Lady Ashleigh looked across the table with knitted brows.

"Macdougal, George? Why, however will you spare him?"

"We can easily," Lord Ashleigh declared, "find a temporary butler.
Macdougal has lived in New York for some years, and you will doubtless
find this a great advantage, Ella. I hope that my suggestion pleases you?"

Ella glanced over her shoulder at the two servants who were standing
discreetly in the background. Her eyes rested upon the pale,
expressionless face of the man who during the last few years had enjoyed
her father's absolute confidence. Like many others of his class, there
seemed to be so little upon which to comment in his appearance, so little
room for surmise or analysis in his quiet, negative features, his
studiously low voice, his unexceptionable deportment. Yet for a moment a
queer sense of apprehension troubled her. Was it true, she wondered, that
she did not like the man? She banished the thought almost as soon as it
was conceived. The very idea was absurd! His manner towards her had always
been perfectly respectful. He seemed equally devoid of sex or character.
She withdrew her gaze and turned once more towards her father.

"Do you think that you can really spare him, daddy," she asked, "and that
it will be necessary?"

"Not altogether necessary, I dare say," Lord Ashleigh admitted. "On the
other hand, I feel sure that you will find him a comfort, and it would be
rather a relief to me to know that there is some one in touch with you all
the time in whom I place absolute confidence. I dare say I shall be very
glad to see him back again at the end of the year, but that is neither
here nor there. Mr. Delarey has sent me the name of some bankers in New