It did not take Freddie long to decide.

He was an outcast and a pariah and he was very lonely.

He must have someone to talk to.

Without more ado he bore down upon the couple, and a moment later was tactfully advising the sleepy Mr.Rodney to take himself off to bed,--advice which that gentleman gladly accepted.

And so it came about that Freddie sat face to face with the last resort, at the foot of the _chaise-longue_, gazing with serene adulation into the eyes of a woman who might have had a son as old as he--if she had had one at all.