"Mr. Longcluse, I'm so glad to see you! You must do a very good-natured thing," said handsome Miss Maubray, smiling on him. "I came here with old Sir Arthur and Lady Tramway, and I've lost them; and I've been bored to death by a Mr. Bagshot, and I've sent him to look for my pocket-handkerchief in the tea-room; and I want you, as you hope for mercy, to show it now, and rescue me from my troubles." "I'm too much honoured. I'm only too happy, Miss Maubray. I shall put Mr. Bagshot to death, if you wish it, and Sir Arthur and Lady Tramway shall appear the moment you command." Mr. Longcluse was talking his nonsense with the high spirits which sometimes attend a painful excitement. "I told them I should get to that tree if I were lost in the crowd, and that they would be sure to find me under it after six o'clock. Do take me there; I am so afraid of Mr. Bagshot's returning!" So over the short grass that handsome girl walked, with Mr. Longcluse at her side. "I'll sit at this side, thank you; I don't want to be seen by Mr. Bagshot." So she sat down, placing herself at the further side of the great trunk of the old chestnut-tree. Mr. Longcluse stood nearly opposite, but so placed as to command a view of the hall-door steps. He was still watching the groups that emerged, with as much interest as if his life depended on the order of their to-ing and fro-ing. But, in spite of this, very soon Miss Maubray's talk began to interest him. "Whom did Alice Arden come with?" asked Miss Maubray. "I should like to know; because, if I should lose my people, I must find some one to take me home." "With her brother, I fancy." "Oh! yes, to be sure--I saw him here. I forgot. But Alice is very independent, just now, of his protection," and she laughed. "How do you mean?" "Oh! Lord Wynderbroke, of course, takes care of her while she's here. I saw them walking about together, so happy! I suppose it is all settled." "About Lord Wynderbroke?" suggested Longcluse, with a gentle carelessness, as if he did not care a farthing--as if a dreadful pain had not at that moment pierced his heart. "Yes, Lord Wynderbroke. Why, haven't you heard of that?" "Yes, I believe--I think so. I am sure I have heard something of it; but one hears so many things, one forgets, and I don't know him. What kind of man is he?" "He's hard to describe; he's not disagreeable, and he's not dull; he has a great deal to say for himself about pictures, and the East, and the Crimea, and the opera, and all the people at all the courts in Europe, and he ought to be amusing; but I think he is the driest person I ever talked to. And he is really good-natured; but I think him much more teasing than the most ill-natured man alive, he's so insufferably punctual and precise." "You know him very well, then?" said Longcluse, with an effort to contribute his share to the talk.