e squeezed into the embrasure
of a window. "I've not had time to see who's here yet. Babs, of course,
looks divine."

"She looks well in anything," Eric answered. It was dangerous to praise
her even to her own cousin lest one more voice should rise to proclaim
that he was in love with her.

"You're a great friend of hers, aren't you?" Amy asked. "Some one told
me at tea to-day----"

Eric became rigid, and she stopped.

"Yes?"

"My dear Mr. Lane, you don't even know what I was going to say!"

"I think I do."

"Then you aren't very complimentary to Babs."

"I feel a certain responsibility towards her."

"You mustn't mind too much what people say. . . . You know George
Oakleigh? Well, in the dark ages, when I came out, he and I were very
great friends; we always have been; I've known him all my life, and his
cousin married my poor brother. . . . Need I say that _quite_ a number
of people . . .? If they'd troubled to think for a moment, they might
have remembered that I was a Catholic, but a little thing like that
never occurs to them. . . . D'you mind my talking to you like this?" she
asked with a smile that sweetened the abruptness of her tone. "When I
introduced the subject, you froze up so----"

"Can't you understand?" he interrupted. "I'm very fond indeed of
Barbara, but if people talk like this . . ."

"Don't mind what people say, Mr. Lane. . . . I feel we--all the
family--owe you such an enormous debt. No one knows what was the matter
with Babs, but my aunt was really afraid we might lose her. Of course,
she'd led rather a wild and wearing life since she was a child; suddenly
she collapsed. I do feel that you've saved her life, you know; she's the
old, vital, irresistible Babs once more--except that you've taught her
to take care of herself."

"The position is a little awkward. If people talk, if Lord
Crawleigh----"

"I think he quite likes you," Amy interrupted.

Eric bowed and pretended for a moment to listen to the music. It was
common knowledge that Barbara's fortune was forfeit on the day when she
married any one but a Catholic; if he had ever contemplated marrying
her, the fees from the "Divorce" and "The Bomb-Shell" would not keep
them for six months. He wondered whether Amy Loring's embassage had been
inspired.

"I always feel that Lord Crawleigh condemned the world and then allowed
it to continue existing on day-to-day reprieves," he said.

"That's rather my uncle's manner. He hasn't in