She found them laid side by side on couches in the vestibule, which was a lofty chamber, panelled in ivory and ebony, with inset opals of enormous size and a ceiling of dull silver. The Duchess was a short, spare, grey-haired and rather homely-looking woman in a black _demi-toilette_ with priceless old lace. Lady Muscombe was about twenty-six, tall, with a beautiful figure and a pale, piquant face; she wore a rose _charmeuse_ gown that scintillated with _paillettes_; her luxuriant, but just then slightly dishevelled, chestnut hair was confined in a sparkling band, from which drooped a crushed pink plume. As they seemed on the point of awaking, Daphne, thinking that they would probably prefer to do so unobserved, discreetly left them to themselves. Lady Muscombe was the first to recover. She sat up, stretched her white and shapely arms, and yawned widely, revealing her perfect teeth, as she regarded the Duchess with sleepy brown eyes. "I suppose you are the Duchess of Gleneagles?" she said. "And, if you don't mind, I should rather like to know why you've brought me here--wherever it is." "I?" said the Duchess. "I've had nothing to do with bringing you. Don't even know who you are--though you seem to have got hold of my name." "Why, I married Muscombe--the Marquis, don't you know. I dare say you knew before that I was Verity Stilton of the Vivacity. I was working my way up to quite important parts. You may have seen me in some of them?" "I have not had that advantage. I seldom visit a theatre, and when I do----" "You like to go and see something stuffy? _I_ know. And I expect you've got quite a wrong idea of Musical Comedy. Most of us in the Chorus at the Vivacity were ladies by birth. And we didn't mix with the others, off the stage. We were most particular, too. I assure you I never went to sup alone with Nibbles--I call Muscombe 'Nibbles,' you know--he's so exactly like a white mouse--I never supped with him alone till after we were regularly engaged." "That is most interesting," said the Duchess, "and entirely to your credit, but it doesn't explain how we came to be here together." "All I can say is that a queerly dressed old freak suddenly burst into my flat, just as I was going to dine at the Carlton, and told me you were waiting outside in a car to take me on a visit to the Queen." "And did not that strike you as slightly improbable?" "Oh, for anything _I_ knew, you might be another of Nibbles's aunts. I haven't nearly worked through all his relations yet. But I said at once that I couldn't throw over my Carlton party to oblige any Duchess on earth. And then the old creature put on a cap and vanished. And the _next_ thing I knew was that a cloak was thrown over my head and I was being lifted up and bundled out kicking--and that's all I remember. I don't know what they thought of me in Mount Street, or why nobody interfered."