then, still
holding the Duchess by the hand, she approached him, a pair of very fine
and pleading eyes fixed upon his face.

"You have probably heard from Lady Henry, have you not?" she said,
addressing him. "In a note I had from her this morning she told me she
had written to you. I could not help coming to-day, because Evelyn has
been so kind. But--is it your wish that I should come here?"

The Christian name slipped out unawares, and the Duke winced at it. The
likeness to Lord Lackington--it was certainly astonishing. There ran
through his mind the memory of a visit paid long ago to his early home
by Lord Lackington and two daughters, Rose and Blanche. He, the Duke,
had then been a boy home from school. The two girls, one five or six
years older than the other, had been the life and charm of the party. He
remembered hunting with Lady Rose.

But the confusion in his mind had somehow to be mastered, and he made an
effort.

"I shall be glad if my wife is able to be of any assistance to you, Miss
Le Breton," he said, coldly; "but it would not be honest if I were to
conceal my opinion--so far as I have been able to form it--that Lady
Henry has great and just cause of complaint."

"You are quite right--quite right," said Julie, almost with eagerness.
"She has, indeed."

The Duke was taken by surprise. Imperious as he was, and stiffened by a
good many of those petty prides which the spoiled children of the world
escape so hardly, he found himself hesitating--groping for his words.

The Duchess meanwhile drew Julie impulsively towards a chair.

"Do sit down. You look so tired."

But Julie's gaze was still bent upon the Duke. She restrained her
friend's eager hand, and the Duke collected himself. _He_ brought a
chair, and Julie seated herself.

"I am deeply, deeply distressed about Lady Henry," she said, in a low
voice, by which the Duke felt himself most unwillingly penetrated. "I
don't--oh no, indeed, I don't defend last night. Only--my position has
been very difficult lately. I wanted very much to see the
Duchess--and--it was natural--wasn't it?--that the old friends should
like to be personally informed about Lady Henry's illness? But, of
course, they stayed too long; it was my fault--I ought to have
prevented it."

She paused. This stern-looking man, who stood with his back to the
mantel-piece regarding her, Philistine though he was, had yet a
straight, disinterested air, from which she shrank a little. Ho