Fielding, Mallinson, and Conway meanwhile saw Miss Le Mesurier into her carriage.
'What in the world is papa doing ?' asked Clarice.
'Exchanging cards with Drake,' replied Fielding.

Mallinson turned his head round quickly and beheld the two gentlemen affably shaking hands again.

Conway bent into the carriage.
'Do you like him ?' he asked.
'Oh yes,' she replied indifferently.
'Then I am glad I introduced him to you,' and some emphasis was laid upon the 'I.' Mr.Le Mesurier came out to the brougham and the coachman drove off.
'I like that young fellow, Drake,' he said, with a wave of the hand.

'I have asked him to call.' Clarice did not inform her diplomatic father that unless she had foreseen his intention she would have undertaken the discharge of that act of courtesy herself.
Mallinson took a hansom and drove straight from the theatre to his chambers in South Kensington, Conway walked off in the opposite direction, so that Drake and Fielding were left to stroll away together.
They walked across Leicester Square towards St.James's Street, each occupied with his own thoughts.

Fielding's were of an unusually stimulating kind; he foresaw the possibility of a very diverting comedy, to be played chiefly for his amusement and partly for Miss Le Mesurier's, by Clarice herself, Drake, and Mallinson.