e
could be no harm in Colonel Grey's hearing the questions. As for
interrupting their pleasant converse, he thought that they would soon
recover from the interruption. Accordingly he went out to the
rose-garden.

Absorbed in one another, they did not see him till he was right on them,
and then he saw a curious happening. At the sight of him a sudden,
simultaneous apprehension filled both their faces, and they drew closer
together. But he had an odd fancy that they did not draw together for
mutual protection, but mutually to protect. Then, almost on the instant,
they were gazing at him with politely inquiring eyes, Lady Loudwater
smiling. He felt that they were intensely on their guard. It was
uncommonly puzzling.

He changed his mind about questioning Lady Loudwater in the presence of
Grey, and asked if she could spare him a minute or two to answer a few
questions.

"Oh, yes. I'm sure Colonel Grey will excuse me," she said readily.

"But why shouldn't you question Lady Loudwater before me?" said Colonel
Grey coolly; but he slapped his thigh nervously with the pair of gloves
he was carrying. "It's always as well for a woman to have a man at hand
in an awkward affair like this, which may lead to a good deal of
unpleasantness if anything goes wrong. I'm a friend of Lady Loudwater,
and I don't suppose you fear that anything you discuss before me will go
any further, Mr. Flexen."

He was cool enough, but Mr. Flexen did not miss the note of anxiety in
his voice.

"I don't mind at all if Lady Loudwater would like it," he said readily.
"But it's rather a delicate matter."

"Oh, I should like Colonel Grey to hear everything," said Olivia quickly.

"It's about the matter of an entanglement between Lord Loudwater and some
lady. Are you quite sure there was nothing of the kind before his
marriage, if not after it?" said Mr. Flexen.

"I don't know for certain," said Olivia readily. "But two or three times
Lord Loudwater did talk about other women in a boasting sort of way.
Only it was when he was trying to annoy me; so I didn't pay much
attention to it."

"And you never tried to find out whether it was the truth or not?" said
Mr. Flexen.

"No, never. You see, I didn't particularly care," said Olivia, with
unexpected frankness. "If I'd cared, I expect it would have been very
different."

"And did Lord Loudwater never mention the name of any lady when he was
boasting?" said Mr. Flexen.

"No. Never. It was just gener