“What dreadful ideas you have.”

“Do you think so?  I hope not.  I only speak what I have observed.  Take the case of Fraulein von Holtzhausen, for instance.  Did you not notice that whilst she was in the room the eyes of the three gentlemen were all fixed upon her, and as soon as she leaves it one of them follows her, as the others would have done had they not been forestalled?  One cannot blame them; they are simply following a natural law.  Any other man would do the same where such a charming person is concerned.”

“I certainly did not notice it; indeed, to speak the truth, I thought that they were more occupied with you——­”

“With me! why, my dear Miss Lee, I don’t set up for being good-looking.  What a strange idea.  But I dare say you are right, it is only one of my theories based upon my own casual observations, and, after all, men are not a very interesting subject, are they?  Let’s talk of something more exciting—­dresses, for instance.”

But poor Maria was too uncomfortable and disturbed to talk of anything else, so she collapsed into silence, and shortly after Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy and George made their adieux.

Meanwhile Philip and Hilda had been walking leisurely down the shrubberies adjoining the house.

“Why have you come out?” she asked in German, a language he understood well.

“To walk with you.  Why do you speak to me in German?”

“Because it is my pleasure to do so, and I never asked you to walk with me.  You are wanted in the drawing-room, you had better go back.”

“No, I won’t go, Hilda; that is, not until you have promised me something.”

“Do not call me Hilda, if you please.  I am the Fraulein von Holtzhausen.  What is it you want me to promise?”

“I want you to meet me this evening at nine o’clock in the summer-house.”

“I think, Mr. Caresfoot, that you are forgetting a little what is due to me, to yourself, and—­to Miss Lee?”

“What do you mean by due to Miss Lee?”

“Simply that she is in love with you, and that you have encouraged her in her affection; you need not contradict me, she tells me all about it.”

“Nonsense, Hilda; if you will meet me to-night, I will explain everything; there is no need for you to be jealous.”

She swept round upon him, tossing her head, and stamping her dainty foot upon the gravel.

“Mr. Caresfoot,” she said, “once and for all I am not jealous, and I will not meet you; I have too much respect for myself, and too little for you,” and she was gone.

Philip’s face, as he stood looking after her, was not pleasant to see; it was very hard and angry.

“Jealous, is she?  I will give her something to be jealous for, the proud minx;” and in his vexation he knocked off the head of a carnation with his stick.

“Philip, what are you doing?  Those are my pet Australian carnations; at least, I think they are Australian.  How can you destroy them like that?”