nodded and smiled to the Dictator.

At that moment the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Deptford set
Ericson free from the ripple of Lady Seagraves' conversation. She turned
to greet the new arrivals, and the Dictator began to edge his way
through the press to where Helena was standing. Though she was only a
little distance off, his progress was but slow progress. The rooms were
tightly packed, and almost every person he met knew him and spoke to
him, or shook hands with him, but he made his way steadily forward.

'Here comes the illustrious exile!' said Soame Rivers, in a low tone. 'I
suppose nobody will have a chance of saying a word to you for the rest
of the evening?'

Miss Langley glanced at him with a little frown. 'I am afraid I can
scarcely hope that Mr. Ericson will consent to be monopolised by me for
the whole of the evening,' she said; 'but I wish he would, for he is
certainly the most interesting person here.'

Soame Rivers shrugged his shoulders slightly. 'You always know someone
who is the most interesting man in the world--for the time being,' he
said.

Miss Langley frowned again, but she did not reply, for by this time
Ericson had reached her, and was holding out his hand. She took it with
a bright smile of welcome. Soame Rivers slipped away in the crowd, after
nodding to Ericson.

'I am so glad that you have come,' Helena said. 'I was beginning to fear
that you were not coming.'

'It is very kind of you,' the Dictator began, but Miss Langley
interrupted him.

'No, no; it isn't kind of me at all; it is just natural selfishness. I
want to talk to you about several things; and if you hadn't come I
should have been disappointed in my purpose, and I hate being
disappointed.'

The Dictator still persisted that any mark of interest from Miss Langley
was kindness. 'What do you want to talk to me about particularly?' he
asked.

'Oh, many things! But we can't talk in this awful crush. It's like
trying to stand up against big billows on a stormy day. Come with me.
There is a quieter place at the back, where we shall have a chance of
peace.'

She turned and led the way slowly through the crowd, the Dictator
following her obediently. Once again the progress was a slow one, for
every man had a word for Miss Langley, and he himself was eagerly caught
at as they drifted along. But at last they got through the greater crush
of the centre rooms and found themselves in a kind of lull in a further
saloon