And after a while the party adjusted itself, some for bridge and some for sleep; and Jimmy Danvers and Colonel Lowerby went into the small compartment to smoke.

“Well, Crow,” said Jimmy, “what do you think of Tristram’s new lady?  Isn’t she a wonder?  But, Jehoshaphat! doesn’t she freeze you to death!”

“Very curious type,” growled the Crow.  “Bit of Vesuvius underneath, I expect.”

“Yes, that is what a fellow’d think to look at her,” Jimmy said, puffing at his cigarette.  “But she keeps the crust on the top all the time; the bloomin’ volcano don’t get a chance!”

“She doesn’t look stupid,” continued the Crow.  “She looks stormy—­expect it’s pretty well worth while, though, when she melts.”

“Poor old Tristram don’t look as if he had had a taste of paradise with his houri, for his week, does he?  Before we’d heartened him up on the platform a bit—­give you my word—­he looked as mum as an owl,” Jimmy said.  “And she looked like an iceberg, as she’s done all the time.  I’ve never seen her once warm up.”

“He’s awfully in love with her,” grunted the Crow.

“I believe that is about the measure, though I can’t see how you’ve guessed it.  You had not got back for the wedding, Crow, and it don’t show now.”

The Crow laughed—­one of his chuckling, cynical laughs which to his dear friend Lady Anningford meant so much that was in his mind.

“Oh, doesn’t it!” he said.

“Well, tell me, what do you really think of her?” Jimmy went on.  “You see, I was best man at the wedding, and I feel kind of responsible if she is going to make the poor, old boy awfully unhappy.”

“She’s unhappy herself,” said the Crow.  “It’s because she is unhappy she’s so cold.  She reminds me of a rough terrier I bought once, when I was a lad, from a particularly brutal bargeman.  It snarled at every one who came near it, before they could show if they were going to kick or not, just from force of habit.”

“Well?” questioned Jimmy, who, as before has been stated, was rather thick.

“Well, after I had had it for a year it was the most faithful and the gentlest dog I ever owned.  That sort of creature wants oceans of kindness.  Expect Tristram’s pulled the curb—­doesn’t understand as yet.”

“Why, how could a person who must always have had heaps of cash—­Markrute’s niece, you know—­and a fine position be like your dog, Crow?  You are drawing it!”

“Well, you need not mind what I say, Jimmy,” Colonel Lowerby went on.  “Judge for yourself.  You asked my opinion, and as I am an old friend of the family I’ve given it, and time will show.”

“Lady Highford’s going to be at Montfitchet,” Jimmy announced after a pause.  “She won’t make things easy for any one, will she!”

“How did that happen?” asked the Crow in an astonished voice.

“Ethelrida had asked her in the season, when every one supposed the affair was still on, and I expect she would not let them put her off—­” And then both men looked up at the door, for Tristram peeped in.