ons, too; no end of them," Lord Lambeth
admitted. "But she asked for information, don't you know."

"Information? Aye, I'll warrant she wanted it. Depend upon it that she
is dying to marry you just as much and just as little as all the rest of
them."

"I shouldn't like her to refuse me--I shouldn't like that."

"If the thing would be so disagreeable, then, both to you and to her, in
Heaven's name leave it alone," said Percy Beaumont.

Mrs. Westgate, on her side, had plenty to say to her sister about the
rarity of Mr. Beaumont's visits and the nonappearance of the Duchess of
Bayswater. She professed, however, to derive more satisfaction from
this latter circumstance than she could have done from the most lavish
attentions on the part of this great lady. "It is most marked," she
said--"most marked. It is a delicious proof that we have made them
miserable. The day we dined with Lord Lambeth I was really sorry for the
poor fellow." It will have been gathered that the entertainment offered
by Lord Lambeth to his American friends had not been graced by the
presence of his anxious mother. He had invited several choice spirits
to meet them; but the ladies of his immediate family were to Mrs.
Westgate's sense--a sense possibly morbidly acute--conspicuous by their
absence.

"I don't want to express myself in a manner that you dislike," said
Bessie Alden; "but I don't know why you should have so many theories
about Lord Lambeth's poor mother. You know a great many young men in New
York without knowing their mothers."

Mrs. Westgate looked at her sister and then turned away. "My dear
Bessie, you are superb!" she said.

"One thing is certain," the young girl continued. "If I believed I were
a cause of annoyance--however unwitting--to Lord Lambeth's family, I
should insist--"

"Insist upon my leaving England," said Mrs. Westgate.

"No, not that. I want to go to the National Gallery again; I want to see
Stratford-on-Avon and Canterbury Cathedral. But I should insist upon his
coming to see us no more."

"That would be very modest and very pretty of you; but you wouldn't do
it now."

"Why do you say 'now'?" asked Bessie Alden. "Have I ceased to be
modest?"

"You care for him too much. A month ago, when you said you didn't, I
believe it was quite true. But at present, my dear child," said Mrs.
Westgate, "you wouldn't find it quite so simple a matter never to see
Lord Lambeth again. I have seen it coming on."

"You are m