"My servants went down there yesterday," said Miss King. She opened her bag and groped among the contents as she spoke. 

 "Would you be very much shocked if I smoked a cigarette?" she asked. 

 "Not in the least," said Meldon.  "I smoke myself." 

 "I was afraid—being a clergyman—you are a clergyman, aren't you? Some people are so prejudiced against ladies smoking." 

 "I'm not," said Meldon.  "I'm remarkably free from prejudices of any kind. I pride myself on being open-minded. My wife doesn't smoke, but that's merely because she doesn't like it. If she did, I shouldn't make the slightest objection. All the same, you oughtn't to go puffing cigarettes about the streets of Ballymoy. The Major's a bit old-fashioned in some ways, and I don't expect Doyle is accustomed to see ladies smoking. You'll have to be very careful. If you start people talking they may find out who you are, and then there will certainly be unpleasantness." 

 "Would they disapprove of me?" 

 "Almost sure to. We Irish have the name of being a wild lot, I know; but—well, if you don't mind my saying so, most of us would be rather shy of you. I don't mind you myself in the least, of course. I'm not that kind of man. Still, your reputation! You've been a good deal in the papers, haven't you?" 

 Miss King, curiously enough, seemed pleased at this account of her reputation. It is gratifying to a novelist to be famous, and even notoriety is pleasant. She felt that, having braved the censure of Lady Hawkesby, she could afford to despise the morality of the people of Ballymoy. 

 "The Major?" she said.  "You've mentioned him once or twice. What sort of man is he? Does my work shock him?" 

 "I expect it does," said Meldon.  "I haven't seen him for some time, and so we haven't discussed you. But from what I know of him I should say that your work, as you call it, will shock him frightfully. You can't altogether blame him. He's a bachelor, and has very strict ideas about a wife's duty to her husband." 

 Miss King was moved by a desire to startle Meldon. She was really engaged on quite an innocent novel, but she chose to pretend that she was going on in her old way. 

 "What will he say," she said, "when he finds out that I'm going on with my work under his very eyes, so to speak, 

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