He was not to be persuaded to any strenuous defence, and Fielding felt inclined to harbour a grudge against him as needlessly a spoil-sport.

Later on, however, when he was in bed it occurred to him that the play might still be performed, though upon different lines, and with a plot rather different from what he had imagined--his plot inverted, in fact.

Clarice Le Mesurier, he remembered, had made the first advance to Drake.

What if she for once in a while were to figure as the pursuer! That alternative would, perhaps, be the more diverting of the two.

He must consult Mrs.Willoughby as to the effect which Drake's bearing would produce on women--consult her cautiously, prudence warned him.