“_His_ friend!” exclaimed Harry, “little Alfred is my friend--he and I were at school together--that is, he was at the bottom when I was at the top; I introduced him to D’Almayne myself, and now I wish I had left it alone; oh, there’s no harm in little Alfred--besides, I never heard him speak a dozen words to Kate Crane.” A meaning smile passed across his companion’s handsome features, but she only said,-- “I am sorry he is your friend; I am afraid Mr. D’Almayne is a dangerous acquaintance for so vain and weak a young man.” “Alfred is no fool, though perhaps firmness is not his strong point,” returned Coverdale; “vain perhaps he is--all handsome boys are, I suppose. But why do you say you are sorry he is my friend?” Miss Crofton was silent for a minute, then in a timid and hesitating voice replied,-- “You will be angry with me if I tell you my reason for disliking Lord Alfred’s constant visits; you will doubt what I say, and impute to me all kinds of false and evil motives for saying it.” “Go on,” returned Harry, in a low, stern voice, “you have said too much for me to rest satisfied not to hear more--tell me _all_ you know or suspect; but take care--if, as you say, you value my good opinion--that you speak only the simple truth.” Thus urged, Miss Crofton proceeded cautiously to relate, that much as it grieved her to say anything which might cause him pain or annoyance, she would not disguise from him that she felt convinced Lord Alfred Courtland was deeply smitten with Alice, and that his frequent visits to Park Lane were the result of his admiration--that, moreover, Horace D’Almayne was evidently doing his best to nurse what had been a mere boyish fancy into a warmer and stronger feeling; of his motive she was unable to judge, but of the fact she was certain; she believed, moreover, that he possessed a strong and daily increasing influence over the young man. “And Alice?” inquired Coverdale, with flashing eyes, “what of Alice? Beware how you tell me that she encourages this misguided, foolish boy! for by heaven, if you do, and it should appear that you have misjudged her, I should be tempted to inform her and all the world the reason which has induced you to invent such malicious calumnies!” “You wrong me by your unkind suspicions,” was Arabella’s calm reply, “as much as you wrong yourself by an ungenerous threat which you would be incapable of executing; it is not for me to judge Mrs. Coverdale one way or the other. I have satisfied my conscience in warning you; I leave you now to examine and observe for yourself, and test the truth of my statement--but of one thing I am certain, Horace D’Almayne has some deep scheme _in petto_, and that he is an unscrupulous adventurer, clever enough to render him a most dangerous associate for any one--a person to beware of, in short.”