times she was satisfied with a
minute fish-cake, or a mere postage-stamp of thin bacon, particularly
when she had to show by example how megalosaurian was the appetite of
the frail Mrs. Gerald Tribe. She was quickly followed by Sir Joseph and
Mr. and Mrs. Tribe, and a few minutes later by Lord Henry himself.

At the sight of Lord Henry, Denis grew unusually silent and the Tribes
exceptionally voluble. Sir Joseph asked the conventional questions of
his new guest, and on receiving the customary conventional replies,
serenely continued his meal. Miss Mallowcoid, on the other hand,
insisted on attending with scrupulous unselfishness to the latest
arrival's wants, and encouraging him in every way to partake as
plentifully as she herself of the generous board.

Meanwhile covertly and methodically Denis Malster was busy confirming
his worst suspicions of this scion of the house of Highbarn, and his
final conclusion was that the young man was behaving with deliberate
malice.

Clad in a perfect grey flannel suit of graceful design in which even the
seams in black thread were made an attractive feature, and with a collar
and tie that had evidently been selected with taste, there was yet that
character of artless unconsciousness in his attire which gave Lord Henry
at once the appearance and the ease, without any of the traces of
effort, of a well-groomed man. Denis felt that no one could pertinently
have asked Lord Henry whether he was going to be married that day, and
yet there was a glamour about his person which was unmistakable.

"There is no means of anticipating the wiles of charlatans," he thought
as he finished his breakfast; and he braced himself for a difficult day.

Thus his imagination played with the new element that chance seemed to
have dropped in his path, and as he smoked his after-breakfast cigarette
on the terrace with Guy Tyrrell he was not in the happiest of moods.

Sir Joseph, the Tribes, Miss Mallowcoid, and Lord Henry were discussing
the programme of the day.

"I suppose I had better consult Mrs. Delarayne," said Lord Henry,
"before I dispose of any of my time. She will naturally----"

"Oh, don't trouble to do that!" Miss Mallowcoid exclaimed. "You are down
here for a rest, and must do just as you like, Lord Henry."

Sir Joseph, who was the only member of the party in Mrs. Delarayne's
secret, understood however what the young man meant. He might possibly
have to remain with Cleopatra.

"Quite ri