sed and bowed. Pale,
breathing uneasily, he supported the scrutiny of those dark eyes for
what seemed to him a minute or two of most uncomfortable time. Then,
with the faintest of welcoming smiles, Lady Ogram--who had slowly
straightened herself--spoke in a voice which startled the hearer, so
much louder and firmer was it than he had expected.

"I am glad to see you, Mr. Lashmar. Pray sit down."

Without paying any attention to the rest of the company, Dyce obeyed.
His feeling was that he had somehow been admitted to the presence of a
sovereign, and that any initiative on his own part would be utterly out
of place. Never in his life had he felt so little and so subdued.

"You have come from town this morning?" pursued his hostess, still
closely examining him.

"This morning, yes."

Lady Ogram turned to the lady sitting near her right hand, and said
abruptly:

"I don't agree with you at all. I should like to see as many women
doctors as men. Doctoring is mostly humbug, and if women were attended
by women there'd be a good deal less of that. Miss Bride has studied
medicine, and a very good doctor she would have made."

Dyce turned towards Constance, of whose proximity he had been aware,
though he had scarcely looked at her, and, as she bent her head
smiling, he rose and bowed. The lady whom their hostess had
addressed--she was middle-aged, very comely and good-humoured of
countenance, and very plainly attired--replied to the blunt remarks in
an easy, pleasant tone.

"I should have no doubt whatever of Miss Bride's competence. But--"

Lady Ogram interrupted her, seeming not to have heard what she said.

"Let me introduce to you Mr. Dyce Lashmar, who has thought a good deal
more about this kind of thing than either you or me. Mrs. Gallantry,
Mr. Gallantry."

Again Dyce stood up. Mr. Gallantry, a tall, loose-limbed, thinly
thatched gentleman, put on a pair of glasses to inspect him, and did so
with an air of extreme interest, as though profoundly gratified by the
meeting. Seldom breaking silence himself, he lent the most flattering
attention to anyone who spoke, his brows knitted in the resolve to
grasp and assimilate whatever wisdom was uttered:

"Did you walk out from Hollingford?" asked Lady Ogram, who again had
her eyes fixed on the visitor.

"No, I drove, as I didn't know the way."

"You'd have done much better to walk. Couldn't you ask the way? You
look as if you didn't take enough exercise. Driving,