“Then they could have looked at me instead,” retorted Ada tartly.  “But I’ve no patience with Adrien.  Why can’t he get ’em something lively?  A musical comedy now—­I could make that go, if you like!  Plenty of songs and no talky-talky business.  Besides, I can dance.”

“But can’t act,” murmured Jasper, with his sarcastic smile.

“Can’t I!” cried Ada furiously.  “That’s all you know about it.  Why didn’t you come last night?”

“Business,” he answered carelessly, sipping his wine; adding, as he saw her about to question him, “With which I won’t trouble you, my fair Ada.”

“Oh won’t you!” was that lady’s retort.  “You’re mighty polite, I must say.  I suppose you were down at that old Castle again, and Adrien too!  What were you doing there?”

“Minding our own business,” he replied smilingly, as he lit a cigarette.

“Close as a fox, you are,” she declared, with a short, disagreeable laugh.  “Where’s Adrien?  Down there still?”

“No; at the Thessalian.  I left him there with Mortimer Shelton.”

“I hate that man,” said Miss Lester viciously.

“So do I,” agreed Vermont, “but I don’t say so.  Anyhow, Adrien’s safe there for another hour, and I came on to give you a word of warning.”

He turned to her companion, who had been quietly finishing her supper as if unconscious of anyone’s presence.

“Julia, you look tired; you’d better get off to bed.”

She rose and hesitated for a moment, looking from him to Ada; then quietly left the room.  Vermont gazed after her, much as he would have watched a useless piece of furniture in course of removal; then he leant back in his chair, and, before resuming, regarded fixedly Ada’s flushed, handsome face.

“Well?” she queried, impatiently striking the table with her fork.

Jasper leant forward and spoke with calm, unpleasant deliberation.

“Ada,” said he, “there was once a person who killed the goose that laid him golden eggs; there was another who beat his horse till it pitched him into the ditch; but neither of these attained such a height of folly as Miss Lester bids fair to reach, if she persists in worrying her prize donkey into kicking her to the ground and leaving her in the mud.”

“Oh, don’t be an idiot, Jasper!” she exclaimed irritably.  “Speak out plain, can’t you?”

“I certainly can, and will, my dear lady.  To put it plainly, then, you are going the quickest way to make Adrien tired of you.  After all, if you happen to possess a goose with the propensity to lay golden eggs, surely it is wise to humour him.  And if the said goose happens to dislike the smell of onions, why fill the house with that particular perfume, sufficient to suffocate an elephant?  Again, is it not the height of folly to stick plaster statues on the staircase which he ascends daily, when you know this particular goose detests imitation art?  In short, my dear Ada, if you persist in thrusting vulgarity down his throat, you will find yourself very soon out of the graces of our friend, Adrien Leroy.”