compelled him, one windless afternoon, in mid-Atlantic, to say
to Lord Lambeth that he suspected that the duchess's telegram was
in part the result of something he himself had written to her.
"I wrote to her--as I explicitly notified you I had promised to do--
that you were extremely interested in a little American girl."

Lord Lambeth was extremely angry, and he indulged for some
moments in the simple language of indignation. But I have said
that he was a reasonable young man, and I can give no better
proof of it than the fact that he remarked to his companion
at the end of half an hour, "You were quite right, after all.
I am very much interested in her. Only, to be fair,"
he added, "you should have told my mother also that she
is not--seriously--interested in me."

Percy Beaumont gave a little laugh. "There is nothing
so charming as modesty in a young man in your position.
That speech is a capital proof that you are sweet on her."

"She is not interested--she is not!" Lord Lambeth repeated.

"My dear fellow," said his companion, "you are very far gone."



PART II


In point of fact, as Percy Beaumont would have said,
Mrs. Westgate disembarked on the 18th of May on