alf reproachfully. "I have
been behaving myself quite nicely--I have indeed; at least, as nicely as
I knew how."

Lady Winterbourne's tragic air yielded to a slow smile.

"You look very well, my dear. That white becomes you charmingly; so do
the pearls. I don't wonder that Aldous always knows where you are."

Marcella raised her eyes and caught those of Aldous fixed upon her from
the other side of the room. She blushed, smiled slightly, and looked
away.

"Who is that tall man just gone up to speak to him?" she asked of her
companion.

"That is Lord Wandle," said Lady Winterbourne, "and his plain second
wife behind him. Edward always scolds me for not admiring him. He says
women know nothing at all about men's looks, and that Lard Wandle was
the most splendid man of his time. But I always think it an unpleasant
face."

"Lord Wandle!" exclaimed Marcella, frowning. "Oh, _please_ come with me,
dear Lady Winterbourne! I know he is asking Aldous to introduce him, and
I won't--no I will _not_--be introduced to him."

And laying hold of her astonished companion, she drew her hastily
through a doorway near, walked quickly, still gripping her, through two
connected rooms beyond, and finally landed her and herself on a sofa in
Lord Maxwell's library, pursued meanwhile through all her hurried course
by the curious looks of an observant throng.

"That man!--no, that would really have been _too_ much!" said Marcella,
using her large feather fan with stormy energy.

"What _is_ the matter with you, my dear?" said Lady Winterbourne in her
amazement; "and what is the matter with Lord Wandle?"

"You must know!" said Marcella, indignantly. "Oh, you _must_ have seen
that case in the paper last week--that _shocking_ case! A woman and two
children died in one of his cottages of blood-poisoning--nothing in the
world but his neglect--his _brutal_ neglect!" Her breast heaved; she
seemed almost on the point of weeping. "The agent was appealed to--did
nothing. Then the clergyman wrote to him direct, and got an answer. The
answer was published. For cruel insolence I never saw anything like it!
He ought to be in prison for manslaughter--and he comes _here_! And
people laugh and talk with him!"

She stopped, almost choked by her own passion. But the incident, after
all, was only the spark to the mine.

Lady Winterbourne stared at her helplessly.

"Perhaps it isn't true," she suggested. "The newspapers put in so many
lies, especially