n seated
at a table in a corner where they could talk without being interrupted.
They spoke of ordinary things for a moment. Then Lord Tancred's
impatience to get at the matter which interested him became too great to
wait longer, so he said laconically:

"Well?"

"I saw her this morning and had a talk"--the financier said, as he
placed some caviare on his toast. "You must not overlook the fact, which
I have already stated to you, that she is a most difficult problem. You
will have an interesting time taming her. For a man of nerve, I cannot
imagine a more thrilling task. She is a woman who has restricted all her
emotion for men, and could lavish it all upon _the_ man, I imagine. In
any case that is 'up to you,' as our friends, the Americans, say--"

Lord Tancred thrilled as he answered:

"Yes, it shall be 'up to me.' But I want to find out all about her for
myself. I just want to know when I may see her, and what is the
programme?"

"The programme is that she will receive you this afternoon, about
tea-time, I should say; that you must explain to her you realize you are
engaged. You need not ask her to marry you; she will not care for
details like that--she knows it is already settled. Be as businesslike
as you can--and come away. She has made it a condition that she sees you
as little as possible until the wedding. The English idea of engaged
couples shocks her, for, remember, it is, on her side, not a love-match.
If you wish to have the slightest success with her afterwards be careful
_now_. She is going to Paris, immediately, for her trousseau. She will
return about a week before the wedding, when you can present her to your
family."

Tristram smiled grimly and then the two men's eyes met and they both
laughed.

"Jove! Francis!" Lord Tancred exclaimed, "isn't it a wonderful affair! A
real dramatic romance, here in the twentieth century. Would not every
one think I was mad, if they knew!"

"It is that sort of madmen who are often the sanest," Francis Markrute
answered. "The world is full of apparently sane fools." Then he passed
on to a further subject. "You will re-open Wrayth, of course," he said.
"I wish my niece to be a Queen of Society, and to have her whole life
arranged with due state. I wish your family to understand that I
appreciate the honor of the connection with them, and consider it a
privilege, and a perfectly natural thing--since we are foreigners of
whom you know nothing--that we should pro