have been
his offer that made me fanciful."

"I should go to Sir Terence before I went to Count Samoval. By which
I mean that I should not go to Count Samoval at all under any
circumstances. I do not trust him."

"You said so once before, dear," said Lady O'Moy.

"And you assured me that I spoke out of the fullness of my ignorance and
inexperience."

"Ah, forgive me."

"There is nothing to forgive. No doubt you were right. But remember
that instinct is most alive in the ignorant and inexperienced, and that
instinct is often a surer guide than reason. Yet if you want reason, I
can supply that too. Count Samoval is the intimate friend of the Marquis
of Minas, who remains a member of the Government, and who next to the
Principal Souza was, and no doubt is, the most bitter opponent of
the British policy in Portugal. Yet Count Samoval, one of the largest
landowners in the north, and the nobleman who has perhaps suffered
most severely from that policy, represents himself as its most vigorous
supporter."

Lady O'Moy listened in growing amazement. Also she was a little shocked.
It seemed to her almost indecent that a young girl should know so much
about politics--so much of which she herself, a married woman, and the
wife of the adjutant-general, was completely in ignorance.

"Save us, child!" she ejaculated. "You are so extraordinarily informed."

"I have talked to Captain Tremayne," said Sylvia. "He has explained all
this."

"Extraordinary conversation for a young man to hold with a young girl,"
pronounced her ladyship. "Terence never talked of such things to me."

"Terence was too busy making love to you," said Sylvia, and there was
the least suspicion of regret in her almost boyish voice.

"That may account for it," her ladyship confessed, and fell for a moment
into consideration of that delicious and rather amusing past, when
O'Moy's ferocious hesitancy and flaming jealousy had delighted her with
the full perception of her beauty's power. With a rush, however, the
present forced itself back upon her notice. "But I still don't see why
Count Samoval should have offered me assistance if he did not intend to
grant it when the time came."

Sylvia explained that it was from the Portuguese Government that the
demand for justice upon the violator of the nunnery at Tavora emanated,
and that Samoval's offer might be calculated to obtain him information
of Butler's whereabouts when they became known, so that he might