took out a card and wrote on the back, "I think
you'll ask De Vayne," and dropped it into the letter-box.

That evening he found in his own letter-box a slip of paper. "De Vayne
is coming to wine with me to-morrow. Come, and the foul fiend take you.
_I have filled my decanters half-full of water_, and won't bring out
more than one bottle. E K."

Brogten read the note and chuckled,--partly with the thought of Kennedy,
partly of Bruce, partly of De Vayne. Yet the chuckle ended in a very
heavy sigh.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

KENNEDY'S WINE-PARTY, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.

"Et je n'ai moi
Par la sang Dieu!
Ni foi, ni loi,
Ni jeu, ni lieu,
Ni roi, ni Dieu."
Victor Hugo, _Notre Dame de Paris_.

"Nay, that's certain but yet the pity of it,
Iago!--O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!"
Othello, Act 4, Scene 1.

"Are you going to Kennedy's, Julian?" asked De Vayne.

"No."

"I wish he'd asked you."

Julian a little wondered why he had not, but remembered, with a sigh,
that there was _something_, he knew not what, between him and Kennedy.
Yet Kennedy was engaged to Violet! The thought carried him back to the
beautiful memories of Grindelwald and Murrem,--perhaps of Eva Kennedy: I
will not say.

As De Vayne glanced round at the men assembled at Kennedy's rooms, he
felt a little vexation, and half wished he had not come. Why on earth
did Kennedy see so much of these Bruces and Brogtens when he was so
thoroughly unlike them? But De Vayne consoled himself with the
reflection that the evening could not fail to be pleasant, as Kennedy
was there; for he liked Kennedy both for Julian's sake and for his own.
Happily for him he did not know as yet that Kennedy was affianced to
Violet Home.

Kennedy sat at the end of the table with a gloomy cloud on his brow.
"Here, De Vayne," he said; "I'm so really glad to see you at last. Sit
by me--here's a chair."

De Vayne took the proffered seat, and Bruce immediately seated himself
at his left hand. At first, as the wine was passed round, there seemed
likely to be but little conversation, but suddenly some one started the
subject of a "_cause celebre_" which was then filling the papers, and
Kennedy began at once to discuss it with some interest with De Vayne,
who sat nearly facing him, almost with his back turned to Bruce, who did
not seem particularly anxious to attract De Vayne's attention.

"What execrable wash," said Brogten, emptying his glass.

De Vayn