of occasions on which they knew
everyone and everything and had an extraordinary sense of ease; of
drives and rides in the late afternoon over gleaming beaches, on long
sea roads, beneath a sky lighted up by marvelous sunsets; of suppers, on
the return, informal, irregular, agreeable; of evenings at open windows
or on the perpetual verandas, in the summer starlight, above the warm
Atlantic. The young Englishmen were introduced to everybody, entertained
by everybody, intimate with everybody. At the end of three days they
had removed their luggage from the hotel and had gone to stay with
Mrs. Westgate--a step to which Percy Beaumont at first offered some
conscientious opposition. I call his opposition conscientious, because
it was founded upon some talk that he had had, on the second day, with
Bessie Alden. He had indeed had a good deal of talk with her, for she
was not literally always in conversation with Lord Lambeth. He had
meditated upon Mrs. Westgate's account of her sister, and he discovered
for himself that the young lady was clever, and appeared to have read a
great deal. She seemed very nice, though he could not make out, as Mrs.
Westgate had said, she was shy. If she was shy, she carried it off very
well.

"Mr. Beaumont," she had said, "please tell me something about Lord
Lambeth's family. How would you say it in England--his position?"

"His position?" Percy Beaumont repeated.

"His rank, or whatever you call it. Unfortunately we haven't got a
PEERAGE, like the people in Thackeray."

"That's a great pity," said Beaumont. "You would find it all set forth
there so much better than I can do it."

"He is a peer, then?"

"Oh, yes, he is a peer."

"And has he any other title than Lord Lambeth?"

"His title is the Marquis of Lambeth," said Beaumont; and then he was
silent. Bessie Alden appeared to be looking at him with interest. "He is
the son of the Duke of Bayswater," he added presently.

"The eldest son?"

"The only son."

"And are his parents living?"

"Oh yes; if his father were not living he would be a duke."

"So that when his father dies," pursued Bessie Alden with more
simplicity than might have been expected in a clever girl, "he will
become Duke of Bayswater?"

"Of course," said Percy Beaumont. "But his father is in excellent
health."

"And his mother?"

Beaumont smiled a little. "The duchess is uncommonly robust."

"And has he any sisters?"

"Yes, there are two."

"And what ar