Seize 
 pendant, a pretty fragile thing that had caught his eye in a 
 sale-room. In expressing her admiration and gratitude, she
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 95 
 
 tried to say something else to him, but burst into tears and 
 rushed from the room. He was indefinably irritated, and when 
 they met again, he made another effort to bring in Roddy 
 Ainsworth's name. He felt he was keeping them apart, but 
 quite without intention. On the contrary, he wished them 
 to meet. 
 
 Roddy himself cut the Gordian knot, and in the simplest 
 way. He sauntered into the Gallery one day, as usual, but 
 found Dennis in earnest conversation with a little grey gentle- 
 man with side whiskers and gold eyeglasses. Impressively 
 one of the assistants came forward and whispered to Roddy 
 that it was Lord Rosenstein, and that Mr. Passiful must not 
 be interrupted. 
 
 " How long is he likely to keep him ? " Roddy asked 
 impatiently. 
 
 "There is no saying, sir. Lord Rosenstein generally 
 goes round the Gallery when he comes in. Sometimes Mr. 
 Passiful goes out with him. If there is any message . . ." 
 
 "Tell him I've got the score of the music at last, I 
 want him to hear it, and Mr. Juxton. . . ." 
 
 Roddy was really annoyed to think that Lord Rosenstein, 
 or anybody else, should stand between him and his desires, 
 him and his intentions. Dennis found a moment to come 
 over to him and say quietly : 
 
 "Sorry, Ainsworth, I can't get away just now, he doesn't 
 like to be left." 
 
 Roddy seized the moment and the lapel of his coat : 
 
 " But I say, I've got the score of the music. I want Juxton 
 to hear it. Can't I get at him, or at Mabel ? I must have 
 some one to play it for me. I want to see Mabel again. It 
 isn't everybody could play these songs. You've never given 
 me your address." 
 
 Dennis gave it, hurriedly. 
 
 "Yes, go and see Mabel, by all means. I don't know 
 whether you'll find her at home. Go into the office, ask over 
 the telephone." 
 
 Mabel must be warned, prepared. But Lord Rosenstein
 
 96 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 was not a customer who could be ignored, or kept waiting. 
 Dennis went back to him, composing his mind to listen whilst 
 that famous collector gave his view of the new " Duchess of 
 Devonshire," and the old, or perhaps renaissance, Venus with 
 the Cestus, of Bode and the Lucas bust. Lord Rosenstein 
 revelled in art gossip as women in bargain sales. But no 
 picture dealer could afford to cut short his garrulity. Dennis 
 kept that in mind, even if only part of his intelligence was pre- 
 sent, and the rest occupied in wondering whether Roddy would 
 find Mabel altered ; and what Mabel would think of Roddy. 
 
 It was characteristic of Roddy to have entirely forgotten how 
 he and Mabel had last parted, of anything the girl might have 
 suffered. 
 
 Dennis could not leave Lord Rosenstein again, and the 
 latter maundered on through all that interminable afternoon. 
 He did, however, find time to ask his assistant : 
 
 " Did Mr. Ainsworth get through to Hamilton Terrace ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir, I think so, sir. He said he was going straight up 
 there. He had the music with him." 
 
 But any anxiety Dennis had felt on Mabel's behalf was 
 set at rest before he had been home ten minutes. Roddy's 
 visit seemed to have had the effect of loosening Mabel's 
 tongue, and restoring her to her habitual volubility. 
 
 "It was so kind and thoughtful of him to telephone me. 
 I was just back from Church Row. Ursula has a cold, and 
 I thought perhaps I could read her something of Mrs. Eddy's. 
 She has only got to think she hasn't a cold, you know. But 
 she sneezed so much, poor thing, it was difficult to persuade 
 her. Agatha, who never sneezed at all, thought it all so 
 wonderful. But of course she has no cold to commence with, 
 which made it so much easier. When I came home the 
 telephone was actually ringing. So I changed into my 
 brown . . ." 
 
 But it was about the interview Dennis wanted to hear, and 
 as soon as he could get a word in edgeways he asked : 
 
 " Did you find Ainsworth altered ? " 
 
 At that her colour changed a little.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 97 
 
 " No ! I don't know. He, he is . . . older." 
 
 She faltered a little, then took courage ; her courage was a 
 poor thing, but it affected Dennis, who avoided looking at her, 
 and moved about the room as if searching for something that 
 interested him more than her answer to his question, which 
 now he felt had been unkind, almost brutal, like the probing 
 of a wound. 
 
 "I say, Where's that book I left here last night, the one 
 I was reading ? " 
 
 But having found her courage, the flush coming and going 
 in her sallow cheek, she went on more bravely, and without 
 stumbling. 
 
 " I thought I did not want to see him, but it all came so 
 suddenly. And I was agitated, and then so pleased. It was 
 like old times. You don't mind, do you ? He wants to see 
 me again, often. He wants me to take up my music. You 
 see we were friends for so long. When you were at Harrow 
 he was still at home, going to a day school. His father was 
 our dentist, and they were quite poor. I wonder if you 
 remember, you did not know him until after that, did you ? 
 Roddy would not have had music lessons at all but for me. 
 He said so himself to-day. He had such a beautiful boy's 
 voice, like you hear in a Cathedral. He sang duets with me 
 sometimes . . ." 
 
 She stopped short. " You don't mind?" she said again, 
 confused. 
 
 "Mmd? What should I mind? He's an egoistical 
 braggart, and in time I should think you'd find him a bore." 
 To avoid her eyes and give the conversation the lightest 
 possible tone seemed the kindest thing to do in the face of 
 her obvious agitation. 
 
 Dennis had never cared enough for any woman to be 
 agitated about her. Mabel's attitude about Roddy Ainsworth 
 inspired him with an unwilling interest ; a little contemptuous. 
 He thought of the stories Roddy had told him of women who 
 had offered themselves to him. Not but what he knew his 
 wife's timorous modesty, it was that which had originally 
 7
 
 98 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 attracted him to her. He was vexed, even if he did not admit 
 it to himself, that she should be agitated or engrossed in 
 Roddy Ainsworth ; it was incongruous in her, and he liked 
 to think of her as unvarying. Dennis wanted married life 
 made easy. Nevertheless he would not thwart or influence 
 Mabel. She must do what she liked. 
 
 "Have him here as often as you like. It will relieve me. 
 He has been sitting about in the Gallery all the week, in- 
 terrupting business. I suppose you know he wants your 
 father to put up money for him, to take a theatre?" 
 
 "Oh, yes! It would be so nice if he did. Roddy wants 
 me to play some of the score to him. It is such a pity I've 
 let my music get rusty. He was quite vexed once or twice 
 to-day, and that made me worse. And the accompaniments 
 to the solos are so difficult. But I wanted you to know all 
 about it before I began to practise. I'll finish painting the 
 new poppy piece for the dinner table first. I am not going 
 to neglect any of my duties. But he said he never had had 
 an accompanist that suited him like I did. He means to 
 take up a great deal of my time. Dennis, you are sure you 
 don't mind ? " 
 
 Her anxiety to be of use to Roddy was obvious, yet at the 
 same time she would not rob her husband of any of his due. 
 She was loyal and good all through, if inept. And again he 
 wondered if marriage had brought her much more than it 
 had him, or if her vapid continuity of talk covered the 
 same emptiness as his silences. 
 
 " I'm very glad if he gives you a new interest in life, some- 
 thing to think about. He might cure you of Christian 
 Science." 
 
 " Oh dear, yes ! He met some of them in America. Such 
 dreadful stories he told me of their untruths, and how keen 
 they were for money. I'm sure I shall never read Mrs. 
 Eddy's book again." She hastened to reassure him. But 
 then pulled herself up to say that she would never have 
 pursued her studies in Christian Science if she had thought 
 that Dennis objected.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 99 
 
 Dennis said, ratlier brutally, that it was better than Female 
 Suffrage. After that he was permitted to read in peace for 
 a while, and Mabel stole away to her studio, where she started 
 the assiduous practising that Roddy had urged upon her. 
 
 Dennis, for the next few days, had his ofifice to himself. 
 The scene of Roddy's eloquence was transferred to Hamilton 
 Terrace, where practising went on from early morn till dewy 
 eve. 
 
 And there, one day, to Fanny's astonishment, quickly 
 changed to suspicion, she was actually denied admission ! 
 
 " Mrs. Passiful is not to be disturbed," Mary said. 
 
 "But is she alone . . . who is with her?" 
 
 Fanny heard that Mr. Ainsworth was with her, they were 
 practising together. Fanny was altogether astonished, irritated, 
 and curious. She talked about it to Cosmo, who laughed 
 and said he should think Mabel was quite safe. 
 
 Mabel, unconscious of Fanny's comments, was yet vexed 
 to hear that she had been turned from the door. Mabel was 
 absorbed in the music of the new play, and in working to 
 prepare it for her father's acceptance. It was quite a little 
 conspiracy that was hatching, whereby Amos was to be forced 
 into hearing what neither Mabel nor Roddy had any doubt 
 would secure his support. Interruption would have been 
 fatal to these rehearsals. It was Roddy who instructed 
 Mary, and was liberal to her. If he had borrowed money 
 from Dennis, no one could say he hoarded it. Mabel was 
 dreadfully afraid lest Fanny had been offended, she knew 
 how sensitive Fanny was. 
 
 Meanwhile, "The Tale and the Typewriter," by Amos 
 Juxton and Cosmo Merritt, appeared and was received with 
 that spurious admiration by the Press that every big advertiser 
 can command, and that presents the semblance of success 
 to a happy amateur author. The reviewers might have had 
 their tongues in their cheek when they spoke of "The Tale 
 and the Typewriter" as a masterpiece of invention and 
 technique, proving talent of an unusual degree, almost 
 amounting to genius in its sublimer passages of passion and.
 
 100 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 poetry. Cosmo had many influential friends, and "Juxton's" 
 took full pages all the year round. Amos never saw the 
 tongue thrust into cheek, it was the other side he noted with 
 exultation, smooth and smiling. There was no question but 
 that the book must be dramatised, and the " Kemble " secured 
 as soon as it was vacant. Amos's good humour overflowed, 
 and effervesced in those days. Fanny secured an extra 
 cheque for new furniture. If the bulk of it went in clothes 
 with which to astonish Crockford's no one was any wiser, 
 nor worse. Mabel's request for a hearing for " Charles 
 Auchester " found easy assent. Time and place were quickly 
 arranged. It was customary for Dennis and Mabel, Ted and 
 Fanny to dine every Sunday with Amos at Fitzjohn's Hall. 
 
 " You bring your music, and the young man to sing it, the 
 Sunday after next. I'll have Merritt there to give his opinion. 
 I'm not saying I'm going to take the theatre, nor what I'm 
 going to produce there when I have got it. ' The Tale and 
 the Typewriter' isn't ready. Mr. Merritt and I are not 
 satisfied with the lyrics, and we haven't decided on a 
 composer. I'll hear the young fellow's songs, or what of 
 them you've got ready to play to me. Don't let him build 
 too much on it, that's all." 
 
 It was not in Mabel to try and nobble Fanny, nor to realise 
 the advisability of so doing. But her conscience reproaching 
 her that she had said she was " out " when she was at home, 
 she wrote inviting her to lunch, to meet Mr. Ainsworth, and 
 she added a timid hope that she would be able to stay for 
 half an hour or so afterwards, and listen to the new musical 
 melodrama. 
 
 Fanny accepted Mabel's invitation; she was a practical 
 " free fooder," always ready to lunch or dine out with any- 
 body, anywhere, to avoid the mere chance of domesticity, 
 or tete-a-tete with Ted. 
 
 She also wished to see the man who had been "closeted 
 with Mabel." She had little doubt of the result. Fanny's 
 vanity was quite a unique thing, she really thought she was 
 irresistible. When any man failed to give her a due meed of
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY loi 
 
 admiration, she found him "weird," or "quite uncanny," 
 "quaint," or "not only impossible but improbable." She 
 had now quite a few phrases culled from Cosmo, that gave 
 her an air of smartness. 
 
 But the entertainment, if the luncheon party was to be 
 considered in that light, proved something of a fiasco. After 
 a few oeillades, to which the "weird looking actor" proved 
 himself completely indifferent, Fanny would talk of nothing but 
 Crockford's, boasting in her languid and indifferent way of the 
 aristocrats who played cards there, and of what each and all of 
 them had said about Miss Jones. From Fanny's conversation 
 it appeared that there was no other subject discussed at the 
 Club but Miss Jones, her dress, manners, appearance, and the 
 Scotch Baronet who was supposed to be enamoured of her, but 
 of whom Fanny obviously thought better things. Now Roddy 
 Ainsworth had no sort of interest in Miss Jones, nor, be it 
 admitted, in anybody but Roddy Ainsworth, and incidentally 
 "Charles Auchester." Mabel tried to please both of them, 
 wandering from Miss Jones to Maria, and Seraphino to Fanny's 
 new frock, with a nervous desire to please both her guests, and 
 place them en rapport. But failure resulted, as was perhaps 
 inevitable. 
 
 Fanny had not nice table manners. She crumbled her bread, 
 picked at the food on her plate, mixed it up with her fork, and 
 left it uneaten ; declaring she had no appetite, and only cared 
 for pickles and salted almonds. When her want of appetite, 
 and love of pickles, excited no attention from Roddy, she said 
 to Mabel that she had a most terrible headache, she didn't 
 believe she could listen to music. Her head became worse 
 as Roddy showed more and more familiarity with Mabel, 
 urging on her the necessity of becoming completely ac- 
 quainted with the whole score of " Charles Auchester " before 
 Sunday, and reproaching her with want of spirit in it. When 
 Fanny had cracked a filbert with her pretty white teeth, and 
 Roddy had ignored the performance, it became obvious, 
 even to Mabel, that all hope of harmony between her guests 
 was over. Fanny — still talking about Miss Jones and the
 
 I02 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Club — left quite early, and fortunately the afternoon became 
 free for further practice. 
 
 Before the time for Amos to pronounce a verdict had arrived, 
 Dennis grew sick of hearing fragments of the " Charles 
 Auchester " score, and of being regaled with tit bits of the 
 dialogue, and the words of the songs. Mabel could think and 
 talk of nothing else, speculating as to what her father would 
 say of this, that, or the other number, half elated at the import- 
 ance of her position in the matter, desperately nervous lest she 
 should break down at a critical moment, spoiling Roddy's 
 effects, or incurring his just anger. 
 
 It seemed to Dennis, watching, that Mabel had forgotten all 
 her sufferings on Roddy's account, all her fears of meeting him 
 again, her doubts and tremors. She was singularly happy and 
 occupied, younger looking than when she had married; the 
 short-sighted eyes were very soft, and bluer than he had noticed 
 them. She talked less, hardly at all of anything but the play. 
 
 Dennis saw his f*ther-in-law once during this week. He 
 came into the Gallery with a bundle of press cuttings that he 
 thought Dennis might care to see. There was one headed 
 " The Playtime of Famous Men," which Amos pooh-poohed, 
 but was careful Dennis should not miss a word. 
 
 He swelled visibly whilst Dennis was reading the article, 
 saying how much he deprecated that kind of thing. 
 
 It was illustrated with Amos's portrait, and there was another 
 one of the interior of his library. Amos " could not think " 
 where they had been obtained. That to which he wanted to 
 draw Dennis's attention, however, was a curious coincidence, 
 a phrase. The article said that " Amos Juxton supplied the 
 people with food, but there was other than material food, for 
 which the populace was hungering ! There was no doubt he 
 could supply that also if he would." 
 
 Cosmo Merritt knew his man, and that a sense of humour 
 was not his strong point. The article laid the butter on a 
 little thick, perhaps, and Amos had a buttered look ; Dennis 
 noticed it. 
 
 " It was to that I wanted to draw your attention. Curious,
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 103 
 
 isn't it, that line ? It's true you know, in a sense. They want 
 good fiction as well as good food. And then there is the theatre, 
 it's a great educator, Dennis. I wouldn't have anything but 
 what a mother could bring her girl to see, no innuendo, or 
 anything of that sort. The programmes could be interleaved 
 with 'Juxton's quick supper' scheme, and a nice tea served 
 between the acts, made fresh. China tea, mind you, not that 
 Indian stuff you get now, stewed, half cold. Not that I've 
 made up my mind, only I thought you'd like to see what the 
 papers were saying." 
 
 Amos had always loved seeing his name in print, but some- 
 times he had resented the terms. Every notice of his book 
 seemed indirect or gratuitous advertisement, and gratified him 
 as a business man, as well as a great raconteur. His appetite 
 grew by what it fed on, and in imagination he saw his theatre 
 as a great advertising medium for "Juxton's," with himself 
 hailed as the great benefactor of the age. 
 
 " Clean plays, great moral plays, my boy, that's what they 
 want. I shouldn't mind losing money over them either, if I 
 felt sure I was doing good, giving them other than material 
 food." He quoted the sentence with great complacence; it 
 seemed to fit his circumstance so admirably. 
 
 Dennis could only marvel at his father-in-law's obtuseness^ 
 and at Cosmo's adroitness. For himself he was pledged to 
 give Roddy his chance. And not for the world would he have 
 driven from Mabel's face that new young look of happiness, 
 nor quenched the eagerness with which she waited for her 
 father's decision. If Dennis wondered sometimes if he had 
 been everything a husband should be to Mabel, he was at least 
 more than her friend. He was becoming more critical alto- 
 gether, of himself as well as of his wife. And his intelligence 
 made him a good critic. If ever he began to think, he would 
 think clearly ; but of course, when his leg got all right again 
 he would have no time for thinking. Mabel was a giver, but 
 there had been no gift he wanted from her. She was blos- 
 soming in Roddy Ainsworth's need ; that was what he 
 thought now.
 
 104 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 The momentous Sunday arrived at last. Punctually at eight 
 o'clock Amos was airing his enormous width before the fire- 
 place in the drawing-room of Fitzjohn's Hall. His white waist- 
 coat accentuated his size. The guests arrived almost simultane- 
 ously. It was known that punctuality was one of his hobbies, 
 and most of those who were present were bent one way or 
 another on propitiating him. 
 
 " Well, here we all are ! " he exclaimed with satisfaction, 
 when Mr. and Mrs. Ted Juxton, Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Passiful, 
 Mr. Cosmo Merritt, and Mr. Ainsworth, had been definitely 
 and separately announced by the butler with the assistance 
 of two liveried footmen. 
 
 " You two are the only strangers." He indicated Roddy 
 to Cosmo. The two were immediately conscious of antipathy. 
 Cosmo regarded Roddy's long hair with disfavour, and found 
 his collar too low. Roddy was almost too much occupied 
 with himself to be censorious, but Cosmo's eyeglass, held in 
 its place without visible support, seemed somewhat offensive. 
 In a way, too, it had been conveyed to him that Cosmo w^as 
 the arbiter of his destinies. Amos being the moneyed man, 
 this seemed unfair. Also, notwithstanding the press notices 
 of which he had boasted, Roddy distrusted journalists, not 
 quite without cause. Policemen and cabmen have the same 
 feeling towards each other. 
 
 " This is a family meeting, Mr. Ainsworth. Sunday is the 
 day for the family ! I've always said it, and I always shall. 
 I've made an exception in your favour to-night, for I look upon 
 Mr. Merritt as practically one of the family, seeing that now 
 he occupies the same house. I remember you, young fellow," 
 he went on, talking to Roddy, "when you were almost no 
 height. Many a trick your father performed on my teeth. 
 We were a regular income to him. There was Mabel with a 
 plate, and Ted with toothache, and as for me. ..." Again 
 he opened his mouth and showed his golden molars. " Good 
 work-, eh ? Your father did good work. We'll see presently 
 of what his son is capable. But dinner is on the table. You 
 take in Mabel. I remember when you were always running
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 105 
 
 after Mabel, never out of the house. She found a better match 
 for herself, eh ? " 
 
 But now dinner was announced and they all followed Amos 
 into the dining-room. On such occasions Amos put on company 
 manners, and offered Fanny his arm. Fanny was still persona 
 grata with her father-in-law, although she had not, as a rule, 
 the gift of retaining her friends. It was only Cosmo Merritt 
 who, after five years, appeared to be faithful to her. Their 
 alliance however was offensive and defensive, a curious thing, 
 not explicable on ordinary grounds. 
 
 It was Mabel who sat at her father's left hand. Her 
 marriage was entirely satisfactory ; Amos Juxton liked Dennis 
 as well as any man he knew, better than most in fact. Some 
 quaUty of candour or simplicity in the young man, his com- 
 plete honesty, perhaps his belief in that of other people, had 
 endeared him to his father-in-law. Amos was curiously proud 
 of Dennis, too, and Mabel shared the favour with which he 
 regarded his son-in-law. 
 
 Ted on the other hand was never anything but a vexation. 
 Once he had been ambitious for Ted, but he had had no satis- 
 faction in his ambitions; now he found fault with him con- 
 tinually. Yet Cosmo, who was a good observer, especially 
 when his own interests were concerned, held the opinion, 
 notwithstanding Amos's constant fault-finding with his son, 
 and the way he habitually spoke of, and to, him, that Ted 
 was really the innermost core of Amos's heart, and that his 
 censoriousness was a cloak for a feeling of which because he 
 could not be proud, he was a little ashamed. 
 
 But whichever of his children he loved, or whether he loved 
 either of them, he was equally tactful in his conversation. 
 Having made his observation about Roddy running after 
 Mabel, and implied that Mabel had thrown him over for 
 Dennis, he turned his attention to Ted, and began to chaff 
 him about his clothes. His clothes and his wife were Ted's 
 sensitive points. Before the soup was finished, and Amos 
 gulped it down with strange noises, his serviette tucked under 
 his collar, he had touched on both.
 
 io6 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Ted was heavily built, his hair grew low on his forehead, 
 and his clean-shaven face was rugged and sullen. He had 
 coarse hands and big feet, he slouched in his carriage, slunk 
 through life, speaking but little. Fanny had laughed at him 
 so often for what he said or left unsaid, exposed his uncouth- 
 ness to him so ruthlessly, that now he had little self-respect 
 left. His brain power was perhaps a little below the normal, 
 the fist was his only idea of a repartee. But Cosmo always 
 told him that a man should consider his appearance, and in 
 that Fanny agreed with him. It was under Cosmo's advice 
 that Ted's dress clothes came from the best tailor in London. 
 His shirts were soft, and of the latest fashion, his jewelled 
 waistcoat buttons, four of them in the long pointed double- 
 breasted garment that was the "dernier cri" in "Modes for 
 Men," matched the sleeve links, and toned with his studs. 
 He, too, had lately taken to carrying an eyeglass. It was his 
 misfortune that it would not keep in position as Cosmo's did. 
 But placing and replacing it served him with an occupation, 
 and his father with the opportunity for satire, of which he 
 availed himself freely. 
 
 "Try Stickphast, Ted," he said now, looking up from his 
 soup, " or train Fanny to hold it in for you. She's an obedient 
 wife I take it, and wouldn't go back on you." 
 
 Ted's short hoarse laugh was the only answer to the gibe, 
 but Fanny, who had little sense of humour, remarked, " I see 
 myself doing it," with a toss of her head. 
 
 It was strange that at Amos Juxton's house one dined better 
 than at any of those he served. Since his children were 
 married, he had discarded the communal system. He said 
 it was only truly economical for a family. He had his own 
 chef and kitchen-maids, his portentous butler, so much like 
 himself in build, the footmen and a full establishment. There 
 was perhaps a lack of elegance about the repast, consisting as 
 it did of mulligatawny soup, boiled turbot, roast beef with 
 Yorkshire pudding, and a baked treacle tart. The menu varied 
 but slightly from year's end to year's end. Salmon was some- 
 times substituted for turbot, the mulligatawny was occasionally
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 107 
 
 replaced with ox tail, and exceptionally with turtle. The 
 vegetables followed the seasons. In the summer, instead of 
 the treacle, there were gooseberries, cherries, or currants for 
 the pudding. It was not elegant, but all the materials were 
 of the very best. It had been difficult to train a French 
 chef to Amos's tastes ; a German compromise, instructed 
 by Juxton's, finally solved the problem. Amos liked his 
 guests to eat heartily, and it was with difficulty always that he 
 condoned Fanny's conduct at meals. 
 
 The silver on the table was bright and there were flowers 
 in specimen glasses. Nothing was lacking but good humour. 
 Fanny and Ted had been quarrelling all day. It had ended 
 as usual in Ted giving in on every point, and Fanny sulking 
 because he had not done so before. 
 
 Fanny was dressed in white, and Mabel in a new orange- 
 coloured charmeuse trimmed with oriental embroidery. Fanny 
 found time to admire it before they left the drawing-room. 
 And Cosmo had regarded it with interest. Mabel did not 
 know that Cosmo's interest was due to Fanny's admiration. 
 He knew there must be something singularly unbecoming or 
 hideous about a fellow-woman's dress if Fanny admired it. 
 And truly the orange hue was unfortunate for Mabel's com- 
 plexion. But Mabel was pleased with Fanny's praise and 
 showed at her best, as soon as she had recovered from her 
 father's observation. She admired her father very much, but 
 his jocosity had always been a terror to her and Ted. It 
 provided Cosmo with an aphorism which, however, he had not 
 yet put into polished form. " The funny man has rarely a sense 
 of humour" expressed it but dully. Margaret Lemon, to 
 whom he was in the habit of taking his best things, had told 
 him that it was feeble. 
 
 Cosmo made no effort to shine at this family dinner-party. 
 Observant silence was his attitude. And Fanny, as always, 
 kept him amused. Whatever their relations, and the whole of 
 Hampstead was exercised over the matter, he had certainly 
 no illusions about her ; and she may have been madly in love 
 with him, popular opinion said that she was, but it did not
 
 io8 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 prevent her from making uncomplimentary remarks to him in 
 pubhc, though certainly they were made in a flirtatious way ; 
 but the flirtatious way was the only way Fanny knew of talking 
 to any man who was not her husband. " Cosmo, I hate you," 
 accompanied by a shrug or an ceillade, was one of her favourite 
 phrases. She often accused him of meanness, and gave in- 
 stances that failed to prove it. If Ted, however, dared to 
 agree in any attack she might make on Cosmo, she would 
 turn upon him furiously and say unthinkable things ; but not 
 in her father-in-law's presence. Amos exercised some restrain- 
 ing influence over her. She behaved better towards Ted when 
 Amos was present than at any other time. It was a sad 
 spectacle, nevertheless, to see the two together, and to notice 
 how little of the man there was left in Ted after six years of 
 married life to a girl whom he loved, and who was dependent 
 upon him for the very bread she ate. But her nature knew 
 no gratitude, and her heart no softness. Dennis suspected 
 more than he knew, seeing the demoralisation of Ted's 
 character. He was, however, as yet far from realising her com- 
 pletely, and often thought Ted might have managed her better, 
 exercised more control over her. He also blamed him for a 
 violent temper that gave Fanny excuse for much that she said 
 and did. She pretended to be frightened of her personal 
 safety, and had more than once said if it had not been for 
 Cosmo, and his influence over Ted, she could not have gone 
 on living with him. Her attitude to-night, for instance, was 
 one of dejection, 
 
 " Ted's been simply intolerable, all day," she said to Mabel. 
 And, of course, poor Ted heard it, as had been meant. The 
 only offence of which he was conscious was having asked her 
 to go for a walk in the Park with him. 
 
 " One would think Ted had been beating you," Amos said 
 jocosely. The swimming eyes she turned on him, and then 
 away, almost admitted the charge. But Cosmo laughed, and 
 the growl from Ted seemed to be directed more at him for 
 laughing than against Fanny for implying the correctness of 
 his father's guess.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 109 
 
 If there had been any stranger present but Roddy Ainsworth, 
 who obviously was not worth powder and shot, Fanny might 
 have revived. But Roddy could talk nothing but "Charles 
 Auchester" and "the Kemble," the run of " Moonrise," and 
 a short engagement he had just been offered, to play Oliver 
 Orchard's part in " The Girl from Galway," whilst that eminent 
 comedian was " resting," after a severe attack of professional 
 jealousy. He had an idea that everyone at the table wanted to 
 hear what he had to say. And perhaps that was well. For 
 Amos had a habit of becoming absorbed in his food, and no 
 one else was conversationally inclined. 
 
 Cosmo was interested in seeing what form Fanny's ill-temper 
 would take. He really understood her so much better than 
 anyone else. He knew she would be unable to bear Amos's 
 kindness to Mabel, Mabel's evident happiness and pride in 
 her pupil or protege. Mabel was looking young, almost nice- 
 looking to-night, notwithstanding her unbecoming dress. It 
 was not given to Fanny to see another woman's happiness with 
 equanimity, from whatever source. 
 
 " I should think the play would go to pieces without Oliver 
 Orchard," Fanny said. 
 
 "Come and see me take his part," Roddy said good- 
 humouredly. 
 
 " But I hear the booking has fallen off altogether since the 
 public have known he is out of the bill." 
 
 What Fanny had heard, and what Fanny invented, were often 
 the same thing ; but she could not get through Roddy 
 Ainsworth's thick skin. 
 
 "They don't know I'm in it yet. The announcement will 
 be made to-morrow. I shouldn't be surprised if there was 
 quite a fresh boom given to the play. They are going to ask 
 the Press when I've sung myself in, make a regular first night 
 of it. You ought all to come. Won't you, sir?" he asked 
 Amos. 
 
 She could not hurt Roddy, so she put out a little spiteful 
 paw with which to claw poor Ted. Ted jumped when she 
 addressed him, although it had only been to ask him to pass
 
 no JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 her a salted almond, she said it was the only thing she fancied. 
 The eyeglass figured again, it dropped into the treacle tart. 
 The incident might have been ignored, if Fanny had not drawn 
 the attention of the whole table to it, by her malicious laugh, 
 by repeating Amos's witticism, and saying the "Stickphast" 
 had better be brought down ; it was such a pity he should use 
 the treacle. 
 
 " You shut up." 
 
 Ted grew red, and there was a little passage of arms between 
 the husband and wife, not very edifying. Dennis saw how 
 Fanny's malicious laugh had exasperated Ted, how his sensi- 
 tiveness wilted under her ridicule. It is possible Cosmo saw 
 it, too, and was amused, for such things amused him. But he 
 covered it up by entering languidly into the conversation with 
 an anecdote about Oliver Orchard and the prima donna, 
 under cover of which Ted's red face, and Fanny's satisfaction 
 in having roused him, escaped Amos's attention. He was 
 recommending Dennis to try a glass of port. 
 
 " You're too sober, my boy. You overdo it. That port 
 cost me six-and-six a bottle in bond . . ." 
 
 Mabel was sorry for Ted, and that the incident should have 
 interrupted what Roddy was saying. But Roddy went on 
 talking about himself, when Cosmo's anecdote was finished, 
 quite unaffected. 
 
 When the ladies had left the room, things went a little 
 better. Cosmo drew his chair up to Amos, and began to tell 
 him what he had heard people saying about " The Tale and 
 the Typewriter," and what a fine play it would make. 
 
 " I think I've found a librettist. As for the music . . ." 
 Roddy dashed into this with another eulogy of the music of 
 " Charles Auchester " and what a treat they were going to have 
 presently, when Mabel ran through the score and he let them 
 hear some of the songs. 
 
 Cosmo, notwithstanding his prejudice against long hair, was 
 so anxious that Amos should take the " Kemble"as soon as it 
 could be got, that he refrained from snubbing Roddy. It did 
 not matter what they put on at first. Why riot "Charles
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY m 
 
 Auchester," since Dennis Passiful was backing it, and Dennis 
 had his father-in-law's ear. The great thing was that Amos 
 should have the house, Cosmo saw endless advantages to 
 himself when Amos should be the lessee of the Kemble theatre. 
 He knew the world quite well, into which the other was 
 venturing as a novice ; he had no fear of any influence Roddy 
 Ainsworth might acquire, he knew the type, and that its 
 egotism swamped its interests. But for his constitutional 
 inertia Cosmo Merritt would have been a great man, or a rich 
 one. He could always see his opportunities ; getting up early 
 enough to take advantage of them was what generally beat 
 him in the end. That he could not do. He put in just the 
 right word at the right time, when Roddy's eloquence inter- 
 fered with what was meant to be a private talk with Amos. 
 Amos might listen to "Charles Auchester " and consider the 
 author as a possible candidate for setting " The Tale and the 
 Typewriter" to music. But Cosmo would see that Amos 
 recognised Roddy as only " out for himself." 
 
 Dennis urged the merits of " Charles Auchester " temperately 
 and tactfully. Ted was the only one who took no part in the 
 conversation. The poor fellow was ashamed that he had lost 
 his temper, sorry that he had spoken rudely to Fanny. He 
 knew that he was always putting his foot into it, but she 
 exasperated him and he resented his father's interference. He 
 did not look sorry, he only looked sullen, and smoked aggres- 
 sively, whilst the plays were under discussion, nursing his 
 grievances. 
 
 " Well, you're sitting there as glum as if Fd given you 
 under-done mutton " Amos said to him once. " Did you 
 read ' The Tale and the Typewriter '? What do you make of 
 it ? Think your father can write as well as any of 'em, eh ? " 
 
 "To tell you the honest truth, I couldn't get through it," 
 Ted answered doggedly. " I like those stories of Jacobs." 
 
 Roddy knew enough to praise the "Tale and the Type- 
 writer " sky high. 
 
 By the time the move was made into the drawing-room 
 Amos had come to the conclusion that if "Charles Auchester"
 
 112 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 was good enough, he might open the season at the ' Kemble ' 
 with it. Renting or purchasing the ' Kemble ' had been 
 decided upon, although no one, except perhaps Cosmo, knew 
 how the decision had been reached. It had been reiterated 
 again and again that "Charles Auchester" had drawn all 
 America, and was therefore bound to draw at least half 
 London. 
 
 "But we must hear Mr. Ainsworth's voice," Cosmo said 
 in the hall. " We must assure ourselves of its calibre. His 
 ' Seraphino,' as he tells us, may have satisfied New York, 
 although I believe, correct me if I am wrong, that there were 
 one or two dissentient opinions in the press — important dis- 
 sentients. The London audience is so much more critical. 
 We might be able to get Angell . . ." 
 
 This had the anticipated effect of angering Roddy. He had 
 the option of the play, nobody but himself could put it up. 
 Dennis held him back, almost with force. 
 
 " Let it go at that, Roddy. It's all right, can't you see it's 
 all right ? Merritt has a way of putting one's back up, it's his 
 method, my sister-in-law taught it to him, I believe, but it 
 doesn't mean anything. You can see for yourself that Mr. 
 Juxton has quite decided upon becoming the lessee of the 
 'Kemble.' Isn't that good enough for you? He'll put up 
 ' Charles Auchester ' if you can sing him into a belief in it. 
 Isn't that enough for one night ? " 
 
 Dennis held Roddy back while he expostulated with him. 
 He meant to see that he had fair play ; he scarcely knew why, 
 except that he was Mabel's old friend. 
 
 " That's true. My option won't expire for three months." 
 Roddy was easily assuaged. " But fancy that monocled fool 
 doubting my fitness to play lead. Do you think if I had not 
 had the best tenor voice in England that Fowler would have 
 recommended me to play Oliver Orchard's part, or that 
 Edwards would have engaged me for it ? He heard me, he 
 didn't go on the recommendation alone. You see he'll offer 
 me a permanent engagement. But that's not what I want." 
 
 " I know well enough what you want, and you'll get it, too.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 113 
 
 But keep calm, don't quarrel with Merritt if you want Amos 
 Juxton's ear or money. Come along." 
 
 In the drawing-room, Fanny, relapsed into depression, 
 perched on the fender-stool, her back rounded, a little hunched, 
 was complaining of headache. Mabel had been sympatheti- 
 cally plying her with aspirin and advice. Whenever Mabel 
 ceased to be sorry for Ted, she began to feel sorry for Fanny. 
 The entrance of the men cut short her ministrations. Fanny 
 revived when Cosmo joined her on the fender-stool. And 
 Mabel, at Roddy's instigation, went at once to the piano. 
 
 Fanny, looking up from her low toned conversation as Ted 
 came in, said to him : 
 
 " I suppose you are going to tell us what you think of 
 Mr. Ainsworth's voice." And then, turning to Roddy, who 
 was already arranging the music for Mabel on the stand, she 
 added : 
 
 "Ted ought to be a good judge of voices. He hasn't 
 missed a performance at a Music Hall for years. Lottie 
 CoUins is his favourite heroine in real life, and he simply 
 raves about Malcolm Scott." 
 
 " And what's the matter with Malcolm Scott ? " Ted put in. 
 
 " Nothing," she answered, smiling sweetly ; her good humour 
 suddenly restored. " Nothing, but this is serious music, isn't 
 it ? " She appealed prettily to Roddy. 
 
 " Oh, if it's serious music, I'm off. Come for a turn in the 
 garden, Dennis, my father keeps his rooms so hot," Ted 
 remarked. 
 
 Amos thought the room was very comfortable, but there 
 was no pleasing Ted. Amos was already enthroned in his 
 favourite easy chair, his coat was thrown open, he had his 
 hands folded over his stomach, a favourite attitude. He 
 looked the picture of well-fed benevolence, as he signalled to 
 Mabel to begin. 
 
 Dennis followed Ted out of the room. He had done all that 
 
 was necessary, and already he was tired of hearing Mabel play 
 
 snatches of the music from " Charles Auchester." The garden, 
 
 even in the chill autumnal air, was more to his mind than the 
 
 8
 
 114 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 juxtaposition of those two on the fender-stool, perhaps of the 
 other two at the piano. Mabel was again absurdly wrapped 
 up in the fellow. But it was good to see her looking so 
 happy. 
 
 Mabel, although as a musician she was more accomplished 
 than inspired, was really an excellent accompanist. She had 
 no desire to show her own prowess, and a great wish that 
 Roddy should have his chance. Indeed his voice was re- 
 markable, and his diction excellent. If Mabel, who had a 
 trained ear, and knew when a divergence from note must be 
 concealed, helped him more than was legitimate or than would 
 be conceded by an orchestra, none of her auditors were aware 
 of it. 
 
 Amos openly expressed his pleasure after the first song, and 
 praised it heartily. Cosmo, more cautious, said it was certainly 
 a very good voice in a room, but he should like to hear it in a 
 theatre, or large concert hall. Fanny gave forth some wholly 
 ignorant remarks about the music, which she said reminded 
 her of Wagner. Cosmo, for his own entertainment, made her 
 point out the resemblance, and Fanny said, perceiving she was 
 being ridiculed, " Cosmo, I hate you," and began to wonder if 
 she could persuade Ted to walk home ; it was such a fine night 
 and he needed exercise. Cosmo was never nicer to her than 
 when he had been " nasty." 
 
 " Why not hear me in a theatre then? Why not make up a 
 party and come on Wednesday ? Then Mr. Juxton and you 
 will both get an idea of what I am like on the stage. They 
 are sending round notices and press invitations. I must say 
 Edwards is behaving well over it. They are billing me as 
 'The Great Australian Tenor.'" 
 
 " I should so like to hear you on the stage," Mabel mur- 
 mured. 
 
 "You mean all of us to come?" Amos said tentatively. 
 
 " It would be great fun," Fanny put in. 
 
 "As a matter of fact I believe I have a stall," Cosmo 
 volunteered. Roddy urged Amos. He sang again, and gave 
 them a specimen of what he could do that Oliver Orchard had
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 115 
 
 left undone. Before Ted and Dennis returned from the 
 garden, Amos had agreed to take the whole party to the 
 theatre " if they could get seats." Fanny said if he thought of 
 taking them on to supper at the Savoy afterwards he ought to 
 secure a table. Amos had had no such thought, but in his 
 good humour he said he "would see about it." 
 
 It needed little manoeuvring on Fanny's part to get Ted to 
 walk home. Amos kept early hours, and did not hesitate 
 presently in drawing his guests' attention to the fact that it 
 was eleven o'clock. Ten minutes' whistling only succeeded in 
 producing two derelict hansom cabs. Ted said he hated 
 driving three in a cab, and Cosmo maintained an admirable 
 calm whilst the matter was being argued. He had obviously 
 no intention of walking. Ted said that he would rather walk, 
 but that he had no latch key. Quite sweetly Fanny said she 
 would sit up for him, and a little wifely touch of anxiety lest 
 he should take cold without a coat gave the poor fellow so 
 much pleasure that for the first time that evening they saw 
 him smile. 
 
 " Oh, I'm as strong as a horse ! Don't you worry about me. 
 To tell you the honest truth I like the cold." 
 
 Driving home with }^Iabel, Dennis, full of the conversation 
 he had had with Ted in the garden, asked whether she thought 
 anything could be done to make her brother's life a happier 
 one. 
 
 "Make Ted's life happier?" she repeated. "But I do 
 really think he is sometimes quite happy ! Perhaps they 
 understand each other better than we know. Ted lets fall a 
 word or two to me now and again ; he says everyone admires 
 her. Their new house is so nice, although it is dearer than 
 Father thinks prudent. It is so lucky they have got Mr. 
 Merritt to share it with them." 
 
 " Is it ? " asked Dennis drily, " is it ? " 
 
 Mabel was surprised he should doubt it. 
 
 " Fanny really is frightened sometimes of Ted's temper. 
 He seems to have no control over himself at all. And 
 Mr. Merritt influences him. Ted is just like father, he
 
 ii6 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 thinks the world of Mr. Merritt. Fanny says she doesn't 
 believe she would have gone to Grosvenor Street at all without 
 Mr. Merritt. Oh, Dennis," she came a little closer to his 
 side, Mabel was not demonstrative, but she did come closer 
 to him, " I am so glad you're so good-tempered. It is 
 dreadful for husband and wife to be always quarrelling. I'm 
 sure Fanny is fond of Ted : she always speaks so nicely about 
 him when he isn't there, and says she is sorry he is so 
 violent, and difficult." 
 
 " Yes, I've heard her. But she never has her playful little 
 paw, with its sharp talons, out of the sensitive parts of his 
 flesh. It is pain makes him violent. Merritt laughs at her. 
 I can't help thinking they would be better with him out of the 
 house. Ted is of the same opinion, I fancy." 
 
 "I really don't think Fanny would like that at all," said 
 Mabel doubtfully. "And surely you're wrong about Ted. 
 I've heard him and Mr. Merritt talk racing together, and 
 about all the things Ted likes. He is going to introduce 
 them to such nice people. And the house is really too 
 expensive for them alone." 
 
 " How much do you think Cosmo Merritt is going to pay 
 for his suite of rooms, his food and the telephone?" asked 
 Dennis curtly. 
 
 Mabel did not know, and Dennis could not convey to 
 her the impression that Ted had left on his mind. Ted was 
 loyal, and suspicion had hardly touched him, but there 
 was no doubt the gossip had reached him, and if it had 
 not shaken his confidence in either wife or friend, it was at 
 least worrying him. He had become suddenly doubtful of the 
 wisdom of having Cosmo Merritt to live in his house. He 
 told Dennis they had already had a row about it. He had 
 tried to tell Fanny what people were saying, and she had 
 turned upon him as if it were his fault. She had put herself 
 in a perfect fury about it, said he had invented it, and God 
 knows what beside ! Fanny said if Mr. Merritt were turned out 
 of the rooms that had been prepared for him in Grosvenor 
 Street; she would refuse to live in the house, or with a man
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 117 
 
 who suspected her ! Ted did not suspect her, nor his friend. 
 But he was very unhappy, and uncertain what he ought to do. 
 It was not doubt of his wife, nor of his friend, that Dennis 
 had read into Ted's halting speech, but of his own duty to 
 both of them. 
 
 "It's what people are saying. Cossy will have it that it 
 never matters what people say. But I could kill them when I 
 think they are looking at her as if they thought . . . you know 
 the sort of things people say. I say, Dennis, you don't think, 
 no one could think, could they, that Fanny was that sort? 
 I've been in a rage with her sometimes, and said things I'd 
 have bitten my tongue out rather than believed. But it's only 
 when I've been in a rage. She's so attractive . . . you can 
 see for yourself how attractive she is. It isn't as if Cossy is a 
 woman's man either. You know how little notice he takes of 
 women. He was always like that at Cambridge, always. And 
 he was dead against my marriage from the first. He only got 
 reconciled to it after your wedding, when he saw for himself 
 how clever she is. Not that he calls her clever, he laughs at 
 her often. Advise me, Dennis ; I hate to seem to be always 
 contradicting her, or to set myself against what she wishes. 
 The house is expensive, but that's not anything to do with it. 
 He's only going to pay two pounds a week. I don't want 
 him to pay anything. I can't bear to think people are talking 
 about her." 
 
 Ted's distress had been painful. All his love for Fanny, 
 that incredible love at which Dennis wondered, could not 
 make him quite blind to her conduct towards him. But he 
 made endless allowances for her, and was ever humbly, 
 miserably conscious of his own unworthiness, and short- 
 comings. Fanny said she "hated married life"; and whilst 
 taking his money, for she had none of her own, living beyond 
 his income and running him into endless debt, she lost no 
 opportunity of ridiculing and running him down, of telling 
 him how much happier she would be if she were free. Fanny's 
 tongue was sharp, she had no conscience to restrain it, and 
 poor Ted had neither peace nor love in his home. His
 
 ii8 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 own self-control was imperfect. Cosmo had hinted, had 
 suggested. . . . Ted could not quite bring himself to put into 
 words exactly what Cosmo had hinted or suggested. But 
 there were other women in the world. If Fanny did not care 
 for him, and if she was persistently cold, denying him his 
 husband's rights, he could go where he was more welcome. 
 
 " Ever met a Mrs. Margaret Lemon ? " Ted asked Dennis. 
 And Dennis remembered his wedding journey, and the soft- 
 eyed young woman who had told him marriage was imprison- 
 ment. "Cossy introduced me to her the other day. She's 
 a rippin' nice woman, clever too, although she isn't always 
 making you feel what a fool you are. . ." Dennis was too 
 sorry for Ted to argue with him. But Ted understood he had 
 been shocked, and said hastily : 
 
 "Of course I'm really too fond of Fanny for that kind ot 
 thing. But isn't it enough to make a fellow wild ? " 
 
 The conversation had ended abruptly and inconclusively. 
 To convey the impression of it to Ted's sister proved 
 impossible. Dennis soon left off trying, and drove the greater 
 part of the way home in complete silence. 
 
 When he said good-night to Mabel at the door of her room, 
 he added : 
 
 " By the way, you'll be glad to hear it's all right about 
 Seraphino. Your father was simply delighted with the 
 ' Maria ' song. He said he could have cried like a child only 
 he held himself in. There is no doubt Roddy will have his 
 chance." 
 
 "How kind of you to tell me . . ." 
 
 Dennis left her abruptly, he certainly did not want to be 
 thanked.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 IT was before the evening of the projected theatre party 
 that Mabel astonished her husband by teUing him she 
 thought of trying face massage. Rather hesitatingly, with a 
 deprecatory glance as if she expected him to dissuade her, 
 she said she heard it was good for neuralgia. Mabel was 
 never untruthful, and rarely disingenuous. Dennis had not 
 the clue to this development, and naturally misread it. He 
 did not know it had been Fanny's suggestion and had its in- 
 centive in a story about himself and Connie Lander. Fanny 
 said how " fascinating these variety actresses were," and that 
 Dennis had been seen lunching at the Ritz. Then she went 
 on to tell of her own troubles. 
 
 Fanny talked about "leaving Ted," the state of affairs 
 between them was growing daily worse. If she seriously con- 
 templated escaping from the stream of married life, it was 
 characteristic for her to wish to leave the water behind her 
 obscured and dirty. She scented intrigue between Mabel 
 and Roddy, since the day the music room had been closed 
 against her. She tried to raise a little gossip about Mabel's 
 name ; talking about her to Cosmo and at Crockford's, throw- 
 ing out hints whenever she could obtain a listener. She advised 
 Mabel to pay more attention to her dress, the face massage 
 was followed by manicure, she said Mabel ought to try to 
 make herself more attractive ; to be attractive was woman's 
 first duty. Mabel was quite in a flutter of pleasure over 
 Fanny's kindness ; and spent time and a little money in 
 carrying out her suggestions ; which by the way left her 
 appearance very little altered ; it affected her conversation 
 
 chiefly, and set Dennis wondering. He traced her manifesta- 
 
 119
 
 I20 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 tions of vanity to her renewed interest in Roddy Ainsworth, 
 just as Fanny had intended. 
 
 But she did not vary at all in her attentiveness to her husband. 
 To Dennis it seemed that in her own way, exculpatory, 
 apologetic, newly timid, she was trying all the time to tell 
 him that she was missing none of her wifely duties ; depriving 
 him of none of his rights. He understood her so well, or 
 thought he did. He found himself seeing right through her ; 
 there was nothing that should not be there, something about 
 which he caught himself wondering nevertheless. He knew 
 that Roddy carried about him an effect of picturesqueness and 
 adventure. He had fresh scenes and places to describe. If 
 the descriptions were specialised, and he himself was in the 
 foreground of every picture, Mabel might not find him less 
 interesting in consequence. Dennis would not point out to 
 her that she, and the piano, and the house, were being 
 made use of to suit Ainsworth's convenience. Roddy was 
 living in cheap apartments, and the grand piano at Hamilton 
 Terrace was invaluable to him. When he was not practising 
 Oliver Orchard's part with the orchestra at the theatre, he was 
 practising it to Mabel's accompaniment in Hamilton Terrace. 
 He lunched there nearly every day. Mabel was sorry Roddy 
 had so little money, and hoped he would make a fortune with 
 the new play. Roddy made constant demands upon her, 
 upon her time, her attention, everything. Dennis had made 
 no demand. It was wonderful how clearly Dennis saw the 
 position, and how tolerant he was over it towards her in his 
 mind. He seemed to understand her these days better than 
 in all their life together before Roddy's return, and in some 
 way to care for her more, guarding her happiness, careful in 
 word and manner to reassure her that there was nothing at 
 all wrong or unusual in what she was doing, that it was with 
 his complete approval. 
 
 For himself he was really glad oi a new sense of freedom 
 that came upon him, a sense it was no longer necessary to 
 play at being his wife's companion, to listen to the monotonous 
 talk, to give up his evenings to her. He could read in peace.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 121 
 
 His leg had entirely recovered from the strained ligature and 
 his spirits shared in the improvement. Of course he heard too 
 much about Roddy and his voice, Roddy and his career, Roddy 
 and what people said of and to him, but this was a small 
 price to pay for the freedom of his conscience. Certainly he 
 was making his wife happy now. In cynical mood Dennis 
 would tell himself that Roddy disfigured the house less, and 
 less permanently, than the painted plaques. Mabel was 
 apparently foredoomed to devote herself to cheap art, it was 
 better for everybody that she should foster Roddy Ainsworth's 
 voice, rather than produce flower pieces on satin or looking 
 glass. In more genial moments he knew that the complete- 
 ness of Roddy Ainsworth's egotism found its counterpart in 
 the completeness of Mabel's unselfishness. It seemed so 
 natural that Mabel, who had given him his first encourage- 
 ment in music should be helping him now, that he was 
 not even grateful. Dennis saw this and was a little resentful 
 of it. He thought Roddy should show Mabel more attention, 
 should bring her flowers or theatre tickets. He resented, 
 even whilst acquiescing, in the actor's way of taking all her 
 kindnesses as if they were his due, of using the Hamilton 
 Terrace house as if it were his own. With all his satisfaction 
 in the position of affairs, he missed his wife's need of him, 
 missed it curiously. 
 
 The night of Roddy's first appearance in a London theatre, 
 often postponed, came at last. Oliver Orchard had made a 
 great effort when he saw the announcements of the "Great 
 Australian Tenor " who was to take up his part, and went on 
 a few weeks longer. But even his iron endurance had its 
 breaking point, and a triple encore for Miss Venner had 
 proved the last straw. It was given out that the doctors had 
 simply insisted on his taking a rest. But it is possible that 
 what he heard of Roddy Ainsworth, and a slight deficiency of 
 ear, was responsible for his obeying them. The London 
 public could never be captured by a man who did not sing 
 true, however magnificent his voice might be. So Oliver 
 Orchard argued, and proved himself right ; this, however^ is
 
 122 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 history. London was true to her old favourite, although she 
 had a welcome for the newcomer. 
 
 On the night of the theatre party Mabel habited herself in an 
 art green satin, somewhat eccentric in cut, perhaps, but it had 
 met with Fanny's approval. She wore also an oriental opera 
 coat that had once graced a Mandarin, but was curiously 
 incongruous with the severe English way with which she 
 dressed her drab hair, and with the gold cross that depended 
 from her thin neck. 
 
 She was very agitated, and in her anxiety not to be late, 
 nor to miss a moment, succeeded in getting Dennis and her- 
 self to the theatre, almost before the covers were off the seats, 
 or the attendants in attendance. 
 
 " Oh, I'm so sorry I made you come away so early ! I'm 
 afraid you've hardly finished your dinner, I hurried you so. 
 My watch must have been wrong." 
 
 Mabel's wrist, day and evening, was decorated with a watch 
 in a gold case, set in a gold curb. It had been Dennis's first 
 gift to her, and she thought it would have hurt his feelings if 
 she removed it. But in truth he had forgotten that he had 
 given it to her, that it had been her choice of a betrothal 
 present, and all about it. 
 
 " I don't mind being early, I like to see the people come 
 in," he told her. He had no wish to spoil her anticipated 
 pleasure in this evening, on which, for the first time, she was 
 to see her friend upon the stage. For himself, he was in 
 anticipation a little bored. 
 
 " I hope father won't be late. He is fetching Fanny and 
 Ted. Mr. Merritt is coming, but not with them. His father 
 and sister will be here. Perhaps they are here already. It's 
 almost like a first night, Fanny says. I've never been to a first 
 night. Father says he is going to reserve a box for us for 
 every first night at the ' Kemble.' I do hope there won't be 
 too many. Roddy says ' Charles Auchester ' will run a year. 
 Oh dear, isn't it tiresome that they are so late. I wish they 
 would come." 
 
 Dennis had never seen her so excited. As the time went
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 123 
 
 on she craned her neck to watch for their coming, and said 
 the same thing over and over again. She was so anxious lest 
 her father and Fanny should miss Roddy's entrance, that she 
 almost forgot to be anxious of the effect tliat entry would 
 produce upon the house. The programme shook in her 
 trembling hands, and a flush showed irregularly on her cheeks. 
 
 The house filled gradually, the curtain had just risen, and 
 even Cosmo Merritt was in his seat, before Fanny and Ted, 
 piloted by Amos, disturbed everybody by their entrance. The 
 management had used the occasion of Oliver Orchard's illness, 
 and his replacement by Roddy Ainsworth, to announce a 
 "second edition " of the play, with new dresses, dances, songs. 
 The occupants of the stalls were principally press men and 
 habitual first nighters. 
 
 The stalls were very close together, and every late comer 
 necessitated some one's inconvenience. 
 
 Fanny was deliberate in her movements. She was very well 
 dressed to-night, and was not unwilling for her new chiffon 
 opera cloak from Poiret to be admired. That the curtain was 
 up, and that until she sat down she was obstructing other 
 people's view of the stage, were not the sort of things to 
 influence Mrs. Ted. Mabel's agitation, her heartfelt "Oh, 
 I'm so glad you've come, he will be on in two minutes, do sit 
 down " had not escaped her, and her laugh pointed the 
 situation. 
 
 First she thought she would sit by Mabel, but at the 
 moment she made her choice she noticed Cosmo was talking 
 to the man next to him. The man turn-ed round to see who 
 was causing the little disturbance, and Fanny caught his eye 
 and smiled mischievously, as much as to say, " It's me, and 
 you've got to put up with it." That mischievously flirtatious 
 smile of Fanny's was distinctly attractive, the man looked 
 again ; and Fanny eventually took the seat behind him, leaving 
 Amos beside his daughter. 
 
 The stage was filled with a moving gesticulating crowd of 
 Irish washerwomen, each with her tub, in short red petticoats, 
 green jackets, shawls over their heads. Their incongruous
 
 124 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 wooden shoes tap-tapped with the music from the orchestra, 
 and they were singing a chorus of which " shillelagh " was the 
 only distinguishable word. 
 
 Mabel's eyes and attention were now free for the stage. 
 Amos had folded his hands upon his paunch, and the 
 benignity of his expression made Cosmo think of Archdeacons 
 when he turned round and saw him. Fanny clamoured for a 
 programme. Fanny had been too lazy to put on her gloves. 
 Dennis always thought Fanny's were cruel hands. They were 
 long in the fingers, the knuckles prominent and bony. The 
 tops of the fingers were spatulate, and thick, the nails, cut in 
 points, were over-manicured, the pink varnish contrasting ill 
 with the yellowish skin. Fanny sat erect, for at any moment 
 Cosmo or his companion might look at her ; they were only 
 one row in front. She wanted to talk, not to listen ; to be 
 noticed ; most of all she wanted Cosmo and his companion to 
 see her new cloak. 
 
 She pointed out celebrities to Dennis, who did not trouble 
 to contradict her, although she was usually wrong, and he was 
 much better acquainted than she with the fashionable London 
 world. He wanted her to be quiet ; but that was difficult to 
 achieve when she was bent on attracting attention. She 
 leaned across Amos to tell Mabel how nice she was looking, 
 she even smiled on Ted and told him where his friend 
 Margaret Lemon was seated, with the tall fair man in glasses. 
 Fanny said he was a well-known author. If he were a 
 publisher, as Dennis surmised, it was quite near enough for 
 Fanny. She was quite irrepressible, and people near them 
 frowned and showed their annoyance. 
 
 Mabel said : 
 
 " Oh, hush ! do hush ! everybody is looking at us," in an 
 agony of confusion and agitation. But nothing stilled Fanny, 
 until the man next to Cosmo whispered an inquiry, and 
 Cosmo glancing round, answered shortly. Then Fanny 
 smiled again, and her manoeuvres having accomplished their 
 design, she settled herself in her place, hunching her shoulders, 
 relapsing into ease.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 125 
 
 The chorus was still proceeding ; every washerwoman had a 
 shillelagh in her tub, the sticks beat time with the music, 
 the voices rose and fell rhythmically. Dennis, now that 
 Fanny was silent, heard, above the strains from the orchestra, 
 and the voices, clogs, and sticks on the stage, the buzz of 
 talk behind him from the young critics of the weekly 
 papers. 
 
 ** Rotten idea making us sit the thing out twice within two 
 months." 
 
 " Orchard isn't ill. He only had a row with Elsie Venner." 
 
 " She booted him. Serve him right, bounder ! Who's the 
 ' Great Australian Tenor ' ? " 
 
 "How should I know? Some Johnnie from Whitechapel." 
 
 Dennis found everything more interesting than the stage. 
 Musical comedy generally reduced him to a state of tolerant 
 somnolency. 
 
 Amos applauded the washerwomen's chorus, he applauded 
 when Roddy in the uniform of an officer of the Royal Irish 
 Constabulary, made an effective entry at the head of his men. 
 Amos evidently felt the whole entertainment was given for him, 
 and that the house was watching for his approval. He nodded 
 his head in time to the music. 
 
 Fanny's manceuvres irritated Dennis ; it was a long time 
 now since she had tried her wiles on him, but he knew 
 them all. Mabel, in her absorption, aroused his sympathy, 
 although he wondered again what she could see in the 
 fellow ; the costume was ridiculous and he acted like a stick. 
 Ted looked for once almost happy, under the stimulus of 
 Fanny's amiability. 
 
 Then, quite suddenly, without any premonition, he became 
 conscious of a quickening of pulse and interest. He looked 
 away from Mabel and Ted, and his eyes, before they had time 
 to reach the stage, were arrested by the most perfect back he 
 had ever seen. He did not know a living woman's back could 
 be so beautiful : he could not look away. Fanny's back was 
 palely yellow, and in its thinness Dennis had always been 
 conscious of that slight curvature. Poor Mabel's back was
 
 126 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 rounded, and the prominent shoulder blades were ugly. 
 He had never seen a woman's back like the one before 
 him. 
 
 Afterwards he knew that it was Lady Diana Wayne he was 
 regarding with such absorption. For the moment he was 
 only glad that her dress was cut in the early Victorian style, 
 sloping off the shoulders, leaving the lovely top of the arms 
 visible. Dennis was no sensualist ; a clean living man, as 
 yet almost entirely ignorant of woman and her possibilities. 
 Beauty had hitherto made its appeal to him only through 
 scenery, pictures, and statuary. He was, nevertheless, in- 
 explicably attracted by the perfection of hue, and curve, and 
 contour before him. Gazing, unaware that he was committing 
 a betise^ staring unwarrantably, he was becoming entranced by 
 every movement of the slender graceful neck. The dark hair 
 was rolled up and away from it, the whiteness was dazzling. 
 He saw the rounded dimpled elbow, and imagined the slender 
 wrist, the tapering fingers. 
 
 The back and arm absorbed him during the first act. It 
 was only towards the end of it that he was seized by an 
 overmastering desire to see the face that surmounted this 
 wonderful torso. He thought of the Venus of Milo, the 
 crouching Venus, the Venus with the Cestus, all the Venuses 
 with which he was familiar, but could find no equal to the 
 one before him. He gratified his desire by going to the end 
 of the stalls in the interval between the first and second act. 
 The dark hair, parted in the middle, waved loosely into that 
 roll of hair that left the back part of the neck visible. The 
 profile, the short nose, the square chin, were pure Greek. 
 She turned to speak to the man by her side. The movement 
 of the slender neck was like music. Dennis could see the 
 pencilled brows under the parted dark hair, and the iridescent 
 green of her eyes. As she spoke and smiled, there were stars 
 in the iris of her eyes ; and the face was no longer Greek, it 
 was vivid and sweet with life and laughter. Dennis lost 
 himself in admiration. The low cut dress was black ; the 
 great row of priceless pearls was her only ornament. He guessed
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 127 
 
 who she was; she must be Lady Diana Wayne, Cosmo 
 Merritt's widowed sister. Her husband lay in a soldier's 
 grave in India, killed in some obscure frontier trouble. 
 But hers was not a widowed look, she was radiant with 
 youth. 
 
 The play, Mabel, Roddy's entrance and exit, the applause, 
 became shadowy and unreal to Dennis. He was absorbed 
 in this beautiful face. It was not until the curtain had been 
 raised and had fallen three separate times, that he recalled 
 himself to his position, and remembered he must not stand 
 where he was, and stare. She was one of a party of four, of 
 whom one, the man whose attention Fanny had attracted, 
 was evidently an acquaintance of Cosmo Merritt's. Cosmo 
 and the man came out now together, Cosmo saying a word to 
 Dennis as he passed. 
 
 It was very slowly, as one who moves in dreams, that Dennis 
 followed the others into the foyer. He did not want to 
 smoke, nor to talk about the play, he wanted to be alone. 
 He found that his father-in-law had button-holed Cosmo, and 
 was talking with, conviction. Cosmo had already shunted 
 his companion. 
 
 "He made a distinct hit, that young fellow, a distinct hit. 
 I'll put his play on for him, then if it doesn't go, we shall 
 see what we shall see. What do they call this ? ' The Girl 
 from Galway ? ' Well, anybody could write a play as good as 
 that. There's nothing in it, nothing in it at all ; it's all chorus 
 and noise. Merritt, my boy ..." He was about to say 
 how very much better a thing he could produce if he had 
 time. 
 
 " It is a bad play, but good business," Merritt interpolated. 
 '* We can do better, of course. I am surprised you are so pleased 
 with Ainsworth, but I am sure you're right, you know the 
 public taste, represent it. But wasn't he a little out of tune now 
 and again ? I thought he went flat occasionally. I saw Stephen 
 Frail looking at him once, I thought he was going to stop the 
 orchestra ! But he is certainly extraordinarily handsome on 
 the stage, a good mover, and with a personality. The women
 
 128 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 will be sure to run after him. My sister, Lady Diana Wayne, 
 was just saying that he is the best-looking man she has seen 
 on the stage since she came back to England." 
 
 "She has been away?" Dennis asked, stupidly. 
 
 Cosmo looked at him curiously. 
 
 "She was in India when Wayne fell. She was more than 
 a year with the Carews. After that she went big game 
 shooting. Haverford has only just brought her back." 
 
 He forgot for the moment that Dennis was not in Society, 
 and could not be expected to know its gossip. 
 
 Amos was impatient of Lady Diana Wayne. He wanted to 
 talk of "Charles Auchester" and its chances, of the cost of 
 a production like the one they were seeing, of himself as a 
 potential playwright. 
 
 When Dennis went back to his seat he found Fanny had 
 dropped her scarf, her gloves, her opera glasses. Mabel 
 was looking for them, but the man who had left the theatre 
 with Cosmo, and was again in his place, had been fortunate 
 enough to secure the glasses. 
 
 "Are these what you are looking for?" he asked Fanny. 
 
 "Oh, yes. How good of you ! they had fallen down." 
 
 Lady Diana turned to see what Haverford had found, she 
 knew he would not have exerted himself to pick up opera 
 glasses for a plain woman. For the moment, however, she 
 failed to focus Fanny. Her eyes encountered Dennis's, and 
 what she saw in them arrested her own. She had not time to 
 recognise his party, nor to what social order they belonged. 
 She did not then, nor until many events had happened, 
 associate Dennis Passiful with Fanny, or Amos Juxton. She 
 only saw a young man, of distinguished presence, who thought 
 her beautiful, and could not keep his thoughts from showing 
 in his eyes. Her own colour heightened, that was her only 
 acknowledgment of his regard. She turned her face away 
 abruptly, and then toward the stage. Certainly the man had 
 looked at her more intently than he should. She would not 
 on any account look round again. She wondered who he 
 was, and once, at least, broke through her resolution.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 129 
 
 Long afterwards she told Dennis she had dreamed of him 
 that night, seen him quite distinctly, woke to wonder at such 
 dreaming, slept, and had seen him again. But this was not 
 until many events had taken place, and she was hearing how 
 similar had been his own experience.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 IN the crush of leaving the theatre Margaret Lemon, dark- 
 eyed, languorous, found herself in close proximity to the 
 Juxton party. The man with her, publisher, or author, 
 called out : 
 
 " Wait where you are, I'll get the brougham up in a minute." 
 
 She had on an opera cloak rather more elegant than Fanny's, 
 and was surrounded by friends whom she was obviously 
 entertaining with her slow and humorous comments on the 
 play, and the audience. Therefore Fanny resented it bitterly 
 when she nodded to Dennis, with a recognising smile, and a 
 word of greeting, and then spoke to Ted, and seemed to 
 distinguish him. Lord Haverford and Cosmo were nowhere 
 near them. The whole party must have got away early. It 
 was natural that Fanny should be displeased, standing there, 
 exposed to the autumnal damp, in a gathering fog, with no 
 one but Mabel to whom to talk. To hear Ted's hoarse 
 laugh when he was in colloquy with " that woman," was 
 galling. When they were in the motor Fanny said bitingly 
 to Ted : 
 
 " Must you speak to that sort of woman when I and your 
 sister are with you ? " ' That sort of woman ' was Fanny's 
 euphemism for any lady better dressed than herself. 
 
 " What's the matter with Margaret ? " asked Ted in surprise. 
 
