ke me to be telling you all this. Will you go in there,
Lord Evelyn, and wait?"

She paused another moment, her hand on the handle.

"You'll not tell Peter I told you anything. He'd not be pleased. He'll
not breathe a word to you of it himself--indeed, he'll probably say it's
not so."

Lord Evelyn made no comment; he merely tapped his cane on the floor; he
seemed impatient to have the door opened.

"And," added Peggy, "if ever you chanced to be offering him anything--I
mean, you might be for giving him a birthday present, or a Xmas present
or something sometime--you'd do best to put it as a gift to the baby, or
he'll never take it."

Having concluded her diplomacy, she opened the door and ushered him into
the room, where Hilary sat with his headache and the children played
noisily at horses.

"Lord Evelyn Urquhart come to see Peter," called Peggy into the room.
"Come along out of that, children, and keep yourselves quiet somewhere."

She bundled them out and shut the door on Lord Evelyn and Hilary.

Hilary rose dizzily to his feet and bowed. Lord Evelyn returned the
courtesy distantly, and stood by the door, as far as possible from his
host.

"This is good of you," said Hilary, "to come and see us in our fallen
estate. Do sit down."

Lord Evelyn, putting his glass into his eye and turning it upon Hilary as
if in astonishment at his impertinence in addressing him, said curtly, "I
came to see your half-brother. I had not the least intention, nor the
least desire, to see anyone else whatever; nor have I now."

"Quite so," said Hilary, his teeth chattering with fever. (His
temperature, though he would never know, as Peter had broken the
thermometer, must be anyhow a hundred and three, he was sure.) "Quite
so. But that doesn't affect my gratitude to you. Peter's friends are
mine. I must thank you for remembering Peter."

Lord Evelyn, presumably not seeing the necessity, was silent.

"We have not met," Hilary went on, passing his hot hand over his fevered
brow, where the headache ran all round like a hot metal band, "for a very
long time, Lord Evelyn; if we put aside that momentary encounter at
Astleys last year." Hilary did put that aside, rather hastily, and went
on, "Apart from that, we have not met since we were both in Venice,
nearly two years ago. Lord Evelyn, I have often wished to tell you
how very deeply I have regretted certain events that came between us
there. I think there is a great deal that I m