"Oh, Amethyst," she said, "I've got something dreadful to tell you. Charles came late to the ball--I saw Carrie looking out for him ever so often--and he talked and laughed loud as he came up-stairs, and I saw Tony and Sir Richard look at each other. But he went up to Carrie and asked her to dance, and they spun about oddly, and knocked up against the wall, and he would have thrown her down, if Tony, who was dancing with Kat, hadn't somehow caught her; and then Sir Richard took hold of him, and pulled him into the hall, and there was a sort of row and a noise. And oh, Amethyst, he was as tipsy as ever he could be, horrid brute! He might be a bad lot, without disgracing us in that way!" And Tory stamped her foot, and for once cried hot tears of shame and anger. "What happened then?" said Amethyst, pale and horror-struck. "Sir Richard took him down-stairs, and he called out that he wouldn't be insulted, even if Grattan had lent him money." "What?" interrupted Amethyst. "Why, didn't you guess? I did. Indeed I heard my lady say so. How could Charles have shown up, else? It will be all right, I suppose, when he marries you." "I never thought of such a thing," said Amethyst, utterly thrown off her balance. "You're very innocent still, Amethyst," said Tory, recovering her usual manner, "you'll never be the same as if my lady had brought you up. Why, if Charles is the only person Sir Richard gave money to, to get us all up here--which I doubt--you may be quite sure he won't be the last." Tory was not an impressionable person, but she never forgot Amethyst's face, as she turned and fled back into Una's room. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. REPARATION. When Sylvester got back to his rooms and sat down to smoke, and to reflect in solitude, his feelings were in utter confusion.