formal repetition of his invitation. Then he takes him over to old Lady
FitzAlmont, the mother of Lady Gertrude Vining, and introduces him to
her as "my cousin Mr. Dynecourt."

The same ceremony is gone through with some of the others, but, when
he brings him to Mrs. Talbot, that pretty widow interrupts his mode of
introduction.

"Mr. Dynecourt and I are old friends," she says, giving her hand to the
new-comer. Then, turning to her cousin, she adds, "Florence, is it not
a fatality our meeting him so often?"

"Have we met so often?" asks Florence quietly, but with a touch of
_hauteur_ and dislike in her tone. Then she too gives a cold little hand
to Mr. Dynecourt, who lingers over it until she disdainfully draws it
away, after which he turns from her abruptly and devotes himself to
Dora Talbot.

The widow is glad of his attentions. He is handsome and well-bred, and
for the last half hour she has been feeling slightly bored; so eager has
been the discussion about the Marlow matter, that she has been little
sought after by the opposite sex. And now, once again, the subject is
being examined in all its bearings, and the discussion waxes fast and
furious.

"What is it all about?" asks Arthur Dynecourt presently, glancing at the
animated group in the middle of the room. And Sir Adrian, hearing his
question, explains it to him.

"Ah, indeed!" he says. And then, after a scarcely perceptible