"Neither does any one else," Lady Hilda said. "Don't try to analyze your
impressions for our benefit, Mr. Strangewey. I am exactly in your
position, and I have been here a dozen times. Even to us hardened men
and women of the world, this Russian music came as a surprise. There
were parts of it you did not like, though, weren't there?"

"There were parts of it I hated," John agreed. "There were passages that
seemed to aim at discord in every sense of the word."

She nodded sympathetically. They were on their way down the broad
staircase.

"I wonder," she murmured, "whether I am going to be asked out to
supper?"

"Alas, not to-night, dear lady," the prince regretted. "I am having a
few friends at Seyre House."

She shot a glance at him and shrugged her shoulders. She was evidently
displeased.

"How much too bad!" she exclaimed. "I am not at all sure that it is
right of you to invite Mr. Strangewey to one of your orgies. A
respectable little supper at the Carlton, and a cigarette in my library
afterward, would have been a great deal better for both of
you--certainly for Mr. Strangewey. I think I shall run away with him, as
it is!"

The prince shrugged his shoulders.

"It is unfortunate," he sighed, "but we are both engaged. If you will
give us the opportunity some other evening--"

"I am not at all sure that I shall have anything more to do with you,
Eugene," she declared. "You are not behaving nicely. Will you come and
see me while you are in town, Mr. Strangewey?" she added, turning to
John. "I suppose you can be trusted to reach No. 21 Pont Street without
your Mephistophelian chaperon?"

"I should like to very much," he replied. "I think," he added, a little
hesitatingly, "that I have read one of your books of travel. It is very
interesting to meet you."

"So my fame has really reached Cumberland!" she laughed. "You must come
and talk to me one afternoon quite soon. Will you? I want so much to
hear your impressions of London. I am always in between six and seven;
or if you want to come earlier, I will try to be in if you telephone."

"I will come with pleasure," John promised.

They stood for a few moments in the crowded vestibule until Lady Hilda
Mulloch's car was called. The prince stood back, allowing John to escort
her to the door. She detained him for a moment after she had taken her
seat, and leaned out of the window, her fingers still in his hand.

"Be careful!" she whispered. "The prince's su