instinct. If she were a man she would be a leader. All the great ladies
are on the other side, but the Duchess is more than equal to them all.
She entertains magnificently, and with tact. She never makes a mistake.
She is part and parcel of the Liberal Party. It was she who volunteered
to make the first effort to bring you back."

Mannering turned his head. Apparently he was looking out of the window.

"Her methods," Borrowdean continued, "did not commend themselves to us,
but beggars must not be choosers. Besides, the Duchess was in love with
her own scheme. Such objections as we made were at once overruled."

He paused, but Mannering said nothing. He was still looking out of the
window, though his eyes saw nothing of the street below, or the great
club buildings opposite. A scent of roses, lost now and then in the
salter fragrance of the night breeze sweeping over the marshes, the magic
of a wonderful, white-clad presence, the low words, the sense of a world
apart, a world of speechless beauty.... What empty dreams! A palace built
in a poet's fancy upon a quicksand.

"The Duchess," Borrowdean continued, "undertook to discover from you what
prospects there were, if any, of your return to political life. She took
none of us into her confidence. We none of us knew what means she meant
to employ. She disappeared. She communicated with none of us. We none of
us had the least idea what had become of her. Time went on, and we began
to get a little uneasy. We had a meeting and it was arranged that I
should come down and see you. I came, I saw you, I saw the Duchess! The
situation very soon became clear to me. Instead of the Duchess converting
you, you had very nearly converted the Duchess."