ns. When
will you come?"

"Whenever Miss Archer will take me. We're thinking of going to London,
but we'll go and see you first. I'm determined to get some satisfaction
out of you."

"If it depends upon Miss Archer I'm afraid you won't get much. She won't
come to Lockleigh; she doesn't like the place."

"She told me it was lovely!" said Henrietta.

Lord Warburton hesitated. "She won't come, all the same. You had better
come alone," he added.

Henrietta straightened herself, and her large eyes expanded. "Would you
make that remark to an English lady?" she enquired with soft asperity.

Lord Warburton stared. "Yes, if I liked her enough."

"You'd be careful not to like her enough. If Miss Archer won't visit
your place again it's because she doesn't want to take me. I know what
she thinks of me, and I suppose you think the same--that I oughtn't to
bring in individuals." Lord Warburton was at a loss; he had not been
made acquainted with Miss Stackpole's professional character and failed
to catch her allusion. "Miss Archer has been warning you!" she therefore
went on.

"Warning me?"

"Isn't that why she came off alone with you here--to put you on your
guard?"

"Oh dear, no," said Lord Warburton brazenly; "our talk had no such
solemn character as that."

"Well, you've been on your guard--intensely. I suppose it's natural
to you; that's just what I wanted to observe. And so, too, Miss
Molyneux--she wouldn't commit herself. You have been warned, anyway,"
Henrietta continued, addressing this young lady; "but for you it wasn't
necessary."

"I hope not," said Miss Molyneux vaguely.

"Miss Stackpole takes notes," Ralph soothingly explained. "She's a great
satirist; she sees through us all and she works us up."

"Well, I must say I never have had such a collection of bad material!"
Henrietta declared, looking from Isabel to Lord Warburton and from this
nobleman to his sister and to Ralph. "There's something the matter with
you all; you're as dismal as if you had got a bad cable."

"You do see through us, Miss Stackpole," said Ralph in a low tone,
giving her a little intelligent nod as he led the party out of the
gallery. "There's something the matter with us all."

Isabel came behind these two; Miss Molyneux, who decidedly liked her
immensely, had taken her arm, to walk beside her over the polished
floor. Lord Warburton strolled on the other side with his hands behind
him and his eyes lowered. For some moments h