 He had rather prided himself upon his acquaintanceship with 
 
 her since Cosmo had first taken him to see her. She seemed 
 
 to him to be almost as clever as Fanny, he had seen and 
 
 heard nothing that could justify Fanny's remark. In truth 
 
 Margaret had only received Ted at Cosmo's request, he 
 
 was not at all the type she affected. 
 
 130
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 131 
 
 "Who is 'Margaret'?" asked Amos. "Not that nice 
 looking woman who was standing near you in the hall ? " 
 
 "Yes, with the ruby on her finger." Fanny laughed 
 maliciously. " You always say Ted's so extravagant. Perhaps 
 that's what his money goes in ! I know / have not got a ruby 
 ring ! " 
 
 " How you do go on ! I've never even sent her a flower." 
 
 " I don't care if you've sent her a waggon-load of flowers, 
 but I won't be insulted by your talking to low women when 
 you are with me." 
 
 " Oh dear, Fanny, I'm sure Ted didn't mean to hurt you," 
 Mabel hastened to put in. 
 
 " Hurt me ! " 
 
 " Come, come, children, don't jangle. We're out to enjoy 
 ourselves, aren't we ? I want to hear what we all thought of 
 young Ainsworth's singing." 
 
 Fanny could not afford to disregard Amos's evident wish 
 that the matter should be allowed to drop. Of course what 
 he really wanted was to tell them what he thought of Roddy's 
 voice and presence upon the stage. 
 
 Ted had not yet recovered from the onslaught upon him 
 when they found themselves in the hall of the Carlton. 
 " Nothing I do is right," he muttered. 
 
 Dennis, on the box seat, heard none of these recriminations. 
 In spite of the murky air, the gathering fog and the autumn 
 chill, Dennis felt warm and content. He had seen the most 
 beautiful woman in the world. And she had seen him. That 
 was the most curious thing about it. In her eyes when they had 
 met his there was a sense of recognition, almost of understand- 
 ing. Perhaps Cosmo Merritt had spoken to her about him ! 
 But that was impossible, and absurd. Not more impossible and 
 absurd, however, than that she should be Cosmo's sister. 
 The sister of fat and flaccid Cosmo ! She, with her swan 
 neck and sylph form ! Thus far had his musings taken him 
 when they were at the hall of the Carlton, and he had to get 
 down from the car and perform the duties of the footman 
 whose place he had usurped.
 
 132 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Fanny was at once all smiles. She discovered so quickly 
 that Cosmo was in the hall, and the other man with him. 
 After all it seemed the evening was going to end up pleasantly. 
 Cosmo lost no time in presenting Lord Haverford to Amos, 
 and he had already given him the carte du pays. Before 
 Fanny and Mabel disappeared into the cloak-room, Fanny 
 heard Lord Haverford say : 
 
 " Glad to meet you, Mr. Juxton ! That's a devilish clever 
 book of yours. I congratulate you ; by Jove, I do ! Cossy 
 tells me you're going to turn it into a play. I must have a box 
 for the first night. Cossy, you'll see I get a box for the first 
 night." 
 
 When Fanny and Mabel emerged from the cloak-room, 
 Fanny, in the last stage of elegance and refinement, her 
 nose newly powdered, a soupgon of rouge on her cheeks, her 
 hair-net accurately adjusted over the Marcel waves, more 
 ladylike even than the real article, they had become one 
 parly. Amos's gratified announcement that " Merritt and his 
 friend are joining us for supper. Lord Haverford, my daughter 
 — my daughter-in-law," regularised the position. 
 
 Fanny, walking up the lounge with that peculiar jerky, or 
 springy step of hers, head erect, leading the party, was 
 supremely conscious of Lord Haverford and the Honble. 
 Cosmo Merritt in attendance, and imagined herself the 
 cynosure of all eyes. Amos had secured a table near the 
 door. They could see everybody, and what was much more 
 important, everybody could see them. Fanny, talking to 
 Lord Haverford, conveyed the implication that all her friends 
 and acquaintances were to be found in Burke. Notwithstand- 
 ing his irritation and anger, Ted was secretly very proud of 
 her. With the soupgon of rouge, and the darkening of her 
 red lashes, her animation and pretty smiles, her white dress 
 and youthful air, Fanny was really very captivating. Lord 
 Haverford evidently thought so, and he gave the great Amos 
 the most perfunctory attention. He paid Fanny compliments, 
 ogling her and making his appreciation obvious. As supper 
 went on he was found guffawing over empty jokes, saying
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 133 
 
 " By Jove ! " and " By Gad ! " in a way that one expects from 
 the House of Lords in Transpontine melodrama. 
 
 Lord Haverford was really so typical as to be almost a 
 caricature. He was very nearly bald, and had a thin and 
 weedy moustache at which he pulled intermittently with an 
 aristocratic and indeterminate hand. His chin retreated one 
 way and his forehead the other, as if they were afraid of 
 meeting. He was enormously wealthy, but not at all fond of 
 parting with his money. Boon companions would describe 
 him as a " blood " and a " nut " and any other slang term 
 that implied "seeing life" and gallantry; but in truth even 
 his vices were feeblings. The only respectable and decent 
 thing about him was his life-long devotion to his cousin Diana. 
 It had survived her first marriage, and would probably have 
 survived another. But it did not prevent him carrying on 
 quite a lively flirtation with Fanny, who, of course, did 
 considerably more than her share in inaugurating it. 
 
 Dennis watched them with a gathering sense of disgust, 
 whilst Cosmo devoted himself to the propitiation of Amos. 
 Surely Cosmo had said this fellow was engaged to his sister, 
 that peerless, beautiful creature ! To dally with Fanny when 
 he could be in such incomparably better society, marked him 
 the fool that his empty laugh proclaimed. 
 
 Just as they had finished supper, when the first warning 
 lights went out, Margaret Lemon, at the next table to theirs, 
 supping tete-h-tete with Gerald Summers, recognised the party. 
 She raised her glass to her lips, and sent a smiling greeting 
 to the table. 
 
 " Do look at that woman," Fanny said to Lord Haverford. 
 " She is actually trying to send you a message. No, it isn't 
 to Lord Haverford, it's to you. . ." She turned to Cosmo, 
 still engaged in that earnest talk to Amos about the new 
 venture. Both men's faces went in the direction she in- 
 dicated, and, seeing Margaret, they smiled and nodded, lifting 
 responsive glasses : 
 
 "You don't know Margar^, do you?" Cosmo said coolly 
 to Fanny ; he had recognised the malice in the pretty smile
 
 134 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 and glance. "Ted is more fortunate. Come, Ted, let's go 
 over and speak to her." 
 
 Ted kept his place, looking uneasily at Fanny. But 
 Haverford, to her unspeakable chagrin, rose with Cosmo : 
 
 " I'll come. Ripping woman, Margaret Lemon. You 
 ought to know her, Mrs. Juxton. Two rippin' women to- 
 gether, eh, by Jove ! " 
 
 " There, you see," Ted said triumphantly to his wife, not, 
 however, following the other men. He had not the courage 
 for that. 
 
 Amos read Fanny a little homily about misjudging people. 
 He was fuller than ever to-night of the milk of human kind- 
 ness, and overflowed with milky talk. 
 
 "You don't suppose Lord Haverford would go over and 
 talk to her if there was anything wrong about her, do you ? 
 You shouldn't be so ready to think ill of people. It is not 
 at all a nice trait. I am surprised at you. We are all as God 
 made us, and if she is more striking looking than the majority, 
 why, that's no reason she should be no better than she ought 
 to be." 
 
 He was very glad to welcome his guests back again when 
 they returned in good spirits, full of something amusing 
 Margaret Lemon had told them. 
 
 "She's the best company in London," Cosmo said with 
 malice prepe?ise, noting Fanny's detached air. 
 
 " Barring the present — barring the present," Lord Haverford 
 put in, proud of himself for the neat way he paid a compliment. 
 
 Cosmo explained to Amos that Margaret Lemon was one 
 of the first people in London to appreciate " The Tale and the 
 Typewriter," that it was she who had urged him to dramatise 
 it, and he added one or two other apocryphal utterances, 
 
 Fanny knew Cosmo well enough to see that she had made 
 a mistake, and she tried to repair it presently when Amos's atten- 
 tion was diverted to settling the account. Amos was attended 
 by the head waiter, and the major domo, and other minor 
 myrmidons. He pompously and benevolently assured them 
 that everything had been served to his satisfaction, but never-
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 135 
 
 theless pointed out one or two ways in which the service, or 
 the supper could have been improved ; they hstened deferenti- 
 ally, and he gave generous gratuities to the right people. 
 
 Fanny, meanwhile, shrugging her thin shoulders, made a 
 pseudo-apology in a low voice to Cosmo : 
 
 " I thought Ted made a rule of never speaking to a re- 
 spectable woman ? " 
 
 " * Respectable ' ! How Margaret would laugh if she heard 
 you ! I wish you knew her, but I can't get her to consent. 
 I've asked her a dozen times. She says she can tolerate 
 the upper and lower classes, but the bourgeoisie turn her 
 stomach." 
 
 " How vulgar ! " 
 
 If Fanny had a faint glimmering of Cosmo, he, on his part, 
 knew his Fanny through and through. Now she was deter- 
 mined, as he anticipated, that an introduction should be 
 effected. If the woman they all called Margaret Lemon 
 could say things Hke that, Fanny would be able to make use 
 of her, learn her phraseology, copy her clothes. Under cover 
 of the now almost complete darkness, and in the bustle of 
 departure, she murmured to Lord Haverford : 
 
 " Can't you introduce me to your friend Mrs. Lemon ? I 
 believe we are neighbours. She lives in Berkeley Street, 
 doesn't she?" 
 
 " Dover Street, next door to the Bath Club. She's pretty 
 nearly always there ; I saw her to-day with Lady de Wraythe. 
 We'll fix up a meetin' ; I'll see you home afterwards. Eh ? 
 Not a bad idea. To-morrow? Tuesday? When is it to 
 be? I want to see you again." 
 
 Fanny was immensely exhilarated. She wanted to tell 
 Cosmo that Lord Haverford had invited her to lunch with 
 him at the Bath Club. And Lady de Wraythe might be there 
 again. A title was a title to Fanny, and she could not be 
 supposed to know that Lady de Wraythe had been the 
 notorious Lotly Gordon of Music Hall fame. She accepted 
 the invitation with avidity, fixing date and time so that there 
 should be no mistake about it. She had a delightful hope
 
 136 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 that Cosmo might be jealous. But Cosmo, when the news was 
 hastily conveyed to him, was only amused, and more than 
 ever convinced of his own diplomatic talent. Margaret wanted 
 to know Fanny, and Cosmo had known just how to bring it 
 about. 
 
 Fanny actually spoke to Margaret in the cloak-room without 
 an introduction at all, to the amazement of Mabel, to whom 
 Fanny, however, was so often a bewilderment. 
 
 "This is your cloak, isn't it? It is so like mine." That 
 paved the way. " But it is really much prettier." 
 
 Fanny smiled and Margaret disclaimed the superiority, but 
 in a way that made the continuance of the conversation easy. 
 
 " I believe we have a great many mutual acquaintances. 
 You know Lord Haverford, don't you ? " 
 
 She did, a very great deal better than Fanny was ever 
 likely to, but this she did not say, claiming merely a casual 
 acquaintanceship. But then there was Cossy . . . 
 
 "Oh yes, and I think I have met your husband, Mr. 
 Edward Juxton." 
 
 Then it was that Mabel nudged her quietly. 
 
 "We ought not to keep father waiting." 
 
 Fanny actually shook hands with " that woman," being 
 careful to do so at the most fashionable and impressive angle, 
 and the wish that they should meet again seemed quite 
 reciprocal. 
 
 In the car going home she was quite lively, and had not 
 one unkind word to say to Ted. She thanked Amos very 
 prettily for the pleasant evening he had given. She said she 
 was looking forward to "their own" first night. Amos was 
 quite sorry to leave her and Ted in Grosvenor Street. 
 
 " She can hold her own with any of them," was his appre- 
 ciative remark as the car moved on again. " It's a pity they 
 don't get on better." The allusion was obviously to Fanny 
 and her husband, for she had got on excellently with Lord 
 Haverford. "Ted has always been difficult." 
 
 " He is so sensitive," Mabel put in. Mabel had been in 
 the background all the evening, but now she was alone with
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 137 
 
 her husband and father, she came out a little, developing like 
 a negative in a dark room. She was very anxious to know 
 if her father was satisfied with Roddy, with the effect his 
 entrance had made, with this, that, and the other song. 
 
 " Don't you think he was very good, and that the house 
 liked him? He had three recalls. Dennis, you noticed it was 
 his name they shouted ? " 
 
 Amos said he had been very pleased with the young fellow, 
 very pleased indeed. But Dennis had noticed nothing, and 
 answered nothing. He was absorbed in retrospect; he was 
 seeing again that wonderful neck. He was not able to resume 
 his seat on the box, Mabel was too solicitous of his catching 
 cold, and it was easier to stay where he was than to argue, 
 
 Mabel and Amos talked all the way from Grosvenor Street 
 to Hamilton Terrace of the play and Roddy, and the other 
 play, the book and its dramatisation. Dennis sat in almost 
 complete silence. 
 
 He was very glad presently of the solitude of his own room. 
 So many women had looked at him, but never had he looked 
 at a woman before to-night. Never, at least, with the same 
 eyes. He wanted to be alone and think about her. He 
 had often thought in this way of a picture, a set of Louis 
 Seize mounts, a tapestry or a cabinet, visualising them, 
 dwelling on detail. To think of a beautiful woman with 
 the same thrill of appreciation was new to him, and astonish- 
 ingly pleasant. In his room to-night he saw her quite plainly. 
 That rolled up hair from the centre parting was surely the 
 perfection of head-dress. There was a lovely little dimple in 
 the right shoulder. When he slept he dreamed of it, and of 
 the radiant eyes.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 RODDY rushed up to Hamilton Terrace betimes the next 
 morning to hear what Amos had thought of his voice. 
 He was full of the compliments that had been paid him by 
 his colleagues behind the footlights, of various ' lines ' in 
 various papers. He had evidently seen nothing but favour- 
 able notices. 
 
 Dennis left him with Mabel ; he was already late in getting 
 to business. He heard them arranging for a long morning's 
 practice. 
 
 "There is some difference in the climate. I can't tell what 
 it is, but it affects my throat. You didn't notice anything, did 
 you ? I'd like to go through ' Heart of my Heart ' with you, 
 Mabel. Let's go upstairs. Say that nobody must disturb us. 
 The conductor nearly stopped the orchestra last night. I 
 don't know what he was doing, he put me out awfully. I 
 didn't go flat, did I?" 
 
 Dennis was glad to be off. It was all right that Roddy 
 should be there nearly every day to lunch ; if he also stayed to 
 dinner he talked to Mabel, but that was over for the present.- 
 Actors when fulfilling an engagement do not dine, Dennis 
 would be saved that. He had grown used to hear of nothing 
 but Roddy and his music. But this intrusion into his break- 
 fast hour was an outrage, nothing but an outrage ; so he told 
 himself hotly. And yet he resented it but slightly as he 
 thought of it on his way down. It was all part of the price 
 he was paying for freedom. Whilst Mabel was happy and 
 occupied he could do what he liked. He had a vague 
 consciousness that he did not like to do anything very 
 
 desperate or unusual. It was a jolly good thing his leg was 
 
 158
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 139 
 
 all right again. Want of exercise played the deuce with him. 
 Last night he had caught himself dreaming, his dreams last 
 night had been extraordinary. He did not want to dwell upon 
 them just now, holding it over, like a gourmet with a tit-bit 
 on his plate. 
 
 So things went on for a few days. But before the end of 
 them he had recaptured, or thought that he had recaptured, 
 his self-command. The dreams had grown fainter, and fitful. 
 He wondered now sometimes if she had been so beautiful 
 after all, if he would admire her as much if he saw her again. 
 He even talked of her to Small, Wilfred Small, who was going 
 to captain the team for South Africa when it went out next 
 month. He had a knock up with him at the squash racquet 
 court at Lord's, and afterwards they walked down West 
 together. 
 
 " You specialise in women, don't you ? " he asked him 
 lightly, jestingly ; for Small's adventures were public property, 
 and notorious. " Did you ever meet one who was actually as 
 beautiful as a statue, perfect in every way, dimpled shoulders 
 and elbows, curves like music ? " 
 
 Small's answer cannot be given in exietiso; it set Dennis 
 tingling. 
 
 " I've known all sorts," he went on to say, " I wish to God 
 I had not, they play the deuce with a man." Other details 
 followed, and Dennis had to remind himself of Small's bowling 
 performances against Kent before he was reconciled, and that 
 he had just beaten him at racquets. Small was six feet two, 
 dark, stalwart, inclined to be morose, and confidential about 
 his love affairs. " I'm married now, you know." Dennis had 
 known it. "Well, that's the very devil, that's the worst of 
 all. It's imprisonment, without the option of a fine." It was 
 strange Small should use Margaret Lemon's metaphor. " My 
 wife, she's Stockholm's sister," Stockholm was the best wicket- 
 keeper in England, " doesn't want me to go to Africa. She's 
 kicking up hell about it, says she isn't well." 
 
 He was really gloomy, but Dennis perceived under his 
 gloom a curious pride in the claim that was being put in for
 
 140 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 his company. He even admitted presently, grudgingly, that a 
 fellow owed something to the woman who had married him. 
 She really was ' down in the mouth,' at the prospect of parting 
 with him, and the Doctor said ' it was bad for her to frel.' 
 Small had also a certain pride in his prospects for the future, 
 and spoke of the preliminary steps that should be taken if you 
 want to turn a little shaver into a really fine bowler. It was 
 premature, perhaps, but Dennis did not remind him of that, 
 nor of the possibility of the expected "shaver" turning 
 out a girl. He was conscious of a Uttle envy of Small ; not 
 only of his prospects, but of his experiences, and that 
 his wife would oppose his leaving her for so many weeks. 
 Dennis had a new idea that Mabel would not mind now if he 
 had arranged to go to South Africa. Still, he didn't think 
 Small could possibly have met a woman as beautiful as Lady 
 Diana Wayne. Stockholm's sister was certainly not much of a 
 ' looker,' in cricketing circles parlance. 
 
 Just to refresh his memory he went into the National Gallery 
 to look again at Velasquez' " Venus with the Mirror." Again 
 he decided that it was not by Velasquez at all. And he 
 thought Lady Diana Wayne had a far more beautiful back, 
 slenderer, more youthful. He thought nevertheless that he 
 had been extraordinarily foolish in dwelling upon it, dreaming 
 of it. He would dismiss it now, go into Christie's, go about 
 his business, it was time to leave off dreaming. 
 
 This was Friday. To-morrow there was a big picture sale, 
 and according to the catalogue, there were several good things. 
 " Star turns," he called them to himself, and smiled at the new 
 vocabulary he was acquiring. From the National Gallery to 
 Christie's in King Street was but five minutes. He ran lightly 
 up the broad steps of those famous sale rooms. Quite a 
 number of people were there, dealers with their clients, 
 society, for it was a well-known collection to be dispersed ; 
 idlers, and Lord Rosenstein. Lord Rosenstein was on the 
 look out for Dennis. He buttonholed him immediately, and 
 began talking about the three Nattiers : " one worse than the 
 other."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 141 
 
 *' And they'll bid for 'em, Passiful. They'll bid for 'em as 
 if they were masterpieces." 
 
 Lord Rosenstein walked round the big room with Dennis, 
 talking all the time. Lord Rosenstein had been a great 
 supporter of Abe Abinger. Barring himself, he had looked 
 upon him as the best opinion on a picture to be had in 
 England. It had been a great thing for Dennis when Lord 
 Rosenstein began to come again to the Gallery after Abe's 
 death, when he talked to the younger man as he had to the 
 older, and gave him commissions. Lord Rosenstein liked the 
 strong young arm to lean upon, and Dennis's deference to him. 
 Lord Rosenstein patronised, lectured, and sometimes called 
 him " my boy." There was no doubt he had a fund of expert 
 knowledge, and Dennis in early days had been grateful for the 
 patronage and glad to draw upon the knowledge. Now he 
 was sometimes a little bored with his principal client ; and 
 wished he could turn him on to Dolland. It was not interest 
 that kept him deferential ; it was something nearer akin to 
 pity. Lord Rosenstein was growing old, there were people 
 who called him a bore. Most of his contemporaries were 
 dead, he was a little lonely in that dwindling world of 
 connoisseurs and collectors that he had once dominated. 
 The big American buyer, ignorant, dealer-led, phenomenally 
 wealthy, has entered the market, and the market is manipu- 
 lated to suit the length of his purse. 
 
 "Prices are ludicrous now, out of all proportion. 
 Thousands where we used to give hundreds. Isn't it so? 
 And labels made to fit the pictures, even here. But I 
 suppose they must put them up as they are sent in. Just 
 look here, look at this, Passiful. Watteau, indeed ; Waiieau I 
 They might just as well have labelled it Poussin ! " 
 
 He had halted before a small oil colour of a dancing girl, 
 deUcate, rare, the paint breathed on to the canvas, the figure 
 light, poised in movement. 
 
 "His signature is larger than the label, Passiful. He has 
 written it large, if they could only see it. Who else could 
 paint like that ? Who else blew his paint on to the canvas
 
 142 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Tnere is not a brush mark to be seen. I'll buy that, Passiful, 
 I'll buy it. But don't tell them who painted it, don't tell them. 
 Watteau ! Watteau, indeed ! " 
 
 It is impossible to convey his contempt for the mistake that 
 had been made in attributing the little masterpiece to the 
 wrong master. 
 
 Dennis made a note of the order, putting down in the 
 catalogue, 
 
 "A Dancing Girl, labelled Watteau. By Fragonard." 
 Rosenstein peered over his arm. 
 
 " Good boy," he said, " good boy ! " and patted his shoulder. 
 
 " Who is a good boy, Rosenstein ? ' said a voice from behind 
 them. 
 
 It was Lord Loughborough, who knew Dennis, however, and 
 nodded to him. 
 
 " So it is you, Mr. Passiful, who has merited the encomium. 
 What have you been discovering ? " 
 
 He then made a sort of informal introduction to his daughter, 
 courteous, as befits a Liberal Peer to a man who buys and 
 sells, but not familiar; for Lord Loughborough, like so many 
 of the party with whom he had thrown in his fortunes, was 
 strong upon class distinctions. Lady Diana was greeting Lord 
 Rosenstein when her father interrupted her to say : 
 
 " This is Mr. Passiful, my dear, who knows more about those 
 miniatures you were looking at than even our friend here," indi- 
 cating Rosenstein. "What have you done to make him so 
 pleased with you ? Agreed with some dictum that will turn 
 the critics inside out, and strike dismay into the experts ? " he 
 asked Dennis. 
 
 Loughborough and Rosenstein were of the same school. 
 Lord Loughborough had all the instincts of the collector, but 
 he was too poor to indulge his fine taste. Many a tussle he 
 had had with the other, however, before his children grew up 
 to squander his income. And Rosenstein would have liked 
 nothing better than to find him napping. 
 
 "Well, who painted that picture, eh?" 
 
 " What picture ? The Watteau ? "
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 143 
 
 « Watteau ! " 
 
 Rosenstein's contempt did not prevent Loughborough from 
 stoutly maintaining the correctness of the description. The 
 two elderly connoisseurs had each a hundred reasons for his 
 opinion. 
 
 Meanwhile Lady Diana would have been left stranded, for 
 naturally her father did not appeal to her judgment, if she 
 had not immediately recognised Dennis, and said to him, 
 very simply : 
 
 "Didn't I see you at the theatre the other night?" 
 
 " It is very good of you to remember it." 
 
 The answer was quick, although low voiced. The sudden 
 meeting threw Dennis from his balance. He felt now, for 
 the moment, that he had taken a liberty in dreaming of her. 
 And she was far more beautiful in walking costume than she 
 had been in evening dress. It was a long time before Dennis 
 ceased to think that every fresh dress in which he saw her 
 was the most becoming in which she had ever appeared to 
 him, and the one most calculated to heighten her beauty. 
 Certainly the sables enhanced the softness of her skin. Under 
 her small fur toque the eyes, that he had thought were green, 
 now seemed to be hazel, the radiance was in them still, and 
 something of the changing colour of the sea. 
 
 " Do you really know so much about miniatures as father 
 says? I should Uke you to tell me about an Oliver that 
 is in the case in the other room. We have one so like it 
 at home. Father, Mr. Passiful is going with me to see the 
 Oliver. . . ." 
 
 But by this time the controversy had grown heated, and 
 Lord Loughborough was much too keen upon proving his 
 point with his old rival and life-long friend, to notice what 
 became of his somewhat inconvenient daughter. 
 
 "Why do you say it was kind of me to remember seemg you 
 at the play ? " Diana asked as they moved off. But she did not 
 wait for the answer. Here a bit of silver in a glass case arrested 
 her, and there a Jacobean needlework picture. The great sale 
 was to-morrow, but all the rooms through which they strolled
 
 144 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 as they talked were full of rare and beautiful things. It seemed 
 that Lady Diana knew something about them all. That Dennis 
 knew more impressed her. While to him it seemed wonderful 
 how keen was her interest, how just her judgment. 
 
 " I never can understand how people can collect such 
 things as these. ..." these were the needlework pictures ; 
 " they are merely old, very ugly, generally with a suggestion 
 of dirt and decay, of moth and general disorder. I only care 
 for things antique when they are also things beautiful. And 
 you, what do you think ? What do you collect ? " 
 
 Dennis stammered something about " Chippendale." It was 
 many years since he had thought there was anything infra dig. 
 in having a Gallery in Bond Street. Now for the moment, 
 quite suddenly, he wished he had not been a dealer, wished 
 that he was here as she imagined him, only as an amateur, 
 a collector, a buyer of beautiful things. 
 
 " I have a little ' Hawthorne,' too." 
 
 She could not imagine why he hesitated about it. She was 
 even more enthusiastic about Hawthorne than Chippendale. 
 For herself she had made some study of English china, had 
 inherited a few fine pieces of Chelsea and Bow from her 
 godmother, but was too poor to add to them ; so she had 
 specialized in pottery, early Staffordshire. Before they arrived 
 at the Oliver, Dennis thought her beauty was eclipsed by 
 her learning, and that her voice was even more like music 
 than her curves. It was not to be expected that he would 
 remember that she had already been round the rooms with 
 Lord Loughborough, whose knowledge and taste were both 
 proverbial. 
 
 Diana, on her part, was greatly taken by her cavalier. 
 There was no doubt Mr. Passiful was one of the most 
 attractive looking men she had ever seen, and extraordinarily 
 more intelligent than the soldiers with whom so much of her 
 life had been passed. There was nothing to differentiate him 
 except his intelligence. He wore his hat at the right angle, 
 carried his height with grace, and was quite unable to conceal 
 his admiration for her. Diana liked admiration. She had
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 145 
 
 had a great deal of it in her time ; for although Dennis 
 might have exaggerated her good looks, they were really 
 quite remarkable. But no amount of admiration had brought 
 her satiety. 
 
 At first they talked of the things about them ; but drifted 
 now and again to a more personal theme. Dennis told her, 
 for instance, that his father had been an artist, and something 
 about the Heath pictures. It was strange how soon he found 
 himself at ease with her. He seemed to have known her so 
 much longer than just the last half hour. But then she had 
 been in his mind all the week. He felt himself flush once or 
 twice whilst he was talking to her; that was when he remem- 
 bered a dream, and his visit to the National Gallery to recall 
 the Velasquez Venus. He had a feeling of indelicacy about 
 that, as if he ought not to have done it. But of course it was 
 not like her, not in the least ; the picture was that of a big 
 woman ; she was slender, sinuous. He was so glad that he 
 had the opportunity here of correcting his impressions. 
 Although she was slender, she was not short. The top of 
 her sable toque was on a level with his eyes, and he was over 
 six feet. Her veil was very clear, with little spots on it. He 
 said, irrelevantly, 
 
 " Did you ever see a picture by Sickert of a woman in out- 
 door costume with hat and veil?" 
 
 " No. Why ? Do you think me like it ? " 
 
 " I was only thinking of your veil," he answered. 
 
 " What a strange thing to think about ! " 
 
 Soon afterwards Lord Loughborough joined them, with the 
 conscious self-satisfaction of one who felt he had wrestled well 
 and defeated his adversary. 
 
 "All you fellows pander to Rosenstein," he said to Dennis. 
 " You have not really a serious doubt about that ' Dancing 
 Girl ' being by Watteau, have you ? " 
 
 Dennis may have pandered to Lord Rosenstein, for he had 
 
 a feeling of loyalty to Abe Abinger in carrying on the tradition 
 
 of the Gallery. But he had the wit, or the adroitness, to 
 
 admit to Lord Loughborough that the matter was certainly 
 
 10
 
 146 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 doubtful, thus giving Lord Loughborough the pleasure of 
 persuading him that there was no doubt at all about it. 
 
 " I have a Watteau drawing at home, half-a-dozen dancing 
 figures ; one of them has the very movement of this, the 
 grace. What do you think the picture will fetch? Has 
 Rosenstein given you a commission for it?" 
 
 Dennis was unable to say Lord Rosenstein had given him 
 a commission, but his professional opinion valued the picture 
 at a figure that put it out of Lord Loughborough's power to 
 purchase. His smooth red face took on a petulant expression. 
 
 " It's always the way, one cannot buy a thing now-a-days. 
 Every soul I know complains of poverty, but there is always 
 money enough for works of art. Nothing goes cheap." 
 
 Dennis agreed. He lifted his hat in farewell. Lady Diana 
 put out an unexpected hand. 
 
 "You will come and see us in Curzon Street, won't you? 
 Perhaps you would like to look at that drawing of which my 
 father speaks. We have other things that might interest you. 
 You will find me at home almost any day, after five." 
 
 He took her little hand, it seemed to disappear in his. 
 He wondered what it would have felt like if it had not been 
 gloved. 
 
 "I shall like to come," he answered quickly. He forgot 
 she did not yet know who he was. It was not likely, either, 
 that he would notice Lord Loughborough failed to endorse 
 his daughter's invitation. 
 
 Dennis walked away with his heart very light. If he 
 lunched at all that day, it was but a perfunctory business. 
 He was as one whose face is turned towards an enchanted 
 garden. Already the perfume from its flowers was wafted to 
 him, and he heard the glad sound of the fountains from afar. 
 There were trees with branches that rustled in the sweet air. 
 Somewhere Pan was playing his pipes. And there was blue 
 sky to be seen between the branches, and a dapple of sunshine 
 on the sward. With such a garden Prince's was incongruous, 
 and the Ritz impossible. The sudden hunger he knew was 
 not the hunger of the body, but of the spirit. And all the
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 147 
 
 time he was surprised at himself, wondering indeed if he were 
 quite well. 
 
 Lord Loughborough, who was not an idealist, but that 
 thing of shreds and patches, a Liberal Peer, remonstrated with 
 his daughter for her imprudence. 
 
 " What on earth made you ask young Passiful to come and 
 see you ? He will only think I want him to buy the heirlooms. 
 It hasn't come to that yet. Although," he added gloomily, 
 "it is probably only a question of time." 
 
 Her query elicited that her late companion executed com- 
 missions for gentlemen like her father and Lord Rosenstein. 
 There was no denying that it was somewhat of a shock, 
 although it was one from which she quickly recovered. Lord 
 Loughborough went on to say, indifferently, that he supposed 
 one could not quite place Passiful with the general run of 
 dealers. Apparently he had a bad opinion of the 'general 
 run' of dealers. 
 
 "There's some story going about him. I forget what it is. 
 Some one told me he was an illegitimate son of old Mount- 
 ford." Old Mountford was the Duke of Glastonbury. " I 
 don't think it is true ; not that Mountford would be above it, 
 but he looks better bred. I believe he races." 
 
 Lord Loughborough knew that Dennis Passiful was 
 associated in his mind with some form of sport, it was very 
 unimportant which ; his mind was so full of other things. The 
 sport with which he was most familiar and immediately con- 
 cerned was racing; so he concluded it was that. A letter 
 from his heir lay heavy in his pocket ; and his first visit after 
 breakfast that morning had been to the family lawyers. 
 
 After she had recovered from the first shock of hearing 
 that her new admirer was hardly in her own world, Diana 
 began to reconsider him. Certainly he gained in romance. 
 In the result her father's incautious words succeeded in 
 piquing, not deadening, her interest. To restore her father's 
 drooping spirits was her immediate task ; there was never any 
 doubt what depressed them. 
 
 " Is it Mervyn or Vansittart ? " she asked, wisely.
 
 148 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 It was unlikely that the news from Morocco was worrying 
 him, the coal strikes in Wales, or the threatened famine in 
 India, the Chinese rising or the conduct of the Italians in 
 Tripoli. Lord Loughborough did not take his country's 
 business very seriously; when not pursuing his hobby, he 
 lounged contentedly enough in the windows of his Club in 
 Pall Mall. He would have been a happy man if he had 
 neither had to support his children, nor to put up with their 
 society. Under these circumstances, and if never contra- 
 dicted, even his temper might have left Uttle to be desired. 
 As circumstances made him, he was a little uncertain in his 
 humours. Diana, needing maintenance for the moment, put 
 up with its drawbacks. She always had the option of marry- 
 ing her cousin, although it was one of which she was slow to 
 avail herself. 
 
 " If it isn't Mervyn, it must be Vansittart," she said 
 sapiently, but not aloud; exerting herself during the walk 
 home to make herself so agreeable that he would be able, if 
 only momentarily, to forget her brothers. And presently the 
 reward of her father's confidence was hers. 
 
 " The only one of you who does not bleed me from morn- 
 ing to night is Cosmo," was the beginning that confirmed her 
 judgment, and led to a summary of what his children, and 
 especially the Honourable Captain Mervyn, had cost him 
 during the last three years. If Vansittart represented the 
 interests of the estate, it was equally exasperating. He 
 wanted money for drainage or cottages, Mervyn for gamb- 
 ling and women, she for dress; all of them had some 
 excuse. 
 
 It was true that her own jointure was insufficient for her 
 needs. Dress is terribly expensive, and she had failed to 
 produce the Wayne heir that would have made so great a 
 difference to her income. 
 
 " It is something that Cosmo never worries you in this way," 
 she said sympathetically. " He, at least, takes his allowance 
 and lives on it decently." 
 
 "I would not go so far as that, I don't call it decent
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 149 
 
 to go about like Cosmo. Look at the people he knows, 
 look at that fat man he was talking to the other night ! " 
 
 But she recollected her role, and got the conversation 
 safely back to bric-^-brac. Nothing more was said about her 
 imprudence in inviting Mr. Passiful to call. She could trust 
 her wit to find further excuse if necessary. 
 
 She had quite made up her mind to see him again. Every- 
 thing about him had pleased and attracted her; she had 
 balked so many of her inclinations ; she would not balk this 
 one. 
 
 She had married Colonel Wayne to please her father, or to 
 escape from her home. They had not had a thought, nor an 
 opinion in common, and he was five and twenty years older 
 than she. Yet she had made him a good wife, as wives go 
 in these circles. He had been his uncle's heir, and his uncle 
 had been over eighty when they married. Who could have 
 expected that the murder by a few blacks of an unnecessary 
 missionary, and the punitive expedition that followed, would 
 have resulted in the death of the heir before the uncle, and 
 the ruin of her own fine prospects ? If she had had a son it 
 would have been different. Now she was almost as poor as 
 before her marriage, whilst her home was barely more toler- 
 able. There was always Haverford, of course. But there 
 was nothing in her tentative promise to her cousin Adolphus, 
 Lord Haverford, to prevent her from seeing something of a 
 really attractive man when she met one. And the more 
 impossible he was from a social point of view, for she was 
 capable of reasoning either way, the less danger there would 
 be in her talking to him when the occasion served, or even 
 of making such occasion. There were so few people in 
 Town, every one she knew was so dull, life was dull.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 IT is to Dennis's credit that he allowed three days to pass 
 before he paid his first visit to Curzon Street, He had 
 already a vague, fleeting, occasional sense of fear, mistrust. 
 Enchanted gardens are, perhaps, dangerous places for a cricketer, 
 for a man who wanted to improve his golf handicap, or for a 
 Bond Street picture-dealer with a wife in Hamilton Terrace. 
 But these gusts of indecision and doubt were very vague and 
 occasional. For the greater part of the time he turned his 
 face deliberately to where the scented air could reach him, 
 drinking it in, luxuriating in it. It was good to be alive those 
 days, to feel the sap rising in the veins, and the heart bounding 
 exultantly. There was neither sense nor reason in it, in the 
 sudden inexplicable flushes, the unevenness of the pulses, the 
 almost physical thirst; but without sense or reason, it was 
 nevertheless exhilarating. 
 
 The day he chose for his visit was grey and dull, but he 
 saw neither the greyness nor dulness. He did not know of 
 what he should talk, nor how long he would stay. If this 
 were the garden whence all those sweet winds had blown as 
 they listed, it was enough to know his feet might enter. 
 Something of awe was in him as he rang the electric bell of 
 that ponderous door; he did not know what he might en- 
 counter. The unexpected width and sombreness of the hall 
 was part of the enchantment. 
 
 He was heralded upstairs ; the drawing room was full of 
 women clothed in furs, in large hats, chattering, and it was a 
 moment or two before she emerged. Then the greeting was 
 ordinary, cool. It was incredible that he should have expected 
 otherwise. But the coolness steadied him, and presently he was 
 
 ISO
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 151 
 
 handing tea-cups, capping commonplace with commonplace. 
 She moved among her guests, and quite soon he found himself 
 watching her. Surely the dress she had on to- day was the one 
 in which she was most beautiful. It was black and long, hang- 
 ing in light and graceful lines, clinging to her slenderness in 
 the mode then fashionable; like a sheath to a flower, he 
 thought. When she sat for a hovering moment in the chair 
 beside him, he was near enough to see that the ears behind 
 which the parted hair disappeared into its roll, were so small 
 and pale and wonderful, that he had no analogy for them. 
 ' Shell-like ' seemed an inappropriate word. He connected 
 corrugation with the word ' shell ' and a hard, fan-shaped thing 
 he had found in thousands on the beach near Westgate when 
 he had been taken there as a child. 
 
 Dennis moved in indecision when that hovering moment 
 was past. Perhaps he had already stayed the ten minutes 
 prescribed by etiquette. He was no law-breaker; he would 
 go. But a word came to him, he hardly knew whence : 
 ' Stay.' Before he realised it, all those voluble clothes props 
 had gone, said their adieus, vanished into the outer darkness, 
 and he and she were alone. The large room was beautiful 
 with the flotsam and jetsam of other centuries; pictures on 
 the walls, ivories in the cabinet, Sbvres on the mantelpiece, 
 miniatures and snuff-boxes in the vitrines. It was but 
 a vague impression he had of these things. She sank into 
 the corner of the big sofa with something like a sigh of 
 relief. 
 
 " Now we can talk." 
 
 Of course she saw his eyes fall to the level where her feet, 
 slender ankled, with high instep, prettily shod, were worthy 
 of his inspection. 
 
 " Don't say you want to see the drawings at once, that you 
 haven't a moment to spare ! I'm exhausted with my Aunt 
 Mary, and a swarm of cousins, I know the gossip of two 
 continents. I want to be rested. Tell me something new 
 and different, about things, not people. Did you buy the 
 Watteau that was by Fragonard, or the Fragonard that was
 
 152 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 by Watteau ? What a much more interesting life you lead 
 than other people do. My father was teUing me of it. How 
 did it come about?" 
 
 She was not less tired of gossip and commonplace than she 
 professed. She had been five years in India, and after that 
 in Egypt with the Carews. This was almost the first autumn 
 she had spent in town, for she had married from Denhani, 
 and her first London season had been her last. Mervyn was 
 stationed at Aldershot, and was fully occupied when he came 
 up for the day or night. Vansittart remained at Denham 
 in his chosen post, as his father's estate agent. She had no 
 one to play with but Cosmo, and Cosmo failed her often, 
 although he was attached to her in his way, and proud of her 
 beauty, and that she had held Dolly Haverford all these years. 
 But she was dull, dull, dull. She felt more widowed here 
 than she had in the two years of her widowhood. She meant 
 Dennis Passiful to amuse her. There was a romance in his 
 life. Well, he should tell it her. It was barely 6 o'clock, too 
 dark to see the drawings, too early to dress for dinner. 
 
 " Do you want to see the drawings at once ? My father 
 was afraid you would think he wanted to sell them." 
 
 This was the only moment Diana felt the question of social 
 inequality might come in. For a fleeting second she wondered 
 if she had said the wrong thing, reminded him of Bond Street, 
 or Christie's. He had not answered her query as to how it 
 had all come about. But she was speedily reassured. Dennis 
 smiled, and said he was not in the slightest hurry to see the 
 drawings. His smile was really quite attractive, and when 
 their eyes met, and she smiled too, she was sure that they 
 were going to like each other. 
 
 " I promise I will not make him an offer for them. I am 
 not always thinking of business." 
 
 " I suppose I must not ask you what you do think about," 
 she said quickly, too quickly, she was surprised at her own 
 question, and would have withdrawn it. After all he was the 
 merest acquaintance ; she was always too impulsive. But her 
 slight hesitation made it easy for him to plunge into talk.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 153 
 
 He had had little companionship with women. His very 
 attraction for them had been against it. This was different, 
 different from anything that had ever happened to him. She 
 had intellect, interest in artistic pursuits, and in the things 
 among which his life was spent. It was not difficult to find 
 subjects of conversation. There was that Titian for instance, 
 it was the most recent acquisition to the National Gallery 
 and the most debated. There was again a slight pause, during 
 which he wished he had not been to the National Gallery so 
 recently, and for such a reason. He had an uncomfortable 
 moment, and then he found himself discussing the merits, the 
 critics of the picture. Quite soon they were on easy terms. 
 He was not telling her about himself, of all she wished to hear ; 
 instead, she was telling him of her family ; of Mervyn, in the 
 Guards, whose extravagance kept them all poor ; of Vansittart, 
 who lived the year round at Denham, complaining always that 
 too much money was spent out of, and too little on, the estate. 
 She was rather plaintive on that score, and a word lamenting 
 her widowhood, hinting at the inadequate provision made for 
 her, aroused his sympathies. She said, almost under her 
 breath, as if she were talking generally, that it was dreadful 
 the sacrifices poverty necessitated. 
 
 If she were thinking of clothes, regretting the evening coat 
 of chinchilla that was beyond her means, it was not wonderful 
 that he should have thought she meant other deprivations. 
 Already he began to be ashamed of his comparative wealth, 
 to tell her how recent it was. He wished he could give her 
 things. Already he thought it monstrous that her brothers, 
 or her father, should grudge what she needed. In thinking 
 of her need he forgot her beauty. When, presently, she 
 spoke of her mother, and how dreadful it had been to be 
 so far from her when she died, he found within his eyes the 
 tears of two. He spoke of his own mother whom he had 
 never known. In the gathering dusk of the autumn after- 
 noon they grew almost to intimacy ; although it was more 
 an intimacy of imagination, than one brought about by 
 words.
 
 154 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " I have a third brother, Cosmo ; I think he is my favourite 
 of them all. We are nearest in age, he is only two years older 
 than I am." 
 
 " Only two years ! I should have thought it was ten." 
 
 " Then you know Cosmo ? " she asked in surprise. " And 
 I suppose you know Mrs. Margaret Lemon, too ? " Perhaps 
 he would tell her more about her brother, about his life. She 
 always felt Cosmo was too secretive. This it was that helped 
 to make life dull. She missed Cosmo's confidences. It was 
 her father who had thrown out an incautious word about Mrs. 
 Margaret Lemon, had told her to look the other way when she 
 saw them together. She was not so innocent but that she knew 
 men had women acquaintances or friends whom their sisters 
 could not know. But Cosmo, himself, had told her his father 
 had been mistaken. He said that Margaret Lemon helped 
 him in his work, played Egeria to him, inspired him; that 
 that was all. 
 
 Dennis might have been surprised at the question, or the 
 implication, only there was no room in his mind for surprise. 
 He was drinking her in very slowly, but nevertheless she was 
 mounting to his head. Her voice was as beautiful as her 
 face, and what she said was of Uttle moment, since it was she 
 who was saying it, and to him. None of their conversation 
 represented the phase through which both were passing. 
 
 *' I have met Mrs. Lemon twice. Is she then a great friend 
 of your brother's ? " 
 
 "I believe so. Father was much exercised in his mind 
 about it when I first returned from South Africa, and used 
 to bewail himself to me. Now, however, I think Cossy has 
 switched his facile affections to the daughter or daughter-in-law 
 of our ' greatest living grocer ' ; that is Cossy's name for Amos 
 Juxton, She seems an underbred little woman. I have seen 
 him with her once or twice." 
 
 It was too dark for her to see his face ; it is strange, there- 
 fore, how she felt in him a slight embarrassment, an awkward- 
 ness. She wondered what she had said that caused it ; 
 wondered, but went on easily before he had time to collect
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 155 
 
 himself, or, realising it was of Fanny she was speaking, to 
 discover to her his connection with Amos Juxton. 
 
 " But Cosmo has always been more or less a philanderer. I 
 believe that is his step I hear. Ring the bell, will you ? It's 
 time we had the lights. Don't go, you must see those 
 drawings." 
 
 Cosmo's entry with Lord Haverford, the turn of the switch 
 that flooded the room with electric light, destroyed the en- 
 chantment of the hour. If Cosmo was surprised to find 
 Dennis with his sister, he was too well bred to show it. As 
 for Lord Haverford he was generally unconscious of any- 
 body else when he was in the presence of his cousin and 
 fiancee. 
 
 It was quite a different Haverford that Dennis encountered 
 in Lady Diana's drawing-room from the one that had guffawed 
 with Fanny at the Carlton. If he had a vaguely proprietorial 
 air when he took his seat on the sofa beside her, it was dashed 
 by nervousness. Di had certainly promised to marry him, 
 but the date was still unfixed, she treated him indifferently, 
 and never twice alike. He knew that he owed what favour 
 she showed him to her father's sordid consideration of ways 
 and means, to his irritability over her expenses. Intending 
 to take the fullest advantage of her extremity, he nevertheless 
 lacked the courage of his intentions. 
 
 She was, however, strangely gracious to him this evening : 
 and made him welcome beside her on the sofa. 
 
 " I haven't seen you all the week," she said, with a smile. 
 " What have you been doing with yourself? Do you want 
 tea, Cossy, or whisky and soda? It's six o'clock, isn't it? 
 Mr. Passiful — you know Mr. Passiful, don't you ? — has come 
 in to see those Watteau drawings father brought up from 
 Denham. I suppose you haven't the least idea where they 
 are to be found ? " 
 
 Dennis, who wished to leave, paused at her words. It 
 gave him a strange uneasiness to see Haverford with her on 
 the sofa, to note her smiling greeting ; and he was glad when 
 Cosmo said, flinging himself into the easiest chair in the room.
 
 156 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 that he had not the least idea where the drawings were, and 
 he was much too exhausted to search. 
 
 " Come and see them another day, old fellow," he said to 
 Dennis, " My father likes to show them himself. He'll yap 
 for hours about his collections. It may amuse you, but it 
 bores us all most confoundedly." 
 
 Dennis felt himself dismissed, but he had wanted to go 
 ever since Lord Haverford had come in. It was perhaps 
 inevitable that Haverford's Christian name should be Adolphus, 
 but " Dolly " was a hateful abbreviation on her lips. 
 
 " Cossy is quite right," she said when she held out her 
 hand to him ; " my father must show you those drawings 
 himself. I'll find out when he is free and let you know." 
 
 She reverted to him later on, and asked Cosmo : 
 
 " Does Mr. Passiful really know as much about pictures and 
 works of art generally as father thinks ? He seems very young 
 to be so learned ! " Diana was in that very early stage when 
 she wanted to talk about the man who had attracted her. 
 
 Cosmo did not share Fanny's dislike of Dennis, suspecting 
 its source. If he had any feeling at all toward him it was 
 one a little warmer than toleration. Not an athlete himself, 
 athleticism excited in him a certain half unwilling admiration. 
 
 " I should think what Passiful doesn't know about works 
 of art isn't worth knowing. How did you pick him up, Di ? 
 He is not at all your type. A Sir Lancelot of the suburbs, 
 without a Guinevere ; his Holy Grail being Warner's average. 
 Your attentions will be wasted. " The light and cynical tone 
 was habitual to him, 
 
 " Don't be so absurd ! " 
 
 Haverford, sucking the stick that he had brought into the 
 room for companionship, asked if he knew anything about 
 armour. Naturally he had missed the Sir Lancelot allusion. 
 
 " Thorpe is full of old armour. They tell me it's worth a 
 pile of money. It ought to be catalogued, or insured or some- 
 thing. Cadsby has written me a long screed about it. D'you 
 think this fellow could put me in the way of it?" Then he 
 added, for Diana was being very nice to him and had not
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 157 
 
 even rejected a tentative hand that sought her own, and held 
 it : " Cadsby is seeing what's wanted doing down there." He 
 was still a little shy about his engagement. " You might help 
 me, Di. I'd like to get the place nice for you." 
 
 Diana gently put away the effeminate hand that held hers 
 flabbily. 
 
 "Of course I'll help you. But from what I recollect of 
 Thorpe it is very nearly perfect as it is." 
 
 " Well, of course, if you like it, Di " 
 
 She really could not stand Dolly when he was sentimental. 
 
 "About the armour. I should think Mr. Cadsby is quite 
 right ; he is your agent, isn't he ? Probably he knows more 
 about Berkshire pigs than Toledo blades. Would you Uke me 
 to speak to Mr. Passiful about it ? " 
 
 His little eyes were almost eloquent when he turned them 
 on her ; he was pathetically eager. 
 
 " Speak to anyone you like ; do anything you like about it. 
 I want you to take an interest in Thorpe, Di. You're not 
 going to keep me waiting much longer ? " 
 
 " Oh, Lord ; I suppose I am in the way ! What a 
 nuisance. I had just found the most comfortable angle of 
 the chair. I would have liked a nap in it before dinner." 
 Cosmo rose slowly. "But I cannot possibly risk assisting 
 at a love-feast. When I first came in I had rather an 
 idea I was interrupting one," he added, for Diana's 
 benefit alone, and was amused when he saw her change of 
 expression, her angry flush. 
 
 Perhaps one of the reasons Diana had for liking Cosmo 
 better than her elder brother, was that he was so much 
 more intelligent. But at the moment she resented his 
 intelligence. 
 
 When she was alone with Haverford she talked of Thorpe 
 as if she had really made up her mind to share its ancient 
 splendours with him. She could not, nevertheless, fail to 
 contrast him with the other who had sat with her but a short 
 time before, and to whom she had talked with that conscious- 
 ness of being met half way, responded to and understood.
 
 158 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 At his best Haverford had Uttle more sympathetic quaUty than 
 a jelly-fish. She might make him quiver, but she could not 
 make him comprehend. She suffered a kiss or two, for she 
 was up to her eyes in debt, and her father more difficult than 
 usual. For some inexplicable reason, nevertheless, after 
 Cosmo had left the room her spirits were buoyant, and she 
 felt kindly, even towards Dolly. If it had been possible for 
 him to be more in love with her than he had been for the last 
 ten years, she would have brought it about by her treatment. 
 He did press her to fix a date for their marriage, and although 
 he had to be content with something vague about the ' end of 
 next season,' he felt more secure than he had since he brought 
 her home from Egypt, and more confident that she was not fool- 
 ing him, that she really had meant what she said when she had 
 answered his forty-fifth proposal with a tentative acceptance. 
 
 How could he imagine that she was playing for safety, that 
 already she doubted if her new friend might not prove too 
 attractive, that she was strengthening herself against him, 
 assuring herself that in the security of her engagement to her 
 cousin she could afford to indulge a caprice, enjoy the 
 companionship of a man of culture, which no one could of 
 course call Dolly. 
 
 At dinner that evening she gratified her father by telling 
 him casually she had arranged to marry Haverford in a few 
 months' time — at the end of next season, in fact. She hoped 
 that suited him ? When he replied with something more than 
 the alacrity she expected, suggesting even that, as far as he was 
 concerned, it was unnecessary to wait until the very end, she 
 threw in a casual allusion to her other afternoon visitor. 
 
 " Dolly is very much exercised in his mind about the 
 collection of armour at Thorpe. I am arranging for Mr. 
 Passiful to send a man down. I suppose he knows all 
 about it ? " 
 
 " I should not say Passiful was the best man on armour. 
 Deeping is the authority. Why not consult Deeping ? " He 
 liked to think of his daughter at Thorpe. Part of it was 
 thirteenth century, all of it was historical.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 159 
 
 Diana burnt her boats quickly : 
 
 " It is too late now, we've practically arranged that 
 Mr. Passiful is to take it in hand." Then, as after-thought 
 and with an effort, although she tried to speak quite coolly, 
 she added: "I have asked Mr. Passiful to dine with us 
 next week, to meet Dolph. You said something about 
 entertaining your colleagues. The Luscombes are in town, 
 and the Adairs. Everyone likes to be asked to dinner in 
 October, if they are passing through, or up to get clothes." 
 She gave hurriedly concocted arguments for an October 
 dinner party. 
 
 The servants were still in the room, and Lord Loughborough 
 held back his exclamation until the dessert was on the table. 
 Then he said : 
 
 "You have not really asked Mr. Passiful to dine with 
 us?" 
 
 Diana having gone so far, was not prepared to retreat. 
 She went on pealing her peach very deliberately as she spoke, 
 her voice indifferent. 
 
 "Indeed I have. Is there any reason why I should 
 not?" she asked, as if in surprise. "We cannot resent his 
 illegitimacy, if he is illegitimate. Although for myself I 
 think the whole story is probably a canard. He's not in 
 the least like Mountford to begin with. He is extraordinarily 
 good-looking whilst the Duke might have been a baboon for 
 all the difference it would make in his appearance. Aunt 
 Mary was delighted with Mr. Passiful. She was asking all 
 about him, hinting mysterious things. I told her no one 
 knew exactly whose son he was. She said he was very like a 
 man she knew once. She wants to meet him again." 
 
 This was a stroke of genius, besides having a basis of truth 
 in it. 'Aunt Mary' was the Duchess of Newtown, a very 
 considerable person, her father's sister, who had early won his 
 respect by her brilliant marriage. Diana's deliberation over 
 her peach hid her expression as she went on with her little 
 tarradiddles. The impression conveyed to Lord Lough- 
 borough, it is difficult to say how, was that the Duchess had
 
 i6o JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 discovered an interest in Mr. Passiful, and wished to meet him 
 again ; that it was her idea as much as Diana's that Mr. 
 Passiful should be asked to dine with them, and that she 
 intended to interrogate him on his family history. Certainly 
 Lord Loughborough had heard rumours about young 
 Passiful's parentage. Only want of interest was respon- 
 sible for his want of memory of what these rumours had 
 been. 
 
 " But who does she think his people are ? What is all the 
 mystery about him?" he asked testily. "To me he seems a 
 very ordinary young man, above his position, perhaps. But 
 not in ours, your aunt will not forget that, I hope." 
 
 Diana was already tickmg off on the table cloth with a 
 jewelled pencil that hung among the trinkets of her bag, a list 
 of guests to whom they owed hospitality. 
 
 Loughborough grumbled, and said to use the table cloth for 
 such a purpose was just like her extravagant habits, all his 
 children were^the same, combined to ruin him. There were 
 tirnes when the merest trifle ruffled him. But then the butler 
 had forgotten to take the chill off the Burgundy, Vansittart's 
 letter was still unanswered, and he had both excuses for his 
 ill temper. Diana ignored it. She had a gift for managing 
 her father, and presently he was jogging her memory about 
 the people who were in London. He said nothing more 
 about Dennis Passiful ; she had led him away from it 
 skilfully. 
 
 She was really possessed of tact, and there were times when 
 Lord Loughborough knew she was an ornament to his house. 
 Now, having established her point, by the best possible way 
 of ignoring that there was one, she made herself thoroughly 
 agreeable to him, suggesting the chilly Burgundy should be 
 replaced by a bottle of '94 port, listening whilst he told her 
 how he had bought it for a mere song at poor Summer's sale, 
 and of the other bargains that he had picked up at the same 
 time. She had heard it all before ; she was therefore able to 
 abstract her mind, and wonder what Dennis Passiful would 
 say when he received her invitation.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY i6i 
 
 " A country sale, my dear ; most misleading catalogue, 
 and mismanaged from start to finish." 
 
 She had heard it often before, but he thought that she was 
 listening with absorbed interest. He got mellow with the 
 mellow port, and presently was telling her other familiar 
 stories of sale-rooms, and his own acumen. When she left 
 him to finish his cigar, he was quite sorry to open the door 
 for her. 
 
 "You need not hurry away, my dear," marked the high 
 water mark of his favour. But she pleaded letters to write. 
 
 Would he be glad ? Was he as keen to meet her again as she 
 to meet him ? She never doubted it ; it was not the first time 
 a man had been in love with her. It was the first time, that 
 was the strange part of it, that she had wanted to know how it 
 would be when he told her so. She did not think Mr. Passiful 
 would make love well ; and she wanted to assure herself on 
 this point. There was so much more in him than in other 
 men, in many ways he was so different; he was boyish, in- 
 experienced, ingenuous, altogether a new experience. 
 
 The hour by herself in her drawing room was spent in 
 wondering how she should word her letter to Dennis, and how 
 she should contrive that he sat next her at the table. 
 
 II
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE invitation, eventually quite formally worded, arrived 
 in Hamilton Terrace at breakfast time. Dennis flushed 
 while reading it, short and formal though it was, and let it lie 
 beside his plate until he had finished his coffee. Then, casually, 
 from behind the bulwark of his newspaper he said : 
 
 "That's an invitation to dine in Curzon Street next 
 Wednesday, at Lord Loughborough's." 
 
 " Mr. Merritt's father ! How very nice of them ; father will 
 be so pleased. Wednesday ! What a short invitation ! I 
 shan't have time to get a new dress. Isn't that tiresome? 
 What made them write to you, ought not they have written to 
 me? Oh, but I forgot. There is no Lady Loughborough 
 now. Let me see how it is worded." 
 
 Dennis passed her the letter without comment, then he filled 
 his pipe and waited. There was a note of disappointment in 
 Mabel's voice, none of rancour. 
 
 "It's only for you. What a pity! 'Diana Wayne.' She 
 must be his married sister, the one that lost her husband in 
 India. So sad, they had only been married three or four years, 
 and there was no heir. I recollect Fanny telling me there was 
 no heir. She has only just come back to England. She was 
 with Lord and Lady Carew for ever so long. Lady Carew was 
 her cousin, and ill all the time. He held some position in 
 Egypt, I forget what, and couldn't get away, so Lady Diana 
 travelled back with her and her cousin. I thought she must be 
 a thoroughly nice woman when I heard that. You've never 
 met her, have you ? How strange of them to ask you like 
 this." 
 
 " I meet Lord Loughborough very often, at Christie's, and 
 
 162
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 163 
 
 other salerooms, he is quite a connoisseur. He has some 
 Watteau drawings he wants me to go through." 
 
 " A business dinner, I see. I thought it funny of them to 
 invite a married man without his wife." 
 
 " Probably they don't even know I have a wife." 
 
 He was stung into saying that, he hardly knew why. The 
 invitation was unexpected, surprising. He had thought he 
 might have bored her that afternoon, feared lest he had stayed 
 too long. He roused himself to hear what Mabel was saying ; 
 her feelings must not be hurt because she was not included in 
 the invitation. 
 
 " Oh, don't you think so ? Don't you think they know you 
 are married? I should say Mr. Merritt had told them about 
 us. Fanny expects Lady Diana will call upon her. She will 
 be surprised to hear you are going there to dinner." 
 
 " Then you don't mind if I accept ? " 
 
 " Of course not ; I do so hope you will enjoy it. I must 
 send your best dress suit to be pressed ? I can have it done 
 in the neighbourhood. And ties, there are some new sort of 
 ties for evening wear. Green and Edwards keep them all ready 
 made up. You do worry so about getting your ties right. Is 
 there anything else you might want? Pm quite free for 
 shopping or anything. Roddy isn't coming this morning, he's 
 seeing father about his agreement. You know everything is 
 arranged; father has got the theatre." 
 
 Dennis was able to protect his dress suit from the local 
 tailor, and himself from the indignity of a ready made bow 
 from Green and Edwards, but he could not prevent Mabel's 
 betraying to Fanny her innocent pleasure in the honour done 
 to her husband. 
 
 " I did so hope Lady Diana had called on you by now, and 
 that you were going too. It would have been so nice for 
 Dennis to meet some one there he knew. He and Ted always 
 find plenty to say to each other," was almost her first observa- 
 tion when they met as usual on Sunday evening at Fitzjohn's 
 Hall. 
 
 To say Fanny was surprised that Dennis had been invited
 
 1 64 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 to dine in Curzon Street expressed her feelings very mildly. 
 But, after a moment to collect herself, of which Mabel 
 noticed nothing, her mendacity was equal to the occasion, 
 and she said, languidly, that they were " engaged for next 
 Wednesday." 
 
 The interval between the arrival of the invitation and its 
 materialisation into the dinner found that curious new restless- 
 ness of Dennis considerably accentuated. At Suningdale on 
 Sunday he played worse than he had ever played since he 
 had begun to take golf seriously. The fourth hole took him 
 five strokes, bogey being three, and four his own worst effort 
 up to then; he sliced his ball on the next tee, and missed a 
 putt of a foot that a child could have holed. Wilfred Small 
 chaffed him and said he must be in love. Dennis resented 
 that, for Small knew Mabel and often came to the house; it 
 was an infernally stupid thing to have said. He told him so, 
 and Small apologised ; he had not meant any harm, he said, 
 it was only a joke. Of course every one knew the Skipper 
 was a saint ! Dennis played rather better in the afternoon 
 round, but still hopelessly below his form. 
 
 On Monday the annual stock-taking at the Gallery should 
 have begun, but neither Mr. Dolland nor the accountants 
 found the senior partner of any practical value. The walls 
 of the office shut him in and stifled him ; he went home 
 early. 
 
 It has been already told that in his idle hours Dennis made 
 architectural drawings, studied Gwilt, and thought if he had his 
 time to come over again he would have gone in seriously for 
 the one art for which he could claim to have any talent. He 
 had often been in Mr. Garner's house and revelled in its 
 perfections. But this Monday night before the dinner party, he 
 replaced Gwilt with Browning. She had talked to him about 
 Browning that afternoon ; it would be awkward if she started 
 on it again on Wednesday, and he could neither verify her 
 quotations nor cap them. He had never neglected the poets, 
 and there were some lines of Browning that had always ap- 
 pealed to him.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 165 
 
 " And I shall find my slab of basalt there 
 And ''neath my tabernacle take my rest, 
 With those nine columns round me two and two, 
 The odd one at my feet where Anselm stands. 
 Peach-blossom marble all, the rare the ripe 
 As fresh poured red wine of a mighty pulse. ^^ 
 
 But 
 
 " Was it something said, something done that moved him 
 Touch of hand, turn of head" 
 
 was new to him, and he did not know where he should look 
 for it. "Any Wife to Any Husband " again ; she had spoken 
 of that. 
 
 Upstairs his own wife was pounding away at the * Charles 
 Auchester ' music. He wondered what she could see in 
 Roddy Ainsworth. He had had him re-elected at Hendon to 
 " The Grasshoppers," paid his entrance fee out of his own 
 pocket, but the fellow had shown no gratitude. He got up 
 late, " fugging " all the mornings, lunching with women, 
 women of Connie Lander's sort, when he was not " squalling " 
 with Mabel. He went to matine'es ! When he had reached 
 that last point in Roddy's iniquities, he abandoned him and 
 turned again to Browning. " Any Wife to Any Husband." 
 
 "And hadst thou only heard me play one tune." 
 
 He could find no other line in the whole poem that was 
 appropriate to himself and Mabel. 
 
 Lady Diana now; Diana/ He wondered quite idly and 
 irrelevantly on what terms she had been with her husband. 
 He was years older than she, he had heard. He wondered 
 also if it was quite settled that she was going to marry Lord 
 Haverford. He could not credit it, it seemed impossible. 
 That beautiful girl ! She had the figure of a girl, and a girl's 
 eyes. 
 
 Dennis had to practise his drawing, he was a man of regular 
 habits, and each evening in his study he spent an hour or so 
 before he went to bed deftly drawing lines, measuring, ad-
 
 i66 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 justing, correcting. To-night, when he had put aside Browning, 
 and settled to the drawing-board, he found to his surprise that 
 he was reproducing a wavy mass of dark hair, a delicate line of 
 pencilled brow over radiant eyes, a firm chin with a cleft in it, 
 curved lips that laughed. He tore them all up before he 
 went to bed. But he read his letter again. It was such an 
 unusual handwriting, clear and upright, without curves or 
 flourishes, and yet feminine. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Passiful, 
 
 My father and I will be so pleased if you could 
 dine with us on Wednesday the 7th inst. at 8.30. 
 I hope you are disengaged. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Diana V. Wayne." 
 
 He liked the complete simplicity of it. She was unusual 
 altogether, very simple, he thought, although so companionable 
 and intelligent. The sort of woman a man would Hke for a 
 pal, to whom he could talk as one could to a fellow of one's 
 own tastes and pursuits. None of his men friends knew 
 anything about Art, and, of course, one could not talk shop at 
 home. He had never admitted it to himself before, but 
 to-night he thought it w^as pretty rotten that he had not a soul 
 to whom he could talk of the things that interested him ; 
 outside Bond Street at least. But the men to whom he talked 
 in business were interested in commercial and not artistic 
 values. He would like to see more of Lady Diana. He 
 could tell her where there was some quite remarkably early 
 Staffordshire figures and groups. 
 
 If Dennis Passiful, wandering through his enchanted garden, 
 had reached a river and embarked upon it, drifting in a 
 direction where at any moment the current might seize him, 
 carry him off his strong feet, engulf and drown him, he was in 
 extraordinary ignorance of his danger. He recalled where he 
 had seen the Staffordshire, tore up all his drawings, yawned, 
 and proceeded to lock up the house. Then he went to bed.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE night of the dinner party came at last. Mabel 
 seemed much more excited about it than her husband, 
 sitting with him whilst he dressed, exclaiming, and really 
 exercised in her mind over the number of ties he dis- 
 carded. She made more than one effort to persuade him to 
 wear the waistcoat buttons her father had given him for 
 Christmas, she had actually, in fact, put them in before he 
 came upstairs. He was sorry to disappoint her, but he did not 
 want to make himself conspicuous. She said she was sure he 
 was right, and hastened to replace them. After the moment- 
 ous waistcoat button matter was decided, and in fear of the 
 argument in favour of the ready made ties, he asked her how 
 the rehearsals of "Charles Auchester" were getting on, and 
 if Roddy was not very glad Oliver Orchard was back in his 
 part and that he could devote himself to his own play. 
 
 The change of conversation proved a complete success, and 
 Dennis listened to an account of an attempt on the part of 
 the producer of the play to cut out one of Roddy's songs, 
 and of Mr. Merritt's callousness over the matter. He said 
 more than once that he was sure it would ' come out ' all 
 right ; he hoped she would not have a dull evening without 
 him ; he gave her that perfunctory good-bye kiss that was 
 never omitted between them. He was off at last. 
 
