And Lizzie nodded emphatically at Alfred, who answered,
"Yes, we will. I didn't know what sort of a piece this was, or I shouldn't have brought you to see it."
"But Mr. Sheldrake knew," remarked Lizzie, with a sharp glance in the direction of that gentleman.
"I assure you I did not," was Mr. Sheldrake's reply. "You do me great injustice, and not for the first time to-night. I have too high a regard for Miss Lily to cause her pain. She knows that, I am sure; and so does Alfred."
"I know it well," interposed Alfred eagerly; "and Lily knows it too. How can you be so unjust, Liz?"
Lily turned to her friend. "I am so sorry for all this. I am the only one to blame for being so weak and foolish."
This brought Mr. Sheldrake out in full force; he was almost tender in his expressions of sympathy for Lily, and he even relented so far towards Lizzie as to hold up a warning finger as a caution not to be unjust to her friends for the future.
"And now," he said, when Lily was ready to depart, "I propose we go and have a little supper."
"No, thank you," said Lizzie, in a decided tone, not at all softened by the evidence of Mr. Sheldrake's magnanimity.
Mr. Sheldrake bit his lip.