g!" he continued. "Old Wentworth knows his Paris, and we
didn't waste many hours."

Six months ago it would not have been in the least surprising that he
should pay her a visit directly he returned, but now she was wondering
whether he had already seen Bridget Rosser.

"You're not staying in Charteris Street?" she asked.

"Not a bit of it. I'm at Duffield's Hotel again for the present. But
I thought I ought to give Phoebe a look up last night. I went there
after dinner. She tells me you have seen Bridget?" said Mark, leaning
forward rather eagerly in his chair.

"Oh yes, it seemed quite the natural thing to do," answered Carrissima,
unable to repress a sigh as she remembered the train of circumstances
which had followed her visit to Golfney Place.

"That sounds as if you wish you hadn't done it!" he suggested.

"Have you seen her yet?" asked Carrissima, perceiving her opportunity.

"No," said Mark; "but I've listened to a good deal about her. Lawrence
is great on the subject. By Jove! according to him she might be the
complete adventuress. He insists she has been trying her hand on the
colonel--not without success!"

"Does the suggestion strike you as being inconceivable?" demanded
Carrissima.

"Oh well, you forget that I have been away for more than a month. I
have no means of forming an opinion----"

"Your previous experiences!" said Carrissima; and Mark stared at the
carpet.

His previous experiences of Bridget had, no doubt, proved entirely
agreeable. During Carrissima's absence from London in the weeks after
Christmas, when he had no occupation for his idle hands, he had
certainly spent many enjoyable hours at Number 5, Golfney Place, and it
had been necessary on more than one occasion to remind himself that
discretion was the better part of valour.

If it had not been for Carrissima, the temptation to meet Bridget's
apparently "coming-on disposition" half way would have become more
acute, and without any idea of a closer relationship, he might
perchance have gone farther over night than he would have thought
desirable the next morning.

Without being a coxcomb, Mark Driver, during those evening interviews,
had been inclined to think that this was precisely what Bridget
desired; but then again, he reasoned himself into the opinion that she
must be entirely innocent of any such idea, which was due, rather, to
his own less well-ordered imagination. And, besides, there was
Carrissima!

"G