y well by this time that Lord Westerham was, in the opinion of
Mr Parmenter, the husband-designate, one might say, of Auriole. Young as
he was, he already had a distinguished record as a soldier and an
administrator, but he was also heir to one of the oldest Marquisates in
England with a very probable reversion to a dukedom.

This was what he had been thinking of that night in the observatory when
he told Auriole of the fate that was approaching the world. No one knew
better than he how brilliant a figure she would make in Society as the
Marchioness of Westerham, granted always that the Anglo-Saxon would do
now as he had ever done, fling the invader back upon his own shores or
into the sea which he had crossed: but that swift flash of recognition
seen as his car came up behind Auriole's, and the slight but most
significant change which had come over the features of both of them as
he handed her out of the car, had instantly banished the shadow and made
him a happier man than he had been for a good many months past.

Still he was one of those hard-headed, practical men who rightly
consider that the very worst enemy either to friendship between man and
man, or love between man and woman, is an unexplained misunderstanding,
and so in that moment he decided to "have it out" with his lordship on
the first possible opportunity.

CHAPTER XVIII

A GLIMPSE OF THE PERIL

The morning was spent in a general overhaul of the observatory and the
laboratory in which Lennard had discovered and perfected the explosive
which had been used with such deadly effect in the guns of the
_Ithuriel_. Lunch was an entirely delightful meal, and when it was over
Auriole took Mrs O'Connor and Norah up to her own particular domain in
the house to indulge in that choicest of feminine luxuries, a good long
talk. Mr Parmenter excused himself and disappeared into his study to get
ready for the evening mail, and so Lord Westerham and Lennard were left
to their own devices for a couple of hours or so. This was just what
Lennard wanted, and so he proposed a stroll and a smoke in the Park.

They lit their cigars and walked for a few minutes along a pine-shaded
path. His lordship had an intuitive idea that his companion had
something to say to him--albeit he was very far from imagining what that
something was to be--and so he thought he had better let him begin. When
they were out of sight or hearing of anyone, Lennard slowed down his
pace a litt