friends with extreme suspicion; the more
enthusiastic the man, the more suspicious the woman.

Fairholme, sublimely unconscious of this feminine weakness, continued to
dilate upon the superlative excellences of Daubeney until they reached
the yacht itself.

A smartly-attired sailor was pretending to find some work in carefully
uncoiling a rope which did not satisfy his critical eye. Before
Fairholme could hail the man, a rotund form, encased in many yards of
blue serge, surmounted by a jolly-looking face on top of which was
perched an absurdly small yachting cap, emerged from the companion.

"Why, there he is," shouted the earl. "Halloa, Daubeney! Yoicks!
Tally-ho!"

The person addressed in this startling manner stopped as though he had
been shot. He gazed at the sky and then gravely surveyed the gilded
statue that surmounts the picturesque church of Notre Dame de la Garde.

"Here I am, you idiot," continued Fairholme. "I am not in a balloon. I
am on the quay. Come here quick. I want to introduce you to Edith and
Sir Hubert."

Luckily Miss Talbot's dark doubts had vanished after one keen glance at
Daubeney. He was eminently a safe friend for her future husband. Such a
fat and hail-fellow-well-met individual could not possibly harbour
guile. So she passed over without reference the extent of Daubeney's
acquaintance concerning herself, implied by the use of her Christian
name. Indeed, was there not a compliment in Fairholme's unconscious
outspokenness? If he only discussed her charms with Daubeney then
Daubeney was a man to be cultivated.

The meeting on the quay was hearty in the extreme, and the Honourable
James Daubeney further ingratiated himself by saying: "Even if Lord
Fairholme had not told me who you were, Miss Talbot, I should have known
you at once."

"That would be very clever of you," purred Edith.

"Oh, no, there is nothing remarkable in the fact, I assure you. He
always sat in his chambers so that he could look at your photograph, and
as, in addition to that speaking likeness, I know the colour of your
hair, your eyes, your teeth even, I could not be mistaken."

Miss Talbot thought Mr. Daubeney rather curious. But still he was very
nice, and unquestionably the services of the _Blue-Bell_ might be more
than useful.

So she was graciousness personified in her manner, and promptly
determined to invite him to luncheon, thinking that the chance direction
of their conversation with Mr. Brett might le