ying her considerable attention, and as he laughed and
sparred with her, the transient colour that exercise had given him
disappeared, and a pale look of excitement took its place.

Mariette glanced from one to another with a scarcely disguised
curiosity. This was only his third visit to England and he felt himself
in a foreign country. That was a _pasteur_ he supposed, in the
gaiters--grotesque! And why was the young lady in evening dress, while
Lady Merton, now that she had thrown off her furs, appeared in the
severest of tweed coats and skirts? The rosy old fellow beside Mrs.
Gaddesden was, he understood from Lady Merton, the Lord Lieutenant of
the county.

But at that moment his hostess laid hands upon him to present him to her
neighbour. "Monsieur Mariette--Lord Waynflete."

"Delighted to see you," said the great man affably, holding out his
hand. "What a fine place Canada is getting! I am thinking of sending my
third son there."

Mariette bowed.

"There will be room for him."

"I am afraid he hasn't brains enough to do much here--but perhaps in a
new country--"

"He will not require them? Yes, it is a common opinion," said Mariette,
with composure. Lord Waynflete stared a little, and returned to his
hostess. Mariette betook himself to Elizabeth for tea, and she
introduced him to the girl in white, who looked at him with enthusiasm,
and at once threw over her bevy of young men, in favour of the
spectacled and lean-faced stranger.

"You are a Catholic, Monsieur?" she asked him, fervently. "How I envy
you! I _adore_ the Oratory! When we are in town I always go there to
Benediction--unless Mamma wants me at home to pour out tea. Do you know
Cardinal C----?"

She named a Cardinal Archbishop, then presiding over the diocese of
Westminster.

"Yes, mademoiselle, I know him quite well. I have just been staying with
him."

She clasped her hands eagerly.

"How _very_ interesting! I know him a little. _Isn't_ he nice?"

"No," said Mariette resolutely. "He is magnificent--a saint--a
scholar--everything--but not nice!"

The girl looked a little puzzled, then angry, and after a few minutes'
more conversation she returned to her young men, conspicuously turning
her back on Mariette.

He threw a deprecating, half-penitent look at Elizabeth, whose faced
twitched with amusement, and sat down in a corner behind her that he
might observe without talking. His quick intelligence sorted the people
about him almost a