compatriot of mine who saw you last night and is dying to meet you."

"Really," said Theodora, unmoved.

Lord Bracondale experienced a sensation of annoyance.

"I shall not ask you, Bracondale," the widow continued, playfully. "Just
to assert British superiority, you would try to monopolize Mrs. Brown,
and my poor Herryman Hoggenwater would have to come in a long, long
second!"

Josiah felt a rush of pride. This brilliant woman was making much of his
meek little wife.

Lord Bracondale smiled the most genial smile, with rage in his heart.

"I could not have accepted in any case, dear lady," he said, "as I have
some people dining with me, and, oddly enough, they rather suggested
they wanted Armenonville too, so perhaps I shall have the pleasure of
looking at you from the distance."

The conversation then became general, and soon after this coffee
arrived, and eventually the adieux were said.

Mrs. McBride insisted upon Theodora accompanying her in her smart
automobile.

"You leave your wife to me for an hour," she said, imperiously, to
Josiah, "and go and see the world with Captain Fitzgerald. He knows
Paris."