"If I were the lion," said her partner daringly, "by the powers, I'd
play the part! I wouldn't be a tame beast, egad! If Una went out to a
fancy ball, my faith, I would go too!"

Lady Brooke uttered a little, excited laugh. The words caught her
interest.

"And suppose Una went without your leave?" she said.

The Irishman looked at her with a humorous twist at one corner of his
mouth.

"I'm thinking that I'd still go too," he said.

"But if you didn't know?" She asked the question with a curious
vehemence. Her instinct told her that, however he might profess to
trifle, here at least was a man.

"That wouldn't happen," he said, with conviction, "if I were the lion."

The music was quickening to the _finale_, and she felt the strong arm
grow tense about her.

"Come!" he said. "We will go into the garden."

She went with him because it seemed that she must, but deep in her heart
there lurked a certain misgiving. There was an almost arrogant air of
power about this man. She wondered what Sir Roland would say if he knew,
and comforted herself almost immediately with the reflection that he