his brow, he had convinced them that there had been no real duel—­just a trifling conflict, in which he, being a good Yankee, had come off with a moderate victory.  Lady Jane believed; Lady Saxondale was more or less skeptical; while the Baroness, although graciously accepting his story as it came from his blundering lips, did not believe a word of it.  His story of the “robbery” was told so readily and so graphically that it could not be doubted.

Like true women, Lady Saxondale and her sister, accompanied by their hostess and her brother, Colonel Denslow, seized the first favorable opportunity to call at the rooms of Mr. Quentin.  They found him the next morning sitting up in a comfortable chair, the picture of desolation, notwithstanding the mighty efforts of Dickey Savage and the convivial millionaire.  The arrival of the party put new life into the situation, and it was not long before Phil found his spirits soaring skyward.

“Tell me the truth about this awful duel,” commanded Lady Saxondale, after Dickey had collected the other members of the party about a table to which tall glasses with small stems were brought at his call.

“I’m afraid Dickey has been a bit too loquacious,” said he, smilingly.

“He fibs so wretchedly, you know.  One could see he had been told what not to say.  You can trust me, Phil,” she said, earnestly.  And he told her all, from beginning to end.  Not once did she interrupt, and but seldom did she allow horror to show itself in her clear, brave eyes.

“And she will go on and marry this man, Phil.  I am afraid she cannot be convinced—­or will not, I should say,” she said, slowly, at the end of the recital.  “What a villain, what a coward he is!”

“But she must not be sacrificed, Frances!  She must be saved.  Good God, can’t something be done to drag her from the clutches of that scoundrel?” he almost groaned.

“The clutches of her mother are more cious than those of the prince.  There is the power that dominates.  Can it be broken?”

“As well try to break down the Rocky Mountains.  That woman has no heart—­no soul, I’ll swear.  Dorothy has a mind and a will of her own, though, Frances.  I feel that she loves me—­something tells me she does, but she will not break this hateful compact.  I am sure that I saw love in her eyes that last night, heard it in her voice, felt it in the way she dismissed me.”

“You made a mistake when you denounced him to her.  It was but natural for her to defend him.”

“I know it, but I was driven to it.  I saw no other way.  She accused me of cowardice.  Good heavens, I’d give my soul to be up now and able to call that villain’s bluff.  But I am in here for a week, at least, and the wedding is only two weeks away.  When is Bob coming?” he cried, feverishly.

“Be calm, Phil.  You will gain nothing by working yourself into a frenzy.  Bob will come when I send for him.  It shall be at once, if you have need for him here.”