Courtney looked up, then down, and seemed about to speak again,
but checked himself and finally strolled off, followed by Lord
Fulkeward.

"I hear," said Dr. Dean then, addressing Denzil Murray, "that a
great celebrity has arrived at this hotel--the painter, Armand
Gervase."

Denzil's face brightened instantly with a pleasant smile.

"The dearest friend I have in the world!" he said. "Yes, he is
here. I met him outside the door this afternoon. We are very old
chums. I have stayed with him in Paris, and he has stayed with me
in Scotland. A charming fellow! He is very French in his ideas;
but he knows England well, and speaks English perfectly."

"French in his ideas!" echoed Sir Chetwynd Lyle, who was just
preparing to leave the lounge. "Dear me! How is that?"

"He is a Frenchman," said Dr. Dean, suavely. "Therefore that his
ideas should be French ought not to be a matter of surprise to us,
my dear Sir Chetwynd."

Sir Chetwynd snorted. He had a suspicion that he--the editor and
proprietor of the Daily Dial--was being laughed at, and he at once
clambered on his high horse of British Morality.

"Frenchman or no Frenchman," he observed, "the ideas promulgated
in France at the present day are distinctly profane and