"So she's gone away?" was her greeting as I raised my hat - "Lisbeth,"
she nodded, "I happened to hear something about her, you know."

It is strange, perhaps, but the Duchess generally does "happen to
hear" something about everything. "And you actually allowed yourself
to be bullied into making that promise - Dick! Dick! I'm ashamed of
you."

"How was I to help myself?" I began. "You see - "

"Poor boy !" said the Duchess, patting me affectionately with the
handle of her parasol, "it wasn't to be expected, of course. You
see, I know her - many, many years ago I was at school with Agatha
Warburton."

"But she probably didn't use lorgnettes then, and - "

"Her nose was just as sharp though - 'peaky' I used to call it,"
nodded the Duchess. "And she has actually sent Lisbeth away - dear
child - and to such a horrid, quiet little place, too, where she'll
have nobody to talk to but that young Selwyn.

"I beg pardon, Duchess, but - "

"Horace Selwyn, of Selwyn Park - cousin to Lord Selwyn, of
Brankesmere. Agatha has been scheming for it a long time, under
the rose, you know. Of course, it would be a good match, in a way
- wealthy, and all that - but I must say he bores me horribly
- so very serious and precise!"