has
really worn herself to death for the old lady. It makes one rather
savage sometimes to see it."

"So in your eyes she is a perfect companion?"

Montresor laughed.

"Oh, as to perfection--"

"Lady Henry accuses her of intrigue. You have seen no traces of it?"

The Minister smiled a little oddly.

"Not as regards Lady Henry. Oh, Mademoiselle Julie is a very astute
lady."

A ripple from some source of secret amusement spread over the dark-lined
face.

"What do you mean by that?"

"She knows how to help her friends better than most people. I have known
three men, at least, _made_ by Mademoiselle Le Breton within the last
two or three years. She has just got a fresh one in tow."

Sir Wilfrid moved a little closer to his host. They turned slightly from
the table and seemed to talk into their cigars.

"Young Warkworth?" said Bury.

The Minister smiled again and hesitated.

"Oh, she doesn't bother me, she is much too clever. But she gets at me
in the most amusing, indirect ways. I know perfectly well when she has
been at work. There are two or three men--high up, you understand--who
frequent Lady Henry's evenings, and who are her very good friends....
Oh, I dare say she'll get what she wants," he added, with nonchalance.

"Between you and me, do you suspect any direct interest in the young
man?"

Montresor shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. Not necessarily. She loves to feel herself a power--all
the more, I think, because of her anomalous position. It is very
curious--at bottom very feminine and amusing--and quite harmless."

"You and others don't resent it?"

"No, not from her," said the Minister, after a pause. "But she is rather
going it, just now. Three or four batteries have opened upon me at once.
She must be thinking of little else."

Sir Wilfrid grew a trifle red. He remembered the comedy of the
door-step. "Is there anything that he particularly wants?" His tone
assumed a certain asperity.

"Well, as for me, I cannot help feeling that Lady Henry has something to
say for herself. It is very strange--mysterious even--the kind of
ascendency this lady has obtained for herself in so short a time."

"Oh, I dare say it's hard for Lady Henry to put up with," mused
Montresor. "Without family, without connections--"

He raised his head quietly and put on his eye-glasses. Then his look
swept the face of his companion.

Sir Wilfrid, with a scarcely perceptible yet significant gesture,
motion