“I say,” Mr. Rangely, the Englishman, remarked to Victoria, “this is a bit rough on you, you know.”

“Oh, I’m used to it,” she laughed.

“Mr. Crewe,” said Mrs. Pomfret, to the table at large, “deserves tremendous credit for the fight he has made, almost single-handed.  Our greatest need in this country is what you have in England, Mr. Rangely, —­gentlemen in politics.  Our country gentlemen, like Mr. Crewe, are now going to assume their proper duties and responsibilities.”  She laid her napkin on the table and glanced at Alice as she continued:  “Humphrey, I shall have to appoint you, as usual, the man of the house.  Will you take the gentlemen into the library?”

Another privilege of celebrity is to throw away one’s cigar, and walk out of the smoking room if one is bored.  Mr. Crewe was, in a sense, the host.  He indicated with a wave of his hand the cigars and cigarettes which Mrs. Pomfret had provided, and stood in a thoughtful manner before the empty fireplace, with his hands in his pockets, replying in brief sentences to the questions of Mr. Chillingham and the others.  To tell the truth, Mr. Crewe was bringing to bear all of his extraordinary concentration of mind upon a problem with which he had been occupied for some years past.  He was not a man, as we know, to take the important steps of life in a hurry, although; like the truly great, he was capable of making up his mind in a very brief period when it was necessary to strike.  He had now, after weighing the question with the consideration which its gravity demanded, finally decided upon definite action.  Whereupon he walked out of the library, leaving the other guests to comment as they would; or not comment at all, for all he cared.  Like all masterful men, he went direct to the thing he wanted.

The ladies were having coffee under the maples, by the tea-table.  At some little distance from the group Beatrice Chillingham was walking with Victoria, and it was evident that Victoria found Miss Chillingham’s remarks amusing.  These were the only two in the party who did not observe Mr. Crewe’s approach.  Mrs. Pomfret, when she saw the direction which he was taking, lost the thread of her conversation, and the lady who was visiting her wore a significant expression.

“Victoria,” said Mr. Crewe, “let’s go around to the other side of the house and look at the view.”

Victoria started and turned to him from Miss Chillingham, with the fun still sparkling in her eyes.  It was, perhaps, as well for Mr. Crewe that he had not overheard their conversation; but this might have applied to any man.

“Are you sure you can spare the time?” she asked.

Mr. Crewe looked at his watch—­probably from habit.

“I made it a point to leave the smoking room early,” he replied.

“We’re flattered—­aren’t we, Beatrice?”

Miss Chillingham had a turned-up nose, and a face which was apt to be slightly freckled at this time of year; for she contemned vanity and veils.  For fear of doing her an injustice, it must be added that she was not at all bad-looking; quite the contrary All that can be noted in this brief space is that Beatrice Chillingham was herself.  Some people declared that she was possessed of the seven devils of her sex which Mr. Stockton wrote about.