e addressed.

"You should not have come to me at all," she said.

"And why not? Who has a better right to come to you? Who has ever
loved you as I have done? Cora, did you get my letter?"

"Come and dance," she said; "I see a pair of eyes looking at us."
The pair of eyes which Lady Glencora saw were in the possession of
Mr Bott, who was standing alone, leaning against the side of the
doorway, every now and then raising his heels from the ground, so
that he might look down upon the sinners as from a vantage ground.
He was quite alone. Mrs Marsham had left him, and had gotten herself
away in Lady Glencora's own carriage to Park Lane, in order that she
might find Mr Palliser there, if by chance he should be at home.

"Won't it be making mischief?" Mrs Marsham had said when Mr Bott had
suggested this line of conduct.

"There'll be worse mischief if you don't," Mr Bott had answered. "He
can come back, and then he can do as he likes. I'll keep my eyes upon
them." And so he did keep his eyes upon them.

Again they went round the room,--or that small portion of the room
which the invading crowd had left to the dancers,--as though they
were enjoying themselves thoroughly, and in all innocence. But there
were others besides Mr Bott who looked on and wondered. The Duchess
of St Bungay saw it, and shook her head sorrowing,--for the Duchess
was good at heart. Mrs Conway Sparkes saw it, and drank it down with
keen appetite,--as a thirsty man with a longing for wine will drink
champagne,--for Mrs Conway Sparkes was not good at heart. Lady
Hartletop saw it, and just raised her eyebrows. It was nothing to
her. She liked to know what was going on, as such knowledge was
sometimes useful; but, as for heart,--what she had was, in such a
matter, neither good nor bad. Her blood circulated with its ordinary
precision, and, in that respect, no woman ever had a better heart.
Lady Monk saw it, and a frown gathered on her brow. "The fool!" she
said to herself. She knew that Burgo would not help his success by
drawing down the eyes of all her guests upon his attempt. In the
meantime Mr Bott stood there, mounting still higher on his toes,
straightening his back against the wall.

"Did you get my letter?" Burgo said again, as soon as a moment's
pause gave him breath to speak. She did not answer him. Perhaps her
breath did not return to her as rapidly as his. But, of course, he
knew that she had received it. She would have quickly signified to