home feeling it
essential to impress upon the cabinet a certain line of action with
regard to the policy of Russia on the Persian Gulf. But the first person
he perceived on the hearth-rug, basking before the Minister's ample
fire, was Lord Lackington. The sight of that vivacious countenance, that
shock of white hair, that tall form still boasting the spareness and
almost the straightness of youth, that unsuspecting complacency,
confused his ideas and made him somehow feel the whole world a little
topsy-turvy.

Nevertheless, after dinner he got his fifteen minutes of private talk
with his host, and conscientiously made use of them. Then, after an
appointment had been settled for a longer conversation on another day,
both men felt that they had done their duty, and, as it appeared, the
same subject stirred in both their minds.

"Well, and what did you think of Lady Henry?" said Montresor, with a
smile, as he lighted another cigarette.

"She's very blind," said Sir Wilfrid, "and more rheumatic. But else
there's not much change. On the whole she wears wonderfully well."

"Except as to her temper, poor lady!" laughed the Minister. "She has
really tried all our nerves of late. And the worst of it is that most
of it falls upon that poor woman who lives with her"--the Minister
lowered his voice--"one of the most interesting and agreeable creatures
in the world."

Sir Wilfrid glanced across the table. Lord Lackington was telling
scandalous tales of his youth to a couple of Foreign Office clerks, who
sat on either side of him, laughing and spurring him on. The old man's
careless fluency and fun were evidently contagious; animation reigned
around him; he was the spoiled child of the dinner, and knew it.

"I gather that you have taken a friendly interest in Miss Le Breton,"
said Bury, turning to his host.

"Oh, the Duchess and Delafield and I have done our best to protect her,
and to keep the peace. I am quite sure Lady Henry has poured out her
grievances to you, hasn't she?"

"Alack, she has!"

"I knew she couldn't hold her tongue to you, even for a day. She has
really been losing her head over it. And it is a thousand pities."

"So you think all the fault's on Lady Henry's side?"

The Minister gave a shrug.

"At any rate, I have never myself seen anything to justify Lady Henry's
state of feeling. On the famous Wednesdays, Mademoiselle Julie always
appears to make Lady Henry her first thought. And in other ways she