 The progress of the cab seemed now too slow, and now too 
 fast. He was afraid at first of being too late, and then of 
 being too early. But he was there punctually to the hour. 
 
 Giving up his coat, following his name into the drawing 
 
 room, his outward self-possession was complete. But it was 
 
 rather as if it were a dream he was enacting, and there were 
 
 167
 
 1 68 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 shadow figures about him. But one figure was no dream. 
 To-night Lady Diana was in white. It was the first time he 
 had seen her out of mourning, and above the pellucid eyes and 
 the pencilled brows, on the dark hair, there was a small 
 coronal of diamonds ; swaying and scintillating as if a breath 
 played about them. The rope of pearls around her slender 
 throat was caught up on the white dress with more scintillating 
 diamonds. But in the radiant depths of the pellucid eyes 
 as they met his own Dennis saw diamond stars that dulled all 
 the others. 
 
 " How nice to see you again ! You are taking in Lady 
 Irene Thorneycroft, the little girl over there in green chiffon 
 and white water-lilies. She will amuse you . . . ." 
 
 Before Dennis had time to be disappointed dinner was 
 announced, and he found himself following his hostess from 
 a distance into the dining-room. When he was able to 
 look about him he saw that the table was round ; over 
 the low massed bank of roses he recognised representatives 
 of both Houses, and resplendent ladies whose names and 
 faces were familiar to him from the society papers. The 
 mere absence of the communal meal gave a pleasant zest 
 to the viands. Dennis only knew this instinctively, it was 
 only with his superficial satisfaction that he was concerned 
 at the moment. He knew that the atmosphere was agree- 
 able and that the lace and linen of the napery, the heavy 
 cut glass and old silver were harmonious with his feelings. 
 He could not be supposed to know that notwithstanding the 
 poverty of which he complained. Lord Loughborough prided 
 himself justly upon his cook, that the menu had been submitted 
 to him, and that his approval was as valuable as the first hall 
 mark, that the wines were worthy of the dishes, and of the 
 house's reputation. 
 
 Dennis had taken in Lady Irene Thorneycroft. She was 
 small and fair and in her fourth season, playing at an in- 
 genuousness which was supposed to be suitable to her style 
 of prettiness. 
 
 " I know you'll think me very silly," was her favourite
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 169 
 
 opening conversation. Under cover of it she said whatever 
 came into her head, and expected to be excused if it was 
 impertinent or indecorous. Her two elder sisters had married 
 well, there were three in the schoolroom waiting emancipation. 
 Up to now she had disappointed expectation. She was 
 certainly pretty, fashionably vapid and apparently amiable. 
 Yet she had hung fire ; such things do happen, even in the 
 best families, and she was avid to restore her fading prestige 
 before next season should bring her sister Blanche's still more 
 youthful charms to vie with hers. The Duchess left no stone 
 unturned, no assembly unfrequented, and Irene seconded her 
 efforts unremittingly. She met the same people again and 
 again, that was the worst of it. Everybody knew how essential 
 it was that she should get married before Blanche was pre- 
 sented. Lately she had thought that men avoided her in 
 consequence. Perhaps her artlessness palled. Dennis was 
 wholly new ; eligible, or he would hardly have been here, near 
 to the hostess, too. He was very good looking, that much 
 Irene saw. In the language of the proletariat whose manners 
 she aped, Lady Irene ' set about ' him. She aired all her 
 little graces and ingenuousness. She looked up and looked 
 down, shrugged her pretty little shoulders, and asked 
 impertinent questions. She talked of Ranelagh and Hurling- 
 ham, huntin' and cubbing; of Aix, where they had been in 
 the summer, of Cannes, where they went in the winter. She 
 held Dennis's attention by sheer force of her volubihty. 
 
 He was always and above everything conscious of Lady 
 Diana talking in that low musical voice of hers to the man 
 who had taken her in to dinner. She had no time to 
 spare for him as yet; but that she should have placed him 
 near her was enough, and more than enough. He played his 
 part with Irene, finding the daughter of the Duchess astonish- 
 ingly little different from the Hampstead and Hendon maidens 
 who had honoured him with their attentions in times gone by. 
 He could hold his own in the little social comedy through 
 which Lady Irene pirouetted. But never without the know- 
 ledge that Diana was there, her graciousness all about him.
 
 I70 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Now and again she found opportunity for a word. If it were 
 about nothing, a wine or a dish, it was evidence that she knew 
 he was there, that she had not forgotten him. Once their eyes 
 met, and what she read in his contented her so well that she 
 spoke no more to him whilst the dinner was in progress. 
 She left him to Irene, knowing that her turn would come. 
 
 There were two Cabinet Ministers at the table as well as 
 Lord Rosenstein, Dolly Haverford, her brother Mervyn, 
 Cosmo, a couple of young Guardsmen, Sir Adrian Rostand. 
 None of these could boast Dennis's good looks, nor the same 
 quality of understanding. She was satisfied with him in these 
 surroundings. Her father need not have spoken of taking 
 Dennis Passiful ' out of his class ' by asking him to dinner. 
 If there was a social difference between him — for already he 
 was " him " to her — and the others, there was no doubt he 
 benefited by the comparison. His carriage was finer, his 
 shoulders broader. He looked more of a man than the 
 Guardsmen or her brother. He was certainly better groomed 
 than the statesman by her side, with his over-long hair and 
 indifferent tailoring, than the other Cabinet Minister, with his 
 square head and coarse hands. Diana had a cultivated eye, 
 and the shining lights of the Liberal party failed to satisfy it. 
 
 " There will be bridge presently ; if you don't play, we can 
 talk. Come up soon," she contrived to say to Dennis under 
 cover of the movement of the ladies from the table. 
 
 He heard it, although he was groping for Irene's fan, 
 handkerchief, and a trinket or two that she had contrived to 
 drop. He emerged cool from the ordeal, and as he stood up 
 to let them pass, both Irene and Diana noted he was a good 
 inch taller than any of the men present, and beyond that in 
 good looks. 
 
 When the men were alone, chairs were drawn closer, and 
 instead of chatter there was conversation. Dennis had a 
 momentary doubt as to his inclusion in this circle, where 
 everyone seemed to know everybody else, and he might well 
 be deemed something of an outsider. But Lord Haverford's 
 last term at Harrow happened to have been that very eventful
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 171 
 
 summer when Dennis made his historic two centuries at Lord's, 
 defeating Eton for the third time in succession. Haverford 
 could not stand the Guardsmen, who under the lead of Mervyn 
 had a disagreeable way of chaffing him, nor yet the politicians, 
 who were all on the wrong side, outsiders ; men who had not 
 been at public Schools nor University. He drew his chair 
 up to Dennis and began to talk about "The Hill." He 
 had all the devotion to his old school of the lower boy who 
 has never been translated. Two or three ignominious years 
 and a superannuation had left him with an enthusiasm for 
 Harrow exceeding Dennis's own. He asked after numerous 
 boys who had been prefects or uppers in his own time. He re- 
 called the famous cricket match, and the " rag " that followed, 
 confiding in Dennis that he never missed going back on speech 
 day, when he sang "Willow the King," and "Follow on," and 
 " Forty Years After." 
 
 " I get all worked up, give you my word ; often find my- 
 self devilish nearly blubbing. There's something in the old 
 place. ..." 
 
 By the time he remembered that he wanted Dennis's advice 
 about the armour at Thorpe, he had grown sentimental, and 
 called him " old pal." But then something of that must be 
 laid to the account of Loughborough's '87 port on the top of 
 1S98 Giesler and undated but superb Lafite. 
 
 Mervyn asked who was the fellow Dolly was " burbling " 
 over, and Cosmo, giving his name only, made him known to 
 his brother, and the other youngsters. They all began to talk 
 cricket, but the raucous voice of the Cabinet Minister, and the 
 desire for information of his colleague, interrupted them. The 
 gentleman with the long hair was very like Rosa Dartle. He 
 " wanted to know " so many things ; detail of the working of 
 the last army order for instance, with which of course the 
 young army men were completely ignorant. He " wanted to 
 know " from Lord Haverford how the Government valuation of 
 land worked in his district. Haverford answered shortly : 
 
 " Rottenly ! What did you expect? " 
 
 Haverford did not even take the trouble to be polite,
 
 172 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 grumbling in an audible aside to Dennis that this was the first 
 time he had dined here since Loughborough had begun to 
 spell for an Earldom ; a false accusation with a basis of truth 
 in it. Lord Loughborough had thrown in his lot with the 
 Liberal party when Mr. Chamberlain offended his social 
 prejudices. That the last state was worse than the first he 
 would have admitted, retracing his steps, but that the opposi- 
 tion of his family had aroused his obstinacy. 
 
 " I wouldn't have come now if Diana hadn't made a point 
 of it. Dashed low fellows, these Liberals. My father told me 
 once he never met a Liberal in a gentleman's drawing-room, 
 always thought they should be kept to the kitchen quarters, 
 seen 'em driving about their constituencies with frowsy headed 
 wives, but never had his legs under the same mahogany. Don't 
 know what he'd have said to my sittin' down with these. My 
 hat ! " He glanced at the long-haired one with aversion. 
 
 But now it was Dennis's turn to be questioned. In the 
 intervals of his flamboyant oratory the Cymric Sampson 
 devoted himself to the fair sex, and the way Dennis absorbed 
 the attention of Lady Irene, and attracted that of Lady Diana, 
 somewhat upset his slender veneer of good manners. Lord 
 Rosenstein, deep in art gossip with his host, had called on 
 Dennis once or twice for a date or a description, and this gave 
 the clue to his calling. Following on the enquiry to Haverford 
 about the new land duties, he engineered the talk to the 
 super-tax. 
 
 "I suppose it is not very popular in Bond Street? The 
 incomes there are more often over than under ^{^5,000 a 
 year?" he asked quickly, those shallow bright eyes of his 
 sharp for the answer. Already he was restless with the desire 
 to find new fields to exploit, new sources to supply incomes 
 for the henchmen of the party. 
 
 Dennis who, like most cricketers, had the love of his country 
 at heart, and resented its exploitation for the benefit of 
 politicians kept in their places by the votes of disloyalists, 
 answered coolly : 
 
 " It has given us some trouble, but on the whole we have,
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 173 
 
 I believe, all found it economical. By an alteration in our 
 system of keeping accounts, and a re-distribution of assets 
 from various sources, all the men I know whose incomes are 
 over ^5,000 a year, are paying less than they did before the 
 imposition of the tax." 
 
 The long-haired one wanted an argument on this point, and 
 to prove it impossible. But Lord Loughborough suggested 
 joining the ladies. His poUtical guests were probably as 
 uncongenial to him as they were to the others, and he 
 deprecated any discussion after meals. It was only the 
 presence of the ladies that had prevented friction before this. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the drawing-room, the ladies had separated 
 into congenial groups. Lady Irene sat down by Mrs. Spencer 
 Trefusis, gambolled youthfully about her, played with the fringes 
 of her scarf, and possessed herself of her fan. Mrs. Spencer 
 Trefusis had nothing to offer society but her extraordinary 
 knowledge of its affairs. There was nobody she met of 
 whose private history she remained ignorant. Her gossip, 
 elliptical, and sometimes erroneous, was generally voted ' most 
 amusin',' and Mrs. Trefusis herself was an ever welcome guest. 
 Irene soon began to pump her about Dennis Passiful. Diana, 
 listening to them a moment, in the intervals of endeavouring 
 to keep Aunt Mary from relapsing into slumber, thought that 
 of Dennis Passiful at least Mrs. Spencer Trefusis could have 
 no special information. He could never have swum in the 
 waters where she fished so indefatigably. But, to her surprise, 
 the contrary proved the case. 
 
 " Young Passiful ! Oh yes ! Rollin' in money, simply 
 roUin'. Old Abinger, a Jew, my dear, millionaire person, 
 adopted him, left him a fortune. He's made another for 
 himself. Pierpont Morgan never buys a thing without him ; 
 he does all Rosenstein's commissions. Quite a romance ! 
 Nobody knows who his mother was," then she dropped her 
 voice, " but she was one of us. I've heard stories ; I should 
 not be surprised if it was that daughter of Ridgeways, who was 
 supposed to have died abroad. She talked about art a great 
 deal, I remember, before she ran away ; for there is no doubt
 
 174 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 she did run away. They were killed in a motor accident, or 
 on a Swiss mountain ; it m.ight have been the earthquake in 
 Sicily; it's a long time ago. The boy was brought up by a 
 parson. Parson joined the Roman Catholic Church. Old 
 Abe thought it shockin'. Don't know why Jews think it is 
 shockin' to be a Roman, but they do. He's a good-lookin' 
 young fellow. PU ask Ridgeways about his daughter ; he 
 wouldn't mind owning up to such a fine young grandson. All 
 the legitimate ones are wasters. Shall I ask him ? " 
 
 "Oh, no! You have told us quite enough!" This was 
 from Diana, hastily, but Irene was not nearly satisfied. 
 
 " Do you think he has a million of money, too, all of his 
 own ? Why does he go on selling things if he's so rich ? " 
 Irene questioned ingenuously. 
 
 "But, my dear, don't you know that nobody is ever rich 
 enough. And they say he buys things for himself now, collects 
 them. A girl might do worse, a great deal worse than go in 
 for young Percival — Passival did you say he called himself? 
 Well, it's no odds. Nobody thinks anything of the bar 
 sinister nowadays. Why, they do say the Prince . . ." She 
 lowered her voice again, whilst telling her awed young audience, 
 who had however no interest whatever in the gossip, of a 
 morganatic alliance that was being suggested for the heir to 
 the throne. She did speak in a whisper, so it would perhaps be 
 indecorous to play the eavesdropper. 
 
 Irene listened and was rewarded with more talk about Mr. 
 Passiful. When she realised what was expected of her, Mrs. 
 Trefusis was glad to gratify the Duchess's daughter. She 
 commented on Dennis's attentions during dinner, and gave 
 instances of girls who had been happy, or sufificiently happy, 
 with foreign bankers, old South African millionaires, and 
 even stockbrokers. Encouraging Irene to her new foll}^, she 
 found herself with two listeners. The effort to keep Aunt 
 Mary awake had failed, and Diana was heeding her words;- 
 they were making an impression upon her, too, which was 
 stranger. 
 
 Diana had been conscious as she had sat by Dennis's side
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 175 
 
 during dinner of a decided accession of interest in him. And 
 if Irene, who was the daughter of a Duke, could look upon 
 Dennis Passiful as eligible, if Mrs. Spencer Trefusis could 
 encourage her in it, why should she, Diana, who was only the 
 daughter of a Liberal peer, and that a poor one, relegate him 
 to the ranks of the desirable impossibilities ? Her thoughts 
 travelled quickly as she listened to Mrs. Trefusis talking. 
 Why should she marry Dolly, who bored her to distraction, 
 who always said the same things with the same vacuity of 
 expression ? Dolly was rich, but most of his money was in 
 land. She had heard him say over and over again that he 
 shouldn't be surprised if, before the Liberals got out, they'd 
 grabbed most of what belonged to him to pay themselves 
 salaries. And the events of the last session seemed likely to 
 justify his fears. She need not marry for position ; for her 
 position was assured. She must marry for money. But why 
 should it be Haverford's money ? 
 
 It was when she arrived at this point in her meditations 
 that the men came into the room. Then she had to do her 
 duty by her father's most distinguished guests ; she had no 
 time for Dennis Passiful, nor to wonder about him. The 
 Cymric Sampson held her hand a little longer than necessary, 
 paid her compliments; the wrong ones, and wrongly expressed. 
 Certainly if caste had any meaning, or good manners any signifi- 
 cance, Dennis Passiful had more right amongst them than he. 
 Fortunately there was a semi-official reception to-night at 
 Lady Sabury's, and the Ministers left early, to everyone's 
 relief. Then some sat down to cards, and the young men 
 made a move to the billiard-room. Irene had secured Dennis 
 for a few moments by the simple process of calling out to 
 him : 
 
 "Do come and be introduced to Mrs. Spencer Trefusis, 
 Mr. Passiful. She has just been telling me all about you. 
 I want to know if any of it is true ; it is so romantic." 
 
 " Mrs. Trefusis prides herself on her inaccuracy," Cosmo 
 murmured, as he replaced Irene in the seat beside her. 
 "Don't you? Let Irene chatter whilst you tell me what
 
 176 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 you have invented romantic about our young Lancelot. His 
 adopted father was an old friend of my mother's ; and she 
 always insisted that the boy was his own." 
 
 Mrs. Spencer Trefusis said Cosmo was delightfully wicked, 
 and what did he think of that affair of the Abercrombies? 
 Cosmo had an idea of making a study of Mrs. Spencer 
 Trefusis for a play. Miss Compton was the actress he had in 
 mind. He stayed by her for quite a long time, letting her 
 tell him old or new scandal. 
 
 Dennis had no choice but to listen to Irene, who had 
 practically button-holed him. But from where he stood he 
 watched Diana's movements. 
 
 Fortunately the Duchess was no bridge player, and she 
 soon swept her daughter away, leaving Dennis free for Diana. 
 They had a word or two, but other guests again intervened. 
 Of Haverford, later on, it was more difficult to rid themselves. 
 He had forgotten about the armour in his revived interest in 
 old Harrovian days. Now he gave Dennis quite a cordial 
 invitation to Thorpe. He said that when he was married he 
 should take more interest in the County Cricket, and Dennis 
 must come down there and help him with it. Diana's tact was 
 ultimately equal to the occasion. 
 
 " You must go and play billiards, Dolly. Cossy ought to 
 be downstairs, but he will never tear himself away from Mrs. 
 Trefusis. I've promised to show Mr. Passiful the old temple, 
 and the winter garden." 
 
 Lord Haverford did not want to play billiards, and did not 
 know how to play bridge. He wanted to detain Diana, and 
 make her share his thin enthusiasm, whilst he talked to Dennis 
 about cricket. It was part of the perquisites of his position 
 that she should stay and listen. It was with difficulty she 
 deprived him of them. It was Cosmo who came to her 
 assistance, when Mrs. Trefusis left, with a suggestion that if 
 Dolly did not care to play billiards he had better come down 
 for a whisky and soda. Cosmo was always on the watch lest 
 Haverford should jeopardise the position he had won with 
 such difficulty.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 177 
 
 " Come and have a drink, Dolph ; Di will let you off for 
 half an hour." 
 
 He trusted to Lord Haverford's thirst to make the rest easy. 
 He saw Diana was anxious to get rid of him. He looked at 
 Dennis and his sister curiously, nevertheless. He had wondered 
 how he came to be there, would have wondered, perhaps, even 
 if Fanny had not talked to him about it, and shown her 
 surprise. 
 
 12
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THERE are small houses and large in Curzon Street. 
 But the one that had been occupied by the Lough- 
 boroughs from time immemorial, where Fox and the "First 
 Gentleman of Europe " had often made merry, where Parisot 
 had danced, and Mario sung, was the largest of them all. 
 The conservatory, or winter garden, for it more nearly merited 
 the latter description, was celebrated for the model of a classic 
 temple, in stone, many columned and correct; in its beautiful 
 verisimilitude giving no suggestion that it was without an 
 interior, and that it was put up to disguise the wall that led 
 to the stables. To-night the classic temple was lighted by 
 electricity; the points twinkled also amongst the great 
 oleanders, the orange trees, and palms that had been the 
 hobby of Diana's grandfather to cultivate in these strange 
 quarters. The air was warm among the scented exotics and 
 the palms and foliage of the small pleasaunce, and in the 
 artificial warm dusk of its verdure were chairs and dallying 
 places for lovers. 
 
 Dennis and Diana were not lovers, but they were glad to 
 be alone, to compare notes of the dinner party, to talk about 
 themselves and each other. Dennis had an idea that he was 
 in luck in receiving so much attention from his hostess. If 
 he found his pulses less even than usual, he put it down to 
 the wine he had drunk. He knew he had a level head ; she 
 was of course extraordinarily beautiful, and wonderfully kind 
 to him. Perhaps he was a Httle embarrassed, but flattered 
 certainly, exhilarated, almost excited. 
 
 " Let us sit down here." 
 
 That was after they had exhausted the obvious, displaying to 
 
 178
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 179 
 
 each other their invincible Toryism, and distaste for the 
 manners and habits of the present Government. Dennis was 
 quite satisfied to sit beside her, he was never a very talkative 
 man. 
 
 " Was all Mrs. Trefusis told us true ? " she asked him, 
 presently. 
 
 " I don't know what she told you." 
 
 " That there was a romance about your parenthood." 
 
 " I never knew either my father or mother, but I never 
 heard there was anything romantic or extraordinary about 
 them. Mr. Paighton said he had an idea at one time that 
 Passiful was not my father's real name. It is rather an 
 uncommon one. He would have made it famous if he had 
 lived." 
 
 He spoke again about the sketches of the Heath, and about 
 the portrait of his mother. 
 
 " You have never tried to find out ? " 
 
 "Why should I ? A man is what he makes himself." 
 
 "And you?" Her voice was very soft. "You have made 
 yourself a place." 
 
 " I ! I've tried to play the game." 
 
 He was shy of talking about himself, almost awkward, pleased 
 nevertheless at her interest in him, but not anxious to exploit 
 it. He said another word or two about how good Mr. Paighton 
 had been to him, and about the two old maids. 
 
 " But without a mother or a father ! You must have always 
 missed something in the world." Her soft sympathetic voice 
 seemed to touch him somewhere, and in a way that he had 
 never before been touched. 
 
 " I'm not missing anything now." He hardly knew why he 
 said it. 
 
 " No ! You think Irene pretty, don't you ? She is considered 
 pretty." 
 
 " I haven't thought about her at all." 
 
 It was very blunt, but in revolt at his own quickened 
 feelings, and the way her voice touched him, he took refuge 
 in abruptness.
 
 i8o JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " She talked a lot. I suppose she is what you call awfully 
 up to date. I don't know much about girls," he added. 
 
 " Don't you ? That is rather strange. You are not a 
 misogynist, surely?" 
 
 " No, but girls are all so alike." 
 
 He was not distinguishing himself, he felt that ; he felt, too, 
 a new difficulty in expressing himself. 
 
 " I never thought of that ! You would rather then have gone 
 down to the billiard room with Cossy and Dolly ? " 
 
 "You know I wouldn't." That was better. "You know 
 I like talking to you." 
 
 " Do you ? I thought you would, but then I wasn't quite 
 sure. It is girls only, then, that are so much alike, not widows." 
 
 " I don't think of you as a widow." 
 
 " You do think of me, then ? No, I didn't mean to say 
 that. It sounds coquettish. You and I .... we talk mere 
 sensibly than that, don't we? Flirtation is what you mean 
 when you say all girls are alike." 
 
 " I know I have never met anyone in the least like you." 
 
 " Haven't you ? But I am really just like other people. 
 I think it is you who are different ! " 
 
 Of course Diana knew the game she was playing; single, 
 married, or widowed, she had never played any other. Dennis 
 fell easily into the trap, and asked her in what way she found 
 him different from other fellows. Then she talked about him, 
 and he about her, and one after another the lamps about them 
 went out, and the strange exotic garden sent out its perfumes. 
 Dennis thought it all amazingly pleasant, exciting even. Diana 
 thought him a little slow, a little deliberate, but she had no 
 doubt the pace would quicken presently, when she desired it, 
 in fact. 
 
 " Do you believe in friendship between man and woman ? " 
 she asked him presently. 
 
 " Rather." 
 
 "Do you think you and I are going to be friends? " 
 
 " It's too good to be true," Dennis answered quickly, caught 
 unawares.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY i8i 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 " I am so ordinary, when you get to know me you would get 
 bored." 
 
 " I don't think so, I don't feel like that yet, anyway. I'm 
 not at all bored, rather the contrary." 
 
 " I have never had a woman friend." 
 
 She did not quite know why he was harping on the word 
 friendship. She did not want to think him "raw," although 
 that was the word that might have seemed appropriate. And 
 really he was extraordinarily good looking. They had been 
 sitting under the shadow of one of the great palms. Now he 
 got up, walked away a few paces, came back again. As he 
 came back, one of the electric lamps, blown out from some 
 unknown cause, for the night was perfectly still, burst into 
 light again. Its illumination fell whitely on her white dress. 
 He did not know what was affecting him, nor how he was 
 aftected. She looked more like a statue than ever with the 
 white light on her face. 
 
 "You are perfectly beautiful !" The words broke from him. 
 She laughed, but it was quite a little laugh, low, and the note 
 in it was more thrilling than gay. She had meant him to make 
 love to her, yet here he was standing upright, and quite still, 
 only telling her that she was beautiful. She knew it, had 
 known it since she was a child. It was not to hear this that 
 she had come into the garden with him. 
 
 " You say you have never had a woman friend." She was not 
 going to let him make her nervous ; nervousness was the name 
 she gave to what was new and strange to her in her own 
 feelings. "But you have been in love?" 
 
 " I don't beheve I ever have," he said, more quickly. She 
 waited for him to add " until now." But instead, he said, as 
 if it had little to do with the matter, was something quite 
 extraneous to it : "I married, of course, but, but that is not 
 quite the same thing." Again that curious sense of unreality 
 oppressed him. 
 
 He had not actually said it, but she understood that, although 
 he was married, he had never been in love. He grew hot when
 
 1 82 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 he realised what he had said, for it seemed to be unfair to 
 Mabel. But he had not been in love with Mabel, not exactly 
 in love. Love in that sort of sense must carry one off one's 
 feet, one must feel intoxicated, uplifted. As he thought of it 
 he could not trust himself to look at his companion. It was 
 very still out here, the shadows deep, and the light fitful. 
 
 Diana had not known he was married, had not guessed, nor 
 foreseen it. Her heart gave a leap, what a fool she had been ! 
 Then it quieted down. 
 
 " I did not know you were married," she said, quite easily. 
 
 " I have been married five years." 
 
 Idly she wondered what it was to her, rather dully she 
 wondered what concern it was of hers. Was she not going to 
 marry Dolly, in six months ; at the end of the season ? Then 
 she pulled herself together. Her mind worked quickly, and 
 she saw all at once it was a good thing, an excellent thing, that 
 he was married. It made playing with him so safe. One could 
 go on playing ; there might be a spice of danger, exhilarating, 
 bringing now and again that quick heart beat, but on the 
 whole it was safe. 
 
 " I did not know it. But you say you have never had a 
 woman friend? I don't think I understand." 
 
 " It seems to me I have never known anything about women 
 until now." He was breathless and felt he was making a fool 
 of himself. " When I first saw you, at the theatre that night, 
 looking like a statue, Pygmalion's statue come to life, or one 
 of the Venuses, I thought you were the first woman I had 
 ever seen, really looked at . ." He had sat down beside her 
 again, his head silhouetted against the lighted columns of the 
 temple. " So that if you do give me your friendship, honour 
 me with your friendship," what he was saying seemed extra- 
 ordinarily foolish, and he hurried on, moved by his own folly, 
 and inconsequent, " I don't know what I could do to deserve 
 it, but there isn't anything I wouldn't do." 
 
 The place, the warm and scented air, the unusual circum- 
 stances and hour were responsible for his stupidity, he knew 
 that he was being quite unpardonably stupid.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 183 
 
 "You have only seen me three times altogether." 
 
 " Four. I saw you one night when you were coming 
 home from the theatre." 
 
 " But you didn't speak to me." 
 
 " No, I did not want to. I was satisfied with having seen you." 
 
 " But surely I am not the only woman with whom you have 
 ever wished to be on friendly terms ? " 
 
 " On the terms I want to be with you ? Yes, you are." 
 
 " It is extraordinary you have never cared for a woman, or 
 a woman for you," she persisted, speaking slowly. It was im- 
 possible, incredible; she hardly knew what it was he was trying 
 to tell her. 
 
 " I don't want to make myself out better than I am. It's 
 a question of, of temperament, I suppose." He shied over 
 the word, it was like Fanny, had something mawkish and 
 sentimental about it. " Perhaps I have not the same faculty 
 of idealisation as other fellows. I've known a good many girls 
 and women, of course. I should not care if I never saw one 
 of them again." 
 
 Because she was pleased, she answered lightly, she tried 
 even to banter him, but liked his seriousness so well that it 
 seemed a pity to change the note. 
 
 " It is really very flattering." She rose from her seat. " But 
 now I think, it is time we went in." He put himself deliberately 
 in her path. 
 
 " Don't go for a moment. Tell me, is it possible ? " And 
 then because he was conscious of his inexperience, and hardly 
 knew what he wanted, yet wanted it uncommonly, was afraid 
 of bungling, and more afraid of his fear, he hurried on : 
 
 " Is friendship between man and woman possible ? You 
 said it was ; just now you said it was. Would I be worthy ? " 
 
 He was still standing in her path. He was really curiously 
 unlike any other man she had ever met ; but certainly he had 
 the power of making her heart beat fast, and no other man 
 who had made love to her before her husband's death, 
 or since, had hesitated to use such a power when he dis- 
 covered it.
 
 i84 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " I must think it over." 
 
 Everything was just as it should be, for now there was a 
 touch of imperativeness in his manner. 
 
 " No ! No ! You must tell me now." He caught hold of 
 her hand, surprised at himself. " I must know." 
 
 Standing with him like that, for half an instant, her hand 
 supine in his, she had nothing to say. And her silence 
 mounted to his head as words might have failed to do. 
 
 " I could not bear to think we were not going to meet 
 again, talk together ! You must promise me that. Is it too 
 much to ask ? There is something different between us, isn't 
 there, something different from what we feel with other people?" 
 She made a little exclamation at that, but he took no heed of 
 the interruption. " From the first we were not like ordinary 
 acquaintances ; I don't know what it is ! " 
 
 It really seemed that he did not know he was making love 
 to her, although he was doing it so well. And she left her 
 hand in his, some magnetism there was in him, communicating 
 itself to her, until her hand felt hot in his, and she was conscious 
 of a curious agitation. It was only for her friendship he was 
 pleading, not for her love, or leave to win it. An instant she 
 stood silent, and he, eager for her answer, holding her hand. 
 Then the spell was broken. 
 
 " You know I am going to marry my cousin, Lord Haver- 
 ford. Cosmo has told you ? " 
 
 " Yes, no, I can't remember. That has nothing to do with 
 it. Only I do want to see you again, and often." 
 
 " It is getting so late." 
 
 "But say before you go that we shall meet again, that I 
 haven't offended you, that you meant what you said about 
 friendship between man and woman, and that you are going to 
 give me yours. Say it." And then he added, in reaction 
 from his own vehemence : " It would be so . . so splendid 
 of you." 
 
 " Would it ? " 
 
 Certainly he did his wooing strangely, if this were wooing. 
 What surprised her most was her own pleasure in it.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 185 
 
 *' I really must go in now." She said it hastily, almost 
 nervously, as a girl might if an impetuous boy was making hot 
 love to her and the experience was new. 
 
 " But it is all right between us ; you are not offended ? " 
 
 " Of course it is all right." She laughed a little unsteadily, 
 
 " And we are going to be friends ? " 
 
 "The best of friends;" this time her laughter was light, 
 " why not ? " 
 
 " It is awfully good of you." 
 
 His heart was high as he followed her ; hers was in a tumult, 
 although she was telling herself all the time that it was 
 ridiculous, simply ridiculous. He made love like a boy, and it 
 was men, men who knew every move in the game and played 
 it as well, or better than she did, with whom such pastime was . 
 amusing. But he was so frank, and unusual. What could she 
 do with him, he was outside her own circle and ways? But 
 even whilst she hesitated she felt that this was not the end. 
 And when he gave her his hand again to assist her up the 
 steps, the grasp of his hand again gave her that thrill, a 
 message of which she could not misunderstand the significance ; 
 although it was with difficulty she believed it. 
 
 It was anti-climax when they came in, to find that the bridge 
 and billiard parties had both broken up, and Haverford, 
 looking very sulky, and, if the truth must be told, a little less 
 than sober, was lounging on the sofa waiting for their return. 
 Dennis did not wish to linger, the evening was over for him. 
 He was amazingly happy, and more amazingly ignorant of the 
 reason of it. He had had a delightful evening. He would 
 rather not have left Haverford there with her. But Cosmo 
 was there also. 
 
 Cosmo looked with some curiosity, and more amusement, 
 at his sister when she came in from the garden with Dennis. 
 He knew Dennis's attraction for women, and thought that 
 Diana might do him a great deal of good. It was not any 
 slight to Fanny he wished to avenge, but Dennis was really 
 too ^ unco guid.'' He suspected his sister of a capacity to 
 make Dennis Passiful realise that his outlook on life had
 
 1 86 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 been hitherto rather limited. Naturally Cosmo did not care if 
 there should be trouble for Dennis in this new knowledge. 
 Neither did he for a moment suspect Diana of being in any 
 danger. There was the light in Dennis's eyes that there had 
 been on his wedding day, as if something wonderful had been 
 happening to him, and Cosmo was certainly amused. 
 
 " I did not think you were such a botanist, Passiful," he 
 said lightly. " You must have examined every plant. I sus- 
 pect Diana gave you the history of the Auricula my uncle 
 imported from Florida, and the Acanthus that blossomed the 
 night George of Wales dined here in 1794, and never before 
 nor since." 
 
 He wanted to cover Haverford's sulkiness ; but he need 
 not have feared that it would affect his sister. 
 
 " You still here, Dolly," she said, as if in surprise, as she 
 came in. " I thought you went away hours ago." 
 
 He mumbled something under his breath, something that 
 sounded like: "So it seemed." 
 
 She looked at him with uplifted eyebrow and enquiry, and 
 he pulled himself together. The next mumble may have been 
 an apology. He stood up irresolutely; Dennis was waiting 
 to say good-bye, and for a moment they were side by side. 
 Dolly was slightly fuddled, and in his vacuous face his little 
 eyes were bloodshot. He blinked with them under the re- 
 treating forehead, and his Hps hung sulkily, the mouth a little 
 open. Dennis was half a head taller, and as he stood she 
 saw how muscular was his_^ grace. 
 
 "Why did you wait? Has every one else gone? But 
 it was very nice of you to wait and say good-night to me." 
 
 If it were that for which he was waiting he was in no 
 haste to carry out his intention. He stood his ground whilst 
 Dennis said his brief farewell ; was still standing it when the 
 door closed behind him. But to her it seemed the room had 
 grown suddenly dull and empty, and when Dolly began to talk, 
 she yawned openly, yawned in his face. 
 
 "Isn't it almost bed time?" she asked. Dolly had always 
 a way of overstaying his welcome, she thought. " I don't know
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 187 
 
 why, but it has seemed an unusually long evening. Did we 
 dine earlier than usual, Cossy ? Of course we did. I've just 
 remembered those sort of people" this was her disrespectful 
 way of alluding to the Liberal Ministers, " are used to dining 
 in the middle of the day. Father said it was not to be later 
 than 8. What is the time now, Cossy? I'm sure it is 
 to-morrow, or the day after." 
 
 " You have been sitting for an hour with that fellow in the 
 conservatory." 
 
 It was Cosmo's presence that gave him the courage to say 
 it, and her look of surprise made him feel a fool. She had 
 a way of making him feel a fool. She yawned again : 
 
 "An hour, was it? I thought you were so interested in 
 that armour of yours. We were talking about it, and Mr. 
 Passiful will go down to see it himself. But perhaps you've 
 changed your mind again." 
 
 Her tone was indifferent or scornful ; and it really seemed 
 as if she were sleepy. 
 
 " How did I know you were talking about the armour ? I've 
 been waitin' for the chance of a word with you ..." 
 
 "You must make allowances for him," Cosmo struck in, 
 "it is love from which he is suffering, a bad attack. He 
 scents a rival in your new armourer. I should not be sur- 
 prised if presently he resents your groom." 
 
 Cosmo's wit was double barrelled, the eyes of brother and 
 sister met, and hers were interrogative; the lines around his 
 were wrinkled in humour. Had he meant to convey to her that 
 Dennis Passiful was little less removed from her than a groom ? 
 She knew better; there were no differences at all between 
 them, or if there were the advantages were all on his side. 
 In any case she would allow no interference from Cossy in 
 whatever way she chose to amuse herself. 
 
 " But Dolly could hardly find a really worthy rival, could he?" 
 
 Cosmo, if he did not spare his sister, spared her fiance no 
 less. He would have taken him away after that, but Dolly 
 had his attacks of weak obstinacy, and one of them was on 
 him now. He paid no heed to Cosmo's suggestion that ' it
 
 1 88 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 was really time to toddle.' And Diana's obvious impatience 
 had little more effect. 
 
 "You never give me a word. Other fellows can have 
 tete-k-tetes with you. You put me off, and laugh at me ; you're 
 always laughing at me. You've promised to marry me. . ." 
 
 " But not to-night, surely." 
 
 " There you go, laughing at me again ! " 
 
 And then, ignoring Cosmo, he burst out : 
 
 " You know how frightfully fond I am of you. No one 
 knows better than me how rippin' you look to-night, and all 
 that. But you ought to say how much longer I've got to 
 wait. Why should you go on putting me off? " 
 
 This was the sort of crisis she was for ever staving off, just 
 now especially it seemed insufferable. It was no longer an 
 interrogative look she gave to her brother, it was an impatient 
 one, and meant : 
 
 " Can't you get him away ? " 
 
 Cosmo shook his head. Now Dolly began to pour out his 
 grievances, her many unkindnesses to him ; he choked over 
 them with self pity. It really was jealousy he was feeling, 
 although with a weakling, such as he was, even jealousy is 
 weak, showing itself in irresolute complaining. 
 
 " Every fellow has more chances than me. He ain't an 
 armourer or a groom ; Cossy only said that to put me off. 
 He was in my own house at Harrow. He played for England 
 once." 
 
 It was strange that he should defend the man. Diana's 
 heart warmed a little to him. 
 
 And then the bloodshot eyes grew redder, and even the 
 lids seemed suffused. 
 
 " Cossy thinks I'm a fool to be jealous. It's only because 
 I know I'm not good enough for you, nobody is good enough ; 
 but we are engaged and I've got my feelings. ." 
 
 Diana answered hastily : 
 
 " Dear old boy ! There, don't worry me any more to-night, 
 you are quite good enough ; too good, very likely. And you 
 know I'm really very fond of you. But I can't bear scenes."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 189 
 
 She got rid of him eventually. Even he could see that 
 Cosmo did not mean to budge, and that Diana would show 
 no favour before him. Cosmo had laughed when Diana said 
 she was fond of him, and his laugh had cut Dolly like a whip, 
 so that a red mark as of a weal showed in his forehead. 
 There was no use staying after that. The two men went out 
 together. Cosmo had not meant to hurt his cousin. This 
 Haverford marriage was partly of his own contriving, or rather 
 urging, he looked upon it as inevitable, vital to the fortunes 
 of the family. But when he contemplated it close, and from 
 Diana's point of view, he was sorry for her. Not that she 
 would fail to keep even Dolly in order, bring him properly 
 to heel. But it was pretty ghastly to think she must put up 
 with his slobbering affection, go through scenes with him. 
 He felt a sudden sympathy with Diana, hurrying Dolly away. 
 He was satisfied that she must have interludes, respite. 
 Poor Diana ! Even Cosmo Merritt had his weak spot, not 
 to be protected by epigram, and Diana was his Achilles' heel. 
 
 Left alone, notwithstanding that she had yawned, and 
 spoken of her fatigue. Lady Diana did not immediately go 
 up to bed. She sat on the sofa in the drawing room some 
 time longer, her hand before her eyes, shutting out the lights, 
 thinking. 
 
 He was quite right ; it had been different with them from 
 the first, from the very beginning when at the theatre she 
 had surprised his eyes, and the look in them. Why should 
 it not be possible, this friendship of which he had spoken? 
 What friend had she in the whole world ? There was 
 Cosmo, but Cosmo urged her to marry Dolly, to marry him 
 soon, to get things settled. She supposed it would come to 
 that, she was up to her ears in debt. But there was no 
 hurry about it. She could think about this friendship, and 
 what it might mean. It was quite a long time before she 
 remembered the servants wanted to come in and turn out the 
 lights, that her maid was sitting up for her. 
 
 The maid was not allowed to waste time over hair-brushing 
 this evening. Diana had hardly the patience to let her finish
 
 I90 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 her essential duties. She wanted to be alone, to dream. 
 She was going to marry Dolly, there was no doubt about 
 that ; it was a fact, but one that could not bear thinking 
 of. He — there was only he in her mind at the moment — was 
 already married; and if he had not been, there was the 
 difference in their position ! She clung now to the thought of 
 that difference in their position. But friendship now ; it was 
 only of friendship they had spoken. 
 
 She had dismissed the maid before the finish of the hair 
 brushing. As she sat before the mirror, thinking of friendship, 
 she could see that her hair was far below her waist, billowing 
 blue black about her bare shoulders. She had not stayed 
 to put on a dressing jacket, and there was little between her 
 and her loveliness. For a fleeting moment as she saw her 
 image reflected in the glass, the licentiousness of an un- 
 bridled imagination swept over her, crimsoning her cheeks. 
 After all she had been a married woman. Only for a moment 
 that unbridled imagination saw two figures in the mirror. 
 Then it was the darkness she needed. Hurriedly she turned 
 out the light and got into bed. But then she found, almost 
 for the first time, that sleep was not at her command. Rest- 
 lessly she turned from side to side, wooing, almost imploring 
 that reluctant sleep. When at length it came it brought with 
 it dreams that wakened her with pounding heart and hot 
 flushes, the source of which she hardly knew. Yet, when 
 morning dawned, she wished the night could have been pro- 
 longed, so that she might dream again.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 DENNIS walked home extraordinarily happy, quite 
 persuaded now that all he had ever wanted in life, 
 and for lack of which his days had been empty, was friendship 
 with a woman. And such a woman ! He endowed her with 
 qualities of heart and intellect, with a boundless capacity of 
 sympathy, and an understanding of himself, that was almost 
 preternatural. Things she had said to him recurred, they 
 had so many thoughts in common ; they both loved beauty, for 
 instance, plastic or natural. She had been to many countries 
 that were unknown to him, she would tell him about them, and 
 he would see them through her eyes. But quite near London 
 there were places to which he could take her, where the gorse 
 was yellow under blue sky, and by lying close on the sheer 
 ground, they could imagine sand dunes, and a slow tidal sea. 
 He had often done it on that wonderful heath of Hampstead 
 where his father had made his pictures. And there were 
 other places, too, for him to show her when the summer came, 
 within a drive, almost within a walk of the metropolis, where 
 they could sit attuning all things made to a green thought in 
 a green shade. Quotations became his own words to-night, 
 and all the poets thronged to help him in his illusion. The 
 world was so beautiful, and hitherto he had looked upon it 
 alone. In the dull, foggy streets as he went swiftly homeward, 
 he saw picture upon picture, grey beauties of vista and vast- 
 ness. In Regent's Park, as he passed through, were purple 
 mysterious depths, and bare branches cut black and magnificent 
 against the gloom. To-night, if he had held a pencil in his 
 hand, the architecture he would draw would be massed 
 
 splendour of masonry, arches upon arches leading to the 
 
 191
 
 192 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 light, great groined roofs, painted windows, and arabesqued 
 floors. So the eyes of his mind ran riot, until at length he 
 reached home. 
 
 When his key was in the lock he remembered she had been 
 surprised to hear that he was married. Then she had said 
 that she was glad ; a strange thing to say, but, in a way, it 
 confirmed and uplifted him. He would not reason about it, 
 he wanted no explanation, almost it explained itself. So he 
 thought in his curious exaltation of spirit. She dwelt in a 
 region apart, no gross thought intruded ; this growing, 
 gathering feeling for each other was spiritual ; she had been 
 quick to feel it. She was glad he was married. He would 
 tell her one day all about Mabel. How she, too, was all 
 compound of goodness and unselfishness. But, even in his 
 folly, he did not think of bringing them together. 
 
 Mabel was waiting up for him. That seemed right and 
 fitting; it was part of her goodness. He felt very kindly 
 towards her. She never varied, he could trust her completely. 
 He did not mean to speak of this friendship that had come 
 into his life. But she would be glad if she knew, she would 
 be glad of anything that added to his happiness. He felt just 
 the same about her. Roddy was quite a good fellow, too, 
 and their music was the bond between them. He had a 
 vague wish, nevertheless, that Roddy had not been an actor, 
 and so inferior in character. It would have been better if 
 Mabel had a friend more like his own. His heart leaped 
 again at the thought of his own. 
 
 "I couldn't help waiting up for you, Dennis. Such a 
 dreadful thing has happened ! " 
 
 That was the way she began, the moment he had got into 
 the house, and whilst he was still thinking it was a pity 
 she had only Roddy Ainsworth and his egotism, as an alterna- 
 tive to painting convolvuli on cheap satin. He was conscious 
 of pitying her, of being moved to a great tenderness 
 towards her. 
 
 " Did you enjoy your evening ? You look so well. I am 
 sure it is good for you to go out by yourself sometimes."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 193 
 
 " What has happened that is so dreadful ? Are there any 
 dreadful things?" His eyes, smiHng so kindly upon her, 
 seemed to question, or deny it, and gave her a dim vision 
 of his mood. 
 
 " I do so hate to spoil your evening . . ." 
 He laughed and said it was all right, she could " fire away " 
 with her news. 
 
 " But you 7nust know, although I am sure you will be so 
 upset. It's Ted and Fanny ; they have had such a dreadful 
 quarrel. Fanny has been to see father about it. I hardly 
 know how to tell you, although I couldn't go to bed 
 without telling you ; you don't mind my waiting up ? 
 Fanny came up here to dinner. She couldn't stay alone in 
 the hotel." 
 
 " In the hotel ! What hotel ? Isn't she at Grosvenor 
 Street?" He had to pull himself together, listen to Mabel, 
 help Mabel if she needed help. He must not grow selfish 
 because he felt happy. 
 
 " Where is Ted ? What has happened ? " 
 Mabel's face was pale; even to repeat the abominable 
 thing, shrinking from the thought that lay behind it, drove the 
 colour from her cheeks. 
 
 " Some one said something to Ted about Mr. Merritt and 
 Fanny, about his being there so much, living there. And 
 Ted spoke to Fanny. Fanny said she was very angry, too 
 angry to deny it. I don't know exactly what happened then ; 
 it all seemed to come about quite suddenly. She told me 
 she wouldn't condescend to deny — to deny anything — and then 
 Ted threatened to shoot her, to shoot Fanny ! " 
 Her face was pale and her eyes wide. 
 
 Dennis was listening now, he had always feared what 
 might happen. Ted had many faults, but his loyalty was no 
 fault. If the time came when it was shaken, Dennis had 
 always feared what Ted might do ; and just now he seemed to 
 understand Ted better than before. Ted loved his wife in 
 such a manner that if he came to doubt her, it would mean 
 madness ; it would drive him from his reason. 
 
 13
 
 194 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " Go on, what happened then ? " he asked in a curious low 
 voice, hushed, feeling suddenly cold. 
 
 " He did not shoot her, but . . but . . he struck her" 
 Mabel's eyes were dim ; Dennis could see her hands were 
 trembling. 
 
 " Don't try to tell me quickly. Wait, take your time 
 over it." She gladly took the delay Dennis offered her ; 
 the last few hours had told cruelly upon her. Fanny had been 
 hysterical for sympathy, lacking reticence, almost decency ; the 
 differences between herself and Mabel went too deep for her 
 recognition. It was Fanny's trouble, but it hurt Mabel more. 
 She was cold and trembling, Dennis had not left his overcoat 
 in the hall, he took it off and wrapped it round her. 
 
 " I wish I'd thought of keeping the fire in ; it is so careless 
 of me." Her lips trembled. " I really don't mind the cold, 
 do take it back." 
 
 She tried to disembarrass herself of it, but he made her 
 keep it. If Ted had only struck Fanny, if he had given 
 the thrashing she so well deserved, Dennis, for one, would 
 think none the worse of him. But it was natural Mabel 
 was shocked and wretched. 
 
 " And after he struck her ? " 
 
 " Oh, Dennis," she burst into tears, " that wasn't the worst 
 of it ! He said dreadful things, things she could never forgive 
 him. It was last night, and he followed her into her bedroom, 
 you know she likes to sleep alone . . She screamed out, 
 for he had a revolver ! He was going to shoot her, and 
 then himself. I couldn't understand exactly what happened 
 then. She told me, but I couldn't quite understand. Mr. 
 Merritt was in the house ; she thought he had gone out, but 
 it seems that he was still there . . when he heard Fanny 
 screaming he came in . . Ted was shockingly violent, she 
 said, almost like a madman . ." 
 
 Mabel was crying all the time she talked : 
 
 " Fanny said the gun was aimed full at her, she tried to get 
 it from him and it went off. You can see the marks of it on the 
 wall, Fanny says. It was just as Mr. Merritt came in. To-day
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 195 
 
 she has been with father. She says she will never go back to 
 Ted, she is frightened of him. If father doesn't help her, she 
 will go to a lawyer. Father saw Ted this afternoon, and came 
 on here afterwards. He was talking to Fanny for quite a long 
 time, and he made me go out of the room. But Ted came up in 
 a cab while they were together ; and I could see he had been 
 crying, his eyes were all swollen and he looked too dreadful ! 
 I couldn't help trying to comfort him. He takes all the blame 
 upon himself, he said he was quite out of his mind, he hadn't 
 meant any of the things he said. Father made Fanny see him 
 afterwards. It was dreadful to hear Ted pleading with her; 
 we could not help hearing it. Fanny told me he went down 
 on his knees . ." 
 
 Dennis saw the scene, and hated it ; Fanny's coldness, Ted's 
 abasement. 
 
 " He begged her only to forgive him, he couldn't believe he 
 had ever raised his hand to her ; but she showed him the bruise. 
 He said he never meant to hurt or shoot her, only himself" 
 
 " And what was the upshot of it all ? " 
 
 " Father won't hear of Fanny leaving Ted. Ted says he'll do 
 anything, anything, if she will only forgive him for having struck 
 her. He turned white when he saw the bruise, and sick ; as if 
 he could hardly stand. Father thinks Fanny was a little 
 hard. She says she will only go back if Mr. Merritt stays 
 there; she is afraid to be in the house alone with Ted." 
 
 " But Ted didn't agree ? " 
 
 " He would have agreed to anything. Oh, Dennis ! " she 
 went up to him, he was standing by the mantelpiece, his heart 
 was hot against Fanny, full of sympathy for Ted ; he had 
 forgotten all his own happiness of half an hour ago. Mabel 
 had his coat around her, she was blue and shivering with cold. 
 She had put her arms through the arms of the coat, turning 
 back the sleeves, her hands, cold and tremulous, emerged, and 
 he took them in his own ; folding the coat more closely about 
 her ; he would have protected her from such a sorry scene as 
 she related. 
 
 " You ought to be in bed," he said, " witli a hot-water
 
 196 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 bottle. This is sheer folly. You'll make yourself ill. It isn't 
 as if you were doing Ted or Fanny any good." 
 
 " But oh, Dennis, if it were us ? " He laughed lightly. 
 
 " If I had struck you, do you mean ? " 
 
 What she wanted to say she hardly knew herself, but it was 
 a plea for tenderness she was instinctively making. Some- 
 thing she had missed lately from him ; the knowledge of it 
 may have been present with both of them. "We have never 
 had one quarrel in all our five years together, have we ? " 
 
 "Why should we quarrel?" 
 
 If she missed anything, his matter-of-fact words could 
 hardly supply it. But he was not in the mood to be senti- 
 mental with her ; the reaction in him was from sentiment. 
 
 " You don't see, nor your father either, that it isn't all Ted's 
 fault. He may be rough, but he's honest ; he can't meet the 
 sort of thing with which Fanny surrounds him ; the subde 
 cruelty of her indifference to him." 
 
 " She said once that she hated him, her own husband ! " 
 Mabel's voice was a horrified whisper. " Dennis, fancy 
 husband and wife hating each other. We, we . . ." She 
 could not get out what she wanted to say. 
 
 "Why do you talk of us and of them in the same breath? 
 You don't want even Roddy Ainsworth to live in the same 
 house with you and me." 
 
 " Oh, Dennis ! " 
 
 " You drop no venom from your tongue ; your smiles are 
 not malicious, your words, stabs. You had really better go 
 up to bed now. You are quite chilled and miserable; I'll 
 fill a hot-water bottle for you, if you will tell me where 
 I can find one. A woman like Fanny is poison in the 
 house, in the family ; she distils it. Neither you nor your 
 father understand her any better than Ted does. Ted can't 
 fight it ; it's eating away his strength and his manhood, his 
 ambition, working power." 
 
 "But isn't anything better than they should separate? 
 Whom God has joined . ." She lowered her voice, clinging 
 to his arm.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 197 
 
 It was obvious she did not want to leave him, to go alone to 
 her own room. The evening's experiences had shaken her, 
 and she needed her husband's kindness. He gave it to her in 
 his matter-of-fact way, gave it to her without stint, persuading 
 her to bed, finding and filling the hot-water bottle for her, 
 kissing her pale cheek before he left her, doing his best. 
 
 When he had ministered to her, she thanked him for all his 
 kindness, faltering out something about how different things 
 were between them. She said she hoped that she had been a 
 good wife to him, and that he never regretted having married 
 her. He told her she need not worry about that. 
 
 After he had left her he found himself disturbed ; not by 
 what she had said, but by his own short response to it. She 
 was the very soul of goodness. But to-night he wanted to be 
 alone, to throw off Ted's troubles ; to recall strange words of 
 his own, and stranger thoughts. A man might be quite a good 
 husband, and yet like to be alone. . .
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 SOME sort of peace was patched up between Fanny and 
 Ted. The details of it filtered slowly to Dennis ; he 
 gathered Mabel had acted as mediatrix, and that Amos had 
 threatened to cut off supplies. In any case, when the great 
 day dawned, Fanny was back in Grosvenor Street, and Cosmo 
 Merritt not of the household. 
 
 The great day, of course, was the opening of the re-decorated 
 Kemble Theatre under the lesseeship of Mr. Amos Juxton. 
 Mr. Jewell was stage manager, Mr. Levine acting manager. 
 The scenery was by Hewitt, the dresses by Carters. There 
 was no mention at all of Cosmo Merritt, who, nevertheless, 
 was responsible for everything that had been done. Amos 
 Juxton had a way of sitting still and learning, when he was 
 adding a new business or a new branch to his syndicated 
 interests ; and on this occasion it was Cosmo Merritt who knew 
 more than he did. Amos had paid no heed to the cause of 
 the quarrel between Fanny and her husband; and none of 
 the people concerned had been anxious to impress it upon 
 him. Ted's violent temper was now understood to have been 
 the root of the trouble. Ted was humbly ready to admit it, and 
 Mr. Merritt suffered nothing in Amos's eyes for having inter- 
 fered in its exhibition. Cosmo Merritt was extraordinarily 
 adroit in his treatment of Amos, and was already beginning 
 to look upon the Kemble Theatre as the reward of his labours. 
 
 "Charles Auchester" was the opening production, but all 
 the inspired newspaper paragraphs gave out that it was to be 
 followed by the dramatised version of "The Tale and the 
 Typewriter." There was an impression abroad that " Charles 
 Auchester" was only a stop-gap, that the lessee, or whoever
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 199 
 
 was running the theatre, did not believe in it, was only staging 
 it because the other piece was not yet ready. Naturally the 
 " Great Australian Tenor," Mr. Roderick Ainsworth, who was 
 bearing the leading part, and had parted with his interest in the 
 play for the sun:i in cash that had been offered him, was unaware 
 of this undercurrent. He had little doubt that his " Seraphino " 
 would draw and astonish the town, and that the play itself 
 would run for months, if not years. 
 
 Dennis heard continually of how Roddy sang this part or 
 the other, of the difficult disputations at rehearsals, of the 
 quarrels between the stage manager and Elsie, or Lottie, or 
 " Maria." During all the week that followed the dinner party 
 in Curzon Street, the gossip of the coulisses had alternated in 
 Mabel's chastened volubility with Fanny's terms of surrender 
 to her unhappy husband. The one topic seemed to Dennis, 
 by now, to be even more tedious than the other. And with 
 Roddy himself, his frequent presence at Hamilton Terrace, his 
 blind, supreme egotism, the way he became impatient of any 
 conversation that did not eddy round himself, he was conscious 
 of being, in his own parlance, almost " fed up." 
 
 This night Amos did not drive them to the theatre, as had 
 been at first suggested. He had been in to them the evening 
 before, very important, full of his distinguished position. He 
 told them he must be on the spot early ; for the opening was to 
 be honoured with the presence of Royalty. Not the real article, 
 but a very colourable foreign imitation, necessitating satin pro- 
 grammes and bouquets, and a personal reception. It was Cosmo 
 who had arranged all this, who had been prominent in allotting 
 the seats, and was responsible for the press paragraphs. That 
 he was usurping some one else's perquisites or position was 
 obvious from the unpopularity to which Roddy constantly 
 referred. But Cosmo was not out for popularity. He was 
 out to gratify his patron, the great Amos, and there was no 
 doubt he was succeeding. 
 
 There are first nights and first nights. Cosmo carried out 
 his intention that this one was to be "smart." All the critics 
 were well placed, but the bulk of the seats had been allotted
 
 200 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 to Society, with the appropriate capital. In the stalls, at least, 
 although they had been given away and not sold, there were 
 few theatrical hangers-on, professional deadheads, or old 
 peroxide actresses. 
 
 On the way to the theatre Dennis heard from Mabel that 
 Amos had retained the box opposite the Royal one for their 
 party, among whom would be numbered Fanny and Ted. 
 Amos himself, of course, would only be there occasionally, airing 
 his arrogant humility in the background, after he had received 
 the Royalties. Mabel told Dennis all about it on the way to 
 the theatre. 
 
 " I shouldn't be a bit surprised if They wanted to know 
 Roddy, too. Roddy says he is almost sure to be sent for. 
 He doesn't mean to take off any of his ' make up ' ; he says 
 they are used to it, he was once presented to the Gaekwar of 
 Baroda ! It is all so exciting, he was in splendid voice this 
 afternoon. I only let him sing me one little song. He had 
 been rehearsing with the orchestra all the morning ; a dress 
 rehearsal yesterday went on for nearly nine hours. He didn't 
 let them see what he could do, not really. He wants to 
 surprise them. I mixed a beaten egg with some port; that 
 was all he has had since lunch time. We did not lunch until 
 three. Oh, dear ! I do hope Fanny and Ted are really friends 
 again. Father has twenty people to supper at the Savoy 
 afterwards. It was very kind of him to ask Roddy. He said 
 it was because he was my friend. Father is thoughtful like 
 that sometimes. Are we in Edgware Road already ? Isn't 
 this a slow cab ? I do wish I had ordered a taxi. Can you 
 see the time ? " 
 
 " I shall begin to be jealous, like Ted. It has been Roddy, 
 jaothing but Roddy, ever since he came home." 
 
 Dennis was only chaffing; he had to say something and 
 "his mind was rather vacant. He had no idea Mabel would 
 take him seriously, would be so immediately moved and dis- 
 :Comforted. She was suddenly silenced, completely. They 
 w^ere in Oxford Street before she spoke again. It was so 
 difficult to answer her husband as she wished, it was so
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 201 
 
 awkward. She ought to have told him before, now it was so 
 ... so difficult. Dennis's wife had a conscience as sensitive 
 as an exposed nerve. It was this nerve of a conscience his 
 untoward words had touched. 
 
 "There is something I ought to have told you ... I 
 wanted to tell you quite a long time ago." 
 
 Dennis was annoyed at the effect of his words. He tried 
 to laugh it off. 
 
 " Never mind now. I daresay it isn't very dreadful." 
 
 " Oh, no ! But I must tell you." 
 
 " Well, wait until to-morrow, these windows are rattling so. 
 I can't hear you." 
 
 "You are trying to be kind, not to listen." She spoke 
 slowly, nervously, with something of the timidity of a girl. It 
 was that nervous timidity of hers that had always moved his 
 strength, it was his wife's claim upon him. 
 
 "I don't want to hear about anything. I was only 
 joking." 
 
 " No ; but, Dennis, you've always thought, I've let you 
 think . . ." her face was averted from him, she was gazing 
 out of the rattling window, and it was with difficulty he heard 
 her, " that Roddy and I . . . that we were . . . that he had 
 said something. It was all a mistake, he had never even 
 thought of me that way. I knew it before he went away. 
 But I let you think it was different. Perhaps it was because 
 of that ..." It was very difficult for her to say it, Dennis 
 felt the agitation in her voice, although her face was turned 
 from him. "Perhaps it was because of that, of your thinking 
 he had behaved badly, and being sorry for me, out of pity . . 
 that you asked me to marry you ? " 
 
 " Absurd 1" His tone was light. So that was what had 
 been troubling her, her supersensitive conscience, an awkward 
 possession for any woman, or man. His own was fairly clear, 
 perhaps it was not so sensitive as hers. Everything between 
 them seemed rather futile ; neither his temper nor his spirits 
 were as even as they used to be, before he hurt his leg at 
 the end of the cricket season. He still put his alterations of
 
 202 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 mood, his recurrent restlessness, down to this cause, to this 
 cause alone. The leg was well, but the moods remained. It 
 was unfair that Mabel should suffer from them. He had been 
 impatient with her more than once, both of them were conscious 
 of a shadow between them, a vague sense of estrangement. 
 She thought it was on Roddy Ainsworth's account. 
 
 "Absurd! I should have married you anyway," he 
 repeated with a touch of impatience. " Don't get morbid. 
 That's Fanny's influence, I suppose." 
 
 "Oh, no ! It's nothing to do with Fanny. How could you 
 think I would speak to Fanny about such a thing ! But I have 
 so often thought about it, and felt I ought to tell you. That 
 is why at first I was so upset when you told me Roddy was 
 in England. I had let you think ill of him; perhaps other 
 people thought ill of him too. And he never meant anything. 
 Why should he ? I couldn't tell him, like I'm telling you, what 
 had been thought, what I'd let you think. It was so wrong of 
 me. I've tried to make it up to him. I wanted father to help 
 him just for that. Not that father ever knew. I've gone over 
 everything, all the songs, I mean, again and again. I'm so 
 afraid . . . father has put so much money in it, and, in a way, 
 you know I am responsible. I'm so nervous about it. For, 
 Dennis, you know, Roddy isn't . . . hasn't ... his ear is a 
 little defective. It always was, but I did so hope he had 
 outgrown it. He sings flat sometimes ; I was afraid they 
 would notice it when he took Oliver Orchard's part. Perhaps 
 I ought to have told father. But we've worked for hours and 
 hours over those songs. I do think and hope he will be all 
 right this evening. I've tried to make up to him for letting 
 you, or anybody, think he had ever said anything to me 
 that meant ... I know I cried when he went away ; but we 
 had been such friends ! And when you jeer at him, or are im- 
 patient with him, I think it is because of that false impression 
 I gave you . ." 
 
 " Poor old girl ! " He had hardly listened. That super- 
 sensitive conscience of hers bored him to-night, irritated him 
 as it had not formerly. He had thought a long time ago, but
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 203 
 
 dismissed it idly as not worth consideration, that Mabel had 
 very likely misread Roddy's attention ; " kidded to herself," as 
 he expressed it. The better he had known his wife, the more 
 impossible it had seemed that Roddy Ainsworth had been in 
 love with her. Poor Mabel ! So it had been on her conscience 
 all these years. 
 
 " Don't worry about it. It won't break your father if the 
 play isn't a success. You were quite right to coach Roddy, and 
 do what you could for him. After all, you've known him all 
 your life." Then he jested again. " Pve only been afraid 
 you were falling in love with him all over again. He's a 
 picturesque chap." She edged a little nearer to him, but he 
 held himself stiffly. 
 
 " You couldn't have thought that." 
 
 " Couldn't I ? Well perhaps not." 
 
 " Roddy has really fallen in love now with the lady who 
 plays ' Maria.' He says she'll always draw a ' clinking' salary." 
 The slang was strange on her lips. " It will be such a great 
 thing if the play is successful. He doesn't want to get 
 married, but he says it may come to that. I wish I knew if 
 she is a good musician. Then I should feel everything was 
 all right for him. I should be able to have my 'at home' 
 days again. I've neglected all my friends. You can't think 
 how hard it has all been. And you've been so nice about it. 
 Oh dear! Isn't this it? Aren't we there? Why are we 
 stopping ? What a string of carriages and cabs ! We shall 
 never get up to the door. Let's get out and walk. I've got 
 quite stout shoes on . . ." 
 
 The box was unusually large, but quite usually uncomfort- 
 able. Fanny was already there, and had monopolised the 
 best seat. The one next her must be kept free for Amos. 
 Mabel said she was delighted with the other corner seat, the 
 one next to the stage, if Dennis did not want it. Fanny said 
 impudently, but she intended to be arch, that Dennis could 
 sit behind her, or stand ; and added that she knew he liked 
 standing because it gave him an opportunity of exhibiting his 
 inches.
 
 204 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Dennis was surprised, when Amos came in with Cosmo 
 Merritt, to see how at ease Cosmo was with him and 
 with Fanny. Obviously Amos did not attribute anything 
 that had happened in Grosvenor Street to Cosmo Merritt. 
 But Amos was a httle sharp with Fanny, Dennis noticed ; 
 there was less purring between them, Cosmo began to 
 name the people to Amos as they came in, drawing his 
 attention also to the new colour scheme, talking of the drop 
 curtain, asking them all if the decorations were not superior 
 to anything that had ever been seen in London. He talked 
 contemptuously of other theatres with their ' suburban 
 drawing-room ' white, pink, blue, or yellow. No one else had 
 these superb Chinese scarlets, this vivid green and gold. 
 Cosmo was a little excited to-night, more talkative than usual, 
 less cool and insouciant. But it was only about the theatre ; 
 the atmosphere of it went to his head. Here his abilities 
 would at last have full scope. Practically Amos's purse was 
 in his hands, and he owed that to his own diplomacy. He knew 
 that he would need all his skill to keep that purse ; he did 
 not make the mistake of underrating Amos. His only mistake 
 had been perhaps, at first, in overrating Fanny. 
 
 Mabel wanted to ask where Ted was. Certainly he was to 
 have been of their party. She hoped that he was behind the 
 scenes, or engaged in doing something for his father. There 
 was so much to be seen to on a first night. But when they had 
 settled down, and Amos had bustled out again to receive the 
 Prince and his suite, she began to have her doubts. The 
 band started " God Save the King," somewhat inappro- 
 priately, for the Royalty was a petty German princelet, with 
 an ^^ Am Tag" mental attitude; but there was still nothing to 
 be seen of Ted. It was only when Amos had returned, more 
 pompous than ever, looking a little stouter, that he, too, 
 noticed the gap, and said, quite sharply, to Fanny, who usually 
 had his dulcet tones : 
 
 " Where's Ted ? I don't see Ted." 
 
 Fanny answered indifferently, with a shrug of her pale 
 shoulders, and a toss of her fair head :
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 205 
 
 " He is playing at being ill. I believe he has eaten some- 
 thing that has disagreed with him. I left him word to join us 
 at supper." 
 
 " 111 ! I haven't heard anything about it. Has he had a 
 doctor ? " 
 
 "Not that I know of. I believe he has taken some 
 medicine." 
 
