le.

"I wonder, Baron," she asked, "what time you are leaving, and whether I
could rely upon your escort to the Lawsons' dance? Don't hesitate to
say if you have an engagement, as it only means my telephoning to some
friends."

"I am entirely at your service, Countess," he answered promptly. "As a
matter of fact, I have already promised to appear there myself for an
hour."

"You would like to play bridge now, perhaps?" she asked.

"The Princess was kind enough to invite me," he replied, "but I ventured
to excuse myself. I saw that the numbers were even without me, and I
hoped for a little more conversation with you."

They seated themselves in an exceedingly comfortable corner. A footman
brought them coffee, and a butler offered strange liqueurs. Catherine
leaned back with a little sigh of relief.

"Every one calls this room of my aunt's the hotel lounge," she remarked.
"Personally, I love it."

"To me, also, it is the ideal apartment," he confessed. "Here we are
alone, and I may ask you a question which was on my lips when we had tea
together at the Carlton, and which, but for our environment, I should
certainly have asked you at dinner time."

"You may ask me anything," she assured him, with a little smile. "I am
feeling happy and loquacious. Don't tempt me to talk, or I shall give
away all my life's secrets."

"I will only ask you for one just now," he promised. "Is it true that
you have to-day had some disagreement with--shall I say a small congress
of men who have their meetings down at Westminster, and with whom you
have been in close touch for some time?"

Her start was unmistakable.

"How on earth do you know anything about that?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"These are the days," he said, "when, if one is to succeed in my
profession, one must know everything."

She did not speak for a moment. His question had been rather a shock to
her. In a moment or two, however, she found herself wondering how to use
it for her own advantage.

"It is true," she admitted.

He looked intently at the point of his patent shoe.

"Is this not a case, Countess," he ventured, "in which you and I might
perhaps come a little closer together?"

"If you have anything to suggest, I am ready to listen," she said.

"I wonder," he went on, "if I am right in some of my ideas? I shall test
them. You have taken up your abode in England. That was natural, for
domestic reasons. You have shown a great interest in a certai