‘Mr Sterndale is an old friend of _yours_, I know, Ilfracombe,’ she said, sweetly; ‘and, therefore, if he will accept me as such, I trust he will consider me his friend also. But--’ turning to where Jack Portland stood bowing lowly before her, ‘this gentleman--surely I have met him before! Why, of course, it is the very Mr Portland of whom we spoke once on board the _Débutante_. How are you, Mr Portland? Do you remember me after all this time? Did we not meet at Captain Loveless’s once at a ball? Were you not staying with them?’ ‘I was, Lady Ilfracombe. Mrs Loveless is my sister. What a long time ago it seems. How little I imagined, when dear old Ilfracombe here wrote me he was engaged to a Miss Abinger, that it actually was _the_ Miss Abinger with whom I had had the honour of dancing! But there were so many of you!’ ‘Dear me, yes--dozens! I have three sisters married besides myself! Perhaps it was Bella or Marion, after all, whom you danced with instead of me. We are considered very much alike.’ ‘If you will excuse me saying so, I do not think I could have made a mistake. But you must have been very young at the time?’ ‘I was eighteen; I am twenty now,’ laughed Nora in a nervous manner. ‘I never conceal my age, and never mean to. It is such folly. If a woman looks too young for it, all the better. If too old, it will only make a bad matter worse to take off a few years. Don’t you agree with me, Mr Sterndale?’ ‘I agree with everything your ladyship says, even if it went against my own judgment,’ replied the solicitor. ‘My goodness, you’re quite a courtier! I thought the law allowed men no time for cultivating the smaller graces. If ever I want to get a separation from Ilfracombe, Mr Sterndale, I shall come to you to make terms for me.’ ‘Oh, dear me!’ exclaimed the solicitor, laughing; ‘your ladyship must not depend on me in such a case, really! I have been his lordship’s man of business for years, and I am not sure if such an unmitigated piece of treachery would not rank with high treason.’ ‘Well, here is dinner, which appeals to us all alike,’ cried Lady Ilfracombe, as she placed her hand on the arm of Mr Jack Portland, ‘so let us drop all discussion, except that of good things, until it is over,’ and the earl and the solicitor followed her gaily to the dining-room. But Ilfracombe was longing to have a private interview with Mr Sterndale, and as soon as the meal was concluded, he asked the pardon of the others if he detained the solicitor for half an hour. ‘You can send us word when coffee is ready, Nora,’ he said to his wife as Mr Portland held the door open for her ladyship to pass through, and then, with a nod to his host, went after her. As soon as they were well out of hearing, Ilfracombe lent over the table and said to Sterndale in a lowered voice,--