e band could be heard
loud and stirring or low and faintly all through the house.

"Who is that man dancing opposite my daughter?" asked the Countess of
Grillyer.

"A Mr Beveridge," replied Dr Congleton.

Mr Beveridge, in fact, the mark of all eyes, was dancing in a set of
lancers. The couple opposite to him consisted of a stout elderly gentleman
who, doubtless for the best reasons, styled himself the Emperor of the two
Americas, and a charming little pink and flaxen partner--the Lady Alicia a
Fyre, as everybody who was anybody could have told you. The handsome
stranger moved, as might be expected, with his accustomed grace and air of
distinction, and, probably to convince his admirers that there was nothing
meretricious in his performance, he carried his hands in his pockets the
whole time. This certainly caused a little inconvenience to his partner,
but to be characteristic in Clankwood one had to step very far out of the
beaten track.

For two figures the Emperor snorted disapproval, but at the end of the
third, when Mr Beveridge had been skipping round the outskirts of the set,
his hands still thrust out of sight, somewhat to the derangement of the
customary procedure, he could contain himself no longer.

"Hey, young man!" he asked in his most stentorian voice, as the music
ceased, "are you afraid of having your pockets picked?"

"Alas!" replied Mr Beveridge, "it would take two men to do that."

"Huh!" snorted the Emperor, "you are so d--d strong, are you?"

"I mean," answered his _vis-a-vis_ with his polite smile, "that it would
take one man to put something in and another to take it out."

This remark not only turned the laugh entirely on Mr Beveridge's side, but
it introduced the upsetting factor.

CHAPTER III.

The Lady Alicia a Fyre, though of the outer everyday world herself, had,
in common with most families of any pretensions to ancient dignity, a
creditable sprinkling of uncles and cousins domiciled in Clankwood, and so
she frequently attended these dances.

To-night her eye had been caught by a tall, graceful figure executing a
_pas seul_ in the middle of the room with its hands in its pockets. The
face of this gentleman was so composed and handsome, and he seemed so
oblivious to the presence of everybody else, that her interest was
immediately excited. During the set of lancers in which he was her
_vis-a-vis_ she watched him furtively with a growing feel