Mrs. Jordan’s foolish eyes confessed, in fixing themselves on this sketch, to a degree of wonder and even of envy. But she bore up and, with a certain gaiety, “Do you hate _her_?” she demanded. Her visitor’s reply was prompt. “Dear no!—not nearly so much as some of them. She’s too outrageously beautiful.” Mrs. Jordan continued to gaze. “Outrageously?” “Well, yes; deliciously.” What was really delicious was Mrs. Jordan’s vagueness. “You don’t know her—you’ve not seen her?” her guest lightly continued. “No, but I’ve heard a great deal about her.” “So have I!” our young lady exclaimed. Jordan looked an instant as if she suspected her good faith, or at least her seriousness. “You know some friend—?” “Of Lady Bradeen’s? Oh yes—I know one.” “Only one?” The girl laughed out. “Only one—but he’s so intimate.” Mrs. Jordan just hesitated. “He’s a gentleman?” “Yes, he’s not a lady.” Her interlocutress appeared to muse. “She’s immensely surrounded.” “She _will_ be—with Mr. Drake!” Mrs. Jordan’s gaze became strangely fixed. “Is she _very_ good-looking?” “The handsomest person I know.” Mrs. Jordan continued to contemplate. “Well, _I_ know some beauties.” Then with her odd jerkiness: “Do you think she looks _good_?” she inquired. “Because that’s not always the case with the good-looking?”—the other took it up. “No, indeed, it isn’t: that’s one thing Cocker’s has taught me. Still, there are some people who have everything. Lady Bradeen, at any rate, has enough: eyes and a nose and a mouth, a complexion, a figure—” “A figure?” Mrs. Jordan almost broke in. “A figure, a head of hair!” The girl made a little conscious motion that seemed to let the hair all down, and her companion watched the wonderful show. “But Mr. Drake _is_ another—?” “Another?”—Mrs. Jordan’s thoughts had to come back from a distance. “Of her ladyship’s admirers. He’s ‘going,’ you say, to her?” At this Mrs. Jordan really faltered. “She has engaged him.” “Engaged him?”—our young woman was quite at sea. “In the same capacity as Lord Rye.” “And was Lord Rye engaged?” CHAPTER XXVI.