Lord Arranmore bent the card in his forefinger, and dropped his eyeglass.

“So that is the young lady,” he remarked.  “I remember her distinctly.  But I do not understand what she can want within me.  Is she by any chance, Brooks, one of those young persons who go about with a collecting-card—­who want money for missions and that sort of thing?  If so, I am afraid she has wasted her cab fare.”

“She is not in the least that sort of person,” Brooks answered, emphatically.  “I have no idea what she wants to see you about, but I am convinced that her visit has a legitimate object.”

Lord Arranmore stuck the card in his waistcoat pocket and shrugged his shoulders.

“You are my man of affairs, Brooks.  I commission you to see her.  Find out her business if you can, and don’t let me be bothered unless it is necessary.”

Brooks hesitated.

“I am not sure that I care to interfere—­that my presence might not be likely to cause her embarrassment,” he said.  “I have seen her lately, and she made no mention of this visit.”

Lord Arranmore glanced at him as though surprised.  “I should like you to see her,” he said, suavely.  “It seems to me preferable to asking her to state her business to a servant.  If you have any objection to doing so she must be sent back.”

Brooks turned unwillingly away.  As he had expected, Mary sprang to her feet upon his entrance into the room, and the colour streamed into her cheeks.

“You here!” she exclaimed.

He shook hands with her, and tried to behave as though he thought her presence the most natural thing in the world.  “Yes.  You see I am Lord Arranmore’s man of affairs now, and he keeps me pretty hard at work.  He seems to have a constitutional objection to doing anything for himself.  He has even sent me to—­to—­”

“I understand,” she interrupted.  “To ascertain my business.  Well, I can’t tell it even to you.  It is Lord Arranmore whom I want to see.  No one else will do.”

Brooks leaned against the table and looked at her with a puzzled smile.

“You see, it’s a little awkward, isn’t it?” he declared.  “Lord Arranmore is very eccentric, and especially so upon this point.  He will not see strangers.  Write him a line or two and let me take it to him.”

She considered for a moment.

“Very well.  Give me a piece of paper and an envelope.”

She wrote a single line only.  Brooks took it back into the great inner hall, where Lord Arranmore had started another game of billiards with Lady Caroom.

“Miss Scott assured me that her business with you is private,” he announced.  “She has written this note.”

Lord Arranmore laid his cue deliberately aside and broke the seal.  It was evident that the contents of the note consisted of a few words only, yet after once perusing them he moved a little closer to the light and re-read them slowly.  Then with a little sigh he folded the note in the smallest possible compass and thrust it into his waistcoat pocket.