hild. "It is good of you,
dearest," she said, looking fondly into his face. "I never dreamed that
I should have such a handsome present as that!"

"Let me put them on," he suggested.

Therefore she stood beside the little tea-table, and with Enid clinging
to her gown, Lord Bracondale clasped the pearls around his wife's neck,
and then bent to kiss her, a caress which she at once reciprocated,
repeating her warm thanks for the magnificent gift.

They suited her well, and Miss Oliver at once went and obtained a small
mirror so that her ladyship should see the effect for herself. Jean was
not vain. She only liked to wear jewels because it pleased her husband.
In the great safe in her dressing-room was stored an array of beautiful
jewels--the Bracondale heirlooms. Some of the diamonds had been reset,
and she wore them at various official functions. But she prized only
those which her husband had given to her. In the Bracondale family
jewels she took but little interest.

After all she was essentially modern and up-to-date. Her birth, her
youthful experience, the bitterness of her first marriage, and her
curious adventures had all combined to render her shrewd and far-seeing.
She had kept abreast of the times, and that being so, she could, by her
knowledge, often further her husband's interests.

It being her birthday, she invited Miss Oliver to take her coffee with
them, and they were a merry quartette when they sat down to chat in the
bright morning sunshine.

The scene was typically English--the long sweep of the park, the great
elms dotted here and there, and behind the dark belt of firs the blue
Channel sparkling in the morning sun.

"I think in the second week of September I may be able to get away from
Downing Street," Bracondale said, as he sipped his cup of black coffee,
for he seldom took anything else until his lunch, served at noon.
Morning was the best time for brain work, he always declared, and mental
work upon an empty stomach was always best.

"Shall we go to Saint Addresse?" suggested Jean. "The sea-bathing is
always beneficial to Enid, and, as you know, the villa, though small, is
awfully comfortable."

"We will go just where you like, dearest. I leave it for you to
arrange," was his reply.

"I love the villa," she replied, "and Enid does, too."

"Very well, let us go," he said. "I'll make arrangements for us to leave
in the second week in September."

Enid was delighted, and clapped her tin