At the same time it was equally certain that he was the man involved in the compromising correspondence which Bishopriggs possessed.  To appeal, however, to his interest in obtaining the letter was entirely incompatible (after the recent exhibition of his fist) with the strong regard which Bishopriggs felt for his own personal security.  There was no alternative now but to open negotiations with the one other person concerned in the matter (fortunately, on this occasion, a person of the gentler sex), who was actually within reach.  Mrs. Glenarm was at Swanhaven.  She had a direct interest in clearing up the question of a prior claim to Mr. Geoffrey Delamayn on the part of another woman.  And she could only do that by getting the correspondence into her own hands.

“Praise Providence for a’ its mercies!” said Bishopriggs, getting on his feet again.  “I’ve got twa strings, as they say, to my boo.  I trow the woman’s the canny string o’ the twa—­and we’ll een try the twanging of her.”

He set forth on his road back again, to search among the company at the lake for Mrs. Glenarm.

The dance had reached its climax of animation when Bishopriggs reappeared on the scene of his duties; and the ranks of the company had been recruited, in his absence, by the very person whom it was now his foremost object to approach.

Receiving, with supple submission, a reprimand for his prolonged absence from the chief of the servants, Bishopriggs—­keeping his one observant eye carefully on the look-out—­busied himself in promoting the circulation of ices and cool drinks.

While he was thus occupied, his attention was attracted by two persons who, in very different ways, stood out prominently as marked characters among the rank and file of the guests.

The first person was a vivacious, irascible old gentleman, who persisted in treating the undeniable fact of his age on the footing of a scandalous false report set afloat by Time.  He was superbly strapped and padded.  His hair, his teeth, and his complexion were triumphs of artificial youth.  When he was not occupied among the youngest women present—­which was very seldom—­he attached himself exclusively to the youngest men.  He insisted on joining every dance.  Twice he measured his length upon the grass, but nothing daunted him.  He was waltzing again, with another young woman, at the next dance, as if nothing had happened.  Inquiring who this effervescent old gentleman might be, Bishopriggs discovered that he was a retired officer in the navy; commonly known (among his inferiors) as “The Tartar;” more formally described in society as Captain Newenden, the last male representative of one of the oldest families in England.

The second person, who appeared to occupy a position of distinction at the dance in the glade, was a lady.