their owner observed the world to remarkably good purpose. He perceived
the difference at once when the Duchess, having done her social and
family duty, left him to return to Mademoiselle Le Breton.

"It _was_ such a bore you couldn't come this afternoon! I wanted you to
see the babe dance--she's _too_ great a duck! And that Canadian girl
came to sing. The voice is magnificent--but she has some tiresome
tricks!--and _I_ didn't know what to say to her. As to the other music
on the 16th--I say, can't we find a corner somewhere?" And the Duchess
looked round the beautiful drawing-room, which she and her companions
had just entered, with a dissatisfied air.

"Lady Henry, you'll remember, doesn't like corners," said Mademoiselle
Le Breton, smiling. Her tone, delicately free and allusive, once more
drew Sir Wilfrid's curious eyes to her, and he caught also the impatient
gesture with which the Duchess received the remark.

"Ah, that's all right!" said Mademoiselle Le Breton, suddenly, turning
round to himself. "Here is Mr. Montresor--going on, too, I suppose, to
the Foreign Office. Now there'll be some chance of getting at
Lady Henry."

Sir Wilfrid looked down the drawing-room, to see the famous War Minister
coming slowly through the well-filled but not crowded room, stopping now
and then to exchange a greeting or a farewell, and much hampered, as it
seemed, in so doing, by a pronounced and disfiguring short-sight. He was
a strongly built man of more than middle height. His iron-gray hair,
deeply carved features, and cavernous black eyes gave him the air of
power that his reputation demanded. On the other hand, his difficulty of
eyesight, combined with the marked stoop of overwork, produced a