The Hazzards came and with them the joyously beautiful Betty Billy. Poopendyke must have prepared them for the task in hand, for they proceeded at once to transform the bleak, dreary old castle into a sort of hilarious merry-go-round, with me in the very vortex of it all. They succeeded in taking me "out of myself," I will say that for them. My spirits took an upward bound and, wonderful to relate, retained their altitude in spite of all I could do to lower them. I did not want to be happy; I figured that I owed it to my recently aroused temperament to be permanently unhappy. But the wind blew another way and I drifted amiably with it, as a derelict drifts with the currents of the ocean but preferably with the warm gulf stream. We had word from Mrs. Titus, in London, that negotiations had been reopened with the Count, and that a compromise might be expected. The obdurate nobleman had agreed, it seemed, to meet Jasper Titus's lawyers in Paris at no distant date. My chief concern however was for the Countess herself. That she had successfully reached the high seas was apparent; if not, the newspapers, which I read with eagerness, would have been filled with accounts of her seizure. We eagerly awaited the promised cablegram from New York, announcing her safe arrival there. Smith joined us at the end of the week. I nerved myself to question him about the Englishman. "Splendid fellow," said he, with discouraging fervour. "One of the finest chaps I know, eh, George?" "For an Englishman," admitted Hazzard. "He's a gentleman, and that's more than you can say for the rag-tag of nobility that paid court to Aline Tarnowsy. He was in love with her, but he was a gentleman about it. A thoroughbred, I say." "Good looking?" I enquired. "Well, rather! The sort of chap women rave about. Ask Betty. She was mad about him. But he couldn't see anything in her. I think she hates him now. He had eyes for no one but the fair Countess. An awful grind on Betty. She's used to something different." Hazzard studied the clouds that drifted over our heads. "I wonder if Aline cared anything for him." "I've always believed that she liked him better than she cared to admit, even to herself." "I fancy he'll not let any grass grow under his feet, now that she's free," said Dr. Hazzard. "Think she'll have him?" "Why not? He has a much better position in England than Tarnowsy has here, and he's not after her money. I hate to say it, but Aline is a seeker after titles. She wouldn't be averse to adding 'your ladyship' to her collection." "Oh, come!" I protested. "That is a nasty thing to say, George." "She may have been regenerated," he said obligingly. "You know her better than I do, old chap. What say?" "I didn't say anything," I muttered. "I thought you did."