he said, quickly.

[Illustration: "LADY HENRY GASPED. SHE FELL BACK INTO HER CHAIR"]

"I am so sorry. The Duchess's maid was going there," said Julie,
hurriedly, "and she went for me. I thought I had given her your message
most carefully."

"Hm," said Lady Henry, slowly. "So you didn't go to Winton's. May I ask
whether you went to Shaw's, or to Beatson's, or the Stores, or any of
the other places for which I gave you commissions?" Her voice cut like
a knife.

Julie hesitated. She had grown very white. Suddenly her face settled and
steadied.

"No," she said, calmly. "I meant to have done all your commissions. But
I was persuaded by Evelyn to spend a couple of hours with her, and her
maid undertook them."

Lady Henry flushed deeply.

"So, mademoiselle, unknown to me, you spent two hours of my time amusing
yourself at Crowborough House. May I ask what you were doing there?"

"I was trying to help the Duchess in her plans for the bazaar."

"Indeed? Was any one else there? Answer me, mademoiselle."

Julie hesitated again, and again spoke with a kind of passionate
composure.

"Yes. Mr. Delafield was there."

"So I supposed. Allow me to assure you, mademoiselle"--Lady Henry rose
from her seat, leaning on her stick; surely no old face was ever more
formidable, more withering--"that whatever ambitions you may cherish,
Jacob Delafield is not altogether the simpleton you imagine. I know him
better than you. He will take some time before he really makes up his
mind to marry a woman of your disposition--and your history."

Julie Le Breton also rose.

"I am afraid, Lady Henry, that here, too, you are in the dark," she
said, quietly, though her thin arm shook against her dress. "I shall not
marry Mr. Delafield. But it is because--I have refused him twice."

Lady Henry gasped. She fell back into her chair, staring at her
companion.

"You have--refused him?"

"A month ago, and last year. It is horrid of me to say a word. But you
forced me."

Julie was now leaning, to support herself, on the back of an old French
chair. Feeling and excitement had blanched her no less than Lady Henry,
but her fine head and delicate form breathed a will so proud, a dignity
so passionate, that Lady Henry shrank before her.

"Why did you refuse him?"

Julie shrugged her shoulders.

"That, I think, is my affair. But if--I had loved him--I should not have
consulted your scruples, Lady Henry."

"That's frank," said Lady Henry. "I l