“That is true.” He was too tactful to pursue the subject of my admiration for Miss Gascoyne further, and continued: “No one has a greater respect for rank and its obligations than my niece. At the same time, I don’t think a throne would tempt her to lie about her feelings.” I was lunching with Grahame that day. We had not seen each other for some time, but his steady blue eyes met mine with no diminution of friendship. He was at the moment slave to a romance of a most inconvenient type. He had fallen in love with quite a common girl, and was unhappy when she was out of his sight. Luckily there was no question of his marrying her. Had it been necessary I verily believe he would have done so, for his heart compelled all sacrifices. “We never see each other now, Israel.” I knew how to appeal to Grahame. “Does that matter with a friendship as strong as ours?” “Of course it does not affect our friendship, but still one likes to see one’s friends now and then.” “Has it been altogether my fault?” “Well, I suppose not,” admitted Grahame. “I’ll put you to the test. Let us go out of town from Saturday till Monday. I know a ripping little seaside hotel, and I love the sea in winter.” He coloured and looked confused, and I added quickly: “You can’t come?” “Well, I——” “Don’t prevaricate, Grahame. Of course you can’t come. In the first place, you have promised to take her to a theatre on Saturday evening. You are lunching with her on Sunday. You are driving her to the Star and Garter at Richmond to tea in the afternoon, and you are coming back to dine somewhere very luxurious with her in the evening.” He laughed. “That’s very near it.” “And in two years’ time, or even sooner, her face won’t stir a passing emotion in you.” “Don’t, Israel, you hurt.” “I’m sorry, but if you did come away you would be thinking of nothing but her the whole time.” “I am afraid you are right.” “You are a sentimentalist, Grahame, only, thank goodness, not a maudlin one, and sentimentalists are only possible during the _entr’actes_.” “Thanks.” My liking and friendship for Grahame were a proof of how sincere I could be if people did not stand in the way of my great design. I suppose I ought to have felt some remorse, considering that Sibella was his sister, but after all such relationships are purely accidental. The fact remains that Grahame might have asked for almost any sacrifice that did not interfere with my slow subterranean tunnelling to the Gascoyne peerage. Chapter XVI Miss Gascoyne refused Mr. Hibbert-Wyllie. I was first made aware of this fact by the announcement in the _Morning Post_ that he had left London, and proposed to go for a six weeks’ yachting cruise in the Mediterranean. I hastened to call on Mrs. Gascoyne when I knew she would be alone.