that?" he asked, almost roughly.

"You were seen there, not for the first time. The person whom you
visited--I have heard about. She is somewhat notorious, is she not?"

He was very quiet, pale to the lips. A strange, hunted expression had
crept into his eyes.

"I want to know what took you there. Am I asking too much? Remember that
you have asked me a good deal."

"Has Borrowdean anything to do with this?" he demanded.

"I have known Sir Leslie Borrowdean for many years," she answered, "and
it is quite true that we have discussed certain matters--concerning you."

"You have known Sir Leslie Borrowdean for many years," he repeated. "Yet
you met here as strangers."

"Sir Leslie divined my wishes," she answered. "He knew that it was my
wish to spend several months away from everybody, and, if possible,
unrecognized. Perhaps I had better make my confession at once. My name
is not Mrs. Handsell. I am the Duchess of Lenchester."

Mannering stood as though turned to stone. The woman watched him eagerly.
She waited for him to speak--in vain. A sudden mist of tears blinded her.
She closed her eyes. When she opened them Mannering was gone.

CHAPTER V

THE HESITATION OF MR. MANNERING

The peculiar atmosphere of the room, heavy with the newest perfume from
the Burlington Arcade, and the scent of exotic flowers, at no time
pleasing to him, seemed more than usually oppressive to Mannering as he
fidgetted about waiting for the woman whom he had come to see. He was
conscious of a restless longing to open wide the windows, take the
flowers from their vases, throw them into the street, and poke out the
fire. The little room, with all its associations, its almost pathetic
attempts at refinement, its furniture which reeked of the Tottenham Court
Road, was suddenly hateful to him. He detested his presence there, and
its object. He was already in a state of nervous displeasure when the
door opened.

The girl who entered seemed in a sense as ill in accord with such
surroundings as himself. She was plainly dressed in black, her hair
brushed back, her complexion pale, her eyes brilliant with a not
altogether natural light. She regarded him with a curious mixture of fear
and welcome. The latter, however, triumphed easily. She came towards him
with out-stretched hand and a delightful smile.

"You;--so soon again!" she exclaimed. "Were there--so many mistakes?"

Mannering's face softened. He was half ashamed of his irritat