it. 'Let me see; I had a pencil; oh,
thanks; yes, that is it. This cover protects the point. My hat? Ah,
certainly. And my notes; much obliged; notes _always_ get mislaid.
People are so careless. Then I will come again to-morrow; the same hour,
if you will kindly keep yourself disengaged. Though, excuse me, you had
better make an entry of it at once upon your agenda.'

'I shall remember it,' I answered, smiling.

'No; will you? But you haven't my name.'

'I know it,' I answered. 'At least, I think so. You are Mr. Marmaduke
Ashurst. Lady Georgina Fawley sent you here.'

He laid down his hat and gloves again, so as to regard me more
undistracted. 'You are a most remarkable young lady,' he said, in a very
slow voice. 'I impressed upon Georgina that she must not mention to you
that I was coming. How on earth did you recognise me?'

'Intuition, most likely.'

He stared at me with a sort of suspicion. '_Please_ don't tell me you
think me like my sister,' he went on. 'For though, of course, every
right-minded man feels--ur--a natural respect and affection for the
members his family--bows, if I may so say, to the inscrutable decrees of
Providence--which has mysteriously burdened him with them--still, there
_are_ points about Lady Georgina which I cannot conscientiously assert I
approve of.'

I remembered 'Marmy's a fool,' and held my tongue judiciously.

'I do not resemble her, I hope,' he persisted, with a look which I could
almost describe as wistful.

'A family likeness, perhaps,' I put in. 'Family likenesses exist, you
know--often with complete divergence of tastes and character.'

He looked relieved. 'That is true. Oh, how true! But the likeness in my
case, I must admit, escapes me.'

I temporised. 'Strangers see these things most,' I said, airing the
stock platitudes. 'It may be superficial. And, of course, one knows that
profound differences of intellect and moral feeling often occur within
the limits of a single family.'

'You are quite right,' he said, with decision. 'Georgina's principles
are not mine. Excuse my remarking it, but you seem to be a young lady of
unusual penetration.'

I saw he took my remark as a compliment. What I really meant to say was
that a commonplace man might easily be brother to so clever a woman as
Lady Georgina.

[Illustration: HE BOWED TO US EACH SEPARATELY.]

He gathered up his hat, his stick, his gloves, his notes, and his
typewritten letters, one by one, and backed out