"Captain Fielder is your cousin, I believe?" "Yes," giving himself a mental shake, "my second cousin--not a bad sort of chap--rather a silly ass in some things." "Now I am going to ask you a strange question. Do you think he intends to marry my sister?" "Well, Miss Chandos, since you put it to me straight like that, I should say that I am sure he does not." "Captain Haig, do you remember a note you wrote me the morning you left Homburg?" "I do--I remember everything in any way connected with you" (this was a statement of the wildest exaggeration), "every dress you wore, every word you said, every look you gave me." "You remember what you said in that letter?" "I do. If ever the Princess wanted a champion, to summon _me_." "I am no Princess now--but I need your help sorely." "All right, only too glad to get the chance of being of service--to you." "It is not for myself exactly--it is to help my sister Dominga." He frowned involuntarily. "Yes, I want you to use your influence with your cousin--to get him to put an end to this foolish affair--otherwise I am convinced it will end in a--a scandal. My father has had many troubles--he must be spared this. A family disgrace--would kill him!" "He shall be spared this if I can manage it, but Jimmy is a queer mixture; in one way he is weak, and easily worked upon--in another, the more you oppose him, the harder he resists. If I tried to interfere openly, it would be no good. Can't _you_ persuade your sister to break it off?" "No; she is hopelessly headstrong, and deaf as an adder to all my entreaties. She thinks"--and here she paused. "What does she think?" "You will laugh when I tell you--she thinks that I am jealous." "Jealous of her, and that empty-headed dolt. Good heavens! I say, I'll tell you what I can do. The hot weather is coming on--I have invited Jimmy to spend a couple of months tiger shooting in the Terai. He is not particularly keen, but I'll do my very best to persuade him. In two months he will have forgotten her--a fortnight is his usual limit--but she won't forget him, eh?" "Oh, but that won't matter; for, as my grandmother says, 'One hand cannot clap.'" "Do you mean to say your grandmother is alive?" he asked aghast. "Yes, and a most remarkable woman," she replied, with the utmost nonchalance; "very clever indeed in medicine and nursing--full of wise sayings. I am extremely fond of her." Captain Haig made no remark, and she continued: "You will go soon--won't you?" "Out shooting? Yes," he answered, with a start; "I'll make arrangements, and we will set out the week after next." "Thank you, a thousand times." "Don't--I wish I could do a thousand times more." At this moment Dominga and her partner returned and halted directly in front of them. "We have been having oysters--delicious oysters," she announced, and a wild vivacity was in her face and manner. "I'd advise you two to go and get some before they are all gone."