ired corner of the biggest room at the Casino. Not
(Mrs. Cayley-Binns hastened to interpolate) that she was in the habit of
taking her daughter to the Casino at Monte Carlo, or of going often
herself, but occasionally if with friends she did "just walk through the
Rooms, on a Concert day." Others, whose word _could not be doubted_, had
said that the Frenchman, an artist, had got into difficulties at the
Casino and had obtained money from Miss Grant, some of it in the form of
cheques, which he had boasted of and shown everywhere. Of course he must
be a detestable creature; but that fact did not excuse Miss Grant's
friendship with him; rather the contrary. And even if he were a
blackmailer, why, there must be _some_ foundation for the blackmail;
otherwise there would be no object in paying to have a secret
kept--whatever it might be. Then there ensued a good deal of discussion
as to the nature of the secret, provided it existed; and Mrs.
Cayley-Binns talked eloquently though discreetly with Miss Bland about
the latter's "interesting Roman relatives." She admitted to Prince
Vanno's cousin that she had not "exactly been at Rome, or at Monte Della
Robbia, though she had travelled in Italy"; but she "thought it must
have been in Cairo" that she had met the Prince. He was so much in the
East, was he not? And she too had been in the East. (It was not
necessary to state that it had been in an excursion steamer which
allowed three days for Cairo, three for Constantinople.) The dear Prince
might possibly not remember her name, but she would never forget him, he
was so handsome and agreeable, such a romantic figure in the world; and
Alys was quite in love with his profile.

In the end, she discovered that Miss Bland was far more interested in
the elder brother than the younger, and in Prince Della Robbia's wife
rather than in Prince Vanno's fiancee; but it was too late to construct
an acquaintance, however slight, with the former; and certainly Miss
Bland had seemed interested in the details concerning Mary Grant. The
girl's name had struck her particularly, it appeared. She repeated it
several times over, saying, "Mary Grant--Mary Grant. I didn't know her
name was Mary." And Miss Bland had the air of being puzzled, as if there
was something in the name--a very common sort of name--which perplexed
her.

Luckily Mrs. Cayley-Binns and Alys were sure that the name was Mary.
They had seen it on a cheque, payable at a Monte Carlo bank,