 Fanny was not a well-bred person ; but from that point of 
 view she did not jar on Amos, and her explanation satisfied 
 him. Besides, the overture was being played, and Cosmo 
 frowned to them to " Hush ! " 
 
 By looking over Mabel's head, Dennis could see Lord 
 Loughborough and his daughter. They were alone to-night, 
 Haverford was nowhere to be seen. It was a week since they 
 had met, a whole long week. It seemed a year, so much 
 had happened. Nothing had happened, except to his feeling 
 about her. That had seemed to alter, perhaps to go into 
 deeper channels. He had not allowed himself to think too 
 much about her, he had forced himself from thinking of her. 
 One glimpse he allowed himself now, enough to know she 
 was in green ; that would have been Cosmo's doing. Cosmo 
 had said he wished he could have dressed the entire house, 
 sending out the shades that would have toned with the 
 decorations. Mabel thought her husband wanted to see the 
 Royalties. 
 
 " Take my place, Dennis, do take it," she whispered. " I 
 can see quite well over your shoulder." 
 
 He hushed her impatiently, he did not want to see, he 
 saw quite well. He said the one after the other, incon- 
 sistently. 
 
 There was a chair for him, and he sat down presently, in the 
 dark at the back of the box, away from the stage. He had 
 little interest in the play, and had been surfeited with the 
 music. Even at that distance, he had been able to see that 
 Lady Diana was looking behind and about her, as if she sought 
 someone, awaited someone. Could it be himself? Green 
 suited her wonderfully. He looked at the programme, there
 
 206 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 were three acts; he could go down between the acts, speak 
 to her. Perhaps her father would go out for a cigarette. 
 
 There was only one person in the theatre for Dennis, there 
 might be no play, and a dumb orchestra ; he heard and saw 
 nothing. Amos, on the other hand, might have written the 
 play, and the music, and bought, not only the theatre, but the 
 audience. He sat, right in front, in the middle of the box, his 
 face beautifully aldermanic, one podgy hand on his podgy 
 knee, turning his face now to one side, now to the other, 
 anticipating admiration, directing the applause. 
 
 Everything seemed to be going quite well ; the funny man 
 evoked laughter, the solos were encored. Mr. Fazakerly had 
 not begun to yawn, and the other critics seemed to be quite 
 entertained. It was Cosmo who pointed all this out. Amos 
 only nodded, as one who controlled it, and had known what 
 they would all do. 
 
 In the outbreak of talk after the finale of the first act, when 
 people were coming into their box, and introductions were 
 being effected, Fanny playing the hostess prettily, and Amos 
 patronising everybody, Dennis made his escape. As he hoped, 
 yet hardly expected. Lady Diana was alone. She welcomed 
 him with a smile ; perhaps a slight blush. He slipped into 
 the seat beside her; he hoped there would be a long wait, 
 trusted no one else would come and speak to her. 
 
 " I did not see you at first ; I looked for you in the stalls. 
 Who are the people with you in the box ? I saw Cosmo." 
 
 " My father-in-law, my wife." 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 " And Mrs. Ted Juxton." 
 
 " The red haired woman this side ? " 
 
 "Yes ; that is Fanny, Mrs. Ted Juxton." 
 
 Then the other must be his wife. She looked drab, 
 ineffective. Dennis to-night seemed more desirable, more 
 attractive than ever. She smiled radiantly at him : 
 
 " Doesn't it seem a long time since we vowed friendship 
 in the dusk ? " she said, gaily. " Were not we foolish that 
 evening, and young ? I think we were very young."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 207 
 
 He answered soberly : " I don't think I ever felt so old." 
 
 " You are such a thoughtful person." 
 
 " Too serious for you ? " 
 
 " I didn't say that. One hkes one's friends to be serious." 
 If there was a trifle of banter in her words, or in her smiling 
 eyes, he took no notice of it. The little flushes of warmth, of 
 pleasure, that came to him as he sat by her side were due to 
 the excitement of seeing her again, hearing her voice. 
 
 " I knew you were in the house. I felt it before I 
 saw you." 
 
 He was easily the best looking man in the stalls ; she com- 
 pared him with the others as he sat beside her, liking the way 
 he held himself, the ease of his movement. Perhaps she 
 had had to put him from her thoughts, even as he had tried 
 to banish her. At this moment they were only glad in 
 each other's nearness. They talked a little about the play. 
 She knew Cosmo had busied himself with the decorations of 
 the house, a new system of lighting the stage. 
 
 " You think Cosmo clever, don't you ? My mother always 
 said that one day he would make a name in the world, carry 
 everything before him. Of course she meant in politics, she 
 never had an idea of any other Cosmo. I remember she said 
 once that Mervyn and Vansittart were good enough for the 
 army, but it was Cosmo who would direct how they should be 
 used, and where." 
 
 " Of course he is very clever." He spoke hesitatingly, 
 he had it in him to wish that Cosmo were not her brother. 
 She must have seen his hesitation, and, of course, she 
 knew men who did not appreciate Cossy ; she turned the 
 conversation : 
 
 " Why haven't you been to see me ? I had an idea that you 
 would have called." 
 
 A moment of candour made him blurt out : 
 
 " I haven't dared." 
 
 " But I thought we were going to be friends ? " 
 
 She turned towards him, and their eyes met ; until now she 
 had been looking down, about her, anywhere but at him.
 
 208 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Now there was raillery in them and he thought if she 
 could rally him like that he would not be behind her in 
 courage. 
 
 " May I come to-morrow ? " Before she had time to 
 answer, but he knew she had not said " No," Lord Lough- 
 borough was working his way back to his seat, complaining of 
 the closeness of the stalls. 
 
 " I am told Cossy is responsible for the theatre. Have you 
 heard anything about it ? " he asked Dennis. 
 
 "Well, not exactly responsible." But it was difficult to say 
 where Amos's and Roddy's responsibility ended, and Cosmo's 
 began. 
 
 " He was very anxious we should be here to-night," Diana 
 said. " He sent seats to Aunt Mary, and to Irene . . ." 
 
 Dennis, now they were indicated, became conscious of Lady 
 Irene's cordial bow. 
 
 " You ought to go and speak to her," Diana breathed in 
 his ear. 
 
 "Must I?" 
 
 She smiled at him, and he saw that she was not displeased he 
 wished to remain. But nevertheless she bade him go, too much 
 of a woman not to enjoy seeing Irene making a fool of herself. 
 Irene had asked so many questions about him, angling for 
 another invitation to meet him. She had not told Irene that 
 he was married, and sending him to her now, she saw Irene 
 detaining him with quick talk and laughter, making him sit 
 down in the empty seat beside her. Aunt Mary, too, was very 
 civil, if somnolent. 
 
 Diana, looking at the programme, talking to her father, 
 pictured them together, was conscious of Irene's little airs 
 and graces, could divine Aunt Mary's placid platitudes. 
 Aunt Mary knew nothing of him except that she had seen him 
 in Curzon Street. That was sufficient hall mark ; but Dennis 
 was hall marked all over. Notwithstanding his height, he 
 moved with grace and ease. Now Diana was wondering 
 what he was finding to say to Irene, Quite soon, however, 
 she saw him back in the box.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 209 
 
 In the interval after the second act he sat with her again ; 
 and every pulse of her was conscious of his vicinity. She had 
 begun to realise the way he affected her. Sometimes what he 
 said escaped her, she only heard the voice in which he said it. 
 
 "Until to-morrow, then," she said, holding out her hand. 
 He held it a moment longer than was necessary, or usual. 
 She felt his through her glove, firm, a little hard, a man's 
 hand. 
 
 " Until to-morrow," he answered. The intervening hours 
 would be as nothing ; the grasp on her hand lingered. 
 
 "Are you staying until the end? I may see you in the 
 hall." 
 
 " I don't know. I should hardly think so. Not if it is going 
 to be a failure. I hate to hear hissing on a first night." 
 
 The second act had not gone as well as the first. But the 
 pit and gallery had been properly provided with the English 
 equivalent of a claque, and there was sufficient applause to re- 
 assure the artists. The third act was the best of all ; now the 
 clapping and encores were spontaneous. Lord Loughborough 
 and his daughter had no occasion to hurry from the theatre. 
 All the actors and actresses were called, and called again, the 
 curtain rising twice on the grouped scene, and then again for 
 'Maria' and 'Seraphino.' The bouquets which Cosmo had 
 been careful to provide were handed up one after another by the 
 conductor of the orchestra, quite solemnly, as if he did not 
 know it was part of the play, preconcerted, arranged. Then 
 there was the call for the author, and after a pause the 
 announcement that he was not in the house, but that their 
 kind approval would be conveyed to him. There were even 
 calls for the scene-painter, and the producer. Amos, at one 
 time, thought he might go on, and make a little speech. 
 But Cosmo dissuaded him, he said it would be an anti- 
 climax. 
 
 " Don't let them see you until after the curtain goes down on 
 'The Tale and the Typewriter.'" 
 
 Amos saw the sense of that. 
 
 In the vestibule, too, success seemed to be the note. There 
 14
 
 210 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 were quite a chorus of congratulations and pretty speeches 
 from the people to whom Cosmo had given seats, and from 
 Amos's friends. Cosmo may have had his doubts. He knew 
 the difference between first night applause and cold criticism 
 in the morning ; but he had no intention of dashing Amos's 
 self-glorification. 
 
 "What did I tell you, my boy? What did I tell you? 
 Amos Juxton makes no mistakes. I know what the public want. 
 I've always known it, my boy, I've felt their pulses ! I've known 
 every call of their stomachs, and I know where their hearts 
 are, too. That girl singing to her lover, ill as she was, and 
 he responding, I knew they would gulp over that. There was 
 hardly a dry eye in the stalls. I knew that was how it 
 would be. They want to laugh, and to cry, and I've given 
 them both. China tea in the stalls, and Juxton's whisky in the 
 bars. What more can they want ? " He was really delighted 
 with all he had done. 
 
 Amos was in no hurry for his motor; he waved the foot- 
 man away when he forced his way through the throng. " No 
 hurry ! No hurry ! " 
 
 He was benignant, he was even benevolent in his desire 
 that other people might have their carriages before him. He 
 played the host, waving away compliment, pooh-poohing con- 
 gratulations, with an almost aggressive modesty. It had not 
 been likely that he would fail in any enterprise. Nothing 
 that he had undertaken, however, had come to fruit as quickly 
 as this. Every clap had been a tribute to him ; it was easy to 
 see he had taken it all to himself. Now he patronised his 
 supporters, patted them on the shoulders, metaphorically. 
 Like the clerks and underlings at Juxton's Ltd., to whom he 
 gave presents and praise at the annual general meetings, they 
 had all done their share, he was quite ready to admit it. And 
 yet presently both Dennis and Cosmo sensed an uneasiness 
 under his complacency, an irritation. It found voice when at 
 length the audience had nearly all dispersed, and he was 
 looking round to see how many of his supper party could be 
 crammed into the motor.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 211 
 
 "That boy never came," he said to Dennis. "I suppose 
 he wasn't in the crowd ; nobody has seen him ? " 
 
 There was no answer. 
 
 " I hope there hasn't been any more unpleasantness ? " 
 
 He looked at Fanny. 
 
 Fanny smiled, shaking her head, shrugging her shoulders. 
 
 " I told him to join us at supper. He wouldn't take any 
 interest in a play. Ted only cares for music halls." The 
 success had gone to Fanny's head, too, a little. Now she 
 wanted to be on the old terms with her father-in-law. 
 
 " Well, don't let us have ructions or recriminations at supper, 
 that's all. I want a harmonious evening." 
 
 "Of course not; nothing must spoil your triumph." 
 
 She smiled quite prettily at him. But he had not that 
 buttered expression Fanny's pretty smiles and speeches used to 
 bring over him. He, too, like Mabel, had not been clear as 
 to what had really happened. Ted's self reproaches had 
 touched father and sister in some different way from the 
 effect they had had upon Fanny. 
 
 " Perhaps you'd better not come on with us ? " Amos said, 
 a little uncertainly, to Cosmo. 
 
 Cosmo knew the ins and outs of the thing, there would 
 be newspaper men to entertain. But in this hour of his 
 triumph he wanted his son, and if it were Cosmo standing 
 in the way, Cosmo must be sacrificed. 
 
 As Dennis handed Mabel into the motor, Fanny hung back 
 a moment to speak to Cosmo. 
 
 " There is no reason you should not be there ; Ted isn't 
 coming." 
 
 " What's the matter with him ? " 
 
 " I haven't spoken to him since I went back," she laughed. 
 " I told you I wouldn't. He's taken to his bed. I sent him 
 word he was to come on to the supper whether he was ill or 
 well. But he would have been here if he had been able to 
 come. You'll see he won't be at the Savoy. Waters heard 
 him moaning and groaning all last night." 
 
 " You are a callous little devil ! "
 
 212 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Cosmo's face was inscrutable, but Fanny felt it was praise 
 that had been accorded her. 
 
 " I'll walk round, sir," he said to Amos. " If Ted is there, 
 I will be guided by his attitude whether to join you or not. 
 Anyway, I'll see Frobisher and Kent." 
 
 They were the two critics who had accepted Amos's invita- 
 tion to supper; weekly paper men, who had not, like the 
 others, to rush from the stalls to their offices, hastily to give 
 forth the results of their ill-digested meal. 
 
 Fanny purred over Amos in the car. How smoothly every- 
 thing had gone, what a wonderful success it had been ! She was 
 sure it would run for years. Her purring had no effect at all 
 upon Amos, he had begun to distrust Fanny. She must know 
 why Ted had not appeared, it must be in some way her fault. 
 He snubbed Fanny, who, however, was thick-skinned and 
 impervious ; he addressed himself particularly to Dennis and 
 Mabel, who fell in better with his mood. Both of them were 
 a Uttle uneasy, however ; it was not like Ted to absent himself 
 on such an occasion, they wondered what had happened. 
 
 There was no sign of him at the Savoy, neither in the hall, 
 nor at the large round table, profusely decorated with roses and 
 garnished with two magnums of champagne, to which, when 
 sufficient of the party had been collected, they went in pro- 
 cession. There was nothing benignant in Amos's expression 
 now. He had a grievance, and a grievance with Amos was a 
 very serious thing, it hurt his importance, his self-confidence. 
 
 " He ought to be here," he said again to Dennis. 
 
 " Perhaps he really isn't well." 
 
 ^'- She wouldn't be here if he were ill; she'd have that 
 amount of decency, surely." 
 
 " How would it be if I telephoned over, or even went 
 on? I could be there and back in fifteen minutes if I had 
 the car." 
 
 ''Would you? There's a good fellow. I must have my 
 mind at rest. They'll expect a speech from me." 
 
 " You won't have time to miss me. Look after Mabel. I 
 daresay there is nothing really wrong."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 213 
 
 Amos said it was very good of him to go. But in truth 
 Dennis was glad to get away. The huge supper party, Amos's 
 self-glorification, Cosmo's immobile eyeglass, and manner of 
 stage-managing the entertainment, were incongruous with his 
 own mood. His own mood was a strange one, inexplicable 
 even to himself. Since he had sat in the stall by the side of 
 Lady Diana, since he knew he would see her again to-morrow, 
 his pulses were uneven, and he was conscious of an untoward, 
 an unusual, an almost unknown excitability. He did not 
 want to sit through a long supper, with Roddy, and Cosmo, 
 and the rest of them ; he was out of tune with it. 
 
 In Grosvenor Street, before the door was opened, he was 
 arrested by the consciousness that something was wrong, 
 seriously wrong. To begin with, there was a brougham at 
 the door. Dr. Lauder's brougham, surely ; the door was opened 
 before he had time to ring; it was Dr. Lauder himself who 
 opened it. 
 
 " Oh, it's you ! I expected Porter. I've sent for Porter, 
 and an anaesthetist; there isn't a moment to lose. Where's 
 his father ? " 
 
 Dr. Lauder was the family practitioner, he had attended 
 Mabel and Ted through all their childish ailqaents, and Mabel 
 in her adult neuralgia. He looked upon Dennis as quite one 
 of the family. 
 
 " He ought to be here, you know. And that she-fiend, his 
 wife, where is she?" Dr. Lauder did not mince his words. 
 "The poor fellow must have been ill for days. His tem- 
 perature is 104. Why wasn't I sent for before?" 
 
 "When were you sent for?" Dennis asked, almost mechani- 
 cally. He was very shocked, and startled. Whatever he had 
 expected, or whatever that vague sense of uneasiness had 
 portended, he had not expected this. Dr. Lauder said, and 
 his face said it more clearly, that Ted was in danger. Dennis 
 had known Ted all his life. 
 
 " I was only sent for an hour ago ; it seems in the absence 
 of my lady's maid, who had been attending him — attending 
 him, my God ! — the housemaid went in, and took alarm.
 
 214 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Poor fellow ! He must have suffered terribly. No one has 
 been near him since yesterday, except the maid. I suppose 
 she reported to her mistress. She gave him. brandy, and 
 more brandy. She might just as well have given him poison. 
 I doubt if we shall pull him through." 
 
 Dennis could have sworn the old man had tears in his 
 eyes ; he took his glasses off, and wiped them. 
 
 " There's Porter, I hear wheels." He was on the doorstep 
 again. He almost pulled the precise surgeon out of the 
 cab. 
 
 "Thank Heaven, you've come ! Let us go straight upstairs. 
 Get his father, Passiful, there's no time to lose. You've got 
 Bates?" 
 
 The surgeon, a gaunt man with a melancholy air, was 
 followed out of the cab by a little, rosy, well-fed man in 
 glasses, carrying a bag. Dr. Lauder preceded them upstairs ; 
 talking in a low, quick voice. 
 
 In the hall the servants stood open-mouthed and expectant ; 
 they liked the excitement, the prospect of more that might be 
 coming, the possibility of a death in the house. 
 
 Dennis could not leave the house, even to go back to Amos 
 as he had promised, as he had been directed to do. He felt 
 he must first know what the surgeon had to say, and what 
 was going to be done to Ted. He went into the library to 
 scribble a note to Amos. He could send it by the chauffeur. 
 His hand was quite shaky ; now he had forgotten everything 
 but Ted. 
 
 "Ted very ill, come on here as soon as you can get away." 
 He said nothing about an operation, he knew it would be a 
 dreadful word to Amos, as it was to him. He liked it no 
 better when one of the hastily procured nurses ran down and 
 asked him to come upstairs. The doctors had had their short, 
 hurried conference. It was true that there was not a moment 
 to be lost ; the temperature had gone up a point since it was 
 last taken. There were other serious symptoms. It turned 
 Dennis white and sick to hear of them ; and seeing this they 
 spared him details.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 215 
 
 Dr. Lauder met him at the top of the stairs, at Fanny's 
 bedroom door. 
 
 " He is quite conscious, the pain is not as bad as it was. 
 We've got his permission to do what's necessary, but he wants 
 his father and his wife sent for, he doesn't think he'll get 
 through. We told him you were here. Say a cheerful word 
 to him ; then clear out. We're going to improvise an opera- 
 ting table. Mr. Bates is ready to start the chloroform before 
 we carry him in. Don't be out of the way, we may want more 
 help." 
 
 Dennis heard Ted moaning, it went to his heart. To 
 reach him, he had to go through Fanny's room, with which 
 the Doctors were making free, past the bath-room, and into 
 the little dressing closet — it was hardly more — where Ted lay, 
 and moaned. He was lying on his back, his face very drawn 
 and altered. Dr. Lauder had said that he was conscious, 
 but his eyes were closed, and at first it did not seem that he 
 heard Dennis come in. Dennis, on the nurse's whispered 
 suggestion, spoke to him. 
 
 " I'm sorry to see you like this, old man." 
 
 Then Ted opened his eyes, they had a strained, unnatural 
 look, glassy, as if they saw further, and differently, than they 
 had ever seen before. 
 
 "I'm better, I'm all right; don't worry about me. Is 
 Fanny here? Don't frighten her. I called out — I think I 
 called out last night, and yesterday. She said she wouldn't 
 speak to me until Cossy came back. It's you, Dennis, isn't 
 it? Is he in the house? Keep him out of the house, there's 
 a good fellow. It won't be long now. He's better suited to 
 her than I am. I haven't been much good to anybody. It's 
 been Fanny first and the rest nowhere for years. The 
 governor'U be sorry, he was awfully good to me lately. Tell 
 him . . ." 
 
 But Dennis never heard what he was to tell Amos. Ted's 
 speech tailed off into silence, and all at once it seemed the 
 doctors were surrounding him. 
 
 " Collapsed
 
 2i6 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Dr. Lauder's fingers were on his pulse, and the word in 
 the air. 
 
 " Get him under as quickly as you can," was the surgeon's 
 low, decisive order to the anaesthetist. " It's the only chance." 
 
 "You go downstairs; and keep the house quiet," Dr. 
 Lauder found time to say to Dennis ; the strongest man may 
 well blench when he sees his boyhood's friend under the 
 knife. Dennis was very pale, and Dr. Lauder was taking no 
 unnecessary risk. He might faint. 
 
 " Get away, you're no use here for the moment ; see that 
 there isn't a sound in the house." 
 
 Dennis was glad to obey him. All at once the room had 
 begun to stifle him, Ted and his face were not clear. But 
 once outside, with the staircase window open to revive him, 
 he recovered himself quickly. He would not stay downstairs, 
 he might be of use on the floor where they all were. He was 
 not going to faint, but it had all come about so quickly . . 
 
 There followed what seemed an interminable time of waiting. 
 He heard the nurses going in and out with basins. It was 
 even a relief when one came running to him for more hot 
 water. Anything was better than this inactivity. He ran 
 downstairs to the kitchen for a kettle, returning with a huge 
 one, filled and steaming. He volunteered to get another. 
 
 He thought he heard Ted moaning again, and found it 
 unbearable to listen . . . the atmosphere became laden with 
 ether and disinfectants. He got out of the room again as soon 
 as he had emptied out the kettle for them. The open window 
 on the staircase was a godsend. Now he heard the motor 
 draw up, the front door slam. 
 
 He dashed downstairs, he did not want Amos to have such 
 a shock as he had had. 
 
 All their faces were white as they stood in the hall listening 
 to the excited servants. Amos seemed to have forgotten his 
 importance, his fat cheeks had gone flaccid. It was Mabel 
 •who saw Dennis first. Mabel's eyes were wet, but she was 
 clinging to her father, as if she would stave off the bad news 
 from him.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 217 
 
 " Here is Dennis, father, here is Dennis. He will tell us. 
 Dennis, it isn't true . . ." 
 
 " Come into the library. We have got to keep the house 
 quiet." He, too, went to Amos, put a strong arm in his. 
 With the need his strength came back to him. 
 
 " They are doing all they can. I heard one of the nurses 
 say it was going on all right. We've got nothing to do but 
 wait, and keep the house quiet ; it may be another half hour. 
 Shall I get you a whisky and soda ? You must keep up, sir." 
 He was overwhelmed with compassion for Amos, who looked 
 so unlike himself, so unlike what he had looked an hour ago. 
 Dennis never gave a thought or a glance to Fanny, Ted's wife. 
 All his concern was for Amos, whose silence and pallor alarmed 
 him. 
 
 " Dr. Lauder will come down as soon as he can. I'll get 
 back now, the nurses may want help." 
 
 " Don't go, my boy. Don't go for a moment. Tell 
 me . ." Amos had quite lost his self-possession, he looked 
 like a pricked bladder. Mabel took the glass from Dennis's 
 hand, she almost had to hold it to her father's lips. 
 
 " I will go upstairs," Mabel said hurriedly. " You stay with 
 father. I can do everything that may be wanted. I know 
 where everything is, I am used to a sick room. Stay with 
 father." 
 
 Dennis knew she would be more useful than he ; he was 
 relieved when she went upstairs. He mixed another drink for 
 himself, and began to talk platitudes. Amos in the easy- 
 chair, trying to regain his composure and his dignity, listened 
 as if it were Solon and Solomon speaking. 
 
 " Ted's strength will help him ; his constitution will pull 
 him through. It's not as if he had even had a day's illness 
 before, serious illness, at least. Every one has appendicitis 
 now-a-days, and gets through it all right. I saw the numbers 
 the other day, in the ' Daily Mail,' of people whose appendix 
 had to be removed, it is something enormous. In America 
 there is a club for people who have no appendix. Ted 
 said ..."
 
 21 8 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 But he gulped at his glass when he tried to tell Ted's father 
 what he had said. Ted would tell him himself to-morrow, or 
 the next day. Hope came to him with his platitudes, with 
 the sound of his own voice. " Porter is the best surgeon in 
 London. Dr. Lauder won't neglect any precaution . ." 
 
 No one had taken any notice of Fanny. She had not 
 attempted to go upstairs, but sat near the door in the dining- 
 room, on a high-backed chair, huddled up in her fine new 
 opera-cloak ; her face was very pale. She was listening, 
 listening, listening. Now they were all silent again. The 
 minutes seemed hours. They started at a sound, a creak- 
 ing board, a running footstep. Nothing happened. The 
 cabs passing in the street maddened them. Once, hearing 
 the whispering servants outside, Dennis went out, at Amos's 
 instigation, and roughly dismissed them to their quarters. 
 Then there was more waiting, a deeper silence. On Amos's 
 forehead, where the thin hair was parted, the sweat broke out. 
 Once he said, weakly : 
 
 " I can't bear this . . . this suspense." 
 
 " ril run up and see if I can't get hold of Mabel, hear any 
 news." 
 
 " No, no, sit down, sit down, my boy. Don't leave us." 
 
 Nobody now could doubt Amos's feeling for his only son ; 
 it was painful to watch him. Dennis turned his eyes away, 
 tried to think of more platitudes, but now there seemed 
 nothing else to say. 
 
 " He didn't ask for me ? " 
 
 " He said I was to give his love to you . . you'd been very 
 good to him lately . . he hadn't been much of a son to you . ." 
 Amos brushed his hands against his eyes. 
 
 " When was that ? " 
 
 " Before he went under the chloroform." 
 
 Dennis did not know what more to say for comfort. Now 
 they heard nothing but the ticking of the clock. It was one 
 o'clock — a quarter past — half past. 
 
 "They can't be much longer now." 
 
 At last they heard someone running down the stairs. It was
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 219 
 
 Dr. Lauder. Amos was his direct objective ; he seemed to 
 guess how it would be with him. 
 
 " All over," he said, briskly ; " well over ; he bore it better 
 than we could possibly have expected. Strength well main- 
 tained. He'll do now, he'll do." 
 
 Amos tried to speak. 
 
 "Take it quietly. It has been too great a shock for you."' 
 No one knew the great Amos better than Dr. Lauder; his 
 strength and his weakness. He would not let him stand up. 
 
 "Sit where you are, take things easy." 
 
 " I, I ... it has been a most anxious evening altogether." 
 Amos made an effort after his pomposity, but it was a poor 
 attempt. 
 
 "Of course, of course," said Dr. Lauder. "I understand. 
 Has any one given you a drink ? That's right. He will very 
 likely be asking for you presently, he spoke of you the last 
 thing before he went off. Did Dennis tell you ? It was touch 
 and go. Poor fellow ! Poor boy ! And brave as a lion ; no 
 flinching or fear. ' Get it over quickly ; don't frighten the 
 governor, or bring him away from the theatre.' That is 
 what he said when I told him there would have to be an 
 operation." 
 
 Lauder took off his glasses and wiped them. His nerves 
 had been at high tension a long time, he was within an ace of 
 exhibiting emotion, a thing one does not expect from a family 
 practitioner. Perhaps it was as well Fanny created a diversion. 
 She had been ignored long enough ; probably she had her 
 own thoughts to occupy her. For two days she had known 
 that Ted was ill, shut her ears to it, ignored it, laughed, and 
 showed all her pretty teeth when she told Cosmo she had 
 heard him groaning, but had not gone in, or spoken to him. 
 She had kept her vow that she would not speak to him until 
 Cossy came back to Grosvenor Street. God alone knows what 
 she thought, or hoped, in that tense hour when the doctors 
 were busy with him. He had given her love and devotion for 
 years ; she owed him all she had. Fine clothes, this West- 
 End house, all the possibilities of her life. He was upstairs.
 
 220 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 lying between life and death, she had left him untended in his 
 agony. God alone knows what she thought, what was behind her 
 silence, and yellow pallor. But when Dr. Lauder took off his 
 glasses, when he said that Ted would do all right now, she 
 startled him and Amos, and Dennis, who was standing by the 
 door, still listening. Dennis seemed to have spent all his life 
 listening, the surgeon had still to come down, and the 
 anesthetist, all could hardly be as well, as safe, as Dr. 
 Lauder was telling Amos. Mabel was still upstairs, too. 
 Fanny startled them all by bursting into hysterical crying, 
 and then, louder and more hysterical laughter, falling from her 
 chair to the floor ; lying there, sobbing hysterically. 
 
 It was this commotion that roused the doctor. 
 
 "Stop that, I tell you ! Stop that ! " 
 
 All his fears were for the patient upstairs, who might hear 
 the hysteria. Fanny sobbed more loudly than ever, and said 
 how unkind he was, she had been so terrified . . 
 
 Amos was trying to recover his pomposity, he said he 
 could understand Fanny's grief. 
 
 " It was a shock to me, too, Lauder," he admitted that. 
 "We have never had an operation in my family. / have 
 never been operated upon." And he began to talk about his 
 own exceptional stamina, breaking off, however, to ask for 
 further reassurance. "You are sure he will be all right? 
 There will be no occasion for him to come to business until he 
 is quite himself again. Of course there must be no thought 
 of exertion. Tell him his mind can be quite at ease about 
 everything; tell him I said so." 
 
 Now Fanny was reviving, but still lying on the floor, and 
 saying she was afraid she was going to faint, she was sure Ted 
 had never been so bad as they said. Then all at once she 
 scrambled to her feet. 
 
 "I am going up to him. I ought to be with him, I know 
 he wants me . ." She was at the door before Lauder had her 
 by the shoulder. 
 
 " No, you don't, my lady. You have had the chance for two 
 ■days of going to him, and you didn't take it. I'll see there's
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 221 
 
 no murder done whilst I'm in the house to prevent it ; he is in 
 no condition for scenes." 
 
 Fanny didn't like the word murder, she did not like the 
 doctor's grip on her shoulder. The whites of her eyes 
 showed. She may have feigned hysteria at first, but now it 
 was the real thing ; and Dr. Lauder pulled her savagely into 
 the room. He got her inside, and the door shut, and without 
 hesitation he took the carafe of water from the sideboard and 
 dashed it in her face. 
 
 " I'll tie the tablecloth round her head if she isn't quiet," 
 he said savagely to Dennis. "She is only acting. Get me 
 another jug of water. Rather than he should hear her I'd 
 give her a morphia injection." 
 
 He actually did stifle her shrieks with the tablecloth, almost 
 flinging her on to the sofa. 
 
 " Put your hand in my pocket, get me out the case." He 
 made his preparations quickly. "Be quiet, you know you 
 can if you choose," he said, roughly. He had no sympathy 
 with Fanny. She did grow quiet when she realised he 
 was in earnest about the morphia injection, and had even 
 pinched a bit of her bare arm between his fingers prior to 
 inserting the needle. She tore herself away from him and 
 said he was very cruel, every one was very cruel to her. 
 
 Fanny relapsed presently into feebleness and fainting, 
 possibly genuine, satisfactory anyhow. Dr. Lauder put away 
 his case, but he spoke to her very plainly, although quietly. 
 Neither Dennis nor Amos heard what he said; they were 
 still listening for sounds from upstairs. Fanny's attempt to 
 make a scene had only distracted, not held them. Nobody 
 but Fanny heard what Dr. Lauder said. He did not mince 
 his words, they were only a few short, sharp sentences. The 
 effect of them was to turn her sobs into a whimper ; he had 
 succeeded in frightening her. She would not go up to his 
 patient now, he had secured the boy his fighting chance. 
 
 After a few moments she said sullenly that nothing he had 
 said was true, and when Ted got well he'd never forgive him 
 for having said it. It was later on, when Dr. Lauder had
 
 222 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 gone upstairs, that she became audible again and wanted 
 Mabel to come down to her. She said that Mabel would 
 understand how she felt : everybody was against her ! Amos 
 said he wasn't against her. Dennis walked out of the room when 
 Fanny began to say how grateful she was to her father-in-law. 
 
 Everybody wanted Mabel apparently. The nurses had 
 found her more useful than Dennis. Amos said he would like 
 to hear what Mabel thought of Ted, if she could come down 
 for a few minutes. Dr. Lauder sent her down when he went 
 back to the sick-room. He instructed Mabel she was to 
 reassure her father, whatever she herself might think. 
 
 " Your father has had a great shock, I didn't like his colour 
 at all when I went downstairs. These stout men . ." 
 
 But there was no need to give Mabel a dissertation on 
 the liability of men of plethoric habit to apoplexy under 
 excitement. Dr. Lauder had a very wise appreciation of 
 Mabel's quality ; a hint was sufficient. " Get him to go home. 
 We want to have the house quiet for the night. I shall stay 
 another hour or so." 
 
 Mabel told her father that Ted was still under the 
 anaesthetic, he seemed very comfortable, quite quiet. She 
 said, truthfully, that she did not think he was suffering, or had 
 suffered under the operation. The nurses, surgeon, everybody, 
 had said what a good patient Ted was; they were all very 
 hopeful. 
 
 " Don't stay, father. Dennis will go home with you, won't 
 you, Dennis ? I am going to sit up with the night nurse. Dr. 
 Porter is just going, and that means he is satisfied. He told 
 me himself that the operation had been quite successful." 
 
 Mabel was so consistent in her talk, so like herself, 
 that insensibly she soothed her father. It was as if he 
 began to fill out again, reassuring them with stories of 
 operations of which he had heard ; following Dennis's lead. 
 By the time the surgeon and his assistant came into the 
 library, Amos had almost regained his characteristics of voice 
 and manner. He patronised the surgeon, and surprised him. 
 The surgeon had done his butcher's work deftly, and was
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 223 
 
 proud of it. The patient was hardly his affair, but he was 
 surprised that his father, if this was his father, was so pleased 
 with what he had done. The operation had been wholly 
 successful, but it seemed unlikely the young fellow would 
 recover from it. Amos was quite congratulatory, admitted he 
 had had a fright, talked as if the whole affair were over. He 
 spoke of a cheque. Dr. Porter waved the idea aside ; that 
 would do to-morrow. Dr. Lauder would know the amount. 
 It was understood that he, Mr. Juxton senior, charged 
 himself with all the expenses of the illness. All that Amos 
 could do to show his gratitude and relief was to talk of 
 cheques. But it helped more than anything else to restore his 
 own complacency. 
 
 Fanny was now huddled upon the sofa, and called out to 
 Mabel in a weak voice. Mabel, ignorant of the attack of 
 hysteria and of everything that had happened, put comforting 
 arms about her. 
 
 "Poor Fanny! Poor dear ! It has been dreadful for you, 
 dreadful." They cried together, Fanny's tears had a muddied 
 source, Mabel's came from pure pity. 
 
 But fear was knocking at her heart, all the time fear was 
 knocking at her heart, and her arms round Fanny were the 
 expression of it. " He is going to get better, I know he is. 
 And then things will be so different between you. Poor 
 Fanny ! " 
 
 She did not know that Ted would get better, fear was 
 knocking at her heart, streaming from her eyes ; she hid them 
 on Fanny's shoulder. 
 
 " I'll stay with you, dear. He doesn't want me just now ; 
 the nurses can do everything. I'll stay with you. Don't cry 
 any more, he is going to get better. We will nurse him 
 between us, you and I. I know that is what he will like when 
 he comes to himself. Everything will come right between 
 you then ; he will be so dependent upon you, and gentle. You 
 will care for him so. Poor Fanny ! " 
 
 But it was poor Mabel who needed comfort, and found it 
 in tending Fanny, and all of them.
 
 224 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Before Dennis and Amos left, it had been agreed that 
 Mabel should remain as long as she was needed. Fanny 
 clung to her, she felt that Fanny clung to her. She had shed 
 those few tears on Fanny's neck, but there were no tears 
 when she kissed her father good-night ; she knew he wanted 
 reassurance to help him through the night. She said again 
 that she knew it would be all right, and that they would have 
 good news in the morning. She took her father's many in- 
 structions meekly. They all came to this, that no expense was 
 to be spared. Dennis demurred a little at leaving her. He, 
 too, would have stayed if any use could have been found for 
 him. But Mabel wanted him to go home with her father, and 
 urged it. 
 
 '* Do take father home, Dennis. He looked so shaken, 
 quite ill. I'll telephone the first thing in the morning, the 
 very first thing. Perhaps you'll come in on your way to Bond 
 Street ? You look so tired, too. I'm sure you ought to get 
 to bed." 
 
 "But you, how about you?" 
 
 Mabel never thought about herself. She only knew that 
 she was needed here, and when that was in her mind it was 
 useless to ask her to spare herself.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 TELEPHONING before breakfast next morning, Mabel 
 was able to report that Ted had spent a quiet night. 
 The message was to be taken up to her father with his morning 
 tea. But at Hamilton Terrace, Dennis, already awake and 
 anxious, answered the instrument himself and asked for fuller 
 details. 
 
 "Dr. Lauder never went away until four. He is coming 
 back very early, he seemed so disappointed Ted's temperature 
 had not gone down more," Mabel could never resist the 
 obvious, " but the first days after an operation are always 
 anxious. I've just been in to Fanny, she says she never closed 
 her eyes all night . . ." Dennis wished to be spared a 
 description of Fanny's feelings. He interrupted to tell her 
 that he was not dressed yet ; he would come in to see her on 
 his way to Bond Street. 
 
 Hurrying over his breakfast, his pipe and his paper, Dennis 
 remembered " Charles Auchester " and turned to the column 
 that chronicled theatrical affairs. He did not find his way 
 easily about any paper but the " Sportsman " ; but he got to it 
 at last. 
 
 "Charles Auchester" might have suited transatlantic aud- 
 iences, but the more fastidious taste of the British Islander 
 would find it mawkish and unsatisfying. 
 
 The other paper, Mabel's favourite organ, snappy and 
 deplorably illustrated, in its paragraphic columns talked of 
 " the great heart of the people," and how it had responded 
 to the sorrows of Seraphino. From such a divergence of opinion 
 Dennis could extract no certainty as to whether success or 
 failure awaited the new venture. 
 ^5
 
 226 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 But now that he was recalling last night, and the events 
 that occurred before Ted's extremity had blotted out every- 
 thing else, he remembered his appointment for the afternoon, 
 remembered, and was glad, more than glad. The thought of 
 it illumined the dulness of the day, and sent him forth with 
 elastic step to greet the morning. The sun was breaking 
 through the fog, and the touch of frost, the breath of the 
 winter that was coming, was as a tonic. 
 
 In Grosvenor Street he thought the house had a dissipated 
 air. The butler answered the door in his shirt sleeves. 
 Fanny had not the gift of engaging servants, or retaining them ; 
 this was a foreign importation with undignified ways. He said 
 that Mrs. Juxton was not up, and that the Doctors had not 
 been yet. He would " try " to get a message sent up to Mrs. 
 Passiful, but seemed doubtful of his ability. Half the blinds 
 were still drawn, and the windows unopened; a stench of 
 disinfectants lingered about the closeness. Dennis waited in 
 the dining-room, which was littered with remains of last night's 
 debacle', the tablecloth still on the floor, the empty carafe and 
 used glasses proclaiming that it had not been approached by 
 housemaid's broom. The house was understaffed, and the 
 housemaid, waiting continually on Fanny, had never time to 
 clean her house or attend to her duties. Dennis wondered how 
 Mabel had fared in the disorder. He was not surprised at the 
 forlornness of her air when she came to him. 
 
 " Have you had any breakfast, a bath ? Has anybody 
 looked after you? You've been sitting up all night, haven't 
 you ? " 
 
 But Mabel had no eyes for the disorder of the room, nor 
 thought for her own requirements. 
 
 " Oh, Dennis ! I don't think he is as well as he ought to 
 be. The day nurse has come on, and the two were whispering 
 together with such grave faces. His temperature is over 102°. 
 I am so longing for Dr. Lauder to come." 
 
 " Does he know you ? " 
 
 " He hasn't said anything. Sometimes I think he does." 
 
 She wanted to tell him too about Fanny and her sleepless
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 227 
 
 night, to elicit his sympathies for her. But Dennis had no 
 sympathy for Fanny. He said quite cruelly that she had 
 better get up and set her house in order. But that it was not 
 Mabel's way to criticise her husband, she would have thought 
 he was unkind. As it was she looked at him doubtfully, and 
 about the room perhaps more comprehendingly ; and then 
 repeated vaguely that the few days after an operation were 
 always anxious, and Dennis mustn't worry, " Father," too, must 
 be kept with mind at ease. "I am sure we are all thinking of 
 nothing but Ted." 
 
 Dennis could hardly have agreed with that dictum ! When 
 he got to Bond Street, there was a messenger boy waiting to 
 see him, with a little note, to which it was not clear whether 
 a reply was necessary. 
 
 " Come early, not later than four. Will explain when I see 
 you." 
 
 There was no beginning, no signature ; the handwriting 
 clear and upright like a man's. At first he said there was no 
 answer, then hesitatingly he told the boy to go back and say : 
 " All right." But this seemed a little inadequate, and finally 
 he went into the office to write a note. Mr. Dolland was 
 there, and began speaking at once about business, about some 
 tapestries of which he had heard. Dennis said he would talk 
 to him presently, he had a letter to write. Taking the hint 
 Mr. Dolland left him alone to write it. But once alone he 
 found it difficult to know exactly what to say. He put the 
 note a moment against his cheeks, coloured angrily, and felt 
 that he was a fool. 
 
 " Dear Lady Diana." 
 
 He hated that somehow, and tore it up. In a foolish 
 schoolboy moment he thought of scribbling only, "Rather," 
 or "What do jou think?" He began again : " I am counting 
 the hours . ." He tore that up too, he did not count hours, 
 nobody ever counted hours, it was like one of Mabel's phrases. 
 
 " Dear Lady Diana, 
 
 At four to the minute. Thanks for letting me come. Yours . ." 
 
 He stuck a little at the ' Yours.' Was it to be ' Yours ever,'
 
 228 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 'Yours devotedly'? 'Yours.' He left it at that finally, blot- 
 ting and addressing it hurriedly. What did it matter what he 
 wrote ? At four he would see her. 
 
 Dennis did a respectable morning's work, heard all Dolland 
 had to say about the tapestries, and agreed to go over to 
 Provence to look at them. But only if his brother-in-law was 
 all right. He explained that he must wait a day or two to see. 
 Mr. Dolland heard about the hurried operation last night, and 
 was properly sympathetic, but afraid if they waited too long 
 the tapestries might have gone. Mr. Murray Straus was on 
 the scent of them, hot on the scent. 
 
 At lunch time Amos came in. He struck Dennis as 
 looking flabby, older, as if he had passed through an illness. 
 But his manner was as self-satisfied as ever. 
 
 " No end of telegrams and messages, letters, I don't know 
 what." 
 
 It took Dennis a moment to realise it was not of Ted's 
 illness, but of the play, that he was speaking. 
 
 " Merritt has been with me the best part of the morning. 
 We shall have to make some cuts." The pomposity of the 
 * we ' was characteristic, " and there were faults in the light- 
 ing. The box ofifice people have made us offers , . ." Dennis 
 asked if he had heard how Ted was going on. 
 
 " Merritt called up Grosvenor Street before he came on to 
 me. He says Fanny told him Ted was going on splendidly." 
 Amos was obviously ashamed of the amount of emotion he 
 had displayed last night, this morning it seemed as if it had 
 been so unnecessary. 
 
 "It is nothing of an operation nowadays, they say. I 
 should have gone round myself only he is to be kept absolutely 
 quiet. I wrote Mabel a line to give him when he is able 
 to read it. I told him he wasn't to worry about anything, 
 I'd see him through the expense and send him a sea voyage 
 afterwards. That will set him up . ." 
 
 "He said you had always been so generous to him . ." 
 Amos waved that aside, perhaps a little grandiloquently. 
 
 " Perhaps I have, perhaps I haven't. I'm not altogether
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 229 
 
 sure he's got the right wife." This was a change of front. 
 Dennis had been expecting this. "She's attractive, pretty; 
 but the boy is sensitive. She doesn't understand him . ." 
 Amos had not understood him very well, either, Dennis 
 thought, but he said nothing. " He is hot tempered, and, of 
 course, he's not clever. As Merritt says, the sons of great 
 men are often decadent," he brought this out quite naively. 
 "Ted hasn't got too much brain. But we're better friends 
 than we used to be; he has been sticking to business 
 better lately. I know he's doing his best. She was upset 
 last night. Lauder was rather rough with her, wasn't he? 
 Merritt tells me there is no truth at all about Fanny having 
 neglected Ted. She has been very worried about him, but 
 couldn't get him to see a doctor, or to take care of himself. 
 He has always been an obstinate fellow." 
 
 Dennis asked his father-in-law to lunch with him, but 
 Amos said he was much too busy, " over head and ears." He 
 had to be at the theatre in the afternoon, he " almost wished 
 now he had never taken it on at all." But Dennis saw that this 
 hardly represented his feelings. He was enjoying his import- 
 ance, and the direct and indirect advertisement, the inter- 
 views. He had quite decided Ted was all right, and that he 
 need not be anxious about him any more. Although he was 
 quite decided upon this point, the operation of last night had 
 left its traces ; it was as if a sirocco had blown over him, hot 
 and devastating, he had lost something of freshness, vigour, 
 his colour was not what it had been. He asked Dennis to 
 spend the evening with him, at Fitzjohn's Hall, or Hamilton 
 Terrace. For the moment, it seemed, he did not care to be 
 alone. " Mabel will be going to bed early. She was up all 
 night, I'm told. You'd best come up to me ; the walk home 
 afterwards won't hurt you. I don't want to have the car out 
 again this evening." Dennis agreed to dine in Fitzjohn's 
 Avenue. 
 
 It was after Amos had gone, but before Dennis went out to 
 lunch, that Mabel rang up again. This time her voice was 
 full of tears and agitation.
 
 230 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " I don't know what to think. He is quite dehrious, he 
 doesn't know anybody. The surgeon has been again. Fanny 
 saw him and says he was quite satisfied, but I can't help feeling 
 dreadfully nervous ..." 
 
 Mabel broke down at the telephone, and Dennis promised 
 to come round immediately after lunch and meet Dr. Lauder. 
 Dr. Lauder would be quite frank and straightforward with 
 him. Mabel had not liked to ask too many questions, but 
 she had thought that the surgeon looked very grave. 
 
 "The nurses are so kind and attentive, reassuring too." 
 This was in answer to an enquiry when she took up the 
 telephone again. Mabel could not disguise she wanted 
 reassurance. 
 
 If Dennis went to Grosvenor Street immediately after lunch, 
 there would be no difiiculty in his being at Curzon Street at 
 four. He told Mr. Dolland, who was lingering about, hoping 
 to get that matter of the tapestries settled, that it was possible 
 he would not return to business after lunch. 
 
 " I am going to see some miniatures and drawings." 
 
 The disingenuousness of this struck him, and he hurried on : 
 " My brother-in-law doesn't seem so well this last hour or two." 
 
 " Miniatures, drawings. Not at Christie's, are they ? If so 
 I've missed the catalogue." 
 
 " No, a private collection." 
 
 "That's better. May I ask ... " 
 
 " Don't ask me anything now, there's a good fellow. I'm 
 hungry." 
 
 He was, and a little desperate to get away. He seized his 
 hat, telling his partner he would let him know all about the 
 collection when he saw him next. Dennis was no good at 
 the game he was playing, he had never had any practice in 
 intrigue. The word itself was unknown to him. To have tea 
 with a woman, such a woman, between whom and himself a 
 real friendship was budding ; surely intrigue was no name for 
 that? But any sort of dissimulation or concealment of his 
 movements was new to him. He felt that Dolland, and all the 
 world, would know that he was going to tea with Lady Diana
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 231 
 
 Wayne. He seemed to have suddenly become conspicuous, 
 or Dolland inquisitive. 
 
 A chop at the 'Blue Posts' quieted him down; he took 
 his time over it, there was nothing to hurry about. Mabel 
 always got excited easily, and she had been up all night. He 
 had his cigarette, and looked at the early edition of an 
 evening p*aper. 
 
 Then he walked to Grosvenor Street, and on the doorstep 
 met Roddy Ainsworth. 
 
 " Hullo ! Skipper. You here, where's Mabel ? I want to 
 see Mabel. I've been up all the way to Hamilton Terrace." 
 Roddy seemed to think he had been badly treated, and that 
 Mabel ought to have been at home. But when he heard 
 about Ted's illness and the operation he was ' awfully sorry,' 
 and a little remorseful. He knew Amos had been sent for last 
 night. 
 
 " Never thought of Ted, good old Ted ! " 
 
 For he too had known him always. Then he brightened up : 
 
 " I say, what a devilish awkward thing it would be if it had 
 happened to me ! " 
 
 Before he had time to expatiate on the disappointment to 
 the public, and the ' bad business ' for the theatre that would 
 ensue, the door opened, and the foreign servant, now properly 
 dressed and in his most intelligent mind, answered even before 
 he was asked : 
 
 " Mr. Juxton is going on very well, and the Doctors are quite 
 satisfied." He had doubtless been coached in this answer. 
 It was obvious, too, he did not expect them to enter, he held 
 the door gingerly half open. 
 
 " I say, Dennis, if he's all right, can't you get Mabel down 
 to me for a few minutes? I want to show her these . . ." 
 ' These,' were a bundle of press notices. 
 
 "|Where is your mistress ? " Dennis asked. 
 
 " Mrs. Juxton is in the drawing-room." Dennis was in- 
 judicious, perhaps, in not asking whether she was alone, but 
 he never dreamed of her being with anyone. He got rid of 
 Roddy, but not without difficulty.
 
 232 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " Mabel won't see anybody." 
 
 " She'll see me," Roddy answered confidently. But Dennis 
 was firm in saying she could not be asked to leave the sick 
 room in order to read Roddy's notices. "To-morrow," he 
 promised vaguely, and Roddy had to go away with that to 
 content him. He grumbled, and said he was sure Mabel 
 would like to see him. 
 
 Dennis went up to the drawing-room two steps at a time. 
 He heard voices, a masculine one ; he had no doubt it was 
 Dr. Lauder's. 
 
 Fanny was in a very expensive and elaborate tea gown, all 
 white muslin and lace, pink showing through. It made her 
 look a little like a dressing-table. She was languorous on 
 the sofa. Cosmo, who had been sitting near her, rose when 
 Dennis made his abrupt entry. Fanny was quite equal to 
 the occasion, although so languid. 
 
 " A nice fright you gave us all last night. And all about 
 nothing, as it turned out. Everybody, more or less, has been 
 operated on for appendicitis." She showed her teeth in a 
 smile, it was impossible she could still be malicious about 
 Ted, but the impossible was true. " It is the only time Ted 
 has tried after fashion, and he was sure to bungle it, choosing 
 the most inconvenient day in the whole year ! " 
 
 Cosmo asked : 
 
 " Have you seen Mr. Juxton ? He is very pleased with the 
 reception of the play, isn't he ? " 
 
 " He doesn't even mind that Mabel's friend sang flat," 
 Fanny struck in. 
 
 Dennis stood irresolute on the threshold. It was difficult 
 to believe that Ted could be dangerously ill, whilst his wife 
 and his friend were at their ease here. The jeer at ' Mabel's 
 friend ' passed him by. He had always known Fanny to be 
 ungrateful. If she could jeer at Ted, why not at Mabel, who 
 was nursing him, and had nursed her too, last night ? 
 
 " I was so worked up by your solemn manner when we 
 came from the Savoy that I thought it was all over ! He is 
 still looking solemn ; Cosmo, just look at him."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 233 
 
 She crouched into the corner of the sofa, and laughed. 
 Dennis turned on his heel. She called after him, 
 
 " Don't go. Stay and have tea. Mabel is coming down." 
 
 It was dull this afternoon, even with Cosmo there. She 
 missed her club, and the excitement of her daily gamble. Of 
 course she had to stop at home, and make herself agreeable 
 to the doctors. She hated Dr. Lauder, and Dr. Porter was 
 a dry stick : the * dry stick ' had flowered a little when watered 
 with her smiles. But she had never really quite got over her 
 fancy for Dennis. His treatment of her piqued it. She tried 
 to detain him, although Cosmo was there. She was always 
 trying to imagine Cosmo jealous, she would have liked 
 to play off the two men, any two men, one against the 
 other. But she was deprived of the contemplated pleasure. 
 Dennis heard Mabel's step on the stairs, and went outside to 
 greet her. 
 
 " He is very bad, Dennis." Mabel had evidently been 
 crying. " I can't believe everything is as it ought to be. Dr. 
 Lauder looks so anxious. Fanny says I am making a fuss. 
 It was she who saw Dr. Porter. Dennis 1 I . . I believe I'm 
 frightened." She sobbed a little against his shoulder. He 
 put a perfunctory arm about her, but he was very genuinely 
 moved. He did not know what to think. It was Fanny who 
 had seen Dr. Porter, Fanny could not be acting, she must 
 if^ink Ted was all right. As this was passing through his 
 mind he was comforting Mabel : 
 
 " You are overtired, you mustn't let yourself give way. Fanny 
 saw the surgeon, you say, and he was quite satisfied. All the 
 symptoms you notice may be quite regular. When will Lauder 
 be in again ? " 
 
 " He's only just gone, he is in and out all the time." 
 
 "Has she been up?" 
 
 Mabel knew he meant Fanny. They were speaking in 
 whispers on the landing outside the drawing room. 
 
 "She can't bear the smell of the iodoform. It isn't as if he 
 would know her ! " Mabel made excuses, it might seem strange 
 to Dennis that Fanny avoided the sick-room.
 
 234 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " He doesn't know you ? " 
 
 " I'm not sure, not all the time. And oh, Dennis, he is so 
 restless ! I can't help thinking he hears voices in the drawing 
 room." 
 
 She dropped her own, it made her wretched to have to say 
 it even in a whisper : 
 
 "And, Dennis, ought Mr. Merritt to be here? You know 
 what was said." 
 
 And then she could not bear the implication of her own 
 words, adding weakly, " I do wish they would sit downstairs, 
 in the library. It's quite a nice room, with all those dragons." 
 Dennis gave no heed to Cosmo's and Fanny's peculiar taste in 
 decorations. He was thinking, too, that Cosmo ought not to 
 be here. 
 
 Good taste, good feeling prescribed his absence. Perhaps 
 he did not know what had been said ; but it was difficult to 
 believe it. If Dennis did believe it, it was because Cosmo was 
 Diana's brother. Still he ought to stay away from the house 
 just now, although Fanny had doubtless persuaded him to 
 the contrary, 
 
 " I'll give him a hint," he said confidently to Mabel. 
 
 But Mabel begged him not to interfere. She was frightened 
 of offending Fanny, distressed at her own words and what 
 might be thought to lie behind them. She wished she had 
 not spoken, wavered, and was uncertain even of her own 
 wishes in the matter. Dennis, too, on further consideration 
 thought it might be unwise to interfere. 
 
 If a hint was necessary his sister would give Cosmo that 
 hint. So Dennis thought, after he had tried to instil his own 
 courage into Mabel, and then left Grosvenor Street to pay 
 his visit. He was possibly disingenuous with himself. By 
 staying to give Cosmo Merritt his views and to see Dr. Lauder, 
 he would have missed his appointment. But that by keeping 
 it, by seeing Lady Diana, he would be able to put the situation 
 delicately before her, seemed the better thing to do. Then 
 she would advise Cosmo, restrain him. Dennis was sure she 
 had a marvellous tact, was essentially womanly, would
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 235 
 
 understand. There was no quality of heart or head with 
 which at this time he did not endow her. It was wonderful 
 that he was going to see her again, now, within the next ten 
 minutes. 
 
 It was striking four o'clock when he rang the bell. 
 
 He had not realised how beautiful this Curzon Street drawing- 
 room was, how unlike other drawing-rooms. It was very 
 spacious, and beyond it, adding to its size, stretched the 
 tropical winter garden. Birds were there, bright-winged, exotic, 
 uncaged ; they sang amid the greenery. Here, as he looked 
 about him, he saw that the walls were hung with pictures, the 
 pictures were without varnish, the gold of the frames was dingy 
 and tarnished, they looked as if they had hung there for a 
 century. One great sofa was drawn up by the fire, the table 
 beside it was invisible for the wealth of orchids upon it. 
 There were other tables in the room, and they too were altars 
 for flowers, for hothouse roses, and lilies from the South. 
 Everywhere there were cabinets, this one full of rare ivories, 
 and that of priceless Sbvres. A red lac writing table with 
 Louis Seize mounts caught his eye, a vitrine full of miniatures. 
 
 But she had only kept him waiting two minutes, now she 
 was beside him, more beautiful than ever. 
 
 " How punctual you are ! " 
 
 Her smile did not hurt, her hand was in his to heal her 
 words, and show by the little pressure that she was not 
 offended by his punctuality. He had no more time to look 
 at the room ; he could look at nothing but her. She was in 
 black again ; there was nothing that could bring out more 
 exquisitely the transparency of her skin, the green or hazel of 
 her laughing eyes, they were laughing eyes this afternoon. She 
 was glad that he was here. He knew it, and he was glad too. 
 
 "You have been in trouble. Cossy told me of your 
 brother-in-law's sudden illness." 
 
 He had his opening, but could not avail himself of it. He 
 had not realised how difficult it would be. He said, hurriedly, 
 that they were still full of anxiety ; Ted was certainly not yet 
 out of danger.
 
 236 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Diana, standing slim and upright against tlie Reynolds 
 picture, quenched its painted pallor with her more vivid 
 colouring, she made it look faded in its frame. One hand 
 rested on the massed pile of cushions heaped up in the corner 
 of the sofa, and the clinging black of her dress orientalised 
 the colour scheme. Just so, he thought, she should have been 
 painted. Her eyes were soft on his when she said : 
 
 "But don't let us talk of illness or trouble. Come out; 
 I like sitting under the trees, imagining it is summer, or that 
 I am in the South." There was a little mischief in her smile. 
 '* Cosmo asked you what you thought of the auriculas ; to-day 
 you can make up your mind." 
 
 He followed her willingly. Tea was brought out to them ; 
 they talked of one thing, then another, glancing over surfaces, 
 trying deliberately for intimacy, missing it, because it was 
 surfaces over which they glanced, and intimacy strikes 
 inwards. But they were coming to it, there were depths 
 beneath their surface talk. She had read this, and he that. 
 Gwilt was a new name to her; Laurence Hope was an 
 unknown poet to him. She said she loved architecture; it 
 seemed grander to her than all the other arts, because it 
 combined them all, lent itself to shelter them, sculpture and 
 carving, no less than painting. She was interested to hear 
 that this was the hobby he would have pursued if he had had 
 leisure, if he had never married. She heard that with the eyes 
 of his mind he saw grand and beautiful buildings, sometimes 
 he tried to draw them. He was hardly yet at ease in talking 
 about himself, stopping short abruptly now and again, fearing 
 she would be bored. She had glanced at him quickly, then 
 away, when he had said ' if he had never married.' Why had 
 he married? What were his relations with his wife? She 
 could not ask him, they were really only acquaintances, 
 although they talked of friendship ; skirting round the statue 
 which they had set up, never knowing the name of the 
 god they were fashioning, and to whom they were purposing 
 to offer sacrifice. Diana would be the first to suspect, to 
 recognise the features as they emerged from the marble, co
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 237 
 
 detect the bow and arrow. She at least was no stranger to 
 Eros, and the green glades and groves wherein his temple is 
 enshrined. 
 
 She said to him presently : 
 
 " We are e7i rapport in some curious way. When you left 
 me last night, I felt depressed, low-spirited. I suppose, I 
 knew instinctively of the trouble coming to you." 
 
 At that he flushed, looking at her gratefully but hesitating 
 to tell her so. 
 
 " Ted is such a good fellow, straight as a line ; he has had 
 bad luck all through." 
 
 "I am so sorry." 
 
 But she hardly knew for what she was sorry. She did not 
 know Ted, so it could not have been that. 
 
 " I knew you would be." 
 
 "But he is better to-day." 
 
 " His wife says so." 
 
 " She doesn't care about him ? " 
 
 "Sometimes I think she actually disHkes him, hates him. 
 She treats him like a dog." 
 
 " It is awful when things grow to that between husband 
 and wife." Her eyes were retrospective, and it was his 
 turn to wonder. So a little silence fell between them, one 
 of many that were to come when they had got beyond 
 surfaces. 
 
 " I think our friendship is only at its beginning, its beautiful 
 beginning." 
 
 Now she spoke dreamily. Sitting beside her words became 
 difficult to him, and his mind was in a tumult. He wanted to 
 tell her how grateful he was to her for taking him as a friend ; 
 he wanted to do something for her, anything, to prove it. 
 She went on talking : 
 
 " I don't think I have ever had a friend, a real friend. 
 There was my mother, but she cared for hunting more than 
 anything in the world. As a child it seemed to me I never 
 saw her except in a habit. After her accident she was never 
 out of pain, and all her strength went in trying to conceal it.
 
 238 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 She was very brave, marvellously brave. There were always 
 nurses between us, I never got close to her. . . ," She stopped. 
 
 "I understand." 
 
 " I knew you would." 
 
 She turned her beautiful eyes upon him, it seemed they were 
 really beginning to understand one another. 
 
 "Then there was Cosmo. We were always what you call 
 'pals'; the two youngest, in revolt against authority. But 
 Cosmo was delicate, he was a long time with a tutor ; he had 
 been only a year at Eton when'^his health broke down again. 
 I was married whilst he was still at Cambridge ; we were so 
 seldom together." 
 
 Dennis saw the loneliness of her girlhood, he wanted to 
 hear about her marriage, and then again he did not like to 
 think of her intimacy with an uncongenial companion. Some- 
 how or other it had been conveyed to him that her husband 
 was uncongenial to her. 
 
 "Your life has been lonely,'too?" And in the sincerity ot 
 his simplicity he answered. 
 
 " I don't think I felt it when I was very young. Everyone at 
 the Vicarage was more than good to me. But I was not really 
 intimate with Mr. Paighton. I know it now although I did 
 not know it at the time. Mr. Abinger was my first intimate. 
 He had the heart of a woman, the brain of a savant. He knew 
 everything. So it seemed to me then ; looking back I still think 
 he was the wisest person I have ever met, and the kindest. 
 Nobody ever knew how charitable he was. For his sake I like 
 all Jews, even those dirty, dishonest, half-sharp Poles and 
 polyglots one meets in sale-rooms. They have all got hearts, 
 hands open to their co-religionists." He paused. "When 
 Abe Abinger died, suddenly, without a word of warning, I 
 knew loneUness. My God! It was as if the bottom had 
 dropped out of the world. Pd no foothold. And that was 
 the time my adopted father was beginning to doubt everything, 
 the whole principles of his life. He had seemed so strong, 
 such a pillar of strength in his faith. Now he was swayed 
 this way and that. He had not a hand to give to me to
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 239 
 
 keep me on my feet . ." And again he thought he was talking 
 too much about himself. Never, never had he told anyone 
 these things. She encouraged him softly : 
 
 "Go on, go on. I want to hear. This was when you met 
 your wife ? " 
 
 " I had always known Mabel. She was so unlike other 
 girls, reserved, gentle. Ursula and Agatha were fond of her. 
 She did Church work." It seemed an inadequate description. 
 He hurried on. *' She was in trouble, too. Ted was going to 
 be married . ." 
 
 He would not give Mabel's secret away, nor speak of what 
 her trouble had been. " I seemed to have nothing belonging 
 to me to take care of, to, to live for . ." he burst out. 
 " It sounds rotten. I don't mean I'd any thought of suicide, 
 but if I could be of use to anybody, and she seemed what 
 you call forlorn, nobody noticing much that she was unhappy 
 . . ." He didn't want to take any praise for what he had 
 done, he had to be completely honest. "It seemed a good 
 thing all round. It gave me a place, and a home. The home 
 at the Vicarage was being broken up , ." And then in final 
 self-betrayal he admitted, "I don't think I thought very much 
 about it, about the finality of marriage, until the very day of 
 my marriage. I am boring you, I'm sure I'm boring you, talk- 
 ing so much about myself?" 
 
 " I want to know it all." 
 
 "And then you will tell me about yourself." 
 
 " All you want to know, but there is so little." 
 
 "You were unhappy in your marriage." 
 
 " He seemed a hundred years older than I was. I was only 
 a girl. Don't question me. Let me tell you gradually ; when 
 the mood comes." 
 
 Then they glided into generalities again. It seemed that 
 neither of them had ever had anyone to whom they could 
 open their hearts, talk familiarly of unfamiliar things ; of the 
 emotions, never before put into words, that fine colours, a 
 dancer's poise, a bird's song, brought suddenly to the heart. 
 He told her quite simply, without exaggeration, of his night-
 
 240 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 walk after her dinner party, of the trees black against the 
 grey sky, and London hushed and sleeping. He spoke, too, 
 of the odd immense sense of power that had come to him. In 
 one of the corners of her heart she thought it was a pity he 
 took himself so seriously ; but in the innermost centre of it, 
 she was moved towards him in a way she had never before 
 been moved. Light love had been offered to her more than 
 once. Dolly gave her constancy, admiration, all he had to 
 give ; but after all he was only Dolly. 
 
 Gradually in their low question and low response, there were 
 more and more pauses, silences. It was after one of these she 
 said to him, apparently without sequence or intention : 
 
 "You know why I asked you to come so early. It was 
 because Dolly is coming at six." 
 
 "Dolly?" 
 
 " My cousin. Lord Haverford ; my fiance." 
 
 " You are not really going to marry him ? " 
 
 " I am, I must." 
 
 "Must?" 
 
 "You know how poor we all are, how wretchedly, incon- 
 veniently poor. And we are all in debt. Father, Mervyn, I." 
 
 " You ! " 
 
 " Yes ! Don't look shocked, don't idealise me. Be 
 tolerant. I am only a woman, full of faults. I suspect 
 you of a little hardness, want of tolerance for weakness. I 
 like pretty clothes, furs, jewellery ; my jointure is pitifully 
 small. I must marry Dolly." 
 
 "You are going to marry Lord Haverford because he is 
 rich. I don't believe that ; that isn't possible of you ! There 
 must be some other reason if it is true. But I don't believe 
 it is true." 
 
 She felt chilled, repelled ; after all he was something of a 
 prig. He must understand so Uttle of women, their needs, 
 particularly women in society with positions to keep up. 
 
 " Are you really so very horrified ? I am up to my eyes in 
 debt. I dare not tell my father; my brothers are no better 
 off than I . ."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 241 
 
 " Anything you do must be right. But I — I am not without 
 means . ." He said that abruptly, reddening. 
 
 "Well, I cannot marry you, can I?" She said it lightly, 
 but the red in his cheeks deepened and all in a moment hers 
 took fire from it, and now neither of them looked at the other. 
 
 "You said we were to be friends, real friends. You .... 
 you can have anything you want." 
 
