THE SACRED FOUNT
"He didn't come to oblige Lady John herself!"
"Well, then, to oblige his clever wife———"
"He didn't come to oblige his clever wife! He came," said Mrs. Briss, "just to amuse himself. He has his amusements, and it's odd," she remarkably laughed, "that you should grudge them to him!"
"It would be odd indeed if I did! But put his proceeding," I continued, "on any ground you like; you described to me the purpose of it as a screening of the pair."
"I described to you the purpose of it as nothing of the sort. I didn't describe to you the purpose of it," said Mrs. Briss, "at all. I described to you," she triumphantly set forth, "the effect of it—which is a very different thing."
I could only meet her with admiration. "You're of an astuteness———!"
"Of course I'm of an astuteness! I see effects. And I saw that one. How much Briss himself had seen it is, as I've told you, another matter; and what he had, at any rate, quite taken the affair for was the sort of flirtation in which, if one is a friend to either party, and one's own feelings are not at stake, one may now and then give people a lift. Haven't I asked you before," she demanded, "if you suppose he would have given one had he had an idea where these people are?"
"I scarce know what you have asked me be-
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