THE SILVER FOX 93 



intended for him specially, and replied to it 

 with an intimacy that startled Slaney. His 

 face was pale, and had the tired look that 

 comes with mental rather than physical 

 fatigue, but the crisp tingle of the cham- 

 pagne had given its inimitable fillip ; the 

 excellence of the dinner had brought him 

 into charity with all men — even with his 

 Irish workmen — and the warm luxury and 

 charm of the surroundings had the effect of 

 a perfume whose dizzy fragrance can steep 

 mind and body in repose. The anxieties 

 that he had to bear alone, the reverses that 

 hit him harder than he dared admit, slept 

 in this atmosphere of ease. *' Lovely Thais " 

 sat beside him, and the gods had consider- 

 ately prolonged the absence of her husband. 

 Even Slaney, who might at one time have 

 complicated the situation, now fell into her 

 place in the general sentiment of repose, 

 and made a pleasant background of literary 

 intelligence and perceptiveness. He re- 

 membered only as a transient caprice the 

 moment, unforgetable for her, that had 