 It was really difficult for him to express his meaning. He 
 wanted to do something for her. And this at least he 
 could do ; she need not be in debt. His heart was beating, 
 pounding against his ribs as if he were going for a fifth run 
 at cricket from a spanking drive by his partner, when runs 
 were wanted quickly, and he could only just scrape home 
 before his wicket was thrown down : 
 
 " You can have anything you ivant." It was such an 
 impossible thing to have said. The words hung between 
 them like the acrid and penetrating smoke from a burning 
 house. There were sparks from it that burnt and stung. 
 She was in need of money, her standard less high than his, 
 and her upbringing different. Still his words burnt. 
 
 " You are not offering me money, are you ? " 
 
 This was the moment when she knew that it was not 
 friendship that was coming to them. If his words burned, 
 they thrilled also. Incoherently, not without the sense of 
 saying something shameful, incredible, he admitted that he 
 was, and in a hoarse voice asked why he should not, what 
 she meant by the word friendship if he couldn't say that 
 to her. And then he gave his version of friendship, 
 getting up from his seat beside her, walking up and down, 
 agitated, he hardly knew from what cause. But sitting near 
 her, he had become suddenly aware of her sweetness, the 
 pallor of her loveliness, and her needs, that neither her 
 father nor her brothers in their selfishness perceived or solaced. 
 If he had been her brother she would have wanted for nothing. 
 They were not eloquent words in which he couched his 
 feelings ; he had but a poor gift of self-expression. 
 
 " It's rot, it's all such rot. I can't find a better word. 
 16
 
 242 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Your brothers are different from me, they have so many wants 
 of their own. I have hardly any, why shouldn't you have what 
 I don't need, just because it's money ? Lady Diana, forgive 
 me ; I am sure to say the wrong thing. I've got no experience, 
 only I don't want you to marry Lord Haverford because you 
 want anything he could give you, if I can give it you instead. 
 I thought I shouldn't mind, but I do mind. Our friendship, 
 our growing friendship, look how it has grown this afternoon, 
 would be all spoilt . ." 
 
 His voice, or his words, or perhaps what he offered touched her 
 somewhere, somehow, as she had never before been touched ; 
 and she had to look away from him as he spoke. She knew 
 now that she was in love with him, with his fine figure, and 
 way of moving, with his voice, and the things that he was 
 saying. So she looked away, seeing him nevertheless. 
 
 "You make me ashamed." 
 
 " There is nothing on earth to be ashamed about. Money 
 doesn't mean anything, when one has more than one wants. 
 So many fellows come to me : at the Club we none of us think 
 anything of it. I wish you would let me lend you any- 
 thing you want, settle things for you. Why shouldn't you 
 pay off all your debts ? It is beastly talking about it, I know. 
 Don't let us talk about it. Only I would be so awfully proud 
 of it if you would let me make everything all right for you ! 
 Do, do yield to me in this. You are only a woman ; it is 
 just business. You can't marry Lord Haverford." He was 
 stopped for argument, and brought out Margaret Lemon's 
 dictum. " Marriage is imprisonment ; a life sentence. You 
 can't marry Lord Haverford. I am really almost rich. We 
 can't talk about it, we will never talk about it again ; just give 
 me the name of your bankers. 
 
 Out of the depths in which they were floundering, she flung 
 the mere mud of a stammering sentence. 
 
 "One cannot take money from a man, from a man one 
 hardly knows." 
 
 Hardly knows ! That cast him back upon himself, silencing 
 him.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 243 
 
 He left off walking about, his hurried incoherent speech 
 was stayed. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said heavily, stupidly. " Of course 
 you hardly know me." 
 
 " I didn't mean that," it was she now who was speaking 
 hurriedly, " I am sorry I said it." She was really aflame, and 
 saw how it was possible to lose him. " You must not be so 
 sensitive. You are not angry with me, are you ? " 
 
 There was a deprecating glance, a sudden smile, irradiating, 
 two hands outstretched to him. " Come and tell me you are 
 not angry." 
 
 He went over to her, not unwillingly. He was bewildered, 
 her tone and manner had changed so completely. Now he 
 took the hands she outstretched to him, and held them in his. 
 Neither he nor she were cool or reasonable, but they con- 
 cealed their agitation from each other. 
 
 " You didn't mean you hardly knew me ? " 
 
 "No, I didn't mean that." 
 
 " And you will let me do what I want ? " 
 
 Her smile was really wonderful. 
 
 "You know you are holding my hands." 
 
 Those hands of hers seemed to touch him everywhere. He 
 felt them in his heart. 
 
 " It is so wonderful of you, more than good ! " 
 
 He had understood she would accept help from him ; it 
 meant she would not marry Lord Haverford. He had kissed 
 her hands and still held them. She was half laughing, 
 saying incoherently that he must not do that, avoiding his 
 eyes in which she read that it was not only her hands he would 
 kiss. But the moment passed, and he dropped her hands, 
 recollecting himself. 
 
 " It is so awfully good of you," he said again. 
 
 She was piqued at the ease with which he regained his 
 self-possession. He was really embarrassed at having kissed 
 her hands ! 
 
 "I lost my temper for a moment," he really thought it 
 was his temper he had lost, or been on the point of losing,
 
 244 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 "at the idea you would mind letting me help you. Look 
 what you have done for me. I was so awfully down when I 
 came in." 
 
 He was talking rapidly, because her eyes helped him so 
 little. There was a sort of wonder in them, and doubt, her 
 lips too were unsteady, those sweet thin lips with the delicate 
 red softness. 
 
 He thought he had shocked or startled her ; certainly he 
 had startled himself. Her hands were as if they were still 
 in his, and the softness of them against his lips. His blood 
 was in a tumult ; he had not known there were women hke 
 this in the world. 
 
 " I ought to be going now, you will be having other visitors. 
 I must get back to Grosvenor Street." 
 
 He hardly knew what he was saying, he wanted to get away. 
 
 She was ready to help him to safer ground, seeing how it 
 was with him, wondering nevertheless. He would not press 
 an advantage; but she had been ready for him to press it. 
 She knew that, and that she had liked her hands in his ; 
 he was astonishingly pleasant to her, and his proximity made 
 her heart beat faster. But the retreat of him stilled it for 
 the present ; she knew it was only for the present. 
 
 " How emotional we became ! But really you startled me ; 
 it has all come so quickly, our intimacy, I mean. When are 
 you coming to see me again ? For you must go now, I 
 suppose." 
 
 Because her voice was low and hurried, and she was ready 
 to dismiss him, he thought her shy and confused. And he 
 had the quick man's pride in it ; a new feeling for him ; 
 something of the conqueror, but then compunction. He took 
 his leave of her abruptly, not in the least realising himself. 
 He walked away from the house as if in a fog. 
 
 The statue she now saw so plainly smiling down upon her 
 from the marble, was still dim to him, and fog-bound. But 
 there was haze behind the fog, a point of light tipped the 
 arrow ; and he saw the light from the pointed arrow, although 
 he was still blind as to where it pointed.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 DENNIS was curiously in a hurry to get away from the 
 house. He had lost touch with himself, and every- 
 thing seemed a little unreal. He wanted to be alone, the 
 last hour resolved itself into pictures, and the pictures were 
 blurred. To think of her marrying Haverford merely for 
 pecuniary reasons was sacrilege. 
 
 When he left her it \vas to go back to the Gallery, where 
 Mr. DoUand was fortunately engaged with a customer. He 
 shut himself up in the office, pored over his bank-book, 
 calculating and adding up. There was so much that he 
 could spare, that neither he nor Mabel needed. Mabel was 
 always good about money matters, making little call upon 
 his purse; almost the only use she had for money was to 
 give it away. Ursula and Agatha had always money for 
 their charities, and Dennis never doubted of its source. 
 What he had said to Lady Diana represented his real feelings. 
 Money was a mere counter between intimates. He had learnt 
 that among his cricketing friends ; and he felt that in time 
 he would persuade her to it. She need not have a care in 
 the world, he knew that, his heart beating high over it. And 
 yet that heart of his misgave him. He did not like the tumult 
 of his feelings, these waves that surged over him. Surely he 
 was not going to be ill. And thinking of illness, reminded him 
 of Ted and Mabel. She had been there long enough. He 
 would take her home, make her rest. What he told Diana was 
 true. Mabel needed some one to care for her and look after 
 her, she never thought of herself. He had a slightly uneasy 
 feeling, now, that he had talked too freely of Mabel to Diana. 
 
 It was not yet half-past six. This time, when he got to 
 
 245
 
 246 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Grosvenor Street he was ushered into the drawing room with 
 ceremony. Fanny was still not alone there. Mrs. Margaret 
 Lemon was with her, and, to his surprise, not only Cosmo 
 Merritt, but Lord Haverford ! So Diana had not even re- 
 ceived him, or if she had, she had quickly dismissed him. 
 Haverford was explaining it to Cosmo as Dennis came in : 
 
 "They said she was ill, lying down. I heard you were 
 here, and came on. It's only a headache, I suppose ; she was 
 all right a day or two ago." 
 
 It was only Cosmo's sharpness that enabled him to detect 
 an alteration in Dennis's expression. He reassured Lord 
 Haverford as to his sister's state of health, then launched 
 him into a general conversation with the women. 
 
 " You called in Curzon Street, too ? " he asked Dennis, 
 carelessly. And Dennis, off his guard, said that Lady Diana 
 had been quite well then. Cosmo's smile was enigmatic as 
 he turned away. Keen as he was for the Haverford alliance 
 he was glad Diana was not treating Dolly too well, that she 
 was keeping him guessing about her feelings. The settlements 
 had still to be considered. 
 
 To bring Margaret Lemon and Fanny together had accorded 
 with Cosmo's sense of humour. Margaret would be sure to 
 be witty over Fanny's little ways. That was why Margaret 
 was here this afternoon, nominally to enquire after Ted, 
 actually to make a study of Fanny for Cosmo's and her 
 own entertainment. Never could she have chosen a more 
 auspicious moment. 
 
 The advent of Lord Haverford, notwithstanding his excuse 
 of coming to find out from Cosmo the extent of his 
 fiancee's indisposition, could not deceive Fanny. She knew 
 that it was her own ' sex attraction ' at play again. Lord 
 Haverford could not keep away, she had not a doubt it 
 had affected him since that evening at the Carlton. Here 
 was proof indeed. Fanny brimmed over with cordiality. 
 She was quite generous in trying to bring Mrs. Lemon into 
 the conversation, whilst she aired a little arch familiarity with 
 Lord Haverford. That young nobleman had of course for-
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 247 
 
 gotten her very existence, but was glad to be reminded of it, 
 finding all the trouble of making talk taken out of his hands 
 and himself being played with and made much of; and he 
 was never averse to the drink which she offered him, nor 
 cared where he quaffed it. Margaret, too, he appreciated, and, 
 finding himself in such congenial quarters he settled down to 
 the enjoyment of them. Never had Fanny played the hostess 
 in so refined a manner. She ordered Cosmo about, to show 
 her intimacy with him, and her power generally : 
 
 " Lord Haverford will take whisky and soda, don't forget 
 the ice. Bring up the cigarettes for his Lordship." 
 
 She was certainly impressing the foreign manservant. He 
 could see she had titled friends. She was glad Dennis should 
 be present when she had two such men at her beck and call. 
 It was quite a triumph. Lord Haverford and Cosmo were 
 competing for her favour ! In these things certainly Fanny 
 had imagination. One could see it in play as she talked 
 a little staccato and on one note. Margaret Lemon was quietly 
 amused, and Dennis sat down by her at the invitation of 
 a glance ; she wanted to talk to him. No one could have 
 imagined there was serious illness in the house, everything 
 was so gay, so normal. When Dennis asked Margaret whether 
 she had happened to hear how Ted was going on, it seemed 
 superfluous to expect an answer. 
 
 Margaret Lemon had been interested in Dennis since that 
 meeting in the train, five years ago. Much water had flowed 
 under the bridges since then, and he should be more ready 
 to entertain her. He evaded her questions, but fell a little 
 under the sway of her personality. Her exceptional qualities 
 had developed, she was eminently a woman companionable 
 to men, evocative of the best, or worst. It was her profession, 
 and she was skilled in it. Dennis could parry and thrust 
 better than five years ago, but he was not more ready to 
 talk of things that belong to a man's self alone. He was not 
 the type of man with which that profession of hers brought 
 her into contact. She soon realised it, for Margaret Lemon 
 had not attained her position without qualification. For she
 
 248 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 had a position, curious, almost unique. One might have 
 described it as an eighteenth century position, men of letters 
 representing the young princes and bloods of that century. 
 She had intellect, and charm, and her moraUty was no one's 
 affair ; it was at least classic. Dennis could but feel the charm. 
 Yesterday he would have said he was charm-proof; to-day, 
 only that he had an amulet. She felt the disappointment of 
 him, abandoning presently the attempt to interest him, and 
 turning her attention to the other occupants of the room. 
 
 Lord Haverford and Fanny were exchanging witticisms, and 
 Fanny was more kittenish and coquettish than ever ; everything 
 was to her liking, Mrs. Lemon retaining no one's attention. 
 A quick step on the stairs brought Dennis to his feet. He 
 recognised it, and that it was Mabel. 
 
 "Oh, are you here, Dennis? I am so glad you are here! 
 Dennis, Fanny, do make everybody be quiet. I am sure he 
 hears voices ; the nurses think so too : voices carry so here ..." 
 
 She faltered, she had not expected to find so large a 
 company, so many curious eyes upon her. 
 
 Margaret asked sympathetically how Mr. Juxton was this 
 afternoon. 
 
 "You must tell him I came in on purpose to enquire." 
 She had risen to her feet, realising the situation immediately. 
 Fanny, looking evil, also rose. Mabel, almost in a whisper, 
 implored her hurriedly to get rid of her guests. 
 
 "He has been quite conscious and spoken. He asked if 
 Mr. Merritt was in the house. Oh, Fanny, I am sure it 
 distresses him ; do make him go," she whispered. 
 
 " I shall do nothing of the kind. He will have to get used 
 to Cosmo being in the house. You can tell him so." Fanny's 
 answering whisper was brutal. 
 
 Mabel burst into tears, and Fanny going outside the room 
 with her, shut the door behind them hastily. 
 
 " He may never get used to anything again." Mabel tried 
 to control her tears, still she did not want to alarm Ted's wife ; 
 although she herself was almost in despair. 
 
 " Rubbish ! "
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 249 
 
 Now Dennis joined them. Fanny, indignant at being dis- 
 turbed in her enjoyment, said one or two bitter, biting things ; 
 they were Hke the enraged spit of a frightened cat. She 
 arched her back like the cat when a dog barks at it. But 
 Mabel was far from barking. Fanny, her back arched, 
 spat out : 
 
 " I won't have these scenes in my house. Ted is doing 
 very well, Dr. Porter told me so this morning. And if he 
 isn't, what does it matter?" 
 
 She had not meant to say this, but her temper was beyond 
 her control. She had been getting on so well with Lord 
 Haverford, and now there was no saying what would happen. 
 "What does it matter?" she repeated. 
 
 " Hush ! Oh do hush ! " Mabel said in any agony of appre- 
 hension lest a sound should be heard upstairs, and then went 
 on : " Oh Fanny, don't, don't take it like that ! You will be so 
 sorry if you say things like that, though I know you don't mean 
 them. I didn't know there were so many people here, or that 
 perhaps it is your at-home day. Don't let him hear, Dennis." 
 
 Dennis answered the appeal ; he opened the drawing room 
 door for Fanny and said to her quietly : 
 
 " Go back to your guests ; get rid of them. If you don't, 
 I shall." 
 
 She tossed her head, but she knew he would be as good 
 as his word. She could do it tactfully ; already she was 
 almost mollified at the prospect of showing her tact, impressing 
 her guests with her womanly anxiety lest any sound should 
 disturb the invalid. She composed her phrases. Mabel was 
 trembling, but Dennis soothed her easily. She was no maker 
 of scenes, and was terrified at the one she had so nearly 
 created. 
 
 " You think then that he is very bad ? " he asked, when he 
 saw that she was again able to speak. 
 
 " He looks dreadful, dreadful ! And he is uneasy about 
 something, and so restless, so unceasingly restless. He has 
 asked where Fanny is, if Mr. Merritt is in the house ; he falls 
 asleep before we can answer. I don't know what to do."
 
 250 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Her tears were flowing unconsciously, she was not even 
 making an efi'ort to wipe them away. 
 
 " Has she seen him at all ? " 
 
 "The nurses say he wouldn't know her, that he doesn't 
 know anything he is saying, that it is only delirium." She 
 gave a little sob. " Dennis, get rid of everybody, it is dreadful 
 to have strangers in the house at such a time." 
 
 It seemed, however, that it was unnecessary for him to 
 interfere. Already the visitors were departing, even before 
 Fanny had time to get out her prepared phrases. Margaret, 
 who felt what was going on, and wanted to be out of it, had 
 said that it was very late, she must go. Was Haverford coming 
 with her? It appeared that not only Haverford, but Cosmo 
 would accompany her. Fanny collected herself sufficiently 
 to take an elegant leave of them, her hand at the right angle, 
 to hope Mrs. Lemon would come again, to give a parting 
 smile to Lord Haverford, a low " I suppose I shall see you 
 to-morrow " to Cosmo. 
 
 Then she made the scene that was to be expected. But 
 Dennis saw it coming, and that Mabel could escape it. Mabel 
 had gone upstairs again. She could hardly keep away from 
 the sick room, her anxiety was overwhelming, and her pity 
 for her brother like a flood. It was for Dennis's benefit alone 
 that Fanny stamped her foot and raised her voice, and asked 
 how dared Mabel interfere in her house, or with her guests. 
 She said it was just like Ted to try and come between her and 
 any scrap and possibility of pleasure. It had been Cosmo, 
 now she supposed it would be Lord Haverford. As she said 
 that Dennis surprised a little glance from her eyes, to him 
 indescribable, something like triumph, but enquiring, as if she 
 wished to know if he had noticed Haverford's attentions to 
 her. Dennis ignoring the triumph or the inquiry told her, 
 quite calmly, and notwithstanding her interruptions, that Ted 
 was not getting on well, and that he was far from out of danger. 
 Then she let fall " It serves him right," and was so ashamed of 
 her unladylike candour that he was able to quiet her. What- 
 ever she thought, she had not meant to say that. Now she
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 251 
 
 put a guard upon her tongue. She repeated what the surgeon 
 had said to her that morning. 
 
 "The operation may have been completely successful, but 
 the fact remains that Ted hasn't rallied from it as he ought to 
 have done. The nurses are uneasy. Mabel tells me Lauder 
 has been in and out all day. You ought to deny yourself to 
 callers altogether ; you ought, if you are not helping to nurse 
 him, at least to keep the house quiet." 
 
 Dennis was carried outside himself. He had not dreamed 
 of the state of affairs Mabel revealed, although he had been 
 conscious of uneasiness. Fanny said again sulkily that she 
 would not be interfered with, the house was hers. 
 
 " Ver}^ well, then I shall appeal to Mr. Juxton." 
 
 Amos's was still a name to conjure with here, he had the 
 power of the purse. Fanny knew she was now on unsure 
 footing with him. She gave in with a bad grace. 
 
 *' I suppose I may sit in the library. It is just the thing Ted 
 would like to force me into doing, and you too. Perhaps you 
 think I ought to sit in the kitchen ; that would be quite in 
 accordance with the Juxton tradition ; wouldn't it ? " 
 
 Having gained his object, he was quite content she should 
 continue to spit. He had the strongest possible desire to lock 
 the drawing room door, and put the key in his pocket. He 
 would have done anything to keep poor Ted's sick-room in 
 peace. But he hardly felt himself justified. Amos could do 
 it, but he could not. 
 
 It was perhaps unfortunate that Roddy Ainsworth should call 
 again, and at the very moment when Fanny was going into the 
 library on the ground floor, upon which Dennis had insisted. 
 
 Roddy's voice carried. He was questioning the servant 
 about Mr. Juxton, and went on to ask for Mrs. Passiful. He 
 said he must see her, if only for a moment, his voice was un- 
 doubtedly raised. 
 
 Fanny said, spitefully, to Dennis, as she passed into the 
 room : 
 
 " Cosmo is to be forbidden the house, but Mabel can have 
 what callers she likes talking in the hall."
 
 252 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Dennis told Roddy that Mabel would not come to him. 
 Roddy's hands were full of newspaper cuttings and his eyes 
 of anger. 
 
 "But she must see these. Will you take them up to her? 
 It's a conspiracy, that's what it is. Talk about a fair and un- 
 prejudiced press ! After this I don't think you can say that, 
 anyway. Have you ever read anything so unfair, so spiteful 
 as the evening papers ? " 
 
 Dennis got rid of him with difficulty. 
 
 " Very bad, is he ? Very bad ! I'm sorry. I say, Dennis, 
 this wouldn't make any difference ? I mean if anything hap- 
 pened, Amos Juxton won't shut the theatre, will he?" 
 
 Dennis was impatient with him, with the egotism that only 
 considered his own interests at such a moment. After he had 
 gone, Fanny called Dennis into the library. It was dignified 
 by that name, but the elaborate scheme of Japanese decoration 
 left no room for books. Fanny could not bear to be by her- 
 self, quarrelling with her brother-in-law was more to her taste. 
 
 "Is it part of the orders that I'm to sit here alone?" she 
 began. " I have been turned out of my own bedroom. Don't 
 you think it hard upon me to be turned out of my bed- 
 room, and drawing-room ? " Now she \vas plaintive and 
 appealing. 
 
 It was true that the doctors had insisted upon a larger 
 apartment for Ted. Even at this late hour of the day, Fanny 
 thought it possible to enlist Dennis's sympathies. Her 
 amazing vanity misled her. She still thought she had only 
 seriously to try her wiles upon him for success to be hers. 
 They were such cheap wiles too. And his mind was full of 
 another woman, soft- voiced, white-handed, gracious, a Venus 
 among w^omen. 
 
 " I should think you would be very glad to do what you 
 could for poor Ted," he answered simply. "You are treating 
 it lightly, you have made up your mind he is out of danger, 
 and that the surgeon knows more than the nurses and Lauder 
 and Mabel. But I don't think Mabel would be in the state 
 she is if it were all plain sailing. Take my advice and show a
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 253 
 
 little more consideration, you'll be sorry if you don't. It's not 
 yet been explained why Ted was allowed to get into such 
 a state before the doctor was sent for ! If you don't care, at 
 least have the decency to pretend you do. You can keep 
 Merritt out of the house, for instance. I heard you pressing 
 him to come again ; he didn't want to come back." 
 
 At that she broke out, her rage, choked in her throat, 
 turning the words that came through to yellow venom. 
 
 " I won't be dictated to by you as to who I may or may not 
 have in my own house ? Do you suppose Cosmo is more to 
 me than that wretched long-haired actor is to Mabel? It 
 suits you to pretend not to know about him and Mabel. . . ." 
 
 For half an instant Dennis actually failed to grasp her 
 meaning. 
 
 " They sit closeted together for hours, pretending to practise. 
 I'd like to know what they practise." 
 
 Even then it was difficult to believe his ears. Mabel 
 needed no defence, he saw her as she had been last night, 
 comforting Fanny, believing in her grief. Fanny looked at him 
 to see the effect of her words, maliciously, but yet sullenly. 
 
 " Everybody is talking about them, and about how clever it 
 was of Mabel to make her father take a theatre for him. Mabel 
 is far cleverer than any of you know, subtler." " Subtler " 
 was an echo of Cosmo, a word he had taught her. 
 
 "You really are the vilest - tongued, vilest -thinking 
 woman . . ." Mabel needed no defence. Utter disgust of 
 herself was all she saw in his expression, what more he would 
 have said, or she have seen, cannot be known. For both of 
 them heard Amos's voice in the hall, and to pursue such a 
 theme before Amos both of them felt to be impossible. 
 
 Amos bustled in with his confident : 
 
 "Well, how is he ? Going on well ? " 
 
 Fanny shrugged her shoulders, and said she was no judge, 
 she wasn't supposed to know^ nor Dr. Porter either, although 
 he was the greatest surgeon of the day. Dennis and Mabel 
 were not satisfied. Amos hardly waited for her to complete 
 her sentence. He turned to Dennis for confirmation :
 
 254 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " Not satisfied ? Why, what's wrong ? What does Lauder 
 say ? " 
 
 Lauder said it himself a httle later, interrupting them in the 
 middle of a strange, uncongenial dinner which Amos insisted 
 upon Dennis sharing. Amos did not spare comment upon 
 Fanny's housekeeping either, or her incompetent servants. 
 
 " No wonder Ted spends more than his income ! And this 
 is what he gets for it. Well, well ! I shall have to talk things 
 over with him when he gets about again." 
 
 This muddled, vilely cooked meal Dr. Lauder interrupted- 
 After that, all was confusion and quickly growing terror. 
 Death was hovering over the house. Amos went pale at the 
 shadow, behaving characteristically. It was impossible such 
 a thing could be hovering over him, Amos Juxton. Ted was 
 his only son, and for him he would spend money like water, 
 pour it out. 
 
 " The boy must be saved. Have another doctor, and another 
 surgeon ; old brandy, oxygen, spare no expense. The thing is 
 impossible, incredible. The boy is so young, and he has a 
 fine constitution, my own constitution." Amos thought it must 
 be somebody's fault, everybody's fault, he was very difiScult to 
 deal with. 
 
 Dennis had his work cut out for him in the dreadful hours 
 that followed. He had to stand between Amos and hastily 
 summoned doctors, between Amos and pessimistic nurses he 
 persisted in questioning, Amos and grief-stricken, broken 
 down Mabel, who could no longer pretend the hopefulness 
 which she could not feel. Only Fanny succeeded in avoiding 
 Amos's anger ; for Fanny kept out of his way, out of every- 
 body's way, sulkily. 
 
 Amos, however, after insisting that Ted's temperature 
 must be lowered, and blaming everybody, suddenly collapsed, 
 weakly admitting his real, his pressing, his overwhelming 
 fear. 
 
 " Not that, not that. My poor boy ! Dennis, it can't be 
 true ; they'll have to save him, somehow. Tell them I don't 
 care what it costs me."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 255 
 
 Fanny proved helpful at the last. Amos actually turned 
 to her for comfort, away from all the others whose pitying 
 looks confirmed the desperate truth. Fanny said obstinately 
 that she stuck to what Dr. Porter told her in the morning, — 
 the operation had been entirely successful. If the operation 
 had been entirely successful, why should Ted die ? Amos 
 paled visibly at the word, but hung upon what she was saying, 
 and repeated it, weakly. 
 
 " That's what I want to know . . . why ? " 
 
 Fanny believed what she was saying, that was the curious 
 part of it. They had not persuaded her to believe her 
 freedom was near. She resented that Ted was occupying 
 everybody's attention, his doctors, nurses, family filling the 
 house. Her thoughts ran somewhat like this : 
 
 " It is so Uke Ted to choose a time like this to be ill. 
 Just when I might be having such a good time. Mrs. Lemon 
 knows everybody, and I could be going out with her. Lord 
 Haverford is certainly attracted . ." 
 
 In her favour it must be said that one cannot control one's 
 feelings, and she really disliked the poor lout who had given 
 her his love and everything else he had to bestow. He 
 seemed, had seemed for a long time, to stand between her and 
 the consequence she desired. 
 
 Toward midnight, however, a change for the better did 
 take place, justifying her attitude, and making Amos belaud 
 her extravagantly. " She was the only one who had a head 
 on her shoulders. She knew better than all the doctors*" 
 He rebounded so quickly that they were all confounded, not 
 knowing what to think in face of his confidence, and Fanny's 
 contemptuous : 
 
 " Didn't I tell you so ? Ted is not the sort of person one 
 need be anxious about." 
 
 There was no doubt the temperature had fallen, and the 
 pulse was stronger. Dr. Lauder admitted it. It was he who 
 insisted that Amos must not remain in Grosvenor Street. 
 
 " Why don't you take him home again with you?" he said to 
 Dennis. And in a lower tone, " He ought not to be left alone."
 
 256 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " But is Mabel going to sit up another night ? " 
 
 " I'll make her lie down in the drawing-room. She is 
 worried about you and her father and I should like to tell her 
 you are together. Don't let him agitate himself more than 
 you can help. It doesn't matter in the least if he calls us 
 all fools, and thinks we are bungling the case. He can 
 concentrate on that : it will suit him better than wondering 
 what the upshot will be. I don't know myself. I wish I did. 
 As I told you last night the operation was a fighting chance. 
 Well, so is the oxygen ; and we've the strychnine as a reserve 
 force. But I don't like the look of him . . ." 
 
 He admitted that to Dennis, although he had reported an 
 improvement to Amos, and Fanny had made the most of it. 
 " Look after your father-in-law, he is not as young as he 
 used to be." 
 
 Dr. Lauder had a professional eye. This affair had certainly 
 shaken Amos a good deal. And there might be worse to 
 come. 
 
 Dennis would rather have been alone, to-night of all nights. 
 But he took charge of Amos. 
 
 Passing down Curzon Street in the motor — Amos partially 
 reassured, and content that Dennis should be with him to hear 
 all he had to say about doctors in general, and illness, and 
 Ted's inherited fine constitution — Dennis caught a glimpse of 
 Cosmo entering the house with a latchkey. There was only 
 one house in Curzon Street for Dennis. He had an absurd 
 sudden resentment of Cosmo's latchkey, an absurd sudden envy 
 of his easy access to her. There was no time to remember 
 what he had said to her only this afternoon, or she to him ; 
 if it lay warm on his heart, or uneasily on his concience. 
 
 What he had to do at the moment, and he set himself to 
 do it manfully, was to say the same thing over and over again 
 to Amos, with conviction. He "thought the worst was over." 
 He was "sure Ted was going to pull through after all." 
 He had "no doubt at all everything possible had been 
 done, and was being done." He believed " Dr. Porter was 
 the finest surgeon in the world, and he had complete con-
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 257 
 
 fidence in Dr. Lauder." They could easily have another 
 consultation to-morrow. 
 
 It was true Ted had become the centre of Amos's self- 
 centred world. For the moment he had forgotten everything 
 else. Dennis tried him with the theatre, the critics, the box 
 office, but nothing held him. 
 
 17
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 COSMO let himself into his father's house with a latchkey. 
 He had been living at home since the day that Ted 
 had turned upon him and made that ugly scene. Even in 
 retrospect Cosmo winced at the thought of it, execrating Fanny, 
 who had brought it about. Cosmo was conscious of his good 
 taste, and the scene with Ted had revolted him. Nothing 
 Fanny could say, and she had said a great deal, could induce 
 him to go on living in Ted's house after the boy had once shown 
 that he did not want him there. Cosmo had his point of 
 conscience ; Ted was a fool, but his disciple nevertheless, his 
 humble admirer. He had really tried over and over again to 
 make Fanny behave better to him. Whatever had been, or 
 were, his own relations with Fanny, he had never had any 
 illusions about her. He found her amusing, and she had 
 become a habit with him. But it was a habit of which he had 
 been thinking seriously of breaking himself before this illness 
 of Ted's assumed so serious a complexion and seemed likely 
 to precipitate matters. Cosmo knew he could take care of 
 himself, but he was certainly not ignorant of Fanny's tenacity 
 and strength of purpose. He knew what she would expect 
 of him, and that her expectations would be disappointed. 
 Unless — well, Amos and his millions had always to be 
 considered ! 
 
 Amos must be getting on for seventy, and he was a man of 
 plethoric habit. If anything ' happened to Ted,' which was 
 a euphemism to cloak what seemed more than likely was 
 going to happen to Ted, there was no one to inherit Amos's 
 millions but Fanny, or Mabel. He had talked things over 
 
 with Margaret ; that was a habit much earlier formed than the 
 
 258
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 259 
 
 Fanny habit ; and Margaret, although she had her own view 
 of Fanny, had counselled him to patience. From first to last 
 his connection with Juxton's had put money in his pocket. 
 There was no reason it should not put more. The wary, grasp- 
 ing policy of his father's great political leader should be his on 
 this occasion. He would " wait and see." Ted might not 
 die. Amos might live to be a hundred. Cosmo must ^ ca' 
 cannie.^ This had been Margaret's counsel when he had 
 walked away with her from Grosvenor Street. 
 
 " She will wheedle him, if anything should happen, she will 
 manage to wheedle Amos," were the words of Margaret's that 
 were still in Cosmo's mind when Dennis saw him on the door- 
 step of his father's house. 
 
 Cosmo had not expected to find his sister sitting up ; it was 
 late, and as a family they were in the habit of disregarding each 
 other's movements. But seeing a light in the drawing room, 
 he went in. 
 
 Diana had been dreaming ever since Dennis had left her 
 that afternoon ; she had denied herself to Dolly, sending 
 down that message about her headache. She had dreamed 
 over her dressing and dinner. Since dinner she had fallen to 
 dreaming again. Never had she met a man like this one who 
 had been with her in the afternoon, so generous, so chivalrous, 
 so unselfish. She let herself ignore the knowledge that he was 
 a married man. With full consciousness of the frailty of the 
 word friendship on which they were relying, she yet let herself 
 forget how he was bound. He had implored her not to 
 sacrifice herself to Haverford, to let him save her from such a 
 possibility. She dwelt upon what might happen if she did 
 what Dennis Passiful asked of her. He would give her every- 
 thing she needed. She sensed the lavishness of his generosity. 
 And in return ... in return? It was then her dreaming 
 thrilled her, and she envisaged the incredible. 
 
 She knew the shibboleths of the little world in which she 
 dwelt, and what would be thought of his wish to pour his 
 fortune into her lap. Some of her friends would have 
 accepted his offer, laughing at him, nevertheless, withholding
 
 260 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 repayment. Diana knew some women who would have 
 done this. But she was not like that. She was moved 
 by it, and the remembrance of words and looks, of the kiss 
 on her hands. Perhaps a kiss was not new to her; but 
 Dennis's kiss had been new. Again and again the restraint of 
 it thrilled through her. It had been a touch of the lips, scarcely 
 a kiss at all, as she had thought of kisses, in nights since her 
 widowhood, when the climate was Eastern, and imagination 
 grew sensuous amid the heat and the spice-scented air. 
 Nevertheless she liked conjuring back this shadow of a 
 kiss, thinking of how it might be if she fired him. For 
 truly he was a man of men. All the hours since he left her 
 had been full of this. She did not want the impression of it 
 to fade. 
 
 Because of her mood, perhaps because of his, brother and 
 sister were in tune this evening ; their young years of ' palship ' 
 warm between them. 
 
 "All alone by yourself? Where's the governor?" 
 
 " He went down to Denham to-day ; something to say to 
 Vansittart, I fancy, or Vansittart to him. I was just going 
 to bed." 
 
 Cosmo threw himself into an easy chair. 
 
 " Don't go. Stay and have a cigarette with me." 
 
 " Give me one of yours then, a Lucana. I've none of mine 
 down here." 
 
 He gave her a cigarette, even stayed from his easy chair 
 long enough to light it for her. 
 
 Diana's eyes were filmy and dreaming. 
 
 "Anybody been here?" he asked curiously. Cosmo was 
 always curious about women, and he wanted to see what she 
 would tell him. But he knew the way to obtain their con- 
 fidence was by not asking for it, so he shifted his ground 
 quickly when he saw her prepared to deny that she had had 
 a visitor. 
 
 "I suppose somebody has been dunning you?" he went on 
 carelessly. " These West End tradesmen are such scoundrels ; 
 they think we have nothing to do but supply them with ready
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 261 
 
 money to squander. I suppose they do squander it, by the 
 way," he added thoughtfully. 
 
 Diana was his sister, but he saw that she was a very beautiful 
 woman, an unusually beautiful woman. And to-night she was 
 sitting alone, her eyes dreamy. 
 
 " Oh no, I was not dreaming of a dun," she said, smiling. 
 
 "So you admit you have been dreaming." 
 
 " We all dream sometimes, I suppose." 
 
 " It is the usual thing. You should dream of a man, I of a 
 woman." 
 
 " I suppose so ; although, probably, you make it plural." 
 
 "And were your dreams of Dolly ? " 
 
 " Of Dolly ? " contemptuously. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Don't be foolish ! " 
 
 " Of whom, then ? Confide in me." 
 
 They both laughed, the short laugh without mirth that meant 
 the impossibility of sentimental confidences between them. 
 And yet, when he had rung and procured the drink he wanted, 
 when he was really at ease, and evidently inclined for conver- 
 sation, she asked him, abruptly, a little inconsequently : 
 
 " Do you believe in Quixotism, Cossy, in pure unselfishness ; 
 fine actions without any arriere pensee, a generosity that gives 
 without hope of return ? " 
 
 He gave her a quick look. She was leaning forward, her 
 chin supported on her hand ; the fire threw a strange red 
 light upon her black hair, played on the pallor of her face ; 
 he could not follow her thoughts, although he had an intuition 
 of them ; incredible, yet not the less interesting for that. He 
 knew Dennis for a Quixote, and that Dennis had been with 
 her that afternoon. As he could not follow her thoughts, he 
 let his own have sway, and answered carelessly : 
 
 " There are always new fools. Each man for himself, and 
 the devil take the hindermost, is the rule. But I've met the 
 exception. I know a man, for instance, who v/as in love with 
 a musical comedy actress. She was utterly promiscuous, and 
 had as much conscience as a garden rake. But to him she
 
 262 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 gave nothing, barely a civil word. She had thousands in 
 cash from him, ropes of pearls, enough diamonds to make a 
 chandelier. In return he was given the privilege of taking 
 her mother out to supper when she was otherwise engaged. 
 She was always good to her mother, and considerate, preferring 
 her as a chaperon when a chaperon was the correct thing. 
 At the moment when my Don Quixote was wooing her with 
 his bank balance, the gallant in attendance had dispensed with 
 chaperons. Don Quixote had entire charge of the old party, 
 night after night. He looked upon it as a mark of confidence, 
 that she trusted him with her mother ! The mother was 
 a charwoman, by the way, or a dresser at the theatre, some- 
 thing quite incredible, without aitches, in a black bonnet with 
 strings." 
 
 " That is a story you are making up." 
 
 " It is as true as death." 
 
 He gave a little shudder j the word death to-night had 
 an ugly sound. Not that he, either, quite believed that Ted 
 was dying. 
 
 ** I know the man well, a short, stout, melancholy fellow, with 
 a head too large for him. He has beautiful ideals. I think 
 he has been in an asylum once, probably will be again. Why 
 are you asking? Who has been playing Quixote to you?" 
 
 It would really be amusing if that cricketing prig, Dennis 
 Passiful, had been caught by Diana. Dennis was the least 
 interesting of all the Juxton menage to Cosmo, he had such an 
 infernal habit of impeccability. 
 
 " Is it Passiful ? " He could not help smiling. A whole 
 phantasmagoria of amusing possibilities played before his eyes. 
 " Go on, tell me all about it." 
 
 Diana, very naturally, was not disposed to go this extreme 
 length, but she did admit that she found Mr. Passiful had a 
 vein of Quixotry in his character. This admission was quite 
 enough for Cosmo ; it made him more curious than before. 
 
 " Does he want to pay your debts ? He is simply swimming 
 in money. Why not let him ? He might pay mine too ; his 
 father-in-law does not seem anxious to do it, although I am
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 263 
 
 making him a great literary reputation, an almost European 
 reputation." 
 
 " Didn't Amos Juxton write his own book ? " she asked 
 indifferently. 
 
 " Well, not entirely." Cosmo settled his glass more firmly 
 in his eye. " I doubt if he knows the meaning of ' building up 
 a sentence ' ; he would question whether a paraphrase should 
 come before the joint, or be served as an entremet ; looks upon 
 a split infinitive as something you take with soda, on which 
 there is a forty per cent, profit." 
 
 "You know, in your way, Cossy, you are a far greater black- 
 guard than Mervyn." 
 
 "Of course. Come to that, we are all blackguards. The 
 Governor's Liberalism has done it, set our perspective awry. 
 But that has nothing to do with Dennis Passiful. Don't you let 
 him go. He will be worth more than Haverford in a few years' 
 time. The tradespeople may still be allowed to trade when 
 the land has been filched from the men whose ancestors fought 
 for it, and for their country." Even Cosmo could be banal, but 
 he had a genuine belief in heredity, and the value of lineage. 
 
 " Don't let him go ? " she repeated. She was used to Cosmo 
 in what she called his feudal moods ; she brushed that part of 
 his speech aside. " Not let him go ! As rich as Dolly ! But 
 what does that matter? To me, I mean. He is a married 
 man ; he told me so himself" 
 
 " Well, yes, there is that little objection. But I fancy it is 
 one that need not be in your, or his, way." Cosmo's humour 
 was difficult to follow, difficult sometimes for himself to 
 restrain, and he was naturally self-indulgent. He threw 
 his next words into the air as a ballon d^essai, there was 
 probably enough truth in them for his purpose : 
 
 " Passiful's wife has a lover, a long-haired actor, took the 
 part of Seraphino in ' Charles Auchester,' sings out of tune. 
 It is wheels within wheels there, and these happened to jog 
 round in a way that suited me. It was Passiful's wife who got 
 the play put up, it's a rotten play ; and she got the man engaged. 
 I did not oppose her, I rather gather I should have been strong
 
 264 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 enough if I had ; but I wanted Amos to have a theatre, and 
 neither of my plays were quite ready." 
 
 "She has a lover! Dennis Passiful's wife has a lover! 
 That insignificant little woman ! " 
 
 That was the only part of his speech that interested her. 
 
 "Certainly. Why not?" T\\q. ballon d'essai vfSiS throwing 
 out fireworks; he had only to fan it to see them pop and 
 explode in the air. "The plainer the woman the more 
 devoted the lover ; it is the law of compensation." 
 
 Cosmo had heard Fanny's version of Mabel's intimacy with 
 Roddy ; he was not sufficiently interested in Mabel to doubt 
 it. Men's tastes were various, thank the Lord ! Mabel might 
 have hidden virtues. Certainly they were not visible, although 
 her blue eyes were soft. Cosmo knew some women, plain 
 ones, who had undoubted attractions. Perhaps Passiful's 
 wife was one of them. Anyway it would be really funny to 
 see ' The Immaculate Exception,' as he often called Dennis, 
 in Diana's toils. There might be quite an amusing imbroglio. 
 They were all so virtuous, Amos, and Passiful himself. 
 
 " But does he know it ? " 
 
 " Husbands never know. Sometimes they guess — wrong." 
 
 " Cossy, do be serious ! " 
 
 But if Cossy had been serious he would not have been 
 Cossy, with abilities running to seed, and no more morality 
 than a dog-fish. He rallied Diana now on her interest in 
 Dennis Passiful. Without the least idea of what was in her 
 mind, looking upon the Haverford marriage as a certainty, and 
 a very good certainty for Diana, the family, and all concerned, 
 he nevertheless calculated Dennis's income to her, increasing 
 it by tens, dwelt mockingly on his early tendency to church 
 going, high principles, the nobility of his nature, throwing 
 doubt on her ability even to get up a flirtation with him. 
 
 Diana rose presently. She knew Cosmo was mocking her, 
 that he had scented her weakness, would exploit it for his 
 entertainment if it pleased him to do so. But, perhaps without 
 intention, he had given her something new to dream about, a 
 wild new thought.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 265 
 
 Cosmo asked her not to leave him ; he said he was feehng 
 dull, depressed. It was quite true. No one ever disliked Ted 
 Juxton except his wife. Cosmo certainly was distressed at his 
 condition, wanted him to get well. 
 
 " You really are such an uncommonly good-looking woman. 
 And you've wasted your good looks, you've wasted them dis- 
 gracefully up to now. That's the governor's fault. You ought 
 never to have married Wayne, nor, having married him, to have 
 been satisfied with so poor a settlement. You ought to have 
 captured a Duke, or at least a South African millionaire; there 
 are still a few about. Of course if you had any success with 
 Passiful you could get him to divorce his wife. We have never 
 had a Bond Street shopman in the family, nor an unencumbered 
 twenty thousand a year. He can't make less than that." 
 
 He wanted to detain her. He had no inclination to go to 
 bed, nor to sit on, alone, and think of Ted, to whom he 
 had been a hero. His quick intuition told him that Diana 
 would stay if he talked of Dennis Passiful. But he was mis- 
 taken in thinking that this way of speaking of him would hold 
 her. She thought it vulgar and unworthy, even of Cossy, to 
 bring in Bond Street and trade. What had that to do with 
 them ? She had family enough for both, and what good had 
 it done her? She had missed happiness, and something more 
 than happiness ; goodness. Already she knew that. 
 
 The first lesson love teaches is the lesson of the unworthiness 
 of those at whom the arrow is aimed. Lady Diana Wayne had 
 quite sufficient of her brother's ability to recognise the difference 
 between Dennis Passiful's standard of conduct and her own. 
 She had not been good as he thought her, not very good. But 
 she felt there were immense possibilities of virtue in her ; it had 
 been opportunity she had lacked. She could not be absolutely 
 faithful and loyal to an old husband who made no allowances, 
 who was so much away. But on the whole she had not been a 
 bad wife to him. Temptations she may have had, but she had 
 kept within the traces of the matrimonial car to which she was 
 harnessed. She had never even contemplated running away, 
 although so tired, so often tired of the shafts.
 
 266 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 They were all so poor ; she had had to marry for money. 
 The astuteness of her late husband's lawyers, her father's 
 indolence or indifference, the non-appearance of the expected 
 heir, had made her sacrifice useless. If she had married for 
 love, did marry for love, her character could grow, she could 
 be true to her instincts. 
 
 She never doubted it was true that Dennis could divorce his 
 wife ; he had been reserved in speaking of her. 
 
 She would not stay at Cossy's bidding, but went swiftly, 
 eagerly to her own room, to think over this new idea that had 
 been given her, turn it over in her mind. She was full of 
 Dennis and his personality ; she was in the attitude of mind 
 towards him when every possibility becomes a probability, and 
 soon a certainty. She would be willing to make a sacrifice 
 for him. Not that there would be any question of marrying 
 beneath her ; he was anybody's equal ; and, after all, nobody 
 knew whose son he really was. She built quite a romance on 
 the doubt there had once been in Mr. Paighton's mind, and 
 which had got about, as to whether Passiful was really the 
 name of Dennis's father ; a doubt, by the way, for which there 
 was no foundation. 
 
 But before she closed her eyes in sleep that night she knew 
 that whether he was the son of Royalty in disguise, or of 
 genius undisguised, there was no other man in the world for 
 her. And even in sleep she felt the brush of his lips on her 
 hands. She was curiously conscious of the Joseph in him. If 
 it had not been for that, the kiss might have reached her lips.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 COSMO intended to keep away from Grosvenor Street for 
 a few days, he had a great sense of propriety, if little 
 pleasure in exercising it. But he reckoned without Fanny, who 
 sent him little notes, necessitating answers, who telephoned to 
 him constantly, making hourly demands, or appeals. Fanny, 
 feeling that Cosmo was bent on eluding her, lost sight of every- 
 thing else but the desire to retain him. Cosmo's attentions 
 to her had always varied ; she had never been as certain as she 
 pretended. It had amused him to decorate the house ; he had 
 wanted to make an experiment, and at some one else's 
 expense. Then he thought he would like to sleep in a Chinese 
 bed, immense and marvellous, with ornament of red lac, and 
 carved wood ; of jade, and with jewelled Buddhas at each 
 panoplied corner. He thought that he would like to sit in 
 a library, dragon-haunted and with black ceilings. But even 
 before he had heard Fanny's scream, and had intervened 
 between her and Ted's fury, he had loathed his handiwork 
 and his position, recognising the antique bed as made up from 
 many other things, and the black ceilings as merely perverse. 
 Fanny had a trick of making awkward positions for him. Long 
 before Ted's illness she was beginning to get on his nerves. He 
 thought that Crockford's would have helped to rid him of her. 
 Fanny was the very woman for such hotbeds of scandal and 
 intrigue, as the mixed bridge clubs. She would be kittenish 
 with all the men, cattish to all the women, and she had the 
 instincts of a gambler. He pictured her old age, spent playing 
 chetnin de fer in foreign casinos, her cruel hands raking in the 
 five-franc pieces, or trembling at parting with them. 
 
 Now came Ted's illness, and complicated matters. He could 
 
 267
 
 268 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 have shunted her so easily, so gradually. Now it might be 
 more difificult. Such thoughts somewhat troubled his compli- 
 cated days. 
 
 Fanny, in a panic at his indifference, his inattention, putting 
 it down to that awkward entry of Mabel's, to Lord Haverford's 
 attentions to her, and hers to him, or anything but the true 
 cause, never dreaming but that her charms would recall 
 him, if only she had the opportunity to exercise them, found 
 Ted's illness unconscionably slow. In the next few days she 
 reported him better, or reported him worse, making always the 
 appeal to Cosmo not to leave her alone in her anxiety. She 
 said she did not know what she would do if she were left alone. 
 Cosmo had always the fear that an acute attack of confessionitis 
 might seize her ; and Amos was still an asset. 
 
 In the week that Ted lingered Cosmo and she sat together day 
 after day, in the black-ceilinged and be-dragoned library, bulletins 
 from the doctor, bulletins from the nurses, bulletins from 
 Mabel, reaching them at intervals. What was in their hearts they 
 concealed from each other. When there was bad news Fanny's 
 hard eyes searched Cosmo's for something he never spoke, but 
 when the news was good, she feared to read relief there. 
 
 Dennis, too, came in and out. He could not interfere now 
 that they sat downstairs, out of hearing of the sick room. 
 Mabel was a pathetic figure, her eyes red from tears and 
 sleeplessness, her hair and dress neglected, the sick-room her 
 whole world. She felt she was being selfish to Dennis, to her 
 father, but she could not be anywhere else. Sometimes Ted 
 recognised her, once he stretched out to her a feverish hand ; 
 he said her name now and again, and that he had been a rotten 
 brother. Once she persuaded Fanny to the room. Mabel 
 had never heard the accusation Fanny had brought against 
 her, would hardly have heeded it. Her whole heart and soul 
 was in this fight against Death they were all making. In his 
 fevered, restless hands Ted held them all. Fanny knew now 
 that Ted would never get better, whatever view she conveyed 
 downstairs. At the last she came often to the sick room ; five 
 and six times a day. The visits were short ones, but that was
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 269 
 
 due to the strength of her feelings, apparently, and she told 
 Mabel that she could not bear the sight of his sufferings. So 
 the nurses understood, and so it was conveyed to Amos. 
 Amos, too, could not bear the sick room after he had once seen 
 Ted lying there so unlike himself, and dignified through his 
 suffering. To Amos, too, he said in that hoarse whisper, which 
 was all that weakness had left him, that ' he'd been a bad son, 
 a selfish brute . .' " No, no, my dear boy." But Amos had not 
 been able to keep his tears back, nor his own dignity intact 
 when Ted said he had been a bad son. Amos got out of the 
 room as quickly as he was able. After that he was for ever 
 sending the grapes and peaches that were never even shown to 
 Ted, asking for new doctors, fresh treatment. Amos was 
 really a pitiful sight as the time wore on, monotonously 
 hopeless, nobody being found to say that Ted would get well. 
 Amos said often that he had never been a bad son to him. 
 
 There came another day, however, — there are always such 
 days in illness, even when the illness is mortal, — that the bad 
 symptoms halted, the temperature fell again, Ted slept, and 
 slept as one at ease, the tortured look on his grey face passing 
 away for the moment. 
 
 Mabel fetched Fanny up to look at him, to peep through 
 the door. She wanted her father to come too. Poor soul ! 
 She could never be brought to believe that Fanny cared 
 less than she. She only thought her more unused than 
 herself to illness. There were poor patients she and the 
 sisters from the Vicarage had helped to nurse, hospitals they 
 had visited. Fanny did not know ; poor Fanny ! Mabel 
 thought of her always now as ' poor Fanny,' and had heartache 
 over her. She was endlessly considerate of her, mothering her, 
 hovering about her with beeftea, telling her she must ' keep 
 up her strength, and courage.' 
 
 There was no real improvement, not even to-day; the 
 sleep was the sleep of exhaustion. Mabel knew it, but to 
 Fanny she murmured 'hope.' Long days without hope are 
 unsupportable. But at least the pain had abated and she 
 fetched Fanny up to see him whilst he looked at ease.
 
 270 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " He is really better?" Fanny asked ; but she did not lower 
 her voice as Mabel did. Ted had been so little conscious 
 lately, and Fanny had not the art of the sick-room. 
 
 A quiver passed over his face at the sound of her voice ; 
 one saw it as the ripple on the surface of a pool. The nurse, 
 who had been in the dressing room, busied in the preparation 
 of some food or dressing, came hurrying in at the sound of 
 that unlowered voice. 
 
 She made a quick sign that Fanny should go out of the room. 
 It was then that Fanny's self-control left her. Mabel had 
 feared for her composure when Ted moaned, or wandered, 
 never doubting it would hold when he slept at ease. But, as 
 P'anny declared, and Mabel always believed, the sight of him 
 sleeping, and the belief that he was at last out of danger, made 
 her burst into loud sobs. Before she had time to hurry away ; 
 she said afterwards she had meant to hurry away ; he opened 
 those faithful eyes of his, and saw her. They were difficult to 
 focus, dying eyes, looking afar at what the living never see; 
 there dawned a slow recognition in them ; he seemed to with- 
 draw them from that distance. 
 "Fan," he said, "Fan." 
 
 The note was half of fear, half of surprise, but as conscious- 
 ness struggled to him it was only love one heard in it. 
 
 "Who's been making you cry. Fan?" The voice was 
 hoarse, difficult, unrecognisable, but ineffably tender. " What's 
 the matter? Come to me." He made an awful and ineffectual 
 effort to raise himself, to stretch out his arms for her. The 
 nurse and Mabel hurried to him, but it was Fanny he wanted, 
 only Fanny. She threw herself crying on the bed ; and those 
 weak, dying arms tried to hold her, as they had tried ineffec- 
 tively to hold her all these years past. 
 
 " Don't, don't cry. I haven't done anything wrong again, 
 sweetheart, darling, have I?" 
 
 She mumbled some incoherent words. Perhaps they were 
 a plea for forgiveness. If so, he must have meant to grant it. 
 He almost sat up, trying convulsively to draw her to him. 
 She seemed to shrink, to struggle away from him. A sudden,
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 271 
 
 a dreadful change came into his face then, the Hps tried to 
 move again, but fell apart silent, and a little foam gathered 
 about his mouth as his head fell back on the pillow. 
 
 Nurse pulled the bell violently, the rope came off in her 
 hands, she was summoning more help. But it was too late, 
 she knew it whilst she pulled. As far as Ted was concerned 
 Fanny's wild hysterical shrieks and self-reproaches fell on deaf 
 ears. Mabel, raining tears, put loving arms around her : 
 
 " Come away, dear, come away, it is all over ... he doesn't 
 hear you." 
 
 She forgot her own grief in Fanny's, forgot everything but 
 this poor wife. Fanny was borne away at last, almost by force. 
 Whether it was real fear of death's presence, whether some 
 momentary pang of conscience had smitten her, or if it were 
 only the cold continuance of a policy, can never be known. 
 She went from one hysterical fit into another. When Mabel's 
 pitiful, loving arms could no longer hold her she made what 
 seemed like a desperate attempt to throw herself out of the 
 window. She said she wanted to die too, and all of them 
 were frightened at her violence. She threw herself against the 
 wall of the room, knocking her head, she flung herself on the 
 floor. 
 
 Dr. Lauder, hastily summoned, doubted the reality of her 
 attempt at suicide, scoffed at the idea that she was out of her 
 mind with grief. He had no doubt that she had real cause 
 for self-reproach. Mabel did all that a gentle woman could 
 do for another in such a case. She tried to find comforting 
 words. Christian words. She found, without difficulty, tears 
 of sympathy. But the hysteria continued, and resource had 
 to be had to drugs. Fanny herself, feeling faint and ill 
 between her paroxysms, found the brandy or whisky bottle did 
 her more good, and surreptitiously she added the one to the 
 other, passing in this way the days between Ted's death and 
 his funeral, half unconscious, dazed, apparently, with grief. She 
 did not omit, however, to order a sable garniture of widow's 
 woe, to which the pallor induced by drugs, hysteria and 
 stimulants, added the necessary attraction. And Cosmo had
 
 272 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 one of her little notes, begging him to order for her a lovely 
 wreath. 
 
 "You know the flowers he loved best. Choose them for 
 me, don't spare expense. Think of a suitable inscription. 
 I'm so distracted, I can't call to mind a single quotation. 
 There is no one but you I care to ask, I'm so alone." 
 
 Cosmo felt a little sick, but he did what Fanny asked : he 
 was even subtle over it. " Will this do? " he wrote to Fanny. 
 " He lies in the Peace of the great Release.^'' 
 
 And Fanny responded gratefully. She was just equal to 
 the exertion of writing, but not to an understanding of 
 Cosmo's subtlety. 
 
 Ted's death struck Amos in some sensitive place, unsus- 
 pected even by his intimates. Perhaps, after all, he had 
 had hopes of Ted, those sad hopes that never materialised 
 doubling his grief and sense of loss. Ted was gone, and 
 the hopes, too. It had seemed neither age nor death could 
 have touched Amos Juxton. Now it was as if an earthquake 
 were about him. He no longer stood upright on his feet, but 
 swayed as if a chasm was before him, luring him to its brink. 
 Even about the arrangements of the funeral he changed his 
 mind more than once. 
 
 " I leave it all to you, my boy, I leave it to you, what does 
 it matter? Shut the place or leave it open, the theatre too. 
 I don't care. I never thought it would come to this." 
 
 Dennis, who had his own affairs to think of, had time for 
 none of them. Everything devolved upon him, and there 
 was much that needed attention. Poor Ted had not been a 
 business man. Money that had been given him for one 
 purpose had been used for another. Amos had given a 
 cheque when they moved into Grosvenor Street. But the 
 decorations, the new furniture and the old, were unpaid for, 
 household bills had been outstanding for months, there were 
 debts to tailors, hosiers, dressmakers, even jewellers. Fanny 
 disclaimed all responsibilities. She said she ' knew nothing 
 about money, Ted had kept everything in his own hands.' 
 Strangely enough, however, there were two accounts about
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 273 
 
 which she gave a ready explanation. They were both from 
 betting men, and in each case showed a profit. Fanny 
 claimed both cheques. She said, a little mysteriously, that 
 they were commissions Ted had for friends of his who had 
 been unable to get enough money ' on ' with their own book- 
 maker. She would not divulge the names of these friends. 
 She said that it was a question of honour, and their names 
 must not transpire. She would see that they had their money. 
 Dennis, naturally, would have liked details. But Amos ex- 
 pressed himself quite satisfied. This was the time he told 
 Dennis again that he had never been fair to Fanny. Fanny was 
 quite listless and played the broken reed before him, as if 
 " nothing mattered now." Amos would not go to the house after 
 Ted died, but listless Fanny, in her overwhelming weeds, went 
 to him once to Fitzjohn's Hall, and moved him by her wan 
 and languid looks. That was the day the bookmaker's accounts 
 had appeared, and Dennis claimed them for the estate. 
 
 "You never did like her, my boy, and she's told me how it 
 came about. You were too free with her, and she isn't one 
 that thinks nothing of a kiss. But then of course she was 
 going to be your sister-in-law. I told her it wasn't likely you 
 meant any harm. I daresay she misunderstood what you said 
 or did. I recollect there was a misunderstanding, a coolness 
 between you from the first." 
 
 "Too free with her!" Even from Fanny that was an 
 astounding way to put it. "Lying little cat," was what he 
 thought. " Too free with her," was what he exclaimed, and 
 the tone of it was a contradiction, although Amos paid no 
 heed to it. 
 
 "Before either ot you were married. But she was engaged 
 to my poor boy even then. He thought the world of her, 
 Dennis. We must do what we can for her, poor girl ! 
 And let bygones be bygones. There was not much harm in a 
 kiss. I know you well enough to be sure you meant no harm, 
 no disrespect to her, or disloyalty to Ted." He sighed. " I'm 
 sure I don't know what is going to become of her. She's 
 very young to be alone in the world. I know Mabel will be 
 18
 
 274 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 kind to her, and I must see what can be done. Don't 
 question the bills. Poor boy, if he blundered, he has paid 
 for it. It isn't as if I can't afford it. My head is not what 
 it used to be; I don't sleep well either just now. Don't 
 bother me about details, there's a good boy. Just pay every- 
 thing, it's all I can do for him." 
 
 Dennis wanted to know what freedom he was supposed to 
 have shown towards Fanny. But it was useless to contradict 
 the lie or implication to which Amos alluded. Fanny had 
 probably made her story good, as she did the one about the 
 bookmakers. The hundred or so of ready money she became 
 possessed of in this way would probably prove useful, and he 
 hardly grudged it to her, though he, no less than Amos, when 
 the figures were fairly before them, wondered at the amount 
 Ted had managed to get through. 
 
 Mabel was very good to Fanny in those early days after 
 Ted's death. She offered to stay on with her, or that 
 Fanny should come to Hamilton Terrace. She did not know 
 how to show sufficiently her overwhelming pity. But Fanny 
 was difficult, wayward, still occasionally threatening suicide, 
 impatient under Mabel's demonstrations, resenting everything 
 that was done or said. Because she was so difficult it be- 
 came Mabel's idea that Ted's death had unhinged her mind. 
 Even Mabel admitted that Fanny might not have been to Ted 
 all that a wife should be. She thought it was remorse as well 
 as grief that was preying upon her. It never struck Mabel 
 that Cosmo's inattention at this juncture had anything to do 
 with her state. 
 
 It was Mabel's idea that Fanny should not remain on in 
 the house, the house that had been a disaster from first to last. 
 She was not fit to be left alone, and Mabel was continually 
 exercised on her behalf. It seemed a godsend, almost a 
 miracle, when Mrs. Margaret Lemon, calling one day to 
 inquire after the young widow, met Mabel there and heard 
 her views, and said hastily, perhaps without thought, that 
 Fanny had better come to her for a few days. Fanny 
 brightened up wonderfully at the suggestion. It seemed as
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 275 
 
 if Mrs. Lemon's sympathy had been the one thing for which 
 she was waiting : it revived her as rain revives a dying flower. 
 Fanny had played at being the dying flower, but held up her 
 head when Margaret rained that injudicious invitation on her, 
 never expecting to be taken at her word, dismayed at the 
 prospect before her, indeed. Fanny said joyfully, or as 
 joyfully as she thought decorous, that she was sure it would 
 do her good. She was almost fulsome in her gratitude. 
 Mabel undertook to do all the packing, to stay on and shut 
 the house up for her, to stand between her and visitors. 
 Mrs. Margaret Lemon, rather out of love with herself for her 
 impulsiveness, withdrew to make the necessary arrangements 
 for her guest, and Mabel took her self-imposed task seriously 
 in hand. 
 
 The very next morning in Amos's car, lent for the occa- 
 sion, and brand new widow's weeds, Fanny and her three 
 large trunks arrived in the Berkeley Street flat. If Cosmo 
 saw her there afterwards, within an hour of her arrival, 
 the family at least was not scandalised by the haste 
 with which Fanny had summoned him. Fanny had been 
 longing to try the effect of her black clothes and drugged 
 pallor on his failing allegiance. Cosmo had refused to come 
 to Grosvenor Street since Ted had been carried out from there. 
 It was this that was responsible for Fanny's waywardness, and 
 tendency to suicide. She had not known where to go so 
 that she might summon him to her. Margaret Lemon's hasty 
 invitation opened the way.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 'T^OUT passe, tout casse, tout lasse. Ted's death was 
 •^ already obscure and remote before Dennis met Lady 
 Diana again. He had subordinated his own feelings, not 
 without difficulty he had held them in leash. Both Mabel 
 and Amos had need of him, and he had been truly com- 
 passionate and gentle to the one, all that a son might be to the 
 other. He had done all and more than duty demanded. 
 But now, saddened as they all were, something of the day's 
 order was restored. Mabel went about the house trying to 
 regain the threads of her lost activities. Amos was back 
 in business, Dennis in his office. 
 
 And there, quite early in the afternoon, when he was 
 expecting nothing, hoping for nothing, he heard that Lady 
 Diana Wayne was in the Gallery, and before he had time to 
 realise it, or for the swift flush that followed the news to fade 
 from his forehead, they were facing each other; she was 
 before him in the flesh, not altered, more alluring than even 
 in his dreams. 
 
 He knew what she had come here to say. That he had 
 taken a liberty ; she had seen her bank book, knew what 
 he had paid into it. It was this that sent the colour to 
 his cheeks, the colour that retreating left him so pale. Now 
 he did not know how he had dared to do it j that he had so 
 dared made him nervous and afraid as he stood before her. 
 What apology could he make, how persuade her that what 
 he had done was justifiable, right ; that friendship had its 
 privileges . . 
 
 But Diana had no intention in her mind of challenging him 
 
 on this point. She could not even guess at his thoughts. 
 
 276
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 277 
 
 " Isn't that a Matsys in your window ? I could not help 
 coming in to ask." 
 
 " I'll have it taken out for you." 
 
 He was so relieved that he forgot how absurd it was to 
 treat her as a customer, and to tell the man to get the picture 
 for her to see. They actually stood before it a little while 
 discussing its merits. Then lifting her eyes to him, com- 
 passionately, dropping her voice : 
 
 " I wanted to tell you how sorry I was for your trouble, 
 Cosmo told me of it. I tried to write, but I could not find 
 the words. I am so sorry for you. I know that is why you 
 are looking pale." 
 
 " No, it is not that only. I have been thinking . . " he was 
 again nervous and uncertain in his speech. 
 
 " Of me ? " she smiled. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "I am so glad. It seems such a long time ago since we 
 met. I thought you had forgotten all about me." 
 
 "You could not think that?" 
 
 "And as if we had never talked of being friends." 
 
 " But you have let me be your friend. I am not ungrateful 
 for that . ." 
 
 And then he was afraid he had said the wrong thing and 
 hurried on : 
 
 " I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you. May I come 
 to Curzon Street again one afternoon ? " 
 
 " But you are so busy, aren't you ? " 
 
 " Not too busy for that. I have a partner." 
 
 Dennis hardly knew what he was saying ; nothing came to 
 him but commonplaces. 
 
 Over and over again he said that it was good of her to 
 come. In truth it had been a sudden impulse. She was pass- 
 ing the window, and it had been a long time since she had seen 
 him. She knew nothing at all about that augmented banking 
 account. She was amongst the many women who see their 
 pass books annually, or even less often. But she was unused to 
 deny herself her whims, and in his absence Dennis Passiful had
 
 278 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 grown to be almost more than a whim. Cosmo's story about 
 his wife had affected her and she had not been able to get it 
 out of her mind. There were a dozen reasons why she should 
 have stayed away for one that had urged her to come. But 
 here she was, more attracted than ever, Dennis's very reception 
 of her accentuating his attraction. She had thought, perhaps 
 hoped, that it would have lessened in absence, that she would 
 have been more completely mistress of herself. But instead 
 he held her by his pallor, self-restraint, the obvious way her 
 presence affected him. 
 
 "This is the first time I have seen you in your own 
 surroundings. You spend hours and hours in this gallery, 
 don't you ? " 
 
 " Not so many. My business takes me out a good deal." 
 
 "You like your business ? It doesn't bore you ? " 
 
 "Not often. I like seeing beautiful things, buying them. 
 I don't care for selling, except sometimes to a connoisseur. 
 And then always there is a certain pleasure in knowing oneself 
 an expert, justifying one's judgment." 
 
