Henceforward
she will regard me only with good-humoured tolerance; I shall be
to her but a non-felonious Timkins.
I was an idiot to have kissed her in return.
I have not seen her since. I lunched at the club, and paid a
formal call on Mrs. Ralph Ordeyne and my cousin Rosalie, in their
sunless house in Kensington.
I met a singular lack of welcome. Rosalie gave me a limper
hand than usual, and took an early opportunity of leaving me
tete-a-tete with her mother, who conversed frigidly about the
warm weather. The very tea, if possible, was colder.
I met Judith by appointment in Kensington Gardens, and walked
with her homewards. I mentioned my chilly reception.
"My dear man," she observed--I dislike this apostrophe, which
Judith always uses by way of introduction to an unpleasant
remark--"My dear man, I have no doubt that you have as unsavoury
a reputation as any one in London. You are credited with an
establishment like Solomon's--minus the respectable counter-balance
of the wives, and your devout relatives are very properly shocked.
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