eaten by the lion, and Iâve been mauled by the lioness. I think I will now go and look for the other lioness.â
Damaris half-turned and smiled at him over her shoulder. âDo I maul you?â she asked. âAm I a pig and a prigâjust because I like my work?â
Anthony gazed at her solemnly. âYou are the Sherbet of Allah, and the gold cup he drinks it out of,â he said slowly. âYou are the Night of Repose and the Day of Illumination. You are, incidentally, a night with a good deal of rain and a day with a nasty cold wind. But that may be merely Allahâs little game.â
âI hate being bad friends with you,â Damaris said, with perfect truth, and gave him her hand.
âBut I,â said Anthony, as he kissed it, âhate being good friends. Besides, I donât think you could be.â
âWhat, a bad friend?â
âNo, a good one,â Anthony said, almost sadly. âItâs all right, I suppose; it isnât your faultâor at least it wasnât. You were made like it by the Invisibles that created you.â
âWhy are you always so rude to me, Anthony?â she asked, as wistfully as she thought desirable, but keeping rather on the side of intellectual curiosity than of hurt tenderness.
âI shall be ruder to the other lioness,â he said. âItâs only a way of saying, âHear thou my protestationââand making quite sure you do.â
âBut what do you meanâlook for the lioness?â Damaris asked. âYouâre not anxious to find it, are you?â
Anthony smiled at her. âWell, you want to work,â he said, âand I could do with a walk. And so, one way and anotherâââ He drew her a little closer to him, but as she moved they both suddenly paused. There struck momentarily into their nostrilsâwhat Damaris recognized and Anthony didnâtâa waft of the horrible stench that had assailed her on the previous night in the house where Mr. Berringer lay insensible. It was gone in a second or two, but to each of them it was obvious that the other had smelt it.
âMy God!â Anthony said involuntarily, as Damaris shuddered and threw back her head. âWhatâs the matter with your drains?â
âNothing,â Damaris said sharply. âBut whatâdid you smell something!â
â Smell, â Anthony exclaimed. âIt was like a corpse walking. Or a beast out of a jungle. What on earth is it?â He sniffed experimentally. âNo, itâs gone. It must be your drains.â
âIt isnât our drains,â Damaris said crossly. âI smelt it at that house last night, only not nearly so strongly; but how it got hereââ! It canât be the frockâI wasnât wearing it. How horrible!â
They were standing staring at one another, and she shook herself abruptly, then, recovering her normal remoteness, âI shall go and have a bath,â she said. It occurred to her that the smell might be, in some way, clinging to her hair, but she wasnât going to admit to Anthony that anything about her could be even remotely undesirable, so she endedââIt makes one feel to need it.â
âIt does,â Anthony said. âI suppose the lionessâââ
âIn a townâunseen? My dear Anthony!â
He looked out of the window at the street and the houses opposite. People were going by; a car stopped; a policeman came into sight. âWhy, no,â he said, âI suppose not. Wellâitâs funny. Anyhow, Iâm off now. Goodbye, and do think about salvation.â
âGoodbye,â she said. âThank you for coming, and if I ever seem to need it I will. But Iâve read a good deal about salvation, you know, in all those tiresome texts of one sort and another.â
âYes,â Anthony answered, as they came into the hall. âReading isnât