Sir Patrick Fitzgerald he knew at the Turf, and now that he thought of it he knew Lady Ada by sight quite well, and he was aware he would be a welcome guest at any house.  If Theodora was going, he expected the thing could be managed.  Meanwhile, he must find her, and get rid of Morella Winmarleigh.  He hurried her on through the blue salon and the yellow salon and out into the gallery beyond.  Theodora had completely disappeared.

Miss Winmarleigh kept up a constant chatter of commonplaces, to which, when he replied at all, he gave random answers.

And every moment she became more annoyed and uneasy.

She had known Hector since she was a child.  Their places adjoined in the country, and she saw him constantly when there.  Her stolid vanity had never permitted the suggestion to come to her that he had always been completely indifferent to her.  She intended to marry him.  His mother shared her wishes.  They were continually thrown together, and the thought of her as a probable ending to his life when all pleasures should be over had often entered his head.

Before he met Theodora, if he had ever analyzed his views about Morella, they probably would have been that she was a safe bore with a great many worldly advantages.  A woman who you could be sure would not take a lover a few years after you had married her, and whom he would probably marry if she were still free when the time came.

His flittings from one pretty matron to another had not caused her grave anxieties.  He could not marry them, and he never talked with girls or possible rivals.  So she had always felt safe and certain that fate would ultimately make him her husband.

But this was different—­he had never been like this before.  And uneasiness grabbed at her well-regulated heart.

“Ah, there is my mother!” he exclaimed, at last, with such evident relief that Morella began to feel spiteful.

They made their way to where Lady Bracondale was standing.  She beamed upon them like a pleased pussy-cat.  It looked so suitable to see them thus together!

“Dearest,” she said to Morella, “is not this a lovely ball?  And I can see you are enjoying yourself.”

Miss Winmarleigh replied suitably, and her stolid face betrayed none of her emotion.

“Mother,” said Hector, “I wish you would introduce me to Lady Ada Fitzgerald when you get the chance.  I see her over there.”

This was so obvious that Morella, who never saw between the lines, preened with pleasure.  After all, he wished to spend Whitsuntide with her, and this anxiety to find Lady Bracondale had been all on that account.  Lady Bracondale, who was acquainted with Miss Winmarleigh’s plans, made the same interruption, and joy warmed her being.

She was only too pleased to do whatever he wished.  And the affair was soon accomplished.

Hector made himself especially attractive, and Lady Ada Fitzgerald decided he was charming.