“No.  Lady Henry has more personal hold than we thought.”

“And Mademoiselle Julie less tact.  Why, in the name of goodness, does she go and get herself talked about with the particular man who is engaged to her little cousin?  You know, by-the-way, that the story of her parentage is leaking out fast?  Most people seem to know something about it.”

“Well, that was bound to come.  Will it do her good or harm?”

“Harm, for the present.  A few people are straitlaced, and a good many feel they have been taken in.  But, anyway, this flirtation is a mistake.”

“Nobody really knows whether the man is engaged to the Moffatt girl or no.  The guardians have forbidden it.”

“At any rate, everybody is kind enough to say so.  It’s a blunder on Mademoiselle Julie’s part.  As to the man himself, of course, there is nothing to say.  He is a very clever fellow.”  Montresor looked at his companion with a sudden stiffness, as though defying contradiction.  “He will do this piece of work that we have given him to do extremely well.”

“The Mokembe mission?”

Montresor nodded.

“He had very considerable claims, and was appointed entirely on his military record.  All the tales as to Mademoiselle’s influence—­with me, for instance—­that Lady Henry has been putting into circulation are either absurd fiction or have only the very smallest foundation in fact.”

Sir Wilfrid smiled amicably and diverted the conversation.

“Warkworth starts at once?”

“He goes to Paris to-morrow.  I recommended him to see Pattison, the Military Secretary there, who was in the expedition of five years back.”

* * * * *

“This hasn’t gone as well as it ought,” said Dr. Meredith, in the ear of the Duchess.

They were standing inside the door of Julie’s little drawing-room.  The Duchess, in a dazzling frock of white and silver, which placed Clarisse among the divinities of her craft, looked round her with a look of worry.

“What’s the matter with the tiresome creatures?  Why is everybody going so early?  And there are not half the people here who ought to be here.”

Meredith shrugged his shoulders.

“I saw you at Chatton House the other night,” he said, in the same tone.

“Well?” said the Duchess, sharply.

“It seemed to me there was something of a demonstration.”

“Against Julie?  Let them try it!” said the little lady, with evasive defiance.  “We shall be too strong for them.”

“Lady Henry is putting her back into it.  I confess I never thought she would be either so venomous or so successful.”

“Julie will come out all right.”

“She would—­triumphantly—­if—­”

The Duchess glanced at him uneasily.

“I believe you are overworking her.  She looks skin and bone.”

Dr. Meredith shook his head.