Then doubt came to him. Could it be Doris?--this lovely, high-bred lady in the sheen of her jewels and splendor of her attire? Besides, how could Doris be in that box, evidently one of an august circle; the gentleman talking to her had a star on his breast. It could not be Doris; yet he knew--who so well?--the graceful bend of the proud neck, even the pretty gesture of the little white hands. It must be Doris. Who was the gentleman with the white star on his breast? Who the calm, graceful lady? Who the young man with the face of a poet? He could not solve the enigma, but he would find it out. If it were not Doris, then it was some one so much like her that he could not take his eyes from her face. A friend joined him, no other than Colonel Clifford, who laughed to see him sitting with that intent look. "So you are doing what you said you never would do," he said. "What is that?" asked Lord Vivianne. "Joining in popular devotion," was the laughing reply. "Clifford," said Lord Vivianne, "do you know that girl--the one with diamonds in her golden hair, and white flowers in her hands?" Colonel Clifford laughed to himself. "Yes," he replied, "I know her. She is the Lady Studleigh, the handsome earl's only daughter, Lord Linleigh's heiress, the queen of the season, the belle, _par excellence_, of St. James'." "Lady Studleigh!--that Lady Studleigh!" he repeated. "I do not believe you--I cannot believe you!" he gasped. "It is a great pity, as it is most certainly true. Do you not know the Earl of Linleigh? The other lady with them is the countess. She was the Duke of Downsbury's daughter." "That Lady Studleigh! I cannot believe it! It cannot be!" "Perhaps," said the colonel, laughingly, "we should come to some surer conclusion if you would tell me whom you imagine it to be?" Lord Vivianne looked impatiently at him. "I did not say that I imagined her to be any one else," he replied, hastily. "So that is really the young beauty over whom just at present London is losing its head?" "You are right. If you would like an introduction to the earl, my brother is here; he knows him well. What do you think of Lady Studleigh? Report has not exaggerated her beauty?" "What do I think of her? I will tell you, Clifford, when I have spoken to her, not before." "You are difficult to please if she does not please you." "I--I cannot help thinking I have seen some one like her," he said, slowly. "I wonder if I am right?" "Hardly; it is not a common type of face. You may have done so: I have not." Colonel Clifford dearly loved gossip. If he had found Lord Vivianne in a better temper, he would have told him the romance of the earl's marriage, and how his daughter was brought up in a very different position of life to that she now occupied. As it was, he did not tell him, feeling that his lordship lacked civility; so it happened that not until long afterward did Lord Charles hear the story that would have solved many of his doubts.