ning when they were sure to have the place to
themselves.

But Susy divined that there was another reason for Strefford's
suggestion. She had never yet shown herself with him publicly, among
their own group of people: now he had determined that she should do
so, and she knew why. She had humbled his pride; he had understood, and
forgiven her. But she still continued to treat him as she had always
treated the Strefford of old, Charlie Strefford, dear old negligible
impecunious Streff; and he wanted to show her, ever so casually and
adroitly, that the man who had asked her to marry him was no longer
Strefford, but Lord Altringham.

At the very threshold, his Ambassador's greeting marked the difference:
it was followed, wherever they turned, by ejaculations of welcome from
the rulers of the world they moved in. Everybody rich enough or titled
enough, or clever enough or stupid enough, to have forced a way into the
social citadel, was there, waving and flag-flying from the battlements;
and to all of them Lord Altringham had become a marked figure. During
their slow progress through the dense mass of important people who made
the approach to the pictures so well worth fighting for, he never left
Susy's side, or failed to make her feel herself a part of his triumphal
advance. She heard her name mentioned: "Lansing--a Mrs. Lansing--an
American... Susy Lansing? Yes, of course.... You remember her? At
Newport, At St. Moritz? Exactly.... Divorced already? They say so...
Susy darling! I'd no idea you were here... and Lord Altringham! You've
forgotten me, I know, Lord Altringham.... Yes, last year, in Cairo... or
at Newport... or in Scotland ... Susy, dearest, when will you bring Lord
Altringham to dine? Any night that you and he are free I'll arrange to
be...."

"You and he": they were "you and he" already!

"Ah, there's one of them--of my great-grandmothers," Strefford
explained, giving a last push that drew him and Susy to the front rank,
before a tall isolated portrait which, by sheer majesty of presentment,
sat in its great carved golden frame as on a throne above the other
pictures.

Susy read on the scroll beneath it: "The Hon'ble Diana Lefanu, fifteenth
Countess of Altringham"--and heard Strefford say: "Do you remember? It
hangs where you noticed the empty space above the mantel-piece, in the
Vandyke room. They say Reynolds stipulated that it should be put with
the Vandykes."

She had never before heard him speak of