ed,' he said, 'and you are to make your _debut_.'

'Yes,' she answered, with a sort of eagerness to be friendly again.
'I'm a professional from to-day, with a stage name, a prey to critics,
reporters and photographers--just like your mother, except that she is
a very great artist and I am a very little one.'

It was not very skilfully done, but Lushington was grateful for what
she meant by it, and for saying 'your mother' instead of 'Madame
Bonanni.'

'I think you will be great, too,' he said, 'and before very long. There
is no young soprano on the stage now, who has half your voice or half
your talent.'

Margaret coloured with pleasure, though she could not quite believe
what he told her. But he glanced at her and felt sure that he was
right. She had voice and talent, he knew, but even with both some
singers fail; she had the splendid vitality, the boundless health and
the look of irresistible success, which only the great ones have. She
was not a classic beauty, but she would be magnificent on the stage.

There was a short silence, before she spoke.

'Two days ago,' she said, 'I did not think we would meet again so
soon.'

'Part again so soon, you ought to say,' he answered. 'It is nothing but
that, after all.'

She bit her lip.

'Must we?' she asked, almost unconsciously.

'Yes. Don't make it harder than it is. Let's get it over. There's a
cab.'

He held up his stick and signalled to the cabman, who touched his horse
and moved towards them. Margaret stood still, with a half-frightened
look, and spoke in a low voice.

'Tom, if you leave me, I won't answer for myself!'

'I will. Good-bye--God bless you!'

The cab stopped beside them, as he held out his hand. She took it
silently and he made her get in. A moment later she was driving away at
a smart pace, sitting bolt upright and looking straight before her, her
lips pressed tight together, while Lushington walked briskly in the
opposite direction. It had all happened in a moment, in a sort of
despairing hurry.

CHAPTER VII

Constantine Logotheti had at least two reasons for not going out to
Versailles as soon as Mrs. Rushmore signified her desire to know him.
In the first place he was 'somebody,' and an important part of being
'somebody' is to keep the fact well before the eyes of other people. He
was altogether too great a personage to be at the beck and call of
every one who wanted to know him. Secondly, he did not wish Margaret to
thin