he answered. "A little
child I was, with my hair in pigtails and frocks to my knees. I have
learned to think, somehow, that Paris is my home. What I have heard of
South America I do not love. I wish very much that my uncle would stay
here."

"There is no chance of that, I suppose?" I asked.

"I think not," she answered. "In South America he is a very important
man. They speak of him one day as President."

"Had you any idea," I asked, "that he had enemies over here?"

She shook her head.

"It is not that," she said. "We will not talk of it just now. It is
not that he has enemies, but he has very, very important business to
arrange, and there are some who do not think as he thinks about
it. Shall we talk about something else, Capitaine Rotherby? Tell me
about your friends or relations, and where you live? I would like so
much to know everything."

"I am afraid there is not much to tell," I answered. "You see I am
what is called over here a younger son. I have a brother who owns the
house in which I was born, and all that sort of thing, and I have had
to go out into the world and look for my fortune. So far," I
continued, "I can't say that I have been very successful."

"You are poor, then?" she asked timidly.

"I am not rich," I answered. "Still, on the whole, I suppose for a
bachelor I am comfortably off. Then my brother has no sons, and his
health is always delicate. I do not count on that, of course, but I
might have to succeed him."

"Tell me his name?" she asked.

"Lord Welmington," I answered,--"the Earl of Welmington he is called."

"And you would be that," she asked naively, "if he died?"

"I should," I answered, "but I should be very sorry to think that
there was any chance of it. I am going to find something to do very
soon, probably at one of the embassies on the Continent. The army at
home, with no chance of a war, is dull work."

"You play games and shoot, of course," she asked, "like all your
countrymen?"

"I am afraid I do," I admitted. "I have wasted a good deal of time the
last few years. I have made up my mind definitely now, though, that I
will get something to do. Ralph--that's my brother--wants me to stand
for Parliament for the division of Norfolk, where we live, and has
offered to pay all my expenses, but I am afraid I do not fancy myself
as a politician."

"I would come and hear you speak," she murmured.

"Thank you," I answered, "but I have other accomplishments at which I
s