very eve of her dramatic _coup_. Then he went to Mrs. Lorraine and
said he had persuaded Sheila to come with him; and the young American
lady and her mamma were good enough to say how glad they were she had
come to this decision. They appeared to take it for granted that it
was Sheila alone who had declined former invitations.

"Mr. Ingram will be there on Tuesday evening," said Lavender to his
wife.

"I was not aware he knew them," said Sheila, remembering, indeed, how
scrupulously Ingram had refused to know them.

"He has made their acquaintance for his own purposes, doubtless," said
Lavender. "I suppose he will appear in a frock-coat, with a bright
blue tie, and he will say 'Sir' to the waiters when he does not
understand them."

"I thought you said Mr. Ingram belonged to a very good family," said
Sheila quietly.

"That is so. But each man is responsible for his own manners; and as
all the society he sees consists of a cat and some wooden pipes in a
couple of dingy rooms in Sloane street, you can't expect him not to
make an ass of himself."

"I have never seen him make himself ridiculous: I do not think it
possible," said Sheila, with a certain precision of speech which
Lavender had got to know meant much. "But that is a matter for
himself. Perhaps you will tell me what I am to do when I meet him at
Mrs. Kavanagh's house."