 " How I wish my life was as full as yours ! I seem to have 
 nothing to do. You have everything you want. You are 
 really quite a happy man ? " 
 
 " Am I ? No, I don't think I am. I am always wanting 
 something else, something different." He broke off abruptly. 
 
 He did not want to be disingenuous, and he remembered 
 that what he had wanted most of all up to now was to keep 
 up his batting average, and to win matches for the Club. 
 
 "I would like to hear about it, I think, I, too, have never 
 been quite satisfied ! I am keeping you, you have work to 
 do ? " She looked about her a little uncertainly. She did not 
 know what men did who had businesses. Everything was 
 beautiful in the Gallery. 
 
 " I don't know how you can bear to part with such things," 
 she said. 
 
 He wanted to ask her if there was anything she would like 
 to have. He was idiotically anxious to keep her standing 
 there, talking to him, idiotically afraid lest a customer should
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 279 
 
 come in and see her there. But the place and time were in- 
 auspicious for sentiment. 
 
 " Are you walking ? " he asked her, a stupid enough question 
 since she had told him she had seen the Matsys in the 
 window. 
 
 "Yes, the motor is meeting me in Piccadilly. I'm so 
 restless, I was going for a long motor drive." And then a 
 sudden idea struck her. 
 
 "Why don't you come with me?" It was audacious, it 
 took her breath away, and his. 
 
 " I am sure that is why you are pale. You have been 
 indoors too much, and grieving. It is such a beautiful after- 
 noon, not like November at all. There is no air in here. 
 Why is the air always stagnant about pictures ? Wouldn't you 
 like to come for a drive ? " 
 
 She really meant it, then. Why should he not go ? If she 
 was restless, he had not been less so. There was nothing 
 to detain him here. 
 
 "I shall hate to think of you in this stagnant air, pale, 
 whilst I am filling my lungs." Once the idea had come to 
 her it seemed to grow more possible, more desirable. Why 
 should she drive alone ? He still hesitated, and that spurred 
 her over the last fence. 
 
 "It would really do you any amount of good. I should 
 feel quite a philanthropist if I could persuade you to it." 
 
 How unlike she was to everyone else ; bewildering. It was 
 impossible he should go with her. And then it was impossible 
 he should not. She had not forgotten him. . . Occasionally 
 in the past days he had wondered if she had forgotten him, 
 felt sure of it sometimes. Ted's death and the funeral were 
 like a pall that hung between him and her. If it parted now 
 and again, to show him glimpses of her, it closed around 
 again quickly. 
 
 Before he realised the position, he was walking with her 
 down Bond Street, actually walking with her in the broad 
 daylight. He had not known she was so tall; he did not 
 know what they were talking about ; for himself he knew he
 
 280 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 was talking at random, about the shops, and shopping 
 generally, about some prints in a window, hats in autumnal 
 tints, labelled, ' For the moors.' In one window there were 
 Japanese trees, in flat oriental dishes, their backing an array of 
 upright screens, all gold and black. She told him of her own 
 collection of Japanese trees. Now they were passing a flower 
 shop. A basket of mauve orchids tied up with pink ribbon 
 caught his eye, blue hydrangeas in a great green pot. And 
 there was the motor waiting, the chauffeur touching his hat 
 as if there was nothing strange or unusual in him, Dennis 
 Passiful, handing her in, following her. 
 
 "Where shall we go?" she asked him. 
 
 He had no suggestion to make. 
 
 "The best way out of London is Boxhill. You never 
 offered me a cup of tea in Bond Street. You shall give me 
 one in Boxhill. We will talk of Meredith. We can never 
 finish talking of Meredith ; we started it the other day, you 
 remember ? " 
 
 " Or of his Diana ! " he got that out, and she smiled her 
 appreciation of his quickness. 
 
 It was all so wonderful, so incredible. There came the 
 
 slow crawl through London, the horn going all the time ; 
 
 traffic, tram-lines and confusion, hardly a word between him 
 
 and her. He was tired, unstrung ; he had not known it. 
 
 He had had so many things of which to think, he had had no 
 
 time to think of himself. Now he knew that he had been 
 
 through dark days, vaguely troubled nights. He could sit 
 
 beside her now, their shoulders almost touching; and rest. 
 
 The scents she used, of violets or lavender, soft scents the 
 
 name of which he could not capture, enveloped him. He 
 
 ■felt as one who had come out of storm into calm. Now he 
 
 could drift or float, he need not think. It was a great gift, 
 
 this friendship with which she had dowered him. It lifted his 
 
 life to another plane, it would give him a whole new outlook. 
 
 They were out of London now, the sky quite blue, as in 
 spring, and the car was going faster, rushing through space ; 
 the wind was in his face. This was intimacy, companionship ;
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 281 
 
 he need not speak, she would understand. But when they 
 spoke, now and again, interjectionally, in tune with the wind, 
 their words, their few words, were no longer halting nor lame, 
 but came easily. 
 
 "This is simply splendid ! " 
 
 " The motor goes better when it goes fast. I hope we 
 shan't be fined." 
 
 " I wish this could go on for ever." 
 
 "But I want my tea so badly." 
 
 Later on, but now they were in the country, he exclaimed : 
 
 " It is wonderful to be with you like this." 
 
 " I feel as if we had run away." 
 
 "We have, from everyday duty and normal life." 
 
 " Cosmo says that with all of us the normal life is the 
 abnormal." 
 
 " He speaks for himself." 
 
 "And for me." 
 
 " It is true that you are unlike anybody else." 
 
 " Am I ? Are you glad of that ? " 
 
 " I am intoxicated by it." 
 
 " And I must look as if I were. My hat is coming off." 
 
 He looked at her, the wind had caught her cheeks, and 
 there was a glow in them, the glow had reached her eyes, 
 where it danced. After that, elliptical phrases were new strides 
 to intimacy, and eloquent silences needed no excuse. So 
 they reached Boxhill.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 AT Boxhill, at the inn with the Meredithian tradition, 
 Dennis ordered tea for her. Whilst they were waiting 
 for it to be brought them, she told him the story, as Cosmo 
 had told it her, of how there were assembled here, to do 
 honour to Meredith on his seventieth birthday, all that was 
 most notable in the world of letters ; poets and essayists, 
 brother novelists, the publishers who gave the works of these 
 men to the world. They had gone in deputation to his house, 
 the rare little house beyond the town, with the flamboyant 
 garden, and then heard that he was ill, too ill to receive them. 
 Back they had come here, nevertheless, for their celebration, 
 had feasted, and drunk his health again and again, making 
 speeches, extolling and exalting him whom they all called 
 Master. Then, when the evening was falling, and the dusk 
 had gathered, paean after paean having been sung in his praise, 
 and all their heart attuned to the occasion ; over the hill, and 
 the garden, and through the French window, he strode, this 
 gentle Colossus ; his hair a little wild under his soft hat, and 
 his fine face aglow. He had heard of their coming, risen from 
 his bed of sickness, braved the distance and the hill, and now 
 was amongst them, not Master but Comrade, full of talk, and 
 the eloquence that comes from the heart. Their homage had 
 touched him ; in return, for a miraculous quarter of an hour, 
 he gave them rare confidences, flashes of a brilliant wit, here 
 a word, a sentence, revealing the depth of his human know- 
 ledge, there a phrase that was like a beacon of light in the 
 darkness. He drank with them, before passing out as he 
 came, leaving an ineffaceable memory. This was his last
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 283 
 
 anniversary. Those who were privileged to be present have 
 told the story in print more than once. But from Diana, 
 Dennis heard it for the first time, picturing the old man's 
 entry, and how the assembly had risen silently to their feet 
 to greet him, scarce believing their eyes. 
 
 To sit at their tea afterwards, in that hillocky garden, hear- 
 ing the late birds sing, was as the continuation of a poem. 
 They talked of Meredith and his creations, of how well he had 
 understood love. It was strange that whilst it was into friend- 
 ship they were growing, love should have been the theme of 
 all their talk. To that other Diana, Dennis now saw a hundred 
 resemblances ; and she disputed each one with him, saying 
 how little he knew her. So they talked about themselves and 
 each other, until the short afternoon drifted into evening. 
 They took no heed of time ; for what did it matter ? It grew 
 so late that the garden behind them was black, and in front 
 the inn showed yellow lights. 
 
 "We are getting to know each other so much better." 
 
 " How strange we have only met now ! " 
 
 That was the keynote of it ; Diana knew the variations, but 
 it was all new to Dennis. It was Diana, too, who came at 
 length to realise how late it was. 
 
 " Do find out what time it is. We seem to have only been 
 talking for half an hour, but all the light is gone. Do you 
 hate motoring in the dark ? " 
 
 She had risen, and he struck a match to look at his watch. 
 Startled at what he saw there, he raised his eyes to break it to 
 her, but meeting hers, was no longer afraid. 
 
 " It is nearly eight. You can't get home in time for dinner. 
 Let me order you something here." 
 
 "But you?" 
 
 " It doesn't matter. I'll telephone or telegraph." 
 
 " Dine here ? " she said, uncertainly. He urged it. 
 
 "Why not? Do! Then drive back by moonlight." 
 
 " You really mean it ? " 
 
 Of course he meant it ; he wanted to have this one meal 
 together, he and she alone. It seemed almost too good to be
 
 284 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 true. But it came true, nevertheless. She hesitated for a 
 long time, but quite suddenly his urging prevailed. It was 
 " adventure " for her too. Never had she dined in this way, 
 in England, alone with a man to whom she was not related. 
 But they had become such good comrades. Just so Diana of 
 the Crossways would have dined with Redworth, he said. And 
 with the consideration of a Redworth, Dennis Passiful would 
 treat her, that she knew. But she remembered the end of the 
 story, and wondered whether he did. This reflection came 
 to her whilst she was arranging her toilette, prior to the dinner 
 to which she had suddenly agreed. 
 
 As soon as her uncertainty had yielded to his insistence, he 
 had hastened to order everything the house could provide, he 
 sent the chauffeur to his supper, made all his arrangements. 
 He had not managed cricket teams for nothing. Yet he knew 
 that he was excited, everything having become suddenly 
 mysterious and wonderful, a great adventure to be happening 
 to him, life expanding, the horizon widening. He had no time 
 to think, he was just living in each moment, such moments ! 
 Nothing like this had ever happened to him before, his life 
 had lain along such conventional lines. When once the idea 
 had seized him, he had become eager about it, although all 
 his arguments were couched in schoolboy phrases. " It would 
 be so awfully jolly, such a spree ! " 
 
 It really seemed as if a half holiday was being turned into 
 a whole holiday, there were to be long hours more of 
 pleasure. 
 
 When she came down to him again it seemed more unreal 
 than ever. She had taken off her hat ; the afternoon dress that 
 her heavy coat had concealed was cloth, and sheath-like to her 
 figure, her hands were ungloved. His eyes dwelt upon her, 
 how lovely she looked ; his pulses were suddenly uneven, she 
 went to his head like wine. It was she who restored his calm 
 to him as she said : 
 
 " I'm simply ravenous ! What have you ordered ? " 
 
 He answered seriously that he was afraid they were not 
 going to have a very good meal.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 285 
 
 " What a pity ! But perhaps you are taking too pessimistic 
 a view." 
 
 The view he was taking was of her, and she moved away 
 from the new ardour of his eyes, standing now by the window. 
 "Anyhow, tell them to hurry," she said with her back turned 
 toward him. " We must not make it too late, must we?" 
 
 " I'll ring," he answered soberly. 
 
 The small private room in which they found themselves 
 looked on to the garden. She fell to talk of Meredith again 
 whilst they were waiting, and visioned him walking down the 
 hill. Dennis came over to her where she stood ; the window 
 was open ; perhaps that was why she shivered, and soon 
 moved away. 
 
 At first the dinner was not gay ; an uneasiness or constraint 
 fell upon them when they had taken their places at the table, 
 and the soup was brought in. Perhaps it was the presence of 
 the waiter. 
 
 *' This soup is quite good." 
 
 " I am very glad ; of course, they've had only a short notice." 
 
 " What else is coming ? " 
 
 " Soles, lamb, an apple pie. It was the best they could do 
 in the time." 
 
 He was apologetic, although there seemed no cause in the 
 menu as recited. It was so commonplace, he thought, yet 
 nothing was commonplace that was happening. There were 
 long waits between the courses, and each time the waiter 
 returned he clattered with the dishes outside, knocking before 
 he entered. She ate daintily, and all at once his own appetite 
 failed, although the fish was fresh, the lamb tender, and the 
 potatoes flaky and soft ; there was a salad. 
 
 "You said you were hungry?" He noticed she was only 
 toying with the food, making a pretence to eat it. 
 
 "I thought I was. I wonder why we are neither of us 
 eating. It is quite as late as we usually dine." But she did 
 not really wonder ; a certain shyness was upon her, very 
 strange and unknown to her. It seemed as if he never took 
 his eyes from her face.
 
 286 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 "Perhaps it is because you are looking at me," she said, 
 laughing a little unevenly. " I am not used to being looked at 
 when I eat." 
 
 " Aren't you ? " he answered, simply. " I should have 
 thought you were." Then she laughed more naturally, and 
 tasted her wine. 
 
 " Chateau Gilbey ? " she asked, making a wry face. He was 
 concerned about that. He told her he had observed that night 
 he dined in Curzon Street she had not drunk champagne, 
 but claret. Therefore he had ordered the best Burgundy the 
 house afforded. 
 
 "You noticed that?" she said, wonderingly. Yet ceased 
 to wonder when he said, " Of course." She tasted the wine 
 again, and some gladness or content in her eyes contracted the 
 wryness of her mouth. 
 
 " Don't go on drinking that. In the champagne they'll 
 have vintage wines, something about which there will be no 
 doubt." 
 
 He rose from his chair to recall the incurious waiter, and 
 after deliberation and some help from her, they decided upon 
 Pomeroy '94. He was conscious of the nearness of her hair 
 when she looked over the wine list with him. 
 
 " I don't dislike champagne. I like it, only that evening," 
 she remembered too, " I felt I wanted no wine at all. I was 
 a little excited." She added, disingenuously, " There were so 
 many Cabinet Ministers present ! " 
 
 But she stole a glance at him that said, 'and it was not 
 only the Cabinet Ministers.' The wine when it came loosened 
 both their tongues. She began to talk more gaily than she 
 had in the garden, giving him sketches of the people he had 
 met at their house ; a little malicious, but what is humour 
 without malice? She spoke of the ministers as the Walrus 
 and the Carpenter. And met his objection that the Cymric 
 Sampson had not much of the walrus about him by trying 
 other zoological analogies. They ranged between cages, from 
 ferret to weasel, but found nothing completely analogous. 
 His eyes were so bright ; in a few years he would have a red
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 287 
 
 nose. There is no animal with bright eyes and a red nose. 
 It did not matter what they said. After the champagne had 
 exhilarated them, and they had recovered from the strangeness 
 of the meal together, it was nothing but nonsense they talked, 
 like the foam on the champagne. And if Dennis kept up 
 with her with difficulty or laboured after her, it was not sur- 
 prising, for never had he known a woman like this ; she 
 bewildered him by the lightness of her wit, no less than by her 
 beauty. Never had he sat at such a feast. The communal 
 meals at Hamilton Terrace, the observations about the 
 herrings, the story of the soles, were a hundred years ago. 
 There was not a serious moment after the champagne had 
 been quaffed ; but some sense, or undercurrent, of embarrass- 
 ment may well have lingered. 
 
 " Shall we ever do this again ? " she asked, lightly, when at 
 length it was evident that a move must be made, when all the 
 wine had been drunk, with the liqueurs and coffee that 
 followed, and she had discovered that her cigarette case was 
 empty. 
 
 " I hope so." 
 
 That was banal. She ran upstairs to put on her hat, 
 bringing down her cloak for him to help her into it. She 
 was very near him as he wound the cloak round her. It 
 was in the hall, and the hall was badly lit, the throbbing 
 of the motor as the man busied himself with the lamps 
 made it impossible for her to hear the quick breathing of his 
 heart. Yet she might have known of it, for her eyes were 
 downcast, her voice muffled. 
 
 " How awkward you are about it ! Don't trouble. I'll put 
 it on myself." 
 
 Dennis was not an awkward man, dexterous rather, and 
 with easy movements. But now he knew that his fingers had 
 fumbled, and he made no reply to the accusation. He handed 
 her in in silence, in silence he took his place beside her. They 
 had been driving for five minutes before either of them broke it. 
 
 " What a wonderful night ! " This was simultaneous. And 
 they both laughed, breaking up the silence.
 
 288 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 They were travelling comparatively slowly, the chauffeur 
 cautious amid the evening shadows. The sky was quite dark, 
 black clouds threatening rain, grey clouds like mist beneath 
 them, a pale moon floating serene, chill in the air. Not a 
 beautiful night, no stars, and the gloom too dim for mystery. 
 Yet they found it beautiful, and it was they that made it so. 
 
 "You wondered if we should ever meet again like this." It 
 was Dennis who started the talking. "There is no reason 
 why we should not, is there ? " She took a moment before 
 she answered, then the answer that came was a little hesitating. 
 
 "I suppose not." But she was thinking about his wife, 
 of all that stood between them. A little laugh escaped her, 
 but it was quite mirthless. 
 
 " I don't know what Dolly would say about it." 
 
 " I thought we had agreed Lord Haverford was not to be 
 considered, that he was quite beside the question." 
 
 Dennis felt his face flushing, the flush spreading over him. 
 But it was very dark, they were not yet come to the region of 
 tram-lines and people ; his voice stumbled, yet hurried on. 
 
 " I can't bear to think of you together ; after this." 
 
 " We have been happy, haven't we ? " 
 
 " It has all been wonderful ! " 
 
 Involuntarily his hand sought hers, and found it. . It was 
 still in his when the pace changed. They had come all at 
 once from the country into the town. Now before them were 
 yellow street lamps and great cars full of people. The con- 
 necting wires overhead emitted little sparks of light, and from 
 either side the street shop girls, clerks, boys on bicycles, and 
 girls behind perambulators, the proletariat at leisure, swarmed 
 into the roadway. Perhaps he had been holding her hand 
 unconsciously. A girl on the pavement, under a street lamp, 
 with a man's arm about her waist, reminded him, and he 
 released it abruptly. He knew her fragrance, and the slender- 
 ness beneath her enveloping cloak. But he would not think 
 of either, ashamed of the emotions that were all new to him. 
 
 "It isn't so late after all." He hurried into talk, so that 
 he should not feel.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 289 
 
 " Not more than ten, I should think." 
 
 " Will your father be at home, expecting you ? " 
 
 " He was to have been at the House. This autumn session 
 is going to be eventful, changes in the Cabinet are imminent." 
 She followed his lead easily, but still warm on her hand she 
 felt the pressure of his; the car was too small for her to 
 escape from the touch of his shoulder. 
 
 " He generally goes to his Club, and stops there late." 
 
 " You would have been alone ? " 
 
 " Yes. I should have been alone." 
 
 He drew closer to her, would have taken her hand again, 
 it was an instinctive movement that his reason prevented. 
 
 " I hate to think of you being lonely." 
 
 "You can never think of me as being anything else." This 
 was almost passionate and set him aquiver. Another street 
 lamp showed them each other's eyes. 
 
 " I believe I like to think of you lonely when I am not with 
 you." 
 
 Was it he who had said that ? He, Dennis Passiful ? The 
 words came and went again, and now they seemed to have 
 no meaning. 
 
 19
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 SOMETHING went wrong with a gear or a sparking 
 plug, there was a shortage of lubricating oil or petrol. 
 Neither of them were learned in such matters, but they 
 became aware that the car was going jerkily, and unevenly, 
 back-firing and noisy. They were off the tram-lines, yet 
 more than once it seemed as if they would never reach 
 Curzon Street in the motor, but would have to get out, or take 
 a cab. It was the chauffeur who always reassured them. 
 
 "She's picking up, my lady," was one of the phrases that 
 struck Dennis as inadequate, it told them so little. He 
 scented danger, and his nerves played him false. She knew 
 he was nervous, and rallied him gaily, suggesting he should 
 get out. He took her rallying seriously, and scouted the 
 idea that he should let her go home alone, that she was 
 taking him out of his way, that she could drop him in 
 Knightsbridge or Piccadilly. In truth she did not press it. 
 The car lumbered on, and engrossed them. 
 
 It was past eleven when they found themselves at Curzon 
 Street. There she handed him her latchkey, telling him it 
 was unnecessary to ring. 
 
 The big square hall was lighted from the fire that smouldered 
 on the hearth, the glow fell on the tapestries of the staircase, 
 on a marble bust by Houdin, on the great clock with the 
 lapis lazuli dome ; it was but a dim light. He had an intense 
 desire to pass into the warmth and beauty with her. It 
 seemed impossible. Yet when she said : 
 
 " Shut the door quietly," he found himself inside. 
 
 She had suggested dropping him in Knightsbridge, in 
 
 290
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 291 
 
 Piccadilly. Now that he was here, she did not seem to 
 remember the lateness of the hour. 
 
 "Go into the drawing-room. Wait for me there." 
 
 The long French windows were open and the beautiful 
 mysterious room was full of the scented warmth from the 
 winter garden. Here, too, there was only the firelight to 
 reveal or suggest the pictures in their tarnished frames, the 
 cabinets and encoignures, the big sofa heaped with cushions ; 
 tables, like altars, laden with flowers ; Dresden and Chelsea 
 in crinoline or groups. His sub-consciousness revelled in it 
 all, his consciousness was full only of her. 
 
 She came to him very soon ; sooner than he had thought 
 possible she was back in the room. She had changed her 
 dress, loosened her hair, was altogether different, and yet the 
 same. He had a strange new sense of intimacy with her. 
 
 "Did you mind waiting? I hate being in the same dress 
 so many hours. My maid is out apparently, or asleep. This 
 was all I could find." 
 
 ' This ' was a garment softly green, revealing her slenderness, 
 Greek in the way it was folded beneath her bosom, falling in 
 long lines to the feet ; Greek, too, was the ornament upon it, 
 key-patterned in dull gold. On her throat were two little 
 rows of pearls ; he saw them rising and falling, not quite 
 regularly. She had, perhaps, dressed too quickly; there was 
 a little pulse moving irregularly in her throat, it fascinated 
 his eyes. 
 
 " I feel ever so much more comfortable. If you want 
 anything to drink, you will find it in the room beyond ; through 
 the curtains. Won't you turn up the lights ? " 
 
 " I don't want to turn up the lights." 
 
 Again the words surprised him ; the voice was his voice, 
 although that, too, sounded strange, and a little unsteady. 
 The words had little meaning, he explained them : 
 
 "The dust from the motor got into my eyes. This half 
 light is so jolly." 
 
 "Jolly" was absurd, a school-boy word, and he did not 
 feel in the least like a school-boy. Like a man, rather,
 
 292 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 feeling his manhood for the first time, holding on to himself 
 with difficulty, not quite understanding. 
 
 " Now you speak of it, I believe my eyes are strained too, 
 they feel quite hot." She put her hands up to them, her 
 delicate pale hands. 
 
 " Why don't you sit down ? You are making me nervous ; 
 you look like a wraith, standing up there so solemnly. You 
 are solemn, are you not ? What are you thinking about ? " 
 
 All at once she knew she was playing with fire, women know 
 these things instinctively ; there was not a shadow of excuse for 
 her, unless that Joseph she sensed in him before, and again 
 now, was an excuse. She had Hfted her delicate hands to 
 her eyes, now she clasped them behind her head ; there were 
 no sleeves to the dress, and he saw the slender rounded arms, 
 on her white neck the pearls looked grey; the pulse in her 
 neck was still beating. She saw his eyes change, and fasten 
 on her. She began to talk quickly, but softly ; she liked the 
 change in his eyes, wanted them to shine yet more, she liked 
 the unsteadiness of his voice. 
 
 " What a strange thing we did, you and I ! To-morrow it 
 will seem as if it never happened. Tea in the garden, and 
 the hours of talk, then the stuffy little room, and the good 
 dinner. How long have we known each other? A month, 
 counted by weeks. But from the first we knew we were 
 going to be friends, didn't we ? That first night at the theatre, 
 when you only looked at me ; the second when you sat in the 
 stall beside me . . how quickly it all happened ! I have never 
 had a man friend before. I've had lovers, of course ..." 
 
 Then she unclasped her hands from behind her head, 
 leaned a little forward, retrospection in her eyes. He repeated, 
 under his breath, standing there quite still : 
 
 " Lovers ? " 
 
 He repeated it dully, or stupidly, as one without the full sense 
 or meaning of the word. " Lovers ! you have had lovers ? " 
 
 " Is it so surprising ? " and glancing up at him from under her 
 long lashes she added : " All men are not like you." 
 
 There was a gleam of amusement m her eyes, and she was
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 293 
 
 not in the least afraid, although her heart was beating fast, and 
 the little pulse betrayed it. The red curve of her mouth 
 was vibrant. 
 
 " I had heard there were men like you, not caring for 
 women, not in that way." 
 
 " What way ? What do you mean ? " 
 
 He had moved and was standing before her. 
 
 "If you mean that I don't want to kiss you, you are 
 wrong ! " 
 
 His eyes were so bright that hers caught fire from them, 
 but now they were downcast, so that he should not see. 
 
 " I never wanted anything so much in my life ! " 
 
 "It is getting very late." Her voice was not quite steady, 
 for a moment she almost feared what she had encouraged. 
 
 By this time the fire had sunk to a red heap of ashes, 
 and in the silence of the house there was no one but them- 
 selves. 
 
 Yet if the thin red curve of her sweet lips had not quivered, 
 if he had not seen her eyes on fire before they had been 
 downcast, if the dress had been different, or she . . he did 
 not know afterwards from where his courage had come. 
 
 Before he knew why or how it came about, he was 
 kissing her lips, her hair, her eyes. And oh, the sweet- 
 ness of her, the yielding of her, and the relief in crushing her 
 close and ever closer ! The fragrance and the slenderness 
 roused a hunger in him, a thirst. It was as if her lips could 
 slake it, and he fastened on them. And never had lips made 
 such response. Perhaps it was that response, so startling, or 
 the effect of long habit, or some sudden fear . . . 
 
 Certain it was that against the rising tide of his passion, 
 conscience, all at once and effectively, threw up an impreg- 
 nable barrier. The next moment he had released her, and 
 was gazing startled, into startled eyes. Then hers were 
 hidden against the sofa pillows, and it was only half a white 
 shoulder he could see. 
 
 " You will never forgive me ? " 
 
 Even that he got out stumblingly and with difficulty. But
 
 294 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 what she could not do, but yet must, threw him on his knees. 
 He had misunderstood the response, He had a passionate 
 reverence for her, and as he kneeled he could have kissed 
 her feet. He would not harm her by a thought, he knew 
 he had misunderstood; she was immaculate, pure, virginal, 
 wonderful. He wanted to tell her all this, but the words 
 came to his throat and died in it. He could only on his 
 knees stammer out excuses, a prayer for forgiveness. He 
 had not meant to shock, frighten, hurt her ; he did not know 
 what had come over him, such a thing had never happened 
 before, could never happen again. She must, she should 
 forgive him. The moment of his daring was over, and he 
 had dared so little. He poured out his incoherent torrent of 
 self-reproaches, and presently, muffled from the sofa cushions, 
 he heard her say that they had been very foolish. 
 
 " Foolish ! " the word sobered and helped him. Foolish ! 
 Yes ; that was all. His nerves reacted, and brought him to 
 his feet. 
 
 Now she sat up ; he did not try to see her eyes. 
 
 "Turn on the light; it is time for you to go, it is very late." 
 
 "But I may come again? You won't change to me?" 
 His nerves had reacted, but he was still unstrung. 
 
 " Yes. No." She spoke hurriedly, uncertainly. She heard 
 something more than his words, or less. 
 
 " It is my father," she said. " Listen 1 " He thought it was 
 iear he detected in her. 
 
 "Your father?" The sound of the house door closing 
 reverberated through the house. 
 
 *' He will be surprised . . . finding you here." 
 
 Dennis, unused to adventure, had no quick expedient. He 
 had still to fight for his self-possession, but before the echo of 
 that closed street door had died away, it seemed as if Diana's 
 had never been in jeopardy. After that first startled exclama- 
 tion she had sunk back in the corner of the sofa, saying 
 hurriedly again to Dennis : 
 
 " Turn on the light ! " 
 
 Fortunately he found a switch.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 295 
 
 " It is possible he will go straight upstairs," was her next 
 observation, and now both of them were listen-ing. But Lord 
 Loughborough had seen a man's coat in the hall, he thought 
 he might find Haverford with Diana. He opened the door of 
 the drawing-room. 
 
 "Is that you, father? How late you are! I made Mr 
 Passiful remain." 
 
 She greeted him as if it were nothing unusual to find her at 
 midnight with a dead fire, and dim lights, sitting with a young 
 man, with that particular young man. And Lord Lough- 
 borough behaved more in accord with his traditions than his 
 politics. His good manners held, his breeding told ; he 
 accepted the situation as if he were not completely taken 
 aback and even startled by it. 
 
 " It was very good of you to wait up for me, my dear ; I am 
 not often as late as this, but I was detained, important affairs. . 
 Where is Baines ? Why have you so little light ? " 
 
 He turned on all the other switches as he spoke ; now the 
 room was flooded and he could see both their faces. There 
 was nothing expressive in Diana's, even her colour had answered 
 to the call of the occasion. But Dennis was very pale, not 
 equal to either of them in his acting. 
 
 " We went a long motor ride together, to see a picture. 
 We have not long been back." 
 
 " A picture ! Where was that ? " 
 
 " Perhaps it was an impression, rather than a picture." 
 
 Dennis marvelled at her coolness. As she had expected, 
 her father rose at the word impression, his whole gorge re- 
 volted at the new school, and he went off on the wrong scent, 
 perhaps not unwittingly. He began to inveigh against Manet 
 and Monet, and the French modernists generally, to Dennis's 
 bewilderment ; only pulling himself up abruptly when Diana 
 put in a word in favour, at least, of post-impressionism. She 
 thought the time had come for a diversion now that the 
 incongruity of Dennis's presence had become obscured. Lord 
 Loughborough had no illusion, as Diana had, did not see 
 six feet of magnificent figure, and the head of Antinous.
 
 296 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 He only saw the Bond Street Gallery, and a man to whom 
 he sometimes gave commissions. His words reflected this 
 attitude of mind. 
 
 "I am astonished you deal at all in such things; daubs, 
 sir, daubs . . ." 
 
 " I am afraid I must be going." 
 
 Diana had within her a momentary bubblement of laughter, 
 then a quick revulsion. Her father's natural stupidity, Dennis's 
 defencelessness, made her mistress of the situation. 
 
 "Must you go? But never mind now, since my father has 
 returned. And you will decide against purchasing the master- 
 piece we saw, you will be guided by my father's views, I am 
 sure, won't you ? " Her eyes were gay as she held out a farewell 
 hand to him. Turning to her father, she went on : 
 
 " The motor broke down on the way home, that is why we 
 were so late. Mr. Passiful was kind enough to stay until you 
 or Cosmo returned ; it was something of a shock to my 
 nerves." 
 
 "Very kind, I am sure," Lord Loughborough said, more 
 stiffly, recalled to the position by the explanation of it: "I 
 suppose you are going to walk ? It is quite a pleasant night." 
 
 Dennis found himself in the street, hardly knowing how he 
 had got there. He felt chilled, but could not attribute it to any- 
 thing that had occurred. Lord Loughborough had been very 
 kind, not at all surprised apparently to see him there, which 
 he might so well have resented. And in bidding him good- 
 bye Diana had murmured : " Come in to-morrow afternoon." 
 There was no reason he should have felt chilled.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 LORD LOUGHBOROUGH'S amiability lasted until the 
 door was shut upon Dennis. Then he unmasked the 
 battery of his sarcasm on Diana's level head. It would be 
 really subversive of the depleted dignity of the Upper House 
 10 report exactly what he said. The gist of it was that his 
 daughter was disgracing his house by entertaining every Tom, 
 Dick and Harry whom she met, and that she seemed not to 
 know the meaning of class distinction. He entirely forgot his 
 Liberalism when it had to be practised, and not only used to 
 secure the Labour votes. That Dennis Passiful was a trades- 
 man, a Bond Street shopkeeper, was the crux of the attack. 
 Several times he said he would not have his house used for 
 her to entertain such people. 
 
 Silence was her entrenchment, and she kept to it, smiling 
 sometimes quietly, which naturally enraged him further ; he 
 saw that his words failed to find their mark. As a matter of 
 fact Dennis himself had made his own record ; whatever 
 variety of meaning might be attached to the word gentleman, 
 in her eyes, at least, he had established once and for ever his 
 claim to use it. 
 
 In the end, pettishly, for he was a pettish person, Lord 
 Loughborough asked her what she thought Haverford would 
 say to her proceedings. 
 
 " What does it matter ?" was the indifferent response. She 
 was startled by the query, nevertheless, although not for the 
 reason her father might have anticipated. He said " pish " 
 and "tush," or sounds to that effect, representing the low- 
 water mark of his conversational equipment ; then he tried to 
 
 put the expiring fire together with some awkwardness. After 
 
 297
 
 298 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 which he said again that it was very late, and that they ought 
 all to be in bed. Quite inconsequently he "supposed that 
 Cosmo was not yet in," and animadverted upon the ways of 
 his family generally. 
 
 Meanwhile Diana had been thinking, and as she had been 
 thinking too quickly, she spoke too impulsively. What did it 
 matter what Dolly thought of anything she might do or say ? 
 Was there really any necessity for her to marry him ; he was 
 personally so distasteful . . and at that thought she flushed 
 involuntarily, remembering Dennis Passiful's personality, and 
 her momentary intimacy with it. If it were only on account 
 of her debts, or her tendency to extravagance that she was 
 marrying Dolly, she knew that need no longer trouble her. 
 
 Her thoughts may have travelled farther than this, con- 
 siderably farther; but only nebulously, into some dim ether 
 where it is indecorous to follow her. She rose abruptly : 
 
 " I daresay you are right. Father. Dolly will probably object 
 to my friendship with Mr. Passiful. I don't intend to give 
 it up, but I should be very glad if he gives me up. I 
 don't know why I ever consented to marry him. He is such 
 a miserable little worm ; you know it as well as I. And he will 
 do nothing for Mervyn, or Van. It isn't as if he were so 
 extraordinarily rich, either. Money in land is hardly money at 
 all ; it is only an expense as long as your friends remain in 
 power." 
 
 " You talk of what you don't understand." 
 
 " What ? Not understand Dolly ? " 
 
 He answered, testily, "You know I was not alluding to 
 your cousin." 
 
 "No? Well, I was." 
 
 She was tired, and a httle insolent, whilst her father was 
 startled, and a little alarmed. He said he never had under- 
 stood his children, and he supposed he never should. 
 Diana, under her breath, admitted he was quite right, he never 
 would. But Lord Loughborough could not contemplate the 
 abandonment of the Haverford alliance, and thinking he had 
 been, perhaps, injudicious, he was now all for conciliation.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 299 
 
 "The best thing you can do, that your brothers and all 
 of us can do, is to hurry matters on. I don't know what 
 either of you are waiting for. You have known each other all 
 your lives." 
 
 " That is just the reason. I suppose I have a glimmer of 
 sense left, or feeling. Why should I be hurried into marriage 
 with a fool and a sot, because Mervyn has borrowed of him 
 and Vansittart hopes to? I have myself to think of, my own 
 personal dignity. Dolly outrages it, and that is more than 
 Mr. Passiful would ever do." 
 
 She flushed again when she said his name, she was conscious 
 of a pride in him. 
 
 " Don't talk to me of Mr. Passiful. What has Mr. Passiful 
 to do with us ? You will be talking of your chauffeur next. 
 I don't know what we are all coming to." She was already at 
 the door when she flung at him, for she was smarting and 
 unreasonable : 
 
 " If Mr. Passiful were a free man, if he became a free man 
 to-morrow^ and more impossible things have happened, I 
 should do more than talk about him. He is rich, quite as 
 rich as Dolly, and without half a dozen big places to keep up. 
 What is the good of Thorpe to me, or Kiltoe Castle, or 
 Dunbar ? If I live in any of them, Dolly will live there too. 
 How would you like to live with Dolly? As for position, 
 there is a time coming, not only in politics, but in daily life, 
 when character will count above position or power of money. 
 When that time comes, Dennis Passiful will stand far above 
 Dolly ; he will stand above you." 
 
 To say Lord Loughborough was astounded at the outburst, 
 is to put it very mildly. Balaam when his ass spoke could 
 have been conscious of no greater phenomenon. It was not 
 only that she defended the picture-dealer, condemned Dolly, 
 who for so many years they had all accepted at his surface 
 value, his surface value being his rent roll; it was that his 
 daughter, that Diana, could talk of character, principle, those 
 old Tory virtues that his party had so long discarded, without 
 which they were getting on so admirably, all their placemen
 
 300 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 secure in their places, and even those " Labour fellows " 
 silenced with their ;^4oo a year. 
 
 " You are talking rubbish, pure rubbish. You know you 
 are, just to anger me. You are all alike . ." 
 
 There came a fusillade of words between them now, 
 undignified, unworthy to be chronicled. Under cover of it, 
 however, Diana made her escape. She had said all that she 
 had to say, much more than she intended. Whatever her 
 brothers and herself may have thought of her father's conduct 
 in relation to their country's affairs, they had all been 
 careful not to put it into words, except occasionally to each 
 other. She knew that she had been false to the family 
 traditions. 
 
 He let her escape, he was entirely disturbed by the dis- 
 cussion, more so than by the event that had led up to it. 
 His egotism had been attacked, she had actually found fault 
 with his conduct. It was inconceivable. She left him on 
 the eve of becoming plaintive ; soon he would be talking of 
 " all he had done for his children." Perceiving the symptoms, 
 she escaped. What he had done for them was little more 
 than what they had compelled him. There had never been 
 any generosity in his giving. 
 
 But having reached the solitude of her own room, not 
 undisturbed by what had taken place and her own injudicious 
 outburst, her thoughts followed obstinately the line of the 
 argument she had used. Haverford was a fool and a sot ; 
 there was not one point except his lineage in which Dennis 
 Passiful was not his superior. What Lord Loughborough 
 professed, but disbelieved, had become a vital truth to 
 Diana. 
 
 Diana's bedroom was on the half landing, her bath-room 
 led out from it. They had been recently modernised ; now 
 the marble bath, the tiled walls and floor, the shower and 
 the spray were the last word in luxury. The bedroom, too, 
 had been refurnished for her on her return from Egypt. 
 She had felt the necessity of making her father's house into 
 a home ; and these were her mother's rooms that had been
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 301 
 
 given up to her. Some day she would marry Dolly ; his 
 constancy, her father's and Cosmo's urging, made it seem 
 inevitable just then, when her widowhood, and certain occur- 
 rences that succeeded it, found her a little frightened at her 
 freedom, and capacity for misusing it. She was not oblivious 
 of the comfort she enjoyed here ; there had always been a 
 sensuousness about her to which comfort appealed. India, 
 Egypt, and the innate asceticism of her husband, had starved 
 it, but now it was being well fed. The pink profusion of 
 upholstery and drapery, canopying the bed, clouding the 
 windows ; the satinwood of low wardrobes and wide toilet- 
 table, the gold mirrors and brushes, and cut-glass bottles; 
 the lawn and lace of the garments that hung ready for the 
 night, all these soothed her mood, insensibly influencing her 
 train of thought. 
 
 She undressed slowly. She was beautiful ; there was no 
 denying it, young, and with the desire of life. From the top 
 of her Greek head to the instep of her small foot there was not 
 a line nor a curve that failed to give her pleasure as they were 
 reflected from the mirror. She was slender, statue pale ; 
 through the fineness of the investing garments she saw nothing 
 that she would have had altered. And was she, such as she 
 was, to give herself to Haverford ? She recalled him, his narrow 
 head and the baldness of it, his retreating chin, loose mouth, 
 weak hands ; she resented the image, thrust it away. Instead 
 there came Dennis Passiful's fine and powerful proportions, 
 the shoulder against which her head had leaned. She had seen 
 the abandonment of passion, but never its restraint, had had 
 men's homage but never their reverence. She was only seven- 
 and-twenty. Was she to go all her life without knowing more 
 than selfish love, without tenderness and marital love, without 
 response ? From this man she could have all, everything. She 
 knew it, instinctively, but with an absolute sureness of know- 
 ledge that thrilled her as she felt it. And she? She could 
 give him . . . Like a flood it poured over her, the things she 
 could give him. And her nature was generous, she rejoiced in 
 the gifts she could give to a lover; she was wholly feminine,
 
 302 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 and generous ! Lover, or husband ! He might be free, and 
 at that her imagination leapt ! For if what Cosmo said was 
 true, if Dennis had an unfaithful wife, and would one day be 
 free, neither her father nor brothers, Haverford nor Dennis 
 himself need deter her from following her inclinations. That 
 'Dennis himself was an afterthought: he thought so highly 
 of her, he would not let her stoop. But would it be stooping ? 
 that was the question. A question of which she hardly doubted 
 the answer, so much had he affected her, so far in love with 
 him had she fallen. 
 
 They met the next day ; that was inevitable. He had to 
 hear what her father had said to her, and be sure that she had 
 forgiven him because he had kissed her. It seemed a little 
 incredible that he had kissed her and felt the response of her 
 lips. He was filled with doubts, and less happy than he had 
 ever been in his life. More excited, however, and intensely 
 alive. 
 
 After he had seen Diana ; the inevitable scene between them 
 interrupted by the Duchess and Irene ; he went to Tiffany's, 
 and bought Mabel a black ribbon bow, outlined in diamonds. 
 He resented the dull jet brooch that was part of her 
 sable tribute to Ted's memory. When he got home, earlier 
 than usual, and found her crying, he told her he could 
 not bear to see her looking so unhappy. His kindness and 
 thoughtfulness overwhelmed her, her gratitude choked in her 
 throat, bringing on more tears that trickled again and again 
 through a lugubrious dinner. 
 
 " I know I'm very selfish. I can't help thinking of poor Ted, 
 and father. Father is so unlike himself, I'm sure he is un- 
 happier than any of us know. He does not even care for the 
 theatre now ; he says it has brought him ill luck. Mr. Merritt 
 does all he can to rouse him, Fanny has been up too. How 
 kind of you to buy me such a beautiful mourning brooch ! " 
 
 She wept into the tepid soup, and at intervals until the 
 cornucopia was on the table. 
 
 Although she looked so dull in her garments of woe, and 
 moved about the house as if she were still at Ted's funeral, he
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 303 
 
 was conscious in the next few days of an increase of tenderness 
 for his wife, and a great desire for her happiness. He had the 
 same desire for Diana's. As for his own, in these days he 
 hardly knew which way it lay. He had excited nights, and 
 many restless hours. His panacea failed him. Although he 
 played squash racquets every morning at Lord's, taking as much 
 exercise as was possible, he was ever conscious of his body, 
 and concerned as to his condition. Turkish baths proved 
 another abortive experiment. 
 
 Some time or another, in every day, he was seeing Lady 
 Diana. Her talk stimulated, her beauty inflamed him ; his 
 blood had the fever of spring, running in his veins like sap in 
 the tree, unevenly, in sudden gushes. It seemed as if she was 
 beginning to depend on him, there was so much he could do 
 for her. Her affairs wanted putting in order. It was her 
 growing dependence that moved him to such desperate tender- 
 ness. So he thought, realising only now and then that it was 
 her downy skin or the black abundance of her hair, the way she 
 moved in her slenderness, or the witchery of her eyes, now 
 laughing and now soft, of her red lips, the clinging abandonment 
 of whicli he had once tasted. 
 
 It was difficult to interest himself in business, although it 
 was good under the circumstances to feel that the firm was 
 making money, always more money. Mr. DoUand was persis- 
 tent in pursuing treasure. 
 
 Diana had had no further discussion with her father. Lord 
 Loughborough concluded that his words, the moral attitude he 
 had adopted, had taken due effect. 
 
 One of Lord Haverford's places was a mere shooting-box. 
 Here, in these November days, he went with his prospective 
 father-in-law, in pursuit of late grouse and young pheasant. 
 Lord Loughborough was still a useful gun, and Denham poor 
 in covert. Practically, therefore, for Cosmo was little at home, 
 Diana had the Curzon Street house to herself, could deny 
 herself to callers without comment, receive whom she pleased. 
 She used her freedom to the uttermost limit, and afternoon 
 after afternoon Dennis sat with her in that beautiful drawing-
 
 304 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 room, talking poetry or prose, art or architecture. All the time 
 they were revealing to each other mutual tastes and emotions. 
 There were rare moments when those mutual tastes and 
 emotions found some short physical vent, when he would kiss 
 her hands, or once again her lips ; he was often on the brink 
 of discovery that friendship meant love, and love, friendship. 
 But the climax of neither was reached. 
 
 It pulsed about them, that climax, was always a danger, 
 but, to Diana, certainly an exhilarating possibility. It was as 
 if they were climbing a mountain for a view. Already they 
 saw wonders of sunset and sky, but to the full glory they had 
 not yet come. Dennis had no thought of what was beyond the 
 summit of the mountain, but the excitement of the climb was 
 telling on him. Diana was really better informed, although 
 never before had she attempted to climb such a high peak 
 as this one. 
 
 There came an evening when, although he had no vision of 
 the summit of the mountain, he no longer doubted that there 
 was a summit. 
 
 Diana sat alone in her own boudoir after dinner. Lord 
 Loughborough was still away, Cosmo out ; there was no 
 chance of disturbance. She was like a girl with her first love, 
 all doubt and fluctuation of emotion, but a woman, glowing 
 with expectancy and excitement in her knowledge of what 
 love meant, and the joys of it. 
 
 Dennis had never seen her in this room, among her own 
 familiar treasures and household gods. She wanted him to 
 see them, and to commend her taste, to know her here, where 
 she had made her home. Diana's boudoir was not crowded, 
 like the drawing-room, it lacked the tapestries of the dining- 
 room, the notable carved wood and painted Kitcats of the 
 library. The curtains were drawn, they were velvet curtains, 
 hanging in rich folds, concealing the windows. The recessed 
 fireplace had the big sofa in front of it, and all the chairs 
 were low and luxurious, many cushioned. On the grey walls 
 were eighteenth-century stipple engravings in colour, a set of 
 the "Cries of London," another of the "Months," " Laetitia "
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 305 
 
 as she traversed the road to ruin, " Lady Rushout " with her 
 daughter; "Mrs. Abingdon," the "St. James's Park" and its 
 companion ; a rich collection, hung low. A dwarf bookcase, 
 Chippendale, not unlike the one that made the feature of his 
 own study, ran round two sides of the room, and this was 
 crowded with Staffordshire pottery, quaint cottage, quainter 
 figures, shepherds and their flocks, milkmen and maids with 
 pails, tithe pieces, deer and other animals. There were no 
 fiowers in this room, and no signs of womanly needlework or 
 occupation, but many books, and, on half a dozen stands, 
 isolated, low and independent, were rare small Japanese 
 trees, hundreds of years old, in dark Nankeen pots or blue 
 pie-shaped dishes on infinitesimal feet. There were only 
 wall lights in the room, half of them were unlit and all 
 were shaded. From a wrought iron brazier in the corner an 
 oriental pastille distilled a subtle scent. 
 
 Hitherto Dennis had seen her in black or white, in simple 
 clothes. To-night the red of the soft satin that clung to her 
 slenderness was covered by some material, light as gossamer, 
 purple in colour, embroidered heavily with gold. It had the 
 excuse of looseness to call itself tea-gown, but her shoulders 
 and arms were undraped. The shaded lamps, the fire, seemed 
 to concentrate their light upon her, and against it her black 
 hair, her white skin, her radiant eyes, shone marvellously. The 
 vision of her standing in those clinging draperies to meet him 
 went suddenly to his head. Perhaps he, wdth his ardent eyes, 
 visible self-restraint, a little pale, went to hers. Anyway, 
 without a doubt, a pause, a w'onderment how they should greet 
 each other, the greeting had come to pass. If his lips at first 
 were timid, hers at least were responsive. 
 
 When they were seated, side by side on the sofa, neither of 
 them were in doubt that they had an overwhelming pleasure in 
 being thus together. Diana had not thought it possible she 
 could be feeling as she was feeling at this minute, so absorbed 
 and content, so expectant and yet so satisfied. Dennis did not 
 stay to analyse his feelings ; he only knew how excited he 
 was ; his pulses throbbing, his heart beating fast. 
 20
 
 3o6 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Then, all at once ; it does not matter how it came about ; 
 turn of head or neck, a movement or a stillness, eyes bright 
 or soft ; but he was suddenly moved beyond his strength, 
 and before he was aware found himself with his arms about 
 her, lying close, mouth to mouth, hot, and a little reckless. 
 He kissed and kissed again, she not rebuking. She was so 
 in love with him by this time, that she could not even feign 
 resistance, but lay in his arms, not supine, yielding rather, and 
 even more than he asked, so that he pressed his advantage, 
 adoring her ; and if he recollected that the body was a temple, 
 he forgot, almost, that it was a temple hallowed. 
 
 When they recalled themselves, it was to silence, silence 
 that lasted a long time. 
 
 And again it was he to whom reaction came. 
 
 " What are we to do ? I never dreamed of this. Diana I " 
 
 She nestled against him again, woman-warm with him, 
 enthralled. She had long known they loved each other. She 
 had known, too, of his slowness in coming to the truth, 
 rejoicing in it, for it proved he had loved no other woman in 
 this way. Many days and nights she had been living in sight 
 of this goal, giving play to her imagination. Once he realised 
 at what a pace this love would bear him and to what goal, 
 she never doubted of the end. Diana was hardly Diana with 
 such an uncomprehending lover. But to-night she was all 
 woman, and in her impatience to triumph over his scruples, 
 found herself without any. 
 
 " I did not know," he said again. And at that she laughed 
 a little low crooning laugh, and nestled in his arms. 
 
 The very retreat of him, of which she was even now sub- 
 conscious, and that she had felt in him always, made her the 
 more reckless. 
 
 " Isn't it wonderful ? " she whispered. 
 
 " Wonderful," he repeated, holding her fast, doubting 
 nevertheless, solacing himself with "what other fellows 
 did," bewildered, almost overcome. 
 
 Yet for all that had come, or might come to him, intrinsic- 
 ally, Dennis Passiful could not alter. "She did not know
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 307 
 
 to what she was tempting him," so he reasoned ; he had to 
 save her from herself and him. If he had the recklessness of 
 the hour and his rising passion, he had also reverence for her, 
 the amazing reverence of his ignorance. In the one breath he 
 murmured, "Darling," and in the next promised she should 
 never hear it from him again. 
 
 " Darling ! darling ! My God 1 I never thought it possible 
 I could love like this. I wouldn't hurt you, I wouldn't 
 wrong you ..." 
 
 And he released her, when she wished that he would hold 
 her more closely. 
 
 In the chill of this she felt what it was in him she had 
 to fight; how impossible it was to fight it. He was preux 
 chevalier, Bayard, Lancelot, "the Immaculate Exception," 
 everything that Cosmo had called him. She felt she hated 
 him, never wanted to see him again. Yet all her senses were 
 alert for him and she knew she had never cared for any other 
 man, and never could again. There was no other man in the 
 world for her but this one, against whose armour her weapons 
 had broken. 
 
 " If I were only free ! " That was what he said next. And 
 all at once she remembered, not what he would have her 
 forget, for that was unforgettable ; but what Cosmo had told 
 her of his married life, of his wife, and her lover. It was 
 impossible for her to look at him, and because her face 
 was averted, it was difficult for him to hear what she was 
 saying. 
 
 " But you don't really wish you were free ?" 
 
 " My God ! " Asseveration after that would have been weak. 
 
 " But you could be free, you could . ." This was whispered, 
 he could hardly hear it. 
 
 He could take the freedom of the temple ; that is what she 
 meant. He felt the flush and flood of his manhood drifting 
 back uncertainly on the ebb tide of his reverence for her. 
 
 " Darling ! " Again he sought her lips, but this time she 
 evaded him, with head still averted and the voice that was 
 almost inaudible.
 
 3o8 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " It is not as if you and your wife got on together. Your 
 wife does not need you," and she added, so low that the words 
 were as if they could never have fallen from her, " as I do." 
 
 He tightened his arms about her, saying, " Darling ! " and 
 " Darling ! " and " If I only dared ! " ignorant of where she was 
 leading him. 
 
 It was long before love talk became conversation, and it 
 was then, on the threshold of an understanding, they paused, 
 and misunderstood, each seeing the other through the magni- 
 fying and diminishing glasses of their different temperaments, 
 taking toll as they stood of love's bounty, never doubting it 
 was inexhaustible. She made him free of her lips and arms. 
 He forgot his marriage vows, but ever remembered them in 
 the forgetting : he was really intoxicated with her, and to 
 keep his senses alert was her way of telling him that she 
 forgave it. 
 
 When at length he got up from the sofa, and began to walk 
 about the room, saying incoherently that there had never 
 been in the history of the world so adorable a woman, and 
 even less clearly that he was ashamed, and that he hoped 
 she did not care for him, would never have to bear what he 
 was now bearing, they were both past reason. 
 
 " I think there is a way." This was Diana speaking. 
 
 Dennis was flushed and every pulse in his body was still 
 throbbing. She would sit through all love's feast with him, 
 a feast of which he hardly knew more than the name. He 
 knew this, she had made him know it. But it was her 
 innocence that offered it, her ignorance, and he dared not 
 take advantage of either. Yet the very folly and madness of 
 it, and her abandonment, endeared her, and if it came to him, 
 as well it might, that he was playing Joseph, he had no pride 
 in his part, shame rather, and the call of his manhood. 
 
 It was difficult when the time came to tear himself away. 
 But he wanted to be alone, to have space to think. He knew 
 the shifting world was crumbling and that there was no place 
 for his feet. She clung to him, made him promise, made him 
 swear that he would not leave her long without him.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 309 
 
 " Don't desert me, think lightly of me, despise me ; because 
 I have shown you my heart." 
 
 " But how could I, how could I ? " 
 
 His heart ran like water to her. Yet he was desperate to 
 get away, to get his footing again in this volcano of a world. 
 The last embrace ended abruptly, for it had come to this . . . 
 he could no longer trust himself.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 WHEN Dennis walked away from Curzon Street it was 
 very late and his mind was a swirl of emotions ; there 
 were dead things in it, as one sees in a pool with a swift under- 
 current. He walked and walked, trying not to remember, 
 trying to forget; the first hours were half a nightmare and 
 half an ecstasy. One has to remember the purity of his 
 early manhood and all its teachings. He had never been in 
 love before, never met a woman who had proved a temptation : 
 he had not only the dogma but the instinct of his faith. He 
 had not fallen, but he had stumbled, and he knew his feet 
 were still unsteady. It was not mere physical passion that 
 moved him, he could have fought that, for he understood it, 
 in a measure he had been armed against it from his youth 
 upward. This was more subtle. Here was companionship 
 offered him, and all his years he had been companionless ; 
 sympathy, and that was something he had only given, not 
 received ; love, and he had not known that a woman could 
 love a man in this way, with such surrender. Her welcoming 
 lips came back to him, but not more often than the words, 
 many of the words she had whispered in his ear. Something 
 of what tortured him was the belief that he had a gift for 
 her, a gift he must withhold. She needed what he could give, 
 an absolute comprehension, an understanding of her moods, 
 and strength to meet them. This is what he thought ; he 
 felt her weakness, saw himself as a bulwark against it. Her 
 willingness of surrender was a most poignant thing to him, 
 it kept recurring. He could not rid himself of it. It was 
 wonderful, and pitiful. It made him more of a man, putting 
 
 the responsibility on him to guard her from herself. He 
 
 310
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 311 
 
 never doubted but that with her, as it was with him, this 
 was the first, the only time, her heart had moved her. 
 
 And she was so beautiful. Again he felt the slenderness 
 of her, and the way she had clung to him, then grew hot 
 and so ashamed that he walked more swiftly, cursing himself 
 that he could not guard his thoughts. 
 
 Hour after hour passed. He was bent on mastering the 
 situation, getting clear as to the future. He could not let 
 himself drift any farther, could not afford to lose his self- 
 respect. The thought of what "other fellows " would do in 
 such case was no help to him. He knew so many things other 
 fellows had done that would nevertheless always be impossible 
 to him. Sometimes his own thoughts, his own doubts grew 
 incredible. Lady Diana Wayne, and himself! Great waves 
 of heat went over him at such moments. For the incredible 
 had been true, or so true that he dared not recall it. So the 
 hours passed. Walking helped him only by helping him to 
 fatigue ; he was footsore and weary, without power even of 
 self-reproach, when morning dawned. 
 
 He had been far afield, never heeding where he went, 
 but it was on Hampstead Heath he found himself when the 
 /grey, foggy dawn made something of light about him, touching 
 the heather to a ghostly pallor, and distant London to a 
 mystery of darkness where no man dwelt. Here around him 
 lay shadows, lifting, shifting, pallid and damp. Here on 
 the heath his father had loved, here he had worked and 
 dreamed dreams, perhaps, of fame or fortune, for wife or son 
 or both ; now that same son, with stumbling feet, drew near 
 to truth. The chill air was clean and sweet, and the heath 
 about him was his birthright ; he would not forswear it. 
 
 He must give it up, give it up before it was too late ; he 
 could not go on seeing her. She would forget him ; that 
 thought turned him a little sick. He would still be able to 
 do things for her, from the distance. That thought sustained 
 him. He would be faithful to his wife, to Mabel. Poor 
 Mabel, who deserved no less of him, gentle, unselfish, without 
 fault. He had given his word, his parole cThonneur. Now
 
 312 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 the heath was grey, cold and ghostly, and all the world was 
 a prison. He and Mabel ! All the thought of his wife's 
 good goodness could not emblazon her with the other's eyes 
 and hair ; eyes with the swift glances that came and went ; 
 fragrant hair, and the voice that swept his heart-strings like 
 music. He knew what he was putting aside, but knew he 
 could do no less, having given his word. Dennis's religion 
 was part of his youth, ineradicable ; he had given up many 
 of its forms, reason discarding what childhood had accepted 
 without reason ; but the spirit he had never discarded. 
 
 When he had come to his decision it was still too early in the 
 morning to go home. Always he had felt a mother-want about 
 the world, and now chilled all through, and tired, the need was 
 urgent. It was Ursula and Agatha who had tried their best that 
 he should never feel it ; and it was to the two old maids from the 
 Vicarage he turned in his exhaustion both of body and mind. 
 
 They were not far to seek. When their brother had wrecked 
 their home to save his own soul in the cloisters of the 
 Romanists, they had settled down in Church Row, that small 
 street of Georgian houses, where the peace of the centuries 
 broods over the trees planted in the centre, sacrilegious traffic 
 diverted elsewhere. Here was the home Ursula and Agatha 
 had made for themselves, decorous behind the dormer windows. 
 The little house was early astir, blinds were drawn up ; while 
 in black shawls, and the caps that they had never learnt to 
 keep straight, with willing hearts and chilled fingers, he found 
 the twin mothers of his boyhood, busy with their household 
 work. 
 
 He had no need to ring, for they saw him as he came up 
 the age-worn steps. It was not by any means the first time 
 he had come in the early morning. Many a summer day, when 
 cricket was claiming too many of his hours, and he feared lest 
 they should find him neglectful, he had gone there before 
 breakfast, to listen to their little troubles and tell of his 
 successes or reverses. They were always proud of the 
 Paightons having been a 'cricketing family,' telling old 
 stories, of which Dennis never showed signs of fatigue, of
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 313 
 
 averages, and anecdotes of other times. They knew every 
 club for which Dennis played, every score he made in the 
 season's matches. 
 
 This morning he came to them differently ; they knew it 
 before he spoke, having the mother instinct, all balked and 
 attenuated though it might be. What trouble ailed him, or 
 could ail him, Dennis, the prosperous, they knew not. Nor 
 was it for them to inquire, it was enough he had come there 
 for sympathy. They could only show it in their own way, in 
 an overwhelming solicitude for his creature comforts. He 
 said simply that he had been walking about all night : 
 
 "I thought you wouldn't mind my turning up so early. 
 I'm tired, and cold." 
 
 The fire in the dining-room was only just lit. Agatha went 
 on her knees to coax it ; Ursula summoned the maid, and 
 commanded that a hot bath should be instantly prepared. 
 Neither of them asked how it came about, though presently 
 they had him in the easy chair, his hands to the blaze, listen- 
 ing to the crackling of the wood which economical Agatha had 
 thrown on lavishly. 
 
 "A nice hot bath. And by the time you are out of it, 
 breakfast will be ready and this room thoroughly warm. I 
 shouldn't wonder if you had taken a chill." 
 
 And when he had gone upstairs at their bidding there was 
 quite a bustle and fuss about his breakfast; he must have 
 everything he liked best. The little maid was all alacrity in 
 helping them; as is the way sometimes with little maids, 
 when it is a liberal gentleman upon whom they have to wait. 
 
 " Don't hurry over your bath, there is a can of cold water 
 in the corner," one of them called after him, for they knew 
 his ways. 
 
 And then all was hurry and bustle to get hot rolls from 
 the baker, a kidney that could be enwrapped in bacon. There 
 must be eggs floating in cream, the mulberry preserve they 
 made themselves. It was delightful to see the happiness they 
 had in making these preparations. It was so little they could 
 do, but they were so eager to do it.
 
 314 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " He is in trouble," was what their eyes telegraphed to 
 each other. While Dennis was in his bath, and breakfast was 
 preparing, they made their silent guesses ; they had seen the 
 boy when Abe Abinger died, and when their brother's heart- 
 breaking resolution had been taken; they knew his silent 
 sensitiveness. 
 
 •' We must remember it is barely ten days since that poor 
 young Mr. Juxton passed away." 
 
 "And they were always such friends." 
 
 " Poor boy ! I wish we could have made scones." 
 
 That strain of the woman in Dennis at which his cricketing 
 friends never guessed, was not hidden from these two old maids. 
 
 He came down presently, already refreshed and grateful. 
 They found him looking strangely ill and harassed, but asked 
 no questions, plying him with food, scarcely tasting their own 
 breakfast, so eager were they to watch him do justice to his. 
 With his mouth full he said, as he had said so many times 
 before, that there was no one who could make coffee as they 
 did, that their way of cooking kidneys was a revelation, that 
 he could not understand why mulberry preserve had never 
 become a national dish. 
 
 They were very proud of his praise, deprecating it neverthe- 
 less. 
 
 "My dear boy, as if in your grand house with all those 
 servants you could not get a few mulberries preserved." 
 
 " Or an egg dished up in a little cream." 
 
 And then he heard the regrets about the scones. He told 
 them about the communal meals and how wearisome they had 
 become. It was surprising to learn that Mabel found them as 
 monotonous as he did, and enjoyed the aunts' cooking just as 
 much. 
 
 " She says that she always praises everything, and that you 
 seem satisfied. Poor Mabel ! She would have made such a 
 splendid housekeeper, she loves it all so, and the servants 
 would do anything for her. But she was so afraid of hurting 
 her father's feelings." 
 
 " It is a dreadful arrangement, I think. What are women
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 315 
 
 to do who have no housework to attend to ? Nothing but ge 
 into mischief. Not that Mabel would ever do that, Djar 
 Mabel ! But she would so love to have cooked for you." 
 
 It was true, in his heart he knew it was true. And during the 
 course of breakfast he heard more about Mabel's kindnesses 10 
 them. If Dennis was the son of this Uttle home, Mabel was 
 the daughter, never varying in affectionate attentions ; they 
 chorused her praises. He liked to hear it, for it seemed to 
 make that decision of his more definite and irrevocable. The 
 homing instinct that had brought him here was a true one, he 
 felt insensibly soothed, agreeing with them about Mabel, telling 
 them about her goodness to Fanny, and how her father leaned 
 upon her. He liked, too, telling them of these things ; it was 
 but justice to her, bare justice. 
 
 When the time came that he must leave them, kissing each 
 parchmented and wrinkled cheek, it was Ursula who found the 
 right word to say, although it was such a Httle word. 
 
 " We know you are in trouble ; " Ursula spoke for both ot 
 them. " My dear boy, it makes us happy you came to us." 
 And Agatha added softly, 
 
 " We can only give you sympathy ; you know where to 
 look for strength ! " 
 
 They would have liked more of his confidence, gentle souls 
 that they were. But they were satisfied when he answered, 
 quite simply, like the boy that he would always be to them : 
 
 " You are quite right. I am in trouble, but it is a trouble 
 that will pass. You have helped me, helped me more than 
 you know." 
 
 It was only possible to do right, or to do wrong. There 
 were no half-measures. His vows had been made to Mabel, 
 and he meant to keep them.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 FROM that bountiful breakfast in Church Row Dennis 
 took the Tube, and went straight to the office. His 
 faith in himself was restored. He meant to keep his marriage 
 vows; there would be no harm in being Diana's friend, 
 protector, everything but her lover. Even in the Tube and 
 with his resolution so fixed and irrevocable, he went hot and 
 cold at the word, at the mere vision it conjured up. 
 
 Bond Street was hardly awake ; there were rugs being 
 shaken in the street, a wandering water-cart, shutters idly taken 
 down, a sense that nine o'clock in Bond Street meant seven 
 o'clock elsewhere. This was the life of the West End, that 
 held high revelry late, and was not expected to be up betimes. 
 There was little or nothing he could do so early, only a few 
 letters and some catalogues to go through. 
 
 He had hardly entered the office, still wondering at the slow 
 idleness of the sleepy streets, when he heard the telephone 
 ring sharply. At first he thought he must have been mis- 
 taken. But it rang and rang again, persistently. There was 
 no one but himself to answer it, neither of the men had yet 
 put in an appearance, the boy who was taking down the 
 shutters was useless for such a purpose. He took up the 
 instrument : 
 
 "Are you there?" came through, "Are you there?" 
 
 " I'm here, yes. Who are you ? " 
 
 " Has Mr, Passiful come to the office yet ? " 
 
 " Who are you ? " 
 
 "I'm Mary. Are you Mr. Passiful, sir?" 
 
 "Yes. Anything wrong?" 
 
 "They've been telephoning from Fitzjohn's Avenue all 
 
 316
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 317 
 
 night. Mrs. Passiful was sent for late last evening, she left a 
 note for you, she's just rung up to know if you'd come home." 
 
 " But what's the matter ? " 
 
 "It's Mr. Juxton, sir; he's been taken ill, a sort of nervous 
 attack. He don't seem able to get out his words rightly." 
 
 He did not wait to hear more, but hung up the machine. 
 This was serious news. He had to wait some time before he 
 could obtain the Fitzjohn's Hall number. Then it was a 
 servant who answered the telephone and told him that 
 Mrs. Passiful was with Mr. Juxton at the moment, the doctor 
 had been and had gone again. There was to be a con- 
 sultation later on. Presently he was told that Mrs. Passiful 
 had sent word that if he was coming up to Fitzjohn's Avenue 
 she would like him to bring young Mrs. Juxton with him. 
 The car was already on its way to Bond Street. Those had 
 been Mrs. Passiful's orders as soon as she heard that he was 
 at the office, she could not come to the telephone herself. 
 In all her trouble, for that her father's illness would be serious 
 trouble to Mabel he had no doubt, she had been thoughtful 
 of him. 
 
