at her eyes were upon the young nobleman,
even when he was silent.

Denis Malster had perceived with female quickness the infernal charms of
Lord Henry's personality; he had measured almost exactly, despite the
natural tendency to exaggeration into which his jealousy led him, the
precise effect of Lord Henry's persuasive and emphatic tongue upon the
female ear. He had seen its effect on Mrs. Delarayne, on Vanessa, on
Agatha, on Mrs. Tribe. Was it likely that Leonetta would long remain
insensible to the difference between himself and the new arrival?

Already he had been obliged to abandon those daily contests on the
subject of the Inner Light with the wretched Gerald Tribe, because Lord
Henry promised to be too much for him. And yet they had been so
valuable,--such a splendid opportunity for exhibiting his proudest
achievements!

Things had come to such a pass that he literally did not dare to
organise again those pleasant little assemblies, in which he could
discuss anything and challenge all comers, with the perfect certainty of
shining as he vanquished them. It is true that he could have continued
them by carefully omitting Lord Henry from their midst; but he was by no
means a fool, and did not underestimate the intelligence of those about
him. Thus he realised the damaging effect it would be sure to have on
his prestige, if he persistently manoeuvred to leave Lord Henry out;
and he knew well enough how quickly women notice such things,--they who
are such past-masters at precisely this kind of manoeuvring.

Had Lord Henry not come upon the scene, Denis would have been content,
as was his wont, to prolong the delicious agony of his love
indefinitely, secure in the thought that at any moment he would be able
by a word to secure Leonetta for ever to him.

Now, however, there could no longer be any question of prolonging the
situation indefinitely. The only problem that occupied his mind was,
when and how to say that word to Leonetta which was to bind her for ever
to him, before she receded one hundredth of an inch from the summit of
ecstasy to which he imagined she too must have climbed in the last few
days.

Thus he had been moved by a thought similar to Guy Tyrrell's; but there,
as we shall see, the likeness ceased.

A girl of seventeen or eighteen is nearly always in danger when a man
of thirty pays attention to her,--in danger, that is to say, of
acquiescing too soon, too early in life, too unreflectedly and