* * * * *

This is in fact how it has happened that all the others, except the
three mentioned, are out of doors. They've breakfasted hours ago. I
haven't.

* * * * *

Madame Regniati puts down her work, looks towards the window, through
which we can see the garden-party, and then refers to me inquisitively.
Presently she asks mysteriously,

"Do you see anything going on here?"

I can't help returning with, "Here, Madame Regniati! where?"

"Oh," she replies, in her short way, "_you_ see it, I know you do. Even
Mr. Regniati has noticed it to me. For my part," she adds, rubbing her
nose with the tip of a long knitting-pin, "I think it's a case."

I begin to understand.

"Miss Adelaide----" I venture.

[Illustration]

"Yes. And with whom, eh?" she asks, with her head a little on one side,
and her thin lips compressed, as if she had got the information on the
tip of her tongue, and was preventing its escape by sheer force.

"Well," I begin, thinking to myself it's very odd I haven't noticed it,
"well, I should say"--really, I shouldn't say anything.

Madame nods at me. "Come," she says; "I know you've got penetration.
You're an observer of character. You're a thinker. My nephew has told me
you're writing a philosophical work. Now, I want you to lend me your
sagacity, and confirm my suspicions."

_Happy Thought._--Look sagacious. Smile in deprecation of too much
sagacity. I feel that, being right as far as mentioning Miss Adelaide
goes, my next guess will probably be wrong. Risk it.

I say, "Miss Adelaide and Cazell, eh?" (They are walking together.)

Madame shakes her head. I have gone down in her estimation, evidently.

_Happy Thought._--To assume my own penetration. Say to Madame, "Ah,
well, you'll see"--meaning, you'll find I'm right and you're wrong.

"No, no," she replies. "Mr. Cazell and Miss Bella, Mr. Chilvern and Miss
Adelaide."

"H'm," I say, dubiously. Madame Regniati, classical, lover of high art
as she is, is, when occasion offers, is simply a match-maker. I believe
it's a feminine instinct.

"They've both got money," she adds. She has summed it all up, and
arranged it.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXVI.

AT DINNER.--WEIGHT.--WATCHING.--JOKES.--PROTEST.--AWKWARD SITUATION.
--AN ANNOUNCEMENT.--INQUIRY.--ARRIVAL.--PRACTICAL JOKES.