Henrietta's own advent occurred two days later and produced in Mr.Bantling an emotion amply accounted for by the fact that he had not seen her since the termination of the episode at Versailles.

The humorous view of his situation was generally taken, but it was uttered only by Ralph Touchett, who, in the privacy of his own apartment, when Bantling smoked a cigar there, indulged in goodness knew what strong comedy on the subject of the all-judging one and her British backer.

This gentleman took the joke in perfectly good part and candidly confessed that he regarded the affair as a positive intellectual adventure.

He liked Miss Stackpole extremely; he thought she had a wonderful head on her shoulders, and found great comfort in the society of a woman who was not perpetually thinking about what would be said and how what she did, how what they did--and they had done things!--would look.

Miss Stackpole never cared how anything looked, and, if she didn't care, pray why should he?
But his curiosity had been roused; he wanted awfully to see if she ever WOULD care.