"Yes; yes, it shall be all right," repeated Bertha. She spoke in a curious, reassuring tone that Madeline knew, and that always impressed her. "Really? Yet you say they are so difficult nowadays!" "Well, the majority of the men in our set certainly don't seem to be exactly pining for hearth and home. Still, in some moods a man will marry anyone who happens to be there." "Then must I happen to be there? How can I?" Bertha laughed. There was a confidence without reservation between them, notwithstanding a slight tinge of the histrionic in Madeline, which occasionally irritated Bertha. But the real link was that they both instinctively threw overboard all but the essential; they cared comparatively little for most of the preoccupations and smaller solicitudes of the women in their own leisured class. There was in neither of them anything of the social snob or the narrow outlook of the bourgeoise; they were free from pose, petty ambitions, or trivial affectations. Madeline looked up to Bertha as a wonderful combination of kindness, cleverness, beauty and knowledge of the world. Bertha felt that Madeline was not quite so well equipped for dealing with life as she herself was; there was a shade of protection in her friendship. Bertha was far more daring than Madeline, but her occasional recklessness was only pluck and love of adventure; not imprudence; it was always guided by reason and an instinctive sense of self-preservation. She was a little experimental, that was all. Madeline was more timid and sensitive; though not nearly so quick to see things as Bertha she took them to heart more, far more;--was far less lively and ironical. "Though I find Rupert dull, as I say, I believe he's as good as gold, or I wouldn't try and help you. Now if he were a man like Nigel!--who's very much more fascinating and charming--I wouldn't raise a finger, because I know he's fickle, dangerous and selfish, and wouldn't make you happy. Charlie would, though; I wish you liked Charlie. But one can't account for these things." "Quite impossible," Madeline said, shaking her head. "Well! It's quite possible that Rupert would suit you best; and I believe if you once got him he'd be all right. And you shall!" she repeated. "_Thank_ you!" said Madeline fervently, as if Bertha had promised her a box of chocolates or a present of some kind. "Lady Kellynch!" announced the servant. CHAPTER II LADY KELLYNCH