 It was difficult to think of Amos as a sick man ; difficult 
 to divorce his mind from what obsessed him, and force it 
 into the contemplation of a new set of circumstances. 
 
 When the car arrived he questioned the man, but he had 
 come straight from the garage, and knew no more than him- 
 self. To fetch Fanny was distasteful, he had not seen her 
 since the argument over the racing accounts. She was not in 
 Grosvenor Street he knew. It took him a minute or two to 
 remember that she was staying with Margaret Lemon, and to 
 recall Margaret Lemon's address. Pouf-puffing up Berkeley 
 Street, and jumping hastily from the car, he almost ran into 
 Cosmo Merritt. Cosmo, before he had time to speak, 
 explained hurriedly that he had slept at the Bath Club. 
 Dennis had no interest in where Cosmo was sleeping, but 
 Cosmo had an undoubted curiosity to know what was the 
 meaning of Dennis's appearance at this unearthly hour outside 
 Margaret's flat. He was really concerned when he heard of
 
 3i8 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Amos's illness, genuinely concerned. He volunteered to go 
 and fetch Fanny and break the news to her. 
 
 Dennis stood beside the car while Cosmo went on his self- 
 imposed mission. Berkeley Street was not so backward as 
 Bond Street. There were signs of life at many an open 
 window, tradesmen's carts were delivering their goods, heavy 
 vans blocked the narrow roadway. Beyond, the leafless trees 
 in the Lansdowne garden seemed to set his thoughts free. 
 Amos's illness showed him again, if he had wanted to be 
 shown, that all of his duty stood between him and any . . . 
 "complication" was the word he had in his mind, and it was 
 a good one. His father-in-law had always trusted him, relied 
 upon him completely, as Mabel did. And their reliance was 
 justified; he was a strong man, not a weak one. If he 
 wavered, and who would not waver under such circumstances 
 as his ? in essentials he remained firm. Renunciation. There 
 was something in the sound of it that was big. He could not 
 contemplate subterfuge, and secret meetings ; it must be all, 
 or nothing. "AH" meant abandoning Mabel, and that could 
 not be thought of. 
 
 How sweet she was ! But he must not remember how 
 sweet she was. What would she think of him ? Surely 
 she would understand. They could still meet sometimes. 
 But could he trust himself? That was the problem, a 
 problem with which he wrestled whilst he waited for 
 Fanny in the early morning confusion of traffic in Berkeley 
 Street, and only the leafless trees made thought possible. 
 Of course he had to see her again, to-day, as soon as 
 possible. He must tell her. That flush came again 
 upon him, and before it had faded Fanny and Cosmo had 
 appeared, talking very earnestly. He heard Cosmo telling 
 Fanny she was to be very careful ; it changed the current of 
 his thoughts. The time had gone by when Dennis Passiful 
 could do without thinking. 
 
 Fanny was in the most expensive weeds, she had obviously 
 also made them as becoming as possible, the coquettish toque 
 with the line of white inside and the long fine streamers, the coat
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 319 
 
 of dull satin and black fur, was all of calculated impressiveness. 
 A week ago Mabel had feared lest in her remorse Fanny might 
 commit suicide ; she had confided her fears to her husband. 
 There was nothing suicidal about Fanny this morning. When 
 they had said good-bye to Cosmo, and were being driven up to 
 Hampstead, Dennis found her uncongenially cheerful, full of 
 queries as to the nature of Amos's illness, and whether he or 
 Mabel had sent for her. She disgusted him by wondering, 
 as if inconsequently, whether Amos was really as rich as 
 people said. She was bent on conciliating him, full of talk 
 about her visit and the ' smart ' men she had met at Mrs. 
 Lemon's flat. She effectively prevented him from indulging in 
 retrospection, he could see nothing but flamboyant weeds. 
 
 When he stopped the car at the foot of Fitzjohn's Avenue 
 Fanny complained that in her heavy cloak and long dress she 
 really could not walk up ; but he was peremptory that he would 
 not risk disturbing the invalid by letting the puffing car go 
 up to the house. Then they walked the little distance in 
 comparative silence, for Fanny was really embarrassed by her 
 rich clothes. 
 
 Mabel, scarcely recovered from her grief and fatigue at 
 Ted's bedside, nevertheless met them with cheerfulness. 
 
 " Dr. Lauder says we are not to be alarmed, it is not at all 
 serious, only nervous breakdown. Father was frightened about 
 himself, he would have you both sent for. Last night he 
 couldn't get out the right words, the words he wanted, it 
 was that frightened him. Dr. Lauder said it was only 
 '■aphasia,^ quite a well-known nervous symptom, not at all 
 dangerous; he is ever so much better this morning." She 
 kissed Fanny, and helped to unwrap her from her heavy 
 cloak. " And oh, Dennis, where were you last night ? I tried 
 everywhere to find you." She ran through the names of many 
 of his Club friends. " I tried everyone I could think of. I 
 never told Mary to go to bed until past one. Father didn't 
 want me to leave him. Mary says you didn't come home at 
 all, but of course that means she didn't hear you. You must 
 have been out again very early ! I rang up at seven."
 
 320 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 ** I breakfasted in Church Row." He was very short in his 
 answer, perhaps a trifle confused. Fanny gave a short laugh, 
 but Mabel was completely satisfied, completely unsuspicious. 
 She asked after the old ladies affectionately, saying it was 
 'so like' Dennis to have gone up to them. 
 
 It was Fanny, who, presently, when Mabel had gone 
 upstairs to see if her father would receive them, with an 
 engaging little moue began to rally him upon his nocturnal 
 absence from home. Pretty little Fanny had a coarsish little 
 mind. What she implied caused him to flush angrily, and to 
 answer her, perhaps, rather rudely. Mabel, running down with 
 the news that father was asleep again and not to be disturbed, 
 found them at loggerheads. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! I do wish you two would not quarrel ! At 
 such a time as this we ought all to keep together." 
 
 Fanny laughed again. Dennis began a furious sentence, but 
 stopped in time. Mabel was right, and what did it matter 
 what Fanny said or thought?
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 AMOS slept, or Amos was resting after his sleep, or there 
 was a consultation of doctors. His illness lost nothing' 
 of importance when he sent down word from time to time that 
 none of them were to leave the house, that he would see 
 Dennis as soon as possible, that it was urgent he should see 
 him. Dennis had his own affairs, private affairs, to attend to, 
 but how could he urge them ? Mabel said complacently that 
 it was fortunate Mr. Dolland was in town. Fanny put in 
 mischievously that perhaps it was not Bond Street only from 
 Vi'hich Dennis was being kept. To avoid her ill-timed humour 
 or curiosity, he went himself to the post office with a wire. 
 After last night, he could not leave Diana without a letter 
 or a message. 
 
 Detained i?i Hampstead. Father-in-law seriously ill. 
 
 In a way he was glad of the opportunity to put off that 
 inevitable renunciation, it gave him time, a breathing space. 
 He could not guess what would accrue from it. He need 
 not, either, have feared that Diana would remain in ignorance 
 of Amos Juxton's illness. The newspaper boys were crying 
 it in the streets as they sold the early second editions of 
 the papers. 
 
 Amos had suggested last night, with what speech was left 
 to him, that the Press should be early advised. There was 
 panic already at the Kemble Theatre, and all the morning 
 cabs were dashing up to the doors of the great house 
 in Fitzjohn's Avenue, with people imploring news, insisting 
 on interviews, demanding details. Poor Mabel was almost 
 run off her legs. And there was Roddy, too, to com- 
 
 21
 
 322 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 plicate her perplexities. Roddy dashed up to know what 
 was going to be done about the Kemble. 
 
 It seemed now that everything was wrong at the theatre. 
 Amos's nervous breakdown may have been due to the daily 
 and hourly calls there had been upon him for readjustment 
 of its affairs. The artistes were at loggerheads, the lighting, 
 the bars, the front and back of the house wanted attention ; 
 nothing ran smoothly. "Charles Auchester" was not playing 
 to empty benches, but it was playing to paper, and sparse 
 houses. There was money wanted, a great deal of money 
 apparently, to keep it going, to force the public to come 
 and see for themselves how venal was the press, how great 
 was Mr. Roderick Ainsworth. For that was what it came 
 to, as Roddy told it to Mabel this first morning of her 
 father's illness. There was hardly anything Roddy had not 
 wanted altered, from the composition of the chorus to the 
 decomposition of their costumes. In his anxiety for the 
 public morals Amos had had all the dresses 'too long,' 
 so Roddy said. He wanted new posters, and the town pla- 
 carded, sandwich-men, songs that had been cut out to be 
 replaced. 
 
 Amos apparently had not known how much money a theatre 
 could lose until the accounts came before him. Yet according 
 to Roddy Ainsworth the piece was being starved. Cosmo, on 
 the other hand, had already said that all that was wanted was 
 a new tenor ! Amos had hardly known what to think between 
 them, the atmosphere of the theatre was new to him, he 
 could not learn it as quickly as he had learned every other 
 enterprise with which he had been associated. His intelligence 
 was a ledger intelligence, and the personal element with which 
 he was confronted made the figures dance before his bewildered 
 eyes. Perhaps it was to this confusion he had succumbed, 
 
 "They will have to fight it out amongst them," he said to 
 Dr. Lauder querulously, v/hen he heard that both Roddy and 
 Cosmo Merritt were downstairs. Dr. Lauder saw no reason 
 why they should not, so long as his patient was left in peace. 
 
 Cosmo was in the drawing-room at the very moment Roddy
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 323 
 
 was bewildering Mabel by his queries, and the overwhelming 
 array of arguments with which she was to ply her father, 
 whether he was, or was not well enough to listen to them. 
 The house was practically pandemonium ; there were reporters 
 in the hall, delegates from Juxton's Limited, and every other 
 industry ; for there seemed as if there was none with which 
 Amos was not connected. 
 
 Amos, recovering from his fright about himself, under the 
 judicious treatment of Dr. Lauder, heard with satisfaction that 
 his " house was being run down." He explained to the nurses, 
 to the doctors called in consultation, even to his valet, that 
 when a man of his large enterprises was indisposed it was a 
 very serious matter, very serious indeed. He was beginning 
 to be pompous again. His illness had really been coming on 
 for some time ; ever since Ted's death he had found it difficult 
 to concentrate his thoughts, or to express them in words. 
 It was the failure of words that alarmed him, and made 
 him send hurriedly for Mabel and Dr. Lauder and give him- 
 self up for lost. That was last night. This morning, with 
 the assurance from Lauder that it was purely a nervous 
 phenomenon — "aphasia," which was new to him, and sounded 
 sufficiently important — not paralysis, nor apoplexy, which he 
 had feared, he was resigned to the complete "rest" that was 
 ordered him ; he was even already wondering how to get the 
 largest amount of indirect advertisement from it. He no 
 longer felt uneasy about his condition, but he had no idea of 
 allowing it to be made light of. 
 
 When at length Dennis was admitted to the bedroom, Amos, 
 his head high on the pillows of the panoplied bed, asked at 
 once if Dennis knew that he was very ill ; very ill indeed. 
 "When he wanted a towel, he had asked for his boots," 
 he quavered out. He had many instructions for his son-in- 
 law ; and once, inadvertently, he called him ' Ted ' ; then 
 recalling himself, said forlornly : 
 
 " I've only you to look to, my boy." 
 
 But it seemed to Dennis that he was making as much as 
 possible of his forlornness.
 
 324 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Dennis was to interview the Press agents, the men who 
 called on business, the troublesome theatre people. Mabel 
 could see all personal friends. Presently, when he was more 
 composed, Fanny could come up, and entertain him. But 
 there was a proviso that she was not to come up in mourning, 
 she was to put off her weeds for one day at least. The doctors 
 had said that he was suffering from ' nervous prostration ' as 
 well as aphasia, and nothing must be done that might increase 
 it. No one was to tell him anything that might distress him ; 
 all bad news was to be kept away. His pomposity really 
 increased enormously as the day went on, and he realised what 
 was expected of an invalid. 
 
 Dr. Lauder was quite satisfied with him under this aspect, 
 and the consultants did as consultants have dorie from time 
 immemorial. They had asked Dr. Lauder if he had anything 
 he wished them to say or do, and when he said, " No, nothing 
 at all," they talked about the weather and of golf, and having 
 signed an enigmatic bulletin which Dr. Lauder and Amos 
 prepared, they took their big fees and their departure. But 
 not without arranging to meet again to-morrow. 
 
 It was about two-thirty in the afternoon when Dennis had his 
 second interview with the invalid. Amos was now sitting up by 
 the big bow window that overlooked the garden, in a velvet smok- 
 ing-jacket and, for some inexplicable reason, a white waistcoat. 
 His feet were stretched out before him on a stool ; his hands 
 folded over his undiminished paunch. He looked like the 
 figure of the Chinese God of Plenty, more benignant even 
 than a Buddha; but his colour was pasty, the thin centre 
 parting of his hair thinner than before ; his tongue trembled 
 in his mouth when he spoke, and it was true that he frequently 
 used the wrong word. 
 
 '* I am not done yet : they'll see that when I get about again ; 
 it's only a temporary thing." 
 
 He said permanent when he meant temporary, but it is 
 unnecessary to reproduce the mistakes he made ; he was 
 easily comprehensible to his son-in-law, and when he had 
 closely interrogated him about every detail he added :
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 325 
 
 " I must not be worried about business, or the theatre, or 
 anything." 
 
 Dennis promised to do what he could to reUeve him, and 
 was detained for further instructions. It was past four o'clock 
 before he got away finally. 
 
 When at last he made his escape from the sick-room, and 
 ultimately from the house, he had a curious illusion. It must 
 have been an illusion. Amos had placed the motor a.t his 
 disposal, it was going swiftly, and Dennis's thoughts more swiftly 
 still. A vision of a face flashed past him, the one face, in 
 another motor. He might have been mistaken. Why should 
 she be here, in Fitzjohn's Avenue? It was absurd, impossible. 
 Amos had overwhelmed him with commissions, he had to go 
 here and there, and he knew that he must concentrate on 
 the matters in hand and leave other considerations to the 
 future. As he drove on, he did not think it wonderful he 
 should have had that illusion of seeing her pass him, his heart 
 was so full of her, and what he must say to her about parting. 
 It seemed to grow harder, not less hard. He had had so 
 little personal life, everything was sordid and commonplace 
 but this, and this he must give up. Now it was Amos's 
 commissions to which he must attend ; after that he must see 
 Dolland. Amos's affairs would prevent him from undertaking 
 that journey to Provence ; the tapestries must go ; even if they 
 must fall into the hands of Murray Straus. Dennis was very 
 sorry for himself as he was driven westward. 
 
 That face he had seen in the swiftly passing motor had been 
 no illusion. Amos Juxton was a public character, Diana's 
 brother's friend. Why should she not drive up to Hampstead, 
 and make a personal inquiry, leave a card, exhibit her sym- 
 pathy ? Perhaps she had a reservation, or expectation, of 
 seeing Dennis. After such an experience as theirs of last 
 night, and the dreams that had succeeded it, it was natural 
 she should wish to see him soon ; their intimacy was so 
 established. If she had to blush at the phrases into which 
 she put that for which there are no phrases, or none that a 
 woman may use even to herself, no one saw her blushes.
 
 326 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 A pity perhaps, she looked so exquisitely lovely when she 
 blushed. 
 
 She had meant to make an inquiry at the door, to leave a 
 card. The wild thought that she might see Dennis, or he her, 
 was barely formulated. Yet when the footman came back 
 with the message that Mr. Juxton was just the same, would 
 she please come in, she actually found herself descending 
 from the motor. Cosmo, sitting with Fanny in the drawing- 
 room, saw her drive up. Cosmo incautiously exclaimed : 
 
 " By God, it's Diana ! " 
 
 He was so startled that he forgot to be careful, putting a 
 strange weapon into hands cruel to use it. 
 
 " I am off, I don't want to meet her. It is that incredible 
 brother-in-law of yours supplying the petrol to the car. Extra- 
 ordinary ! " 
 
 Cosmo bolted, got out of the French windows into the garden, 
 and so from the house. Fanny lost no time in instructing the 
 man. He was to ask Lady Diana to come in, to say the family 
 were receiving, they preferred to tell the news about Mr. Juxton 
 themselves, he was to say anything that would make her 
 come in. Fanny was breathless and undignified. Fanny's 
 suburbanism survived all her changes of address. It would 
 be a great thing for her to receive an earl's daughter. 
 
 When Diana, a Httle surprised to find herself there, came 
 into the room, Fanny was an even greater surprise. 
 
 " How good of you to call ! " Fanny's gentility was again 
 at its high-water mark ; her hand was outstretched at the very 
 latest fashionable angle. " Do sit down." 
 
 To Lady Diana Wayne, Fanny's type was almost unknown, 
 and all her surroundings strange to her. Amos Juxton's 
 drawing-room was but a glorified edition of the one he had 
 prepared for Mabel. There were more cartoft pierre 
 pillars and pilasters, huge mirrors and modern academic 
 oil paintings, the upholstery was more florid, the gilt and 
 ormolu more pronounced. Diana could not but glance 
 around her ; it was all so extraordinarily unlike the drawing- 
 rooms of her friends. Fanny, too, \Yas unusual. The coloured
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 327 
 
 dress that, according to instructions, she had sent for before 
 visiting Amos, was of different shades of violet, it had a 
 profuse trimming of white beads, a trimming fashionable, even 
 ultra-fashionable, so Fanny had been assured, and that it had 
 emanated from Paris. Lady Diana, skilled somewhat in the 
 art of dtess, mentally labelled it as Vienna. It had elbow 
 sleeves, and showed Fanny's lean arms and cruel hands. 
 When she sat down Diana noticed the open-worked brown 
 stockings and shoes to match. Diana had sometimes idly 
 wondered who it was that read fashion papers and were guided 
 by "Answers to Correspondents" in dress columns. She 
 thought this must be it. It passed through her mind that 
 she would like to know what hat Fanny wore with this 
 costume. She surmised a turban, but in that she wronged 
 her. Fanny had had three enormous feathers dyed to 
 match the three violets in her dress, and wore them 
 proudly on a hat that had the dimensions of a cart- 
 wheel. She regretted the hat whilst Diana sat before her in 
 her dark and clinging draperies, the sable cape graceful on her 
 sloping shoulders. She knew she was unlike her visitor, but 
 the hat had been infallible. There were white coral beads, 
 too, that she might have worn. Fanny began to explain at 
 once why she was out of mourning, and that her toilette was 
 incomplete. 
 
 "You will be surprised to see me in colours ; of course this 
 dress is just put on anyhow " ; and she deprecated it, although 
 she was convinced of its style. " My father-in-law cannot 
 bear mourning even when he is well. Now that he is so bad 
 we all have to humour him." 
 
 " Is he really so ill ? I had hoped not ; that there was 
 some improvement ? Mr. Juxton is, you know perhaps, a great 
 friend of my brother's. He has collaborated with him. . ." 
 She paused ; it seemed to her she had somehow caught the 
 atmosphere of the house, or of Fanny. Why should she 
 explain or apologise for her presence here ? 
 
 " Oh, I know Cossy very well, very well indeed ! " 
 
 Fanny smiled enigmatically, and Diana all at once hated
 
 328 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 herself for having come here. She rose to go, although she 
 had only just sat down. But Fanny was quick in ordering tea. 
 Fanny's hospitality on this occasion, and in her father-in-law's 
 house, was overwhelming. She determined to improve this 
 opportunity of becoming acquainted with Cosmo's sister. 
 Lady Diana Wayne's anxiety to get away had no chance 
 against Fanny's determination. The battle of their wills was 
 over before the kettle had been brought in, and the small table, 
 laden with cakes. Perhaps Diana's resistance had not been 
 whole-hearted. Dennis's wire had said that he was here, at 
 any moment the door might open and he enter. Fanny 
 apologised for the absence of her sister-in-law, 
 
 "Mrs. Passiful is with her father? " Diana asked, she hoped 
 indifferently. She did not think she could face Dennis's wife, 
 just this afternoon, and talk social commonplaces to her, 
 treat her as if she were the wife of any other man. She kept 
 her eyes down, if there was embarrassment in them Fanny 
 could not see it ; if her face flushed she could hope that too 
 was invisible. 
 
 " Oh dear, no ! " Fanny's laugh was new to Diana ; it was 
 so unlike the laughter of other women, had no gaiety or 
 spontaneity in it, only malice. " Mabel isn't with her father, 
 Mabel is closeted with Roddy Ains worth in the library." The 
 implication was without disguise. Diana's flush faded to 
 pallor, and she was sick with disgust. Something of this story 
 at which Fanny was hinting she had heard from Cosmo, some 
 of it she had surmised. But this brought it so close. Again 
 she rose. 
 
 "I really must be going." 
 
 *' Oh, no, don't hurry away. The house is so dull, so 
 gloomy." 
 
 And Diana wanted to hear more. She hated herself for 
 wanting it, and Fanny for being so ready to gratify her, 
 but such hatred did not bear her from the room, on the 
 contrary it kept her where she was. But Fanny was wary 
 with her story, hardly believing that it could be of much 
 interest to her visitor, yet already jealous of the possi-
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 329 
 
 biiity of Dennis having made such a conquest; jealous and 
 incredulous. She sat down between Diana and the door, 
 cutting off retreat. Then without a moment's pause she plied 
 her visitor with cake and tea and high-toned gossip; she even 
 got in the Club, and something about Miss Jones, although it 
 was not to be expected Lady Diana would interest herself "in 
 such people." 
 
 Diana was stunned by the avalanche of talk and tea. She 
 knew she ought not to have come, she felt weak, and as if escape 
 was now impossible. There was always, however, the possibility 
 of the door opening, and of Dennis appearing. She answered 
 very little ; she had really no attention for what Fanny was 
 saying. It was not until there came a break in the questions of 
 whether she knew this person, or the other — the Club leaven 
 of people with whom she might be expected to be acquainted, 
 and whose acquaintance with herself Fanny wished at all 
 hazards to air — that she found herself listening again. 
 
 " Have you been to our theatre, the Kemble? I suppose 
 you have seen ' Charles Auchester ' ? " 
 
 With people of different social standing, question and 
 answer are the only means of intercourse. Fanny had not 
 grown beyond this elementary method. 
 
 " Were you there on the first night ? I suppose you 
 noticed how fiat Roddy Ainsworth was. Don't you think it is 
 a shame that she forced him on the piece ? " 
 
 Another of Fanny's methods of emerging from obscurity 
 was to call all the people she did not know by their first 
 names or abbreviations. After the unjustifiable " Roddy," she 
 ran through a few of the other performers, always in diminu- 
 tives, or nicknames. The "our theatre" and the nicknames, 
 would establish, at least, her intimacy with the stage, and even 
 that was better than her legitimate obscurity. 
 
 Diana was languid now, with her tea-cup and air of aloof- 
 ness, through which the other could not penetrate. But 
 she heard the name Roddy Ainsworth, and her wish to be 
 elsewhere had no activity. She repeated it, as if inquiringly. 
 
 " Ainsworth, Roderick Ainsworth ! The man who played
 
 330 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Seraphino ? Yes, I was there on the first night. I thought he 
 had rather a fine voice. A friend of your sister-in-law's, you 
 say?" 
 
 " Friend ! " Fanny laughed again. " Well, that's one name 
 for it ! " 
 
 Diana put down her tea-cup ; it is possible her hand was 
 not quite steady. She wanted Fanny to continue, although 
 she did not wish to make this obvious. And then her courage 
 came to her. She felt she had allowed herself to be intimi- 
 dated by this ill-bred little woman, to be overwhelmed by her 
 and kept against her will. Now she had an access of courage, 
 and a resumption of her personality. She looked at Fanny, 
 and said indifferently : 
 
 " How very interesting ! More than a friend ! How much 
 more ? " It was almost a note of intimacy, so Fanny thought. 
 Certainly it was the first moment in the interview that Cossy's 
 sister had shown any sign of life, of animation, of being 
 entertained by what Fanny still thought was rather a pretty 
 wit, a social capacity. Now she hinted at the same story with 
 which she had entertained Cossy, with smiles and knowing 
 glances, with expressive eyebrows, and movement of the 
 hands. 
 
 " He really is very good-looking, on the stage as well as off. 
 They knew each other very well when they were children. 
 When he came back from Australia," she laughed, and her 
 back was rounded as she bent forward, " they began to know 
 each other better." 
 
 "But she has a husband. I thought there was a Mr. 
 Passiful . . ?" 
 
 Diana was really ashamed of herself, but she was longing 
 for news of Dennis, even for the sound of his name. She was 
 all at sea as to what he was doing, she wanted to hear. 
 Fanny shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 "■ Oh, yes, she has a husband ! Husbands are proverbially 
 the last people to know what is going on. Dennis is blind, 
 or deaf, although I don't suppose he knows half as much as 
 I do."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 331 
 
 Diana knew she must get away from this horrid little 
 woman. 
 
 " How very dreadful ! " 
 
 She rose again and put out her gloved hand, she felt glad it 
 was gloved. 
 
 " What dreadful things you are telling me ! I really must 
 go now." 
 
 And then, because she really wanted to hear for certain that 
 Dennis's wife had no claim upon his consideration, that 
 neither his nor her conscience need reproach them, and 
 perhaps because it was the usual thing to say, and non- 
 committal, she added : 
 
 "You will come and see me one day, won't you ? " She did 
 not reckon upon the avidity with which Fanny pounced upon 
 the vague invitation. 
 
 Fanny was prompt to turn the general into the particular, 
 she had no idea of letting her opportunity slip. It was in her 
 best manner, her highest note, that she said, with the pump- 
 handle action of her hands : 
 
 " I should like to so much ! When is the best time to find 
 you ? Are you ever at home at lunch time ? " 
 
 Diana, taken aback, really off her guard, said : 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " 
 
 Fanny waited expectant, she had not even dropped her hand. 
 Fanny was a persistent Free Fooder, but this was more than 
 free food to her. It was Social Recognition, and from Cosmo's 
 sister ! 
 
 " I shall be in the West End to-morrow, will you be at home 
 to lunch to-morrow ? " 
 
 Diana was really nonplussed ; she could only say that 
 to-morrow would suit her very well, only wonder how she 
 could endure the woman, how she had endured her for the last 
 ten minutes. 
 
 And then, before she quite realised to what she had 
 committed herself, Fanny put the coping-stone on her 
 methods by asking if Lady Diana was going straight home. 
 Diana said "Yes" hurriedly. She thought the inquiry was
 
 332 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 preliminary to asking her to prolong her visit, to wait and see 
 Mabel or Dennis, she did not know her way about in this 
 social maze where she found herself. 
 
 "Well, would you mind waiting half a minute? It wouldn't 
 take me longer than that to get into my things. I want to 
 go to Grosvenor Street, if you wouldn't mind dropping me. 
 Both our cars are out . . ." 
 
 Fanny was breathless, the scheme had only just occurred 
 to her. She would be seen driving with Lady Diana Wayne, 
 she would be able to say : " When Lady Diana and I . . ." 
 In a flash she saw the establishment of her position at the Club. 
 She really dressed more quickly than she had ever done 
 since her childhood's days, when a ragged pinafore and a 
 sunbonnet had sufficed her. She was in all the pomp and 
 circumstance of her distinguished weeds when she found 
 herself by Lady Diana's side in the motor. 
 
 She sat well upright, hoping exceedingly that some of the 
 Juxtons' Hampstead friends would see her. She talked with 
 the utmost animation all the time they drove, delighted at the 
 thought of her position by Lady Diana's side, excited at the 
 prospect of the mischief she was making, wondering how she 
 could turn it best to her own advantage. 
 
 " Until to-morrow then," were her last words to Diana when 
 the car put her down, not at Grosvenor Street, she had altered 
 her mmd, but at Margaret's flat. " Until to-morrow." 
 
 Cosmo, however, was there before her. Cosmo was for the 
 moment a little depressed about his own prospects. He had 
 not been asked upstairs where Amos sat in state using his 
 wrong words pompously, and he believed in the exaggerated 
 newspaper reports of his condition. He believed Amos had 
 had a stroke and might have another. The way Fanny had 
 taken certain things for granted since Ted's death had given 
 him a permanent cold in his spine. So he told Margaret, 
 who had been his confidante for so long. 
 
 "She has a way of saying, 'I shall keep at least a year 
 for Ted,' that simply paralyses me." 
 
 Matrimony was not in his programme, not in any programme
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 333 
 
 he had devised for himself, but Fanny had the pertinacity of 
 the proverbial limpet. 
 
 " I see myself taken by the scruff of the neck and landed in 
 a registry office . ." 
 
 Margaret had cheered him. Still there was no doubt at the 
 moment that Cosmo's prospects were very uncertain, and 
 complicated by Amos's illness. "The Tale and the Type- 
 writer" was ready, but Amos might die, and there was no 
 contract nor agreement that would bind his executors. But 
 if Amos did die, against Cosmo's interests and with un- 
 paralleled selfishness, his fortune must go somewhere, and if 
 to Fanny . . . 
 
 " You simply could not do it, Cossy. She might take you 
 by the scruff of the neck, as you say, and land you in a registry 
 ofhce, but you would never say the responses. I suppose there 
 are responses in a registry office ? She won't get that million 
 or so of Amos's. I don't suppose he is going to die either. 
 The supposition is giving him indirect advertisement. I'm 
 sure I recognise his hand in the guarded announcements. If 
 she had any amount of millions you couldn't do it. You 
 recognise the Borgia in her as well as I do. It scares you, 
 it almost scares me. I want to get her out of the fiat. That 
 poor fellow did not die a natural death. I shouldn't like to 
 trust her with Amos's food or medicine bottles, if she knows 
 that she benefits from his will. No, Cossy, I am quite 
 wiUing to give you up, or share you. I have never been selfish 
 about you, have I ? But Fanny ! cattish, spiteful little Fanny, 
 with the Borgia hands, poor Ted's blood upon them . . ." 
 Margaret shuddered. 
 
 And that was the moment Fanny walked in upon them, 
 and was instantly, and strangely enough, for the first time, 
 conscious of their intimacy, that she herself was an intruder. 
 She was conscious of this, although Margaret was gracious, 
 and charming, still the admirable hostess ; although Cosmo 
 got up from the sofa on which he had been sitting with 
 Margaret, and moved to relieve her of her wraps. She stood 
 looking from one to another, the look poor Ted had known
 
 334 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 so well obliterating in a moment the good humour that her 
 drive, her invitation for the morrow, had brought her. She 
 turned yellow, and spoke hurriedly of headache. Margaret 
 may have guessed what ailed her ; Cosmo, for once, was more 
 obtuse. He asked how long his sister had stayed, and how 
 Fanny had been able to get away, whether she had seen Amos, 
 and what he had said to her. Fanny answered sullenly, but 
 for suUenness he read disappointment. He thought he could 
 guess how Diana would have treated Fanny. That his guess 
 was so wide of the mark was a secret he might have known 
 if she had not come in so unexpectedly, surprising him and 
 Margaret Lemon on such terms. All the feeling of which 
 Fanny was capable, other than spite and malice and pure evil, 
 was concentrated in Cosmo. At the moment she hated all 
 the world. 
 
 When, on the plea of headache, she was able to get away 
 from the two of them, and escape to her own room, her hatred 
 of everybody was at its height. She had only half believed 
 the story she had laughed over with Cossy, and told to his 
 sister because she thought it would please her. Now she made 
 herself beheve that it was true. And if it were true, Amos 
 ought to hear of it. Amos could not bear the shadow of a 
 scandal, he was always talking about the purity of the domestic 
 hearth. He should hear about Mabel, she would tell him 
 herself. He wouldn't leave his money to Mabel if he knew 
 the game she was playing with Roddy Ainsworth, who sang 
 flat, and was ruining the piece. When she had told Amos 
 he would shut the theatre. She thought of that because it 
 would punish Cosmo ; that was the revenge she would have 
 upon Cosmo. Fanny thought she could make her story good. 
 If there was really anything between Dennis and Cossy's sister, 
 as Cosmo had suggested, and of which Fanny could see 
 corroboration, Dennis would be glad to believe the tale so that 
 he could get rid of his wife. 
 
 And then Fanny began to think of what further part she 
 could take in the brew she was preparing ; and how she could 
 make it most beneficial to herself.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 EVER since Dennis's determination had been taken, it 
 had been weakening. A man doesn't care for his 
 body to remind him he has played Joseph. Many times in 
 that long day that he spent in attending to his father-in-law's 
 affairs, Dennis had had that experience. He had many a 
 flushing moment in which he felt that he was being a prig, and 
 that he would not have the strength of his convictions. 
 
 Diana, however, was not alone when he rushed into Curzon 
 Street for a moment, before going back to the Hall. The time 
 she could accord to Dennis was only sufficient for him to tell her 
 she was looking lovelier than ever, which happened to be true, 
 and to assure and reassure her hurriedly that she was wrong 
 in thinking he cared less for her than he had last night, or 
 thought less of her, all of which she contrived to ask him in 
 that interrupted minute. It would be impossible, impossible 
 that he could ever care less for her, because she had been so 
 good to him, so sweet. 
 
 And as he spoke he thought again he never could care 
 less for her, and that to give her up would be to tear his heart 
 up by the roots. He felt that strange pain of love. Then he 
 was obliged to leave, for she was living in a world of conven- 
 tions, just now among guests, and there was no chance of a 
 tete-a-tete. 
 
 " Only until to-morrow," she whispered to him as she bade 
 him good-bye. For it seemed now that she counted on seeing 
 him daily, that what had occurred last night bound them 
 both. To her at least no idea of renunciation had come. On 
 the contrary, what Fanny had told her, gave her a fresh 
 claim upon him. For since he had so bad a wife, this was 
 
 335
 
 336 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 her reasoning, it was for her to show him what a woman could be 
 to a man for whom she cared. If he could become free, nothing 
 should stand between them. She had come to that point ; she 
 was really in love with him, or perhaps with his forbearance. 
 
 The next morning she wrote to him, and he replied, as a 
 man must reply to a lady's letter, especially to a lady's love 
 letter, the more so when he reciprocates her feelings, and has 
 been awake half the night, aware of them, and weakening as 
 to the necessity of that renunciation that yesterday seemed 
 inevitable. He felt himself stronger than he had done then. 
 He had made too much of an unguarded moment. And, 
 after all, what Mabel did not know could not hurt her. This 
 was the form in which his newly found strength presented his 
 dilemma during the night. 
 
 In the morning he answered love letter with love letter, and 
 his was not the least warm. He would come round to her 
 this afternoon. She said that she might have " something to 
 tell him." Love's secrets are sweet, perhaps she had dreamed 
 of him as he of her ; he would hear in the afternoon. 
 
 At two o'clock that day Fanny went to lunch in Curzon Street.^ 
 Dennis knew nothing about this event ; Diana had had no time 
 to tell him. Cosmo and Lord Haverford arrived shortly after 
 Fanny, unexpectedly, but it was not an unusual circumstance 
 for them to come in at an hour when Diana was to be 
 found at home, and her father absent. Lord Loughborough 
 preferred his Club at midday. Diana found Fanny more 
 possible in her weeds than she had been in her brown and 
 beaded finery ; but she was quite glad when the others came 
 in. She knew that Dolly would not complain of her under- 
 breeding, and that Cossy was well acquainted with her. 
 Cosmo concealed in a way that did him credit his immeasur- 
 able amazement at seeing Fanny with his sister. 
 
 The lunch party went off better, though more surprisingly, 
 than Diana had anticipated. It astonished her, for instance, 
 to find that Fanny and Lord Haverford had met before, 
 apparently with some frequency ; it was Fanny who made this 
 apparent. And Dolly, notwithstanding that his cousin Diana
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 337 
 
 held his heart, and he wanted nothing so much as that she 
 should be his wife, was certainly not averse from being flirted 
 with by a pretty woman. 
 
 Fanny looked pretty to-day, Diana could afford to admit 
 it. The black garments with the decorous lawn collar and 
 cuffs, the little toque with its long streamers and white hne, 
 turned the yellows of her fair skin to a transparent, rather 
 charming pallor. She smiled often, showing her pretty teeth. 
 She purred at Diana, was delightfully arch with Haverford. 
 If she gave Cossy an occasional little tap with her claw, there 
 was no blood to be drawn from Cossy, and it served to 
 amuse the already exhilarated Haverford. Perhaps he was 
 not unwilling that Diana should see that there were women 
 who found him attractive. 
 
 Fanny's head was almost turned ; to find herself in such 
 society was something, but to find herself the centre of it was 
 intoxicating. She had no doubt she was the centre of it. 
 Lady Diana was very beautiful, but it was to her, to Fanny, 
 that Lord Haverford wanted to talk. She did not perceive 
 how little choice he had. She aired all those little distinctions 
 which marked her off from the common herd; ate nothing, 
 but played with an egg, discarding truffle and cream. Lord 
 Loughborough kept an excellent cook, and even an egg in 
 Curzon Street was a thing glorified and transfigured. Fanny 
 talked about pickles and salted almonds, said she never ate 
 anything else if she could help it. Haverford said she ought 
 to live on nectar and ambrosia ! Fanny showed her teeth again 
 at that, and said she didn't know where to get them. 
 
 "Were you surprised to hear I had called upon your 
 friends?" Diana asked Cossy, under cover of the amenities 
 the other two were exchanging. 
 
 "No, not exactly surprised," Cosmo answered coolly, first 
 emptying his glass deliberately, and then setting it down 
 with the observation that the governor had a fine taste in 
 port, and no one could complain of the champagne he laid 
 down, but this hock was an outrage. Diana would have 
 defended the hock, but Cosmo, rather pleased at the opening 
 22
 
 338 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 she had given him, went back to her former question. Of 
 course he had been astonished to find Fanny in his sister's 
 drawing-room, and more than displeased. Fanny had kept the 
 news from him, and for that he would reckon with her later. 
 
 "No, not exactly surprised! Perhaps a little disappointed. 
 I thought you were above that sort of thing. But surprised . . . 
 no. You would hardly believe it, but I, too, have been run 
 after by women." 
 
 She coloured hotly. 
 
 "What do you mean by that?" But she had little doubt 
 of his meaning. 
 
 " You don't really suppose your penchant for the good-looking 
 picture-dealer has escaped my fraternal eye ? Only I should 
 hardly have thought you would be so hot on the scent. Is he 
 really so captivating? I know that Hampstead maidens offer 
 him adoration, and in cricketing circles they call him ' the 
 school-girl's dream,' but you ! Get me some claret, Baines, 
 and see that it is warmed ; this hock is really undrinkable, it 
 accounts for the popularity of whisky and soda. I hope I 
 have not annoyed you," he added politely to Diana. " Of 
 course he is remarkably handsome, and of impeccable virtue. 
 You have found that out, haven't you ? " 
 
 He was annoying her, as he well knew ; and the last phrase 
 perhaps stung her most. She met it with a change of colour 
 that startled him, set him thinking. And with Cosmo thinking 
 was an intelligent process. He went on talking of Dennis, of 
 his success with suburban ladies. He quoted to her that some- 
 one had said he looked like a gentleman in his shop, and a shop- 
 walker out of it ; but she had no doubt as to the author of the 
 quotation, and that it was Cosmo's. He talked of his cricket, 
 admitting he was no flannelled fool, if something of an oaf. 
 
 She knew he was trying to put Dennis before her in a light 
 that belittled him ; he could not imagine how far the thing 
 had gone between them, or how much farther she was 
 prepared, even longing, to carry it. 
 
 It was after luncheon, when the two ladies sat together in 
 the drawing-room, for in some respects this was still an old-
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 339 
 
 fashioned house, that Fanny had her opportunity. If Diana 
 resented her, resented her presence there at all, and determined 
 it should be a unique occasion, she nevertheless listened 
 when Fanny led the conversation to Dennis, who, it ap- 
 peared, had told her of the Loughborough pictures. Tliis 
 was a random shot, but it had reached its mark. 
 
 "Would you care to see the drawings?" She wanted to 
 hear all Fanny had to say of the relations of Dennis with his 
 wife ; and she knew Fanny would tell her what she wanted to 
 hear. Women have a way of understanding each other in 
 these matters. But both of them feinted. 
 
 Fanny for the life of her could not have distinguished a 
 painting from an oleograph, a drawing from an aquatint, but 
 she positively gushed at the suggestion, and said how she 
 loved ' old things,' Diana drew her attention to Lord Lough- 
 borough's latest acquisition, the stippled full length of " Lady 
 Farren " that stood temporarily on an easel. 
 
 " How exquisite ! " Fanny exclaimed, and was safe, but 
 when she risked " I do think these old woodcuts are so 
 wonderful!" Diana gasped, and dropped the subject. 
 Positively it was she herself who gave the next lead, whilst 
 Fanny was cudgelling her little brain for a way to introduce 
 the one subject which they were both anxious to discuss. 
 
 "And how is 'Charles Auchester' going? You told me 
 you had an interest in it, didn't you, or in the theatre ? " 
 
 " I said my sister-in-law had a great interest in the leading 
 actor." 
 
 " Oh yes, that was it ; and how does the affair progress ? Is 
 her husband still acquiescent, and she enamoured ? " 
 
 "I don't know about his being still acquiescent. He 
 certainly takes advantage of his freedom." 
 
 "Freedom?" 
 
 Diana heard of the difficulty of finding him on the night 
 when Amos was taken ill. She asked the date carelessly. If 
 she flattered herself that she in no way changed countenance, 
 she gave Fanny less credit for sharpness of observation than 
 she deserved.
 
 340 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 So that night he had not gone home at all ! She pictured 
 him wandering again, as once he had told her he wandered, the 
 vision of her, as of the Holy Grail, leading him on, and ever 
 on. Her smile was quite unconscious. She had lost the 
 thread of Fanny's discourse, visioning him like this. When 
 she regained her hold upon it, Fanny was talking of the day she 
 had called in Hamilton Terrace and had been refused admit- 
 tance. The story gathered detail in the telling. If Diana 
 listened to it uncomfortably, she yet listened. It was of 
 course not really of moment to her what Dennis Passiful's wife 
 did or left undone. And yet she was glad to hear of Mabel's 
 supposed turpitude of conduct. Fanny had no scruples, she 
 made Mabel out very subtle and secret in her love affairs, and 
 appeared quite indignant as to the way Dennis and Amos were 
 being taken in. She felt she was making repayment for her 
 luncheon by entertaining her hostess with these matters. 
 
 But when the two men came up it seemed that she forgot 
 that Lady Diana was her hostess, and the courtesy that was 
 due to her. There was an almost immediate resumption of 
 somewhat gross badinage — flippancy, punctuated with laughter 
 — between her and Lord Haverford. She drew upon her 
 intimacy with Diana's brother, and called him Cosmo more 
 often than necessary. She almost forgot to be ladylike in the 
 exuberance of the success that she felt she was enjoying. 
 Dolly's familiar guffaw began to vex Diana. It was not because 
 he was her fiance, but because he was a fool, and her cousin, 
 that she resented his present behaviour, knowing nevertheless 
 it was partly due to her contempt, and in bravado. 
 
 *' Can't you take her away ? " she asked presently of Cosmo. 
 
 " I don't think you deserve that I should," Cosmo answered 
 in the same undertone. 
 
 She thought it better now to meet him on his own ground. 
 
 " And I thought I was doing such a nice sisterly thing. I 
 always understood you admired her." 
 
 Their eyes met in comprehension, but hers were full of 
 vexation. 
 
 "Was it really only Amos Juxton's money bags ?"
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 34i 
 
 "The governor will have to get him a knighthood. I've 
 never asked him for anything for myself. A knighthood for 
 Amos will cost nothing, can be easily managed, I should think. 
 There is Sir Moses Maher, and Sir Thomas Frumpton. One 
 more ennobled grocer will do the country no harm, make the 
 Liberal Government no more ridiculous than they are. ' Sir 
 Amos Juxton.' I must be able to bear him the news. Will 
 you ask my father ? " 
 
 Lord Haverford's laugh rang out again, he was rising to 
 Fanny's wiles like a tickled trout. 
 
 " Will you take her away ? " 
 
 " Will you ask for the knighthood ? " 
 
 "You'll give her up?" 
 
 "Come now, don't play the heavy sister; do you think I 
 am enjoying the exhibition she is making of herself?" 
 
 " But you must have seen her like this before." 
 
 "Not exactly." 
 
 It was true, he knew her well, of course ; she had served his 
 purpose, too. But he was intrinsically lazy, and it had been 
 easier to drift than to break off relations. Latterly it would 
 seem that she had misunderstood him, that she was prepared 
 to make difficulties. Nevertheless, and in spite of the fears 
 which he had confided to Margaret, he had not the slightest 
 doubt that he could deal with Fanny. She really rather nauseated 
 him to-day, but the feeling had been coming on for a long time. 
 
 He told her he was going her way, and would see her home. 
 She tossed her head and said that there was no doubt some one 
 would see her home ! This was " arch " and for Lord Haverford's 
 benefit. But half a glance from Diana's eyes had told Dolly 
 that he might stay. It was an impulse which prompted Diana 
 to show him the ghost of an encouragement, it was a wholly 
 unworthy impulse, for she could not condescend to compete 
 with a Fanny. She had all her work cut out to rid herself of 
 him presently, and thus got her deserts. 
 
 " How on earth did you manage to get my sister to invite 
 you to Curzon Street ? " was Cosmo's brutal comment, as he 
 found himself in the street with Fanny. He went on to tell her
 
 342 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 she had been a fool to make such a dead set at Haverford. 
 Cosmo was relentless in his present mood. He was really con- 
 cerned about his sister and Dennis, suspecting Fanny of having 
 intrigued in some way. With all Cosmo's unscrupulousness he 
 would never have introduced Fanny into his father's house. 
 
 " Perhaps you would Hke to know what Dolly said about you 
 after you had left the dining-room. He said you ' were an enter- 
 prising little filly, but a man would have to take care of himself, by 
 Jove, he would, if he was to get off cheap.' He said he was glad 
 it was me, and not him. He is not very grammatical, you know, 
 or perhaps you don't know. He went on to wonder how you'd 
 got there, and believed Di would be asking Trottie de Vere 
 next ; he said it was wonderful what Di could do if she liked. 
 * And she had sat there looking scornful, like a queen, carrying it 
 off before the servants, by Jove ! ' That Trottie de Vere manner 
 of yours is rather misleading, you know. Diana begged me to 
 take you away. I can't make out why you ever wanted to go 
 there. You must have known you would be a fish out of water." 
 
 It was cruel. Nobody but Cosmo could have done it. 
 For Fanny, as they walked away from the house, had been still 
 exhilarated and sure of the impression she had made. As 
 Cosmo spoke, her rage was Hke a wild beast within her, and 
 one over which there was no control. Little flecks of colour 
 came and went in her cheeks, and she let her beast speak, she 
 was past reason. 
 
 " You don't know anything about it. She will ask me again 
 and again. She is madly in love with Dennis, and wants him 
 to divorce his wife. She wants to hear all I can tell her 
 about Mabel and Roddy Ainsworth. Nobody but me can 
 prove it." 
 
 He was contemptuous. 
 
 " My dear girl, Diana is as serious about Passiful as Haver- 
 ford, or I, about you ! It is the family tradition to be to a 
 certain extent familiar with the lower orders. Passiful is by 
 way of being something of a lady-killer, I believe, and it is 
 possible my sister intends giving him a lesson. Nothing else 
 is possible. You've made a thorough little fool of yourself
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 343 
 
 this afternoon. Get back to Hampstead. Nurse Amos, play 
 with him, amuse him, that's about your best chance. He is 
 in a soft mood." 
 
 " If Amos knew what Mabel was about he wouldn't leave 
 her all that money." 
 
 " Oh ! that is the idea, is it ? Well, it is worthy of you ! I 
 thought the invention was for my sister's benefit. I see now 
 you want to turn it to your own. It doesn't make it any 
 less amazingly stupid. Don't plot, don't try to play the 
 female villain of a penny novelette, you have not the brain for 
 intrigue." 
 
 • " Dennis will be glad enough of the opportunity of getting 
 rid of Mabel. There is such a thing as evidence." 
 
 " False evidence. Yes, I know there is. And prosecution 
 for perjury. But it is a silly game for you to try to play. 
 You may like pickles, but you will find no flavour in skilly." 
 
 "It isn't false at all. They've been shut up together for 
 hours and hours; no one else admitted. I can tell you 
 when. I've got the dates, I remember them quite well. 
 They have had hundreds of opportunities. . ." 
 
 "You make me feel positively sick. What devils you 
 women can be to each other. And she is really fond of you, 
 1 believe ! " 
 
 Cosmo was really enraged, or he would hardly have been so 
 candid. His annoyance was not perhaps with Fanny alone, 
 but with Diana, for exposing herself to such a possibility 
 as the one of which Fanny was talking. Cosmo really 
 held the family honour dear, which was the most incon- 
 sistent thing about him. It was a great bore that Fanny 
 was staying with Margaret; he wanted to tell Margaret all 
 about it. 
 
 Before they got to the flat he asked Fanny how long she 
 intended staying there. 
 
 " You are rather in Margaret's way, you know. The 
 invitation was not indefinite." 
 
 " She can't turn me out." Fanny smiled. That Cosmo 
 resented her presence there, perhaps Margaret too, made it
 
 344 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 exquisitely humorous that she should remain on. She had 
 not recovered from the knouting she had had at Cosmo's 
 hands, was still smarting, but the wild beast of her past rage 
 had been suppressed ; now she could think of reprisal. But 
 again Cosmo was equal to the occasion. He took her to the 
 door of the Berkeley Street flat, giving the last flick with the 
 knout on the door-step. 
 
 " She can't turn you out, quite true, she admits that. But 
 she can go away herself. As a matter of fact we are starting 
 for the Riviera on Saturday ; she is shutting up the flat." 
 
 " We ! " Fanny repeated it ; the last flick had drawn 
 blood, and she showed it plainly. 
 
 " You don't suppose I shall let her go alone, do you? " He 
 raised his hat and was gone, leaving her standing on the door- 
 step, with what feelings ma'y be imagined.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 DIANA had some difficulty in getting rid of Dolly, who 
 was first affectionate, and then plaintive, full of the 
 way she treated him. But when she suggested that he might 
 console himself with Mrs. Juxton he almost wept. 
 
 " But surely you were getting on very well ? " 
 
 "You wouldn't look at me." 
 
 "So you looked at her?" He turned half sulky at her 
 raillery. 
 
 " She is a dashed pretty little woman." 
 
 "That is just what I think, and of the chorus girl type. 
 It will not be difficult for you to keep up to her conversational 
 level." 
 
 " You're laughing at me." 
 
 " Laughing ! I never was farther from it in my life. I'm 
 completely serious. I think you would suit each other 
 admirably. She has what I believe you men call a ' coming 
 on ' disposition. Your complaint of me is that I have not." 
 
 " You know, Di," he was almost solemn, the port had 
 affected him and he had now a vague sense of injury, "you 
 aren't behaving well to me, not at all well. You put me 
 off, and put me off. . . ." 
 
 It could not be long now before Dennis came. Diana had 
 told him she would be free in the afternoon. 
 
 " I shall put you off altogether one of these days," she said 
 lightly. "Particularly if you pay such long visits." She put 
 out her hand in farewell. He attempted a caress. She shook 
 herself free with something more than impatience. She was 
 hardly ready to burn her boats, and yet an embrace from him 
 was an outrage to her in her present mood. 
 
 345
 
 346 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " Don't do that, you know how I hate it." 
 
 " I believe sometimes you hate me," he said, but as if it 
 were impossible. It was another ten minutes before she had 
 rid herself of him. 
 
 "I believe you women spend more than half your time 
 with your dressmakers," was his parting shot. 
 
 " And how will you enjoy paying for the result ? " was her 
 cynical rejoinder. He came back to tell her that there was 
 nothing he would not like to give her, and so made her 
 remorseful. For although it was proverbial that Dolly was 
 a httle close, the settlements he had proposed were more than 
 liberal. Custom made him less obnoxious to her than he was 
 to most people. She could even afford to be sorry for him, 
 whilst she waited for her lover, contrasting them in her mind. 
 
 Nothing Cosmo said had moved her. Neither the Gallery 
 in Bond Street nor the cricket-field made Dennis Passiful 
 anything but what she knew him. When he was not with her 
 she counted the hours till their next meeting. To-day she had 
 so much to tell him. Perhaps he did not know. As Cosmo 
 said, husbands never know. Perhaps she would tell him. 
 She had no definite intention ; but she liked to think of him 
 as free, and there for her acceptance. 
 
 He came in, not less attractive than she saw him in 
 his absence, but more, and moving her always. He was not 
 her lover, but she was in love with him. As for him, he was 
 still seeking the middle course, to give her up, and yet to 
 retain her. His manhood leapt to her, but there was some- 
 thing more than his manhood at stake. They met this after- 
 noon as if he had never determined to give her up, never used 
 that big word "renunciation," never remembered his duty to 
 his wife, \i\s parole d'hoftneur. They kissed and kissed again. 
 All that he was conscious of momentarily was his desire 
 for her hands and yielding lips, the slender form and 
 nestling warmth of her, the murmur in his ear, and cooing 
 voice with its broken words. If a man be thirsty, water 
 or wine to his hand, he must fain drink. He drank, and then 
 again, of her lips. And he had to tell her that she was in
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 347 
 
 his heart of hearts, for once, for always, that he would never 
 forget what she had given, or offered, he was hers for ever and 
 at all times to command. There was a bond between them, 
 even if their lives must be lived separate. 
 
 When he had drunk of her lips, he moved away, to the 
 mantelpiece. 
 
 They had so much in common, were such good companions. 
 It was her mind he loved, so alert, and ready to meet his ; 
 her soul, so transparent through the radiant hazel of her eyes ; 
 her child heart, generous in giving and forgiving; her im- 
 pulsiveness. He knew he could trust himself to take no 
 advantage of these things ; knew it all the time he was doubt- 
 ing it. Surely the spirit in him was stronger than the flesh ; 
 all his life's teaching could not have gone for nothing. He 
 said something now, a little incoherently, about " playing the 
 game." The phrase and his attitude made a shiver of doubt 
 run through her. He was so different from all the men she had 
 ever known ; the gallant soldiers who had sought her favours. 
 After he had got out that phrase he had been shocked at it 
 himself, growing red and ashamed. It seemed to him all at once 
 he had misunderstood everything ; it was no trial of his strength 
 that was coming. She could not care for him like that, it was not 
 the way of women . . his thoughts were incoherent as his words. 
 
 " Playing the game ! What do you mean by playing the 
 game?" she asked him. She made room again for him 
 beside her on the sofa, as she had done the first night they 
 had been here together. The thin lobe of her ear was prettier 
 than anything he had ever seen, and it lay so near his lips. 
 
 " Is that ' playing the game ' ? " she asked, and smiled into 
 his eyes. He forgot for the next few minutes what it had 
 meant. Then it was time for them to talk. She nestled to 
 him, it was wonderful she should do that. 
 
 " You really do care for me ? " 
 
 " Rather I " and she was sufficiently besotted with him at 
 the moment to find the word eloquent. 
 
 " You will come and see me every day ? " 
 
 " When I can."
 
 348 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " Whether you can or not." 
 
 It was lovely of her to want him. 
 
 "You know I am so awfully busy just now," he said 
 awkwardly. After all there were certain things he must tell 
 her. " My father-in-law depends upon me, and he has had 
 a bad breakdown. Then there is my wife ; there is Mabel. 
 It is not as if I were a free man . . " 
 
 She played with the lapel of his coat, no one had ever done 
 that to him before. It was difficult to keep his blood from 
 rising, and the position clear. 
 
 " You could be free." 
 
 " Not a chance. I am bound, gagged, imprisoned." Margaret 
 Lemon's words recurred, he was almost bitter. 
 
 " But would you be free if you could ? " 
 
 "What do you think?" It was natural that his arm should 
 be round her. 
 
 " Then you would have wanted to marry me ? " 
 
 " Wouldn't I ? " The arm tightened. 
 
 " Let us talk about it." She settled against him luxuriously. 
 
 They talked about it, playing the 'if game. 'If he 
 were free what would he say to her? He was not slow in 
 saying it. 
 
 "And if I said 'Yes,' what would you do?" 
 
 She repulsed him gently when he would have shown her, and 
 declared that what she meant was what would he have said to her 
 father ? And then, more seriously, she spoke of what their future 
 would have been. Family opposition to encounter, but no 
 failure of courage on her part. She drew a picture, or a sketch, 
 of their life together. Then they were at love's dalliance 
 again. 
 
 " Oh Diana ! " and " Darling ! " and " If it could only be ! " 
 were things he said or sighed more than once. 
 
 That she would have taken him for her husband, wanted 
 him for her husband, was wonderful. She could have been 
 of use to him, she said. Politics was the only career for a 
 rich man, and the moment had come when there was im- 
 perative call for a man to save the country, show where it
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 349 
 
 was drifting, redeem it from the sordid Socialism for which 
 the tactics of her father's party were responsible. 
 
 He was not without ambition, and she inspired it ; hot blood, 
 and she fired it. She was so lovely, vibrant, and so near him ! 
 On her lips the impossible became possible. Something 
 might happen ; they could wait. No two people had ever 
 cared for each other like this. He did not stop to think what 
 could happen, what must happen before such a thing could 
 come to pass. What a marriage theirs would have been, a 
 marriage of hearts and intellects. Such marriages take place 
 now and again, surely, strengthening the whole foundations of 
 the institution. If he had only been free .... 
 
 Then, quite gently, but without doubt that she was justified, 
 she began to talk to him about Mabel. She had not even as 
 yet made up her mind what she should do when the natural 
 consequence of her telling came about. It would, after all, 
 be marrying out of her class. Her own world would be 
 horrified. What Cosmo and her father would say she could 
 not even contemplate. Notwithstanding what she had said 
 to her father, she knew the advantages of the Haverford 
 marriage. She had by no means made up her mind, but she 
 wished to know his. 
 
 " You couldhc free ; you could, of course, divorce your wife." 
 
 At first he was astonished, not believing his ears, incredulous 
 that he had heard aright, thinking at first she meant that 
 Mabel could divorce him. But she made it clear ; she went on : 
 
 " It was Cosmo who first told me about it." 
 
 " Cosmo ! What could he have told you ? You must have 
 misunderstood him. Mabel ! " and when he spoke his wife's 
 name he got up from the sofa. " You must have misunder- 
 stood him," he said again, agitatedly. 
 
 "But no. He said you knew nothing about it, that 
 husbands never know." She repeated something Fanny had 
 told her. 
 
 There was a flush upon his forehead, and every thought ot 
 Diana and her loveliness left his mind. Mabel — that Mabel's 
 name should be used in this way, her reputation threatened !
 
 350 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 The heat in his blood was different now, and more generous. 
 He was overwhelmed with sudden anger, or shame. That he 
 should have to defend his wife to Diana ! Shame, or stammer- 
 ing rage, overwhelmed him. Mabel's sheer goodness, the blame- 
 lessness of her unselfish days ! It was he who had brought 
 this upon her ; he was ashamed. 
 
 When he could command his voice he began to tell Diana 
 something of what Mabel was. He did not want to speak of 
 her here and now, but he had to make Diana understand. He 
 was exasperated when he found he could not easily or quickly 
 make her understand. She either would not, or could not, see 
 that such a charge was incredible, impossible. She repeated 
 what Cosmo had said, that "husbands never knew," she 
 brought forth some of Fanny's evidence, not as if Fanny 
 had given it to her, but as if she had heard it from 
 various and outside sources, as if it were well known, 
 incontrovertible. 
 
 " She made her father take a theatre for him, put on his 
 play." 
 
 "But I assure you . . ." his voice failed, for he had no 
 words strong enough to use. The blood was beating in his 
 ears, and confusing his head, not his faith nor his judgment, but 
 his capacity of expressing them. 
 
 When Diana saw that he was really overwhelmed by 
 what she had told him, completely ignorant, and unwilling to 
 believe, she felt a chill of premonition, she felt as if her own 
 supremacy with him was in jeopardy. 
 
 "You will not believe anything against your wife," she said 
 passionately. "You think she is so much better than I am. 
 She would never have a lover." She broke down, the tears 
 in her eyes and voice brought his reluctant feet back to her. 
 
 " It is not that at all. I wish I could make you know how I 
 think of you. But you must understand how impossible this 
 story is about my wife ; I mtist make you understand." " My 
 wife/" — he said the words again and was conscious of the 
 tenderness in his heart : "My wife is the most loyal, gentle, 
 faithful . ." He could not go on.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 351 
 
 " You care for her more than you do for me." 
 
 He was quick in contradiction, but amazingly and suddenly 
 uncertain of the nature of his own feelings. He could 
 not hear Mabel maligned, he found it unbearable. Before 
 he recognised his change of mood Diana's lovely face was 
 turned swiftly towards him, her radiant eyes soft and humid. 
 
 "That is not true . . I know it is not true. But I cannot 
 bear to hear you defend her. We won't talk of it any more. 
 We will talk again about ourselves, about what we would have 
 done if it could have been true. You like talking of that, 
 don't you? Let us play, let us pretend. Where should we 
 have gone for our honeymoon ? " 
 
 She put forth all her powers, and they were not few. The 
 appeal of her love, the appeal of her beauty and femininity, were 
 brought to bear. She would sit through all love's feast with 
 him, a feast of which he hardly knew more than the name. He 
 knew this, she made him know it. But the very folly and mad- 
 ness of it, and her abandonment, caught him, and for a moment 
 he went mad too, and his convictions, conscience, early teaching 
 were shifting sand before the waves she spent upon him. 
 
 It was true that love was everything, the institution of 
 marriage nothing. And then she murmured again of what 
 marriage between them would mean ; such a marriage as 
 had never been known ; they would be lovers, and com- 
 panions. She said here a word, and there a word, that 
 inflamed him, said them in his ear as she leant against him. 
 She had been a wife, knew men, and how to arouse them. 
 His defence of his wife, and some coldness she had perhaps 
 always felt in him, made her reckless. She wa?ited to be his 
 wife, to "lie upon his heart." This was among the things 
 she said. It was when he was aflame, outside himself, and 
 beyond reason, she asked him again : 
 
 " Would you be free if you could ? " And at that moment 
 he thought that freedom was his greatest need. 
 
 "You know I would." 
 
 She panted against him, her lips on his ear, and her scented 
 hair against his cheek ; he felt the quiver of her.
 
 352 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " You could, you could." 
 
 She whispered to him that it was only because she had known 
 that his wife had a lover, that he was morally, if no other way, 
 free, that she had been as she had with him. He felt her whole 
 soul in this avowal, but he felt too the warmth that surged 
 through her as she made it. He did not know how he could 
 persuade her that she had been deceived. Then he heard her 
 story of how people had been refused admission in Hamilton 
 Terrace, how his wife and the actor had sat hour after hour in the 
 studio, no one allowed to break in upon them. He listened, but 
 in listening, revolted. Only in his mind. His body, weaken- 
 ing, was conscious of a wish that it were true, a vague rootless 
 wish. He wanted to be free from his parole d'honnetir, if 
 only to-day, for this one afternoon. She went on; another 
 story or two of Fanny's came back to her, and she repeated 
 them. They would bear different interpretations, Dennis 
 said. He begged her to discontinue the subject, put it 
 away from her. He had to defend Mabel, but was agitated 
 over it, for it was against himself he was defending her, and 
 it was of this defence he was full as the spell of Diana's 
 nearness deepened. It seemed so difficult to convey Mabel 
 to Diana without disparaging her. Mabel was not the woman 
 
 for amorous dalliance he had not known how he 
 
 should say this. So he held Diana close to him, and said 
 nothing. 
 
 "Because you don't believe that what I have told you is 
 true, it does not mean that it is false. And even if, if it isn't 
 all true, it is true enough for the law . ." 
 
 " Oh ! Hush ! Hush ! I can't bear this. . ." 
 
 "Can't bear me against you?" She cooed it, and in an 
 instant his answer was hot on her lips. 
 
 "What does it matter how true it is?" she went on, when he 
 allowed her to speak, for by now she was beginning to be 
 dissatisfied with his lack of response. "There is corrobora- 
 tion, quite enough to free you." 
 
 " But Mabel is the best woman in the world, the most loyal, 
 faithful, unselfish . ."
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 353 
 
 That was in his mind, but he could not say it. He was 
 ashamed that he could not say it. 
 
 " If one of us must be sacrificed, is it to be me ? " 
 
 This was after another interlude in which he forgot Mabel, 
 himself, everything, except that he had never before held a 
 beautiful woman in his arms, and heard her pleading to him. 
 There were even tears in her voice when she pleaded. She 
 loved him then, she loved him, it was impossible to let her go. 
 
 "You will act as if you believe it true?" she asked him 
 again. " We can be everything, everything to each other, when 
 you are free." She was bewildering and beautifully ashamed 
 of what more she would give him when he was free, hiding 
 her face against him. He could not bear to see her pride so 
 abased, promising her in a breath, all, everything she asked ; 
 he would live only for her. 
 
 After all Roddy might care for Mabel, Mabel mightho. wiUing 
 . . . but the wild thought had passed almost before it had come. 
 
 It was when they were both cooler, when it was really time 
 for him to go, that he was conscious how she had understood, 
 or misunderstood him. She asked him when he would be 
 seeing his lawyer, and it was as a douche of cold water. She 
 said that she was sure there was enough evidence against 
 Mabel to convince a jury ! 
 
 He was not out of the house before Mabel's image had 
 displaced her own. Whatever were his feelings for Diana, 
 and they had left him momentarily without a guard, they 
 could not make him think this a possible way to gain her. 
 Mabel needed no defence, yet at the very moment when, torn 
 with desire, and new to its strength, he had become aware 
 that she was being attacked, it was borne in upon him over- 
 whelmingly how secure she was in the stronghold of his heart. 
 And at the end of the interview, when Diana had said that 
 he should anyway act as if he believed the story were true, the 
 spell of his enthralment was broken. He hardly realised it yet, 
 for a man is slow to realise that his first passion is not his last, 
 and that it can be scotched so easily. But he knew that he 
 would defend his wife. 
 
 23
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 AND if he had been unsure before, Mabel herself would 
 that night have convinced him. 
 
 He had steadied down before he got home, it was a purely 
 physical emotion that had shaken him, and the hold weakened 
 as he walked. His conscience had reproached him before 
 this, but he had not before felt degraded by what he was 
 doing. Before this afternoon Diana had been a goddess, 
 an inspiration, something higher than himself, to which he 
 aspired, and lay earthbound from its attainment. No mani- 
 festation of her love for him would have altered this attitude. 
 That it was altered was due to another cause. He beUeved he 
 had convinced her that Mabel was incapable of the conduct 
 . attributed to her ; he had no difficulty now in tracing the 
 whole story to Fanny. He remembered the scene in the 
 library, the words she had spoken. 
 
 But having, as he thought, convinced Diana of its untruth, 
 she had still persisted that he should act as if he believed it ! 
 It was not possible for Dennis Passiful to love a woman whom 
 he could no longer respect, nor to become enmeshed in a 
 passion that had not love to enrich it. Diana's hold had 
 weakened, weakened irrevocably, although as yet he hardly 
 knew it himself, and had still to suffer. Emotion, tbat nervous 
 and excitable horse, could never now leap the barrier of his 
 conscience; already it had bucked, and nearly thrown him. 
 Now it was broken-winded. 
 
