ning--with flirtation, more or less obvious--generally more. He
plied Margaret with the product, much to her apparent liking; she was at
her prettiest in her timid fencing with his compliments, her shy
enjoyment, her consciously daring little excursions into coquetry. But
Dormer's eyes were not all for his own side of the table either; he made
an effort or two to draw Jenny into conversation; he often looked her
way. With those two in the room together, a man might well be puzzled to
decide on which face to turn his eyes. Jenny assisted Dormer's choice.
She would not be drawn by him--she was still for Lacey. The two couples
talked, Chat and I falling out of the conversation; we could not
condescend to call commonplaces across the space that divided us, and
Chat and I seldom talked anything else to one another.

After lunch we all went into the garden--except Chat, who always took a
siesta when she could. Here Jenny carried off Dormer, to see the
hothouses--it was time to be civil to him. I fancied that she would not
be vexed if I left Lacey and Margaret to a _tete-a-tete_, so, when they
proposed strolling, I was firm for sitting, and we parted company. I
could watch them as I sat. The two were getting on very well. For a
little while I watched. My cigarette came to an end--I followed Chat's
excellent example and fell asleep.

I awoke to find Jenny standing beside me. She was pulling a rose to
pieces and smiling thoughtfully. Our guests had, it seemed, departed;
Margaret was visible in a hammock under a tree at the other end of the
lawn.

"I've really had to be quite shy with Mr. Dormer in the hothouses," she
said. "He's such a ladies' man! And he's gone away with the impression
that that's the sort of man I like. He has pointed out that Hingston is
only fifteen miles off, and that he has a motor car and can do the
distance in twenty-two--or was it twenty-seven?--minutes, so that lots
can be seen of him, if desired. He has hinted that this is, after all, a
lonely life for me--for a person of my gifts and attractions--and has
congratulated me on the growing prosperity of Catsford. What do you make
of all that, Austin?"

"Perhaps you told him that you wanted a bit of his land?"

"Mr. Cartmell would never have forgiven me if I'd let slip such a
propitious opportunity. I did."

"It rather looks as if he wanted all of yours," I suggested.

"Then he communicated to me the impression that, in his opinion, Lord
Lacey was