ot to know the end of the act?" she asked as her hostess
poured tea. The latter shrugged her shoulders, as if to shake off
responsibility. "Ah, I cannot tell! Perhaps if----"

She stopped, and handed her guest a cup.

"Perhaps if--_what_?"

"Oh, nothing!" Madalena tasted her own tea and put in more cream.

"Do tell me what you were going to say, _dear_ Countess, unless you want
me to die of curiosity."

"I should be sorry to have you do that!" smiled Madalena. "But if I said
what I was going to say, you might misunderstand. You might think--I was
asking for an invitation."

Instantly Constance's mind unveiled the other's meaning. There was to be
an Easter party at Valley House--a very smart party. The Countess de
Santiago wished to be a member of it. Lady Annesley-Seton, shrewd as she
was, had a vein of superstition running through her nature, and, though
one side of that nature said that the scene with the crystal had been
arranged for this end, the other side held its belief in the vision.

"You mean," she said, "that if you should be at Valley House when the
_thing_ happens, and we are puzzled and upset about it, you might be able
to help?"

"The fancy passed through my head. It was the picture in the crystal
suggested it," Madalena explained. "Do have an eclair!" Face and voice
expressed indifference; but Constance knew that the other had set her
heart on being at Valley House for Easter; and there was really no
visible reason why she shouldn't be there.

People liked her well enough: she was never a bore.

"Well, you must be 'in at the death,' with the rest of us," Lady
Annesley-Seton assured her. "Of course, though it's my house, this
Easter party is practically the Nelson Smiths' affair. You know what
poverty-stricken wretches _we_ are! They are paying all expenses, and
taking the servants, so I suppose I am bound to go through the form of
consulting Anne before I ask even _you_. Still----"

Madalena's eyes flamed. "Consult your cousin's husband!" she said. "It is
only _he_ who counts. As a favour to me, speak to him."

Constance smiled at the other over her teacup, with a narrowed gaze. "Why
shouldn't I speak to them together?"

"Because I want to know what to think. If _he_ says no, it will be a
test."

"Very well, so be it!" said Constance, making light of what she knew was
somehow serious. "I'll tackle Nelson alone without Anne."

"That is all I want. And if I am asked to be of your party, I