 She had talked of evidence, evidence, against Mabel, whom 
 he had sworn to cherish and protect, whom he knew to be 
 innocency itself. Diana had said: "Someone must be sacri- 
 
 354
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 355 
 
 ficed." But why should it be Mabel ? He knew quite well 
 that this thing asked of him he could never do. 
 
 First he would have to settle with Fanny, shut her venomous 
 mouth. If necessary, he must appeal to Amos. 
 
 It was unfortunate that he should have sought Fanny so 
 soon after that castigation she had received at Cosmo's hands, 
 but he knew he would have been unable to sleep that night 
 if he had made no effort on Mabel's behalf, or let the lying 
 story have another hour's unchecked growth. 
 
 Fanny, fresh from Cosmo's announcement that he was 
 leaving for the Riviera with Margaret Lemon, had been un- 
 able to restrain herself from challenging Margaret. And the 
 stormy interview, stormy on Fanny's side, but very cool and 
 amused on that of Margaret, had ended in Fanny's packing 
 up, and removing to an adjacent hotel. There Dennis found 
 her, barely an hour after her departure from the flat. But 
 even that hour had been fruitful of mischief. It was strange 
 that it was not against Margaret her anger was directed. Nor 
 quite against Cosmo. Her vanity was so colossal, the thick- 
 ness of her moral skin so great, that she could not really 
 believe Cosmo meant to break away from her completely. 
 She was most bitter about Mabel, of whom everybody spoke 
 so well, who would inherit Amos's millions, who was thought 
 such a saint by Dennis and Cosmo and everybody, although 
 she spent hours alone with a man, a man of whom she was 
 admittedly fond. Fanny thought she still had Amos's ear, 
 and that she would be able to influence him. She intended 
 to show Cosmo her power. If Amos knew what the world 
 was saying about Mabel and the leading tenor, he would shut 
 the theatre. The scandal might spread to Cosmo's sister. 
 It was all in her hands, in Fanny's hands ; she would show 
 Cosmo what she could do if he drove her to it. 
 
 She had not even gone up to see her room, but had directed 
 that the trunks should be taken up, whilst she went into the 
 library and dashed off her letter. Fanny's handwriting was 
 large, straggling, and unformed, an uneducated writing, but 
 good enough for mischief.
 
 356 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 "Dear Lady Diana, 
 
 I've made up my mind that Mr. Juxton ought 
 to know about his daughter, and I'm going to tell 
 him. Then D. will have to take action. You know 
 I'm your friend in this matter. Something ought to 
 be done to stop the scandal. He was with her, as 
 you know, all yesterday afternoon — it can't go on. 
 I'm staying here a few days. If you care to come 
 round and see me, I could tell you more. I shall 
 be alone all this evening." 
 
 The letter had gone before Dennis came to the hotel, to 
 which he had been directed from the flat. When Fanny 
 heard that he had come and was waiting in the drawing-room 
 to see her, her heart bounded, she felt this was the firstfruits 
 of her letter. They knew that they could not do without her. 
 She would tell Dennis she had not really made up her mind 
 whether or not she would enlighten Amos, and furnish him 
 with the necessary proofs. She would keep Dennis in 
 suspense; he was not going to get his freedom easily, he would 
 have to beg her for her evidence, abase himself. The 
 prospect of Dennis abasing himself attracted her immensely. 
 He had given himself superior airs. She would " show him." 
 
 What she had expected to show him will never be known ; if 
 it was herself, her real self it would have been an ugly sight. 
 But the whole interview went so differently from what she 
 expected, and if she had illusion after it of Dennis's opinion 
 of her she must indeed have been hard to convince. 
 
 "You have been telling lies about my wife," he began. 
 Fanny was startled into answering : 
 
 " I don't know what you are talking about." 
 
 "Yes, you do, thoroughly. I am not going to waste time 
 upon you. I am going straight up to Amos, but I thought I 
 would give you warning." 
 
 " Up to Amos ! " That took the wind out of her sails, 
 made her lean forward, a little breathlessly. " But he's ill." 
 
 " He is well enough to hear what I have to say. I have
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 357 
 
 been quiet about you too long ; he still thinks you are every- 
 thing you ought to be. I intend to open his eyes." 
 
 " I don't care what you tell him, he'll believe me before you." 
 
 " Will he ? We shall soon find that out. I should like to 
 know why you have attacked Mabel. I should have thought 
 the commonest gratitude would have kept you honest and 
 loyal to her, anyway. But there is neither honesty nor loyalty 
 in you, and so I intend to show you up. How dare you lie 
 about my wife ? " 
 
 Dennis was still excited, his feelings conflicting. But Amos 
 was the head of the family, and Amos must be told of the 
 story that was going about. He had felt it right to see Fanny 
 first; to hear her defence, if she had a defence. Fanny's 
 defence now was to insist on the truth of her allegations, to 
 bring chapter and verse to prove them ! It was only when she 
 brought in the name of Lady Diana that he refused to listen 
 any longer. Amos should decide between them, he said. 
 He turned on his heel and left her alone in the dull drawing- 
 room of the little hotel. For himself he never wanted to 
 see her face again, nor did he intend that Mabel should. It 
 had brought nothing but evil amongst them. He hardly 
 trusted himself to say what he thought. But he did say that 
 Ted's neglected illness had never been explained. Then he 
 went away, he meant to see Amos before he saw Mabel. 
 
 He had forgotten Amos might be inaccessible, surrounded 
 as he was by the pomp and circumstance of illness, by nurses 
 and the authority of doctors. Fanny had not forgotten. On 
 the telephone, long before Dennis could get up to Hampstead, 
 and indeed his resolution cooled on the way, Fanny had asked 
 to speak to the nurse, had warned her Mr. Passiful was on his 
 way to the house with disquieting news, had shown a hypo- 
 critical but intense anxiety lest the invalid should be disturbed. 
 Fanny received complete reassurance that as far as that 
 evening was concerned she need not fear that any plans she 
 had made would be forestalled. She heard that Amos had 
 already gone to bed, " been settled up for the night," was the 
 nurse's phrase. The nurse said that Dr. Lauder's very last
 
 358 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 words were that Mr. Juxton was not to be troubled about 
 business, or anything, he was to take a complete rest. His 
 speech had been very incoherent again this evening, there had 
 been so many callers. Dr. Lauder wished him to see no one 
 but the doctors and nurses for a few days. 
 
 Fanny hung up the telephone with a sigh of relief. With 
 a little care she did not doubt that she would be able to tell 
 her story before Dennis could tell his. She had always been 
 able to twist Amos round the little yellow finger of her cruel 
 hand, and in his weak state she did not doubt that she would 
 be able to convince him. 
 
 She spent all that evening expecting Lady Diana, but spent 
 it fruitlessly. Diana, thinking her letter an impertinence, had 
 torn it up, and consigned it to the flames. The matter was now 
 in Dennis's hands, and she had little doubt as to the result, 
 
 Dennis, because his anger was somewhat cooled, was not 
 sorry to learn at Fitzjohn's Hall that Amos was unable to see 
 him that night, and might be unable to see him for some days. 
 As he thought it over, and there is a long time for thinking 
 things over between Dover Street and Fitzjohn's Avenue, it 
 seemed a pity to disturb Amos -, at least just yet, when he 
 was already in a nervous and excitable state. He believed 
 Fanny was the sole originator of the story, and that he had 
 frightened Fanny sufficiently for her to stop repeating it. No, 
 what he had to do, and without delay, was to contradict the 
 impression he had left on Diana's mind, the impression that 
 he had yielded to what she asked him. Even now he could 
 hardly believe she had asked it of him. 
 
 His own house was in darkness when he got there. Mabel 
 had come home and had gone to bed, having been up all the 
 night before. Amos was sufficiently exacting. Dennis had 
 the time before him in which to write his letter to Diana. It 
 must be a letter, he could not trust himself to another inter- 
 view ; not knowing, yet, that the spell was broken. He dined 
 alone, phrases joined themselves, dissolved again, as he smoked 
 after dinner. He put it off as long as possible, smoking one 
 pipe after another, but at last he could put it off no longer,
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 359 
 
 and he rose and went into the library, banging the door behind 
 him, in a way a man has when his mind is perturbed, and he 
 hates the task before him. 
 
 There was no fire in the Ubrary, and it was very cold. The 
 ink in the pot had stagnated, and the pen broke in his hands. 
 
 " Dear, it can never be. . . . " 
 
 That was a rotten beginning, and was thrown into the 
 waste-paper basket. 
 
 "All your sweetness, your goodness to me 
 cannot prevent my saying that only a blackguard 
 could do such a thing as you suggest. . ." 
 
 This was no better, it was worse, it put all the blame upon 
 her. It followed the other to the waste-paper basket. Then 
 there came a moment for reflection ; Diana's smiling face rose 
 before him, again he felt the soft cling of her lips, as a bee to 
 a flower, and it set him aflame again. Now he bent to his 
 task more resolutely. 
 
 " I don't know what you'll think of me. That 
 story you heard is a cruel lie, and one I've got to 
 fight. I couldn't range myself against my wife, I'm 
 on her side, for all time. Forgive me, I don't know 
 what came over me this afternoon. Yes, I do, and 
 I'm horribly ashamed of it. I want to say good-bye 
 in this letter ; it seems awful after all your goodness 
 to me. You'll think me a prig . ." 
 
 He tore that up too. Perhaps he was a prig, and a fool ! 
 That "other fellow's" view presented itself as, albeit unwit- 
 tingly, the scent and softness of her came back. Mabel had 
 been fond of Roddy, she had admitted as much. Roddy had 
 not returned her affection, he had gone to Australia. But 
 who was to say that, when he came back, and with Amos's 
 money to tempt him, any amount of opportunities, his own 
 absence, and indifference, who was to say . . ? 
 
 " Is that you, Dennis ? " The interruption startled him ; 
 he dropped the empty pen.
 
 36o JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 " Oh dear, I'm afraid I startled you ! I heard the door 
 go . ." 
 
 He did not answer. She could not understand why he 
 was looking at her like this, but she felt there was something 
 strange about him, and that the atmosphere was tense. She 
 faltered out : 
 
 ' ' Why are you looking at me so strangely ? " 
 
 Dennis had left Diana in all the lace and softness of her 
 clinging gown, gossamer and revealing. A strand of her hair 
 had come unbound, been scented and sweet against his Hps 
 where still throbbed the pressure of hers. Mabel was in her 
 plain blue flannel dressing-gown, it half concealed and half 
 revealed a cambric nightgown ; her feet were in slippers. 
 Mabel's hair was brown and luxuriant, hanging now in two 
 thick plaits. Her eyes were blue and tired, but she looked 
 younger than her years. A man might easily have taken 
 advantage ... he knew, none better, what beasts men were. 
 
 Quite abruptly, without preliminary or any explanation, 
 without rising, he said : 
 
 " Do you and Roddy Ainsworth kiss each other ? I 
 suppose he makes love to you. You are alone together for 
 hours. ..." 
 
 Mabel flushed painfully. Dully he saw that even the 
 slender uncovered throat was suffused; it was as if he had 
 struck her. And, but still dully, he was ashamed and sorry for 
 what he was saying, and knew that he would be sorrier. She 
 did not speak, in truth she could not, so startled was she and 
 overwhelmed ; and he repeated more roughly, almost brutally, 
 because she moved his tenderness, and he did not want to be 
 moved by her : 
 
 " Why don't you answer? Don't try and get out of it." 
 
 " I don't know what has come over you," she stammered out. 
 
 " That is all very well, but it is not me we are talking about, 
 it's you. Does he kiss you ? I've heard something , ." 
 
 She was bewildered and hurt, hurt almost beyond speech. 
 Never had he spoken to her like this, never in all their 
 married life, that married life that had been without quarrel,
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 361 
 
 almost without a difference of opinion. It was difficult to 
 answer him in a moment when he spoke to her like this. 
 Something of dignity came to her ; she turned, without a 
 word, to go out of the room. He was on his feet in a 
 moment, and put himself between her and the door. 
 
 " I want to know all about it ; I insist upon being told." 
 
 "Are you quite yourself, Dennis?" Her tone was very 
 quiet, the dignity still about her, but the colour had not 
 ebbed from her face and neck. 
 
 " I'm damned if I know . ." his voice was harsh. 
 
 He had seen there were tears in her eyes. He was not sure, 
 not sure about anything ; his anger tailed off suddenly. He 
 only knew that he was acting like a fool and a brute, and that 
 Mabel was as incapable of evil as she was of guile. 
 
 But those few words and the tone of them, his admission 
 that he was not sure of himself, changed the situation between 
 them in an instant. 
 
 " I knew you were not feeling well. I knew it when I 
 came in, and you looked at me so strangely." Now she was 
 all tremulous solicitude. " It is all my fault, it was so careless 
 of me not to remember to tell Mary to keep the fire up. This 
 room is cold, there ought to have been a fire in it. Do come 
 upstairs. Let me get you a little whisky and water, hot with 
 sugar in it. I have often mixed it for father, it won't take a 
 minute to boil a kettle. Oh, Dennis, what a fright you gave 
 me ! I thought you were angry with me about something. 
 I couldn't think what you meant." 
 
 She took it for granted now that he was only feeling ill. 
 She would have gone away to get together the things that she 
 thought he needed, but that he was still between her and the 
 door. 
 
 This was Mabel, whose good faith he was supposed to 
 doubt, whose honour he was asked to attack ! If his speech 
 was still rough and unaccustomed, there was no longer 
 anything in it to hurt her. 
 
 " I'm sorry I spoke so roughly. I don't want anything, 
 I'm not ill." Now he moved away. " Go up to bed, and
 
 362 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 leave me to myself, there's a good girl. I'm not ill, only 
 worried. I oughtn't to have spoken to you like that, my 
 nerves tricked me. I didn't know I had any nerves, but I've 
 been so short of exercise these last few days . ." 
 
 " I was sure it was that, but do let me stay, I'm sure I can 
 help. I'll light the fire, I know where to find the wood and 
 paper. Oh dear, what a lot of letters you seem to have been 
 writing ! " 
 
 Her eyes, in search of material for the fire, had fallen upon 
 the filled waste-paper basket, the writing-table littered with 
 half-filled sheets of paper. 
 
 " I've got an important letter to write, a letter I must 
 get off to-night. Don't bother about the fire, I shan't be very 
 long now." 
 
 "But ought you to sit in the cold, to work so late?" 
 
 Her solicitude made him flush with shame, a slow and sullen 
 flush. The letter had got to be written, there could be no 
 sleep for him until it was done. 
 
 It is possible some vague glimmer of the truth came to 
 her, she may have seen the superscription on an envelope, 
 known that it was to a woman to whom her husband was 
 writing. Certainly that dull red came into her cheeks again ; 
 he saw it, but almost before he had time to wonder at its 
 genesis, she had turned and left him, closing the door gently 
 behind her. 
 
 " Don't be long, then," were the words she left behind her, 
 she was still thinking that the room was cold for him. 
 
 Dennis dashed off his note feverishly when she had gone. 
 After all, there was no use trying to put it delicately, it had got 
 to be said. 
 
 " Dear Lady Diana, 
 
 I feel a brute for telling you that I can't see you 
 any more. I can't trust myself, that's the truth. 
 And it's not playing the game to my wife, or any of 
 my people, or to you, if it comes to that. I'm not 
 free, not free in any sense of the word. Mabel, my 
 wife, is as good as gold, she doesn't deserve I should
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 363 
 
 deceive her. And as for the other thing that we spoke 
 of, it isn't to be spoken of, a stupid dastardly He. 
 You possibly heard it from or through Mrs. Ted 
 Juxton, it could only come from a woman without 
 any decency of feeling. Mabel has been a good and 
 true friend of hers. But this is not what you want 
 to hear from me, only it is late, and I can't stop to 
 write this all over again. I want to go on and tell 
 you what I think about you, how adorable and 
 beautiful you are, how good you have been to me. 
 Some other fellow .... but I can't think of you 
 and any other fellow. If I wrote half I'm thinking, 
 and feeling, you wouldn't believe I'm going to give 
 you up. I know I've got an awful time before me. 
 I don't know how I'm going to get through. Let 
 me do something for you now and again. It's the 
 one ray of comfort I've got to help myself with, that 
 perhaps I have been of a little use to you . ." 
 
 It was difficult to express that he wanted her still to look 
 upon him as her banker, 
 
 " Don't let anyone ever bother you. You've 
 been so awfully good to me, shown me a whole new 
 world, I can't even trust myself to go on writing." 
 
 He felt himself weakening as he wrote ; and ended up 
 abruptly : 
 
 " I shan't ever forget you, be sure of that. God 
 bless you. Good-bye, I could never say it, it's difficult 
 enough to write. Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye ! " 
 
 He affixed his name hurriedly, thrusting what he had written 
 
 into the envelope without reading it over. He was going out 
 
 himself to post it. He would trust nothing to chance. She 
 
 would get it by the first post in the morning. Then she would 
 
 understand. As for himself, he had got to get through his 
 
 days. 
 
 * * ♦ * 
 
 Mabel, from her own front bedroom, watched him go out with
 
 364 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 the letter in his hand. She had naturally the best bedroom 
 in the house, large and bow-windowed. A fire burned 
 luxuriously on the hearth, and on the big double bed were 
 heaped down pillows and eider-down. This had been the 
 room to which they had come after their honeymoon in Bourne- 
 mouth, their wedding chamber. She began to tremble when 
 she remembered it. It was two years now since he had shared 
 it with her. There had been no quarrel between them, there 
 had never been a quarrel between them. Only she had had 
 neuralgia, and feared an open window, Dennis didn't care for 
 an eider-down. Such little things had led them to see the 
 advantage of separate sleeping-rooms. How strange he had 
 been to her to-night, unkind, and the letter he was writing 
 had been to a woman. Men had so many temptations. 
 The red flushed into her cheeks again, she found herself 
 suddenly hot all over, and trembling. He had never said 
 an unkind word to her before to-night. He had not meant 
 them, he said it was only his nerves. Now her conscience, it 
 was quite as sensitive as his, began to speak. Had she been 
 a good wife to him, a good wife, such as he deserved, such 
 as he ought to have ? There was her neuralgia. . 
 
 Mabel had been five years a wife, but about her still, and 
 would be always, was something maidenly, reluctant. When 
 she asked herself if she had made Dennis a good wife she felt 
 very hot, and suddenly distressed. She was delicately-minded 
 . . . the heat, the flush, came again, although she was in the 
 solitude of her own room. 
 
 They had been a long time separated. Men were . . . men 
 were so different from women. Ought she to ... to say 
 anything to him ? He may have felt something missing in his 
 married life .... might have . . . the flush was painful, 
 and burnt her. He may have needed her . . he was so 
 considerate . . 
 
 When her thoughts had taken her so far as this, her feet, too, 
 had moved, had carried her to the locked door of her room. 
 He had asked her about Roddy. Had some retrospective 
 jealousy assailed, or stung him ? Then it was in all he
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 365 
 
 confusion of mind, and desperate shrinking, that something of 
 
 joy suffused her. She had never doubted that Dennis cared 
 
 for her, but sometimes, lately, she had thought he had been 
 
 reserved, irritable. The poor thing had so little to guide her, 
 
 knew so little of her husband, of men and their needs. Her 
 
 ignorance flooded her. But, if it was that . . she must go to him. 
 
 It was as difficult for her to go from her room to his, with 
 
 the thought she had in her mind, as it would have been five 
 
 years ago. To believe it one must enter more into her heart, 
 
 know more of their lives together than these pages have perhaps 
 
 shown. 
 
 * ♦ * * 
 
 Dennis had come in from posting his letter. That page in 
 his life was turned down, closed, finished. He still mistrusted 
 himself. Already he was arguing that Diana could not have 
 known the impossibility of Fanny's story being true, or she 
 would not have asked him to act upon it. She was too good, 
 altogether too good. But when he thought of her goodness, it 
 was of her surrender he was thinking, and how wonderful it 
 was when a woman surrendered herself to a man, how grateful 
 he should be . . 
 
 He had come in from posting his letter, and had started 
 undressing, a little savagely, untidily perhaps, throwing his 
 things here and there. He opened the door to fling out his 
 boots. Mabel was at the door ; Mabel ! her hand on the 
 latch. 
 
 "I thought I heard you come up." She seemed half 
 ashamed of being caught there, confused and hesitating. 
 
 " Do you want anything? Come in." 
 
 " I ... I wanted to speak to you." 
 
 He could see that her colour was coming and going, she 
 seemed extraordinarily nervous. He could not imagine what 
 she wanted to say to him, he had actually forgotten what had 
 occurred between them downstairs, he only knew he had been 
 irritable with her. In his socks, without a collar, for he had 
 got that far in his undressing, he was really a fine upstanding 
 man. Mabel did not notice the width of his shoulders, set of
 
 366 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 his head, lean grace of his movements. Diana would have 
 known of it, or Fanny. But Mabel only knew there was 
 something she must say to him, and that she did not wish to 
 say it. He made her come in and sit down, he saw that from 
 some cause or another, it may have been the cold, she was 
 shaking, and her manner timorous. He asked her if there 
 was anything the matter. 
 
 She began quite abruptly : 
 
 " I wanted to tell you— I thought I . . I . . we . ." What 
 she got out was not exactly what she had come to tell him, 
 but it was dreadfully difificult to speak at all. 
 
 " You asked me about Roddy and . . . and kissing me." 
 It was painful to see the flush on her thin cheeks, and 
 how it even suffused her eyes. "Roddy kissed me on my 
 birthday, the day I was twenty-one ; he brought me a bunch of 
 violets, too, they were Neapolitan ones, so sweet. I suppose 
 that was the beginning of it, of all my foolishness." 
 
 It pained her to say this, to repeat upon how little she had 
 built her romance. 
 
 " I thought you knew ; I told you that evening in the cab, 
 don't you remember ? He kissed me once again, on the day 
 he went to Australia ; he said I had helped him a great deal. 
 That is what you wanted to know, what you asked me down- 
 stairs. You are not angry with me now, are you ? " 
 
 She stopped short, and now she heard the beating of her own 
 gentle heart. 
 
 "I couldn't give a thought to anyone else after we were 
 married. You couldn't think that I would, could you, after . . 
 after everything? Perhaps it is that . . . ." She was uncertain 
 how to say to him that which she had come to say ; it was 
 such a dreadful thing to utter, or suggest. " I do hope you 
 are not still feeling ill," she finished lamely, looking away from 
 him. 
 
 " I'm beastly sorry I spoke, don't think any more about it, 
 it wasn't anything." 
 
 Her embarrassment seemed to spread to him. 
 
 " But, oh, if you really minded ! "
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 367 
 
 "Not a bit. As you say, I knew all about it. Poor old 
 girl ! But Ted's death has knocked me about, and your father's 
 illness . . I'm not myself to-night. I don't know what came 
 over me, you mustn't think any more about it." He had 
 stopped in his undressing, now he sat down upon the bed, and 
 tried to get to ordinary topics. He asked what had happened 
 at Fitzjohn's Avenue after he left, how Amos had been all day, 
 what Lauder said. He wanted chiefly to get rid of that feeling 
 of embarrassment, he did not know the cause of it, he was not 
 used to being embarrassed with Mabel. 
 
 She followed his lead gladly, and told him all the day's news. 
 It was only when he began to yawn, and say he supposed 
 he'd best be going to bed now, that she gathered her courage 
 together again ; he was struck by the wave of colour that he 
 saw on her forehead, and reddening cheeks. 
 
 " If you would like . . . don't you think it would be 
 better . ." Literally she could hardly speak. 
 
 " My room is so much larger than yours ; perhaps if you are 
 not well ..." 
 
 He understood, to his credit be it said that he understood 
 at once. And was moved, moved out of all proportion to 
 what she had said. Now he understood her colour, her con- 
 fusion, the trembling of her limbs. He was absolutely silent, 
 he could not answer, but he was inexpressibly touched. 
 
 All at once he felt himself to be a 'bounder,' a 'rotter.' 
 He had been sitting on the bed, now he stretched himself full 
 length upon it, his face, ashamed, was turned toward the wall. 
 He lay there a moment, the silence unbroken. 
 
 " I only thought . . ." 
 
 " Don't, dear, don't." He had an immense longing to 
 unburden himself, to tell her how it had been with him ; but 
 greater still was his desire that she should never know or 
 guess. Then there followed an hysterical inclination to laugh 
 — " there stood the champagne, but he tasted it not " — and the 
 need of Diana's quick comprehension to laugh with him. But 
 more poignant than all, a comprehension of what it meant to 
 Mabel to say so much, and the certainty that he must help
 
 368 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 her. He got up from the bed, presently, went over to her, 
 kissed her. He even said : 
 
 " Poor Mabel ! dear old girl ! " and put his arm about her. 
 
 He could not take what she offered him, not to-night. But 
 he said a word or two that made the tears come, happy tears ; 
 he really understood what this had cost her ; he took her in 
 his arms to kiss her, saying : " All right, old girl," and " I 
 understand," " Bravo," and other foolish inconsequent phrases. 
 "Another day. I'm so awfully out of sorts . ." 
 
 It was not until he was alone, reviewing the incident, still 
 uncomfortable over it and ashamed, that he began to know 
 there was finer stuff in the way Mabel had come to him than 
 in all the wonderful surrender Diana had offered. 
 
 It was then, too, but very dimly and as it were from a long 
 way off, he began to see, or to suspect, that Margaret Lemon 
 had been wrong in her statement that marriage was imprison- 
 ment. It was imprisonment ... for malefactors. For others, 
 himself for instance, it might well be freedom . . the way out ! 
 
 Once he had begun to think this way, the upshot was not in 
 doubt, although it might be some time in coming. Dennis 
 Passiful could never love a woman who failed to keep his 
 respect, although that which was weak in him, and from the 
 temptation of which he had always prayed to be delivered, 
 still knew that she was lovely and desirable. 
 
 But the way Mabel had come to him was so different. It 
 was his release she had brought him, although as yet it was 
 obscured to him.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 LADY DIANA did not accept Dennis's letter as final, 
 which was perhaps not strange. As a matter of fact 
 it stimulated her to fresh effort when her first anger had 
 evaporated. For of course she was angry, very angry. In 
 that first rush of it she remembered she had condescended, 
 that Dennis was not her equal, that had he been he would 
 never have written such a letter. Men did not do such things 
 in her world. 
 
 She did not reply to it for three days, during which Dennis's 
 spirits rose mercurially ; his conscience lightened, and he felt 
 that he had not done anything so very wrong after all. Fanny, 
 too, apparently, was in a better mind as regards Amos, that 
 potentate remaining in ignorance of the storm that threatened 
 his family while he took the immense and practical care of 
 himself that his position demanded. 
 
 And Fanny was occupied ; there was no hurry about making 
 mischief between Amos and his daughter. What was urgent 
 was to get Cosmo back, to prevent him from going abroad 
 with Margaret Lemon. 
 
 Lady Diana had never even answered her letter, Diana 
 had a trick of not answering letters at the moment. Fanny 
 thought she did not deserve helping. Fanny hated her and 
 everybody, concerning herself in nothing but in getting Cosmo 
 back. 
 
 Cosmo, quite aware that he had been harsh, and more 
 content now he had not to encounter P'anny in Margaret's flat, 
 responded somewhat to the flag of peace that was being waved 
 to him. He visited Fanny in her hotel ; he postponed the 
 journey to the Riviera. It was a waiting time with all of them. 
 24
 
 370 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Cosmo meant to have his play produced at the Kemble. The 
 trump card he held was the knighthood, his father had 
 promised to use his influence. Amos would not throw over 
 the man who brought him the first intelligence, who would 
 hold out to him the hope that this honour was only an earnest 
 of what was to follow. Cosmo would have no scruples in 
 hinting at a baronetcy. 
 
 The first incident that disturbed the comparative peace into 
 which they had fallen was Diana's belated reply to Dennis's 
 letter. He found it waiting for him when he came to Bond 
 Street, on the fourth day after he had written it. It was very 
 short, and said she " could give him ten minutes if he looked 
 in that afternoon." That was all it said. It ignored his 
 letter, it was as if, with her at least, everything was as it had 
 been between them before he wrote. He was puzzled and 
 agitated by it, and found it difficult to answer. 
 
 Before he had made up his mind what to say in answer, 
 the telephone rang ; and it was her own voice in his ear. 
 
 " Is that you ? Don't come this afternoon, come this 
 evening. I shan't be able to get rid of Dolly until too late. 
 Are you all right ? " 
 
 Dennis was taken by surprise, had no answer ready; she 
 understood that he would come. 
 
 It was fully an hour before he had made up his mind what 
 to do. To write again that he dared not trust himself was 
 preposterous. He temporised with a short note saying he 
 had promised "to take his wife to the theatre that evening, 
 and could not disappoint her." 
 
 Mabel was delighted to come down to him, when he 
 telephoned her later. She would bring his suit bag, they 
 could dine in the West End, it was quite a jaunt. Then she 
 wavered, and said something about it being so soon after Ted's 
 death. He said " Macbeth " was the play he had in his mind, 
 and of course the deepest mourning permitted Shakespeare. 
 
 Mabel and Dennis were getting closer in these days, he 
 seemed to understand her better than he had done, and to 
 find something strangely satisfying in the knowledge. She
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 371 
 
 made no demands upon him, yet depended on his kindness. 
 He had asked her not to see Fanny, not to go out and about 
 with Fanny, nor to press him for an explanation. She pleaded 
 Fanny's loneliness, but yielded almost without argument. 
 Fortunately her obedience had not been put to the test. 
 Fanny, as we know, was occupied. 
 
 Diana, who had been angry before, was furious now. At 
 first she took comfort at the thought that he could not trust 
 himself to an interview; and upon an interview she deter- 
 mined. There were more letters ; upbraiding : yet these were 
 easy to answer ; plaintive, these were, however, more difficult. 
 There was an interview. But it took a different tone from what 
 either of them had foreseen, or intended. She had meant to 
 allure him, and it was against that he had steeled himself. 
 But, instead, she attacked Mabel, to whom she said she was 
 being sacrificed. He could not bear the attack on Mabel, 
 something was diflerent in their relations, and his tenderness 
 for her had increased. 
 
 Diana was very beautiful ; she had dressed for him this 
 afternoon, and everything about her heightened it. But when 
 she spoke of Mabel he hardly saw her beauty. It was then he 
 first became definitely aware that her hold on his imagination 
 was loosened. Mabel was there before her, with the appeal 
 of her confidence in him, his knowledge that although she 
 was his wife, it was she who gave more than Diana offered, 
 more for her, he meant ; a delicate distinction, but he had 
 become aware of it. To be faithful to Mabel was all the 
 teaching, and now it had suddenly become all the desire, of 
 his manhood. 
 
 A psychologist might have said that Dennis was a man of 
 feeling, but not a man of passion. He had it in him now to 
 wish he had never met Diana ; resenting what she had aroused 
 in him. He was, after all, satisfied with his married life, and 
 began to think his choice of Mabel had been deliberate. He 
 found something curiously analogous in their temperaments. 
 What might be called her prudery had become a greater 
 attraction than Diana's fire, would prove a greater permanent
 
 372 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 attraction, he knew. He was not built for an ardent lover, a 
 hero of romance. 
 
 Nevertheless, and although he was so strong in his intention 
 never again to be beguiled, Diana had the power to make him 
 acutely uncomfortable. She found the way to do it, and 
 exercised her knowledge. There was that question of her 
 swollen banking account, she knew all about it now. She said 
 that he had placed her under an obligation only to humiliate 
 her ! She said she " would never know a happy moment until 
 she had repaid him." And of course he knew there was only 
 one way in which she could accomplish it. Of course "if he 
 had ever cared for her " 
 
 He had to protest that he had really cared for her, that he 
 did, and to plead his duty to his wife. But she laughed at 
 that scornfully. Why had he not thought of it before ? He 
 would not be trying to force her to marry Haverford, for that was 
 what it came to . . She could not remain in his debt, there 
 was no other way . . It was then he discovered that she was 
 really not half as sensitive as Mabel, nor had she so delicate 
 a mind. When a man's passion for a woman has cooled, it 
 is wonderful how clear her faults become to him. 
 
 It was a wretched business altogether, her letters, telephone 
 messages, the abasement of her pride, and her attacks 
 upon him. He was growing exasperated and reckless with it, 
 when Providence, that has a way sometimes of playing on the 
 right side, intervened to put an end to it. He was sick of 
 heart, entangled with conflicting emotions, many things 
 weighed upon him. When she reproached him, he knew 
 she had cause. When he said he was protecting Mabel's 
 happiness, he knew he was thinking something of his own. 
 
 He was horribly out of condition, this sort of thing was 
 bound to put him out of condition. He had an athlete's way 
 of looking at things, not heroic, perhaps, but natural. Neither 
 Sandow's exerciser nor the weighing-chair reassured him. 
 When he walked to Lord's this eventful morning on which 
 Providence intervened, he was concerned about himself; the 
 work he had done with the exerciser was ridiculous, and he
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 373 
 
 had lost almost a pound since the beginning of the month. 
 He wished he had kept clear of women ! There must be a 
 way out of the imbroglio in which he found himself, but he 
 was hanged if he could find it. She bombarded him with 
 letters ; he could not be brutal to her. That question of the 
 obligations under which he had laid her was really at the root 
 of the trouble, he couldn't persuade her to let it slide. Seeing 
 that it was the most valuable move she had made, she w^ould 
 not let his attention wander from it. He was really awfully 
 sorry for her, and anxious to do the right thing. 
 
 At Lord's this morning he played his sett of tennis with the 
 well-known professional whose stammering scoring contradicted 
 his unswerving returns and brilliant service. He played him 
 even, and only just managed to get home, after stretching him- 
 self to his utmost capacity. Then came the bath, and the 
 momentary feeling of a new cleanliness, mental and physical, 
 a sense that he was master of his fate, although he was not yet 
 quite so certain of what that fate might be. He knew plenty 
 of fellows who had ruined their lives for, or with, a woman. It 
 was nearly as fatal as drink in the cricketing world. He was 
 already wondering what was going to happen to him next 
 season. As he dressed, although he felt so much better, and 
 more like himself, he was all at sea as to the future, even the 
 immediate future. He must see Diana some time to-day, 
 for she insisted upon giving him an I.O.U. It was infernally 
 awkward, distressing ; he didn't want the thing. 
 
 It was then that Providence intervened on his behalf in 
 the shape of the Honourable John Tweed, who had heard 
 that Dennis Passiful was in the dressing-room, just as he was 
 writing a telegram to him. Dennis had word that Mr. Tweed 
 wanted to see him, at once, urgently. Everyone knows the 
 Honourable John Tweed, once Captain of England, now on 
 the Selection Committee of Lord's, or, as some dissatisfied 
 pressmen, who were also cricketers, put it, he was the 
 Selection Committee, autocratic and dominant. 
 
 Dennis, when he had finished dressing and gulped down a 
 soda and milk, obeyed the summons. He hked the Honour-
 
 374 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 able John, and the Honourable John liked him. It was force 
 of circumstances, and not the dominant member of the Selec- 
 tion Committee, that had kept Dennis out of The Gentlemen 
 and Players the last two years. That a mistake had been made 
 was evident when he made a 137, not out, for his county in 
 the very last match of the year, and thus secured its honourable 
 third place. This was the occasion when he had strained 
 that ligament. Tweed had been very nice about it. 
 
 The Honourable John was waiting for him downstairs in 
 that long, historic, many-windowed chamber, decorated with 
 pictures dating from the first era of cricket, when the men 
 played in top hats and peg-top trousers. Dennis had no 
 eyes for the pictures, and no time, if he had had the eyes. For 
 the Honourable John was the picture of elderly distress, with 
 a sheaf of letters and telegrams in his hands. It was with 
 the uttermost lugubriousness he said to Dennis, as if the end 
 of the world were in sight, and the darkness was already 
 descending upon him : 
 
 " Small has thrown us over." These were the exact words, 
 but, "The mountain is in eruption, nothing can save the 
 country," was what the expression of his face seemed to 
 convey. Dennis's face fell too. 
 
 " No ! Chucked it ? Good Heavens ! What excuse does 
 he give ? Who will you get ? What is to be done ? " 
 
 " God knows ! It's the eleventh hour. Something about his 
 wife ; I can't bother to read his letter. He wired yesterday, and 
 I wired back ; we've been doing nothing but wire. Now here 
 is his letter : " he held it out. " You see, it's absolutely final ! " 
 
 One regrets to chronicle that the Honourable John Tweed 
 indulged in some very strong language, about women in 
 general, and Small's wife in particular, about Small, and the 
 baseness of his conduct. The whole tour was in jeopardy. 
 The M.C.C. team that was going to S. Africa would be with- 
 out a captain, without that showy head of affairs that had 
 been practically promised to the S. African millionaire who 
 had guaranteed the expenses, arranged the series of matches, 
 backed his opinion that his adopted country would hold its
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY . 375 
 
 own against a first-class side. And everyone knows now that 
 the S. African millionaire was right. The M.C.C. could not 
 afford to send a second class man in Small's place. 
 
 "I've wired Larner and Lamb," he said gloomily, "but 
 they've both declined. Besides ; well, you know what 
 happened last time ! " It was not etiquette to do more 
 than remember that the eminent bowler who had tried to 
 bring the mythical ashes from Australia had developed an 
 over-active thirst. "There is no choice, my dear fellow, no 
 choice at all. You must go." 
 
 " I ! " Dennis gasped. 
 
 There had, of course, in his early days, been talk of his 
 going to Australia, and he would have liked the experience. 
 But business stood in his way. The Honourable John knew, 
 everybody knew, that Dennis Passiful had a business that 
 robbed cricket of his unhampered services, that made it 
 obligatory he should only be called upon when necessary. 
 He had more than once had serious thoughts of giving 
 up first class cricket altogether; each season was to have 
 been his last. The suggestion that he should go out to 
 S. Africa in Small's place, captain the team, set him gasping, 
 took away his breath. But it was very flattering, extraordinarily 
 flattering. It was two years since he had been asked to play 
 for the Gentlemen; there were always young men coming on, 
 Oxford and Cambridge blues. There was ever a tinge of bitter 
 ness when he remembered that he had never played in a 
 'Varsity match. 
 
 " Impossible ! There's Allgood, Hawkins, Lamb . . " 
 
 " Neither of them could keep the team together. We want 
 a popular man, a man they know. You will have to go ; there's 
 no choice. Good God ! What's business ? " He knew 
 Dennis was going to plead business. " A nation of blasted 
 shopkeepers, that's what we are. But you're a sportsman, 
 Passiful, you can't leave us in this hole ..." He was actually 
 entreating him. 
 
 Dennis began to hesitate even whilst asserting that the 
 thing was impossible. What a way out ! What a breathing-
 
 376 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 time for him ! It was a great compliment that was being 
 paid him, even if it were being paid in this lugubrious way. 
 He knew that, and also that it was the Honourable John's 
 way. Neither Allgood nor Hawkins would do, he knew that 
 as well as Tweed. Larner had refused, but no cricketer in the 
 world could find fault with being placed second to Lamer. 
 It was true that Lamb was not the man for the job. He 
 knew the list by heart of the men who were going. More 
 than one of them might object to go under Lamb's leadership. 
 They would not mind going under his ; his heart beat high, 
 he knew that he was popular in this world that he loved, 
 where his best days had been passed. 
 
 It struck him suddenly that Amos had been ordered a sea 
 voyage. Why should not that sea voyage be to S. Africa? 
 It would simplify matters extraordinarily. Mabel could 
 come too. Why not? He remembered Warner had taken 
 both wife and family to Australia. He was all at once tremen- 
 dously taken with the idea, and excited. He thought of his 
 condition ; but had no doubt he would get back his muscle on 
 board. As far as business was concerned, he could afford to 
 take a holiday. Dolland was all right, Christie's were closed 
 two months out of the three or four he would be away. He 
 might miss something, but he would be back in plenty of 
 time for the season. 
 
 All this was tumultuous in his mind whilst the one-time 
 Captain of England implored and persuaded, and finally 
 began to bully him into accepting. It would be "such a 
 damned sporting thing to do." It would be " such a damned 
 unsporting thing not to do " and so on. 
 
 Dennis, already sure that he would go, begged for twenty- 
 four hours in which to decide. The Honourable John was 
 all over smiles then, patting him on the back, and 
 telling him that he was the very man for the job. Dennis 
 stipulated for his twenty-four hours ; but can hardly be said to 
 have had fair play with them. Someone, and it is difficult to 
 absolve the Honourable John, must have taken that suspended 
 decision for granted, because, as with Amos's illness, it was
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 377 
 
 in the papers before it had been announced. Dennis, almost 
 before he had broken the news to Mr. Dolland, certainly before 
 he had time to talk it over with Mabel or his father-in-law, 
 read in an early edition of the Evening News : " Passiful 
 to Captain the Team for S. Africa, Satisfactory Selection." 
 The editorial comment was really gratifying. Telegrams 
 began to pour in upon him before he had left the office. 
 
 Immediately he left Lord's he had telephoned Mabel that 
 he had been asked to go to S. Africa, in Small's place. And 
 Mabel, realising it was a compliment that had been paid to 
 him, and never thinking of herself in the matter, or whether 
 she was going to be left behind, exclaimed : 
 
 " How nice ! I am so glad. Yes, Pll tell father, he's ever 
 so much better. Go with you ! Oh dear ! I never thought 
 of that. I should like it so much. Father too ! Oh dear, 
 wouldn't it be delightful ! I'll ask him. Next week ! Isn't 
 that very soon? Do you want me to do anything about 
 your clothes ? " 
 
 He could leave the consideration of those for the present. 
 There was so much to do. He hardly knew what to turn to 
 first. It was all so hurried. There had been so many delays ; 
 the men, who were to have started earlier, had been detained 
 by one cause or another until now. Now the passages were 
 taken, the dates fixed up, and the inside of a week must see 
 them off. The very first thing, of course, was to ascertain 
 what berths were still vacant on the " Minotaur." If Amos 
 was to go, there must be a state cabin ; even then Amos was 
 not the man to be hurried. 
 
 There was a state cabin to be had, and the other berths for 
 which he inquired. But at the office of the great steamship 
 company he was informed that he must make up his mind at 
 once, there were so many inquiries, a waiting list. All the pass- 
 ages had been booked, but only an hour ago Sir Auld Fleet- 
 wood, for whom the best had been reserved, had cancelled the 
 booking. Dennis hurriedly engaged them, risking Amos's refusal. 
 
 Early in the afternoon Mabel telephoned again. She had 
 seen her father, and Dr. Lauder. Both of them had been
 
 378 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 pleased with the idea, and Dr. Lauder had sent his congratu- 
 lations to Dennis. Father had not perhaps understood about 
 it until then. But Dr. Lauder had told him it was a feather 
 m Dennis's cap. Father wanted more time, but she thought 
 perhaps that could be got over. Couldn't Dennis manage to 
 see him this afternoon, or early in the evening, and explain ? 
 Dennis saw no difficulty in that. Before this second tele- 
 phoning, Mabel had not thoroughly understood she was 
 certainly to be of the party and her pleasure in the news 
 was unbounded. She had made a quick tentative plan for 
 taking Ursula and Agatha to Bournemouth. She thought 
 that would have relieved Dennis's mind. But he wanted 
 her with him, and it was almost overwhelming to her just 
 now that Dennis wanted her to be with him. She said 
 hurriedly that of course she could look after her father, 
 guard them both from any eccentricities of what she had 
 heard was "such a treacherous climate," see about flannel 
 under-garments, quinine. Dennis felt her gladness through 
 the telephone, it touched him, and strengthened her claim. 
 
 With all this telephoning and telegraphing in progress, and 
 the news in the evening papers, it did not seem possible that 
 Lady Diana should remain in ignorance of what was tran- 
 spiring. It had not struck Dennis that she neither read the 
 "Evening News," nor the "Cricketing Intelligence" in any 
 paper. He had seen Amos and persuaded him, done a 
 hundred necessary things ; it was already Wednesday, and 
 they sailed on Saturday, before she became aware of it. 
 
 It was Cosmo who told her then, Cosmo, who saw all his 
 own plans thwarted, and his income seriously curtailed : 
 
 " But it's impossible, impossible," she told him, with 
 heightened colour, when he asked her, at luncheon, if she 
 knew that Dennis Passiful was off to S. Africa at the end of 
 the week, bearing with him his invaluable father-in-law. 
 
 "It may be impossible, but it is nevertheless true. The 
 notices went up a week ago. The Kemble shuts on Saturday, 
 and with it my hopes of making a great playwright of Amos 
 Juxton — Sir Amos Juxton — for at the very moment it is of
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 379 
 
 least value to me, like all my father's gifts, I hear I may rely 
 upon my patron, whom I patronise by the way, receiving his 
 decoration. Decoration, damn him ! " Cosmo was almost 
 natural. "He goes away without a thought of what a loss it 
 will be to me." 
 
 But it was not Amos's departure that drove the colour from 
 Diana's cheeks. She had had short hurried notes from 
 Dennis, he had said he was overwhelmed with work ; she " would 
 understand." She had not understood, she had thought he 
 was evading the question of that I.O.U. she was pressing 
 upon him. She was still expecting his surrender, and now 
 he was running away ! That was how she put it to herself 
 he was running away ! 
 
 Dolly came in, later in the day, quite full of it. He said he 
 should go and see them off, he talked of Harrow, and " Willow 
 the King," half-maddening Diana, who knew nothing about 
 international cricket, and thought, perhaps not entirely without 
 justification, the whole thing was a ruse of Dennis's to escape 
 from the dilemma in which he found himself. 
 
 The note she dashed off to him after Dolly had gone 
 humming that preposterous song, was only one line : 
 
 " Is it true you are going to S. Africa ? " 
 
 He thought it incredible that she had not heard it until 
 then, and told her so. He had no choice, he said in his reply ; 
 which was perhaps begging the question, the question between 
 him and her. "Small threw them over at the last moment. 
 Larner refused. Allgood and Hawkins were impossible." 
 Practically this was all his letter. He added that he was 
 overwhelmed with work. One or another of the team had 
 still to be seen ; colours required attention. 
 
 It was true that he hardly knew which way to turn. Mr. 
 Dolland was quite able to attend to the affairs of the Gallery, 
 but was indefatigable in asking for instructions. Amos really 
 wanted help, and keeping up to the programme. Dennis, 
 somewhat remorseful, perhaps, added a postscript to his letter. 
 " It is only for three or four months. I shall be back in the 
 early spring."
 
 380 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 That last line was the crowning insult. Did he really think 
 she was going to wait three months for his return, break her 
 heart about him, perhaps, and then hear that he had decided 
 to uphold his wife ? She was in a white tumult of revulsion 
 against him. She never wanted to see him again, nor to hear 
 his name. This was what came of 'encouraging the lower 
 orders.' One could imagine to what a pass she had come 
 when she said this, even when she said it to herself and there 
 was no one present to be hurt by it. 
 
 Dolly, Lord Haverford, could not believe his ears when she 
 told him, with that languid indifference that he was used to 
 from her, that if he were really so keen about marriage, he 
 could announce the date of their wedding. He did not know 
 what had come over her, but suspected she had heard that he 
 had visited Fanny at her hotel. He was also bidden to put 
 the announcement in the papers at once, Friday or Saturday 
 at latest, or she might change her mind again. She had no 
 explanation to offer, but said that it was not at all certain that 
 she would not change her mind if it were not in the papers by 
 Saturday. 
 
 Cosmo, on Saturday morning, when he read at the break- 
 fast-table in his "Morning Post" that "A marriage had been 
 arranged and would take place shortly, etc.," smiled at her, 
 and said : 
 
 "They'll get the morning papers before they sail." 
 
 But he was sorry he said it. For Diana was not in good 
 looks this morning and something about her made him feel 
 annoyed that Adolphus Haberton Wrensham, Lord Haverford, 
 was what he was. 
 
 "There is one thing, when you are married you need not 
 see much of him," he said consolingly, if inconsequently. 
 " He is rickety too. If ever you enjoy a new widowhood, 
 it will be a well-provided one." She got up and left him. 
 Cosmo was altogether too sharp-sighted ; she did not want 
 that note of sympathy in his voice. 
 
 If she had really thought that Dennis Passiful would read 
 the announcement of her forthcoming marriage before he
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 381 
 
 sailed, read it, and be distressed, she was in ignorance as to 
 the meaming of such an enterprise as the one before him. 
 
 He had not had a moment to call his own since the de- 
 cision was taken, and the last morning was the worst of all. 
 He could never have got through it without Mabel, who 
 charged herself with her father, and carried out her charge 
 loyally. She had found time to arrange that the sisters should 
 go to Bournemouth, although she was unable to accompany 
 them. They were so used to her by this time, she was so 
 much a daughter, or a sweet younger sister, to them, that 
 they had no scruples in availing themselves of her kindness. 
 She had taken a small house for them, in the pine-woods. 
 They would go. Ursula had a little cough, her usual winter 
 cough, Agatha had a threatening of rheumatism. They per- 
 suaded each other, and she persuaded them both. But first 
 they must see her off, behold Dennis on his triumphant way, 
 bid them God speed, take a last kiss. 
 
 The programme seemed easy. It was not until the Miss 
 Paightons arrived at Waterloo, that they saw to carry it out 
 was not only difficult, but practically impossible. For it 
 seemed that all the world was going to S. Africa by the 
 "Minotaur." They had perhaps been prepared for waggon 
 loads, truck loads, porters laden with luggage. They were 
 stout hearted old ladies, and could press and dodge their ways 
 through the confusion. But there was not only luggage, but 
 an unprecedented, unheard-of, almost incredible crowd of 
 people. When they had got as far as the booking office, and 
 paused there for a moment for breath, they heard someone 
 amongst the sea of men in which they were engulfed say : 
 
 " That's one of them. That's Strumper." 
 
 " There's Mandeville ! Good old Mandeville ! " they shouted, 
 and : " Three cheers for Railton ! " 
 
 It was then that they became aware that it was the cricket- 
 ing team for S. Africa that were being given an ovation, and 
 for whom a rousing send-off was being prepared. Dennis was 
 nowhere to be seen, and it was a rough crowd, if good 
 tempered. There is little doubt they would not have found
 
 382 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 Dennis, nor given him that careful parcel they had prepared, 
 if Mabel had not expected them, and been on the look out, 
 and presently managed to extricate them from their position. 
 
 " Dennis is in the waiting-room. The representatives of 
 the Press are there and most of the team. Lord Heron is 
 going to make a speech. Mr. Tweed is there, too. Come 
 along." 
 
 She shepherded them with such good will, that presently 
 they found themselves at the door of the waiting room, the 
 one that led from the refreshment bar. The room was full 
 of men, emotional men, who could hardly restrain their en- 
 thusiasm, punctuating the speech that Lord Heron was 
 making with applause and laughter. The old maids heard 
 that Dennis was the one man that was wanted and that 
 'he had always been a good sportsman.' "You can tell a 
 man by his friends, and Dennis Passiful has all the cricket 
 world for his friends," Lord Heron said amidst roars of 
 applause. The old aunts found themselves quite carried 
 away by the enthusiasm, the shouting, and the quick ac- 
 quiescence in every eulogy. They found themselves with 
 tears in their own eyes, and inclining to shout and cheer too. 
 Their quavering voices could be heard above the tumult. 
 Dennis, at least, certainly heard them, raising a glass of 
 champagne, and waving it from where he stood beside Lord 
 Heron, Mr. Tweed, the Secretary of the M.C.C. ; and 
 other notable persons. He was called upon for a speech 
 presently, and gave it modestly, saying the right things without 
 difficulty or pause. Ursula and Agatha thought it wonderful 
 of him to be so ready in response. " Dear boy," they mur- 
 mured under their breath. He said he was " proud to captain 
 such a team as the M.C.C. had got together; there were many 
 better men than himself" — shouts of "No," "No" — "who 
 might have been chosen to go, but since it was he upon whom 
 they had fixed he hoped to prove worthy of the honour . ." 
 
 And then he spoke of the records of one or other of the 
 men who were going with him, and had a word for Lord 
 Heron and the Honourable John.
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 383 
 
 The cheers and the singing of "For he's a jolly good 
 fellow" were still ringing in their ears when he hurried up 
 to the old ladies. There was no time to be lost, the train 
 was starting in ten minutes. 
 
 They never knew how they got down the platform, through 
 that sea of men, professional cricketers, reporters, general 
 public, photographers standing on trucks to get a view of the 
 scene. Everywhere Dennis was recognised, cheered, shouted 
 at, many stopping and insisting on shaking hands with him. 
 
 At last they were in the security of the reserved saloon, where 
 Amos, entangled in rugs and cushions, was sitting in state. 
 One of the men from Juxton's had been guarding the window, 
 and his valet had remained until the last minute in the 
 carriage with him. 
 
 " This is very gratifying, very gratifying indeed," Amos began, 
 as Dennis made Mabel get in, and then stood himself by 
 the door, still shaking hands and saying "Thank you," and 
 " I hope so " and " Of course we shall," as the occasion 
 demanded, not forgetting to ask two friends of his, stalwart 
 men, who would be true to their trust, to look after the old 
 maids, and see them into a cab. 
 
 "It's really very gratifying," Amos said, "that so many 
 people should be here to see me off. I heard them shouting 
 and cheering, although it was quite a long time before I 
 realised their objective was this carriage. Perhaps I ought to 
 say a few words ? " 
 
 He looked inquiringly at Mabel, who had surrounded him 
 with the pillows and rugs before she went on that search for 
 the sisters. He tried to rise, as he spoke, but it was difficult 
 to disentangle himself. 
 
 "Oh no, Father," she said hastily. She was going to tell 
 him it was Dennis, and not himself, they had gathered to 
 see, Dennis, and the other members of the team who were 
 going to S. Africa to prove the pre-eminence of the Old 
 Country, sustain its prestige. But she stopped herself in time, 
 she saw her father was happy in his opinion : 
 
 " I should like to tell them I am gratified, highly gratified.
 
 384 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 That I hope to return with my health fully re-established. It 
 seems ungrateful " 
 
 Dennis jumped in ; the train was moving. As it steamed 
 out of the station, above the shriek of the engine, they heard : 
 
 " For he's a jolly good fellow, and so say all of we," and 
 the exuberant three cheers. 
 
 And again Amos said it was very gratifying, very gratifying 
 indeed.
 
 L'ENVOI 
 
 WHAT remains to tell of the story ? Much, and were 
 I a certain distinguished and voluminous author 
 I might venture to tell it. At thirty no man's story is told, 
 and it were strange if Dennis Passiful proved the exception. 
 He was always attractive to women, no less so when he came 
 back from South Africa with his reputation as a cricketer 
 sustained, and as a leader of men enhanced. Never had 
 there been a more popular Captain. But were I to tell more 
 about him and his future, the story might be found to hinge 
 upon such a little woman, such an infinitesimal and speechless 
 specimen of her sex, that it is possible she would prove tedious 
 to anyone less alive to her wiles and fascinations than Dennis 
 after he had fallen under her spell. 
 
 As for Amos, his health benefited amazingly by the tour. 
 He was included in all the honours paid to the English team 
 of cricketers, dining with the High Commissioner in Cape 
 Town and being entertained by the Committee of the Cricket 
 Union at Houts Bay. He never really became aware that he 
 was not the centre of the whole expedition. A few other 
 people, impressed by his manner, and the speeches he con- 
 trived to make, thought so too. Mabel felt it would be a pity 
 to undeceive him, and Dennis actually kept him up in his 
 illusion. Dennis wanted no fuss made about himself, he was 
 glad Amos should bear the brunt of any ceremonies. He was 
 here to play cricket, surmount the difficulties of the matting 
 pitch, the clear atmosphere that at first disorganised all their 
 defence, changing distances, altering perspective, responsible 
 for many a missed catch and short ball. That was his job, 
 not being dined and wined and speechified over. His 
 
 25
 
 386 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 father-in-law was more than welcome to his share of all the 
 festivities given in their honour by the hospitable Colonials. 
 
 It is perhaps worth chronicling that Amos gained nearly 
 a stone in the three weeks he remained with the team, and 
 when he returned to England, leaving Dennis and Mabel 
 behind him, to finish their tour, it was Cosmo Merritt who 
 met him, and told him at once that his name would be in the 
 list of birthday honours, thus accentuating his impression, and 
 making him certain for all time that he had done something 
 for his country. Whether before he went to South Africa or 
 while he was there, may not have been quite clear to him. 
 The only thing that was ever clear was his own importance. 
 Cosmo could not let him doubt it ; nor that it was he who had 
 drawn attention to it in high quarters. Therefore if not this 
 month, then next, the " Tale and the Typewriter " will be put 
 upon the stage, and other books and plays follow that will 
 bear this eminent name. Cosmo thinks Amos should stand 
 for Parliament. And in that case he will need a secretary. 
 
 There is really no need for Lord Loughborough to provide 
 for his youngest son; it is unnecessary even for Cosmo to 
 borrow from Dolly. Cosmo spends a great deal of time with 
 the Haverfords, nevertheless, at Thorpe and elsewhere. He 
 is sorry for Diana, who, notwithstanding, or perhaps on account 
 of this sympathy, bears her matrimonial burden very easily. 
 She has taken to hunting, with something of the keenness that 
 distinguished her mother. She dresses better than any woman 
 of her acquaintance, and she is tolerant of her husband, who 
 to his credit, it must be admitted, considers himself still the 
 most fortunate of men, or almost the most fortunate. Diana's 
 extravagance sometimes gives him an uneasy twinge, and he 
 hates to have so often to refuse Mervyn's requests for advances. 
 There is no doubt Cosmo is his favourite brother-in-law, even 
 though he sometimes suspects him of " pulling his leg," and 
 is often in doubt as to the meaning of many of the things 
 he says. 
 
 . About Margaret Lemon. Margaret is still a favourite in the 
 circles she adorns. Many men go to her flat, and others long
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 387 
 
 for the entree. But she is fastidious ; not the less so as she 
 advances in years. She has no mind to be otherwise, although 
 how it is she has attained the freedom of choice, or who is 
 responsible for the expenses of the flat, remains an agreeable 
 mystery, frequently discussed in Clubland — but sicb rosa, and 
 without malice, for they are ail too attached to Margaret to 
 try seriously to probe a mystery she wishes to guard. Cosmo 
 is often there, but then Cosmo is a poor man. There have 
 been suspicions that a certain eminent publisher . . . but that 
 of course is absurd. 
 
 Fanny put up a good fight for her man. Less dignified 
 than Diana, she was certainly more successful. Cosmo 
 remained her friend, and in the background of her life con- 
 trived to extract a certain amusement from watching what went 
 on in front. The evolution of Fanny was on the lines he had 
 anticipated when he first proposed she should become a 
 member of that notorious social club where bridge is played, 
 and other games also. Fanny has become an habituee of 
 Crockford's, she may be said to live there, she is so rarely 
 absent from the place. 
 
 At Crockford's, the low-ceilinged rooms heavy with smoke 
 and scandal, bad air, and worse feeling, Fanny can daily 
 be seen in her legitimate atmosphere. She has arrived before 
 anyone else, and sits in the hall, in a corner of the sofa 
 that commands a view of the outer door, ostensibly engaged 
 with her tea. To watch her with her tea is to witness a 
 curious performance. She has one cup of tea brought to her 
 and rejects it. Either it is China, and she wants Indian, 
 or it is Indian and this day it is China she fancies, and she 
 is indignant, and generally atrociously rude to the offending 
 waiters, who dare not show any resentment. She crumbles the 
 teacake, finding it overdone, or underdone, and remember- 
 ing she prefers muffins. Fanny always complains of the food 
 at the Club, and the service, maddening the management. 
 If there are any men in the lounge, she says she " wishes 
 one could have pickles for tea." But as a rule there are 
 no men at this hour. What she enjoys more than anything
 
 38S JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 else, what in fact brings her to the Club so early, is to see 
 three women waiting for a rubber, and to decline to make a 
 fourth. She will go into the card-room to watch them doing 
 nothing, perching on the Club fender, or one of the small tea- 
 tables, hunching her back, complaining of headache, or tooth- 
 ache, looking like a sick monkey. Fanny is well on in her 
 thirty-first year, but she still assumes a babyish manner. \Mien 
 a fourth player appears she sometimes asserts her right to cut 
 in. She is a fretful partner or antagonist, flinging the cards 
 on the table when she loses, saying she " would like to know 
 for once what it feels like to be a winner." If she wins she 
 points out to her antagonists how they could have saved the 
 game. She is forgetful of her debts, and has frequently to 
 be reminded. Naturally, therefore, if anyone else is available 
 to make up a rubber, her room is preferred to her company. 
 It is when she knows this that she becomes tenacious of her 
 rights. 
 
 It is about five or six o'clock when Fanny's whole demeanour 
 changes. This is the close of the business day, and now the 
 men are coming into the Club, looking for a game, any sort 
 of game. All at once Fanny is all smiles and amiability, 
 willing to make up a rubber for, or with, anybody, at any 
 points, the higher the better. 
 
 Towards seven she is confiding that her cook is out for the 
 evening, or her man has left in a hurry. Fanny has a flat 
 now, and her old want of success in housekeeping. She is 
 fishing for an invitation to dinner, and is rarely unsuccessful. 
 There is no doubt that she is a favourite with the men who 
 frequent this not very exclusive Club. And the less refined 
 they are, the more she attracts them. 
 
 The Club atmosphere suits Fanny exactly. There are 
 petty disputes in which she likes to intervene, and all manner 
 of opportunities for making mischief and fomenting trouble, 
 also of obtaining the promiscuous meals that are needed to 
 supplement her idle housekeeping. Fanny has a small 
 appetite and a bad digestion, but she cannot bear her own 
 company, and is about as domestic as a jackal. She was
 
 JOSEPH IX JEOPARDY 389 
 
 sarisfied with bridge for a long time, and an occasional game 
 of poker. But latterly she has learned baccarat; they play 
 that, too, sometimes at Crockford"s, but surreptitiously, and 
 without the sanction of the Committee. Last summer she 
 went to Dieppe, and several times to Boulogne for a week- 
 end, becoming well known in the Casinos, where she stayed 
 from the time they opened until the ^'Dernier Coup.'" But 
 she complains very much of the people she meets in such 
 places, finding them "impossible." She has doubts of the 
 morality of most of the women she meets, and makes spiteful 
 little speeches about them. No good-looking or well-dressed 
 woman is safe from Fanny's tongue. 
 
 Fannjr's income is only ;^8oo a year. Amos has never 
 supplemented it, nor forgiven the story that, after all, she 
 told him about Mabel and Roddy Ainsworth. But Amos 
 said so much about the way Mabel had looked after him 
 in S. Africa, and how well she had been received everywhere, 
 and about Dennis's regard for her, that Fanny had not been 
 able to restrain herself. 
 
 Amos waited until Dennis and Mabel were home again, but 
 even before that, Fanny found that she was no longer ex- 
 pected at Fitzjohn's HaU for her Sunday dinner. Fanny had 
 been losing hold on Amos for a long time, ever since his illness 
 in fact, when he had recalled Ted's, and even talked it over 
 with Dr. Lauder. Dr. Lauder was no friend of Fanny's, and 
 made no disguise of his opinion of her. Amos's coldness to 
 Fanny dated from then, but his complete change of fi-ont was 
 not until she had spoken to him about Mabel. Even then he 
 waited to hear what Dennis had to say about it before he 
 pronounced that decree of banishment But when once it 
 came, it was immutable, complete, he washed his hands of 
 her. That did not, of course, prevent her speaking of him, 
 and in the most intimate terms, whenever she thought that his 
 wealth, or his title, would add to her consequence. But she 
 knew that it was useless to apply to him for assistance. He had 
 already told her ;^8oo a year was a very good income for a 
 young woman who had brought nothing to the common stock !
 
 390 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 
 
 The unfortunate fact remains, however, that on ;!^8oo a 
 year it is only a limited amount of baccarat that can be 
 played in foreign casinos. How does Fanny do it ? That 
 is almost as much a mystery as the source of Margaret 
 Lemon's maintenance. Only that Fanny is so eminently re- 
 spectable. Fanny clings to respectability, and challenges every 
 other woman's right to it with uplifted brow and innuendo. 
 Her bridge has certainly improved ; it is possible, although 
 not probable, that it pays for her baccarat. 
 
 Personally I suspect Fanny of paying nothing, not the rent 
 of the fiat, nor for her many dresses. I suspect her of being 
 up to her neck in debt, and contemplating a second marriage 
 when her creditors become sufficiently clamorous. There is 
 a serious applicant in the field. It is, strangely enough, that 
 very gentleman of whom Cosmo had once spoken to his 
 sister as a genuine specimen of a modern Don Quixote. The 
 aspirant to Fanny's hand has given away a considerable 
 portion of what was once a large estate. But I suspect Fanny 
 of the intention to marry him. There is a new casino opening 
 at Pas de Calais or Wimereux. The man with the unworldly 
 intelligence and the beautiful ideals has Cosmo's encourage- 
 ment and full approval. Fanny has always been a little cat, so 
 she will assuredly fall upon her feet. 
 
 The only time Mabel has wanted to disobey her husband 
 was when he issued his orders that there was to be no com- 
 munication between her and Fanny. But Mabel was always 
 amenable, and obeyed the order. Her father backed him 
 up, and although neither thought it advisable to give her the 
 real reason, she knew it had something to do with Roddy 
 Ainsworth. 
 
 Roddy Ainsworth, however, is still a friend of the family. 
 Roddy is married now. A very wealthy widow from 
 Manchester fell in love with him on the first occasion the 
 touring company of "Charles Auchester" presented itself in 
 that intelligent town. Roddy has the command of something 
 like ;^ 1 5,000 a year, together with a stout and doting spouse, 
 and two pretty little step-daughters whom he intends to train
 
 JOSEPH IN JEOPARDY 391 
 
 for the stage. By the time they are ready he hopes a more 
 rehable and fair-minded Press will have taken the place of 
 the present venal and libellous papers. In his own handsome 
 drawing-room, no one has ever been found to say that he 
 sings fiat ! 
 
 But there is something that is driving Roddy and Fanny 
 and everything else from Mabel's mind, something too 
 wonderful for words, as yet almost incredible. It is in the 
 future only, but Dr. Lauder seems very sure about it. Agatha 
 and Ursula are already mysteriously busy upon the tiniest and 
 most ridiculous of garments, and Dennis, kinder to her than 
 ever, brings Wilfred Small home sometimes to talk about his 
 own young cricketer, ' turned six months, and with a trick of 
 his fingers already that could only belong to a bowler.' 
 
 Mabel does not want a young cricketer, but she is in a 
 flutter and flush of almost anguished anxiety to hold a baby 
 girl in her arms. If she dreams beyond the pungent smell 
 of new flannel, the unimaginable ecstasy of soft sucking lips 
 against her breast, and snuggling cry, it is to envision the 
 rapture of teaching a little daughter of her own and 
 Dennis's to cook like Ursula and Agatha, to sew, to keep 
 house, and make mulberry preserve, to enter into her woman's 
 kingdom, the kingdom which Juxton's Ltd. and the Woman's 
 Suffrage Leagues are trying so hard and so successfully to 
 demolish.
 
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