tacked by appendicitis two nights ago and that an operation was
immediately performed--"

"Friday night!" cried Mrs. Kaye. "Why he spent an hour with me that
afternoon, and was to dine with Lord Zeal and Lord Raglin and half a
dozen other men that night--they all came up to London to talk over one
of Sir Cadge Vanneck's mines. Why--I remember you were to be there.
Surely Lord Brathland was well then?"

"He was looking very seedy when he came in. I happened to sit next to
him--told him he ought to go home. Finally he got so bad he decided
that he would, and as he left the table he fainted. Several of us saw
him to bed. He said he didn't want his family fidgeting him, and the
surgeon said he would be all right in a few days. I thought he was out
of danger when I came down last night, so said nothing about it to
Harold."

"Was he taken home?" asked Gwynne, whose eyes had never left Ormond's
face.

"No--to Raglin's room up-stairs. The dinner was at the Club."

"I cannot understand why his family was not summoned at the last!"
exclaimed Lady Victoria.

"Well, there's only the old duke and Harold, you see. Dick is out in
Africa. I suppose they didn't want to agitate the duke until the last
moment and couldn't find Harold until this morning. Besides, Raglin was
with him, and he is a relative, at least. It is awfully sudden. I have
been upset ever since Harold woke me up this morning and told me; and
hated to speak of it."

"Who was the surgeon?" asked Gwynne.

"Ballast."

"Ballast? Who is he? Why not one of the big men, in heaven's name?"
cried Mrs. Kaye.

"Well--they were all out of town--naturally enough at this time of year.
We had to take what we could get. No doubt Lester or Masten was
telegraphed for later. I--all of us--left the affair in Raglin's hands."

The company broke into general comment, and under cover of the confusion
Isabel distinctly heard Gwynne demand:

"What's up your sleeve, Ormond?"

And the response: "For God's sake, old chap, don't ask!"

IX

Gwynne had never recognized the contingency of a serious rival in the
affections of the woman he had elected to mate, and had he heard of the
late Lord Brathland's attentions it would not have occurred to him that
Mrs. Kaye could weigh a prospective dukedom against the reflected
glories of his own career. He intended to be prime-minister before he
was forty, and older and soberer heads shared his confidence. It was
true that Mrs. Kaye