she
simply couldn't help it. Her set was not the Orchils' set, their ways
were not her ways; their orbits merely intersected occasionally; and,
left to herself and the choice hers, she would not have troubled herself
to engineer any such alliance, even to stir up Mrs. Sanxon Orchil.
Besides, deep in her complacent little New York soul she had the
faintest germ of contempt for the Cordova ancestors of the house of
Orchil.

But the young and silly pair had now relieved her as well as Mrs. Orchil
of any further trouble concerning themselves, the American duchess, the
campaign, and the Horse Guards: they had married each other rather
shamelessly one evening while supposed to be dancing at the Sandon
Craigs', and had departed expensively for Palm Beach, whither Austin,
grim, reticent, but inwardly immensely contented, despatched the
accumulated exclamatory letters of the family with an intimation of his
own that two weeks was long enough to cut business even with a honeymoon
as excuse.

Meanwhile the disorganisation in the nursery was tremendous; the
children, vaguely aware of the household demoralisation and excitement,
took the opportunity to break loose on every occasion; and Kit-Ki, to
her infinite boredom and disgust, was hunted from garret to cellar; and
Drina, taking advantage, contrived to over-eat herself and sit up late,
and was put to bed sick; and Eileen, loyal, but sorrowfully amazed at
her brother's exclusion of her in such a crisis, became slowly
overwhelmed with the realisation of her loneliness, and took to the
seclusion of her own room, feeling tearful and abandoned, and very much
like a very little girl whose heart was becoming far too full of all
sorts of sorrows.

Nina misunderstood her, finding her lying on her bed, her pale face
pillowed in her hair.

"Only horridly ordinary people will believe that Gerald wanted her
money," said Nina; "as though an Erroll considered such matters at
all--or needed to. Clear, clean English you are, back to the cavaliers
whose flung purses were their thanks when the Cordovans held their
horses' heads. . . . What are you crying for?"

"I don't know," said Eileen; "not for anything that you speak of.
Neither Gerald nor I ever wasted any emotion over money, or what others
think about it. . . . Is Drina ill?"

"No; only sick. Calomel will fix her, but she believes she's close to
dissolution and she's sent for Boots to take leave of him--the little
monkey! I'm so in