the duchess to be
hiding out of England; and he showed himself unfeignedly pleased to see
her. He put her in his most comfortable chair, made her take off her
hat, and said:

"Now, I'll make you some tea."

The Honourable John Ruffin went to the kitchen; the duchess rose
restlessly and followed him. As he made the tea he lectured her on the
importance of making it not only with boiling water, but with water
which had not been boiling for more than a quarter of a minute, and
that poured on to a fine China tea in a warmed pot without taking the
kettle right off the stove.

The rebellious duchess, impatient to tell him the object of her visit,
made several faces at him; and twice she said contemptuously:

"You and your old tea!"

But when she came to drink it, she admitted handsomely that it was
better than she could have made it herself.

She drank it; grew suddenly serious, and said:

"John, I'm in a mess, and I've come to you for help."

"It is yours to the half of my fortune--at present about fourteen
shillings," said the Honourable John Ruffin warmly.

"Well, I didn't take Marion abroad," said the duchess. "They always
look abroad for people who bolt. I borrowed Pinky Wallerton's car and
drove her down, myself, to a cottage I bought in Devonshire--in the
pinewoods above Budleigh Salterton."

"That sounds all right."

"It was--quite--till this morning. Then, without a word of warning, at
eleven o'clock, one of Osterley's lawyers turned up with a detective."

"And got her?"

"No. Fortunately she was out in the wood with her nurse. I gave
Eglantine, my maid, twenty pounds and told her to get quietly to Marion
while I kept the brutes in play, rush her down to the station, and
catch the London train. They'd just time if they ran most of the way."

"But the lawyer would only have to wire to Osterley to meet the train
at Waterloo," said the Honourable John Ruffin.

"I thought of that," said the duchess quickly. "I told her to leave
the express at Salisbury, go on to Woking by a slow train, take a taxi
from there to my old nurse's, Mrs. Simpson's, in Camden Town, and leave
Marion with her."

"Excellent," said the Honourable John Ruffin in warm approval.

"Then she's to come on here with Marion's clothes in time to catch the
six o'clock to Exeter from Paddington."

"Here? With Marion's clothes? What for?" said the Honourable John
Ruffin.

"Why, to put on Mary Bride--Pollyooly as you call her