id her hand on him, and pressed him into the
service. He became a new piece on the board; he had his place in the
combination.

Delicate and difficult is the game when it is played with living pieces.
They may refuse to move--or may move in the wrong direction. There was
one piece, of supreme importance in the scheme, which she must handle
with rarest skill if he were to be induced to move at her bidding and in
the direction that her combination required. He was to be the head and
front of the final attack; at the head of the opposing forces stood his
father! She must be very sure of her control over that piece before she
tried to move it! Only when he had been brought wholly under her sway
could the process of impelling him in the desired direction safely be
begun.

Yes, Fillingford was the great enemy. Round him gathered all the
opposition to her, her proceedings, and her pretensions; he lay right
across her path, and must be conquered if her schemes were to win
success. She was not bitter against him; she was ready to admit that he
had the right to be bitter against her. She shared his pride too much
not to appreciate his attitude. She respected him, in a way she liked
him--but she was minded to fight him to the death if need be, and to use
against him every weapon that she could find--even those that came from
his own household. If he fell before her attack, the whole campaign
would be won. But it was preposterous to suppose that he ever would?
Jenny knew the difficulties, but neither did she underestimate her own
resources. A long purse, a long head, and two remarkably attractive
young women--these formed the nucleus of her forces; they represented a
power by no means to be despised in whatever field they might be brought
into action.

I was at the luncheon-party--"to talk to Chat," said Jenny; but in fact
I had fallen into the habit of lunching at the Priory. Jenny had human
weaknesses, and, from this time on, manifested a liking for a
sympathetic audience--which she could find only in me. Chat was not, in
her judgment, "safe"; she was too leaky a vessel to be trusted with the
drops of confidence--carefully measured drops--which Jenny was pleased
to let fall. Besides, she needed, now and then, a little help.

The young men arrived in high spirits, and Jenny, flanked by Chat and
myself--Margaret was not down from changing after her riding
lesson--received them gayly. They had a joke between themselves, and it