“Dear friend,” she answered, “I know that you were not, and so I think that we had better go back.”

He detained her very gently.

“It is the dearest hope I have in life,” he said, softly.  “Do not let me run the risk of being misunderstood.  Will you be my wife?”

She shook her head.  There were tears in her eyes, but her gesture was significant enough.

“It is impossible,” she said.  “I have loved another man all my life.”

He offered her his arm at once.

“Then I believe,” he said, in a low tone, “in the old saying—­that a glimpse of paradise is sufficient to blind the strongest man....”

They passed into the reception-room, and came face to face with Brooks.  She held out her hand.

“Come, you have no right here,” she declared.  “You are not even a Member of Parliament.”  He laughed.

“What about you?”

“Oh, I am an inspiration!”

“I don’t believe,” he said, “that you realize in the least what is going to happen.”

“I do!” she answered.  “I am going to make you relieve Lord Hennibul, and take me to have an ice.”

They moved off together.  Hennibul stood looking after them for a moment.  Then he sighed and turned slowly away.

“If it’s Arranmore,” he said to himself, “why on earth doesn’t he marry her?”

Lady Caroom was more silent than usual.  She complained of a headache, and Brooks persuaded her to take champagne instead of the ice.

“What is the matter with you to-night?” she asked, looking at him thoughtfully.  “You look like a boy—­with a dash of the bridegroom.”

He laughed joyously.

“You should read the evening papers—­you would understand a little the practical effect of our new Tariff Bill.  Mills in Yorkshire and Lancashire are being opened that have been shut down for years; in Medchester, Northampton, and the boot-centres the unemployed are being swept into the factories.  Manufacturers who have been struggling to keep their places open at all are planning extensions already.  The wages bill throughout the country will be the largest next week that has been paid for years.  Travellers are off to the Colonies with cases of samples—­every manufacturing centre is suddenly alive once more.  The terrible struggle for existence is lightened.  Next week,” Brooks continued, with an almost boyish twinkle in his eyes, “I shall go down to Medchester and walk through the streets where it used to make our hearts ache to see the unemployed waiting about like dumb suffering cattle.  It will be a holiday—­a glorious holiday.”

“And yet behind it all,” she remarked, watching him closely, “there is something on your mind.  What is it?”

He looked at her quickly.

“What an observation.”

“Won’t you tell me?”

He shook his head.

“It is only one of the smallest cupboards,” he said.  “The ghost will very soon be stifled.”