The man was half amused, half pained, but his evil star was in the ascendant.  Had he known it, he would have been plain and natural, for at no time had the girl ever been so near to him.  Instead, he made some laughing remark, which sounded harshly flippant in her ears.  She looked at him reproachfully; it was cruel to treat her seriousness with scorn; and then, seeing Lady Manorwater and the others on the lawn below, she asked him with studied carelessness to take her back.  Lewis obeyed meekly, cursing in his heart his unhappy trick of an easy humour.  If his virtues were to go far to rob him of what he most cared for, it looked black indeed for the unfortunate young man.

Meantime Wratislaw and Mr. Stocks had drawn together by the attraction of opposites.  A change had come over the latter, and momentarily eclipsed his dignity.  For the man was not without tact, and he felt that the attitude of high-priest of all the virtues would not suit in the presence of one whose favourite task it was to laugh his so-called virtues to scorn.  Such, at least to begin with, was his honourable intention.  But the subtle Wratislaw drew him from his retirement and skilfully elicited his coy principles.  It was a cruel performance—­a shameless one, had there been any spectator.  The one would lay down a fine generous line of policy; the other would beg for a fact in confirmation.  The one would haltingly detail some facts; the other would promptly convince him of their falsity.  Eventually the victim grew angry and a little frightened.  The real Mr. Stocks was a man of business, not above making a deal with an opponent; and for a little the real Mr. Stocks emerged from his shell.

“You won’t speak much in the coming fight, will you?  You see, you are rather heavy metal for a beginner like myself,” he said, with commercial frankness.

“No, my dear Stocks, to set your mind at rest, I won’t.  Lewis wants to be knocked about a little, and he wants the fight to brace him.  I’ll leave him to fight his own battles, and wish good luck to the better man.  Also, I won’t come to your meetings and ask awkward questions.”

Mr. Stocks bore malice only to his inferiors, and respected his betters when he was not on a platform.  He thanked Wratislaw with great heartiness, and when Lady Manorwater found the two they were beaming on each other like the most ancient friends.

“Has anybody seen Lewie?” she was asking.  “He is the most scandalous host in the world.  We can’t find boats or canoes and we can’t find him.  Oh, here is the truant!” And the renegade host was seen in the wake of Alice descending from the ridge.