thinks you very nice."

"Does he?" said Lady Alicia, with great indifference, and a moment later
changed the subject.

Meanwhile the Baron was growing very uneasy. Of course it was quite
natural that Mr Bunker should find it pleasant to walk for a few minutes
by the side of the fairest creature on earth, and very possibly he was
artfully pleading his friend's cause. Yet the Baron felt uneasy. He
remembered Mr Bunker's invariable success with the gentler sex, his wit,
his happy smile, and his good looks; and he began to wish most sincerely
that these fascinations were being exercised on the now somewhat
breathless Countess, for his efforts to overtake the pair in front had
both annoyed and exhausted Lady Grillyer.

"Need we walk quite so fast, Baron?" she suggested; and Lady Grillyer's
suggestions were of the kind that are evidently meant to be acted upon.

"Ach, I did forged," said the Baron, absently, and without further remark
he slackened his pace for a few yards and then was off again.

"You were telling me," gasped the Countess, "of something you thought
of--doing when--you went--home."

"Zo? Oh yes, it vas--Teufel! I do not remember."

"Really, Baron," said the Countess, decidedly, "I cannot go any farther at
this rate. Let us turn. The others will be turning too, in a minute."

In fact the unlucky Baron had clean run Lady Grillyer's maternal instincts
off their feet, and he suffered for it by seeing nothing of either his
friend or his charmer for an hour and a half.

That night he accepted Sir Richard's invitation, but said nothing whatever
about bringing a friend.

For the next week Rudolph was in as many states of mind as there were
hours in each day. He walked and rode and drove with Lady Alicia through
the most romantic spots he could find. He purchased a large assortment of
golf-clubs, and under her tuition essayed to play that most dangerous of
games for mixed couples. In turn he broke every club in his set; the
cavities he hewed in the links are still pointed out to the curious; but
the heart of the Lady Alicia alone he seemed unable to damage. There was
always a moment at which his courage failed him, and in that fatal pause
she invariably changed the subject with the most innocent air in the
world.

Every now and then the greenest spasms of jealousy would seize him. Why
did she elect to disappear with Mr Bunker on the very morning that he had
resolved should settle his fate? It is true he ha