"But Lady Agatha," she said. "I was sure it was Lady Agatha." "I don't want a girl," returned his lordship. "A girl would bore me to death. I am not going to dry-nurse a girl at the age of fifty-four. I want a companion." "But I am so _far_ from clever," faltered Emily. The marquis turned in his driving-seat to look at her. It was really a very nice look he gave her. It made Emily's cheeks grow pink and her simple heart beat. "You are the woman I want," he said. "You make me feel quite sentimental." When they reached Mallowe, Emily had upon her finger the ruby which Lady Maria had graphically described as being "as big as a trouser button." It was, indeed, so big that she could scarcely wear her glove over it. She was still incredible, but she was blooming like a large rose. Lord Walderhurst had said so many "things" to her that she seemed to behold a new heaven and a new earth. She had been so swept off her feet that she had not really been allowed time to think, after that first gasp, of Lady Agatha. When she reached her bedroom she almost returned to earth as she remembered it. Neither of them had dreamed of this--neither of them. What could she say to Lady Agatha? What would Lady Agatha say to her, though it had not been her fault? She had not dreamed that such a thing could be possible. How could she, oh, how could she? She was standing in the middle of her room with clasped hands. There was a knock upon the door, and Lady Agatha herself came to her. What had occurred? Something. It was to be seen in the girl's eyes, and in a certain delicate shyness in her manner. "Something very nice has happened," she said. "Something nice?" repeated Emily. Lady Agatha sat down. The letter from Curzon Street was in her hand half unfolded. "I have had a letter from mamma. It seems almost bad taste to speak of it so soon, but we have talked to each other so much, and you are so kind, that I want to tell you myself. Sir Bruce Norman has been to talk to papa about--about me." Emily felt that her cup filled to the brim at the moment. "He is in England again?" Agatha nodded gently. "He only went away to--well, to test his own feelings before he spoke. Mamma is delighted with him. I am going home to-morrow." Emily made a little swoop forward. "You always liked him?" she said. Lady Agatha's delicate mounting colour was adorable. "I was quite _unhappy_," she owned, and hid her lovely face in her hands. In the morning-room Lord Walderhurst was talking to Lady Maria. "You need not give Emily Fox-Seton any more clothes, Maria," he said. "I am going to supply her in future. I have asked her to marry me." Lady Maria lightly gasped, and then began to laugh. "Well, James," she said, "you have certainly much more sense than most men of your rank and age." PART TWO Chapter Seven