Susan felt rather faint. Her fellow-guests, standing like drugged sheep, seemed to be bent upon at once avoiding one another’s gaze and ascertaining one another’s demeanour. Only their eyes shifted, their heads and bodies remaining perfectly still. As for Labotte, the consciousness that he had publicly insulted a Duke, harrassed a future Duchess, and for the last seven days conspicuously licked a rank impostor all over seemed to have affected his reason. He staggered to a doorway, collided with and ricochetted from the jamb, kicked the latter savagely, screamed and disappeared. . . . Major Pleydell was speaking. “But didn’t you know?” he said. Susan could only shake her head. “Bless my soul,” said Berry. “Never mind. Let’s drown it in drink. Besides, it’s not his fault. Only . . .” “What?” said Susan. Berry laid a hand on Nicholas’ shoulder. “Well,” he said, “if it isn’t because of his title, what are you marrying him for?” Susan and Nicholas laughed. “_Noblesse oblige_,” they said. THE END NOVELS BY Valentine * * * * * “Valentine has one great quality—his mastery of human material.”—_Sunday Referee._ “You can always rely on Valentine for a pleasantly told and cleverly written tale.”—_Northern Echo, Darlington._ “The author shows rare insight into life and character.”—_Public Opinion._ =A Flight to a Finish= =The Blue Pool= =The Things that Count= =Young Desire= =God’s Clearing House= =Round The Corner= =At Your Beginnings= =The Longest way Round= =One Good Turn= =That Certain Thing= * * * * * _WARD, LOCK & CO., LTD., LONDON_ NOVELS BY Harry Stephen Keeler “Harry Stephen Keeler is a master of the type of thriller for which the mystery-loving public have come to look.”—_The Mansfield Reporter._ “This Author has a happy knack of writing a novel which lures the reader on to the final chapter in a most enthralling manner.”—_The Magazine Programme._ “A master of detective fiction.”—_The Sussex Express._ =The Green Jade Hand= =The Fourth King= =The Amazing Web= =Thieves’ Nights= =The Blue Spectacles= =Sing Sing Nights= =The Voice of the Seven Sparrows= =Find the Clock= =The Tiger Snake= =The Black Satchel= =The Box from Japan= =Behind that Mask= =The Crilly Court Mystery= =Under Twelve Stars= =The Fiddling Cracksman= =The Travelling Skull= * * * * * _WARD, LOCK & CO., LTD., LONDON_ NOVELS BY E. Charles Vivian * * * * *