nd of her voice, made plain to him that she was
very rapidly losing the reserve of force which kept her alive.
Constance, who was on friendly terms with the doctor, learnt enough of
the true state of things to make her significantly grave after each
visit; she and Dyce, naturally, exchanged no remark on the subject.

"What do your parents say?" Lady Ogram asked of Lashmar, during one of
their conversations.

"They are delighted. Especially my mother, who has always been very
ambitious for me."

"But I mean about your engagement."

Dyce had of course omitted all mention of Constance in his letters to
Alverholme.

"They give their approval," he replied, "because they have confidence
in my judgment. I fancy," he added with a modest smile, "that their
ambition, in this respect, is not altogether satisfied, but--I have
said nothing whatever to them about the peculiarity of Constance's
position; I didn't feel justified in doing so."

"You may tell them everything," said Lady Ogram, graciously.

She one day received a letter from Mrs. Toplady, which gave her great
satisfaction. It seemed to re-establish her vigour of mind and body;
she came downstairs, lunched with her young friends, and talked of
going to Wales.

"May is enjoying herself greatly; she must stay a little longer. The
day before yesterday she was at a garden party at Lady Honeybourne's,
where they acted 'As You Like It' in the open air."

"There was mention of it yesterday in the papers," remarked Lashmar.

"Yes, yes; I saw. And May's name among the guests--of course, of
course. I notice that Lord Dymchurch was there too."

She ended with a quavering laugh, unexpected and rather uncanny.

"And the much-discussed Mr. Langtoft," put in Constance, after a keen
look at the mirthful hippocratic face.

"Langtoft, yes," said Dyce. "I don't quite know what to think of that
fellow. There seems to me something not quite genuine about him. What
is he doing at Lady Honeybourne's garden party? It looks like
tuft-hunting--don't you think, Constance?"

Dyce was secretly annoyed that an idea of his own (that is to say, from
his own French philosopher) should be put into practice by someone else
before he could assert his claim to it. Very vexatious that Langtoft's
activity was dragged into public notice just at this moment.

"I don't at all like the tone of his last letter to you," said
Constance. "He writes in a very flippant way, not a bit like a man in
earn