There was a general murmur of pleasure, vaguely joined by Adrian Fellowes, who glanced quickly round the little group, and met an enigmatical glance from Byng’s eye.  Byng was remembering what Barry Whalen had told him three years ago, and he wondered if Jasmine was cognizant of it all.  He thought not; for otherwise she would scarcely bring Al’mah to Glencader and play Fellowes’ game for him.

Jasmine, in fact, had not heard.  Days before she had wondered that Adrian had tried to discourage her invitation to Al’mah.  While it was an invitation, it was also an engagement, on terms which would have been adequate for Patti in her best days.  It would, if repeated a few times, reimburse Al’mah for the sums she had placed in Byng’s hands at the time of the Raid, and also, later still, to buy the life of her husband from Oom Paul.  It had been insufficient, not because of the value of the article for sale, but because of the rapacity of the vender.  She had paid half the cruel balance demanded; Byng and his friends had paid the rest without her knowledge; and her husband had been set free.

Byng had only seen Al’mah twice since the day when she first came to his rooms, and not at all during the past two years, save at the opera, where she tightened the cords of captivity to her gifts around her admirers.  Al’mah had never met Mrs. Byng since the day after that first production of “Manassa,” when Rudyard rescued her, though she had seen her at the opera again and again.  She cared nothing for society or for social patronage or approval, and the life that Jasmine led had no charms for her.  The only interest she had in it was that it suited Adrian from every standpoint.  He loved the splendid social environment of which Jasmine was the centre, and his services were well rewarded.

When she received Jasmine’s proposal to sing at Glencader she had hesitated to accept it, for society had no charms for her; but at length three considerations induced her to do so.  She wanted to see Rudyard Byng, for South Africa and its shadow was ever present with her; and she dreaded she knew not what.  Blantyre was still her husband, and he might return—­and return still less a man than when he deserted her those sad long years ago.  Also, she wanted to see Jigger, because of his sister Lou, whose friendless beauty, so primitively set, whose transparent honesty appealed to her quick, generous impulses.  Last of all she wanted to see Adrian in the surroundings and influences where his days had been constantly spent during the past three years.

Never before had she had the curiosity to do so.  Adrian had, however, deftly but clearly tried to dissuade her from coming to Glencader, and his reasons were so new and unconvincing that, for the first time,—­she had a nature of strange trustfulness once her faith was given—­a vague suspicion concerning Adrian perplexed and troubled her.  His letter had arrived some hours after Jasmine’s, and then her answer was immediate—­she would accept.  Adrian heard of the acceptance first through Jasmine, to whom he had spoken of his long “acquaintance” with the great singer.