f course not."

"I shall speak to Lord Charles upon the subject now when I go upstairs."

"Pray do."

"And meanwhile she will continue her present course of treatment. I
trust that the warm African air may send her back in a few months with
all her energy restored."

He bowed in the courteous, sweeping, old-world fashion which had done
so much to build up his ten thousand a year, and, with the stealthy
gait of a man whose life is spent in sick-rooms, he followed the
footman upstairs.

As the red velvet curtains swept back into position, the Lady Ida threw
her arms round her mother's neck and sank her face on to her bosom.

"Oh! mamma, you ARE a diplomatist!" she cried.

But her mother's expression was rather that of the general who looked
upon the first smoke of the guns than of one who had won the victory.

"All will be right, dear," said she, glancing down at the fluffy yellow
curls and tiny ear. "There is still much to be done, but I think we
may venture to order the trousseau."

"Oh I how brave you are!"

"Of course, it will in any case be a very quiet affair. Arthur must
get the license. I do not approve of hole-and-corner marriages, but
where the gentleman has to take up an official position some allowance
must be made. We can have Lady Hilda Edgecombe, and the Trevors, and
the Grevilles, and I am sure that the Prime Minister would run down if
he could."

"And papa?"

"Oh, yes; he will come too, if he is well enough. We must wait until
Sir William goes, and, meanwhile, I shall write to Lord Arthur."

Half an hour had passed, and quite a number of notes had been dashed
off in the fine, bold, park-paling handwriting of the Lady Clara, when
the door clashed, and the wheels of the doctor's carriage were heard
grating outside against the kerb. The Lady Clara laid down her pen,
kissed her daughter, and started off for the sick-room. The Foreign
Minister was lying back in his chair, with a red silk handkerchief over
his forehead, and his bulbous, cotton-wadded foot still protruding upon
its rest.

"I think it is almost liniment time," said Lady Clara, shaking a blue
crinkled bottle. "Shall I put on a little?"

"Oh! this pestilent toe!" groaned the sufferer. "Sir William won't
hear of my moving yet. I do think he is the most completely obstinate
and pig-headed man that I have ever met. I tell him that he has
mistaken his profession, and that I could find him a post at
Constantinople. We ne