Lord Alfred, strong in the possession of his rosebud, felt inclined to resist, and murmured something about its being a pleasure rather than a trouble; while Alice was just determining to support her swain, when luckily she happened to read in Harry’s flashing eye symptoms of the approach of an attack of his “quiet manner,” so hastily disengaging her arm, she placed it within that of her husband, saying, as she did so-- “I am not going to let this truant escape, now that I have caught him. He deserves punishment--so I shall inflict my society upon him for the rest of the afternoon, unless,” she added, with a glance which bewitched Lord Alfred more completely than before, “I should find any stringent necessity to exercise my feminine prerogative of changing my mind.” “Your friend Mr. Coverdale’s method of relieving you of your fair charge was more vigorous than polite, _mon cher_,” remarked D’Almayne to Lord Alfred, who, feeling he was _de trop_, had left the wedded pair to their own devices. “However, I think I have obtained a clue, which I have only to follow up, to arrive at a discovery which will help you on with your pretty little lady-patroness, by rendering her more the _femme incomprise_, and neglected wife than ever.” “Indeed!” was the reply; “what a clever fellow you are! I certainly owe Coverdale one, for his manner to me just now was anything but nice. Tell me, what have you discovered?” “Well, it seems nothing very remarkable at first; but many a large and goodly oak has grown from as small an acorn. Listen--the immaculate Harry Coverdale has a private understanding with that dark-eyed gipsy, Arabella Crofton; they are a great deal more intimate and confidential in a _tête-à-tête_, than they allow themselves to appear in general society. I must try and learn what passed between them in Italy, and I think I can do so with very little trouble. I saw a man in town yesterday, Archie Campbell, who married one of the Muir girls, with whom the fair--or rather the dark--Arabella lived as governess, when they tried to exchange their Scotch brogue for the _lingua Toscana_. She went to Italy with them, and there met Harry Coverdale--that I know as a fact; for additional particulars, I shall apply to the said Archie.” “Then do you think--do you conceive--do you mean to imply, in fact, that Mr. Coverdale is attached to this Miss Crofton?” stammered Lord Alfred, colouring, as though he, and not Alice’s husband, were the supposed delinquent.