She kept him much against his will, and I saw him looking wistfully
now and then towards Freda.

"It amuses me," I said to her, "that Derrick Vaughan should be so
anxious to see Lord Starcross. It reminds me of Charles Lamb's
anxiety to see Kosciusko, 'for,' said he, 'I have never seen a hero;
I wonder how they look,' while all the time he himself was living a
life of heroic self-sacrifice."

"Mr. Vaughan, I should think, need only look at his own brother,"
said Freda, missing the drift of my speech.

I longed to tell her what it was possible to tell of Derrick's life,
but at that moment Sir Richard Merrifield introduced to his daughter
a girl in a huge hat and great flopping sleeves, Miss Isaacson,
whose picture at the Grosvenor had been so much talked of. Now the
little artist knew no one in the room, and Freda saw fit to be
extremely friendly to her. She was introduced to me, and I did my
best to talk to her and set Freda at liberty as soon as the harpy
had released Derrick; but my endeavours were frustrated, for Miss
Isaacson, having looked me well over, decided that I was not at all
intense, but a mere commonplace, slightly cynical worldling, and
having exchanged a few lukewarm remarks with me, she returned to
Freda, and stuck to her like a bur for the rest of the time.

We stood out on the balcony to see the troops go by. It was a fine
sight, and we all became highly enthusiastic. Freda enjoyed the
mere pageant like a child, and was delighted with the horses. She
looked now more like the Freda of the yacht, and I wished that
Derrick could be near her; but, as ill-luck would have it, he was at