“Don’t dare to do any such thing!” said Mrs. Grafton. “You’ll only have the same fuss all over again. You wait till Diana comes round.”

“But will she? I mean—”

“I know quite well what you mean, George. You’re wrong. Diana’s a naughty child; she always was. It would be very bad for her if you started to eat humble pie. She’ll come to her senses fast enough if you leave her alone.”

“I can't leave her alone! I can’t do without her!”

“George,” said Mrs. Grafton, impressively, “am I or am I not a fool?”

“Of course not. But—”

“I’ve known Diana twenty years. You’ll never understand her as I do. You’re only her husband. Leave her to me. I don’t want you both to run on to the rocks, which is what you would do if you made it up again in the same old way. You’ve got to learn to adapt yourselves; and because you’re both peppery and impatient you’d better do the first part of the adapting apart. Now, are you going to take my advice?

George struggled with himself for a moment.

“All—right. I was thinking of learning to dance,” he said.

“Excellent! " nodded Mrs. Grafton.

That evening she took her husband and daughter to dine with an old friend. Diana was unconvincingly gay, but she couldn’t help liking Mr. Haskin.

He was a man of about fifty-five with a fascinating smile, and a collection of prints and china. Diana stiffened slightly when he mentioned his hobby, but she could not refuse to look at his collection. She listened carefully to all that he said, for she, too, had made a resolution, only half acknowledged.

“There’s rather a curious history attached to this piece,” said Haskin, picking up an old and rivetted plate. He told Diana the history, and as he was a good talker, she was interested. She became rather more enthusiastic, and ventured a guess that a certain vase on the shelf was very rare. Mr. Haskin showed her how to distinguish it from one of a later period, then proceeded to follow out Mrs. Grafton’s commands. He would have done a great deal for Mrs. Grafton.

“You take an interest in china?”

She hesitated.

“N—yes,” she acknowledged.

“I wonder if you’re interested enough to help me with a catalogue I’m making? Or would it bore you?”

Diana thought that it was highly probable that it would, but she realised that this was a wonderful opportunity for acquiring knowledge on the subject of china.

“I’d love to,” she said mendaciously. “But I know nothing about china. Should I be any use?”

Mr. Haskin thought privately that so far from being useful she would be a hindrance, but he did not say this. Mrs. Grafton was smiling at him.

“Mother,” said Diana, when they were alone. “I'm going to help Mr. Haskin to catalogue his collection.”

“Oh, are you?” said Mrs. Grafton ingenuously. “Won’t it bore you?”

“Yes, I think it will, but I’ve made up my mind that I haven’t been altogether fair to George. In fact, the row was a good deal my fault. And I’m not going back to him until I know something about his beastly—his china.”