Lords for his misdemeanours, which were of a much darker colour than
those acts for which Warren Hastings had been called to account fifty
years before.

Yet in the face of all this, Lady Maulevrier bore herself as proudly as
if her husband's name were spotless, and talked of his return with all
the ardour of a fond and trusting wife.

'One of the finest bits of acting I ever saw in my life,' said the court
physician. 'Mademoiselle Mars never did anything better.'

'Do you really think it was acting?' inquired Lord Denyer, affecting a
youthful candour and trustfulness which at his age, and with his
experience, he could hardly be supposed to possess.

'I know it,' replied the doctor. 'I watched her while she was talking of
Maulevrier, and I saw just one bead of perspiration break out on her
upper lip--an unmistakable sign of the mental struggle.'




CHAPTER II.

ULYSSES.


October was ending drearily with north-east winds, dust, drifting dead
leaves, and a steel-grey sky; and the Dolphin Hotel at Southampton was
glorified by the presence of Lady Maulevrier and suite. Her ladyship's