The revelation that had come to him in the park was not destined to stand alone.  Between such women as Folly and their victims exists an almost invariable camaraderie that forbids the spoiling of sport.  The inculcation of this questionable loyalty is considered by some the last attribute of the finished adventuress, and by others it is said to be due to the fact that such women draw and are drawn by men whose major rule is to “play fair.”  Both conclusions are erroneous, as any victim can testify.

The news that Lewis no longer followed in Folly’s train permeated his world with a rapidity that has no parallel outside of London except in the mental telegraphy of aboriginal Africa.  Men soon began to talk to him, to tell him things.  He turned upon the first with an indignant question, “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” and the informer stared at him and smiled until Lewis found the answer for himself and flushed.  Ten thousand pointing fingers cannot show the sunrise to the blind.

By the time H lne came back, Lewis not only knew his liberation, but had begun to bless Folly as we bless the stroke of lightning that strikes at us and just misses.  He complied with H lne’s summons promptly, but with a deliberation that surprised him, for it was not until he was on the way to her house that he realized that he had no troubles to pour out to her ear.

Nevertheless, a sense of peace fell upon him as he entered the familiar room of cheerful blue chintzes and light.  H lne was as he had ever known her.  She gave him a slow, measuring welcome, and then sat back and let him talk.  Woman’s judgment may err in clinging to the last word, but never is her finesse at fault in ceding the first.

H lne heard Lewis’s tale from start to finish with only one interruption.  It took her five minutes to find out just what it was Folly had said in her own tongue to the little cockney in his, and even at that there were one or two words she had to guess.  When she thought she had them all, she sat up straight and laughed.

Lewis stared at her.

“Do you think it’s funny?” he demanded.

“Oh, no, of course not,” gasped Lady Derl, trying to gulp down her mirth.  “Not at all.”  And then she laughed again.

Lewis waited solemnly for her to finish, then he told her of some of the things he had heard at the club.

“H lne,” he finished, “I want you to know that I don’t only see what a fool I was.  I see more than that.  I see what you and dad sacrificed to my blindness.  I want you to know that you didn’t do it in vain.  Six months ago, if I had found Folly out, I would have gone to the dogs, taken her on her own terms, and said good-by to honor and my word to dad.  It’s—­it’s from that that you have saved me.”

H lne waved her hand deprecatingly.

“I did little enough for you, Lew.  Not half what I would willingly have done.  But—­but your dad—­I wrote you I’d seen him just for an hour at Port Said.  Your dad, Lew, he’s given you all he had.”