"We heard casually," pursued Lady Ormstork, "that you had gone to call at the Moat, and naturally expected you would be back soon. But no doubt,"--this with a world of spiteful significance--"Lady Agatha Hemyock made a point of keeping you there as long as she could. I know her." "Of course," said Gage gallantly, ignoring the suggestion, "if we had known you were waiting we should have been back long ago." "Not if Lady Agatha knew it," was the tart reply. "But never mind about that hateful woman. I have waited to see you on a more important subject." She glanced at Miss Buffkin, who rose with an amused face and sauntered to the window. "I'll take a turn among the flowers while you are telling the tale, Lady Ormstork," she said casually. "I'm getting a little tired of it." Both men looked longingly after her as she strolled across the lawn, but a consuming anxiety to hear the latest news of the duke curbed the desire to invent an excuse for making after her. "The Duke of Salolja, tiresome person," Lady Ormstork began, "called at The Cracknels this morning, and upset us very much by telling us of a visit he had the impudence to pay you last evening." "Yes; we had a pleasant hour of him here," said Gage, grimly reminiscent. "He tells me," proceeded the lady in a tone of righteous anger, "that he has, in the most unwarrantable manner, suggested the existence of an engagement between himself and dear Ulrica. Is that so?" "He suggested that he wasn't going to allow anybody else to be engaged to her," Peckover replied. "Most improper!" commented Lady Ormstork. "And most unwarranted. Dear Ulrica detests him. But he is most absurdly persistent." "Yes, he's a bit of a nailer," Peckover agreed feelingly. "Was he very rude?" the lady inquired. "No, he was polite; the most confoundedly polite cuss I ever encountered," answered Gage. "I'm glad to hear that," said Lady Ormstork. "And so your interview, preposterous as it was on his part, was quite amicable?" For a moment neither man felt equal to answering the question. Then Peckover said, "Quite amicable, only a touch one-sided. You see, it don't exactly pay to be nasty when a fellow's sitting over you with a revolver." Lady Ormstork threw up her hands. "A revolver? Ridiculous person! Really--I hope you told the foolish man that that sort of thing was quite out of date." "The revolver wasn't though," objected Peckover with a reminiscent shiver. "It looked quite new, with all the latest improvements and in first-class working order." "Really?" cried the lady incredulously. "As far as we could judge. Didn't want any closer inspection. I'm content to take a revolver's business capacity for granted." "But surely," remarked Lady Ormstork with an amused curl of the lip, "you don't mean to say that you allowed this droll Salolja to alarm you?" The men glanced at each other with long faces. "We weren't exactly sorry when he said good-bye," was Gage's evasive answer.